A Glass Act

Alright, Glee is over, and I've put this post off long enough...

The first Sunday of the month is always cause for excitement because it signals the monthly pilgrimage to the Alameda Antiques Faire.

A slightly overcast view of SF

 Barring rainy weather or work, you will most likely find me among the throngs of die-hards (or die-hards-to-be) looking for that perfect 'score'. The thrill of ferreting out that fabulous find is a fix I crave, and much of my furnishings & home decor have been courtesy of 'the Alameda'.

A Table Full of Treasures!

There are a few schools of thought when approaching 'The Alameda'. You can wake up at the crack of dawn, get to the site at 6am, and pay $15 to mingle with the hard-core early birds. These are usually the Pros-- interior designers, shop owners and collectors looking for specific items. You can spot the pros because they usually have a large dolly laden with awesome stuff you wish you had found first.

I <3 these fabulous lamps!

Or you can subscribe to my school of thought, were you roll up at around 10:30 with Starbucks in hand, pay $5 and score deals from vendors who are more open to lowering their prices in an effort to avoid having to re-pack all that stuff.

Porters optional with these vintage suitcases...

With 24 rows of vendors, there's TONS of stuff to look at, and you'll be hard-pressed to completely browse all tables. Fortunately, yours truly is a seasoned veteran, and can see all rows in just four (4) hours.

Look! Instant Ancestors!!!

With so much eye candy out & about its easy to be overwhelmed gobsmacked by the assortment of offerings, but this time, I noticed some amazing glassware that I wanted to share:

How adorable are these circus glasses? (yes, even the clown one)

How cool are the graphics on these glasses? If my budget wasn't so tight, I would have snapped them up and brought them home. I hope they found a good home. At least I have the photo. = (

A fun & festive Fall grouping

Its like Josephine Baker meets the caves of Lascaux

A Jazzy Planter's Peanut ?

Of Course glass ware was not the only thing to catch my eye... In addition to some great people-watching the Alameda also provides some awesome vintage fashion inspiration:

Such Lovely & Gracious Ladies

And Handsome Gents...

Someone's been raiding Betty Draper's Closet...

Well Hellooo, Sassy!

All right Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up

Sorry for the delay in posting but my last week of vacation has been BUSY!
In addition to the usual hilarity& hijinx at work , I've been making movies. (No, not the scandalous, TMZ kind, but that of the instructional variety).

It's my YouTube debut (at least that I know of), and since its posting this morning, I've already gotten 40 hits, and none of them my mom, thankyouverymuch. Hopefully, this will be the first of many "How-To" video series, so let me know what you think or if you have any suggestions for future videos.

In the meantime, I'm just editing the photos I took at last Sunday's Alameda Antiques Faire and will be posting my finds real soon, so stay tuned.

All Knotted Up

So I started my first week of vacation in style by trying this whole "ladies that lunch" concept with my dear friend Beth. She and I had a fantastically down-home (and points racking) meal at the Lakeshore Cafe. Once seated in their charming courtyard, one of the topics we discussed was the AMAZINGLY GORGEOUS website from Hermès. (Yes darling, that Hermès)...

J'aime Mon Carre pays homage to those oh-so-covetable pieces of wearable art: The Scarf.




Now I know that some observant fashionistas will flashback (no, no the good kind) to Burberry's "Art of Trench", and say "biters", "recyclers", but I gotta give Hermès credit for attempting to lure in a whole new generation of devotees to this iconic, heritage brand.

Stunning, Inspiring, "insert favorable adjective here". "A" for effort, Hermès!  What do I care if one of your scarves = my rent + utilities? Spot on for dancing away from your traditional customer (the real 'Ladies Who Lunch") and showing some foresight by identifying / targeting aspirational, fashion conscious, educated females between the ages of 25-35. I just love the fact that I'm picking up some tips & tricks on how to tie and wear my scarves with a little more je ne sais quoi                    


                                                                                                  

So what if your idea of regular 'it' girls are all pouty, off-duty supermodels shown cavorting around the most glamorous cities in the world on the back of their equally off-duty supermodel BF's vespas? That's some disbelief I'm willing to suspend....




After brunch, we promenaded (ok, I rolled) down the block, partly to enjoy some retail therapy, but mostly to avoid the embarrassment of passing out right in the cafe's morning glory canopied fountain. I was just congratulating myself for making it out of the Gap without purchasing something, when something caught the corner of my eye while walking past Juniper Tree. On a little table, tucked to the side of the store, I spotted this little gem:

 And two of little gem's friends:

Seriously, though each scarf was less than a happy meal, their graphics, colors and vintage appeal score high style points. And given the economy's current state, its about as close as I'm going to get to achieving that Hermès look for less. Totally happy with my loot, and inspired by the stuff I learned on the site, I gleefully spent the evening trying different knots to achieve different looks:

Please Allow Me to Introduce Myself...I'm A Girl with a Wealth of Taste

and I require far less sympathy than that pitch-fork wielding fellow...but all joking aside, WELCOME EVERYONE (all 5 or so of you who know about this blog) to my very first post.

This blog serves as an outlet for me to creatively exercise and chronicle my three greatest loves in life: History, Fashion, and Food. Its main purpose is to share with you some of the things I like to do, to go, and to eat, but its still a work in progress and a tremendous labor of love, so bear with me while I get the lay of Blog-land.

As some of you may already know, I'm starting my second quarter at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM) in San Francisco in two weeks and one of the best things about being surrounded by like-minded, passionately-creative individuals, is that every little conversation, exercise, or mere observation (especially in the Student Lounge) serves as inspiration. In Trend Forecasting class, I did an analysis on the "Retro Revival" so hot in F/W 2010. Below are some drool-worthy examples:

These LV Ads are my kind of "Bringing Sexy Back". I seriously covet & <3 everything in these ads...

Scarlett channeling her inner Marilyn

Guess' Homage to the young, 'greaser' set...

What delights me most about this season's 'trend' (and I say that very cheekily) is that its encouraging pushing people to put their best face / foot forward in these tough times. Sure, the economy is going down the toilet, but do you have to reflect it by looking like something that needs to be flushed? Or do you meet the challenges head -on with a cool, confidence & poise that suggests a mastery / control of one's surroundings? For once, those who love vintage fashions are ahead of the curve because its only now that everyone else has caught on to vintage's true allure: that of transformation.

I like to think that my generational cohor't's (all those born after Carter and before the Clinton administration) enthusiastic embracing of a more polished, refined look is in response to a misspent youth in the 90's where baggy shapes & flannel reigned supreme. "Dressing up" is not just relegated to the whole 50's / 60's  retro look as online retailer Piperlime tries to convey in their recent & controversial Ads:

 

Bravo Piperlime for holding us accountable for such fashion crimes such as wearing pajamas out in public (you know who you are...) and though I will never permanently trade in my jeans for a girdle, I sincerely hope that what people take away from this 'trend' is a greater appreciation for looking 'top drawer' by 'dressing to the nines' to 'put their best foot forward'. In other words, dress up every once in a while and see if you don't stand a little straighter, have more confidence, and project a slightly, more perceptively perfect you.