Mississippi Market, 3.31.09

This is an ode to the 70s, because I discovered, we were both at Iowa State in the 70s.
He added the bling to the beret. Those are his dad's specs with custom wire-and-epoxy-glue earpieces.

Rip The Runway, Guthrie, 3.30.09

The show outside the show.

U of M, saturday, march 28, 2009

early morning plaid

University of Minnesota

Bursting bag, attitudiness choppy hair, great hoop earrings and pragmatic yet adorable footwear. She got the boots in the Netherlands.

Jacket, pants, bricks -- it's a rust-orama.

What are the chances that I would stalk the same person twice? Pretty good, I guess, if you're as put together as this woman. I tried to shoot her another day with dead camera -- today, success! The blue shirtwaist speaks of spring, but the wintery sweater coat and jeans live in the now. She just got the dress in New York!

I got rained out today but I'd like to mention something I've noticed as a style stalker. Most days, I'm willing to go to a likely spot and wait patiently in the bushes until an eloquent dresser comes along. But sometimes, I need a sure hit, express stalking. I am not a lion that can be all happy bringing down one gazelle in every 70 chases or whatever. My neighborhood is blessed with many many colleges and universities, always a fruitful source of stylish. These higher education forays have revealed distinct style quotients. The College of St. Catherine, for example, is hopeless -- girl after girl in pajamas and fake Uggs. Ugg. St. Thomas is only viable if your idea of style is closely allied with Hollister's. So much blond, so little style. Macalester begins to look up, especially when the art students are in a manic phase. Now I know the University of Minnesota wins partly by overwhelmingly massive jean pool, but numbers alone cannot explain the foment, the environment, the feng shui that produces such style so easily. It's like shooting fish in a barrel. Not that I would know about that particular activity. I can be at the U for 15 minutes and get 10 great shots. It's thrilling really. Anyway, go Gophers. And pay attention, all you college-bound. Is Banana Republic your reach school, or are you looking all the way to vintage Vivier?

Her wonderful hat (trilby? pork pie?) pulled the whole thing together. She got it new on the streets of NYC.



Great family resemblance -- all of them had fantastic hair.
















Maybe it was the older gentleman's shoes or the way he combed back his hair or his cool fur-lined stadium coat or the younger guy's techy parka, but regardless, something about them was ... different. Come to find out they're from Italy, just visiting and upholding the Italian reputation for inimitable style.

two pair abandoned and...

my fault for the bad shot but she's rocking the cap, crisp collar and cuffs and wide belt.

I caught Arlene mid-complaint about having her picture taken. Ice-cream man edge to this vintage jacket and tough boots that you can only see the top of. I was out and about, thoroughly swaddled, but no one else was -- too cold.

Proof positive that I've hit a milestone -- I saw a forsythia wreath on a front door, all cheery and yellow, and even as I realized it must be faux, I was in love with it. I'm at the age where fabric flowers seem not only acceptable, but desirable.

Lookit, a blinding flash and a vintage dress with Sparrow sweater. Previously I was using a cereal box with a pinhole in it, so this is quite an upgrade.

Am I mad about that sun spot on this superbly continental guy? A little. His beret was "ancient," his deerskin jacket was custom made in Colorado, his boots are Clarks, his gloves and shirt are techy and his look is full of thought.

Yellow bike with one whitewall, penny loafers (Goodwill) and handmade Ecuadoran bag, but most notable of all is the short sleeves! March in Minnesota!
The two color adventurers are niece and aunt -- outstanding!

New functional camera + warmer weather = an improvement in my blogosphere. Clearly though, I have not mastered photo cropping. Marisa with Indian accent and LaRisa rocking an earthy scarf.

Generally street style is a wonderfully upbeat, life-affirming, amazing activity -- the way people put themselves together, it makes me all happy and my rod and cones jump around as if to say, "Look at that, and that, and that!" I've captured the difference between street style and mall style with these bootals that I downloaded off of an unnamed online shop that otherwise had very cute stuff. OK, you dragged it out of me -- it was LuLus.com. Don't take it out on LuLus. Everyone makes mistakes. I saved this photo under the name dumboots. Very negative, I know. Which is why street style is so right and good -- you'd never have to denigrate these boots because they simply would never happen on the street, in real life. A very casual observer noted the liquid leggings they chose to complement the bootals. Someone was profoundly chemically imbalanced....
Enough. I received three pair of polyurethane (Californians read: vegan) shoes from GoJane today and I couldn't be more thrilled. Cheap, tarty, towering. If I start to list in these dawgs there's going to be trouble. And speaking of trouble, my camera doesn't work again. I've been out there, accosting stylish people left and right, but my camera doesn't work below 40 degrees. Interesting, because I don't very much either. Let me know if I've bruised anyone's sense of style by bashing these bootals. And then we will have cosure on the negativity and never go there again. Period.

Plaid squared. The most beautiful mother and daughter, positively life affirming. They were at the Walker Art Center with the rest of their gorgeous family.

This was U of MN day and, as always, fruitful from a street style perspective. I have to think our girl of the plaid and pinstripe was a plant because she reacted to that camera like an old friend. Plus who looks that good going to class at 11 a.m.? Crisp, heeled, neatly bagged -- I can only dream of this kind of togetherness.
On the Washington Ave.
bridge, this mermaid rocked the wet look leggings (Urban Outfitters, she thought), pitch perfect with a pea coat and plaid flannel shirt. And the loose wonderful waves? Right on.









Kind of smacks of effort, but I appreciate a guy who tries. His Artfulness circled some paint on Where's Waldo specs, dirtied up this marvelous vintage corduroy coat. The baby blue leather buttons and collar tabs are his very own idea too. Out of frame but not out of mind are his net bag for books and black and red Nike Frees. Dude has a lot to say stylistically, but that's the way he rolls.


I had to run to catch up with this tall striding woman, which is my excuse for the fuzzy pic. No worries, the 24K Prada (Canal Street?) bag shows up loud and clear. Loved the over-the-knee boots (replacement for Uggs, she said) and waist-whittled down jacket. She was booking, confident, warm and scoring serious style points.

That's Jules of Knit-N-Jules in the creamy knit shrug. She made it her very own self. All soft and fuzzy with sweet smocking at the cuff and a lacy scalloped edge. Jules was in the process of dropping some handknit goods at A.Michele, 1591 Selby Ave. Owner Amy Mullen's got a real knack for one-of-a-kind handmade clothes, bags and accessories. Artilicious at the very least.
And that beautiful smile belongs to the most effortlessly chic person I know, Arlene. Cool skinny jeans, hoop earrings. How many people can make that schoolgirl plaid jumper look hip? Answer: one. Kate Moss? Nuthin. Arlene has this gift for putting things together. She's outside my favorite haunt, My Sister's Closet.