casual style

Not packed for NYFW spring 2021

 in General Fashion  tagged casual style / fall 2020 / nyfw outfits / outfits by

casual fall outfit ideas

wearing: blue and gold earrings / fall lipstick / stripe puff sleeve tee / black snake buckle belt / patchwork jeans / fall nail polish / lapis bead bracelet / grey bead bracelet / classic grey stamped croc loafers /

I am not packed, and I am not on a plane to New York Fashion Week! Normally at this time, I write a post letting you know I am on a plane, and off to the Big Apple to watch the runway shows during NYFW. This year, things are a little different. New York Fashion Week will be mostly online. While I did receive a handful of in-person invites, the majority of my invites this season are for live streams.

This NYFW season, I will be sitting at my desk, while my husband is on the other side of the wall working from home for his tech job, and my kids are spread out throughout the house doing online school. California is still under a shelter-in-place order, and large gatherings of people are not advised on a national level. This means New York Fashion Week will mostly be online.

An online fashion week is both a blessing and a curse. The reason I attend fashion week in person is because seeing the clothing go down the runway, and watching it move, is how I forecast for the new season. Designers set a tone and vibe for their shows, allowing me to see their  inspiration, and complete artistic vision. While they will convey this through video, it is not the same. I hope I can feel the vibe through my computer screen.

Now for the blessing! The nice part of watching fashion week online, is that, you too can watch it! You can watch the same shows as me live streamed. While some designers have invite-only links, there is a good chance those shows will end up on YouTube shortly after they air. So if you cannot attend an invite-only show, you can catch it soon after online. I hope you watch with me!

Don’t forget, Supima is live streaming their show on September 10, 2020 at 3pm eastern time. You can catch it live on their Instagram page or Facebook page.

Shop my NYFW outfit online:

I am excited to watch the shows from home this season, and see what we can look forward to in the spring/summer 2021 season. I am hopeful it will be a season of joy, renewal, and hope. A renaissance if you will. I believe we will be receiving our vaccines, large gatherings will begin to return, jobs will return, and the hardships we are facing right now will be behind us. It will be interesting to see if this sentiment and hope is reflected in the upcoming collections.

Thanks for stopping by, and stay tuned for my NYFW from home coverage!

XOXO
Cathy

(apologies for the off-colors in my photos. We have orange skies right now from all the wildfire smoke in California, and my photos had an orange glow. I tried my best to remove the orange. The shoes are not really this dark, they are more of a medium grey.)

fall loafer trend

Casual and classic late summer look

 in General Fashion  tagged casual style / outfits / summer 2020 by

late summer outfit ideas fall 2020 it bags givenchy

wearing: bold gold earrings / blue top (comes in several colors) / black belt / summer nail polish / jeans / handbag / chain link bracelet / espadrille mules / (not pictured-mask I wore) /

This is such a comfortable look for the late summer months. These espadrille mules are comfortable and cool for walking around, while this top is on trend with puff sleeves; and for just being blue. (blue is the color of 2020)

I wore this casual look while leisurely walking around Stanford Shopping Center with my daughters. We picked up a baguette from La Baguette, and a few treats at K. Minamoto. It was a nice way to get out of the house, get some fresh air, and spend girl time with my daughters. I did wear a mask, I just took it off for the photos when no-one was around.

Since this year is the ten year anniversary of the Givenchy Antigona, I have been wearing it more lately as a way of celebrating the anniversary. I really do love this bag, I am so glad it has IT bag staying power! As you know, that is quite rare!! If you are looking for a great investment bag, this is it!

Shop my late-summer outfit online:

I hope you have been enjoying the last few days of summer vacation. My kids have already started school; albeit online. Even though the kids are distance learning this semester from home, it does tie down our schedule and keep us home during the week. We will move our hikes and baguette runs to the weekends now. 🙂

Thanks for stopping by!

XOXO
Cathy

early fall outfit ideas

 

Playing tourist in the city

 in Travel  tagged adidas / casual style / family / gucci / outfits / san francisco / staycation / summer 2020 by

staycation san francisco

3 picture perfect spots in San Francisco

There are very few things in San Francisco us locals can never do on a summer Saturday: casually walk around the Golden Gate Bridge, explore underneath the bridge, park in front of the Palace of Fine Arts, walk around without crowds, and park in front of the Painted Ladies and snap photos.

These are popular tourist activities, and locals normally visit them during the off season-or really early in the morning before the tourists wake up. While I am not celebrating the current lock-down, it does cut down on traffic, and allow for some stress-free activities we normally would not think of doing on a summer Saturday when there isn’t any fog.

We arrived at the Golden Gate Bridge parking lot-the one right in front with only twenty-five spaces-at 9:30am on Saturday morning. The fog had already burned off, and it was a perfect day for sight-seeing. I had to pinch myself when I got a parking spot inside the main lot-which is always full on summer days.

Excited about our parking spot score, we paid the fee and started our walk across the bridge. But don’t get too excited: just because we scored a fabulous parking spot, didn’t mean everything was going to be smooth sailing. One minute of walking on the bridge, and the police stopped us. There was “police activity” on the bridge, and the walkway was blocked off. They wouldn’t tell us what happened, but when we saw five squad cars, and a fire truck, we knew something bad was up; so we changed course, and took a walk underneath the bridge instead. This was a really good hike since it is very steep going under there!

We walked to Fort Point underneath the bridge, and snapped photos; just like tourists would do, next to the water. It was really fun! The last time I was there, was for a field trip when I was in grade school, so it was nice to bring the kids to a place which is normally crowded and eagerly avoided by locals.

The Palace of Fine Arts is leftover from the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition. When I was growing up, it was the Exploratorium. They moved the Exploratorium to the piers, and now I think of the Palace of Fine Arts as a tourist attraction. I haven’t been there since the it was the Exploratorium! It was weird walking around and looking at it, instead of walking past it to grab a good place in line to get into the Exploratorium. I don’t think I really ever took the time to enjoy how beautiful the structure is!

Another summer miracle, was grabbing a parking spot right in front, on a late Saturday morning, during the summer, on a non-foggy day. I really needed to pinch myself! It was fun showing the kids around the Palace of Fine Arts, and my oldest daughter really loved all the ducks!

After wandering around the Palace of Fine Arts, my husband suggested we go take pictures in front of the Painted Ladies. I protested. “No way!” I said to him. “It will be full of tourists, we won’t be able to park, and we will get stuck in summer tourist traffic.” He laughed when I said that, and assured me the city was free of tourists right now. Resigned, I got in the car and drove our family to the Painted Ladies.

I ate my words when we found a parking spot right in front. No joke, I parked in front of the apartment building next to the Painted Ladies, without waiting or circling for a spot, on a sunny Saturday in July. Now I realized I must be in the Twilight Zone.

My husband was really excited, and directed us across the street to the park so we could take the perfect, touristy family photos. An iPhone photo-shoot happened. It was very surreal. I have never been able to park and actually look at the Painted Ladies. I would normally avoid the entire area, and if I got stuck near them, and I do say stuck, very colorful words would flow out of my mouth as it would normally take me ten minutes to navigate out of the tourist-traffic-heavy area. Since my husband also grew up in the Bay Area, he understood the novelty of the situation; hence his excitement.

My “playing tourist,” and very comfortable, outfit details:

So there you have it! We were actually able to play tourist in San Francisco without hitting any traffic, crowds, or parking issues. I am still pinching myself to make sure it was all real.

If you are local, definitely plan a staycation day in the city! It’s the perfect time! If you are not local, these are three beautiful spots to check out when you visit our beautiful city. If you visit during peak tourist season, just take an Uber everywhere. It will eliminate any stress from trying to park. Take lots of photos, and enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by!

XOXO

Cathy