vive la france!

i have found it: the perfect little annal, chronicle keeper, memoir holder and i have found it at B&N, whom I usually loathe for their extensive selection of mundane, done-before, and ho-hum journals. but today i owe them an apology because this little number (purchased only online) is perfectly worn-in, as if it has already spent countless hours traveling with me, with beautifully inky pages, and the perfect new old book smell. i must now seek out a lovely ink pot and quill to go with it and then maybe i will sit down and write a few letters to my josephine. and though i would not say i am a fan of the little tyrant himself, i do have to admit that the man had style- that little military jacket? the shiny gold buttons? all perfection. and i will bequeath that respect onto my little yellow number as well.

Don't forget to Kloss

It took me a little while to warm up to Karlie Kloss--at first I simply couldn't understand why Vogue used her for shoot after shoot--but I've been won over, especially by this lovely Hermes campaign. Also look for her in this season's Dior ads, resembling Lauren Bacall at her '40s height.













Via Dress, Design, Decor.

Lace-ivious

A beautiful Bluebird by Eberjey lingerie collection is hitting Ann Taylor, just in time for Valentine's Day.

Via Refinery 29.

it's like spring. on your neck.

what am i feeling today? that the sun coming in my window is a beautiful farce compared to the frost i know exists beyond the panes. what am i doing about it? deciding to pull myself out of it by thinking only in the realm of the posey. or the magnolia. or peony, juliette rose, or anything floral, ruffly and pretty...and then tying it around your neck.

winter be damned, i will embody a blossom today.
and it will be fabulous.

Save yourself the trouble and revel in your thriftiness by ordering one from a very talented artist a la Etsy (above and below).

Or attempt one a la Martha.

Or make one out of an old shirt and some pretty nude ribbon a la me. love this one paired with striped shirts...

Floral explosion

This post could also be titled, "EVERYTHING IS ON SALE!"

This weekend (same shopping trip) I was in Pottery Barn Kids, where another pretty smart bird and I spied the most gorgeous Liberty print bedding on mondo clearance, perfect for baby pretty smart bird T. when she gets a big girl bed.

At the checkout line, I suddenly felt something come over me and bought a matching twin-sized duvet for myself. You know. For a guest room. In the aforementioned nonexistent house.

But you guys (I mean, you birds), it's so pretty in person. And reversible. And $29.99.

If anyone else is in an insane floral mood and has a guest- or little girl's room to decorate, PBKids online has some really cute stuff on clearance right now. (If I did have a little girl's room to decorate, I would snatch up that McKenna print in blue on top. Love.)

And if you prefer something a bit more sophisticated, grown-up Pottery Barn has more than a few gems on sale as well.

Nesting

The other bird and her husband came over last night for football, and as the men leaped around the living room and shouted things at the screen she and I huddled in a corner with a stack of magazines. In conversation, the topic arose that there are a lot of non-fashion-related items we've been secretly wishing to post, so I hereby declare that this week pretty bird smart bird will focus on pretty things that aren't just clothes.

So! This weekend I was at Crate & Barrel and I saw two things that made me stop in my tracks, this duvet and this chair. The duvet, I plan to save my pennies and make it mine in the near future. The chair would require more than just penny-pinching. But someday. SOMEDAY! I have mentally decorated a room around it. In the house that is also currently a castle in the air.

no excuses, birds

there are no excuses. find a way to wear this dress. even if only in your dreams.
christos bridal

let sleeping birds lie

...and let me do it in these pretty bird pieces.

inspirational and cozy is a hard combination but just looking at this collection of goodies makes me want to stay home all winter in the perfect state of undress and cook meaty stews while sipping luscious wines with my certain someone. throw in a cashmere blanket and some pablo neruda one may have the most perfect in-the-nest date night ever to exist...or the most perfect because i am lovely and deserve it night of indulgence you could ever give yourself...

Grey Slip, Victorias Secret, $58
Knee Highs in Fatigue, Sock Dreams, $25
Pablo Neruda Love Poems, Urban Outfitters, $12

Ravishing, dahling

Someone needs to follow the other bird around with a Nikon. Naturally, I did not bring my camera to lunch today. This was a mistake, for she was wearing the most beautiful combination of colors and textures--
a chartreuse, black, and tan patterned blouse
over that, a light olive short sleeved cardigan
with jeans
and silvery gray Frye Oxfords
and a purply gray wool coat and a brownish-goldy-green scarf
jewelry: long dangling gold chains with tiny pearl beads strung on them and, of course, her antique pocketwatch necklace

I would like to dissect her outfit's colors and plan a wedding around it.

historical smart birds

...were called the Bluestockings. The name came "indirectly, from Venice. Back in 1400 there was a society of ladies and gentlemen organized in Venice that was called Della Calza. This society was distinguished by the blue stockings its members wore. In 1590 the custom was introduced into Paris where women of learning adopted it. Then in 1750 a group of English women picked up the idea and formed what they called the Basbleu Club. They too, as well as the men of their circle, wore blue stockings. This created quite a scandal-since blue was originally the color of servants and others of low circumstances. The women who belonged to this group all made a point of making their conversations serious-and so today a female pedant is called a "blue stocking" (Castle Books, 1985).

The Blue Stockings were named after "Benjamin Stillingfleet's blue worsted stockings: he was too poor to afford the customary black silk stocking suitable for evening wear. Run by educated, intellectual ... women who tried to raise the moral, intellectual, and cultural standards of their time, this group of friends took turns hosting evening's entertainment where the literary figures of London took the spotlight. Women were often the majority of the guests, and the subject of the evening was often a learned women from the past or the present. Eventually similar ladies' groups who patterned themselves after the Bluestockings sprung up all over London then all over England. These upper-middle class women scorned female "accomplishments," card playing, and frivolous behavior, preferring instead a life of moral and intellectual rigor and philanthropic activities. These women did not pen great tracts railing about the failings of men. They did claim the right to act in the semi-public sphere and they urged women to become involved in philanthropic activities which benefited other women. Preferring the single life to an unhappily marriage life, these women, young and old, professional, educated, intellectual, and upper-middle-class women, married and as well as single, provided a mixture of role models for succeeding generations. Their numbers included several pairs of "close female friends" who either did or may have had "romantic friendships." Frances Burney, the first English woman to write a best-seller, was a member of the group and part of her success can be attributed the favorable publicity she received from the group. They took care of one another... Some of the leading female intellects and writers of the age were numbered among the Bluestockings. Their members included:

Elizabeth Robinson Montagu (1720-1800), "Queen of the Blues", cousin to Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689-1762) who brought the small-pox vaccine to England from Turkey

Elizabeth Vesey (1715?-1791)

Frances Glanville Boscawen (1719-1805)

Mary Granville Delaney (1700-1788)

Hester Mulso Chapone (1727-1801)

Fanny Burney (1752-1840)

Lady Eleanor Butler (1373-1829) and Sarah Ponsonby (1755-1831),

Elizabeth Carter (1716-1806) and Catherine Talbot (1721-1770),

Sarah Robinson Scott, sister of Elizabeth Montagu, (1723-1795) and Lady Barbara Montagu,

Sarah Fielding (1710-1768) and Jane Collier (1710-1754/5),

Anna Seward (1747-1809) and Honora Sneyd,

Hanna More (1745-1833) and Eva Maria Violettti Garrick,

Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) and Fanny Blood" (Buck, 1992; Feguson, 1985).

i am just saying, we are awesome. historically so. smart birds unite...and find yourselves some fantastic blue stockings.

Note: The beautiful picture above, called Sarah Blue Stockings, was photographed by the very talented Aaron at the Fountainhead Gallery in 2007 and might now be the new fashionable piece for which i am pinching pennies. For more photos please see his lovely photo album, Aaron's Public Gallery, on Picasa.com.

Keep 'em coming

Zac Posen for Target lookbook is up. Now that I know they set the site by California time...there are definitely some pieces I'm setting the alarm for. (That red dress?!?!) (I mean not that I have anywhere to wear it to but...sigh.) (That maxi dress, on the other hand--not so sure.)

See the full collection at Refinery29. In stores in April.

Whoops, I seem to have missed the Gaultier for Target lookbook, also up. In general there are fewer pieces that I like, although the red dress below may be considerably more versatile than the Posen one. Again, see Refinery29 for the full collection. Coming in March.

Go back to go forward

The '70s get a bad rap fashion-wise (and, okay. Guys' clothes in that decade: awful.) but I always find them so totally inspiring. Case in point, this '20s inspired photo shoot from the '70s. I want those shoes!

I remember from my childhood the closet in my mom and dad's bedroom and certain pairs of my mom's shoes--these boots with stacked wooden heels, a pair of peep-toe pumps, a pair of suede-y bowling-esque shoes. My mom has daintier feet than I, so even if she still had them they wouldn't fit me, but I wish she'd kept them for me to, like, display.

I think I might put Three Days of the Condor on our Netflix queue. I vaguely remember Faye Dunaway in an amazing coat, maybe a trench or a camel? And beautiful smooth hair. Must confirm.

This photo is from Moodboard, one of my very favorite fashion and design blogs. When we get our links up and running, she'll be on there for sure.

it harkens to...

a time when a date was something to prepare for, to aspire to, to put some hope in, to gab about incessantly and blush about just a little. every one was a possible opening of some secret door to life that you had yet to discover and all you needed was to slip your hand into another's and step through that threshold, perfectly heeled, of course. and to ease your way into that land of excitement and mystery i present the perfect date night shoe. they are pretty enough to be feminine, edgy enough to show you are a cool girl and stable enough to stroll in all night. Put on a classic dress and cardigan courtesy of Boden and Ann, accessorize to suite and viola! Opportunity feel free to come a knockin'...

something of a bird, you see

"I'm something of a bird, you see.

Indeed...I think a magpie suits me quite nicely. I'm a collector and designer...of just about everything!...NOSTALGIC...

COLORFUL...(DUSTY)...QUIRKY...EUROPEAN...
FOLKY...ETHEREAL...MYSTERIOUS...SUBTLE...

and always LOVELY."
~tracy porter~

Feeling Amelie-ish

All from Modcloth.

Stripes make everything better

Though I'm sad that they're so "in" that now the WSJ is writing about them. Boo.

dangerous women...the tome

part of the joy of being a pretty, smart bird is the allure of being a muse, being loved, being immortalized in verse and art and having the scars to prove it. dangerous women: the perils of muses and femmes fatales by laure adler and elisa lécosse is itself alluring in all of these ways. looking at the tensions and trysts between female muses and those they inspire the book is an eclectic mix of art balanced by a sturdy read about historical women and the psychological and sociological effects of these attachments. after almost a full hour of flipping through this at the bookstore i am still wanting more and am placing it at the top of my intellectual wish list...take a look.

boudoir betty

in the winter stupor induced by these short, dark days and my hiatus from studying, i am leaning toward a more boudoir-chic aesthetic chock full of loungewear glamorized by the silver screen goddess pieces we all squirrel away. imagine me as an eva gardner meets annie hall type: a bird who is obviously intelligent as can be seen by her nerdy glasses, piles of antique books and the man handled Times strewn about, but who also has all the trappings of modern-day goddess: innumerable sequin pieces, plush velvet slippers, and perfectly tousled curls. she is one who is serious enough to have a thought wrinkle above her nose, but dashing enough to know that leaving that slightly smudged mascara on her lashes is indicative of a whole other side waiting just around the bend to the boudoir...


Sequin Jacket and Gilded Journal, Anthropologie, $128
Silk Pajamas, Julliana Rae, $80
Glasses, Definitive Touch, coming this month

chanel, please

in search of the ever-elusive perfect nude polish for my ever-difficult skin tone i now have a new strategy and three new prospects. the strategy: go for an off-nude instead of a true nude, as i am convinced the true nude does not exist for me due to the ever changing nature of my skin, light sources, and outfits. thus, the plan is to go for grey nudes, pink nudes, and pearlescent bronze nudes. the prospects: Chanel's Rose Des Vents (shown here), Chanel's Particuliere, and OPI's Tickle My Francey. prepping fingers now...

so i just watched 500 days of Summer and...

... i need to make a fuss about the not the movie but rather the wardrobe of the ever-endearing Zooey Deschanel. it is a cross mix of 50s style dresses with her 60s style hair interspersed with loose Catherine Hepburn (let's take a moment of silence for that amazing bird) 30s style men's pants accessorized with a baby blue hair bow often only worn but the under ten crowd but pulled off flawlessly by the ingenue. the movie make me pull out a pretty headband today determined to wear it more than once this year, bit that is not the only lingering affect of this wardrobe. it also made me consider, (considering still), putting on the vintage black and yellow circle dress i found with the other blogger bird and dance around the house cleaning to the full playlist of indie music on my ipod...which upon further consideration may be even cooler if i tied a bright blue bow around it as well...

Think I need to rent 500 Days of Summer just for the outfits