Joelle Van Dyne

lions and leopards and roses, oh my

Happy 2012 everyone! Hope you had a great holiday and are enjoying a day off work today. Unfortunately I’m stuck in the office. On the plus side, Wall Street is a ghost town today and there was zero line at Starbucks (see what I did there? Being Positive = new resolution). Here are a few photos from a holiday dress-up session, featuring this vintage Escada jacket, which was a gift from Santa. When telling friends what I got, their reaction was unanimously “you got… an Escada jacket? Really? You like it?”. I hope when they see it they’ll understand. There are lions AND a leopard print on the same jacket, and the prints match up perfectly at the seams. 

In looking at these photos, another resolution will have to be buying a new pair of black jeans. The old standby pair is looking pretty shabby. And yet another resolution might be to figure out how to do flash photography- I was having all kinds of issues with the flash, and then with trying to get rid of light bursts in photoshop. Just squint when you look at the photos.

I took these photos in my recently-painted home office/dressing room. I used Benjamin Moore ‘racoon fur’ and am in love with the nearly-black color. I found a few brass lamps and fogged mirrors at various Ohio thrift stores, and finally feel like I’m making some progress on getting my apartment in shape. Well, back to work! Maybe I’ll be back later this week with some apartment photos.

vintage escada jacket, h&m sequin skirt worn as a shirt, diane von furstenberg black slip dress, genetic denim jeans, christian louboutin miss tack boots, miu miu sunglasses

gold star

you may remember my birthday wishlist, which i posted here in september. these ridiculous miu miu sparkle butterfly sunglasses were on that list, and at last, they are MINE! i fell in love with these as soon as i saw them shimmering down the runway, and put myself on a wait list for them in august, hoping to have them as a 30th birthday gift to myself. by october i had given up on ever receiving a pair, but then, lo and behold, in the end of november, they arrived. once a birthday present, now a christmas present.

when i went to pick them up, there was another woman at miu miu yelling at the sales associate “i KNOW you got the glasses!.. i don’t know why you’re lying about it!.. i’m sure you kept them for yourself!..” she was QUITE upset about not getting her glasses. i waited until she was safely gone before proudly announcing that i was there to pick up my own! 

i like to celebrate these glasses by dorkishly matching my entire outfit to them: shiny golden stars, a yellow dress, and boots that make me feel like a superhero. i can’t wait until i’m wearing these glasses on the beach with a gold lame’ swimsuit instead of a fur coat. to do before spring: acquire gold lame’ swimsuit.

miu miu sunglasses, vintage fur coat, rebecca taylor blouse, black halo dress, wolford tights, stuart weitzman 5050 boots, jcrew bracelet

what i wore for a date with a vampire

i hope you all had a great thanksgiving weekend! i know i did. this was the first year i stayed in NYC instead of going to montauk/hamptons for the weekend. i was pretty depressed about it at first, but it ended up being a good time to stay in the city. it was quiet, and the weather was beautiful. on this particular day, i took the dogs to play in our backyard before going to witness the masterpiece that is the latest TWILIGHT movie with my girlfriends. WOW those movies keep getting worse every time! i love them.

i wanted to wear something vampire-worthy to the movie. luckily the outfit i’ve had on repeat for weeks worked out fine: a skull tee shirt, velvet pants, and large, ruffled sleeves. 

millie wanted to go too, because she loves edward. and jacob. she loves all boys. is her face not the cutest one in the entire world?

+j uniqlo jacket, la perla sweater, pamela love tee shirt (c/o), bcbg velvet pants, alexander wang boots, zac posen bag

the evil powers of leggings

long time no blog! i’ve had a really nice break from tumblr for the past couple weeks. i laid in bed for several days straight after finishing the NYC marathon; i spent a week with my family in ohio; i went to the movies a bunch; i ate my weight in red vines; etc. etc. i also wore basically the same outfit every day, and didn’t feel in the mood to take any photos. however, last week i had a nice dinner with of a kind, celebrating their 1-year anniversary (!!!), and attended a very hectic preview of versace for h&m with the inimitable rima, and suddenly felt like getting back into the swing of blog-things. 

i’ve shared my love for uniqlo’s +j collection here many times, and now i’m going to do it again. this is the first down jacket i’ve ever been attracted to. i first saw it when my mom was visiting me in nyc, and was disappointed when i couldn’t find my size. well, my super-mom spent her last morning in nyc going uptown to the new uniqlo store, finding my size, putting it on hold for me, and then slipping cash, in the exact amount of the coat, into my bag when she hugged me goodbye later that day. now i think of her every time i wear it.

i’m not the only fan of jil sander’s uniqlo line. i managed to convince my boyfriend he NEEDED to check it out, and he ended up with this wool toggle coat.

aside from the cozy, wizard-sleeved down jacket, my uniform of late has included my low-heeled alexander wang boots, which are turning out to be my most sensible shoes. they’re so comfortable, and go with everything. i’ve also been wearing something i’m feeling sheepish about: leggings. i frequently complain when i can see the full outline of someone’s crotch in their leggings. thus, i have avoided wearing them since the 1980s. i feared that they would tempt me to wear shorter and shorter shirts, until i, too, was displaying my crotch outline for the world to see. 

however, in ohio, i saw these kova & t faux-leather leggings, and remembered admiring them on an olsen twin years ago. i came up with several reasons i should buy them: an olsen wore them; the price was right; i will never fit my thighs into actual leather pants. and so, i gave in. and i’ve been wearing these all the time, feeling so comfortable, so free, so ashamed. 

uniqlo +j down coat, alexa chung for madewell sweater, ny&co dress, kova & t leggings, alexander wang boots, miu miu bag

keeping off my feet

i’m a bundle of nerves today, as i prepare to run the NYC marathon tomorrow. it’ll be my first, and probably only, marathon. as a completely un-athletic lady, it is very intimidating; however, i’ve done my best to train. i was able to run 20 miles 2 weeks ago. i could hardly walk home after, but i felt like a rockstar. this week, during a quick 3-mile jog, i did something bad to my left leg so that it’s hurt to walk all week. i’m hoping i get an adrenaline rush tomorrow that makes me forget my left and make it to the finish line. please cross your fingers and toes for me- i’ll need it!

the fisherman sweater

i’ve had my eye out for a fitted fisherman sweater for awhile now, and recently picked this one up from madewell. it’s part of alexa chung’s line. i really don’t understand her appeal most of the time, since she always looks so messy; but, i’d be lying if i said i wasn’t interested every time that hipster ragamuffin comes out with a new madwell collection. this sweater is very thick and well-made, and i like the short length for wearing it with high-waisted jeans or skirts.

not much else to say today. i’m completely brain-dead/exhausted after spending the weekend with my mom and her twin sister in NYC. our personalities are polar opposites- they just love to be busy, chatty, and surrounded by people. for instance, when getting on the subway, i would tell them “let’s walk down to the next train car, it seems more empty.” and my mom would say “why would we do that?! everyone must be in THIS train car for a reason! let’s stay where the action is!”. they were making new best friends all over the city. 

i had a great time with them, but now feel like i want to shut myself in a dark, quiet room for a few days.

alexa chung for madwell sweater, phillip lim skirt, prada boots, loeffler randall bag, juicy couture sunglasses

street fashion photography is messing with me

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By CHELSEA FAGAN 

 No, but seriously, though — what the hell are they doing? What are those scraggly little hipsters with the Scott Schuman tattoos on their chests running around my city with the bowling-ball sized cameras and complete disregard for traffic patterns doing? Paris is officially 67 percent fashion photographers at this point, they are relegated to photographing cats and recycling bins for the most part. They must be staying to mess with me specifically. They have to be. Well, if not, then one of them, or perhaps one of you, needs to answer my very valid, reasonable questions:

• Why won’t they admit that they clearly only photograph models? I thought the point of street fashion was to take pictures of people that don’t look exactly like everyone you see in every magazine ever — when did that turn into “Oh, this model’s late for a casting call — better get a few shots of her while she’s on her way?” If I had a dollar for every person on these sites that wasn’t 6’1”, 110 pounds, and fucking beautiful — I would have, like, three dollars max.
• What the hell are these people doing? I’m sorry, but a 50-year-old Asian man wearing a Paul Smith suit, a denim jacket, a mink stole, a Louis Vuitton backpack, Air Force Ones, and shutter shades — WHERE IS HE GOING? Does he work at an accounting firm run by Kanye West and a 10-year-old girl? Is he late for an appointment with Willy Wonka at the World Bank? Seriously, this man had one thing and one thing alone on his agenda that day: Stand awkwardly on the corner of the street, smoke a cigarette, and wait for people to come take his picture.
• Where do people buy these absurd, absurd clothes? I know that a lot of it is more like moving art installations than actual clothes, but you take a picture of a chick wearing a floor-length ball gown made entirely out of Nerds Ropes and you don’t offer any explanation — like, sure, we’re all just supposed to nod along with great dignity and appreciation for art as we ignore the fact that she’s walking around an actual city in modern civilization wearing a bra shaped like a dolphin. Right, okay.
• What do people wear if they don’t have a billion dollars at their disposal? You cannot deny that 70 percent of street fashion photography is now just the most amazing, expensive, creme de la creme stuff available. It’s not like they ever just take a picture of some girl wearing an H&M cardigan in a smart, interesting way — street fashion photography essentially just shows you all the fabulous, absurdist ways you can carry that new Fendi clutch! With that Vera Wang wedding dress and coat made out of an animal only rich people know about — duh!
• Why are there only two options — extremely put together and classy, or crust punk covered with scabs and rubber bands? Apparently the only alternative to being a rich fasionista, if you want to get on style blogs, is to just stop showering for a few months and wear the same plaid shirt every day. You’re “edgy”? And “edgy” is “fashionable”?
• Where do you find these people? I walk around Paris every day — every single day — and have never once seen a woman running to catch a train while wearing an evening gown with a Hefty bag shawl and a pair of cowboy boots. I want to know where you’re finding them — is there just a farm of impeccably dressed, charming, smoking older men in semi-matching suits? Can I go to this farm?
• Why do you insist on taking pictures of size-6 women and referring to them as “curvy?” Come on, bro, that shit is so patronizing. “Look, we’re including you, too, fatties!! <3″
• How do you find sexy, impeccably dressed older people riding scooters? Where is that secret community? The day I see an older woman in five-inch heels and a floor-length skirt strap on a pink helmet and go putting around the Concorde, I will get “FASHION 4 LYFE” tattooed on my forehead. Stop just blatantly paying well-dressed older people to do fun-looking stuff. We know what their actual hobby here is — sitting outside at cafes and looking at passerby with the hatred of Dante’s Inferno. 

flower power

it feels strange to be posting such summery outfits right now, but i was so happy to have a chance to snap some photos of this dress while i was in austin. i bought it at the flea market in williamsburg last summer, because i can’t resist a shoulder cut-out. the dress is from the 1960s, but was meant to mimic one from the 1920s. and now i’m wearing it in 2011, while it is on its last legs, with the material disintegrating in a few areas. i’ll have to figure out something to do with the fabric when the dress truly bites the dust.

by the way, i promise to switch up my shoes for the next post. in a grand demonstration of self-restraint, i didn’t pack many for my vacation. as it turns out, 5” tall daisy-printed shoes go with a lot more than you would expect.

vintage dress, miu miu shoes, juicy couture sunglasses