london calling

in honor of my fabulous weekend in london, here is english rose alexa chung, who seemed to be the inspiration for every girl i saw on brick lane.

a little while liebmarlene vintage had a post about trying to find alexa's perfect leather clutch. well, i think i might have discovered a reasonable facsimile:

this was my uniform the whole trip, to try to blend in with the locals:

i really loved london. it was great to get out of paris (the first time i've left in four months!) and see some different sights and colors than the relentlessly chic, appropriate streets of paris. i love paris, but being from nyc, i was beginning to miss the eccentricity and wild risks and, well, colors, that make fashion so fun. though i'm not a huge fan of the tacky and overblown, my time in london has made me realize that life can get a bit monotonous without it. and, having ended up at pony step-- some ridiculous club in hoxton square where be-glittered club kids in spandex and eccentric costumes lined up by the hundreds looking like a rainbow bomb exploded at a halloween party-- i think i've got enough wild colors to last me through my last few tasteful, aesthetically perfect months in paris.....

on vacation!

i'm hopping on the eurostar to visit a friend in london this weekend. i will try to comment on blogs and keep up with everyone!
i will be back on monday to post once more, hopefully full of guinness and new ideas.
until then, i'll leave you with this vogue paris editorial, styled by geraldine saglio with the also ingenious melanie huynh (more on her later).....








scans from the fashion spot

fanciful folds

i recently stumbled upon this gorgeously constructed roland mouret skirt. the pleats and folds are just genius. no one can tailor to the female body like mouret. i'm always on the lookout for designers whose work transcends body types to make every woman feel fantastic. mouret's beautiful dresses certainly do just that, as does this piece.







the exposed zipper puts just the right hard edge on the feminine tailoring. to my mind, it's perfect!

gladiator battles

i've seen these gorgeous specimens all over the place lately (the charming camille of childhood flames has them in black), and granted they're so perfect i sometimes dream about them.



however, while drooling over them online, i discovered that nine west has many other ways to fulfill my strappy, be-buckled, gladiatrix fantasies:
these beauties , which the lovely jesicola of ropa vieja gives her full endorsement, which is more than enough for me



and also these





and some of them are even on sale....

floral frenzy

i've seen the floral craze blooming all over the runways and the blogs from nyc to paris. though i'm all for dressing with a little romance, i myself just cannot get into anything flower patterned. however, if someone (topshop, cough cough) were to turn william morris's beautiful 19th century wallpaper patterns into floaty dresses, i would jump on that bandwagon faster than you could say "goes well with leather"

geraldine saglio

assistant to emmanuelle alt



all images style.com, sartorialist

emanuelle alt

fashion director of paris vogue, impeccable record as a stylist, and in my opinion one of the best dressed women on the planet. i would love to try on a bit of her rough-and-tumble femininity.