Esme Emannuel

How does your garden grow?

2008-09-04T19:40:00.000-07:00

Who could be contrary when the weather is this sunny and the flowers (and flower prints) are this lovely?

Of course, the price of all this sunny weather is that the sweltering heat has returned. Merde, as we say in my french class. Double merde.

Outfit one-

Shirt- Nordstrom rack $9

Dress- umm...

Pink tights- Target $3.99

Shoes- DSW $20.99

Belt- came free w/ some shirt my sister bought.

Outfit two-

Tank- Target $10.50

Shirt- thrift $2

Pink tights- Target $3.99

Skirt- 7 for all mankind $30

Belt- thrift 25 cents

Hey Beatles, when you get around to making that eight day week, can you make that extra day a weekend? pretty please?

2008-09-01T19:12:00.000-07:00

Friday.

outfit-

Dress- reconstituted thrift store find. $5

Tights- Target $3.50

Mini Cardi- Stolen from my younger sister's closet.

The white tights are my new favorite accessory! They look brilliant with all my skirts and dresses and are so useful now it's finally starting to get chilly. I know I sound like a white tights advert...but seriously, they're the best thing since sliced bread.

Saturday.
Outfit-
Halter- Thrift $5
Skirt- Thrift $6.50

Sunday. I think this outfit was probably best described by my friends mom, when she took one look at me and proclaimed : "why, hello there. aren't you just to cha-cha for words."

Not too much to report from the weekend, except that it was wonderful in a very busy sort of way. Friday night I went to an all night Jane Austen movie watching chocolate eating estrogen fueled sleep over tea part with seven other girls. We probably had too much fun.

Saturday I was at a world music festival, and Sunday I went out for coffee with a friend and moved into my new room. Can't believe school starts tomorrow! i might be getting pretty busy for a while, but I'll try to keep up with the posting.

I got a bad case of loving you

2008-08-28T18:15:00.001-07:00

Why do I look so confused? Don't ask me.
What I wore yesterday.

Outfit-

Shirt- Thrift $4.50

Skinnys- Express $34.90 (Half off sale. Hells yeah.)

Boots- free

Belt- One my sister left behind when she went to college.

Yesterday was kind of crazy and stressful. I went to my second day of S.A.T prep classes and then ran around not one, but two community college campuses looking for class rooms and libraries and bookstores. I have come out alive and am (*crosses fingers*) totally ready for

classes to begin on Tuesday.

What I wore today.

Outfit-

Shirt- Thrift $4

Pants- Forever 21 $24

Shoes- Kelly&Katie. Don't remember how much they cost.

It started raining last night and didn't really stop. This morning dawned grey sky-ed and stormy, with temperatures low enough to break out my light sweaters for. I spent the whole day around the house, writing, cleaning, and belting Duffy songs.

I'm the king of New York

2008-08-26T16:37:00.001-07:00

I get inspired by the oddest things. For instance:

The twenty-five pound box of peaches that's sitting on our kitchen counter.

Peachy, scrumptious, sparkly makeup.

Peachy accessories.
And peach cobbler.

What I wore to my S.A.T prep class this morning. Not so shockingly, everyone else was in jeans and Ts and flip-flops. *sighs the sigh of the chroniclly over dressed.*

and before you ask, yes I do feel just the littlest bit like an extra for the cast of Newsies.

Golden state

2008-08-24T18:01:00.000-07:00

Spent a lazy Sunday hanging around the house making smoothies, watching scrubs and working on a couple art projects. The dress is one I found at the thrift store back in December and haven't really had the guts to wear much. I'm still not sure if I like the mutton sleeves.

Outfit-

Dress- Thrift $12

Shoes- Thrift $4

Soundtrack- John Doe, A year in the wilderness

Sweet 'n Low

2008-08-23T16:29:00.001-07:00

There's something about these last hazy hot days of summer that makes me long for clothes that show my sultry, curvy, feminine side. Sure, I love me my baggy trousers, bubble skirts and tent dresses as much as the next girl, but some days that's just not what I want. Some days I want body con dresses, well cut jeans, and perfect tailored pencil skirts. So imagine my delight when I found this baby at the Salvation Army. The cut! The color! The sweet ruffles! Like whipped cream on a sundae or icing on a cake, it's that little extra thing that makes everything else seem so much better.

Outfit-
Skirt- thrift $6
Shirt- thrift $3
Shoes- thrift $3.50

Soundtrack- Amelia, better than sleeping alone.

Oh and on the topic of slinky sexiness; i love Erin Wasson's body chains! Anyone know where a girl could get her hands on some for cheap? Or if that's not do-able, at least a cheap knockoff?

Rodarte in my heart

2008-08-21T17:58:00.000-07:00

Woke up this morning with rodarte in my heart and a song on my lips. And that song went something like: "lalalala does today seem like a good day to cut tuck fold and in all ways beautify that old lemon chiffon dress of mine so that it looks like something from the rodarte '08 collection? why yes, yes it does." Of course, my little DIY version doesn't look half as stunning as Keira Knightley's peachy confection, but at least it didn't set me back a couple thousand.
The original dress.

Plus some crafty cutouts.
The final version! I feel not just a little bit like one of Degas' ballerinas.
Now if I just had some killer spike heels to go with it...

True Parents

2008-08-20T11:09:00.000-07:00

A bunch of fantastic murals and a pair of crazy awesome Victorian inspired boots.
We had time to hit up the local Salvation Army where I found some fall heels.

And a cozy sweater, a western style belt...
A black wast cinch-er..
A pink wrap shirt, a black silk skirt, a pink belt...
A white button down, and a black vest. (something I've been craving for fall.)
Decided to play around with a menswear inspired look today. I am so excited about the white tights! I bought them yesterday on a last minute school supplies trip to Target. I've been looking for white tights since last May but couldn't find them anywhere. (You'd be surprised how unhelpful the Forever 21 salespeople are. They gave me funny looks when I asked about colored tights, and completely denied the existence of leotards.) Anyways, turns out they were just waiting patiently for me over in the little girls department. Why is it they only make cool tights for the under 12 crowd?

Dress- Target $20

Tie- one of my dad's.

White tights- Target $4.99

Shoes- thrift store $2.99

Hat- Also my dad's. It's to small for him, so he hasn't worn it in a while. I kid you not, when I found it, the hat was so dusty it looked gray. I had to take a vacuum cleaner to it.

Recent purchases not pictured- the huge fall fashion issue of Vogue, a beautiful grey portfolio/folder/drawing pad for mine and my sister's designs, more patterned and colored tights than any one person could ever possibly need.

Bye-Bye Birdie

2008-08-17T19:56:00.001-07:00

Miss you already!

This travelin' around, it's gonna be the death of me

2008-08-17T18:30:00.000-07:00

Just a heads up, I probably won't be posting again until Tuesday night. We're driving my sister back to college so I'll be stuck in a car for most of the next two days, eating pretzels and rocking out to the Clash. aah road trips! There is an upside to all of this, though. Ithaca, the town where we're headed, happens to be one of the funkiest in up-state N.Y. So I'm bringing along the trusty digital camera and hope to be snapping up plenty of street style pics. I really want to start expanding this blog to more than daily outfit posts.

See ya Tuesday!

Shop(ping) girl

2008-08-15T17:20:00.000-07:00

Today's outfit. The shirt's one I found at the thrift store on wednesday. I fell in love with the lace and the cute floral print.

Worn with- red ankle boots

-Charlotte Ruse jeans

-Thrift store vest

-Found belt

The Dan Cardigan makes it's debut. Eh...not a very good pic.

Oh, Dan! how do I love you? Let me count the ways...
(Now if only I could find a Chuck Bass shark sweater.)

Another of the shirts I picked up on wednesday. Also with lace and floral...are we sensing a trend here?

My favorite find. Beautiful blue suede vintage flats. So sweet. I'm on a mission to find white tights to go with them.

Another wednesday shirt. Floral cowboy worn with jeans and a necklace from World Market.

Last find: a flower print romper with ties at the waist.

Really, I don't think I found anything that didn't have flowers on it.

Go get yourself some cheap sunglasses

2008-08-12T18:51:00.000-07:00

I am in LOVE with these shades. I got them yesterday on the first day of my fall shopping, along with a plum colored T and the most amazing striped cardi a la Dan Humphrey. (I hope to post pics of it soon.)
The weather smells of fall and sunshine.
And tomorrow I go thrifting and hit the comic book store. Could it get much better than this?

Outfit
shades-T.J Maxx $8
shoes- rescued from dusty obscurity in my mom's closet.
skirt- Target
tank- Nordstrom rack $9
shirt- I forget....

Soundtrack
Hellogoodbye's Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs!

Etch-a-sketch

2008-08-09T20:12:00.001-07:00

Lovecats

2008-08-07T11:17:00.000-07:00

Kind of rainy today. Spent the afternoon sketching and humming along to the Cure.

Outfit

Skirt- Loehmann's $15

Shirt- a Pravda Records T from my dad's misspent youth.

Boots- thrift store

The kitty is my favorite boy, and probably the only one who won't ever break my heart. His name is Eureka after Dorothy's cat in one of the Oz books.

Close up of the Pravda T.

Everything it seems I like a little bit sweeter, a little bit stronger, a little bit harmful to me

2008-08-06T18:11:00.000-07:00

Hot and blustery today, a sweltering 92 made bearable by the breeze.

soundtrack-Rufus Wainwright, cigarettes and chocolate milk

outfit:
cut offs- Cornell free bin
lacy tank- Nordstrom rack $9
dress- Pacsun $15
necklace- World Market $7.50

and
so much glitter eyeliner my face looked like a friggin disco ball

Welcome to the working week

2008-08-04T08:13:00.001-07:00

I work at a library. It's generally filled with kooky middle aged women, lots of kids, and books. Finding cute work appropriate clothes can be...a bit of a chore. So imagine my dissapointment when, after coming up with this outfit, I find out that I've been replaced for my next two shifts.

oh well.

what's that I hear? ahh, the sweet sound of unemployment.

Sunday in the park

2008-08-03T12:11:00.000-07:00

Afternoon, fabulous people!

I went out to lunch at Panera today. Which I'm totally obssesed with, btw. I mean it's so completely yummy. mmm sandwiches and salads and lemonade. does summer-y food get any better?

Went over to DSW afterwords and hunted through the discount racks for black t-straps. I really think I need a pair. I could wear them with jeans or skirts or my favorite grey mini dress or...well you get the idea. black shoes are endlessly useful.

Today's outfit:

skirt-target $12

jacket-vintage

shoes-free

belt-found in my sister's room

shirt-nordstrom rack $10

The jacket used to be my grandma's. very Chanel, hmm?

A bit of explanation and a Really Killer Hat

2008-08-02T13:07:00.000-07:00

hello.

Explanations first. I've been reading fashion blogs for quite awhile and I kept thinking "oh i should start my own, it would be so much fun...etc." but I'm chronically lazy and hadn't gotten around to it til now. Hopefully my life won't get in the way of blogging and i can post pretty often. I intend to fill this blog with pictures and inspiration and random tid bits and fun. wish me luck!

The really killer hat is one I 'borrowed' from my dad. It's old and beat up and makes me feel deliciously like Lou Doillon.