Soap Style: {Victoria Newman Abbott}

So, by now you may have picked up on my small huge obsession with The Young and the Restless. I have been a devoted watcher for more than half my life (!) and oftentimes I find myself admiring the wardrobe of several of the female characters. This got me thinking about doing a weekly (or maybe bi-monthly, let's be realistic) feature on the Y&R's style, here on the blog. After coming up with this idea, I did a bit of serious research (ie. Google and Twitter) and turns out I am not the only one obsessed with this soap or the style seen on it. On Twitter, there are so many Y&R fans who only tweet about the show (I thought I was die-hard). My favorite thing I came across though, was a blog devoted to the show's wardrobe. The author of the blog gives you a witty recap/commentary on each episode with a photo of one character's outfit and then provides links to buy the showcase item (or similar item). Since that blog does it so well, I am not going to do the same thing. You can all take a collective sigh of relief --- I know many most of you do not care to know what the latest is in Genoa City (inside joke...between me and the Y&R). So, what you ask, am I possibly going to talk about? Great question. I will pick my favorite outfit to show you here and just give you a quick rundown of why I think it's great (or not...who knows). It will be a style review of sorts. My apologies if this is not your thing, but these are the types of things I think of at 2am. I live for this stuff.

For the first installment of Soap Style, I have chosen to feature Victoria Newman Abbott (played by Amelia Heinle). Arguably my favorite dressed character on the show, Victoria always hits it out of the park (sports metaphors...where did that come from?!) with her power suits and all-around great business attire. On this particular episode she came to the office wearing this gorgeous albeit totally NOT work appropriate (read: cleavage) red cut-out dress. I was in love when I saw the front but it quickly turned to full on lust when she got up to leave and I saw those cut-out slits on the back of the dress. Cut-outs and color-blocking? Way to be on trend Y&R. You did good, real good.

j.

Sweater Weather

chunky knit sweater {thrifted American Eagle via Beacon's Closet} - chambray shirt {Forever 21} - 

dark denim skinnies {Flying Monkey via Century 21} - black booties {Topshop} - black leather tote {Banana Republic}

That last photo is what the majority of my photos look like. Usually I'm completely hidden by busy passersby. It's one of the things that comes with taking outfit photos on a busy New York sidewalk. Taking photos on a busy street is still a little weird for me. For the most part, people a) don't even notice or b) really don't care. The result is what you see above. Then there are the people who do notice and try and be nice and wait for you to finish. Nice thought, but that could get awkward after the fifth photo. So I usually tell them to keep going. The result is a lot of photos of me mid-sentence, waving my hands. A new favorite, that happened while these photos were being taken, was one guy who stopped short of the frame, bent his knees as if he were doing the "elevator" and awkwardly shuffled through the photo. Again, nice thought but "dude! you're still in the photo!". Of course, there are the typical catcalls from less than desirable men. These men also usually find it necessary and hilarious to mimic what I'm doing. The result being strange men striking poses as they walk down the street, hooting and hollering. Only a few times have I been asked what I'm doing. Usually by middle-aged women who are not the most, let's say, social media savvy. Have you ever tried explaining what a fashion blog is to someone who has just gotten comfortable checking emails? Good luck with that. It's always a surprise as to what will happen and I suppose at the very least it keeps things interesting. Oh New York, you can surely never be described as boring.

Just a side, and completely unrelated, note to say that sweater and scarf weather is here in full force and I. Am. Loving. It.

j.

An Outfit

"Harry Potter" glasses {boutique in Toronto} - triangle design tank {Brooklyn Flea} - beige maxi skirt {Joe Fresh} - 

purse {vintage Dooney & Bourke} - bronze gladiator sandals {Steve Madden via Century 21}

These are some clothes I put on that one time in Toronto. Impressive, no? She knows how to get dressed!!! Give the girl a blog. Anyways, I know this is an old outfit and one that does not really match the current weather but despite it's simplicity I kinda liked it. So you get to see it. There's not many things I like more than shapes on a shirt...okay, maybe words on a shirt. I bought this tank at the Brooklyn Flea (my favorite place) during the summer. I went to the flea market last Sunday with a friend from school who'd never been before. I feel like such a champ when I bring people to it because they are always impressed and always love it. This has little to do with me and everything to do with the awesomeness that is Brooklyn and flea markets. But I still like to take credit for it.

j.

Eleanor Lambert: Fashion's First Lady

A few weeks ago, I got a text from Sasha Rae, my bestie who lives in Victoria. All it said was "I have a new style icon: Jane Birkin. She's a babe from the 60's. The Birkin bag is named after her. Who's you style icon?". She does this from time to time, suggest an idea for a blog post. Usually her ideas are really great. She also sends me outfit photos of herself when she's proud of a look. She's cute like that.

So, anyways her text got me thinking about who I look to for style inspiration. It was harder than I thought, as I didn't have anyone come to mind immediately. Then, in my PR class we were asked to write a press release on Eleanor Lambert. Having never heard of her until that point (embarrassing now that I know who she is), I had some research to do.

Eleanor Lambert was known as the godmother of fashion PR, having single-handedly making New York City the fashion mecca of the world by taking over the Paris dressmakers’ best-dressed-women poll in 1940 and organizing a biannual Press Week of Seventh Avenue in New York City. Both of these achievements live on today, as Vanity Fair’s International Best Dressed List and New York Fashion Week. Always searching for ways to integrate art with fashion and convince the world that the American garment industry was equal to its international counterparts, Lambert founded both the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Council for Fashion Designers of America (CFDA). 

After learning all of this, I had developed a bona fide girl crush.  This woman was responsible for making the fashion industry what it is today. She often didn't take payment for her services, doing it for, one can only assume, the love of her craft. Eleanor Lambert was an inspiration and force within the fashion industry until the day she died in 2003, at age 100.

While I am inspired by her business savvy more than her personal style, the woman obviously knew how to dress. Known for her turbans and over-sized jewelry, many people called her obscure. I call her brilliant. I respect a woman who knows what she wants and goes for it and that is exactly what Eleanor Lambert did.

j.