Lustrous Layering and Rendez-vous with Julia

Last week, I had a few days where I woke up without a single idea of what to cover my body with, not a practical idea, not a creative idea. As I scrambled around my bedroom in the morning, attempt to concoct something somewhat decent, I decided to accent a silver hued, cotton tee shirt blouse, worn with dark charcoal dress slacks, with layers of necklaces. Since I was sticking within the silver and gray monochrome, I wanted some necklaces that would create an iridescence, while maintain the muted color tone, so I chose a vintage crystal double-stranded piece and a string of pearls.

One of my favorite heavy opaque silver lucite bangles completed the look.

To be frank, I had completely forgotten about this particular pair of shoes until that very morning; with warming weather, I welcomed the open-toed look and since I paired them with a pair of well tailored dress slack, did not feel I was overstepping the bounds of business casual. The heel is medium in height, which can be difficult to find, and a great tapered thickness, giving an elegance to the bold inlay of black and gray.

That evening, I was fortunate enough to dash from work early and saunter into the city, to share drinks and dinner with one of my dear childhood friends, Julia, before she heads out of the country to Italy, where she will be attending graduate school in gastronomy, anthropology, and communication. Julia, though she may not have the same view, took some lemons, skipped the lemonade, and shook up a nice cold lemon drop cocktail: her contacts ripped, so she donned much needed and yet stylish heavy frames, and she was without blow dryer, thus the turban to contain unruly hair. Overall, the aesthetic edge came completely from pragmatism.

Julia and I met up with a few of her other friends, lovely girls she met while interning on a farm in Tuscany, bathing in wine and fresh olive oil; tough life she leads. We went to Little Branch in the West Village for a quick libation, then headed to a nearby restaurant called Home, which pioneered the now viral local, seasonal ingredients movement, a number of decades ago, according to our bohemian middle-aged waiter. I cannot wait to meet up with Julia over in Italy; I hope to make the journey sometime in the autumn, perhaps late September.

Julia has recently started her own blog documenting her gastronomical fancies, fantasies, and realities; you read about her Italian travels and experiences at: a tomato, an adventure (right here on blogspot).