Ponte Vecchio

The bridge is home to jewelry shops and art dealers.

Uffizi Gallery

Culottes Through History

Culottes - Originally this term of French origins was used to describe men's knee length breeches (knickers) worn by the European gentlemen of the upper class in the Middle Ages/Renaissance. Culottes (often made of silk) were tight and cut below the knee, where they were buttoned or tied around the leg. These "simple" pants have experienced quite a dramatic history, as seen during the French Revolution, when revolutionary fighters known as the sans-culottes rejected the wearing of the culottes as their way of turning against the aristocratic system. They opted for trousers.
























Today, culottes best describe a women's skirt that is split down the middle and turned into pants. These wonderful skirt-like pants can come in handy when a lady would like to retain her femininity while riding a horse or in the case of the urban lady, riding a bike. They're also perfect for walking around Manhattan on a breezy Spring day, without the worry of a Marylin Monroe situation. 

Looks like thees ladies could use a pair of culottes. photo credit

 The long skirts of the Victorian Era didn't make particpating in physical activities, such as bicycling, horse back riding, and tennis very easy. The introduction of the culottes enabled women to retain the illusion of a skirt while gaining the functionality of the pant. Often they would go as far as wrapping fabric around the waist in order to disguise the pant qualities of the culottes. 

This season the culotte is back and chicer than ever. 

My favorite street style culottes. Photo Credit

My take on this Spring trend:

The Look:

Culottes (more like cropped trousers) - Zimmermann
Linen top w/ leather detail - A.L.C. 
Shoes - Nicholas Kirkwood (Sample Sale)
Rings - Elizabeth & James (Sample Sale)
Clutch - Clare Vivier (Laptop Case from Apple)
Suede frame sunglasses - Miu Miu

The Rules:

For the most part you want to wear your culottes with a heel. There may be a few excepts, but overall I much prefer them with a heel, the higher the better. I was definitely living on the edge with a 2 inch Kirkwood...
 
Transition this look into night:

I ditched the culottes for a white leather skirt (Club Monaco), added a black turtleneck and tights, and threw a black DVF blazer over it.  

The Jean Jacket

 My personal jean jacket woes:

1) They're almost always cropped.

2) Bending your arm is painful.

3) The sleeves are always too short, making it look like you stole it off a child's back.

Jean Mantra = One word, Rihanna. 

Here's to the Queen of Jean...

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Let's admit it, we've all dreamed of sporting jean the way Rihanna does, so effortless and sexy, edgy yet feminine.  When it comes to jean always ask yourself, "How would Rihanna rock this?"  No one does jean (or anything relating to style) better than RiRi. (Although, I'm sure it's easier when you have a personal jean team/Mel Ottenburg that searches the world over for the perfect jean items.)

I've been searching for the perfect jean jacket for about 4 years now, searching everywhere really. Starting with the typical J. Crew, Levi, Rag & Bone, Gap...but nothing, years passed and still no luck. I scoured vintage and thrift stores alike, Second Time Around's and Buffalo Exchange's. My last hope to find this jean jacket was at the Williamsburg flea, I mean if my jean jacket wasn't somewhere in Brooklyn, where could it be?? But nothing. 

Peter finally came to the conclusion that maybe I wasn't meant to wear jean, a valid response after coming up short in Brooklyn, but I persevered, and my faith held strong that one day I would accidentally stumble upon the jean of my dream. 

Months later I found myself at Rag & Bone in Georgetown and something from across the room caught my eye, a jean material. They always say when you find the right jean jacket you'll just know, and that was it. All this time I had been looking in the wrong place, the women's section. My perfect jean jacket turned out to be a men's Rag & Bone jacket with soft leather sleeves.

My bad gal RiRi face

The Look:
Jeans/Jacket - Rag & Bone
Black Cashmere Hoodie - Lot 78
Grey Top - Club Monaco
Clutch - Stella McCartney
Shoes - Miu Miu


 I like using jean and leather to achieve an edgy/tom boy look, and then adding some playful touches like the clutch and the earrings to make it feminine and girly. 

Today for the first time, I took the jean jacket for its inaugural trek around the streets of NY, and yes, someone did say 'that's an awesome jean jacket.' Score! Just like everyone has a soul-mate and a soul tree, we also have a soul jean jacket...somewhere out there.