Wendy

"Some Rainbow - coming from the Fair! / Some Vision of the World Cashmere - / I confidently see! / Or else a Peacock's purple Train / Feather by feather - on the plain / Fritters itself away! / The dreamy Butterflies bestir! / Lethargic pools resume" - Emily Dickinson, Some Rainbow - coming from the Fair!

alice + olivia 'Wendy' blouse. Vintage bangle & Gloria Sachs skirt (last worn HERE). Kenneth Jay Lane belt. Prada shoes.

Wendy blouse with hipster cinched waist peplum & scalloped cap sleeves. My delicate daisy eyelet top carries limitless pairings: tapered red trousers for power suiting, black pencil skirt for piano recitals, or this brown paisley skirt for rambling walks. One of those days that demanded weaving feathers in hair.

Counting Clover

Anna Sui dress (last worn HERE). Fenton-Fallon necklace. Vintage bangles. Chanel wedges.

Queen of Hearts poker pro lingers among raindrops on clover. Charms & cards shuffle winningly around Anna Sui's babydoll: four-leaf faux buttons, fruit halves, field flowers - Fern from Charlotte's Web.

One of my few cotton dresses (they're mostly silky) can be converted to strapless but haven't tried it since our encounter at Ms. Sui's downtown boutique last year - perhaps someday. Wearing this frock is akin to traveling with a protective shell, like a tortoise: it stands at attention by itself all around me.

Gilded Cloud

Ella Moss dress (last worn HERE). 3.1 Phillip Lim vest (last worn HERE). Fenton-Fallon necklace. Vintage bangle. Chanel wedges.

"Step out the front door like a ghost into the fog / Where no one notices the contrast of white on white / & in between the moon & you the angels get a better view / Of the crumbling difference between wrong & right / I walk in the air between the rain through myself & back again" - Counting Crows, Round Here

I'M WITH THE BAND: 3.1 Phillip Lim spring 2009, look #1 (DETAILS)

I keep coming back to this brocade band vest: several seasons old & still smiling, esp in summertime.

Mary Had a Little Lamb

LEATHER LADIES: 3.1 Phillip Lim spring 2011, looks #9 & 31

Phillip Lim's runway saw laser-cut lambskin shorts in both bright blue & black - I'm partial to the neutral pair. These leather shorts reveal beige contrast lining beneath punched out pinwheel pattern. Side slash pockets slant at hips of pleated A-line style - full as a skirt but more modest when I spin around.

Vintage scarf, headpiece, blouse (last worn HERE), Ben-Amun bracelet. 3.1 Phillip Lim shorts. Isaac Mizrahi sandals.

Drawstring gathers high paper bag waistband, cinched with Easter egg scarf. Primly flirty in midcentury lily of the valley headpiece & cropped top festooned with party streamers & trimmed in elastic.

Dewdrop Dress

Phillip Lim knows what girls like: eveningwear to flit through fields from dusk 'til dawn. A panel of paillettes twinkles above this creamsicle leather bodice, embroidered with crystals over black mesh overlay. The sheer yoke is free from embellishment, glistening like a gossamer dewdropped spiderweb.

3.1 Phillip Lim dress. Vintage belt & scarf. Delman shoes.

Dancing in moonlight, stealing the limelight. Temper exquisiteness with casualness: here, beige silk is echoed by scarf corsage. Nude is nice - my spring 2011 dress is also available in black sequined stars.

Camellia Toe

MONOCHROME: Ingres, Comtesse d'Haussonville

Always a pleasure visiting Comtesse d'Haussonville at The Frick Collection, where Ingres' portrait is a rainbow of blues, from her satin evening gown to the salon's décor. Like Grande Odalisque, Ingres sacrificed anatomical correctness for art, elegantly elongating her arms arranged in a meditative pose. Anna Sui dress (last worn HERE). Blank necklace. Kenneth Jay Lane bangle. Chloé 'Paraty Capsule' bag. Chanel slingbacks.

Painted dresses are my paramount inspiration & here I wear the Comtesse's signature periwinkle, while swinging a big bag by its shoulder strap. Jacqueline Kennedy was drawn to the colors of Old Masters' works too, so much so that she asked Oleg Cassini to design her White House wardrobe in their palette.

Dress in Dark

Jill Stuart dress (last worn HERE). Vintage belt, scarf, ring. Chanel wedges.

Dawn & I awoke together to begin my Memorial Day holiday weekend extra early - summery sun salutations through Labor Day. Outside was still dusky with sleeping air when I dressed in hazy half-light & accidently put on this frock backward, flipping its lace trimmed V-neck for a square neckline.

I clambered into the car, wrapped up in a thick cotton scarf & curled up to Zen the drive to CT. My eyes stayed shut until we were in true country: neon greenery, growing cornfields, weedy wildflowers.

Jumble Sale

"I would build a cloudy House / For my thoughts to live in... / In the mutest of the house, / I will have my chamber: / Silence at the door shall use / Evening's light of amber, / Solemnising every mood, / Softening in degree, - / Turning sadness into good" - Elizabeth Barrett Browning, The House of Clouds
3.1 Phillip Lim blouse (last worn HERE) & skirt (last worn HERE). Anthropologie necklace. Vintage ring. Valentino espadrilles.

Jambalaya necklace: a tangled web snares a suit of armor, jewel drops, brooches. It looks like it could come from jumble sale treasure, but I found it in one of Anthropologie's glass cabinets of curiosities.

Delicacy

Vintage necklace & blouse (last worn HERE). Juicy Couture dress (last worn HERE). Chanel wedges.

My delicate dress usually layers under a sheer blouse - here, needlepoint peeps sweetly beneath lavender lace. Sheerness is bewitchingly transfixing: achieving a mesmerizing PG peekaboo is a fine art.

Another rainy day made me wonder about how water permeates regular fabric sheerly - beware modesty in a monsoon. A trusty trench & galoshes make all the difference - or these cork platforms to puddle-jump when the weather's warm. Looking for a new raincoat: perhaps classic Burberry or sportif Barbour.

Mooning over Missoni

"Moons fall down like tears / from between the pages of the almanac / into the flower bed the child / has carefully placed in the front of the house. / Time to plant tears, says the almanac. / The grandmother sings to the marvelous stove / & the child draws another inscrutable house" - Elizabeth Bishop, Sestina Missoni cardi (last worn HERE). Vintage bangles & Liberty of London scarf. Chanel wedges.

My Missoni cashmere cardi isn't one of their traditional zigzag prints: it swirls with starfish buttons & desert flowers. Usually I wear it as a cozy dress because it's so long. Belted with silk scarf that matches sweater's seafoam fleurettes; rolling it up hides delicate wisteria winding around square background.

Behind Bars

CARTOON CRUSH: Sailor Moon

Black & white cotton stripes this sailor dress for Shirley Temple On the Good Ship Lollipop or the effervescent Sailor Moon. Carrying camel suede gypsy pouch: fringed, studded, cross-stitched in leather. OSCAR THE THIRD dress (shop HERE).Vintage belt. goddess of babylon bag (shop HERE). Valentino espadrilles.

Styling fall 2011 lookbooks for Bui-Lavry PR's designers couldn't have been a lovelier experience - wait until high summer for final cuts! Fashion is always a few seasons ahead & Woody Allen explores a brief history of time during Midnight in Paris - I'm longing for my own sparkling sojourn to the 1920s.

Arizona

MAURIE&EVE 'Arizona' dress (shop HERE). goddess of babylon vest (shop HERE). Vintage belt. Chanel wedges.

Uniquely tailored wearable art: my pleated frock's raw edges will fray delicately over time, testament to how carefully I wear it. It's evocatively called Arizona, inspiring wanderlust to the Grand Canyon, where this white fishtail hemline would whip around my legs, contrasting with burnt orange tiled terra.

Modern Victorian muse cruising Haight-Ashbury in saffron crushed velvet vest romantically cut for dashing dandy. Thanks to Bui-Lavry PR for glimpses of fall 2011 lookbooks styled by yours truly.

Irina

MAURIE&EVE 'Irina' shirtdress (shop HERE). goddess of babylon 'Maya' bag (shop HERE). Chanel wedges.

Another lookbook assembled for Bui-Lavry PR's star clients: Irina shirtdress meets Maya bag in a splash of coral under the sea, brightening one's outlook like succulent Jolly Ranchers. My blush silk crêpe dress has hidden buttons from silver tipped collar to shirttail hem & a capelet fluttering below the shoulders.

This pebbled blue purse is braided & studded like a handicraft traded from an ancient tribe's shaman. Imagine it transporting magic beans, breadcrumbs, or other fairytale treasure leading to Oz.

Oscar Winner

OSCAR THE THIRD dress (shop HERE). Vintage jewelry. Valentino espadrilles.

Thanks to Bui-Lavry PR, here's another lookbook I styled, starring a velvet strapped & buttoned babydoll. Blousy babydolls live for billowing breezes & one must embrace the possible pregnancy halo. Black & beige slightly subverts the traditional black & white tuxedo, plus cotton makes it more casual.

As this frock is a fall 2011 look, I plan on wearing it to a classical concert, enveloped in an embroidered piano shawl. For now, I'm teeter-tottering boardwalk-to-sidewalk in contrast stitched espadrilles. All that's missing is a bow to complete the black tie look, so I added a loosely strung scrap of velvet.

Liya

MAURIE&EVE 'Liya' shirt & skirt (shop HERE). goddess of babylon bag (shop HERE). Chanel wedges.

Excited to share special project: I'm styling fall 2011 lookbooks for Australian designers MAURIE&EVE, goddess of babylon & OSCAR THE THIRD! Bui-Lavry's PR team asked me to fashion five looks to inspire seasonal editorial stories. Lookbooks not available until July but sneak previews here rest of week.

Vanilla lace buttoned blouse with matching skirt: both called Liya, these pieces come in several colors, but I love airily coordinated separates. Going through a petite purse phase (especially with a long strap) - this tasseled pouch won my heart with rockabilly fringe: it's ideal size to go from flea marketing to dinner.

Bumblebee Body

SOLAR POWER: William Blake, The Ancient of Days

Blake's Ancient of Days frontispiece is reminiscent of Michelangelo's Creation of Adam fresco on the Sistine Chapel's ceiling in their depictions of God; here, a powerful figure perches on the sun. White hot & yellow globes around my neck are like strands of solar systems over this leather & lace collage shift.

3.1 Phillip Lim dress (last worn HERE). Vintage jewelry. Urban Outfitters ring. Chanel slingbacks.
"Remember I'm watching. It's / easier for me to speak to you out / here. I don't have to slide down / between buildings to get your ear. / I know you love Manhattan, but / you ought to look up more often. / & / always embrace things" - Frank O'Hara, A True Account of Talking to the Sun on Fire Island