Tuesday: camel Manolo slingbacks

What’s the best (and at the same time worst) thing about cleaning out your closet during a move? The surprises that you find in the recesses of your closet. On the one hand, it’s like being reunited with a long lost friend. On the other, you kick yourself for the months — years, even — of lost opportunities to wear said long lost friend. During my move, for instance, I rediscovered, ahem, a number of winter coats. And in the panic of trying to fit everything I own into a mere four closets, I actually thought about giving away two of them: a black wool double-breasted Dolce & Gabbana coat circa 2000, and a anthracite gray Prada wool coat circa 2003.

What was I thinking?!

Good thing the weather took a turn of the wintry last week, because I actually had the opportunity to become reacquainted with the Prada coat. And I decided that I still have much love for my old friend.

So what’s the oldest thing in your closet? Go find it! Embrace it! Give love another chance!

Technorati Tags: closet, move, vintage clothes

Monday: Louboutin espadrilles

Everyone knows how stressful moving can be, and I thought I had it bad: being forced to purge and pack for days on end, having to listen to my husband’s endless complaints about how much stuff I owned, then sheepishly discovering that I had like 5 of the same black V-neck sweater… But then I heard about Scott Weiland, whose wife was arrested for torching his clothes — ten thousand dollars’ worth! — outside their home last week. And guess what? They were in the middle of moving.

While no one, not my husband and not even the poor movers, has yet threatened to torch my clothes — heaven forbid! — I am a bit chastened by the experience. Seeing fifty-odd boxes of my stuff piled up in what had seemed like spacious new digs before Hurricane Fashionista hit was something of a shock. Worse, I’ve landed near prime shopping. Pray for me, people!

Technorati Tags: moving, Scott Weiland, shopping

Tuesday: yellow linen Gunmetal peeptoes

Daylight Savings is here early this year and — hello, 60 degree weather… heck, I’ll take 50 degrees! — I’m so ready for spring. Spring cleaning, though? Not so much. It’s a painful rite of passage into warm weather that I always dread just a little. And this year it’s even worse: I’m moving apartments after eight years. That’s eight years of hunting and gathering. It doesn’t matter that I make a donation to Goodwill at least twice a year. The bingeing definitely outweighed the purging in my household.

So desperate times require desperate measures. I’ve been on a cleanout of epic proportions. Usually I’m like a benevolent ruler, handing out pardons like it’s Thanksgiving. Sure, I haven’t worn those Prada stretch wool, wide-legged trousers in five years, but hey, you never know when I might grow a few inches and look a little less dumpy in them. This time? No mercy! GONE! I think I’m cool with it now, while everything is still sitting in bags in my foyer, but the minute I carry the bags down to the Goodwill… As soon as I feel like I’m taking my precious buys to be sold into… well, not slavery, but maybe indentured servitude… Well, I just don’t know what I might do!

Technorati Tags: spring cleaning

Tuesday: cranberry Louboutin pumps

I’ve long faced up to it: Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been a sucker for new beauty products. Not only did I always want to be the first one on my block to try a new item or color, but I have to admit that most of my choices were based on how the products were packaged. I think it started with my mom’s Coty lipsticks — you know, the ones with the white and gold powder-puff print (designed by the Ballet Russes set designer Leon Bakst, no less) on the packaging. It was pretty and bright and colorful, and well, it spoke to me. And guess what? I still go for the sparkle.

I love the look of the YSL lip twins duo, which is a bauble in itself. You could practically wear it on a long chain.

The cellophane-wrapped glass atomizers in the Bond No. 9 Bon-Bon Box look like Christmas crackers . . . which meant that they were a perfect gift from me to me this holiday season. The set doesn’t even contain my favorite Bond fragrance, New York Fling, but hey, I had to have those bon bons!

Finally, I’ve been obsessed with the Guerlain Meteorites (available in loose powder form and in a compact) just because they’re so purdy. I finally bought both forms last year but I still don’t even know what the Meteorites look like on — I don’t want to crush the lustrous little orbs!

Technorati Tags: cosmetics, packaging, YSL, Guerlain, Bond No. 9

Friday: Gucci Guccissima boots

When my sisters were in middle school, they had to take Home Ec — sewing, cooking, the works. I remember some gnarly Jell-o assignments… or was that for Biology class? Anyhow, five years later, Home Ec was no longer an option or a requirement by the time I got to 7th grade. Luckily my mom taught me how to sew when I was a little girl — she’s a great seamstress and even sewed her own wedding dress back in the ’60s — so I’ve actually got some skills in the homemaking department to bring into this new marriage thing! Dusting and cleaning? Not so much.

So the story in the Times yesterday by the woman who was taking up sewing as an adult caught my eye, because having jumped on the knitting and jewelry making bandwagons over the past 7 years or so, I too have decided to try sewing again. But doll’s clothes? Been there, done that. I’m trying something a bit more ambitious: a dress that I actually hope to wear… in public even! My mom sent me some silk fabric she’d bought, and I found some cool vintage patterns on eBay. (Take a look at those sizes — it’s a bit of a shock to see that in 1964, a 34-inch bust translated into a size 14.) I even bought a new pair of sewing scissors!

So I set to work Sunday afternoon… cutting the pattern… pinning it to the fabric… pinning it again when I realized I didn’t quite get enough fabric… cutting… pinning… threading the sewing machine… threading it again… and again… basting… serging… undoing the seams… sewing again… Next thing I knew it was past midnight, and I still wasn’t finished. It is starting to look like a dress, I have to say — I’m just a little nervous about that zipper I have to put in next. Ah, another project for the weekend — sure beats cleaning and dusting. Hey, it’s a spring dress. Maybe I’ll actually be finished by then!

Technorati Tags: sewing, patterns