Monday, January 05, 2009

two le bouton dresses (wishing for spring in january)

january 5 linen dress, $140. i love the sleeves and the skirt tucks.

tradition dress in fantastic linen print, $250. probably my favorite silhouette to wear, definitely makes me homesick.


or feeling sad that i no longer live in southern california....

lisa has the right idea. dress like you're going on vacation, somewhere warm preferably. how about thailand? for some reason i'm stuck on this idea of going there right this very moment.

16 comments:

Laura said...

as someone who used to live in so cal, i can identify.

especially love the 1st pic...i know a lot of people don't like the dress over pants look, but when it's pulled off well, it's so cool.

miss sophie said...

i just posted too about my le bouton wishlist :) i'm thinking about getting the broad shirt - how do you like yours? btw, lovely paris photos!

leanne said...

I'm missing socal right about now too. This time of year I just want to go thaw out somewhere.

Lisa's dresses are perfect - of course.

Le Bouton said...

!!!!!!!!
thank you!
SoCal is mid 60's and clear, flowers blooming. all the jade succulents are in bloom. pretty!

Lena said...

where did you live in so cal, erica? being from san francisco, i grew up with a negative impression of southern ca... but now when i wonder about moving back to ca, i think about the LA area. i wonder if i would like it. i recently caught up with an old friend who lives in the valley and she said it's like paradise. and she's not a typical LA person... her kids go to a waldorf school and she grew up in northern ca.

erica said...

i love my broad shirt, although at this point it doesn't look very good on me. i can't wait for summer and wearing it with a pair of rolled up jeans.

lena-
i grew up in long beach, which is about 25 minutes from LA, and i really love the area. there are definitely some ugly (literally and figuratively) things about the place, but i find that the arts community is very lively. having to drive everywhere isn't for everyone, though.

i love that LA is so strange, it has inspired a lot of my work/research. plus, i'm so tired of the cold weather. i miss the bougainvillea and succulents. and being closer to asia, flight-wise.

Katie said...

After having lived in Los Angeles now for two years (after three just north of L.A. in Valencia, attending CalArts), I'm just now beginning to love L.A.

It's taken me this long to open up to it and to see the smaller things, the details, to feel what it has to offer, to gain a sense of knowingness for the city. You can find the places, people and things that make the city a place you want to live.

However, all of my family is on the east coast, where I grew up, and, without fail, as we drive home from the airport after a visit east, I think, "What a shit hole." That sounds harsh but viewing the city in such a broad way as you fly by the stores and lights and parking lots through six lanes of traffic, it can seem quite ugly, gray and dirty. After a few days at home, that view is erased.

I guess what I mean to say is that it can also change from day to day. Some days I'm in love with Los Angeles and other days, frustrated and feeling jilted.

Anonymous said...

the dress with the pants - LOVE that. love love love it so much. perfection.
as a native of southern california, i can tell you that in the midst of the east coast winter, i don't miss it one bit!

erica said...

LA is the kind of metropolitan area that isn't easy to fall in love with. it cares about what you think, but at the same time, it doesn't care at all. there is something about new england that is too precious at times. when you scratch beneath the surface of the little towns (est. 1674) and brick townhouses, there's a lot of the same ugliness, too. as someone who works on urban history and everyday landscapes, i find this to be typical of most places. we could talk forever about why we love some places and not others, but ultimately the reasons are private and idiosyncratic. this is difficult for me because i try to remain objective and scholarly, but the biases run deep in my field.

Anonymous said...

really interesting to go back and read the comments on this topic. i never cared for new england - lived in boston twice, though i think it was the ... feeling of a general small-mindedness. i love ny. i do not love l.a., but it is familiar. i've never been open to loving it though, so maybe it's more my fault than the city's.
and may i just say "darn you" for that link to le bouton. darn darn darn. ;)

Anonymous said...

lena - i think there are 2 or more waldorf schools out there.

erica-knits said...

I thought I would respond to your comment on your blog. :) I think I'm the one who is more excited, or a least relieved to know I'm not the only one writing at the moment, either. Thanks, and good luck with yours!

Katie said...

This is an interesting topic (feelings about a place) and you're right, Erica, one that's very personal and ultimately, subjective. However, attempts to articulate something about a city (objectively, architecturally, historically or all of the above) can highlight faces of city or place and add to your own experience. I'm thinking of Reyner Banham's 'Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles'...when I saw it, I got really excited about someone else's unbridled love for Los Angeles. Similarly, Joan Didion's Los Angeles, while not one that I know, helped form my sense of another L.A. (from another time and tax bracket).

But getting back to the real topic of the post, the dresses are BOTH gorgeous.

leanne said...

I feel like I have to add my opinion to the posting about socal. I grew up in inland Orange County and counted the days until I could leave for college on the east coast. It wasn't until I left that I actually appreciated it. I hate the strip malls and the traffic on the 405 and the rampant materialism (which exists on the east coast in a slightly different way). I miss the pacific ocean and the pockets of la that I have grown to know over recent years. LA has an interesting history, once you get past the stores and lights (and beverly hills). I can't help but wonder what it looked like through the eyes of john fonte or joan didion ... and not many farmers' markets beat the santa monica market!

Christina said...

Both dresses are so pretty and they look very comfortable. I could wear dresses like this all week. I adore how she styled the solid linen dress.

paanie said...

i like both looks. i'm not a huge fan of dresses over pants, but i like the first look a lot.