Choosing Accessories

I am in the process of narrowing down the myriad scarves, shawls, capes and jewelry that I own to select key pieces to complement and accent my travel wardrobe.

I own quite a few beautiful scarves, but only one by Hermès. I want to take it out of retirement and put it to use on my upcoming trip. The problem is that its flame red has more orange than the lipstick red (tops and cardigan) that will accent my basic blacks. Sigh ... wearing it only with black and white does not meet my versatility goal. However, it only weighs 2.5 ounces (plus the weight of a protective ziploc bag). Okay ... to use or not to use?

It will work well with black basic separates, and with black pants or skirt, white shirt, black vest, but I hope to figure out one more use. Maybe a lightweight gold camisole and all else black, plus the scarf?

First things first. I can't present accessories until I've specified the basic pieces of clothing I plan to take. A photo session is required. Stay tuned.

On my Wish List, In my Dreams

If I had an unlimited budget, I would buy Jan Hilmer's Lily Hooded Jacket without hesitation. Beautifully cut, it is a glamorous and useful outer garment for traveling to England and Cornwall! A hip jacket to wear in London, it works as a practical coat in the country as well.

Also, since last year, I've been lusting after Alexander McQueen's celtic lace leggings, but I never submitted the final purchase button. After all, I'm only one year shy of age sixty! Since I'm age nineteen in my brain, usually I go with that. But my fear of being viewed as a foolish older woman desperately trying to look younger prevented me from completing the purchase.

Perhaps if I lose ten pounds I'll become more courageous. :-) I think those leggings are fantastic! I most definitely would have worn them in my twenties and am attracted to them in the same way today.

As of this week, however, I never may be able to own them. They've been sold out since February at Alexander McQueen boutiques; the last retailer I could find that sold them was Nieman Marcus. This outfit (includes the leggings) has been on my wishlist at NM, and now the leggings are unavailable.

It's probably obvious that I'm experimenting with polls within blog posts. Please humor me, answer my poll below as well, and feel free to leave a comment if you have more details. I'll report on the answers in a future post.



What Shoes to Wear with the Leather Jacket and Lace Leggings?

Once I reached age 36 or so (23 years ago), I began to wear lower heels and actively seek comfortable, chic, supportive shoes. At home I wear orthotic but attractive sandals with good arch support and cushioned footbeds. This limits my footwear choices, but makes a huge difference in preventing a tired and aching back and legs after a long day on my feet. Typical "slippahs" (flip flops) are worn by most folks in Hawaii, but don't work for me.

Christian Louboutin's footwear earns consistent rave reviews for sheer beauty and perfection in design, but also for comfort while walking and wearing his breathtaking designs. Of course, I never could wear heels as high as the model wearing the celtic lace leggings and Victorian bustle dress above. However, I'm pretty sure that I could handle these Sexy 85 open toe pumps from the master himself, and I'm very sure I can handle his 70s. Perhaps it's a dream, but I've set my intention to find a bargain price for the perfect pair of Loubies!

Perhaps the real question should be this: With the gothic influences in these two pieces, am I trying to channel my niece Shannon? Hmmm .....
;-)

Alexander McQueen

Starting to Plan for England and Cornwall

My good friend Caroline and I have scheduled a long weekend in London, followed by a few days in Salisbury, Bath and surrounding areas. Then we'll move on to Newquay in Cornwall for five days before returning home after fourteen days in total.

In London, we'll stay in a nice hotel near Bond Street. Each of us wants to be able to create several "city chic" outfits out of as few basic pieces as possible. We also want to wear boots, something that is silly to do at home in Hawaii. Because boots are heavy and large, we'll need to wear them while in transit, which is a bit of a hassle at airport screenings. But it's the only way we'll be able to achieve our goal to travel with just two small bags.

Two pieces of carry-on luggage -- that's the idea, anyway! I'll take my trusty 22-inch Tarmac bag from Eagle Creek (fits in overhead compartments, except on tiny commuter jets), and my Eagle Creek Tarmac large duffel for under the seat. The duffel has an external "sleeve" that slips over the retractible handle of the 22-inch rolling bag for easy wheeling through airports, on trains, and in cities. The duffel functions as an oversized purse, and will contain my actual purse (including wallet and other contents), camera, iPad, iPod, iPhone, chargers and adapters, in-flight essentials (a topic for another post), jewelry, medicines, and a very important addition, my Eagle Creek Getaway Tote, in matching Palm Green, that folds to nearly nothing, but can carry my purse, electronic devices, camera, jewelry and travel toiletries on the return trip as a third bag if needed. I don't plan to acquire anything, but who knows? I can always check my 22-inch duffel, and slip the getaway tote over the handle of the 22" Tarmac.

This is different from the way I traveled last October, when I carried an additional 25" Tarmac that I checked on 14 flights (8 domestic, 6 in Europe) and carried on 3 trains. It was much more work, but that holiday spanned six weeks in total, including three weeks in Europe that included climates ranging from bitter cold to very warm, from dry to wet. In this photo, taken with my sister on our first day in London, I'm wearing black travel basics, including boot cut black Not Your Daughter's Jeans, a lightweight black crew neck sweater from Jones New York, truly comfortable Keen MaryJanes in black nubuck, and a burnt orange v-neck sweater from Kenneth Cole. In my city backpack, there's a black water resistant oversized hooded windbreaker, pashmina/scarf, and gloves.

Last year's travel look (with Jill in London, October 2010)

During the first week of my trip (while in Michigan for my 40th high school reunion), my daughter spotted two dresses on sale at Macy's and encouraged me to to take a dress on my trip. After a week in Michigan, and a few days in Denver, I lightened my suitcases by leaving reunion clothing, and one dress at my sister's house near Lake Tahoe. The dress I took to Europe, an abstract print sheath with cap sleeves by AGB (a Macy's house brand?), turned out to be appropriate on several occasions. Below, it's paired with an August Silk cardigan, blackish brown patent leather belt, black hose, my B. Makowsky lambskin zipper hobo, and well worn Keen MaryJanes. Another time, it was topped with a brown cotton shirt by Glima that matched the brown in the dress, and Patra sandals by Crocs in solid chocolate brown (my favorite Crocs by far; alas they are out of production). Separately, I teamed the Glima top with a matching Glima skirt.

It strikes me when I look at the two photos of me that the outfits above would be greatly enhanced by complementary scarves. The style focus of our next trip will be fewer basic pieces with more scarves and other accessories that vary the looks.

It's too bad I don't have an import export business from the UK to Hawaii, because I'm able to check up to three 70 pound bags without charge thanks to my frequent flyer status. I wish I'd have remembered that last October when I shipped wine and olive oil from Italy to the USA. I would have saved a significant amount if I'd shipped it to my London hotel, and bought a couple of suitcases there to bring it home with me on the airplane.