Vacation: What I Saw, What I Bought, What I Wore.

Okay, so I know I said no clothes shopping for three months, but taking my first vacation in 13 months (which turned out to be not much of a vacation) was kind of a special occasion. I declared it a fashion emergency and therefore exempt from all rules. OK maybe not all.

Usually I use a vacation as an excuse to buy a new "resort" wardrobe. That includes jewelry, waterproof  makeup and expensive sunscreen you can only buy in Sephora. But since I had my "No shopping for 3 months rule" (which I had held myself to, more or less) I had to do things differently. No Expensive Milly cover-ups, no Trina Turk bathing suits, no new wardrobe from my favorite resort store in the world Calypso St Barths. (Thank goodness, I was not going to St Barths, I would have to take out a second mortgage!)

My budget vacation dictated a budget wardrobe. So I shopped my closet, did some laundry and found some very suitable things from last years wardrobe. Like The cover-up I bought in Target, yes, Target) and never wore. I dug out my favorite fit flops (they are exercise sandals for your butt and yes, they really do work). A turquoise and green Lily Pulitzer dress I bought two years ago, which is oh-so-tropical and I ironically still LOVE it!

But I still needed stuff... I mean I can't wear an old stained stretched out bathing suit on the beach can I? So I stuck within a budget of under $200 and bought a few staples at Loft, Gap and shhh... Bloomingdale's

I bought this crazy zebra print bikini by  Ralph Lauren for about $110.00 dollars. It's a little wild for me, but wanted to do something different for a change. The model rocks it better than I could, but hey she is a bikini model probably half my age! What do you think?

I bought this tank at the Gap for about ten bucks. I also got one in white because you can never have too many white tank tops (mine usually turn yellow or gray by the end of season).

 

tangerine

I also bought a sun washed tee from Loft in a tangerine color. It was so summery and reminded me of a color you would find in a sunset. It was not on sale, but so soft and pretty, so for $20.00 I decided to buy it. I wore it to death while on vacation so now it is double sun washed.

Vacation is all about fantasy and excess, and so is shopping for some of us shopaholics, so...

I developed some rules of thumb for vacation shopping .

1. Take Inventory . See what you have before you buy. A trip to the cleaners, a bottle of Tide and some bleach can make last seasons crumpled dingy clothes squashed into a drawer or closet look brand new!

2. If it ain't totally broke (and you are ) it is OK. I thought I needed a new pair of designer sunglasses. My old glasses were slightly scratched and there was a chip on the frame near the hinge . But they worked. To have new glasses tossed around in the sand and on a snorkel boat made no sense, so I made do.

3 . Have a budget and stick to it . I thought  $200 for clothes, a bathing suit, sunscreen and waterproof makeup was too little. It was not! I did not even get to wear one of my tank tops .

4. Beg and borrow . During my sunglasses crisis, a friend with a sunglasses "collection" offered me to borrow a pair of  her Guccis, Prada ,etc. I didn't, but if you need earrings, a clutch or accessories and can't afford - ask around! This is  especially true if you are travelling off season.   Your friends will be wearing snow boots while you are on the beach! Borrow their flip flops!

Remember vacation is all is about the experience not your wardrobe! But I wish I had gotten a spray tan...

For the Love of Shopping

Happy February!  February is the month of love. I love  flowers, chocolate and the fact that winter is half over. But there is nothing I love more than shopping.  They say if you you love something set it free, and on January first, that is exactly what I did. I made  a resolution not to shop for any new clothes or shoes for THREE months .
Three  months may not seem like a long time, but for a fashionista it is an eternity. So how am I coping?

Good question! I am proud to say for that past month and a half I have not bought any clothes or shoes. With the tiny exception (no pun) of a pair of underwear for $3 in an extreme emergency ( I forgot to pack a pair in my gym bag if you must know).

So how does one go three months without shopping for new things? Well I guess I can shop for old things but I hate thrift stores . And someone else's "old thing" would still be "new for me," so that would not count now, would it?

 So... I went shopping in the most convenient place of all... my closet! I found some old things that were brand new.With tags! And some in red, just in time for Valentine's day!

Trina Turk Wool Coat

My favorite find, was the holiday present I  forgot about. A wool Trina Turk coat in pretty shade of crimson. I love the asymmetrical buttons, the retro collar and the elegant cuffs. Modern meets classic!  What a way to brighten up a dreary day!

Trina Turk Mirren Dress

Another great non-shopping find, was something I bought off my fall wish list, during my November shopping spree, also by my favorite west coast designer Trina Turk. The tweed Mirren dress, which was steal on sale. I found this in my closet, still with tags on . A few snips of the scissor followed with pairing of black tights and boots, I walked out the door feeling brand new!
I received five compliments before I even finished pouring my morning coffee at work! And no, I did not style my outfit with the silly beret as I work in NYC, not Paris .

Last, but not least, was a past impulse buy at the DVF sample sale.

Barely breathing in my DVF sample sale dress.

I love the color, also red, a departure from my all black wardrobe. I really like the dress but don't love the fit . Too much holiday indulgence left this a little to snug for work, but it was fine for play. I decided to wear it at to my friend Corina's engagement party. I wish I loved the dress as much as she loves her fiance, but sometimes it's OK to be  "in-like" especially if you hate your credit card balances!


If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you are with. And that goes for the clothes and shoes in your closet. Stay tuned for more hidden closet finds, my next wish list, and whether or not I ended up buying vacation clothes!
xoxo
N.

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Forty Days And Forty Tights: What to Do When Your Wardrobe is Flooded with Too Much Stuff.

Forty Days and Forty Tights: What to Do When your Wardrobe is Flooded with too Much Stuff!

I recently asked my husband if he had started taking martial arts again. “Why do I look more toned?” he asked. Well, unless you call a beer gut toned, the answer would be a definite “No!” I told him what prompted the question was the black and blue bruises he had on his body. “Oh, that??!” he explained, “That’s from walking into the dresser drawers you leave open that I accidently walk into! Why the hell don’t you close them???”

The answer is simple. I don’t close my drawers because I can’t. My massive mission dresser is filled to capacity. In short, the drawers are stuffed with too much “stuff.”

My husband then proceeded to ask precisely what I keep in these drawers that now can be classified as a lethal weapon. “Tights” I tell him. “Tights?” he responds incredulously? “How many tights can you possibly have?” he asked.

I had no clue. So I set to find out how many actual pairs of tights I own. His guess was forty.  Mine was twenty. So I dump my drawer out onto the bed and despite my math-phobia, I counted. And guess how many tights I had?

Forty! I own forty pairs of tights. Opaque, ribbed, matte, fishnet, shiny.  Forty pairs!!! And that does not count pantyhose!  And the kicker, which is no surprise, for a NYC girl, is that TWENTY-NINE PAIRS were BLACK!

2 brown, 3 gray, 1 purple, 1 pink, 1 leopard print (yes, leopard print) and 3 were colors I just don’t have the vocabulary to describe (muddy beige? Speckled Sand? , Ugly Mushroom? I don’t know).

So basically, my husband, concludes, that I can go forty days, without doing laundry, and never wear the same tights twice.  41 days, if you count the pair of reversible SPANX (A brilliant invention: one side is black, the other grey, it is two pairs of tights in one that make you look five pounds thinner!)

Then there is the drawer that holds my workout clothes. I can get a workout just trying to pull that damn jammed drawer open myself! I like to work out. Okay, maybe I don’t like to work out, but I need to. Having appropriate workout gear is a great motivator. So over the years I bought a lot of workout pants.

So once again, out go the drawer’s contents, onto my bed.  I learn that I have a lot of workout pants. 30 of them! Capris, Yoga Pants, classic sweats. And no, I am not counting the ones I sleep in, or the trendy velour ones the fashion marketers classify as “lounge-wear.” Like really, who wears sweats to a lounge anyway? I usually wear a little black dress, but that’s just me!

So basically, if I worked out every day for a month, I could wear a different pair of workout pants each day and not have to do any laundry! But then my apartment would really smell, wouldn’t it? So I tossed ten shabby pairs from my not-so-shabby- skinny-years and bought a gallon of Tide.

My point is that it is important to know what you have in order to know what you need. If you think you need more tights or sweatpants, you are going to inevitably buy them, regardless of whether or not you have 30 pairs in your closet! So I embarked on what I call Project De-clutter (see next month's post) where I am taking inventory of all my “stuff” before I buy one single new thing.  Although J. Crew did have this great pair of pink tights on sale….please don’t tell my husband!

Me in my famous leopard skin tights! A must-have for every woman's wardrobe!