Real Nice Thing in Life #6

I have promised myself not to buy any clothing item for three months. I'm very proud of my organizational skills, but my closet is rapidly reaching its full capacity. I'm blessed enough to belong to the spoil girl's club where owning fifteen pair of shoes seem normal. From a practical point of view one should only need one pair. The other fourteen pairs are the result of years of being spoiled by a lovable father, mother, boyfriends, husband, etc. I'm en route of becoming a clothing addict. Which doesn't sound that bad when you think about it. Clothes have never seriously hurt anyone, and the side effects of shopping therapy are known to be quite positive involving feelings of pure ecstasy and immense happiness. The problem starts when you can't fit your clothes anywhere. I have to say however that I've always had the "one and one" rule. One new item comes in, one old item goes out. That way I've kept my closet in balance and my friends happy -purging closet day is quite popular among my closest pals-.

Before committing to three months of clothing abstinence, I made myself a little ritual. Like a smoker having his last cigarette, I treated myself to one last shopping spree. I promised myself that this spree could only consist of one item, one last special item that would seduce me and keep me entertained for the hard months to come. And without much effort this pretty little skirt found me. It was love at first sight. It made me look -and feel-  like a pumpkin. But not any type of pumpkin, but a pumpkin having a blast in the Carnavales de Rio. It was fluffy, heavy, and shapeless. In other words: PERFECT! 

It's been two weeks since I started my non-buying-any-clothing-for-three-months-promise and I've done a great job. The only thing I gotten myself has been a package of bobby pins, which I chose to categorize as necessities and not clothing items/ accessories. 

I think I will be able to control myself. With the money I'll be saving these three months I'm planning to buy a killer pair of shoes ;) Just kidding!

Real Nice Thing in Life #6: Clothes! and the joy of sharing what you have with the people you love.

Besos,

G

All pictures by CoCo
H&M Skirt, JCrew Shirt, Celine Platforms, vintage shell purse

Real Nice Thing in Life #11

I was obsessed with Barbie dolls when I was younger. I can’t think of another way to describe the twenty-odd dolls that I collected over my childhood years. I had the Japanese Barbie, the Doctor Barbie, the just-had-a-baby Barbie, the grandma-and-grandpa Barbie-and-Ken combo, the Barbie horse, the Barbie Ferrari Testarosa, the scooter, the apartment, the office -everything. My dolls had the world at their feet. The predominant palette of my bedroom was every color ranging from hot-pink, freshly unwrapped bubble gum to pale-pink, I’ve-been-chewing-this-piece-for-four-hours-bubble gum. It couldn’t get any more girly. Yet my mother insisted on cutting my hair the same way as my older brother (super short!) and in a very avant garde effort to reuse, recycle, restore, I inherited my brother’s very boyish clothing.  

I’ve found myself shopping in the man’s department many times and not for my male counterparts, but for me.  I love it when my husband purges his closet and all his unwanted nice shirts find a new home in mine. Not only do they fit me perfectly -i.e. they look huge- but the male scent they come with is just priceless! (grrr).  My new wallet (I lost my old one during a slightly wild birthday celebration) is from Jack Spade, and my all-time favorite shoes are Cole Haan men's black oxfords -to the point where I've purchased the same pair with slightly different variations several times. I love wearing men's bow ties, and nothing beats John Varvato's shower gel (although I've found a new best friend in Chloe's  hand lotion).

I love this gender-specific-clothing grey zone where woman can rock male outfits. In a world where gender inequality is undeniable it's very refreshing to feel that one can take advantage -to an almost abusive extent- of the opposite sex's closet. Despite the many times I was mistaken as a cute boy when I was little, I have to thank my mom for giving me a wider point of view regarding clothing, hair styles, and frugality.

Real Nice Thing in Life #11: Barbie dolls, brothers, mothers, and the ability to somehow survive them all happily. Mixing men's plaid shirts, cheetah patterns, flower powered-jeans, red lipstick, purple booties, and a pounding headache.

Citizens of Humanity flower power jeans, JCrew men's shirt, Botkier booties.
All pictures by a very hungover Alcibiades.

The Genius I thought I was

I'm lucky enough to have an older brother. When we were little I inherited his clothing. Very often I was mistaken as his younger brother. I never felt upset for this gender confusion, but I developed a love for male clothing (as certain guayabagram suggested). My brother is super bright and smart. I just happen to have cute curly blonde hair. Curly blonde with crazy ideas, just keep reading....

Last Thursday during a pre-fall cleaning session of my husband's closet, I came across the nicest stripped shirts that he no longer considered good enough to share prime closet space with his other shirts. The fabric was just fantastic, a bit too big for moi, but something told me that I could give a better use to these beautiful body containers before making Salvation Army their next destination. So I did what any normal human being would do and I started using the shirt as a super hero cape, although it looked fantastic, I didn't think my office would approve of that look (remember this incident?), then I used it as a turban, look that I loved, but let's remember that we are in the middle of a very intense summer in NYC, maybe I'll try that look for fall. So, what else to do with a beautiful piece of material if it's not to wrap it around your waist and use it a s skirt? And that's exactly what I did. It was perfection. I pictured myself inventing the "shkirt" and selling it all around the world. Everything was beautiful until I went online and typed: "how to wear a men's shirt like a skirt" and suddenly my dreams broke into a million pieces. There are about fifty videos about what the hell to do with men's clothes! Who has the time to come up with this nonsense? My favorite however is this one, click click.

So just when I thought that I've discovered the ultimate fashion creation comes youtube and slaps me in the face. I was this close (fat and index finger almost touching) of proving to my brother and my entire family that there is more than blond fibers in mi skull. There is a video right before youtube came and threw cold water at me, a video that shows the genius I thought I was.

Ralph Lauren men's shirt, Chloe Sevigny for Opening Ceremony blouse, Miu Miu shoes, 

Vintage tie head piece. Dorky dance by myself.