Is this thing on?

Why, hello there! Why the long radio silence, PeriodicStyle?

I'll be honest -- 2010 was a rough year. Money was tight and inspiration was scarce; it was very much a "put your head down and work" year, and so there wasn't much time or reason for browsing Etsy, wandering the aisles of Sephora, and so on. And so PeriodicStyle fell by the wayside.

It's hard to write a blog that's, at the most elemental core, about being a consumer when there's nothing you're interested in buying and no money to buy it with anyway, and you'e never been comfortable as an outfit or FOTD-blogger.

The truth is also that since starting the blog in January '07, life has changed for all three of us. Just speaking for me, I've traveled to places I've never been, I've had several jobs, I moved to my first non-college apartment, I've had two serious boyfriends and one really heart-wrenching break-up. I've been to Fashion Week twice, and I've learned a ton about myself.

2010 really made it clear that I'm just not the same girl I used to be, even from one year ago. Even from six months ago. And unfortunately, PS just doesn't really line up with who I am and what I want to do anymore, and Karen and Kati agree with me.

So we're closing PeriodicStyle -- we'll still leave up the archives, so please feel free to take a look and drop us a line, but we won't be producing any more content here.

What we *are* doing is that we've moved our energy over to Tumblr -- we are now happily updating at genmaicha.tumblr.com, formerly known as Periodicals. It's short, it's sweet, it's awesome. What's also particularly awesome is that there's no designation of who's adding what to Tumblr -- so it's just one delicious hivemind of the three of us. Please, please come hang out with us on Tumblr!

I know I'm always going to be grateful for the opportunities that PeriodicStyle opened up for me and the amazing people I've met, either in person or through the internets -- but it's time for a new year, and time to move on!

xoxo!

Eureka, I've Got It!

Holy smokes, do you remember this post from almost exactly seven months ago, about how I was desperately searching for a perfect pair of menswear-styled flat oxfords? Well, today, ladies and gent, I FOUND THEM. I have them right here under my desk, and they are fabulous.

As is every great shoe acquisition, today's started innocuously--I had just pledged to not spend any money, having several large upcoming purchases in mind to save up for, and I was out helping my father shop for men's shirts. I was absolutely not going to buy myself anything. The last time this happened two years ago, I ended up with a pair of Chie Mihara pumps that I still wear at least twice a week and I certainly do not regret that shopping indiscretion. We ended up on 4th Street in Southwest Berkeley, always a nice time what with the lovely CB2 and the Pasta Shop, at local and sustainability-conscious boutique Convert.

Convert is a pretty, bare-bones shop with windows filled with utilitarian Moxsie-esque goodies like Toms Shoes and recycled fabric knapsacks. It reminded me of the small warehouse-style boutiques I saw in Japan that seem to be taking hold here, all white walls with a couple of minimalist racks and long, industrial tables in the middle of the room. (Maybe I just haven't been shopping in a while, we are in a recession, after all.) The men's clothes at Convert are far more practical than the women's, so my father was lucky in his shopping endeavors: three shirts, one sweater. Disappointed in their weird, batwing-y ladies' selection, I strolled over to the shoe section to see if Jeanne was right about those weird Tom's shoes (cushioned, but stinky!).

First, I spotted the adorable Dorothy pump with its tickly little leather+fur flower and charming barbershop-pole striped wooden heel. So cute! So furry! Then, OH GLORY:
Eureka! Hello, lovely Jazzy flat ladies' oxford! They are amazing. Handmade real leather soles by J.Shoes, made in the United Kingdom, charming pinked and layered vamp, waxed leather laces that actually stay tied (unlike my Jeffrey Campbell Steppin heels), obviously crafted exactly a la a man's sturdy oxford and I love it.

I feel like I need to bring up the hems of my wideleg trousers and invest in a pair of suspenders to go full-time mascu-femme, top it all off with a snappy fedora and voila! I already scuffed up the slippery leathery soles by walking around on the asphalt and they are going great so far. Perhaps for work, a pair of opaque black patterned tights, a slim skirt, and a high-necked Victorian blouse? Or for the weekend, black tights again with a mid-thigh skirt and summer tee. Back in black, as always!

How should I put my best foot forward with these new shoes, hmm? Keep it period with a heavy dose of tailoring, or go all-out hipster-y in skinny jeans? I can't wait to trot these babies out for the fall!

Polished up and pretty!

So obviously you all know that I'm a big nail polish fan, and my collection is such that I've had to reorganize it a couple of times. Right now, I have a three-drawer unit guy, like this one from Target, sorted out by color.

Top Shelf: Blues and turquoises.
Middle Shelf: Pinks, reds, purples, and overflow from bottom shelf.
Bottom Shelf: Vamps and darks, metallics and brights, and unusual colors in general. (Again, it overflows into the middle shelf.)

It's nice to have such a big variety -- when Kati came to visit in June, she asked me what colors I had so if she needed to retouch her polish, would I have it. (The majority of the time? Yes. Yes I did.) My roommate asked to borrow a hot pink for a pedicure and I promptly fished out Essie's Mod Squad for her.

The thing is, I have such a variety that there are polishes I've never worn before, even while I'm sighing over new colors (and, yes, occasionally bringing new ones home). And so I have to challenge myself to switch up my toes more; I have to keep them in good shape because of my newly-acquired athletic status, so that means I should be taking better care of them and switching up the colors whenever I tend to my toes.

Right now, my toes are the gorgeous Zoya Rea, a shimmery lavender mauve that was hiding in the middle shelf. I'd bought it almost exactly a year ago, as part of the 2009 Fall collection, but I'm totally loving it right now for my cool-weather summer pedi. As soon as I had painted one coat, I told purple-loving Karen, "You have to try this." I don't even know what prompted me to pick up Rea last year, but I am absolutely glad I did.

So while I work my way through my stash, tell me -- what untested colors do you have in your nail polish collection? Any surprises or discoveries?

image from zoya.com

Girl, where've you been??

Alas, it's been way, way too long since we've posted!

Life has been pretty busy/hectic for all three of us at PeriodicStyle this summer -- lots of change is in the air for us, so we're all rolling with it as best as we can. For example, I'm now three days away from trying out for the local roller derby league (yes! it's true! I'm going for it!), so that has been eating my brain and my spare time for the past few months.

That's not to say we're not finding and enjoying new things, of course; I promise to do a better job of keeping up and keeping you all in the loop!

Thanks for your patience while we've been adjusting, and we hope everything's going all right for you too! Why don't you leave a comment and let us know what's been up with you while we've been taking our sabbatical? We miss you too!

Resisting Retail Gravity: the Curse of the Black Blouse

I have a problem. I am perpetually tangled up in a push-pull of my effort to add more color to my wardrobe, yet whenever I make it to a store, I inevitably end up buying the same two items: black shirts, black skirts. Seriously, I must have a hundred version of the same outfit, black shirt, gray pants/skirt, black shoes. My co-workers must think I only own three items of clothing.

There is SOME color in my closet (also known as the pile of clothing I pull out of the dryer and haphazardly make into a work-friendly outfit)--I have a purple and black dress, a teal blouse, a couple of jackets, maybe a navy shirt or two that occasionally come out to play. Let me tell you, it is an exciting day in my world when I wear more than two colors at a time. Maybe I'll mix it up, a black shirt with gray pants and a polka-dot scarf in red and gray--SWEET HEAVENS ABOVE, the avant-garde fashion explorer I used to be has long been subsumed by my corporate conformist self.

As I see it, I am trapped by the cruel pull of retail gravity to always, always end up in an anonymous fitting room with an armful of black blouses. I do try to look for alternate colors on my admittedly infrequent shopping trips. I just am not a big patterns girl, I'll go for a lovely polka dot, Swiss dot, or a stripe provided it's a color on a black field.

One very lovely blouse in my closet is probably the best possible color combination for my wardrobe, a Finley button-up blouse with pleats at the waist, doubled cuffs and collar with black and maroon jacquard lining, all in a an alternating stripe pattern of black, navy, and maroon. PERFECT, right? I can wear it with gray, black, navy, or maroon. Why don't I wear it more often? I HAVE NO IDEA. It lives on a hanger in my closet and it always seems just a smidge too short, or the sleeves are too hot for the weather. That shirt just cannot win in the fashion battle that happens five days a week, at eight o'clock every morning.

Short of gutting my fading black wardrobe of its colorlessness and ransacking every store in a fifty-mile radius for shirts in every tacky color of the rainbow to prove a point to myself, what can I do to resist the siren call of the black shirt-gray skirt pattern? Maybe I don't LIKE anything other than that outfit. I'm not afraid of color, I have a specific sort of style and quality of fashion that I try to cultivate when I do shop, it's just frustrating to go into my closet and come up with the same thing, over and over again. Perhaps I can find a solution in the form of dresses this summer.

So, mystery as yet unresolved, do you have an old stand-by fashion favorite that has taken over your life? Last year, it was all opaque tights and black A-line skirts for us--the cycle continues!!