foundations: jeans and a tee

1. striped tee | club monaco

2. slim slouchy jeans | current/elliott

3. mini gold necklace | esdesigns

4. le smoking blazer | rag & bone

5. pumps | HOPE stockholm

6. everyday bag | mulberry

'jeans and a tee' is almost a cultural code phrase that runs the gamut of meanings. it is often used as a visual shorthand on invitations or work memos to discourage 'sloppy' dressing. (ok, so the club monaco tee has a couple of holes in it now, but i'll keep wearing it as long as it holds up...) for me, 'jeans and a tee' also happens to represent the simplest form of minimalist style. i consider this my grown-up uniform for most days.

i've been thinking a lot lately about how to distill my style into a compact, edited collection because i will be going abroad for a year starting this fall. i'll be in a relatively similar climate to where i live now, so luckily there won't be any extreme weather needs or limitations. nonetheless, packing a wardrobe for a year seems like such a daunting task! for the most part, though, i'm looking forward to tackling this now that i've managed to pare down my previously overflowing closet to the key foundation pieces. i'll be posting more about this in the weeks to come, and everything i'm wearing today will definitely be on my packing list.

have you ever had to pack for a year abroad? what were some of your wardrobe essentials?

rediscovering an oldie

gap dress, mulberry bayswater bag, esdesigns necklace, skagen watch, matt bernson sandals

today i pulled out a paisley printed cotton Gap dress that i hadn't worn in several years (the only Gap item that has survived many closet purges). in the past few years, i had slowly gotten rid of various pieces that i purchased when i was younger and replaced them with 'upgrades' - similar items that were made with better materials and fit better. sometimes, though, i got in the habit of upgrading just for the sake of upgrading. thankfully, i held on to this dress, which was something like $30 on sale.

as soon as i put it on, i promptly fell back in love with it and remembered why i bought it in the first place. it's a maxi length dress without being too maxi length, fully lined, and the cotton is wonderfully airy for hot summer days. this is also one of the few dresses that i feel completely at ease in and forget that i'm wearing a dress. i'm one of those people who for some reason just could never really get into dresses or skirts; but i think this is the easy breezy dress for the girl who doesn't really like them. paired with the oak mulberry bayswater (i swapped my black one for this one a while back), it's a fine alternative to my other summer uniform...the idea of a long summer dress with some flat sandals really appeals to me right now.

inexpensive summer travel staples

 

1. a small crossbody bag - vintage 1970s Coach

2. denim shorts - Levis

3. comfortable sandals - Worishofer

4. slim profile watch - Skagen

dressing for travel has its unique challenges.

style inspiration: faye wong

Faye Wong (or Wang Fei, as she's known in HK and China) has always had a fantastic personal style that makes her stand out from the sea of saccharine and super-girly Canto-pop singers and celebrities. i really admire how she combines an avant-garde sensibility and minimalist grace in her artistic personae and everyday life. can you believe that she's 42?? truly the epitome of aging gracefully. also - i really want her hair. that pixie cut on her from Wong Kar-wai's Chungking Express always makes me want to chop all my hair off...