FPM: Last Gasp Summer Dresses, West German Shoes, and a Visit from a Portland Artist

1. These shoes are for sale at a Russian shoe repair shop on East 7th Street. They are labeled as "Made in West Germany," so they are vintage!

2. I had a lovely visit this week from Portland artist Hayley Barker, who makes ethereal, poetic and surreptiously disturbing paintings, and who wore dresses I felt compelled to photograph.

3. I say some lovely dresses at the Farmer's Market and in the blocks leading up to the Farmer's Market.

4. My kids is mad I keep using her camera.

FPM: Costello Tagliapietra

1. Today is my birthday and I am wearing this dress (which really does look better on). It's designed by my latest obsession Costello Tagliapietra: One is Costello, the other is Tagliapietra. I don't know which one is which. RJT pointed out the freakily wonderfulness of them in the comment below. You can read about them here--or just read RJT's comment.

2. Sigh. Today is my birthday, and I fell on my head during 7:00 am yoga today. I never do 7:00 am yoga.

3. I'm reading Mickey Leigh and Legs McNeil's memoir of Joey Ramone. Mickey is Joey's younger brother, and he provides a bold and honest portrayal of Joey, starting from babyhood. What unfolds is a sibling dynamic troubled by Joey's big problems (OCD, paranoia, his addictions and physical ailments) and the ways in which music saves him and drives intermittent often insurmountable wedges between the competitive brothers. Worthwhile for its super intimate look into one of the most unique and inimitable rock stars in history.

4. I've miss seeing Joey around the neighborhood. He lived on 9th Street in the East Village. Once, he was in back of me in line at Veselka. I remember him saying in his thick Queens accent, "I would hate to be in the restaurant business." Oh, why, why did I NOT say hi?

5. I don't even have one pair of good jeans.

6. What are you reading? Wearing?

7. Other photos: deconstructed, unfitted fashion--been seeing this a lot in the neighborhood; Chrissie Hynde with kitten, and looking just hot. A good role model for me as I age. Gracefully? Let's hope.

FPM: Yellow Dresses, Lara, and Utah Teens on the High Line

For awhile, I've been trying to do a themed post, and so here it is. Yellow dresses in all shades, from lemon to butter(?). Okay, I'll stop now. The first dress from from after the fireworks on the 4th of July and was vintage looking and short in a way I can't wear short anymore. Sigh. (Over her shoulder is a Sustainable New York tote.) The others were collected at the Bear in Heaven concert at the South Street Seaport on Friday night. (I couldn't resist, however, the gal in the red dress and the strange guy all in red: shirt, shorts, socks.)

All week, I've been trailing my friend Lara as she sheperded eight Utah-based teens around the city. (I trailed them to Fela on Broadway, and the Upright Citizen's Brigade, Coney Island, and Shakespeare in the Parking Lot, ending with The High Line yesterday.) Below is a photo of Lara whose book of poetry was just released by Blaze Vox, her teens, and a painting affixed to the fence where The High Line ends.

FPM: Gloria Steinem is NEXT DOOR RIGHT NOW!!

A. saw second-wave feminist, Steinem, stride into the building next door for a fundraiser consisting of plays all about gay marriage. Wish I could afford the $75.00, which is the lowest price ticket. Sigh. Of course, I asked A. what Gloria was wearing, and I was impressed of his reported level of detail:

She wore a brown billowy top with matching pants, accessorized with a belt constructed of indigo linked discs. "Very '60s/'70s," he said.

I'm having a very hard time concentrating on this right now. Both kids are up on a school night (it's 10:00 pm), A.'s recording a song quite loudly (I might add), and I think we're all just tired of our M-F routine.

Here are some summer dress images, and some images from our visit to the Miranda July sculptures in Union Square Park. At the park that day were several dudes executing some eye-popping soccer moves on a day in which the entire city seemed taken with the World Cup. Oh, and there's a dude from American Apparel bbq-ing right in the middle of Orchard Street. And look at this art installation left by a neighborhood arist in a school playground. And there's some kind of third wave hippie bus parked in the lower east side. It does remind me of moving to the Panhandle in San Francisco in '87 and being so pleasantly astounded by all the hippie busses parked there, people living inside. Why have I never lived my life this way?

Plus, I'm stressed at the fact I've done no sewing so far on our Mermaid Parade costumes and the Parade's this Saturday!! (Thanks to tinarama. I could never do this without the machine she gifted me with years ago.)

Fashion Post Monday: Midsummer City Dresses

This summer dress is the quintessential writermama summer dress, but I fear I've grown too old for a dress like this first dress. I'll admit it. Dresses are currently my favorite form of dressing--no matching, no coordinating involved. Some I've heard, say they are sick already of the summer dress, but here are some others I spotted during this past week.

We are in New Hampshire on some big lake for the next week, so I will try to capture some images from an unprecedented NH fashion post for the following Monday. The last photo in this list shows the cake the kids made for Harry Potter's birthday on the 31st. The next to last, photo is from the noodle house I ate at for dinner on my birthday. (Can't stop mentioning it, can I? Sigh.)