Aesthetics

It's strange how much a change of environment will change your appearance.

My wardrobe took a conservative and feminine turn after 5 months in Paris -- less skin (oh, California), more shape and curvature. London led it down a slightly more edgy and vintage turn -- more colors and patterns. And now, in San Francisco, it's hard to describe it as anything other than urban practicality, at least 99% of the time -- can I ride my bike in this?

Man friendly; not bike friendly.

I've had moments here where I feel like I've somewhat lost my previous sense of femininity. I've also been wearing less and less makeup as the years have passed on, which isn't to say that has any correlation with a lessening sense of femininity. If anything, I see it as shedding the unnecessary, impractical -- something simple and more natural. Although I have to admit -- I fucking love make up. I'm good at the application and the experimentation, but I really can't be bothered to wear all that shit on a daily basis.

So it's been somewhat of a struggle to mix up my closet as of the past year in SF. The weather isn't usually quite warm enough to wear the array of dresses I have, and even when tights and cardigans can make up for it, it's not practical on a bike. Considering I ride almost every single day, the chances that you find me in a dress or skirt is pretty close to null. And that makes me sad, because dresses and skirts are up there as my favorite item of clothing. Not to mention that my previous heel-queen self has relinquished my throne to all things flat and durable. Despite my previous ability to dance for hours on 5-inchers, I now squirm at the thought of wearing heels to anything more than an art gallery. This is where Southern California girls get their advantage -- they don't have to walk anywhere on a daily basis other than that hour in the mall or that 10 feet to their car from the store.

With that said, I've been trying to make compromises. Trying to get a bit more creative, come up with something that's not stylistically dead and still serve the purpose of the SF streets and my daily commutes.

I've been jonsing for a proper parka -- although the style I have in mind is a bit more synthetic/shiny looking and of a deeper green, I settled for the following:

Oversized hooded parka, ASOS

I'm obsessed with hoods.

And because I can't get enough of military green, or coats:

Funnel neck toggle coat, ASOS.

Check out the bee-yoo-tiful pleating in the back.

And to introduce a new member to the never-too-many supply of cardigans, my personal funfetti cake cardigan:

Vero Moda multi-color flecked cardigan

While it ain't easy trying to stay below the budget, it sure helps to have a boyfriend who wants to help you dress the way you do :)

On the subject of dressing, I went frame shopping in the past weekend for a handful of posters that deserve to be dressed. I didn't expect frames to be that f'ing expensive, but I did manage to frame the two of the smaller posters. The other two were a massive 20x26.

You can't really tell from this photo that it's a floating frame, because the margins are so damn small, but the dude I bought this from at an art show really made it difficult to fit this in a preset frame size. I had to trim this shit like 4 times. If you know how shaky my hands are, you'd give me a god damn trophy:

And an appropriately sick present from Jeff of 12FV found its home:

Oh, that's right. These will be hung, for all to see, in my next apartment, officiated as of today. SOMA, HERE I COME. I've beaten the SF housing monster. For this year, at least.

And for now, I'll just heave and sigh over gorgeous leather handbags, forsaken embellished tops and jersey dresses, and forget about delicately adorned flats. I've got some jungle-proof gear to pick up and mud-trudging shoes to try out for Brazil in December.