Category: features

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the straw fedora

 Style ain’t nothing but keeping the same idea from beginning to end. Everybody got it.

                                                       –August Wilson, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

I got a new hat, a snazzy little blunt-brimmed straw fedora in bright ivory. Arguably out of place anywhere but summer.

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IMG_6214You gotta get. that. dirt off your shoulder…

IMG_6203Some light, easy fare for the last days of summer. Old Navy top, Hollister cut-offs (thrifted, cut off myself, as is invariably best – don’t want them to look too neat or precise), Victoria’s Secret python bikini top, Superga sneakers, Goorin Bros. Marin fedora, Fossil watch, antique scarab pendant, Pearls of Joy 6-7mm studs. On the lips: OCC lip tar in Banjee.

This is my rather dull balcony. There’s a fair amount of hat holding because there was a real danger of having it blown off. Plus, it looks saucy.

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IMG_6222_2-bwIf you can’t do gangster poses with a fedora, when can you?

Resolved to play more with black and white. Got the excellent advice to include some pure black or white (or both) in the composition to maximize the range of contrast. Have a bit of a thing for sepia, too.

IMG_6184This lip color is a straight, marigold orange (swatched here in my ode to orange). I was skeptical to use it alone–thought it would look too editorial/bizarre–but after messing around a bit, adding a little gold powder to the center, I really liked it. Not as distracting/weird as you would think bright orange creamsicle lips would be, right? [Or maybe I got desensitized over time…] Fruits of experimentation.

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the retro maillot

Women fond of dress are hardly ever entirely satisfied not to be

seen, except among the insane; usually they want witnesses.

                                                                      – Simone de Beauvoir

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These rounded cat eye sunglasses put me in a retro mood.

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I searched for a boyshort maillot for ages before I found this one by Seafolly, which has just the silhouette I was looking for, though a bit dull in the back. Despite the forgiving ruching and full (for swimwear) coverage, it still manages not to leave much to the imagination.

Sometimes I can really get behind a halter, which has, in ideal circumstances, a symbiotic relationship with the shoulders, each strengthening the other.

History shows that I consistently go for this kind of drab olive color.

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Boyleg maillot from Seafolly (thrifted), sun hat from San Diego Hat Co., Vuarnet sunglasses* (thrifted), 8-9mm pearl studs from Pearls of Joy, Nieman Marcus beach tote (gwp), 8-strand pearl bracelet (eBay), on the lips: Wet ‘n Wild Megalast lipstick in Purty Persimmon (swatched here).

*I’ve been looking for sunglasses with glass lenses, and found the price and style range I was looking for in the French brand Vuarnet. They have a selection of lenses designed for different lighting situations, which high-performance lenses provide protection while allowing great clarity and visibility. The only strange thing about them is the cheapness of the plastic used for the frames given how expensive the lenses are. And the weight can drag them down your nose.

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Hugh Laurie wrote a comic novel! It’s quite funny, I suppose in just the way you would expect. I would have read it on the virtue of his uber-appealing salt & pepper stubble alone. Hugh Laurie, is there anything you cannot do?

[My beach towel has penguins on it. I got it when I was 9.]

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