Thursday, March 8, 2012

a sweater of beauty is a joy forever

i am the first to admit that i make REALLY dumb purchases. like REALLY dumb. i am very very easily swayed by shiny and new things, and attractive salespeople complimenting me on the dashing figure i supposedly cut in an oversized faux-Cristobol Balenciaga neon pink cropped bubble coat-cum-bolero.

so anyways, this is all just prelude to the story of my latest impulse purchase driven by stupidity. a couple months ago, Sarah Miller at The Awl had written about this Marc Jacobs cashmere thermal that Winona Ryder had stolen from Saks on her crime spree. describing her introduction to the sweater, Miller writes:
[W]e were in the men’s department at Barneys and he paused at a display and held up what appeared to be a soft brown shirt. “Behold this masterpiece,” he said somberly. 
I gathered the thing in my hands and held it like a baby. It was so soft. It was silky. It was a sweater, not a shirt, but you could wear it like a shirt. It could be slipped on with nonchalant elegance, and was so beautiful it made you think marrying someone fat and stupid and rich would be ok, if you could just wear one of these all the time. Each delicate square of waffling was its own tiny island of sumptuous luxury. It cost a fortune—over $500. “This is a forever sweater,” I said. A clerk at Charivari—the now-defunct boutique where, coincidentally, a young Marc Jacobs worked—had once referred to a sweater I purchased there as 'a forever sweater,' and we found this phrase ridiculous, but not without meaning. I so wanted this object. “Why is it so perfect?” I moaned.
We stepped out onto Madison Avenue, dizzy with desire, overcome by that experience unique to extreme youth where the humiliation of being underpaid and the belief that greatness and luxury goods are just around the corner merge into one sensation of sweet yearning. We made a pact: The first one of us to get rich would buy the other one a Marc Jacobs Thermal T-shirt. 
i read it with rapt interest, because, (1) hey, i am rich, and (2) that looks like a nice sweater. however, the post indicated that these sweaters no longer really got made and that made me sad in the way that any spoiled child gets sad when their desires get piqued and someone tells him he can't have what he desires. i thought about getting on the line with my Amex concierge, but i hadn't actually even SEEN the sweater and that seemed a bridge too far even for me.

ANYWAYS, here we are, a few months after reading that post and i'm on Gilt and see that a Marc Jacobs thermal is on sale in my size. it was serendipitous insofar as one believes that fate and universal karma conspire to let dudes with too much clothes and money spend more money to buy more clothes. BUT, it was actually a pretty good deal (though it didn't end up being cashmere).

+J shirt / Dries van Noten Tie / Uniqlo Pants / Marc Jacobs Thermal

it's super sheer and super soft and really long and clingy, but i'm into it. i especially like it when i can use it to look like a luxe business casual hobo, as above. i also especially like to think that i own something that Winona Ryder tried to steal "just so that she could FEEL something, ANYTHING, for once in her goddamn life!"

so i guess the moral of the story is that people with a little bit of money can get whatever they want eventually. THE END.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

FYI

just thought i'd let the two remaining readers of my blog know: i look handsome as fuck today.

uniqlo shirt, belt, pants / nom de guerre sweater / thrift tie / jil sander shoes

and don't ever forget that.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

now and forever

never forget how a vintage OPP metal plated hat can change a standard business casual outfit.

+J Uniqlo jacket / +J shirt / Dries tie/ uniqlo pants / Dior shoes / dollar store hat

Monday, December 19, 2011

half-luxurious

i have been DYING for the single fur lapels from Dries van Noten Fall 2011 since i first saw them. so much so that someone from Boogerdorf Goodman was TASKED with calling me as soon as the button-in DETACHABLE fur lapel featured in their catalog came in, but NEVER DID (that's ok, i FORGIVE you with all my heart). so it was MUCH to my delight that i was in bergdorf a couple weeks ago and saw one lonely button-in fur lapel (and on sale!), just when i decided to blow a bunch of money on useless things that i thought might build me up in the esteem of others (spoiler alert: it won't!).

so it was that i obtained this very important (not important at all) objet. i then went to work sewing buttons into all my coats, first and foremost my Balenciaga overcoat.
 
balenciaga coat / dries button-in fur lapel / rag & bone turtleneck / marc jacobs mittens / nikes

with the neon nikes, i look like such 90s german-by-way-of-russia eurotrash, i can't even take it. i just want to rub my euro uncut weiner all over my lapel like all of the time now!

Saturday, December 10, 2011

hypnotized by the whirl

i like to treat myself a lot. if i have a bad day, i'll buy myself something to cheer myself up. if i have a great day, i'll buy myself something to reward myself. if i have a mediocre day, i'll buy myself something so that the day will have something of note happening. basically, what i'm saying is that i'm an american with no impulse control, i.e. an american.

my most recent reward for myself was this weird twisty lanvin sweater that i'd been eyeing at bergdorf since september. it went on sale and i decided that i would find an excuse to buy it.

lanvin sweater / jil jacket / jeans / marc jacobs fur gloves / nike frees

as an early xmas present (which i probably should have saved to wear out until xmas, but WHATEVS), my parents bought me these neon nikes which i'm pretty into. together with the weird femme-y twisty drape of the lanvin sweater, i'm feeling a bit bjork-ish circa her reebok pumps phase. if that means i can be fucking matthew barney in 5-10 years, i'm all for this chain of events.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

meat stretcher

i think this is going to be another year when there is no fall, so i have to be prepared to figure out a way to stretch a couple more months out of my balenciaga jacket. you know, like adding breadcrumbs to a really expensive designer ground chuck. right now, this means layering another light jacket (here a jean jacket, elsewhere a cobalt blue puffer) underneath mostly b/c the jacket looks really stupid zipped up (TRUE CONFESSION).
balenciaga leather / vintage wrangler jean jacket / club monaco sweats

and for a detail of my new favorite t-shirt:
ebay'd michael keaton batman t-shirt

this is a totally normal thing to wear to the gym to totally obliterate my delts, right? ps. all i want for christmas is a gift certificate for ab sculpting surgery. THX.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

dries van noten x eileen fischer

i think i told you guys that i went a little bit crazy on the Dries spring collection. so crazy, in fact, that i bought the cardigan version of the crewneck sweater i already owned b/c it had a cheap leather belt that i thought somehow warranted enough difference to distinguish it.
dries cardigan / +J shirt / j.crew tie / uniqlo pants / jil sander bluchers

i bought it and somehow didn't realize how long it was. it made me feel a bit like a soccer mom so i haven't worn it very much. but i finally figured out that if i tuck it into my waistband in the back, it doesn't nearly look so The Limited circa 2000-2008. also, if i pair it with hypermasculine drag (shirt, tie, plain brown bluchers that i got at the Jil sale for $100), it takes on a completely different look than if i was wearing it over lululemon yoga sweats (namaste.). it's actually starting to become one of my favorite sweaters. i'm pretty into the semi-seditionaries torn sweater details. it subverts the heritage-y color scheme of tan leather and navy wool so i look (a little) less like a tool (probably not).

so i guess the moral of the story is that i shouldn't dismiss mom clothes so readily? i think i'll start shopping at J. Jill and wearing more turquoise jewelry. namaste.