city lights + may moon

Ever get the feeling that you're being watched?

singin' in the rain

Here's a question for another drizzly day:

Who has done more for the umbrella's place in pop culture--Mary Poppins' magical nanny-transport or Rihanna, forever adding an extra syllable to the word, making it um-ba-rella? (Click.) Sorry, if it's stuck in my head it's gonna be stuck in yours too.

I'm more of a Poppins girl myself, channeling her today in a restrained (but a tiny bit ruffled) navy dress, stockings and sensible little black boots--punctuated, however, with this little number, a gift from Bella and Maizie:

A yellow umbrella that looks like a longshoreman. I highly recommend the yellow umbrella (though maintain that carrying an umbrella of any color in midtown should require a license.) It's sort of a portable sunshine on an otherwise grey day. This fellow I captured for Dossier (click) was onto it too, with an even cuter accessory on his shoulders. Perhaps his Gene Kelly jaunt yesterday inspired today's Ms. Poppins.

streets in the heat

91 degrees Fahrenheit in Brooklyn today! The tree outside my kitchen window (see last entry) has yet to blossom, so for now you get the view out the living room--and no, you don't have to pay extra for this.

For a more composed take on street style, see here for a hotter method of keeping cool on Dossier Style.

on the verge

Winter in New York can bring us to the verge of many actions, some of them drastic. But today, the sun is shining and any second we're going to burst into bloom. Here's the view from the kitchen window yesterday:


And today, it's 81 degrees and those little green buds are starting to blossom:


Any day now we'll be in full flower. Congratulations, New York, we've almost made it to May...

sprung

I know it's not official until the 21st, but find Exhibit A:


I'm sparing you an audio slideshow of this picture of the ice cream truck outside my window, taken over and over with a looped soundtrack of the 20-second song it plays that ends with a voice going, "Hello!?" before it begins again.

But if you really miss me, I could send you something like that, and you could play it all day and pretend you're working from home with me.

So,yes, "Hello!?" Spring has sprung in New York.

soon

Soon we will be riding our bikes barefoot, barbecuing on rooftops and shaking sand out of our sheets.

photo compliments of Mike D., the 275 Canal Corp.

See here for another ode to the promise of spring on Dossier Style.

fashion school

It's hard to believe, not only that it's that time of year again, but it's that time of life again: back to school.

The first day begs the all-important question...

What to wear?

Here I am, five years old, on my first day of Kindergarten at Glenridge Elementary. Note the matching Hawaiian pattern on my shorts and shirt, color-coordinated with my personalized lunchbox and clean white high-top Reeboks to boot.

My bangs are, obviously, freshly cut. It's hard to tell, but I've got two spunky little braids in back that remained my trademark hairstyle until an unfortunate transgression in second grade, not to be pictured here.

In the midst of morning crises before elementary school my mom was fond of reminding me that, "it's not a fashion show."

Well, guess what, mom. This year it actually is a fashion show (ThreeasFour is pictured here.)

The first week of my masters program at CUNY's Graduate School of Journalism coincided (collided) with the beginning of Fashion Week just blocks away at Bryant Park.

There's been a bit of running between the raindrops to fit it all in, but so far, so good.

Here, two of my favorite fashion personalities, Lynn Yaeger and Mickey Boardman, prove that the good witches (and bitches, as I know Mr. Mickey would refer to himself) of the east don't melt in the rain.

Patiently waiting for an unsavvy bouncer to open the door, these two are a fantastic reminder of advice that could have come from mom on the first day of Kindergarten, but is just as valuable for those Fashion Week warriors who forget their manners in the frenzy, or angst insecurely over what on earth to wear.

Just be nice and be yourself.

Postscript!
Monday, September 8, 2008
On my way home from school today I just so happened to cross paths with the lovely Lynn Yaeger (I love New York!) and she did not disappoint. She gave me a beautiful smile and hi with her painted bow lips and sparkling eyes.
If this were charm school she would get an A+.