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!!

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Today, as all good comic book movie nerds know, is the day that Iron Man 2 comes out in theatres. Yes, this is exciting, and yes, we love us some Robert Downey Jr. (Hey-yo!) But the comic book movie I'm really waiting for this summer has to be Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.

In fact, I was talking with Kati on the phone and I mentioned Scott Pilgrim, and she said, "what?" I said, "HOW HAVE YOU NOT HEARD ABOUT THIS MOVIE. YOU WILL LOVE THIS MOVIE."

Thus, Things in this Movie that Are Awesome:

- Michael Cera, who is one of PeriodicStyle's favorites ever, stars as Scott Pilgrim. Scott is a happy-go-lucky unemployed bass player who meets Ramona, the rollerblading delivery girl of his dreams. But in order to date her, he has to defeat her Seven Evil Exes.
- It also features Mae Whitman (Ann! from Arrested Development! and she has to FIGHT MICHAEL CERA!), Brandon Routh, Chris Adams, Jason Schwartzmann (as the Big Bad Ex, Gideon), Kieran Culkin, and Anna Kendrick. Just the cast makes me bounce up and down.
- It is based on a comic book series (which I own and have read), which has lots of video game references, including K.O.s, 1-Ups and power items, save points, and boss battles.
- It is directed by Edgar Wright, who also did Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz (both of which I loved).
- The soundtrack features Metric, another PeriodicStyle favorite, as "Clash at Demonhead", the band fronted by Scott's own Evil Ex, Envy Adams. (You can hear their song for the Scott Pilgrim soundtrack, Black Sheep, on YouTube.) The whole Scott Pilgrim soundtrack is going to be completely epic.
- They're also making a game with Ubisoft, complete with old-school graphics and music. (Check out the preview from Penny Arcade Expo East here on YouTube.) I know Kati kicks it old-school gamer a lot more than I do, so this is totally for her!

Basically, it is going to be amazing and exciting. And I'm going to be there opening day for sure.

I mean, look at the trailer: how is this not something we'd totally dig for days?



While you're waiting, go ahead and pick up the series -- right now it's at five volumes, with the sixth (and final) one due out this summer. Get started with Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 1: Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life, and go from there. It's a fun read, and it will definitely get you pumped for the movie.

What movies are you looking forward to this summer?

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Inspired by: White Oak Drive-In Cleaners, San Carlos, California

For almost the last two years, I've been living back here on the West Coast in what you could essentially say is my hometown. Here on the Peninsula, life is certainly running at a different pace than it did in New York City, not to mention Tokyo. It's nice to come home, take a breath, and rest in the peace and quiet the suburbs afford you sometimes. Still, I crave the cold, hard multisensory stimulation of big cities and when driving into San Francisco's downtown when I have a death wish won't cut it, I head out of the house to find a local spot to explore. This past week I took an afternoon to walk around downtown San Carlos, California, whose Laurel Street main drag is quickly becoming the hot spot for restaurants and yuppie storefronts on the Peninsula.

It turns out Laurel Street, quiet and set back just one block away from the hustle of El Camino Real, the train tracks, and plopped halfway between highways 101 and 280, has been remarkably well-preserved from its obvious heyday in the 1940s and 1950s. As a huge fan of historic and midcentury architecture, it was a delicious treasure trove of well-loved and well-kept buildings just waiting for my adoration!

I had my camera with me and was immediately inspired by the lines and colors of San Carlos' historic buildings, for fashion, of course. The White Oak Drive-In Cleaners above at 1200 Belmont Avenue in San Carlos is a perfect example of midcentury architecture. Note the Googie-influenced curving street-facing wall that turns what would normally be a plain concrete box into a wonderfully Jetsons-esque structure.

San Carlos has preserved (or restored) the old streetlamps and painted them white, as you can see in the photo above--the Victorian profile of the white streetlamp contrasts with the voluptuous, heavy building and its fabulous original pink and white sign!
Check it out, as we get closer--

Yes, the dry cleaners is connected to a two-story apartment building, classic midcentury profile and to my mind, shows that someone did some excellent urban planning to provide both residential and commercial opportunities when the White Oak Drive-In was built. In my attempts to do research online, I found no citations for the address itself, so I can't tell if it was always a drive-in cleaners or a fabulous 1950s venue for James Dean wannabes and their full-skirted, Rayban Wayfarer-wearing girlfriends.


Seriously, how awesome is their sign? It's what makes me think they have been in business since at least 1960, and the building likely dates from the 1940s when this area experienced a huge wartime and post-war boom in building homes and businesses for young families. San Carlos is not your normal Wild West California town, with very few Victorian-era buildings left and a surprisingly substantial strip-mall style cluster of building constituting the downtown, providing a steady flow of plain but stylistically interesting storefronts for local businesses. Like all micentury design and architecture enthusiasts, signage is a particular favorite of mine, I can't get enough of it! Just goes to show, it's not just Hollywood and Route 66 where you can see great midcentury architecture, walk down to your city center and open your eyes for some great, historic, delicious design left over from the 1940s-1960s.

Obviously, I came home inspired by what I saw and just had to make a Polyvore to reflect the best design elements of this building:

Inspired by: White Oak Drive-In Cleaners, San Carlos, CA by periodicstyle featuring kate spade accessories

See the fabulous orange Wayfarers (a must), the 1950s saddle-shoe inspired flat sneakers for the girl who walks to work and traipses about town, the slightly more feminine accessories to soften the blow of a highly structured outfit. The building's strongly contrasting orange line on a field of forest green makes me think of unusual color combinations for greens and oranges, two colors I would normally never pair together. (Really, what color tights are you supposed to wear with a green dress or outfit? Black? Or is that too uniform-y?) I won't lie, when I saw the White Oak Drive-In Cleaners, I thought to myself, "This is Joanie Holloway AS A BUILDING!" Thus, the lady herself has to be featured in that fabulous green dress, could we love her any more?

So we'll bid farewell and say thank you to the White Oak Drive-In Cleaners for the fashion inspiration they've inspired, in the most unexpected of places. On behalf of all of America's underappreciated and forgotten downtowns, every city's architectural history has something to offer us, and remember you can always look to the past to inject a breath of fresh air into your fashionable life!

Curse you, Mercury retrograde!

Today is my birthday (!), and so the *original* plan was to have a lovely birthday tiara post up for you today. Because hey, birthday tiaras! Awesome!

Alas, my home laptop had other ideas. Ideas like the hard drive deciding that it no longer liked living.

So instead, I'm begging forgiveness for the lack of posting in general and now the extended delay in posting, as my Macbook will be sent off to Hard Drive Camp tomorrow and will hopefully return feeling fresh like a daisy. And, well, empty. It's like having a brand new laptop and yet... not.

Meanwhile, since my poor baby is already almost four years old, it could be time to start thinking about a new laptop, which is absolutely not in my budget at all...

In the mean time, go check out my recent post on BlogHer Style, where I tell you all about my spring wardrobe clearout. Or check out Karen's new flat iron review at Periodic Beauty Reviews!

How's this Mercury retrograde treating you so far? It's going on through May 11th, so we all just have to hang in there. And, if you have any laptop recommendations, I'd love to hear them, since it looks like I'll be back in that market soon. (Sigh!)

Keep your eye open for that birthday tiara post closer to Kati's birthday...!

Happy things for spring!

I've been feeling a little broadsided and run down this month, and so I've been finding myself needing a little mental happy boost. One thing that helps is taking extra vitamin B, and another thing that helps? Sweet inspirational prints on Etsy from dazeychic.etsy.com.

Click on the pictures to go directly to the listings!


I think this doesn't need any extra comment. It *is* going to be okay.


Wise words from Bob Dylan.


I need to make some lemon bars this spring, because they are so delicious and will certainly perk me up around here. Anyone have any recipe recommendations?


And finally, this is one of my Facebook profile quotes, which means I should probably get the print some day! I think it is just perfect. Because really, what is happier than a bird with a french fry? (A bird with a whole pizza, actually, but french fries are awesome.)

What's been inspiring you lately? What have you found on Etsy that has stayed with you, or has just made you happy?

images from dazeychic.etsy.com