short series

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I find it hard to not look like a stereotypical American tourist when wearing shorts in the summer. There are, of course, ways of getting around that “American” (not that there’s anything wrong with that) look, by maybe wearing a pair of unbelievably hip sandals or dangerously short 80’s shorts, or by sticking with this year’s obvious solution, the “romper.” But let’s face it, we can’t wear a romper every day. This summer, I want to make shorts cool again! Like really cool. How will I do that you ask? Well, I’m still working on it…  but we can at least start with some shorts that won’t make you feel too much like a Griswald.

floral hotpant – topshop

striped cotton – shopbird

cotton gingham – shopbird

bloomer short – letrainbleu

high waisted – urban

hawaiian – urban

high rise – urban

navajo – letrainbleu

samantha zipper – urban

Shop these looks at shopbird, urban outfitters, letrainbleu, and topshop.

pill or pollock?

Once again, I feel as though I’m looking at beautiful paintings when browsing the Spring/Summer 09 collections. This time, they are the works of Cathy Pill. Her runway models look as though they were wrapped in chiffon, shipped off to the beach, rolled around in sand and splattered with paint and bleach. In a good way!  I love the light, airy, delicacy of the fabric but the seriousness of the images projected. Pill is a Belgian born newbie. She burst onto the scene three years ago in Paris and her works continuously reflect an Art Nouveau influence.

Shop Pill clothes on Browns.com.

the new bohemia

Anthropologie clothes can sometimes be a bit too frilly for me and I usually just stick to their amazing, European inspired housewares department, but I was happily surprised today when I discovered their “New Bohemia” selections. Maybe I’m feeling hippie today, but I really like some of these featured pieces… especially that “nahuatl” tank! Oh and P.S. – this bag is beautiful!

nahuatl tank

ascend dress

mesoamerica blouse

guimard dress

brass ring tank

ballia dress

hello pillow – sweet salvor fauna!

Staying home this weekend has put me in major homemaker mode and designpublic is making me lose my mind. Remember my creature shaped pillow post a little while back? Here’s a fantastic new edition to that pillow roundup. Prepare for this hefty collection, by Ross Menuez for Salvor Fauna. Made in Brooklyn, and only $24 a pop (for medium size), there’s a pillow here for everyone.

good ruggage

Going rug shopping for my imaginary new Brooklyn home was… not a waste of time at all. Dreaming spent on designpublic.

love birds – thomas paul

flock dhurrie – thomas paul

coral dhurrie – thomas paul

rug seed – thomas paul

seasons – notNeutral

flock dhurrie – thomas paul

jumelle’s my jam

Lately, I’ve been looking around, not for clothing, but for clothing inspiration. Since I’m jobless, I’ve been banging around on my sewing machine, creating a few key pieces for my own spring/summer wardrobe. Today I checked back on a shop I always liked, called Jumelle and was happy to come across their new “spring in bloom” selections. Here are my faves (I love that crazy belt and the casual, slingy shape of the marble romper).

brodee belt – heimstone (love that shirt too!)

pink lace leggings – future classics

house print tank – stine goya

marble romper – alexander wang

navajo shirt – jam jam

vendor shorts – rachel comey

it’s in the details

Do you ever notice particularly pretty details of a clothing tag, or the intricate etchings of a jean’s button? I do, and I always feel like a piece of clothing becomes so much more special when there’s some secret, beautiful, tag hiding inside. Grayhood, or Dan Gneiding, is an amazing designer who makes these kinds of things happen. Gneiding is the senior graphic designer at Urban Outfitters where he has designed labels for Silence + Noise, BDG and Lark & Wolff by Steven Alan. He has also worked with Anthropologie on labels such as Edme & Esyllte, Knitted & Knotted and Eloise. After peeking at his work, I now have an even bigger appreciation for the smaller details. Check out his designs below as well as his fantastic online sketchbook.

edme & esyllte (butterfly on bicycle)

edme & esyllte (pineapple hot air balloon ride)

mirror/dash tote bag

idra

maeve

maeve ("she who is beautiful" on underside)

silence + noise

oxford street style

I once knew a girl in ’97 who always wore jazz shoes. We called her “Jazz Shoe Girl” (very original). Although I sort of snickered behind her back with my friends, I secretly envied her for her courage to wear dance shoes out on the street. Maybe the others did also. Flash forward to 2005 and I’m sitting at a Middle Eastern bar with my BF, and his friend’s wife is wearing a pair of black men’s oxfords. She was ahead of the game and I wasn’t ready for them. Here they are now, all over the place, and I’m just now beginning to accept them… especially those solo patent Mauds. (That’s right S!)

patent jazz - Labor of Love - farfetch

watercolor brogues - Paul Smith - farfetch

solo patent - Maud - pixiemarket

candy color brogues - Paul Smith - farfetch

derringer classic - Rachel Comey - shopbird

jimmy 1 - S***R - farfetch

Shop these oxfords at farfetch and pixiemarket.

desert dresses

Although I’m excited to wear some new seasonal clothes, I have to admit, I really don’t enjoy much about the summer. In this desert country, it’s just plain hot. It’s hotter than Florida, because there are no summer, day storms to cool things off. It’s hotter than NYC because there are no tall buildings to cling to for shade. For these reasons alone, it feels best to wear nothing but a simple, loose, throw-on dress, with the airiest sandals possible. To add some optimism to my summer thoughts, I picked out a few pretty throw-ons.

apc dress – urbn.uk

see by chloe – urbn.uk

apc madras – urbn.uk

check print – topshop

insight pixilated – urbn.uk

graphic dress – topshop

renewal – urbn.uk

floral ruffle – urbn.uk

free people – urbn.uk

Shop these dresses at topshop and urbanoutfitters.co.uk.

for juniors?

I’m always a little surprised to find that when looking around for new bed linens, the sets I end up really loving, seem to be for “juniors.” Does that make me immature? Do I have infantile taste? I suppose I must. But check out these pretty duvet sets by DwellStudio. There are a few patterns in my picks below, for juniors. Can you pick out which ones they are? (Well, perhaps the teddy bears are a slight giveaway…)

geometry

motif robin

gio primrose

collage charcoal