New York, American Woman, and the LOFT Holiday Preview
Last week I enjoyed a mini road-trip out to upstate New York, invited by Jen to come and visit and to attend the LOFT Holiday Preview with her. I'm so excited for Jen's little baby to arrive- only six more weeks!- but I'll admit that I'm glad we were able to spend some time together before the little one gets here. Jen is one of my favorite people that I've met through blogging, and JenLovesKev was actually one of the blogs that inspired me to start Orchid Grey. She and Kev are such kind and genuine people. Anyways, in my head I imagined us hitting the town, going to vintage stores and having the city at our fingertips, but the weather gods had another idea for us: torrential downpours! Luckily when we got off the train at Grand Central, we had just enough time to hop a subway and meet Jessica at the MET before the rain started. We started our day by exploring the MET's exhibit American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity.
Photo: Jen
I was really excited for this exhibit, aside from my love of vintage fashion I am also really interested in women's studies and was curious to see how the show would address both. While I loved the backgrounds and the clothes were beautiful, I was disappointed that the exhibit ended at the 1940's and didn't even get into World War II. How can you have an exhibit on costume and women's lib without addressing WWII? Unfortunately they didn't allow pictures, but I found this video of the exhibit on the website. As you can see in the video, the exhibit ended with the unfortunate video room that grouped the 1950's, 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's and 00's together in a video montage. Six very different decades is a little too much to just cram into a loud room with Lenny Kravitz blaring in the background (the very cliche but appropriate American Woman). But that's just me. Anyways, my favorite pieces in the collection were the 1920's sporting uniforms.
After the MET, we made an unsuccessful escape attempt by purchasing the stupidest $25 umbrellas ever (yes, still bitter) and making a run for it. Unfortunately, the rain was just too much for us and we ended up taking a u-turn on the steps of the MET and running back inside! After about an hour of wandering around the museum, the rain finally let up enough for us to find a diner and some lunch. With only a couple of hours until the preview, we spend some time wandering Broadway, I met a reader in TopShop (Hi Liz!) and Jen was smart enough to purchase some comfy post-travel clothes from Old Navy (I was not smart enough). We eventually made our way over to the location of the preview: an immaculate white loft just down the street.
Photo: Jen
This was really my first experience with LOFT, and I have to say I walked away from the event coveting more than one item from the line. Seeing beautiful winter/holiday clothes always makes me anxious for colder weather, I can't wait to layer!
Center photo: Jen
I'm completely in love with the grey moto sweatshirt on the left and the herringbone cape on the right, I can so easily see those fitting seamlessly into my current cold-weather wardrobe!
Photo: Jen
The faux fur hat on the right was another favorite. I actually had a hat like that for about five minutes when I was a kid: my dad brought it home from Russia. Sadly, the dog promptly mistook it for a rabbit and tore it to shreds!
Another favorite was the shrunken wool striped blazer in the background of the image on the right. I would pair it with dark blue skinny jeans and demure flats.
I wore my Spotted Moth Sonnet Dress (Friday's outfit was a repeat of this), which ended up being the perfect thing to wear. Dresses allow for so much movement, essential for running around the city all day. Unfortunately the combination of rain and sock-less feet led to some pretty gnarly blisters from my new shoes, but at least the top half of my outfit felt good! Jen and I were both all too happy to get back to her place and relax with a little Arrested Development!
Dress: Sonnet Dress c/o Spotted Moth
Belt: Thrifted (old)
Shoes: Thrifted ($5)
Necklace: Franklin Necklace c/o Jess LC
I ended up being so thankful that I wore my hair up for the day, 85 degree heat and humidity would have done a number on it. Sleek ponytails save the day!
All in all it was a really great trip, I love getting into the city and can't wait to go back for Fashion Week in September!