Lady in a Purple Dress

3.1 Phillip Lim dress (last worn HERE). Chanel belt & clogs. Vintage necklace.

Ivory version of my dress starred in NET-A-PORTER'S recent spring ad, but iris emphasizes frock's field of posies bodice & plissé panels. They styled it under pink plaid jacket, hiding best part: plunging back.

3.1 Phillip Lim dress in NET-A-PORTER spring 2011 ad & Ladislas Wladislaw von Czachorski, Lady in a Purple Dress with Flowers

Polish painter Czachorski's portrayal of women sensitively suffuses their 17-18th century robes with luminosity. Light seems to emanate from Lady in a Purple Dress, whose glowing gown sets scene of privileged domesticity. I started flower-arranging class & hope to be on par with her bouquet soon.

Jungle Dress

Vintage jewelry, Judith Jack bag, YSL espadrilles, Diane von Furstenberg for RE-7 dress (last worn HERE). Anna Sui slip.

Hemmed one of my few long frocks - mini's more me. Racerback makes matching a slip tricky - this one's plain black silk. Indiscernible in photos, but bracelet's adorned with same emeralds & rubies as dress.

Hello Kitty tale... Last night I carried this crescent clutch at a block party. I stuffed small interior & snapped shut jewel closure, but somehow my mobile escaped. Luckily a sweetie-pie neighbor recognized my Hello Kitty cell charm & returned it - someone's getting a big basket of organic berry muffin thanks.

Firework

Vintage Eloise Curtis for Happenstance shell (last worn HERE). ADAM skirt (last worn HERE). GAP bag. Valentino espadrilles.

Live to sparkle, sparkle to live. Semi-precious sequins on metallic mini-purse + top paired with cindery skirt in smoldering ember. Failed firework or shimmery stick with whiskers children wave at circus.

Strolled Upper East side streets until toes curled like elves in these espadrilles. Luckily I arrived at my destination: E.A.T. packed a park picnic for a vegan (fresh fruity salad for me) & her carnivorous friend.

Dancer

ALL SHE WANTS TO DO IS DANCE: Degas, The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer

Degas' Dancer lives at the Met Museum; after hours, she pirouettes outside to shoot the breeze with José de Creeft's Alice in Wonderland by Central Park's pond. Modeled on a real ballerina & brought to life by mixed media, she wishes she could wear my icy dress to bed, Sugar Plum Fairy dreams dancing in head.

Kimchi Blue dress. Vintage necklaces & Morris Moskowitz clutch. Urban Outfitters ring. Tory Burch sandals.

The bronze Dancer poses in a frayed cotton skirt & satin hair ribbon. This sorbet slip would refresh her on a summer's eve: vanilla lace sprinkles strawberry crème corset back. Worn with my flattest gladiators & one of many vintage tassel necklaces - I started collecting them after multiple encounters at tag sales.

Something Blue

"Dark green, heart-shaped leaves, / Wood violets, the little delicate pale blossoms called innocence, / Samples & sorts not for themselves alone, but for their atmosphere, / To tally, drench'd with them, tested by them, / Cities & artificial life, & all their sights & scenes" - Walt Whitman, Warble of Lilac-Time

Anna Sui dress (last worn HERE). Vintage belt, bracelets (pearl - Florenza), Astatus Colomras bag. Chanel sandals.

Something borrowed, something blue in precious bracelets, sailor moon dress spangled with flora. Walking sidewalks now, but next week I'll be fielding blueberry fields. Can't wait to visit CT for July 4th: fruit-picking with matching straw hat/basket, on the waterfront activities, rockets' red glare fireworks.

Sweetheart

DE-LOVELY: Rodin, The Kiss (ABOVE) & Fragonard, The Stolen Kiss (BELOW)

XOXO to my dress, romantic art, summer nights. Rodin's marble Kiss depicts a pair of tragic lovers from Dante's epic poem, Divine Comedy, their mouths never meeting in Inferno. Fragonard painted a series of embraces; this one tactilely emphasizes texture & fabric: glistening silk, transparent scarf, patterned lace.

Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti dress (last worn HERE). Vintage jewelry & Morris Moskowitz bag. Manolo Blahnik 'Hangisi' shoes.

My frock's sweet lips with racy back sing of sentimental mood. Accessorized with sapphire jewels: 1970s purse (label identifies it as sold at Saks Fifth Ave) & satin skimmers crowned with silver filigree buckles.

Style Yourself

BY THE BOOK: Style Yourself, pub. by Weldon Owen (shop HERE)

Style Yourself is a sartorial guide for the digital age thanks to contributions by the world's top bloggers - including yours truly. First flip to my beaded flapper in dresses of an era - GO VINTAGE, then reap pearls of wisdom on cultivating personal style philosophies & creating everyday ensembles off the runway.

3.1 Phillip Lim dress (last worn HERE). Vintage belt & clutch. Sonia Rykiel scarf. Valentino espadrilles.

Can't stop cradling vintage clutch from last week's estate sale. Ice cream beads form fleur-de-lis, slowly shedding like I love you, I love you not petals. Sonia Rykiel scarf painted with chorus line of 1920s leading ladies, costumed in chic sheaths & power suits, strolling shoulder-to-shoulder in phalanx fashion.

Sidewalk of Life

3.1 Phillip Lim dress (last worn HERE). Vintage necklace & GAP scarf. Miu Miu bag & shoes.

Linen shift looped with flora scarf, whose pops of pinkish red are reminiscent of Revlon's Cherries in the Snow nail lacquer/lipstick. Their mid-century ad starred model Dorian Leigh lounging, scripted with saucy sayings like, Who knows the black-lace thoughts you think while shopping in a gingham frock?

GOLDEN ERA: 1950s Revlon ad & Miu Miu spring 2011 (DETAILS)

Revlon downgraded gold packaging to black plastic awhile ago, a marketing mistake when aesthetics are paramount. This is especially true for purses - who cares they're messy inside if outside's pretty? Metallic Miu Miu satchels abounded at Ms. Prada's spring 2011 show, but I selected mine for peachy keen sheen.

Life as a Dress

CASTLES IN THE SKY: Little Twin Stars

Warning: objects in mirror are closer than they appear - my bag in photographs is smaller than it seems. Wearing this dress is like traveling in a compact car; it stands stiffly at attention, sprinkled with twinkling Twin Stars. If my frock is glorious gilded sunshine, then these shiny sandals are heeled in diamond dust.

Marc by Marc Jacobs dress (last worn HERE). Vintage Perry Ellis scarf & Coach bag. Miu Miu sandals.

Costumed to play a certain 1960s Mad Men icy blonde housewife, contentedly pushing my grocery cart along aisles of goodies. Crosstown for my favorite food at Zabar's - family gathering = bagels & toppings.

Who Are You?

DOWN THE RABBIT-HOLE: Alice in Wonderland

Escape artist's dream: jump through a sidewalk chalk drawing into an animated countryside like Mary Poppins. When I leaped off this Madison Ave stoop, I only landed a few blocks from where I started.

3.1 Phillip Lim cardi (last worn HERE). Anna Sui dress (last worn HERE). Vintage belt. Marc Jacobs 'Stam' bag. Chanel shoes.

Alice can't answer when the Caterpillar asks, Who are you? I'm not sure I can either, but dressing daily anew explores possibilities - one world, many experiences. Here, I wander betwixt Fifth Ave's Museum Mile & Park Ave's perennial plants in poshly grungy layers: shades of blue & sheer organza over slip.

Surreal Sunrise

Anna Sui dress (last worn HERE). Vintage Perry Ellis scarf & Domina bag. Jane Tran barrettes. Chanel earrings & clogs.

I like hiding behind long bangs, but these pansy barrettes are pretty when I have to see where I'm going. Earrings made a rare appearance: charming diamanté pearls - Chanel jewelry is always fail-safe present.

CIRCUS STAR: Anna Sui spring 2010, look #29 (DETAILS)

Psychedelic frock anchored by practical purse found in vintage shop. Discovered pair of Metropolitan Opera tickets from 1975 tucked inside - if this bag could talk... I've saved special ticket stubs since I was a little girl (traveling, movies, concerts); perhaps previous owner carried hers around for good luck.

Major Zip Martin

3.1 Phillip Lim dress (last worn HERE). Vintage Liberty of London scarf. EDDERA ring. Miu Miu bag. Valentino espadrilles.

Daddy's girl in cotton candy frock, spiraling with zipper teeth but no zip to get caught. Dad liked me to dress like a lady on our dinner dates, a style that seems to have stuck. He knew how dear manicures are to a girl's heart & always treated me; today I cheered up in Essie Too Too Hot: happiness in a bottle.

"Everything that Father had ever owned seemed to be permanently a part of him. No matter what happened to it, it remained impressed with his personality... When he had a particularly handsome tie which had plenty of wear in it..., he saved anything of that sort for me" - Clarence Day, Life with Father

Genji Girl

JAPANESE LIT: Murasaki Shikibu, The Tale of Genji Scroll

Growing up in an Asian antiqued apartment tickled my yen for Eastern culture. Drawn to Shikibu's Tale of Genji in college art history: a complicated 11th century novel about the romantic escapades of the Japanese Emperor's son. Above scroll painting illustrates an intimate musical moment on the veranda.

Vintage necklaces & Fred Leighton dress (last worn HERE). Roger Vivier 'Belle Vivier' shoes.

Exploring the exotic in a mutton sleeve wedding dress native to Mexico. This chlorophyll bottle necklace is decorated with vaguely Asiatic flora but is actually a souvenir from my mom's 1970s voyage to Acapulco. The closest I've been is finding a T-shirt silk-screened with a Mexican beach in a vintage shop.

Jane of the Jungle

Vintage bracelets, Signature Echo scarf, Mei Fa necklace. Rebecca Taylor slip. Miu Miu sandals.

Dressed as Jane of the Jungle gone tribal at my friend's Midsummer Night's Dream costume party in a cotton paisley scarf wrapped like a Greek goddess toga & tortoiseshell necklace - both shades of honeying autumn leaves. This scarf's pattern is much like my antique Persian carpet, down to fraying striped edges.

What came first: the bracelet or the sandals? Both appear as sharply jeweled flora, tiny teardrop & planetary stones individually set. I daren't lose these Cinderella slippers, not even to a prince.

Warp & Woof

"She's clingier than Ivy & she's zingier than black-eyed Susan / & springier than Mabel in June / I'm daffy as a daffodil, it's laughable the way I thrill / When roses are in bloom / Pansy is pretty, Willow is tall / Violet's kisses, tulip's recall / How can I choose one, I love them" - Frank Sinatra, American Beauty RoseRalph Lauren jacket (last worn HERE). 3.1 Phillip Lim dress (last worn HERE). EDDERA ring. Vintage Desmo bag. YSL espadrilles.

I want to wear this jacket more! Bought my beaded beige leather at a Ralph Lauren event last summer because it seemed uniquely crafted. Bottega Veneta designs the ultimate woven purse; I'm considering one of their clutches, but until then, this vintage saddlebag sees me through street fairs & flea markets.