Winter!

Living in LA, there are some things the wonderful weather doesn't allow us to do - like buy and wear a variety of lovely winter coats. I went to my favorite vintage store in St. Paul, MN while visiting my family for the holidays and tried on a bunch. I could not justify, reminded my mother, buying another one. Although the one I wanted is not even pictured here. It was an amazing flawless black wool, double breasted coat with rhinestone buttons. And, now that I've written about it, I may have to make a quick trip back to the store today before our flight to get it. (To be photographed later.)
The one thing I did get was in the picture on the far left - the scarf. It's vintage shearling, made in Italy. It reminded me of the fur scarf I'd seen at Maison Martin Margiela last month. I tried it on with my outfit, it was amazing - so chic, it didn't matter what you'd wear with it. But it was somewhere around thousand and it was made out of raccoon tails. Somehow when I learned that it just lost its appeal. I mean, I wear fur, but everyone draws their own line. Raccoon? No thanks. So this one made of shearling, perfect.
Here's me Christmas shopping. I photographed as a version of WAYWT? winter-style. Green Rihanna jeans (see previous entry), North Face boots bought in Aspen on the Viceroy Snowmass photoshoot. Warmest boots EVA. (I brought two very heavy suitcases on this trip for me and Oscar and there was nothing I thought I could take out. I brought 4 pairs of shoes and never wore anything but these boots. When will I learn how to pack?) Vintage rabbit fur (I know, I know but it's vintage!) coat which is the warmest thing I've ever owned, but is now perhaps seeing it's last days as I've seen a few "brown mouses" left in my tracks. So sad.

Here's me in a J Crew jacket I think is pretty cute - come on, the boucle is adorable.

Here's me in the purple bathroom at my dad's in my trusted fur and cashmere scarf, the outfit I pretty much never took off while I was here. I really don't know why my suitcase was so heavy.

This is a cape my sister just gave to me. It's navy wool with a beautiful red silk lining. She also just gave me the mink (I know, I know but it's vintage!) stole. This is why we love big sisters and why my luggage will be heavier going home today.

In the Clutches

I just got a call from Max Padilla from the LA Times and he may include these bags in the holiday gift guide next Sunday. I hope he does, of course, and he was pretty sharp. He totally called the design. As I made them yesterday, I was thinking they were like bank bags - you know they type stores bring cash and checks to the bank in? Max told me that's what they reminded him of, too. So I went down to the store and took a pic of them on display. Right next to my shoes of an earlier post!

I've been playing around with zippers. There're so pretty really - all golden teeth and pretty colors around. So I made up these clutches with some remnant leather I got from my source - which makes them oh my god, even better they're ECO. I'm not harming the earth by creating more stuff, only making pretty things out of potential landfill, right? They're for sale at my fav store I mentioned in earlier post - Mohawk General Store. They had opening party last night and I was all ready to take pictures of the beautiful owner, Bo, and pics of the styly attendees, like April from Satine, and pics of my bags merchandised by MGS. But I left my camera at home! Sorry.

Sparkle

or The Maker got Scooped
There has been a lot going on lately with the first of the trifecta holidays passing; with all the speculation on whether black Friday or today's online black Monday were going to prove prescient for the rest of shopping season and the economy as a whole; with Obama picking his cabinet and the blahdiblah like. But me, I've been reading the news and finding out a few things pertaining to the Vivier blog: 1. I'm a Maker. According to the LA Times coverage on the craft fairs which have been gaining momentum lately - people who make things are no longer called "crafters" which I guess was too closely linked to making dream catchers and scrapbooks, even "DIYers" has been retired. Nowadays, people who make things themselves to sell are called Makers. I make things, bags and bracelets and collages and coming soon jeweled neckpieces (to be an entry very soon) and I kind of like the ridiculous way it sounds - you know they thought of Creators, but thought better of it and settled on Makers. But anyway, that leads me to what else I've been reading about in the press which was going to be this very entry, but I got sidetracked by life and holidays and this entry didn't happen when I thought it would, (which makes me think of another article I read recently and is another thing I can call myself: I'm also a "slow-blogger") and that is number 2: the SPARKLE JACKET. I think I've now seen pieces on it in Garance Dore's blog, Refinery 29 and also the NY Times Style section. Those 3 right there should mean that I ought to scrap my idea to blog about my finds from my fav thrift store Luxe de Ville, but they're just so good, I've decided to write about them anyway. Recently I found this vintage I. Magnin number:

I've worn it one time so far, out to a comedy show and you really really have to dress it down and even still you you get a LOT of attention. People find it hard to pass without a word about how "shiny" you are or that it's like a discoball...But my advice for wearing something like this, besides being sure to dress down whatever else you're wearing with it, is to ASSUME the sparkle. You really have to be prepared for the looks and say to yourself as people watch you go by "Yeah, I sparkle, damn it and it looks cute."

And there's this vintage Norma Kamali paillette, cashmere-lined number which I got last year and really is still an all-star winner:

I mean, come on, that is sooo cute. It is like wearing my own little Margiela store on my back. And, look at Miu Miu's version for sale right now at net-a-porter:

I'd rather have mine, no?

Collection Collage

I'm about to post a new front page for seevivier.com with this "polaroid" collage I made with the pictures I had taken last week of the new collection. It's cute, right? On the site all the pics will be links. I may have to move a few of the images around, but it'll be generally something like this. I love it.

WAYWT?

Part of the segment I'll call What Are you Wearing Today? If you want to send me pics, I'll post them of you too.
So this is what I'm wearing today. Comptoir des Cotonniers short sleeve coat which I bought this summer in Paris. I never knew how perfect it'd be for LA fall weather. Dark gray t-shirt dress, I made this summer when it was consistantly 100 degrees and we wanted to wear nothing at all. Knee highs, I can't remember from where. VIVIER iPhone pouch which I wear everyday, don't you? The iPhone is in my hand of course b'c I'm taking the pic and the headphones are in my ears b'c I'm talking to Simone (see below) at the same time. Talk about multitasking!! And the star of the outfit - my new shoes, from my new favorite store! Off-white cotton canvas "Slow and Steady Wins the Race" shoes from Mohawk General Store (1102 Mohawk St), right down the street from my house. They come in black too and I think I may have to get them as well. I was in Satine boutique yesterday with my friend Greta (more about her stylishness in a future post) in pretty much the same outfit, as you see when I get into an outfit it kind of turns into a jag of sorts - different under garments and variations on it of course but usually the look stays the same for a few days. (Read yellow skirt entry.) Anyway, I'm at Satine - a bastion of all things lovely and hip in LA, and the shoplady says, "I love your shoes. I have them in black. And I love that line SASWTR. I love the story behind it." Yes, I say, having no idea what she was talking about - story? So I shall google pronto and get back to you.
http://www.slowandsteadywinstherace.com/#1_ABOUT
Okay, I googled it and it is a great story and a very cool line. I LOVE my shoes more now.

SIMONE

This is one of my bestest friends and ever inspiring style icon, Simone. She lives in New York with her adorable boy and husband. She's an accomplished artist and a floral designer on the side. She's whip smart and crazy nut funny as well. If France (entry below) is the cool girl in Paris, Simone is the cool girl on the streets of NY. The picture above was taken a few days ago for the Japanese magazine Milk.
Click on the collage below to get bigger version.




I've asked her a few questions about style...
V: Favorite store?
S: Mayle.
http://www.mayleonline.com
V: Fav kids store?
S: Makie
http://www.makieclothier.com
V: Pretend the economy wasn't in the crapper, and you didn't sound frivolous by saying, what would be your next major fashion purchase?
S: YSL ankle boot.


The 105mm ankle boot in black croc-embossed patent leather to be exact. By the way, she has a pair of YSL Tribute boots with this heel and she swears that it is one of her most comfortable shoes. They apparently put some kind of aerosole contraption in it.

What are you wearing today?

This is what I'm wearing today. Fine, laugh at the Barbizon School of Modeling pose, but the truth remains in the skirt. The color I can't get enough of. And, who am I kidding, I'll be wearing this outfit for a couple days straight, with a few modifications, of course. The red vintage pumps are one of my favorite Rosebowl Flea Market purchases ever. (You can click photo for better view.) The sweater over the shoulders signifies fall here in LA, brrr, it's chilly out. And the bag, the bag, is the new suede VIVIER iPhone pouch, bien sur.

lady France

Her name is France and she is French. Every once in a while she comes to our house to work with my husband. They edit out in his garden house. He often has French people come over to work with him, they don't often look like France. She is the effortlessly cool girl you see on the streets in Paris. She's a girl with style, but says she knows nothing about fashion. She's always a bit disheveled but also, in that very French mysterious way, somehow looks chic. And, I'm just gonna say it, there is a little Jane Birkin (cliché, wince) in her.

Maybe it's the bangs? Or the superb mouth? Maybe it's just every cute, cool, boho-chic French girl we want to compare with Jane, even though JB wasn't even French? Yes, to all of the above.

Anyway, France, she's a news journalist/producer, but she's also in a band called the Ukulele Girls. She's the one on the far left.

http://www.myspace.com/ukulelegirls
When she came over yesterday she just had a plain old white shirt and jeans.

Yes, that's a VIVIER messenger bag.
And, she had some pretty cute boots from Zara:

Here's what this self-professed fashion-know-nothing has to say about well, fashion:

V:
What is your favorite store in Paris?

F:
Maje.
http://www.maje-paris.fr/#/fr/home/
Also, a store called Allison where they sell:
Antik Batik, BA&SH, Bel Air, Erotokritos, Maje, Nocollection, Repetto, Sandro

V:
If money wsn't an issue what would you wear?

F:
I would buy the entire latest collection of Sonia Rykiel.





For someone who says she knows nothing about fashion, it's a pretty astute choice. Maybe it's just that if you live in Paris, you get it through the pores.

market weekend

I showed my bags at a showroom during market week. Here're pics of the line and a few of LA streets outside.

This is Else who merchandised the bags...


Patent clutches

Suede messenger totes

Black patent messenger tote

Shopper tote

City tote with laptop envelopes and iPhone pouch

The afternoon light zinging in.

Unfinished clutches and the beautiful, David Filler-made zinc topped tables and lovely flowers.

This is me showing the new gray messenger bag.

The black patent messenger from the back. (Don't know why I'm standing like that, but you try to take a picture from behind.)

Most of the people you see during market week make you want to hurl, but this was an exception. This is a girl I followed to get a picture of her Lanvin bag. It's cuter in real life and I've coveted it for a while.

And, not to end on a bad note, but this building is across the street from where I was all weekend. Notice the blown out windows, right at home in any 3rd world country. Wonder who's working in there? They're not making VIVIER bags!!

my new favorite restaurant

It's called State and Church it's downtown LA - other side of downtown - industrial area where buildings have been converted to lofts. Look at this picture of the kitchen - so cool floor to ceiling windows - looks like Sendak's In the Night Kitchen, no?
I love love love it. It's like Universal Cafe in SF back in the early 90's - one of those places which you find and feel like where am I?

It's the new rest of Steven Arroyo blah blah blah, all I know is upon first impression, it is my new favorite spot. I love the guinguette lights and feeling of the place. Order the Chinon.

I'll return them

I don't want them anymore. I want these APCs

The Paris boots

These are the old boots which I thought maybe filled the same boots purpose of the ones I'm asking if I should return.

Should I keep these boots?

They were kind of expensive and I already have the ones I got in Paris (last summer) which are similar...what do you think?

Rihanna's pants

So Else and I go out for her birthday dinner last night at a place in the neighborhood we'd heard about but never been to. It's on Sunset with some tables out on the sidewalk. When we arrive there's nobody there but us - the whole time we're there there's no one there but us. But the food was good.

After we leave we decide to stop in a clothing store which despite it being after 9 p.m. is still open. It's one of those pink, girly stores with cheap clothes and accessories and so at first we're browsing, looking for the sake of looking, wondering if we should drop $6 on a necklace that we'll never wear again, but could be so bad it's good? Then I notice on a table there's a skirt with amazing brocade fabric - I thought wow, China's doing some amazing stuff. I pick it up and notice that it is Zac Posen. I ask the young woman working, how much is this skirt? She says, oh that's $45. $45!! for a Zac Posen skirt? !

Very weird and out of place. Then the girl offers up some more info: "That was Rihanna's. My friend is Rihanna's closet organizer so he brought over a bunch of stuff that she was getting rid of." She shows a rack and hugs an armful, "all this stuff comes from Rihanna." We immediately b-line to that rack and savagely flip thru it, most of it very much pop star princess, and stuff we'd never wear but still the labels in a store like this are crazy: there's Jill Stuart, Zac, D&G, Norma Kamali blah blah blah. As we're doing that the girl says, "he also brought over a bunch of her jeans, I haven't put them out yet, do you want to see them?" Ah, yeah. She brings out a box of gifted jeans to Ms. R. All size 27! Most are gaudy as hell, there's D and G, chip and pepper, many tacky embroidered and glittery jeans and even a pair with her name embroidered, oh the poor soul who did that for nothing. I finally found a pair of Citizens for Humanity light wash high waisted, and a pair of bright green, skinny zipper ankle. I try them on and they both fit perfectly. The girl says they're $45 a pair. While I'm trying on the jeans, Else has found one of Rihanna's beautiful castaway shirts - which looks decidedly Japanese-y designed - black - very Comme des Garcons like by someone I'd heard of but couldn't really place which looked great on her - for $20.

The whole this was very surreal b'c we're in Echo Park and not anywhere near Hollywood in the sense of this city, at a cheapo store where the owner is sweet, latina girl with no idea that these items - the classic Norma Kamali swimsuit! Zac Posen skirt! - could get a whole lot more on the open market of ebay.

So I ended up getting the 2 pairs of jeans (pic below.) Not sure how I feel about the green jeans, but they could be fun once the weather actually permits us to wear pants again. Else got the black shirt and we both got feather earrings (not Rihanna's but I think she would have worn them) for $6. (pic included.)

A wonderful and bizarre ending to Else's birthday.

Now, in this time of Economic Crisis, I've got to stop buying, even if they're Rihanna's pants and, Nat, I'll be sending some trade-out pants your way in the coming days. Oh yeah, right after I go back and buy a few of R's t-shirts for my nieces which the shoplady is going to bring in for me.