portlandia

one super excellent thing about living in a west coast city is, well....

the proximity to other west coast cities!

i took advantage of this uh... advantage on wednesday, and did a quick trip to portland.

the excuse for the trip was for me to attend the northwest footwear materials show, which was an interesting chance for me to get to look at a lot of the materials that athletic shoes are made of. (being a fashion-oriented designer myself, some of these things were quite new to me. and quite inspiring!)

but, i also got to have some fun. not the least of which was running into a friend from high school (!) completely randomly. 

what luck!

the weather was characteristically rainy, so i decided against trying to shoot any street style photos. it's hard to get people to stop on the street to pose in a downpour. (and you know what? i don't really want to stop to shoot them!)

but that doesn't mean that i was not paying attention to portland style. and i do have something fun on which to report....

the portland black lipstick company makes lipsticks in a range of colors that are not typically easy to find:

turquoise, green, metallic blue, purple, silver, gold, black, grey and brown are all of some choices.

they're all 100% natural, and i'm sort of obsessed with their hippie-chic design, which calls to mind an old favorite:

truth be told- i am not a huge fan of the idea of black or turquoise lips, i have tried these highly pigmented tubes as eye liner, and they are the perfect thing to create a greasy, smokey eye.

i brought home "coffee, black" (a very dark brown) and "indigo bridge" and am now channeling kate moss, circa her close call with arrest on cocaine charges.

it's not so shocking that a cheeky, hippie, goth product line like this would come from portland. as we all know the dream of the 90's in alive in portland....

and although it's awesome weather kept me from proving to you that all of your favorite subcultural styles live on this little city..... i did manage to shoot one photo of an adorable girl who made me a delicious soy latte...

i don't know if she's wearing portland black lipstick co's lippie here, but i sure would't be surprised if she were....

how cute is she!?

adorable. 

thanks for the fun day, pdx!

los angeles download

so, i've lived in los angeles for just over two months now. and i've intentionally resisted writing any posts about la vs nyc style, in order to try to get a more local perspective....

one of the things that i'm happy to report is that living in la doesn't feel the same as visiting la.

when i'd come to visit, previously, i'd usually be tagging along on a business trip of my husband's. we'd stay in hollywood, and do all the "typical" hip la visitor things- eat at animal, shop at maxfield, and drive down to venice to stroll and brunch at gjelina. 

we were never really exposed to the "east side", which is where we now live. i've spent the last weeks exploring the neighborhoods of silver lake, los feliz, atwater village, echo park and koreatown as much as my schedule allows.

and i can tell you that style looks quite different over here. this is not the beach-y vibe of venice, with short short cut off denim, scrubby sneakers and streaky ombre blonde hair. venice kind of looks like a free people catalogue.....

nor is it the conspicuous consumption of hollywood. even the "hipsters" in hollywood wear heels at every occasion, the hair is perfectly done, ironic glasses are from oliver peoples.... it's a very studied look- all the elements in place, all logos subtly revealed.... not much experimenting, not much mystery.

the east side seems more comfortable to me.... it reminds me a bit of brooklyn. maybe a little too much, from time to time? silver lake is still fully entrenched in ironic dressing. yesterday, a "cool dude" in front of me in the coffee line was wearing dickies. dickies!! i haven't seen those in years....

as much as these folks take from the williamsburg aesthetic, a lot of the look also comes from the portland & seattle / pacific northwest vibe.... there's an outdoorsiness to a lot of the looks that is just not found in brooklyn.

the areas surrounding our neighborhood seem to be a good balance of many subcultures. you definitely do see the skinny "fashion" girl crossing the street, teetering in her jeffery campbell litas, the dirty-haired rocker dude, as well as the frances-mcdormand-in-laurel-canyon industry bitches. but you also see a fair number of your typical city-version of middle-manager dudes, soccer moms and young families.

it's a nice mix.

which was all a super-long prelude to the point that i came here to type about.

leggings. 

the one thing that all of the areas and neighborhoods that i've mentioned above (and many that i haven't) all seem to have in common is an abiding obsession with leggings, in all their forms. 

leggings, jeggings, drop crotch, high waisted, cropped short....

i honestly can't imagine what los angeles would be without them.

preferably black. and worn as clothing, not exercise attire.

and i think i've figured out the reason why...

it definitely has to do with that exercise element..... which angelenos love.

somehow, the prevailing trends in exercise all seem to lead to the same path, here in so cal. and at the end of that path is a pair of seriously muscular legs.

like this:

this girl's legs (and what she's wearing on them) literally epitomize the look of la at the moment.

i must admit that i don't love it. it's a little too athletic, and little too masculine for me. look at her quadriceps! too much, too much.....

i'm as against cellulite as the next girl, but this is too far in the other direction. i'd rather see a little jiggle, than be reminded of the incredible hulk, about to bust out of his pants all together!

i'm more a fan of a longer, leaner leg... something that i realize is not within every girl's genetic make up. but most of these girls could really benefit from a little more softness, a little more, well.... femininity.

a pair of thighs like these, peeking out of a soft & flow-y shorter skirt just do not do it for me. it's sort of scary!

it could be worse, certainly. in fact, i'd steeled myself for some pretty questionable sartorial choices in this town, and so far, i've been happily surprised by the place....

and of course, this is only the first of many observations. spring is coming!

stay tuned for more....

cargo

as you saw in yesterday's post, portland oregon is a great place to eat, drink and be merry.

it's also a great place to browse, and spend some money (but generally not too much).

one of the most visually appealing places to while a away some time while a rain shower passes is cargo. almost TEN years ago, i lived in portland, and worked at a shoe store that was on the same street as cargo's TINY original store.

i could not believe what it's blossomed into. see for yourself:

yes, all of the above is one store. in its giant industrial space, cargo manages to pack in treats for all ages and all budgets.

GO!

the other warehouse sale

to distract myself from the mounting hurricane that *will not* be disrupting my vacation travel plans tomorrow morning, yesterday i went to the bird warehouse sale.

i am a devotee of the store, having moved into the carroll gardens neighborhood at approximately the same time the boutique did.

they do a bang-up job at buying for the whole dang place, but i have always had an affection for their shoe selection.....

however, i've been trying to reign in the spending this summer, so most of my visits have been for browsing, inspiration & window shopping only.

but of course i had my favorites...... and i set off the warehouse sale with cautious optimism that at least one of the two pair of shoes that i'd been coveting would be available....

although the twitterer at bird (bird tweets. obviously.) had mentioned that ladies had started lining up an hour before opening, i arrived at the twenty-minute countdown, and found no one there.

i'm not too impressed with um, exaggerating the truth in order to cajole people to come and stand outside in the rain for no reason at all.... but, like i said, i'm a devotee, so i didn't make too much of a fuss.

and i'm glad i didn't. once i got into the store, jen mankins and her lovely & friendly staff were excellent hosts, and steered me right toward the shoes.....

and the two pair that i'd been dreaming of:

the rachel comey leno

the dieppa restrepo dina

they will both be coming with me, my two pair of acne jeans, earnest sewn cut off jeans shorts, james linen pants, 10 t shirts & tank tops, gap denim button down, printed cotton button down shirt from layla, white peasant blouse, alc maroon jersey dress, two scarves, blazer, white converses and blue flat sandals from topshop on the....

plane to portland, which will be taking off from newark airport tomorrow at 7 am. 

after which time, hurricane irene can do what it likes with the new york tri state area.

yes, i'm already packed.

--- this post now concludes "shoe week". i hope you have enjoyed it as much as i have ---