Style Inspiration: Jessa from GIRLS

Lately I've been re-watching the first season of Girls and have been inspired all over again by Jessa's miss-mash boho/hooligan style. I mean, who wears a bathrobe out? And makes it look good? A couple of pictures below of her different looks, the clothes are great but I also like the hair style and make up combinations with the outfits. Sometimes, lots of makeup and simple bun. Sometimes no makeup but hair in fishtails. And of course her season-ending wedding look, which was very rock star in my opinion.

Jemima Kirke, who plays Jessa, was recently "featured" in Vice. If you somehow missed the, um, interesting photos of her eight months pregnant, then follow this link. 

The second season of Girls premieres January 13th on HBO.

Steven Alan Kids

While trolling my usual sites this morning, I saw that Steven Alan has added more sizes to their simple and lovely kids' line. I bought an adorable blue check dress for my daughter when she was 1.5 but she has long since outgrown it. The Breaker dress is a simple yoke dress with flap sleeves that is available in the same beautiful prints and lush cotton fabrics as the adult-wear. The reverse seam shirt is the other style they are offering, also in several great plaids, print and in classic denim. I for one love the cut of this shirt, as I recently purchased one for myself in the grey chambray!

Both are very affordable for high-end children's clothes, considering they are made in the USA. The Breaker dress is $68 and the Reverse Seam shirt is $58. And they start from size 18 months and go up to a size 6 years. Available on their website.

Isabel Marant - the betty & the boston

I know they are trendy. I know all the celebrities have them, even the B-list ones. I know the trend is almost tired. But I can't. stop. obsessing. coveting. just plain wanting.

They look great dressed up or down, with pants or with dresses and skirts. Personally I love the black but would love the tan suede or the white leather just as much. The boston style with black suede snakeskin detail is the one I would choose if I could have any of them.

the Boston

The hightop Beckett is too much for me and I think one must be either six feet tall or a supermodel or both to wear those.

The Beckett is on the right in two colors

Normally I think anything that is a "hybrid" especially when it comes to shoes is never a good idea. This one though has definitely grown on me the more I have seen it. Not sure if it is BECAUSE i have seen it so much or because it genuinely has great appeal. And having tried them on when I was in NYC - the Betty in black leather at Steven Alan and the Boston at the IM boutique in Soho - I found them really comfortable. And was pleasantly surprised that I could go either way with the size: either the 37 or the 38 (I am a US size 7 shoe), which has not been the case with the Dicker, the Dixie or the Jenny boots. All of which I need a 37.


What I couldn't rationalize however was the price for something so trendy, as I said before, and so unabashedly casual. Sneakers are sneakers. And no matter if they are $600 and from France and make me taller, I don't think I would be wearing them out to dinner either way.

Nevertheless, practicality and reasoning only go so far.  A girl can dream...

The Betty and the Boston by Isabel Marant can be purchased online at la garconne or at Stuart and Wright in Brooklyn.

Emma Watson in the betty in white

Kate Moss looking amazing in her sunnies at PFW

It must be said that Kate Moss looks fantastic. I mean, really! Young, fresh and love the shorter hair and the tan, courtesy of the French Riviera. Here she was with husband Jamie at the Saint Laurent show at Paris Fashion Week in a sexy, simple black number with to-die-for booties. All new Saint Laurent, I assume.

And I am truly coveting her sunglasses, seen her at Stella McCartney while sitting between Mario Testino and Sir Paul McCartney. After some internet sleuthing, I discovered they are by Brit brand Prism. I wasn't able to find the exact style on their site. Perhaps something new? Nevertheless, they are cat eye, a trend that's been around, but I haven't seen anyone else in quite so oversized a silhouette and then the white tortoise print is simply stunning!

UPDATE: My friend Marti thinks her *happy* glow is because she is pregnant. Hmmm... I thought it worth mentioning.

Spotted at Fashion Week: shirts tied around the waist

Fall is by far my favorite season but it does pose a challenge when temperatures vary a lot. The weather can change at the drop of a hat or whether you are in sun or shade, or if that chilly autumn wind is blowing. In Portland especially right now, this has been challenging: cardigan on, cardigan off; wearing boots in the morning only to switch to sandals in the afternoon.

Leandra over at Man Repeller somehow managed to make having a shirt or cardigan tied around your waist look great. I have always found this a rather bulky, and quite dorky, thing to do. At NY fashion week, she wore it with the same dress on two different occasions and was able to channel Marc Jacobs for Perry Ellis circa 1993 a little bit, with the plaid one. And then go a bit more 80s with the denim shirt.

Marc Jacobs for Perry Ellis (one of my favorite collections of all time, by the way) :

And then both at London fashion week and in Paris this past week, I saw quite a few more doing this. Either with a skirt that gave the look of a shirt tied around:

Or just straight up in general paired with a short skirt, so the shirt is longer than the skirt.

Or to add a pop of color:

No.6 Woodland Floral

Hard not to love this print. Not sure about which silhouette though. The A-line looks too blousy. The tank dress I tried on last season and found it not cut well for someone petite. And the jumpsuit...well, it's a jumpsuit (i.e. having to get fully undressed to use the bathroom is not my idea of a perfect outfit).

An aside: I am loving the Mahogany nubuck color in the lace-up boots, pictured with the tank dress.

note: The tank dress is in the BLACK woodland floral, so slightly different color way than the red/brown/gray of the other two.

Etoile Isabel Marant Odrys Cardigan

This sweater has been stalking me. First it showed up at Odessa in Portland and promptly sold out in my size (although I was all tied up with Dicker boots and not able to purchase at that time). Then Totokaelo in Seattle received it in two colors and was sold out of both within one day.

I had gotten over it and was almost okay with it when while perusing PopSugar saw a picture of Michelle Williams wearing it at JFK, and then I fell in love all over again.

And have been obsessing about it since then (that was last week). I emailed several boutiques including Misch in Vancouver only to find out that they had sold out but was I interested in the new style in the same intarsia pattern, the Obira. Hmmm, a little too floppy for my taste.

Then two days ago, my friend Roberta over at Camp Comfort blogged about it. And then I knew I'd regret it if I didn't buy it.

Not only is it an amazing intarsia knit but here in Portland, this kind of heavy cardigan functions as a coat for me for more than half of the year.  Luckily, I found one size 34 at Barneys in Chicago yesterday. (yes, only one left nationwide!)

And by the way the pattern comes in two other silhouettes as well:
the Ouda, a crewneck, and the Ojima, a hoody. Both are available at Creatures of Comfort:

the Ouda

the Ojima

If I had endless funds or was a celebrity, I would definitely snap up the crew neck. It looked amazing styled for NYC boutique Maryam Nassir Zadeh as seen on the blog, the marant philes: