Posts tagged ‘2013’
Isabel Marant x H&M…Oh, YES!
Mom Jeans
In honor of Mother’s Day (it’s this Sunday for all you terrible sons and daughters who forgot), I thought I’d address one of the fashion stigmas they’ve bestowed upon the world: ‘Mom Jeans’. For those unfamiliar with the garment, Mom Jeans are the awkwardly baggy yet tapered jeans that sit high around the waist, sag around the butt, and are as unflattering to the female figure as a silk romper bunched up around the camel-toe. But back in the prime time of Mom Jeans, our mothers were not wearing jeans to make style statements and attract men. They already had our dads on lockdown, as is evident by giving birth to us and becoming moms. These jeans were built for comfort when driving in mini vans and station wagons to pick up us kiddies from school and do all the other kinds of schlepping our loving mothers do. (My mom cut the crusts off my sandwiches, did yours?)
It took me several years to get my mom out of Mom Jeans, and it was a slow and steady process — all beginning with the brand Not Your Daughter’s Jeans. I am happy to report that she is now looking and feeling babe-a-licious in the Sheri Skinny Jean, but in order to address the Mom Jeans stigma I asked to borrow the very pair she wore throughout my eighties/early nineties childhood. I also busted out some Wasa crackers because I have yet to meet a mom who doesn’t eat those (mine enjoys hers with peanut butter in the mornings). This station wagon also happened to be parked right outside my apartment and just felt all too fitting. Carpool, anyone?
Brochu Walker sweater | Calvin Klein jeans ca 1985 | Sperry loafers | Bottega Veneta bag | Wasa crackers
Worn with a standard cashmere sweater, Bottega Veneta bag, and leopard loafers (for the sassy mom), I made sure to show off the worst qualities of the Mom Jeans by doing absolutely nothing to them. Every time I tried to roll up a cuff or add a belt I kept saying to myself, “Don’t do it Sonia. Let these jeans have their moment.” So here you see them, having their glorious billowy moment, 7-inch zipper and all. I admit I was comfortable, but the poor fit was all too awkward to even go grocery shopping or walk Finn. Five minutes of Mom Jeans shame and I ran back inside to play tailor.
Ten minutes later and I was feelin’ sharp. Kind of like how my mom feels in her new skinny jeans. By cuffing her hand-me-downs a few times at the ankle to give them a more tailored tapered leg and adding a cropped sweater to show that there is actually a waistline around that seven-inch crotch to button closure, I actually felt more ladylike than I do in my everyday sausage casing denim. 
With snakeskin pumps (keeping that sassy feeling I got from the leopard loafers, but elevating it five inches), a bib necklace, and my usual jamble of bracelets and bangles, I no longer felt like I should be eating Wasa crackers. Give me a fresh baguette with pâté and a glass of Pinot Noir!
And even though there was still a bunched up nature around the crotch region, I just viewed it as extra room for extra comfort which, need I remind you, is the essence of Mom Jeans! Talk about full circle.
Opening Ceremony sweater | Calvin Klein jeans ca 1985 | Coye Nokes heels | Zara bag | BaubleBar x Honestly WTF necklace
So before you go harping on your mom for her awkward fitting Mom Jeans, I leave you with this advice. Give her a break, because her jeans are actually more awesome and wearable than you think! Not Your Daughter’s Jeans? Please…Not Your MOTHER’S Jeans (even though they are, but you get what I’m saying).
THANKS MOMMY! LOVE YOU!
//photos by Emily Malan
The Punk Aesthetic
With tonight’s Met Gala and the opening of the new Punk: Chaos to Couture exhibit, I decided to put together a topical punk-inspired outfit for today’s post. When I first approached my closet with the “punk” mindset — Sex Pistols, Siouxsie & the Banshees, and Iggy Pop playing on full blast much to my neighbor’s dismay (the girl who lived in my apartment before me actually got kicked out because she held punk rock shows in my living room) — I was pretty surprised by how easily I put the look together. My initial outfit however was much more like a costume than something I would actually wear. Black jeans, ripped t-shirt, leather jacket, red plaid shirt tied around my waist, spiked bracelets, Doc Martens, thick black eyeliner and oxblood lipstick. It’s not that I didn’t like the outfit, I actually think I looked pretty awesome and hardcore, but I also looked like I was going to punch someone. So, I toned everything down to make it more Sonia appropriate since something tells me you don’t come here to see me dressed up in costumes, and if you do then I must really be letting you down.
I wiped off the lipstick, removed a good half inch of black eyeliner, and took off the red plaid shirt and spiked bracelets. I then added a pile of edgy necklaces and a safety pin cuff since the punks may as well have invented safety pins (fun fact: apparently a man named Walter Hunt invented the safety pin, but Sid Vicious made them cool). I also opted for my go-to black Acne boots instead of the Doc Martens. Even though I wear Docs from time to time, I just felt over the top. Like I was trying too hard. Which is probably what a lot of people think about punks. But that’s also what I kind of love about them. Here are these grungy, angsty kids with an I don’t give a hoot attitude, when actually it takes a really really long time to do a perfectly spiked mohawk. It’s also a serious DIY project to put safety pins all over your jacket — something I started and never finished doing in high school. So really, they give a lot of hoots. More than your average owl.
When I decided on a look that didn’t feel more appropriate for Halloween party than a jaunt around my neighborhood, I met up with Emily to take pics (duh) and she told me I looked pissed off in the photos. That’s the point, I replied. I was getting into character! Upon looking through them later however, I couldn’t help but notice that me looking pissed off also looks like I might throw up on you. But who knows, throwing up on fans could have been a party trick back in the day of hardcore garage bands where bloody noses were souvenirs because you weren’t afraid of a mosh pit.
So really, along with emulating the punk style aesthetic — with maybe too few safety pins — I also could be mimicking an artist’s signature performance trick and I didn’t even have to think about it! I feel so badass. Maybe I’ll go take a walk down St. Mark’s Place.
Schott jacket | Vintage t-shirt | Rag & Bone jeans | Acne boots | Alexander Wang bag | BaubleBar x Honestly WTF, Tom Binns, Pamela Love jewelry | Knockaround sunglasses
// photos by Emily Malan
New Seasons, New Nostalgia
New York City is still getting its fair share of snow, but I am hanging onto the promise of spring (and summer). It’s in the first few days of a new season that I begin to get amped about what’s to come — hello sunshine, outdoor activities, and weekend getaways — and what’s about to disappear — goodbye couch, pale skin, and winter depression. Once that warmer weather hits and the afternoon light lingers well into the evening, I would much rather spend my time being productive than curled up on the couch watching another season of Sex & the City for the umpteenth time. For the record, this sense of “productiveness” can be utilized in the laziest of ways — i.e. lying like a beached whale on the grass with your friends eating lots of hummus.
Indeed, spring and summer are the seasons where the best memories are made. Songs played on repeat become forever ingrained as “the songs of the season”, every weekend becomes a venue for an impulsive getaway, and even the smallest things like happy hour become epic events because everyone is just in a better mood (gotta love that Vitamin D!)
But the start of the warmer seasons also bring an inevitable sense of nostalgia. Those songs of last spring and summer will never sound as good as they did those first hundred times. My plans to do exactly what I did the year before — music festivals, spring’s first barbecues, rogue trips — will never really be same. And that’s neither good nor bad, it’s just different. As much as we want to relive last year’s memories, we also want to make new ones. This year already promises new experiences starting off with a road trip down south, a bachelorette party in Miami, and multiple weddings come August. And while I have no doubts that activities like epic happy hours and last minute weekends to the Hamptons and Connecticut will generously sprinkle themselves into the next five months, I look forward to making the memories that I’ll be nostalgic for next year.
A Week in Review
Ted Baker suited me up nice and freshy fresh for NYFW!
It wouldn’t be Fashion Week without a proper storm, and Finding Nemo is just in time to put a damper (ha! a pun, though not intended) on my footwear selections. It’s quite impossible to look sleek while there’s sleet on the ground, especially when you’re prone to sidewalk slipping like me. But with every onslaught of rain or pilage of snow, Fashion Week manages to pull through with undaunted street style photographers huddling outside waiting for the stylish crew that says “to hell with this weather”. And the poor models, bless their teenage hearts, brave the cold and dash from show to show, many without a driver to escort them.
As for me, I’ve decided it’s rain boots and ponchos until this weather lets up. I may be daring about many a thing, but I’ve already chipped a tooth from slipping in the snow thanks to an inappropriate shoe choice once and I don’t plan on making the same mistake twice.
I’ll update you on my fashion week take aways soon, but until then peep some of the other happening’s in the world of Sonia.
Martinis on me and this cute penguin shaker thanks to CoverGirl!
I started a new writing class that brings me back to some old stomping grounds
Major model stink eye happening at the Whit presentation (more NYFW photos soon)
Someone confiscate my scissors! Lopped off another inch or so all by meself!
