These pictures are actually from early March, but I wore the same outfit again this past week when it got freakishly cold!

Diane von Furstenberg “Dizzy” dress, Balenciaga shoes from Yoox.

And a few days later:

Freakishly warm!

Diane von Furstenberg “Kea” dress, Alexander McQueen purse, ancient sandals from Loehmann’s

I had been searching for this DVF dress for years and one finally popped up on ebay a few weeks ago.  I don’t think it’s the most flattering style and it probably needs to be hemmed a bit, but I love the print.

image from style.com

I’ve been waiting for months for this Marc Jacobs dress to show up in stores.  It was the last piece in his Spring 2010 collection, which I honestly didn’t pay much attention to because I am weirdly anti-MJ.  It wasn’t until I saw the dress on Christina Ricci that I became obsessed.

image from glamour.com

Well, the dress is finally here.  With a price tag of $4800.  The sheerness of the layers make the dress look like it’s drawn on, with squiggly black lines floating in the air.  It also kind of makes me think of Pig-Pen.  If Pig-Pen were a girl and had to go to a formal event, I think it would turn out something like this.

image from net-a-porter.com

While I was waiting for the Marc Jacobs dress, I happened upon a similar dress by Fendi.  It’s more practical, but not much more affordable ($2,990!).

photo taken at Barney's

Spinanes – Lines and Lines

Alexander McQueen and I had a favorite painting in common: Jean Fouquet’s Virgin and Child from 1450.  While his spring 2010 collection embraced the computer age, the collection he was working on before his suicide was a reflection on the Dark Ages.

He literally incorporated medieval art by printing Northern Renaissance paintings onto fabric.  One dress featured details from various Bosch works, including The Garden of Earthly Delights and the Temptation of St. Anthony.

Another dress was printed with part of Stefan Lochner’s Altarpiece of the Patron Saints of Cologne.

One of my favorite features of early Netherlandish is grisaille, monochromatic paintings which were usually put on the outside of altarpiece wings.  While I’m not usually a fan of photo-printed fabrics, I love the grisaille dresses in this collection.  The figures become an almost-abstract print.

For these dresses McQueen used Hugo van der Goes’ Annunciation scenes from the Portinari Altarpiece.

Even the non-printed dresses were fit for a Virgin from a Van Eyck.

McQueen said in a 2008 interview that he was inspired by the red and blue angels of Fouquet’s painting which represented the darker and lighter sides of heaven.  While some reviews point out that the wings in the final look were a reference to his first collection at Givenchy, it is hard not to wonder what else he was thinking of as he designed these clothes.

Note 1: I picked out the references to paintings as best I could given the small size of the photos on Style.com so if I missed any please let me know.  The collection pictures are from Style.com and most of the painting images are from the Web Gallery of Art.

Note 2: As far as I know, Alexander McQueen was not a fan of Polvo, but everyone should own their EP Celebrate the New Dark Age.

The weather was gorgeous in NYC this weekend, which was perfect because my dear friend Erin was here for a visit.

Despite the sun, I decided to dress in shades of gray on Saturday.

Soia & Kyo hooded leather jacket (from Bluefly), Gray Ant scarf jacket (via ebay), Helmut Lang spider web sweater, J Brand low-rise 10″ skinny jeans (recommended to me by the always-smart Sarah), Kenneth Cole “Christine” boots (via ebay), Jib & Geona leaf necklace (now on sale!).

But Sunday was even sunnier so I wanted to be springy.  I didn’t even wear tights or socks!  It was very exciting.

H&M trench and scarf, J Brand jeans, Miu Miu flats (via ebay),  Alexander McQueen flapper bag (sample sale), Burberry sunglasses (Loehmanns), Erica Weiner earrings.

I love peacock prints, although I have to say I’ve been a bit grossed out by the actual birds ever since I discovered the ones who reside at The Alcazar hanging out in a fenced off construction zone full of garbage instead of prancing around in the gardens.

This dress is a bit big on me so until I get it tailored it will have to be worn with a cardigan over it.  I wasn’t sure about two ruffle-necks, but it worked out pretty well.

Milly dress, J Crew cardigan, Belle by Sigerson Morrison shoes, Jill Stuart bag, antique bracelet, antique sapphire ring, amethyst ring from E.F. Watermelon

I got the Novak bag a few years ago, thanks to my friend Elizabeth, who helped me order it from a Nordstrom Rack in California (because I am a wuss and was afraid of the less-than-helpful salesperson).   I don’t use it as often as I’d like because the short handles can be a pain and the leather gets scratched easily, but I think the shape is gorgeous and I will definitely be carrying this as an old lady (despite the wrinkled appearance of my hands, I am not yet a senior citizen).

Alexander McQueen Novak purse, Tulle coat, vintage rings, wrinkly fingers, Cousin It hair

Helmut Lang sweater

I was on the verge of selling this sweater last year, but thankfully some friends talked me out of it.  The front has a V-neck so low it’s practically down to my navel, which is kind of weird and perhaps not so flattering, but I love the spiderweb effect on the back.

Recently when rewatching the movie I was struck by the contrast between the two suits worn in the Voight Kampff scene: Deckard’s nebbish-y hodgepodge of an outfit and Rachael’s embellished 1940′s inspired jacket and skirt.

Deckard (Harrison Ford)

Rachael (Sean Young)

Rachael wears another incredible suit later in the movie.  I love the ombre striped jacket.

But really what always stands out to me are the amazing fur coats.

Rossovelvet wrote a really great post about the costumes back in the fall.

I always stick with one base color palate – either black or brown.  Then I make sure I can mix-and-match everything that I’m bringing.  I pack cheap, fun jewelry to dress things up for night and to make my outfits less boring (I was so sick of looking at these clothes by the end of my trip).  Another trick is to put small items like socks and underwear in plastic bags and to stuff them inside your shoes.  This saves space and prevents the shoes from getting squished.  Also, I always try to find some things that are on their last legs which I can throw out at the end of my trip to make room for anything new I’ve bought.  This time I unloaded some very worn-out tank tops, tights and socks.  For shoes I tend to stick with flats since heels take up so much room.  I made an exception this time because I wanted to wear my new Loeffler Randall Ramona pumps, but I really regretted bringing them.  And not just because I twisted my ankle when leaving the glass-walled lobby bar at our hotel and (in the words of my mortified sister) almost “garfielded across the windows.”

Here’s a picture of almost all of the clothing that I brought with me, minus some tank tops.

I added notes to the photo on Flickr so you can see what all of the items are.

I wore this vintage dress for my birthday last weekend, but it seemed appropriate to post it for Valentine’s Day.  The top always looks orange in pictures, but it’s actually bright red. The dress is so vibrant that I’ve never found an opportunity to wear it, but luckily having a birthday close to February 14th gave me an excuse.

While it would have been fun to run around in that dress today, I actually wore this navy Ivan Grundahl sweater which I got last year at the IF basement sale.  I love the details – the wide, slightly-cowled neckline, the vertical ribbing, and the long sleeves.

I got this ring during an insane sale at LaForet in Tokyo – my sister took video of the scene, which hopefully I can post soon.

Here are some of my choices:

For the last 2 nights of our trip we were able to use frequent flier miles to get a room at the amazing Conrad Tokyo.  On our last day in Japan I wore one of my Tokyo purchases – a gray sweater with bejeweled bows.

Conrad Tokyo

To New Year’s brunch I wore my mother’s 70s suede jacket with faux fur lining.  It has gotten some damage over the years, mainly due to a stupid puff back, but Madame Paulette did a really great job of cleaning it and even gave me a discount because they couldn’t make it perfect again.

Later that night I wore this vintage necklace with an Anna Sui dress to the Bemelmans Bar at the Carlyle.  The necklace also belong to my mother, but she gave it to me on Christmas because I’ve always admired it.

By the way, if you are looking for a nice night out I highly recommend the Bemelmans Bar, especially if you are a fan of Ludwig Bemelmans (creator of Madeline).  The drinks are expensive and you might get harassed by a drunk 70-year old who tells you that you’re making a big mistake if you decline his invitation to dance, but the bar is so elegant and the murals are beautiful.

Philip Treacy created these amazing shoes for Valentino’s Spring 2010 collection.  I love the messy clouds of black tulle that rise up from the toes and heels.  They reminded me a bit of these Alexander Mcqueen shoes that I liked from 2007.

Alexander McQueen shoes from Spring 2007

The McQueen shoes are more wearable, but the Valentino shoes would be like walking on feathers, on pillows, on air.

Duchess of Fabulous Earrings by Erickson Beamon via dirtyflaws

They are available on the Free People site for $488.

Two issues actually had models on the cover (the May issue was a foldout featuring 9 models!) and we got another non-actress in March with Michelle Obama.  Some of the covers are dull, but the Sienna Miller one is at the very least a massive improvement over the September 2007 nightmare. The only ones that I really don’t like are the Ann Hathaway one from January and the November issue, which has a photograph of 4 of the actresses from Nine.

I always hope that Vogue will do more covers like this

May 2004 Vogue featuring Nicole Kidman in Christian Lacroix, photographed by Irving Penn

because I hate cheesy headlines and tons of text all over the cover.  I want to see the CLOTHES.  So far things are not looking promising for 2010, and we lost Irving Penn this year, but it would make me very happy if Vogue just did one cover a year that looked simple and elegant.

runway picture from Style.com

Five and a half years after first seeing them I found a pair on ebay – never worn and still in their box with the original Maxfield label.

A few weeks after receiving my beautiful, beautiful shoes I was wandering around Barneys when a necklace caught my eye.  Could they possibly be selling the Mended Veil snake necklace that I’d wanted since 2006, when I first saw it on kokopuff’s stylediary?

Apparently they were and it was on sale!  But when I took it out of the box at home I felt disappointed.   Did I really long for a clay snake which, as someone pointed out later, looks literally like a piece of crap?

Even if it has cute little periodot eyes?

I think it might be going back to Barneys.

Worn to The Nutcracker.

Banana Republic cardigan, Anzevino and Florence dress, See by Chloé clutch, Georgian period bracelet, Lauren by Ralph Lauren shoes.

“Pretty Ballerina” -The Left Banke

I’m not crazy about the Dali watch, but the Dali museum store has a lot of other nice (and pretty cheap!) reproductions.

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Bunny Love ring by Rabid Fox

Getting this ring was a saga filled with endless Post Office and mailroom trips and caster mistakes, but jeweler Linda Smyth was incredibly patient and responsive and it all worked out in the end.  This is one of my favorite pieces and I can’t stop staring at my hand whenever I wear it.  The ring is also available with stone eyes, which makes the rabbits look so  lifelike.

If you are in the Philadelphia area you can check out Linda’s jewelry in person at her boutique Topstich, in Old City.

It is full Winter now: the trees are bare.  –“Humanitad” by Oscar Wilde

Worn to the Yoko Deveureaux “wake” at The Box in October,

followed by dancing to The Smiths.

H&M dress, See by Chloe clutch, Burberry shoes.

First – the one on his blazer.  I love seeing the contrasting underside of the collar.  I was once told that collars on blazers should not be turned up because of the fabric issue, but I think it can look good, depending on the jacket.

He actually starts the film off with a scarf, but it doesn’t last past the first scene, thankfully.  Look at how messy this is:

The rest of the film is dominated by the popped pea coat collar.  Who needs scarves when you can look like a grad student who is too preoccupied with books to remember accessories?  Or like a spy.  Or like Robert Redford.

Of course I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Max von Sydow’s clothing.   I love the way the brown hat and the square frames and that coat looks downright busy when you see it in action.

POP

Available in brown leather and midnight blue patent, these are like a beautifully encrusted eveningwear version of the Acne Atacoma wedges.

Chie Mihara shoes, H&M dress, Dali cup and saucer, Surreal Things catalog

Having finally purchased the catalog from the amazing Surreal Things: Surrealism and Design exhibition, I now see surrealist influences everywhere I look.

My Chie Mihara shoes always make me think of Man Ray’s A l’heure de l’observatoire, les Amoureux.

1936

The bodysuit that Lady Gaga wore during last week’s American Music Awards immediately reminded me of Elsa Schiaparelli’s Skeleton Dress.

Lady Gaga at the AMAs, 2009. Schiaparelli Skeleton Dress, 1938.

Simonetta Ravizza’s fur cuffs are like embellished versions of Meret Oppenheim’s beaver fur bracelet.

Simonetta Ravizza bracelet, available at luisaviaroma.com

Meret Oppenheim bracelet, 1935

If you are in the New York City area there are two surrealism shows going on right now:  Alias Man Ray: The Art of Reinvention at the Jewish Museum (through March 2010) and The Erotic Object: Surrealist Sculpture from the Collection at MoMA (ends January 4th).