guy baxter

!!! run, don't walk, to guy baxter's online shop. i am heavily eyeballing the ellen dress, which i spotted online somewhere weeks ago but couldn't figure out who made it; imagine my delight upon not only to stumbling upon it here, but seeing it marked down to $55 from $342!!





it's such a charming print softened with the floral chiffon overlay. absolutely everything is on sale for 50% off the final sale price if you use the code gb7696. i can't tell when the sale ends so i'd get in there.

this has been a public service announcement.

xo audrey

antiquing

good morning! i got an early start this morning with some breakfast at the french place near my apartment (iced latte and a baguette with jam and butter), sorted through the unemployment mess (i think i fixed it, cross your fingers for me), and decided to play a little dress-up to show some of the things i got at the antique fair and make up for the laziness of last night's post.

first let me go through the weekend a bit. i had a nightmare of a time getting to newark airport - i've never so much as set foot in jersey before, but was told that it would be easy enough to get to penn station and then just take any NJ-bound train from there. my flight was super at 6:30 am, so i decided to just leave early in the morning/late at night and get to the airport early to sleep, so i was sure not to sleep through my flight. of course the trains to jersey didn't start running out of penn until after 5 am (a fact i unfortunately discovered upon arriving at the station at not quite 4 am) so i ended up barely making my flight on time and getting about 2 hours of sleep in the process. sam picked me up from the airport and we went to his parents' to pick up the pup and then went straight to sleep. noon-ish we got up and headed to jam, a new brunch place right near sam's apartment. it was incredible (and sam's buddy alex designed the logo, and sam the menu, so we ate for free.) i had an eggs benedict with pork belly and spinach hollandaise; it was the first of much pork belly to be consumed this weekend. i'm kind of obsessed.

after breakfast, sam took me to the antique market on randolph. somehow during my five years of life in chicago i never made it out there - it is incredddible. sam says it's usually bigger than it was this weekend, too. of course my stupid camera died before i had a chance to take any photos of it, but i did pick up quite a few gems, and here's an outfit to show it.



hat: vintage, bought at antique fair
shirt: quail
skirt: actually a dress from h&m, i folded in the top (and i like it much better this way)
shoes: devotte
gloves: vintage, antique fair
clutch: vintage, antique fair
brooch: vintage, gifted from dee

there's more, too, but too much to involve in one outfit. and there was a woman there selling vintage fancy schmance purses (can purses be couture? what do you call fancy purses? this from the girl who seriously, until about 6 months ago, thought haute couture was pronounced "hot coacher.") not realizing how much gems such as these can cost, i picked up this miu miu and inquired about the price; upon hearing it i quickly set it back down. but it's amazing. and for a split second, i was tempted.


this bag was nearly impossible to find on the internet - i think it was only a concept bag never released in the US (or so it seems from my googling.) maybe it would have been worth the investment after all. . .


last, a quick post to tag the clothes i wore on the way to chicago: they're new, and new favorites as well, so they need to be labelled.



shirt: interlud, from smith & butler
pants: rodebjer, from dear fieldbinder
shoes: jeffrey campbell, from oak
belt: anthropologie


much love, muchachos -

xo audrey

gilt & alexander mcqueen are conspiring against me

that is the only explanation i can come up with for why he would end up on gilt the day after i get an influx of money into my bank account. it's that conundrum where i technically *have* the money to buy the stuff i like, but it would be extremely irresponsible. to stifle the urge to buy, i will instead post some of my favorites. and drool over them.



not a gilt-er? want to be? are you SURE? (it can be dangerous.) if you do, drop me a comment and i'll send you an invite.

xo audrey

do not, under any circumstances, fall asleep with wet hair.

or this will happen to you, too. it looks like something fell asleep on my head.



today i walked outside without a coat and it didn't feel like a mistake. i kept walking. my boss described my shorts as "hot pants" but not in a disapproving way. i have a midterm to study for but instead of studying last night like i meant to, i had 2 glasses of sangria with dinner and stayed too long and then went home and crawled into my roommate's bed and giggled about boys while watching hilariously bad music videos from the early nineties.

le sigh.



sweater: cacharel, thank you gilt!
shorts: american apparel
tights: HUE
shoes: payless
necklace: impossible to see, but erica weiner made it

i almost wore this sweater sans-shorts but had to remind myself that i live in williamsburg, i don't WORK in williamsburg. it is an awkward length, though; i kind of wish i had gotten it in an XS instead of a small, but it's final sale and i'm stuck with the size i have, so i'll make it work.

i am going to attempt a purchasing freeze. my bedroom looks like 18 different boutiques came in, had a crazy rager, then got sick and barfed clothes everywhere. i need to chill. but that is so, so hard when i find things like this:



maybe i will just make my own.

xo audrey

must. have.

omjesus, just found these amazing rings via elyse holladay's fashion blog - I MUST HAVE THEM. the $50 price tag is a bit steep, but for someone who wears as much color as i do and could, for $50, have a ring to match them all - and scribble things in a pinch - it seems well worth it.





the future perfect, the site they're for sale on, has a ton of other cool things as well, including a chair made of those plastic balls found on mcdonalds' playgrounds and these amazing candleholders which were featured in ID magazine a year or so back.

and i did take ONE photo last night, of the moschino window as i walked by; i love it.

anthropologie roundup

also, real quick, i dashed into anthropologie after work yesterday (bought the belt i am wearing today, on sale for $9!) and took a look around to see that there is a lot of stuff i really like in there right now. and, maybe it's a conscious decision because of the economy, but i feel like the stuff i liked was less expensive than usual. generally when i am wandering around anthropologie and i see a dress i like and fumble for the tag, the sticker shock is great enough for me to quickly stuff the tag back in place and make a beeline for the sale section. but these are 3 dresses that i saw last night and loved, and was surprised that they weren't more expensive than they are.




underwood shirtdress, $168; carillo shift, $128; orava shift, $138.

now i just have to decide which one to splurge on when i get paid friday.

etsy rodeo

well, i forgot my camera this morning, so my outfit-posting will have to wait. (i know, i know, you're waiting with bated breath. hang in there.) i'm attending a whiskey tasting after work (read: meeting friends at the whiskey ward in the lower east side and trying whiskey until i can't try whiskey no mo) so we'll see if i'm in a state to photograph when i get home.

until then, i spent part of the morning scouring etsy for boots for a friend (her new pup made a chew toy of her favorite shoes) and while i had pretty limited success with that, i did find a few new shops that i think i'll be frequenting.



starting clockwise, from the top left corner: cocktail dress, green wallpaper vintage; 60s mini dress, green wallpaper vintage; leather bandaid dress, vintage hollywood; red cowboy boots, ninth avenue vintage; golden feather-collared blouse, leolucaescobar; silk pink blouse, ninth avenue vintage; blue pleated dress (top half of dress in bottom left corner), ninth avenue vintage; 80s prom dress, vintage hollywood; cute spring dress, ninth avenue vintage; gorgeous party dress, leolucaescobar; 50s feather cap, ninth avenue vintage.

in other news, i officially graduated from level one in pastry to level two! meaning i'm 1/3 of the way through, and tomorrow i start on a savory bread unit. honestly, i am extremely grateful to be making something not sweet for a little while.

until we meet again!

xo audrey

omg shoes

i foolishly signed up for the net-a-porter email list, and now i get a beautiful package of html in my inbox every morning, tempting me with beautiful clothes i can't afford. this morning they were announcing a sale (40% off!) which renders their usually outrageously expensive splendors still out of price range, but now close enough in some cases that i can almost talk myself into it. these shoes do not fall in that category.



but a girl can dream. anyway, if any of you have a lot more disposable income than i and appreciate gorgeous, expensive things, this is the site for you.

back to reality. . .





dress: american apparel
tights: old, from mom
shoes: payless

BIG test in class tonight, on cakes, so i'm hoping to dip out of work a bit early and have a cram session with some classmates. it's kind of amazing how hard a test about food can be.

happy hump day! we're gonna make it after all!

xo audrey

h&m dressing room

went out last night long and hard and woke up super late this morning, kept my hair in the ponytail i slept in, put on an old reliable outfit and dashed off to work. feeling extremely hungover today and so instead of posting anything new, here is something else that i'm waiting for: i've seen this jumpsuit on a mannequin in the h&m window every day when i walk by (there's a shop across from my office) and wanted it, but haven't stopped in to try it on; i finally got in last night, but the only size they had left was an 8, and it's a little baggy. lucky for me, the mannequin is wearing a 4, and they've promised it to me when they change her outfit.



the jumper i posted a couple of days ago came, but it's a little big and i can't decide if i should get a smaller size or just exchange it for something else all together. hard to determine how much a small will fix.

off to champaign for the weekend to visit my beautiful sister esther. hope everyone has a good one!

xo audrey

today sucks

and i am stuck at work waiting to hear back from people so it looks like i may not make it to class tonight, which feels me with a terrible sense of guilt and dread. work has been manically insane today - clients rushing in and out, last minute requests being barked at me over shoulders, the same 4 clients calling over and over as if they have their phones set to speed dial digital kitchen every 12 minutes. but, work is work, and i am grateful for a job and even more grateful for a paycheck, so i digress. if i miss class and keep my job, i'll take that trade.

as such i'm not going to bother taking photos of today's ensemble (it's not a bad one, tho) but instead post some real gems i found today, and one that i am expecting in the mail *any minute.*



and, quickly, a few sites you should all check out:


www.publicpersonae.com blog by a girl who worked at dk freelance for a bit. full of things i want so bad but can't afford.

nasty gal vintage genuine vintage and vintage-style clothing, impeccably hand picked by the nasty gal herself.

bijules heartbreakingly beautiful and stomach-wrenchingly expensive jewelry. i. want. these. earrings.


that's all from me for now, folks -

xo audrey

forgot my glasses

this morning. my room is a goddamned disaster. every night i swear to myself i'm going to clean it, and every night i instead climb into bed, push the clothes, gloves, headphones, and other crap to the side, and nestle down with a book/hulu/this american life until i fall asleep. i've managed to collect my laundry and drop it off, but that's about it. i expect once i finally get all the clothes off the floor and put away my outfit potential will grow exponentially. (clearly i am a nerd even without my glasses.)

annnyhow. today wearing one of the oldest pieces of clothing in my closet. (i use the term closet loosely, as all of my clothes are stuffed into a bookshelf cube. all the clothes, that is, that are not laying my floor in a lush, very expensive carpet.) i got this dress at a thrift store in chicago right when i moved up for school. i pretty immediately took it home and butchered it; it was before i did any sewing and i have always been very impatient and rather careless when making amendments to garments, so the hem, which i meant to just shorten, is asymmetrical, and the straps are simply tied around my neck. still, i love it.



dress: thrifted
cardigan: akira chicago
tights: hue (anthropologie)
shoes: pour la victoire!, via shopbop

i actually stumbled across the same dress, in different colors, on etsy a year or so ago and bought it, and shortened the hem properly this time.



there are some cute and similar options on etsy right now. . .




numero uno via easystreetvintage, and the second dress is from putonthatdress.

keeping pretty busy today - i'm gonna go make a sandwich. hope everyone enjoys their tuesday!

xo audrey

USO

good morning! i hope everyone had a lovely valentine's day. mine was pretty uneventful. i DID, however, make it to the flea market, and find something i have been searching for on etsy for awhile.

a note: i feel kind of weird posting pictures of myself in a bathing suit on here, but i figure a. pictures of me in much skimpier swimsuits than this already exist on facebook and b. we're all adults and, you know, whatever. i think this one is pretty modest.



got this awesome, never-worn, pinup style swimsuit from the same girl that sold me the white/turquoise dress from a couple of days ago. she also taught me something very handy for anyone who buys vintage clothes online: i noticed the suit hanging on a rack, but the tag said it was a 10/11, which in modern sizes would be way too big for me. she explained that at some point in the early 80s clothing manufacturers switched over to modern sizing standards, but before then a 10/11 is the equivalent of a 2 or 4. so if you are buying clothes that are more than 25 or so years old online, and they list the tag size, keep that in mind. i also got the gloves at the flea market, from another girl who has a store near me in williamsburg. they match my coat perfectly and have lovely little pearl buttons at the wrist. the combo makes me feel like i should put rollers in my hair and do a song and dance for our troops.

i had actually been eyeballing vintage suits on etsy for the past week, and these two were already in my shopping cart:




these are both for sale at ladylydia's shop, a very reasonably priced store based out of new zealand.



and this one i just stumbled upon this morning, and i LOVE, from bigyellowtaxivintage.

last night i tossed and turned until about 5 am, so it seemed fitting to wear a pajama shirt to work:



shirt: vintage pj shirt, from mi madre
skirt: american apparel
belt: vintage, mom
tights: old, mom
shoes: vintage, etsy

my hair is so awkward right now. i'm trying to stay strong.

happy monday!

xo audrey

baby's first gateau

we have officially moved on to cakes in school, thank jesus. i love bread, don't get me wrong, but breakfast bread is a different thing and not nearly as exciting. this is our first cake: a layered genoise soaked with framboise, filled with raspberry jam, iced with buttercream and bordered with caramelized almonds. YES. it was really fun to make. i get so much satisfaction from smoothing out the icing and creating perfect angles, and for those of you that haven't tried buttercream, you MUST. it is divine.

after class i hopped on the jmz just in time for rain to start, and after exiting dashed into the nearest bar to meet some folks. it turned out to be dodgeball team night at boss tweed's. the experience was rather like i imagine attending a state school would be. lots of guys in team t-shirts and spiked hairdos playing beer pong and duck hunter. when in rome - we played a couple of rounds (my team won both times. all that softball wasn't for naught,) realized it was past 1 am, and headed home, where i did not go to sleep as promptly as i should have.

it is a glorious 52 degrees in new york today, so i decided to celebrate with my new favorite dress. i found this at the flea market when i went a couple of weeks ago and i love its simple elegance. it's probably a bit dressy for work, but i thought after yesterday's cootie cutters (fuck you rod) i'd class it up a bit.




dress: vintage 60's silk crepe, according to the sweet girl i bought it from.
shoes: dsw

after loving this dress so much, i scoured etsy for some similar things:

this one via "pantastic"'s shop; lots of cute things, very reasonably priced.



samesies. this from deargoldenvintage. good stuff.



and that's all she wrote. . . until she writes some more.

xo audrey