H2T

Dress | J. Crew
Cardigan | Halogen
Shoes | Coclico Banks Sandal 

    When I was in college, I used to watch America's Next Top Model (aka ANTM). It was a totally batshit-crazy gem of a show that pumped out 22 seasons (or cycles, as they would call them) in a little over a decade. I did not watch all of the cycles, but I certainly saw quite a few of them. Supermodel Tyra Banks was the main host, with a rotating cast of judges that ranged from Twiggy (former supermodel herself), to Andre Leon Talley (former Vogue editor), evaluating a set of women (and apparently later men) who were vying to become, you guessed it, America's next top model. 

    I mention it here because Tyra had a lot of mantras and sayings that she would repeat to the ladies over and over, cycle after cycle. One of them was that you had to model from H2T aka from head to toe and when I was taking these pictures, I heard Tyra's voice in my head. Suffice to say, I bring all of this up because I recently got these shoes, I think they are amazing, and I wanted to try to get a good photo that showcases their beauty. H2T.

In-vested

Dress | Amour Vert
Vest | Rag & Bone Ines
Shoes | Calvin Klein 

     I am always mindful to avoid looking like a restaurant waiter whenever I wear a vest, the same way I never wear a red shirt and khaki pants when I go to Target. For this particular outfit, I knew I wanted to wear this knit dress (another new Amour Vert find), and couldn't figure out what else to wear with it. My blazers were too long and made the skirt look a bit short, a sweater pulled over the dress sort of ruined the nice lines of the dress, and I didn't feel like wearing a cardigan. 

     Vest to the rescue. This vest shows off the long sleeves on the dress, the white provides a striking contrast to the navy, and, as the vest has pockets but the dress doesn't, it adds a level of functionality. Also, since the vest has lapels, it invokes the style of a blazer in a way that still looks polished, for work. I don't wear this vest very often (I was actually surprised to see that I purchased it back in 2014) but it keeps surviving my closet clean-outs because when it does work, I really love it.

Superstition + Weekend Reading

Top | Vince
Pants | Rag & Bone

     I am not a superstitious person. At all. The most I will do is pray to the parking gods occasionally, and I'm not even sure that counts. However, I was superstitious about wearing these pants again. They are this Rag & Bone pair of jeans with a coated denim stripe down the side, along with a small chevron of leather. They are also like impossible to photograph (at least indoors, so I apologize for the poor quality photos, I had to crank the brightness up to an 11). I bought them secondhand at ReLove in SF, and took them on a recent trip. However, when I was wearing them, I got food poisoning (or something), and ended up puking my guts out. That was obviously no fault of the pants, but I was honestly scared to wear them again. I have such a visceral memory of how I felt right before I yarfed and I remember seeing these pants when I was doubled over. Obviously, as I had just bought them, I couldn't simply give up on these jeans without giving them one more chance. 

Amour Vert Sample Sale

     I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I love a good sample sale. This is especially true when it is in San Francisco, since they are few and far between. I thought I'd write a review since this Amour Vert sample sale is going on this weekend (August 17-20) AND next weekend (August 24-27), in case anyone else in the Bay Area is interested in checking it out. 

Sailor + Navigating the RealReal

Sweater | Rag & Bone (currently on clearance)
Skirt | Theory
Bag | Clare V

     I've bought quite a few pieces on The RealReal over the years, since I first started shopping there in 2015. A common question I get asked is how I shop on the site. While there are great deals to be had, the user experience design of the website is bad. Like really bad. It is sort of hard to navigate and can be overwhelming. However, I've scored enough pieces that I think it is a worthwhile place to shop, and so I wanted to share some tips. Also, if you have any of your own, or if you have ever consigned with them (I have not, I've only purchased) I'd love to hear about it. 

Veronica Beard + Weekend Reading

Jacket | Veronica Beard
Top | Banana Republic
Pants | DvF Gennifer 2 Pants

    I've seen this Veronica Beard jacket a few times over the last year, and the design always catches my eye. However, this jacket, although it has a cool lace applique, is an unlined, $700, utility jacket, so obviously I was not going to pay retail. It started to get marked down during the summer sales, but often my size was sold out, or the price was still sort of high. I toyed with the idea of doing a DIY version.

Eureka

Tunic | Tory Burch
Dress | Derek Lam 10 Crosby
Shoes | Paul Green

     I am in the middle of a few months of almost back to back wedding weekends, which has been amazing and lovely as I am so excited to celebrate all of these unions, but it is also secretly great because I get to dress up more than I usually do. I plan to do a comprehensive post of all of the outfits and how I game-planned them once I attend the last wedding in October. 
     For a recent wedding, I was really struggling with what to wear. It was outdoors, would most likely be quite warm, and it was important to me that I was colorfully and joyfully dressed. That was of particular importance because this absolutely resplendent lady was the bride:

     She wanted something bright and joyful to wear on her wedding day, and I think she nailed it. It fits her perfectly, and the color really popped against the wooded backdrop. I actually helped find the dress, and I was so happy I could help her achieve her vision. When she asked for my input, I took the job very seriously, haha - it is one thing to dress yourself, but quite another to help dress another person, especially for such an important event.  The actual shopping was pretty painless though, and it only took us one mall, two and a half hours and one Wetzel's Pretzel to find it, although I did do hours of heavy scouring of the interwebs before then.  
     In regards to my own outfit - bright and early, in the middle of a stressful work morning, it hit me. I have this insane Tory Burch embellished linen tunic that I purchased at a heavy discount late last year, and have been very much wanting to wear, but that I was unsure of how/when to wear it. It is a more casual fabric (linen) but heavily beaded, and also it isn't quite a top but also isn't a dress by any means. I always pictured it paired with black cigarette pants, and high stiletto heels, but up until now, I have been unable to find the ideal pants. Also, for this wedding, as you can see from the photos, I couldn't really wear stilettos, unless I was trying to aerate the grounds.  

     What finally dawned on me, that morning, was to layer the tunic over a dress! I wanted a dress that had a little more volume in the skirt, but that was otherwise pretty simple, since this top has a lot happening. After trying it on with a few different dresses, I remembered the one I ended up wearing, which is actually the slip of this dress. I loved the color pairing and thought the pleats fit in well. Not only that, but since the slip had a low v-neck, I ended up flipping the tunic front to back, and wearing it backward! You can see what was supposed to be the front, in one of the images below. I also had to remove the tag, as it otherwise kept sticking out and gave away my secret. I was pretty pleased with myself, and am glad my subconscious was working on this issue while my conscious was hard at work. I also received some valuable input at the wedding on how else I can wear this top.

     If you are curious as to what the embellishment looks like up close - be curious no more:

This is the front. 

Have you had a recent eureka fashion moment? Where or to whom do you turn to help you sort out fashion questions?