Wearing: Stripes

My sister turned 18 last weekend so we decided to take her for a night on the town. JK, it was dinner followed by lotto ticket purchasing, in which she stumbled with her "puh-po-powerball with a puh-ower-flay-play" request. Anyway, none of us are richer after that but I did wear this cute top I bought secondhand. Blue and black with little puffed shoulders.

Top: Zara (liking this plaid one)

Clutch: Zara (old, love this one)

Jeans: YMI (similar)

Coat: Forever 21

Flats: Urban Outfitters (similar)

Lipstick: MAC Viva Glam 1

Bracelets: Kate Spade (similar)

Wearing: The perfect camo jacket

...that my boyfriend has already stolen. It's because it's just that cool and that perfect. I've been looking for one of these but waiting until I found one dark enough so I could go everyday with it. And then, I stumbled upon this one in the men's section. Darker shade of camo, a hood and sweet plaid detail in the pockets. Damn, 16 dollars never looked so good.

Jacket: Thrifted (similar here and here)

Top: Forever 21 (want this in black)

Leather pants: Forever 21 (similar)

Booties: Lucky Brand

Clutch: H&M (old)

Sunglasses: No name (similar)

Wearing: An outfit two weekends ago

Here I go, letting The Wearist take the backseat to holiday parties, time with family, a nasty flu. Life. I haven't had time to capture outfits lately, but I did snap this one from two weeks ago since it features my new favorite staple: the charcoal coat. It's got a sweet, blousy shape, a collar that I can only describe as awesome, and cool ass sweatshirt like cuffs that emit a city-sporty edge.

Coat: Forever 21

Top: Forever 21(similar)

Jeans: Urban Outfitters

Metal toe flats: Zara (old, love these)

Bag: Zara (old, lusting for this one)

Sunglasses: Urban Outfitters

The Wearist's guide to gifting

'Tis the season! 'Tis the season for gift guides and panic attacks on December 24th. Since everyone's doing it, I've gathered a few items that would make anyone rush to write you a thank you note. Oh, and everything is under a hundo.

Here we go, clockwise from top left.

1. A neon hat. Okay, maybe this is just me that wants one but I've got to say a cute winter beanie is appreciated by all at the end of December. Topshop, $20.

2. The Sartorialist's new book, Closer. Eye candy to the max and yes, I'm still high from his book signing. Barneys, $30.

3. Dessert plates. Not any dessert plates. Fancy plates, designed by Tracy Reese for the target Only the cutest plates from The Target and Neiman Marcus collection.  Target, $40.

4. Monogrammed anything. Super in monograms lately and I'm loving this simple gold cuff. It's a perfect, personalized gift that would mean a lot to any one. Well, if the initial is right. Anthropologie, $58.

5. On the flip side of personalized, there's the gift card. Yeah, I went there. Who hates a guilt-free shopping trip?

6. New perfume. One of those things you just hate buying for yourself, it's a wonderful gift to start the new year with a fresh scent. Chance by Chanel at Nordstrom, $85.

7. A clutch. Also from the brilliant Target and Neiman Marcus collection, this wonderfully simple clutch comes in three colors: gunmetal (the new name for silver), gold and rose gold. Target, $70.

8. Last but certainly not least, some bling. I can't stop lusting for this old Hollywood-ish bracelet. It's simple, glamorous, and certainly invitable to an arm party. Chloe + Isabel, $34.

Wearing: Lacy mirror skirt

Winter peaced out yesterday so it was my last desperate chance to ditch the tights and don bare legs to work. Ironically, or is coincidentally, I nicked my knee shaving so I essentially wore this pretty pencil skirt, bare legs, and a bloody knee. First seen here (along with a tan, ugh), I love the mirrored lace and the front slit. One day I'll wear it with something other than white. 

Top: Forever 21 (similar)

Skirt: Vintage (love this pencil)

Booties: Lucky Brand

Sunglasses: Urban Outfitters

Wearing: An autograph

Last week I went to the Museum of Contemporary Art to see streetstyle god Scott Schuman of The Sartorialist say some words and sign some books. I'll start with the words. His photographs are undoubtedly beautiful, but I clung to what he said about what he hopes they do for his readers. While most photos of a fashionable, trendy person are meant to tell a story (who are they, what do they like, are they crazy, etc), Schuman wants his photos to start a story. Is that gorgeous girl in Paris wearing socks with sandals and should I do that too? Should we start talking about Spring 2013? What is this galaxy sweatshirt all about?

After he spoke, we were herded to stand in line for two hours to get our books signed and, to my surprise, our hands shook. I was not prepared for the hand shaking since I had my book in one hand and my queued up phone in the other (to get the below picture). I ended up fumbling for what seemed like five minutes just to touch the damn man. I was also not prepared for him to ask questions. How are you today? What do you do? Oh a blog? Do you have a card? I gave him 10 cards, almost the whole wallet, and walked away on top of the world. A very stylish world.

Wearing: A fanny pack

So this happened last night. This no-one-can-stop-me-I'm-on-fire moment in which I spent five dollars and walked away with this black leather quilted fanny pack. Any thoughts from you on how to style this? Over the jacket? Under the jacket? In the depths of my closet where it will forever go unseen?

Fanny pack: Urban Outfitters (on major clearance at the Urban Surplus)

Wearing: Holiday skirt

I thought about wearing this to Thanksgiving dinner last week but had to re-think my outfit due to two major problems. One, wearing white to a night solely revolving around eating (things like red cranberry sauce) and drinking (things like red wine) is just silly. Hello, stain. Meet my white top. Two, who am I kidding. Black is the most flattering when it's going to be an "I'll take seconds" kind of night.  Long story longer, I ended up choosing a simple black dress, bare legs, and leopard heels.

Top: Forever 21 (similar)

Skirt: Old (LOVE this leather version)

Necklace: Forever 21 (not available, love this one)

Clutch: Forever 21

Boots: Lucky Brand

Wearing: Whitefit

If you've been doing your reading, you'll recall I did a post on white leather jackets in an effort to teach myself how to style one. In researching its behavior, I came to a conclusion that it would get along well with an all white ensemble and a few black accessories. And then there's this red lipstick I'm sort of obsessed with. Well it's not just this one red lipstick. It's all lipsticks.

Jacket: Target (similar)

Skirt: Vintage (love this pleated mini)

Boots: Lucky Brand

Clutch: Zara (similar)

Sunglasses: No Label (similar)

Guest post: Hemingway and Handbags

Did a little blogger-bartering and traded a post for a post with the girls from Hemingway & Handbags. H&H is a pair of uber cool girls with uber cool style so I triple dog dare you to check them out. 

_______________

Hey there Chicago, Taylor has so graciously offered us, Hemingway and Handbags, a spot on her fantastic blog! 

So to switch things up and flip this post, we would like to share with you our most current dilemma.  Don't worry we are not turning this into a self help post, we just wanted to discuss the weather. Original right? But seriously... we live in California, Southern California to be exact, and following Fall Fashion during Santa Ana season ain't easy. With that said, we have figured out a few tricks of our own (or so we like to think) that allow us to participate in most cold weather trends without sweating off our make-up. 

 We have concluded that there are 3 major ways to embrace Fall and simultaneously beat the heat. 

1. Fall colors, obviously. See Monica's green/black and Michaela's navy/black combos. So not ss12.
2. Light clothing: Michaela's pants may be pants, but boy do they let in a breeze thanks to cotton. Meanwhile, Monica ditches trousers all together and rocks bare, but very fall, legs. We are both wearing T-Shirts, thick knitted sweaters are just not possible...yet.
3. Booties: Riding boots cut-in-half. Need we say more?

And there you have it, a California Fall through the eyes of two weather wimps. 

xx

H&H 

Wearing: Bare knees

I know. It's totally not warm out and still my poor knees have to suffer. But hey, it's fashion. And no extremity is safe in the name of fashion. These pants are absolutely not in season, which is probably why they were on sale, but I can't ignore a cool pair of jeans. Plus, I've been seeing this style of ripped denim in a few street style pics (for example this one, this one and this one) and being the slave to style that I am I had to pull a copycat move. With my favorite chunky-but-not-too-chunky sweater and an oatmeal coat, I'm braving the weekend chill. Well, my knees are at least.

Happy Cyber Monday! Anyone shopping?

Jeans: Urban Outfitters

Sweater: Forever 21 (sexy version here)

Coat: Gap (secondhand, love this a lot)

Shoes: Zara

Sunglasses: Urban Outfitters

Clutch: Forever 21

White leather jackets

I recently acquired a white leather jacket so I'm experimenting on ways to wear it without looking cheap. I say acquired because I scoured my mom's closet, which can only be described as glorious, and she let me borrow it. "Borrow." Tag was still on it. Meaning she hadn't even worn it. Meaning I might have permanently acquired it. Meaning lucky me.

I love white. White is clean, is crisp, is fresh. Is susceptible to stains. All the more reason to wear it in leather form if you ask me. While gathering some inspiration, I'm seeing that a white leather jacket looks good with black, gray and most importantly: White.

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

Wanting: H&M x Maison Martin Margiela

I just have to properly articulate how freakin' cool this collaboration is. So cool. Full throttle cool. Larger than life cool (literally). Oversized pieces, minimalistic color palette, edgy shapes, which consequently leave little shape, and this little nude leotard with a faux bra. Damn.

Wearing: Black suit

This might be the closest I can get to looking like I'm wearing a suit and now that suits are popular again I thought I'd throw a buncha black shit together and call it a day. Or a suit rather. Wearing leather pants to work is a regular move of mine (you can do it too) and the turtle neck is a classic take on, well, turtle necks.

You'll notice I wear a lot of black in the winter, which is good because black does nothing but flatter the slice of pie I had for breakfast. But forget the pie (for the moment, not entirely); what we really need to talk about is the shoes. Holy cap-toe. Aren't these just little slices (since we're on the subject) of neon heaven.

Blazer: Nordstrom (old, similar)

Turtleneck: Forever 21

Leather pants: Forever 21 (similar)

Clutch: Zara (similar)

Sunglasses: Urban Outfitters

Shoes: Ann Taylor (love these)