A DAY WITH RICK + ALDO

 
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Thanksgiving break means some of my friends are able to come back to LA for a few days before returning to schools all over the country. I met Rick over the summer and was so excited when he let me know he would be in town and was dying to shoot. 

We grabbed coffee and lunch at one of my favorite spots - Go Get Em Tiger - in Larchmont Village, then scouted some shoots locations and got right to it. The first spot was one I had seen while driving home from the West Side; white walls and a couple newsstands. 

Of course, my first (and very intelligent) thought was to stand on top of them.

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We then set off Downtown to try to get into a cool loft space. Nothing like ample natural light and some huge windows to make for some amazing shadows and a killer shot.

By some miracle, we got a handful of shots without being noticed or kicked out. All in all, an extremely successful day. 

Make sure to check out Rick's site and Instagram. He's seriously an amazing person, as well as an extremely talented photographer and creative.

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Ending note: how incredible are these Aldo sock boots??? I was beyond thrilled when Aldo emailed me wanting to collaborate. There are bag people, and then there are shoe people. I am, and will forever be, a shoe person, and these are easily in my top five favorite pairs. 

Bodysuit - Urban Outfitters | Skirt - Zara | Boots - Aldo (gifted) | Photography - Rick Bhatia

BLACK MAGIC + GRAFFITI SUBLIME

Quick question...how do we all feel about this post title? The only excuse I have for calling it "Black Magic" is that my outfit here is (almost) all black. If you take away the jacket. Is that reason enough? Or did I just make a complete fool of myself? What comes to mind when

you

hear the words "Black Magic?"

In my humble opinion, this outfit is pretty magical. And it's (almost) all black. Very fitting, then, that this post it entitled "Black Magic." Not going to lie - this might be the worst thesis I've ever presented...

Last week, I took a major step by finally checking out 

Graffiti Sublime

, a West LA coffee shop infamous for its litany of strictly enforced rules (read more about them

here

). After reading several low-rated Yelp reviews written by angry customers complaining about everything from rude baristas to the 90-minute wifi limit, I was absolutely terrified.

What if I decided to go there and ended up getting yelled at for bringing my reusable water bottle (no outside food/drink allowed)? What if I stuttered whilst trying to place my drink order? Would I be met with a judgmental side-eye from the barista? What if???

All of these concerns were completely unnecessary. I honestly don't understand why people give this place so much shit on social media! The barista was friendly enough, I had a wonderful time catching up with my friend,

Amee

, without getting reprimanded for being too loud or anything, and the interior was absolutely stunning! This coffee shop is really more of an art gallery. Two floors of all-white floors, walls and ceilings. It even has a fire place?!?! I mean, how cool is that?

The lesson to be learned here is that you shouldn't believe everything you see/read online. Don't knock something till you've tried it. I'm sure that at some point or another, we've all been scared off by over-zealous Yelp reviewers expressing their hatred for a coffee shop whose rules have been put in place merely to achieve a certain (perfect for conversation and/or getting some work done) ambience. Ignore the haterz and just check that place out for yourself. If you end up siding with the angry Yelp-goers...no biggie! But you might just end up finding your new favorite spot.

Moving on to the look...

Can I just say that I always feel so weird talking about what I'm wearing?

Should

 I be discussing the benefits of wearing jeans and a t-shirt, or my preference for all-black outfits? You tell me.

My wardrobe is in desperate need of an update. I have owned all of the items featured in this post for at least six months. I feel like I've tried almost every possible combination of the items I own, but after an hour of trying to figure out what to wear on this particular day, I finally found

this

. Why had this ensemble never occurred to me? It's got the best of all worlds. Double denim (black high-rise denim shorts + denim jacket) + distressed black tee + cool shoes + RayBan's = happy me.

This outfit's a winner winner chicken dinner for sure.

DEAR LA WEATHER: a rant about this never-ending heatwave

Day:

?

Notes:

It's still 90 degrees. I want to buy knits, but I can't. It's too hot for knits. When will it

really

 be Fall in LA?

I'm so over this heatwave.

I can't stand it. I shot this ensemble an entire month ago, thinking it would start cooling down by the end of September. And yet, here we are...

This is actually a fine example of what I would wear once the temperature drops somewhere closer to 70 degrees during the day (as it should at this point of the year). *sigh*

All bitching about LA weather aside, I'm absolutely in love with this mustard/rust-colored (*insert gif from Project Runway of Christopher Palu making fun of a fellow contestant for describing her orangey-red fabric as "blood orange"*) pinafore dress from Zara. 

You know those impulse buys you sometimes make? (

Of course

it wasn't within your control to think more carefully about how to spend your money. Who needs budgeting? That Nicholas Cage pillowcase on Amazon just showed up in your shopping cart, right?) This was one of them. I saw the color and immediately decided that since I didn't have a pinafore dress yet, this would be my first one.

After I got home from shopping, I eagerly tried it on again. After five minutes of trying to find different tops to wear under it, I was hit with the sinking realization that I didn't have anything that really "went" with it.

The logical solution, then, was to go out shopping, 

again

, to find something that

would

 match.

...And I wonder why my debit card balance shrinks so quickly...

Keeping my budget in mind, I walked into Forever 21 for the first time in maybe four or five years. My last trip to that store probably involved walking around aimlessly with a squad of ten girls as we all waited for our parents to pick us up from a movie we had decided to go see after school. Ahhh, middle school. Good times. Not really. But it's good to look back and laugh at your younger self every once in a while.

I'm not going to lie. Forever 21 is actually pretty great. I'd forgotten how many basics they have, and for SUCH CHEAP PRICES. This super cute bell-sleeved knit sweater with scalloped hem details? $20.

In conclusion:

-mustard/rust is my new favorite (at least for Fall) color

-don't buy an article of clothing without thinking first about whether or not you have the necessary items to match

-Forever 21 is kind of great

-LA...get your shit together. I'm tired of this heat. Give me 70 degrees. That's all I ask. 

BUSINESS CASUAL (?)

Yesterday was the first official day of Fall, and though it was something around 85 degrees for the majority of the day, I was overwhelmed by the sudden urge to bake a million pumpkin-themed desserts and start a knitting club. Well maybe not so much the knitting club part...but the desire to wear knit items still stands.

It can be quite disconcerting when 10 catalogs (my favorite being the Crate & Barrel one) pile up on your doorstep, all splattered with similar holiday-inspired catch-phrases. I have a love-hate relationship with premature holiday advertising because it gets me all pumped about celebrations that, in truth, are still months away. I used to get intense anxiety when people played Christmas music before Thanksgiving was over.

(This little anecdote has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the post. I just had to get the ball rolling somehow, and nothing else was really coming to mind.)

At this point I think I'm going to abandon my rant about the holidays and LA's Summer-esque Fall weather and just get back to business....

...business casual, that is.

See what I did, there? Because this look is business casual. Kind of. Maybe if the jeans weren't ripped...

These photos are from another set I shot with my friend Justin in Downtown LA. (See other collabs I've done with him,

here

and

here

). I was shooting three looks that day, so I wanted one of them to be a touch more office-appropriate - not that I would really have experience dressing for the office. My bosses are children/their parents (babysitting) and a bloggger/jewelry designer who says I can wear whatever I feel like to work, so workwear for me usually means jeans and a t-shirt, all brought together by a pair of Birkenstocks.

Wow, I really do apologize about this post. My writing is neither inspired nor comical today.

This look was inspired by minimalism. It's funny because I always tag my Instagram photos with "#minimalism," yet my photos aren't really that. Yes, my photos tend toward simplicity, but simplicity is not synonymous to minimalism. At least, I don't think it is. When I think of minimalism translated into an outfit, I think of black and white and lack of detail - no fuss and simple cuts.

My idea of what "minimalism" in fashion inspired me to go for a crisp white button-up shirt (sleeveless, of course), paired with my favorite (and slightly over-worn) black skinnies, all tied together with black and white patterned heels.

Though we've established that this would not be an appropriate business-casual look, it would be rather nice to wear out to dinner. It's formal in its simplicity, yet casual in its comfort and details (the high-low cut of the top, ripped knees in the jeans, and playful heels).

As thrilling as this post is, I really think I should just stop typing at this point. This quickly turned into one of those posts that I know I'm going to look back on in five years time, shaking my head at my awful writing and many failed attempts to try to fix what has already been broken (re: the bad jokes/bad writing).