speaking of sequins + cardigans.....

Erin Fetherston wanted you to know (okay, Erin Fetherston's PR PERSON wanted you to know) that these silk/cashmere babies are on sale.

Do we like them? I can't decide.

Seeking: SEQUINS!

Dear ESB,

my reception dress is Sara Seven's Golden Lights - see pic.

I need help finding a matching cardigan, as the party is in december and i will be cold. looked everywhere for ivory/cream/sequin but no luck yet. your help is most appreciated...

thank you xoxo

*****

How bout GOLD OMBRE SEQUINS?

Too much??

Shop Topshop

I found your wedding cardi

Zara sequins via Wit & Delight

Also: If you click over to Zara's main page, the partially-Patti-inspired lookbook/short is pretty excellent. (Even if Patti would never wear pumps with bows.)

Seeking: A Vegan Jacket for a Winter Bride

Hey girl hey,

I have some time, but I need your fashion help! I'm getting married in January in Dallas. The weather could be 60 degrees or 20 degrees, who knows. I need a jacket that I can wear that will sustain my body heat whatever temp it may be outside. (I'm not getting married outside, just taking some pics and walking to and from the car, so this doesn't need to be anything too intense). Here's my dress.

My colors are sapphire (to match my engagement ring, duh) and gold, so I was thinking maybe a gold or sapphire sequin jacket? Or is that too much with the sparkly (for lack of a better term...please help me find a better term) for the top of the dress? Maybe a rich velvet? Am I getting into tacky territory?

Oh, and I'm vegan, so no wool or silk por favor...and fur goes without saying.

*****

Much as I love sparkle, I must firmly steer you away from SPARKLE-ON-SPARKLE.

I want to say get a big beautiful gauzy scarf.

This 100% linen Giada Forte scarf is currently half off at Otte.

Or check in on Scout & Catalogue in the fall.

Her soft pink cotton gauze scarf isn't quite the right color, but it's definitely the right idea.

(Top image by Filippo Minelli)
______________________________

AM I CRAZY? Can this girl wear a linen/cotton wrap with a silk satin wedding dress?

And why did she go nazi vegan halfway through the wedding planning?

Pants Week continues!

In case Pretty in Pants (or Bianca, helllllloooo) inspired any of you to go the wedding pants route, here's a round-up of some vintage pants I found on etsy + elsewhere around the internets....

1. 60's Three Piece Suit (yes, there's a skirt too!) from Coldfish
2. 80's Jumpsuit from Foxtail
3. 70's Gold Sequined VEST AND BELL BOTTOM PANT SET from tovasvintage
4. 80's Bernard Perris Jumpsuit from What Goes Around Comes Around
5. 70's Wide Leg Jumpsuit from viralthreads

How will they know you're the bride if you're not wearing a dress?

Dear ESB,

I'm getting married this summer and I still don't know what I'm wearing. The wedding is casual, and I want something I can party in. I do not want to have to change clothes at any part of the thing and I detest wearing dresses or skirts. I need to feel comfortable, and that means wearing pants (but not a suit).

The idea of wearing pants to my wedding makes me happy, it makes the future hubs happy -- my family even gets a kick out of the idea. But I'm stuck. This outfit needs to be special without being overly dressy. Over and over I'm hearing from friends, "but how will they know you're the bride if you're not wearing a dress or a veil?" (oh yeah, I think veils look stupid). Me: "because they were invited to MY wedding & they KNOW who I am." It's not like there will be strangers rolling through who will get overly concerned upon themselves about who the hell the bride of the night is. I'll wear a name tag if I have to. Still, the question is starting to make me wonder -- will *I* feel special?

I'm not reconsidering my decision to wear pants. But my little 5 year old girl heart wants to feel special on our wedding day, and though I know it's a little silly, I want it dammit. It's the one thing I'm feeling inwardly fussy about. Those pants, and the rest of the outfit, need to be fabulous. So, I am trying to look for something that is edgy/fancy/flattering all in one. It's tricky because I am not a small person - I'm quite curvy. I love my curves, but it requires the outfit to have some sort of structure so I don't look like a baggy schlump on my wedding day. This is making my shopping trips turn out more annoying than successful.

All I have so far is a soft blue top similar to this.

This is why I'm writing to you. You & your readers have some crazy amazing skill at this online shopping deal, which I seem to fail at miserably. If you have time to help a girl out, I would be forever grateful.

-- Pretty in Pants

*****

Clearly you need SEQUINS.

Any chance you're a Size 10?

I managed to find this pair of "palazzo evening pants" on ebay.

These are pretty good too.

(Top photo: Kate Lanphear via StockholmStreetStyle via FEAR LANPHEAR via kidchamp's must-read pants-shopping primer)

Help! Sparkly wedding blazer dilemma!

Dear ESB:

I'm getting married in Austria at the end of August, outdoor ceremony, & reception in the courtyard of a winery. Ivy covered walls, awesome giant wine press, beautiful, romantic, bla bla bla....

I am all over the outdoor element, but this is Austria and not California, so I'm assuming it's going to be a bit chilly later on in the evening. Normally I would throw on a leather jacket or giant wooly cardigan, but neither of those options are super appropriate for "the big day."

This is my dress, and I'm wearing those Vivienne Westwood rubber/gold heart shoes, the ones that everyone wears. (PS. they are bubblegum scented, which makes me love them even more...)

So my questions is, what the hell should I throw on later in the evening if it gets cold? Something that is not a god-awful pashmina. I like this [Zara blazer pictured above] in gold, but when I showed my mother she threw her hands up in exasperation, wondering why it is impossible for me to pick something 'chic' and 'normal.' Her words were something along the lines of "You're already wearing weird shoes, isn't that enough..."

Now I'm unsure. Is she right? Will the gold-sequin blazer make me look like some florida retiree getting dolled up for bingo night? What could I wear instead?

*****

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

That jacket is fabulous. Tell your mom I said so.

p.s. I'm running out of effusive words that don't make me gag: RAD, AMAZING, FABULOUS… Would someone throw me a few new ones?

WHAT THE EFF DO I WEAR?!

Dear My Readers,

What do I wear to an April wedding in the Texas Hill Country?

I want to look uber cool, obviously, but without looking like I tried to look cool. And need to look SMEEOKIN hot because at least one of H's crazypants ex-girlfriends will be in attendance. But again, just sort of casually smokin hot. Like, "Oh, this? I just found this on the floor of my closet" kind of hot.

So. Would some form of t-shirt dress be too casual? (Like I care.)

Should I attempt to rock my snakeskin cowboy boots?

Would sequins be too much?

I'm lost now that Rob has killed all my romper fantasies. Please advise.

Love,
ESB

p.s. My budget is $17.

Photo: Cosmic Wonder via I'm Revolting via ermie + Houyhnhnm

Sauvie Island Resort Wedding (who needs a disco ball?)

Okay, so I lovelovelove to feature weddings by near and dear blogfriends and of course people who have written in to ask for advice... But it is also pretty amazing to receive a zipfile out of the blue of wedding photos like this.

Holgas taken by talented family and friends. A wild vintage dress. Some serious motherf*cking groom style. And FEATHERED INVITATIONS? I think this lady might actually be more east side bride than I am. I mean, she does practically live my neighborhood.

Here's what Joanna had to say about her wedding:

I always imagined I'd have a Fall wedding. When we got engaged on a Friday in June, I accepted what would turn out to be a very demanding 50+ hour/week job the next week. But we decided it would be the same amount of stress whether we compressed it into a few months as it would if we dragged it out over a year, so we decided to go for it. My husband is a freelance commercial producer and I'm an art director, so we had confidence that our combined talents could make it work.

My dream was to get married outside on a farm, have a reception in a barn and have a giant bonfire. I got 2 out of 3. We live in Los Angeles and our family is the Bay Area and New England. LA was never an option, neither of us feel a very strong connection to the city, plus it would just be too expensive. Next we thought New England, but mid-Oct is already too cold. The Bay Area? Again too expensive and weather is iffy. My husband used to live in Portland and we go up there a lot for fun and work. He'd shot a commercial on this farm on Sauvie Island just north of Portland last Spring and we thought the location and the setting would be perfect, plus mid-October in Portland can be really nice.

We went to visit the farm in July and let's just say, one of us had a vision....and it wasn't me. It was all overgrown and there was a lot of random junk laying around, but my husband had confidence in the location, so I trusted him. There was a Black Locust tree with a dozen trunks that would be perfect for the ceremony and there was a giant Cottonwood that created a sprawling canopy, that he envisioned being lit with china lanterns where we would have the bar. The ceremony and reception would take place on a clearing that sat about 20 feet above the riverbank. The only problem was, how do we get the guests from the reception to the beach for the bonfire? My solution was to move the reception a little north, where it was flat and we could just walk onto the beach. My husband's solution was to build some permanent stairs on the slope. He was passionate about the Cottonwood being a key element (he was right) and he had confidence that he could build the stairs in a few days with the help of our fathers (both master craftsmen) and our brothers (five between the two of us). They ended up building the stairs out of massive timbers that had drifted up on the beach as well and the stone that was already on the site. My father finished it off with handrails on both sides that were straight out of Lord of the Rings. So, while the men were busy with that and other site related chores, so I took care of the details, like dress!, shoes, invites, flowers, food, drinks, etc.

Being a graphic designer, I'd had an idea in my head for invites before I was even close to getting engaged. I wanted a really pretty poster. What we ended up with was more beautiful than I could have imagined. The overall idea was to create something that felt hand-made and delicate, both natural and wedding-y. (Which was our concept for the wedding itself.) We had a friend give us a crash course on silk screening and we made all the invites/correspondence cards in one afternoon. The posters were printed on large pieces of tracing paper that I bought in pads, which made printing on such delicate material go a lot more smoothly. I work a lot with feathers in my art, there was no question about including them in some way. I wanted to complete the package with pretty calligraphy, so I scoured the internet for a calligrapher that I could afford until I found Robyn Love, who happened to be having a sale on one style of lettering. Perfect!

For the decor, I envisioned strings of lights everywhere, a la Chanel Resort 2010, and a disco ball hanging from a tree. But a few weeks before the wedding I realized, that there was a lot I would just have to let go. Because of rain, we needed tents and because of money/resources we opted for China Balls instead of strings of lights. The result was beautiful. It rained really hard the morning of the wedding but the clouds broke and the sun came out just in time for our guests to enjoy the dramatic setting as the arrived on Sauvie Island in the late afternoon.

I found my dress at The Way We Wore. It's a 1920's cotton gauze sheath dress with white opaque seed beading and it was the very first one I tried on. The silk slip was from Hidden Treasures in Topanga Canyon, also from the 20's. The shoes were a gift from my godmother, silver glitter Louboutins. I wore a strand of feathers I made around my neck. The dress has a drop waist and I wanted something that was more fitted, so I bought a couple yards of acid yellow silk that I tied around my waist to hide the seam. The acid yellow was apart of my multi-color palette that was loosely referenced throughout to tie everything together, but not overtly seen. I also sent the palette off to my close friends and family and suggested they dress within it if they felt like it.

(Editor's Note: Are you noting that the guests do in fact match the invitations? This is an advanced move. Unless your friends are stylists/art directors/costume designers, I don't recommend that you attempt it.)

Since my dress was so delicate, I decided to change into an 80's sequin and beaded dress and black oxford booties after the ceremony. My husband wore a black suit from J. Lindeberg, a custom shirt from Brooks Brothers, Rachel Comey canvas oxfords and his tie was a family heirloom. We both brought our ponchos to the farm for when it got chilly, but only he managed to wear his.

For the reception, we decided that the three key factors were hot food, lots of alcohol and a really great DJ. We'd heard that Cindy the Bar-B-Q queen was amazing, so we hired her. Even though she was a little unprepared for cooking in the woods, the food was so great, even some vegetarians indulged. For drinks, my brother's girlfriend is a bartender in San Francisco and offered to order the booze through her connections and they drove most of it up. She convinced her friends at House Spirits to donate some gin and vodka to use for cocktails that she created. One of the bartenders drank a few too many of them and was sent home after hitting on a some guests and face planting in the field.  For desert my husband's mother made about 300 miniature cream-puffs. As for the music, our friend Heather Thompson did an amazing job. We asked her to DJ for a few hours, and then we would switch to a play list. But everyone was having such  a good time, that she happily played all night (she literally DJ'd over 7 hours). The three of us were the last ones there at 3 in the morning.

(Photos by Danielle Levitt, Shaniqwa Jarvis and Kevan Bean)

a short wedding dress for November?

Hi ESB,

What are your thoughts on a short wedding dress for a late afternoon-evening wedding---in early November---in Boston? We haven't picked our site yet (and I will wait to buy a dress until we do), but I'm hoping we'll go with this cozy, very low-key restaurant/bar we found that has exposed brick walls and lots of warmth. There is the obvious question of being chilly during transport, so I'm wondering what your take is on layering and bundling up while wearing a wedding dress.

I have been looking at some great full-length dresses, but I keep having this nagging feeling that a full-length dress is going to swallow up my body and I'll just look like I'm wearing a big white sheet. Also, this is pretty embarrassing, but I kind of don't want to feel jealous of all the other girls at my wedding who will be frolicking around the dance floor in their cute cocktail dresses.

Here's the sort of dress I'm interested in at the moment (it has black in it---is that bad?).

Thanks!
Meg


*****

Hey Meg,

I hope you'll forgive me for posting photos of the dress. Becauseitisfuckingamazing. I admire your restraint in not just buying the damn thing. But WELL DONE. If you suddenly took a 180 and decided to get married on the beach in August you might not want to go with sequins.

The dress is fucking amazing. (Did I say that already?) How could you not look fucking amazing in it? And you should absolutely follow your instincts. No reason to put on a big white sheet if you know you'd be happier in a cute (read: fucking amazing) cocktail dress.

Here's the downside: You really might be chilly. You can bundle up en route, nothing wrong with that. But even in a cosy restaurant, keep in mind that your ARMS AND LEGS will be BARE* and you will incredibly reluctant to cover up those sequins with a wrap. (Kind of like Halloween, when your mom used to try and make you put a coat over your costume to go trick or treating.)

But... Maybe you do not chill easily? It drizzled briefly during the outdoor cocktail hour at our wedding and I was so warm and happy with wedding feelings (and whiskey) that I ran around in my cotton dress and sparkly sandals and had no interest whatsoever in putting on my wrap.

love,
ESB

p.s. There's nothing wrong with a little black.

(Philip Lim sequined silk dress via Phillip Lim and NET-A-PORTER)

*I am still not on board with wedding tights.

CNC by Costume National

I dig it. These and a bunch more tuxedo-inspired looks are on sale at revolveclothing.com

p.s. I refuse to jump on the blogging-about-Gossip-Girl bandwagon, but.... Did you see Chuck's black sequin tuxedo jacket? And then Lew Ashby rocked a he-ot tux jacket with a silver collar on the last episode of Californication. With a t-shirt and jeans, of course. (If anyone knows who designed that jacket, please tell me.)

sequined ballet flats

Sent to me by the ever-vigilant Peonies and Polaroids from net-a-porter.com

The princess in me really really wants these.