After second thought: did I mean chick or chic? Could she be both:-))?

Hi Basia,

Happy King's Day! (Is that something people wish you on this holiday?)

I think the layers of pastel work very well because of the soft dove grey. It's a very neutral backdrop for the pastels.

However, I'm more curious about her skin? Is that a canned tan? It looks very unnatural--like she ate too many carrots or something.

She looks like Jennifer Lopez!

The way she's wearing these colors is making me rethink my personal bias against pastels. It is nice and soft. I think it works because of all the grey. Love grey. It works such magic.

Hi Nicole!
I am not sure about King's Day wishes but in Spain its a big day- its a presents day! In contrary to the rest of the world they give presents not at Christmas using Santa but strongly believe that the presents came from the Kings brining the gifts to the Child. Hence all the children wait till the 6th!
In Italy where I am now it's just a day off;-(.

Oh, I know what King's day is. My mom used to keep our Christmas stuff up until King's Day, because she said that was the "traditional" day the wise men reached Baby Jesus. She partially grew up in Europe though, so maybe that explains it. :D

I really like the layered pastels. I'm not a fan of them generally, but that outfit is pretty perfect. I could definitely see some of our pastel wearing forum members rocking it.

Now that's a day off, Basia...breakfast in bed with fashion blogs! It can be great inspiration. Here's another one from Sart that is gorgeous...those pants! :
http://www.thesartorialist.com.....rwnWeb.jpg

Here's another site that's fashion/style indulgence...(with a little more gossip thrown in) if you haven't seen it:
http://jakandjil.com/blog/

What a great outfit. It also makes me reconsider my pastel hate. I agree that the grey is what makes it.

Happy King's day! Here in my faith tradition (Anglican/liturgical Christian) we call it Epiphany. It is also known as Twelfth Night (the end of the 12 days of Christmas). We're having an Indian food dinner party to celebrate. :) I was a bad Anglican and took my Christmas decorations down days ago, though.

Sorry double post.

Interesting Jak and Jil site.
Now does Hamish Bowles really look dapper? Also what does it mean when men wear no socks as in the George Cortina picture?
I was fascinated by the in the trenches pictures.

Do any of you have the cake tradition for Epiphany? I haven't had it in years but i remember it was a fun tradition.

That's a nice outfit! I like the pink color of the coat and the bag is nice.

I have a confession to make...and I feel like this is a safe place, so here goes...

I don't always like the outfits I see on The Sartorialist. There I said it. :) I guess I just don't have an eye for high fashion. Some of the outfits are just way out there. I can appreciate the creativity and I do find the outfits interesting, but not everything I see looks stylish for fashionable to me.

Phew, now my secret's out of the bag. :)

That's funny, Violet...neither do I...on any of those fashion blogs! Some outfits look ridiculous. I always take it as the photog's personal bias, just putting their own opinion out there, what caught their eye.

Violet, I agree--and I think with a certain portion of the outfits you'll see on blogs like the Sartorialist, that's the point. To be very artfully ugly/unflattering/super-odd/dishevelled/whatever. For me, those looks are more art than fashion. I like to look at them and think about them, but I wouldn't wear them and don't even necessarily "like" them in the way I usually like fashion.

Bella, what is the Epiphany cake tradition? Sounds neat! I didn't grow up in a liturgical church so I don't know most of the traditions.

I don't like all the outfits either. Many of them seem impractical for most people--the kind of things only someone who is willing to sacrifice comfort for fashion could wear.

Also, has anyone noticed that the women he posts are never bigger than a size 6? A lot of the women he photographs literally are already models, and if they're not, they probably could be. Many of them are big names in the fashion biz, or other mini-celebrities. So it really isn't always about finding "normal" people with great style. I wonder if he genuinely just never sees a normal sized woman who dresses spectacularly, or if he specifically avoids anyone who isn't model thin.

And I really lost a lot of my enthusiasm when he posted a series of photographs of women wearing furs in various ways, and then blocked any comments that even respectfully tried to criticize his choice. It's his blog of course, but it really rubbed me the wrong way.

I used to love the blog, and a lot of the images are exquisite, but I don't live in a fashion fantasy world so I prefer YLF by a long shot :)

That said, that woman looks fabulous. I think the layering of different pastels is what makes it unusually rich.

Nice to see you post again Basia. "Drie Koningen" is how I know Kings day - and that’s the Dutch version. It’s the day you take down your decorations.

The Parisian women looks pretty, but I have to say that I’m not wowed by her outfit(*ducking*).

I’m back. I enjoy the satorialist’s attempt to capture street wear. I too am not wildly fond of the outfits he photographs but I enjoy the artistic integrity of the process even if his sampling is highly biased.

I ma here, I am here and YOU keep me sane while these Italians around drive me mad! I guess this new job drains me out so I only indulged myself with reading the blog instead of participating...How sad is this??

I placed this comment most probably as a silent wish of the woman of 1.5 meter working in uniform who has to dress with fitting care because of the frame while sees herself wrapped up in a floating layers;-) I wonder how far in size from Shiny am I?

Concerning Sartorialist blog: I love it as a variety which is always inspiring. Similarly like Tate Galery in London: I love to go there but I would never take any of the art pieces home. People from his photos Do walk the streets of Milan. But they are not part of OUR community.

In my opinion YLF stooped being a fashion blog a long time ago. Angie with all the members managed to create the Community of so much beyond fashion! WIth all the topic fashion inspired but not necessarily fashion related. Just think of all the threads we been through: starting with what to wear, politics, partners, careers and even how many glasses of water to drink a day! AND with how many different opinions we dealt? The variety is beautiful! But also, a lot of respect and willingness to understand and accept different point of view.

I realized the other day that I was wearing pearls for long time, inspired by CoCo Chanel saying that they enlighten the face. But now, when I see nice pearl neckless in a movie or a store I don't think about Coco, I think: Angie would love this!
Do you think anybody from Sartorialist think of the author that way?

Concerning inspiration; Judy, you would never believe how much your blog and pictures brighten the most rainy day in Milan;-) Thank You!

Basia, you are so right about Angie's site being about much more than fashion. That's why we all love it, right?

About The Sartorialist, I do like his blog, and it's because we don't have street fashion where I live. If I still lived in Manhattan, I probably would care less about his blog because I could see people every day dressed in really interesting ways (whether I liked the fashion or not matters little - to me, it's simply entertaining). In suburban Chicago though, I see a lot of Uggs and North Face and blonde bobs and not much else, so I love his photos.

Basia you are absolutely right. Actually, one of the reasons I chose to post comments on YLF in the first place was because I didn't feel so intimidated. Sart's blog seems full of fashion snobs.

I think it's hilarious that even when he posts a picture of someone wearing something absolutely atrocious, like a construction worker in paint-splattered overalls, all the replies are along the lines of "OMG IT LOOKS INCREDIBLE!" I really like his posts as works of photography, but I no longer care for them as fashion inspiration.

Basia, you are fabulous. I love your Euro presence of this forum and I miss it when you awol. Keep posting your comments regularly! Thanks for recognizing the YLF community. I do not have the words to adequately describe what this forum and its members mean to me. A whole blimmin’ lot!

Laura: “I see a lot of Uggs and North Face and blonde bobs and not much else, so I love his photos”. You crack me up.

Maya, I find many of the comments on Sart’s blog pretentious – people trying to sound deep and be clever. It makes no impression on me. Bar the ones with fur, I do find the pics entertaining and I don’t read the comments anymore.

I no longer bother reading the comments either. They put me in a rather cynical mood.

Also, when he started writing about getting his pajamas altered, I almost lost my noodle.

I think his best posts were the ones he did in India. India is not a place where you find the kind of high fashion snobbery he seeks out in places like Paris and New York, so the photographs he took seemed more genuinely in keeping with his original mission, which was to find style in ordinary people and unexpected places.

Where are the pics taken in India? I must have missed those.

“I almost lost my noodle” - I love that expression. I have a friend who says that she’ll hit you with a wet noodle when she’s annoyed with you. Love that expression too.

Here are the pics. I think each of the pictures, at least from my POV, is more about a detail of each outfit (like the tabbed sleeves one of the young men is wearing), or the idea of the outfit (girl with the menswear shorts) than about the overall look.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qjpw.....lhiweb.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qjpw.....lhiweb.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qjpw.....diaweb.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qjpw.....yesweb.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qjpw.....ullweb.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qjpw.....cleweb.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qjpw.....yaKweb.jpg

OK this one isn't really stylish in any way that I can tell, but the girl is so cute:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qjpw.....lhiweb.jpg

And any phrases including the world noodle are good in my book.

Oh, Basia, thank you! I'm so glad some little photo I took can brighten your day, truly. And I second what Angie said about your euro presence here on the forum.

Though I enjoy many photo or personal blogs, and they brighten my day too...I don't read comments normally. Sometimes I don't even read the text, I just look at the pictures :)!

Maya, I laughed out loud with your remark about altering his pajamas!

Maya, those photos are lovely! I agree about his photos being more about art than fashion - I know nothing about photography but even I can see that the palette and texture of surroundings play a huge role. I never read the comments - I thought since there are so many it'll be hard to sift through to get any meaningful content.

Laura, I can also relate about the shortage of street fashion around here! I get some around here but a lot of it is close to what you see, except more geared toward rainy weather. I see some nicer clothing, too, but often it's something that can't realistically be worn outside the car.

Oh that was such fun! Thanks, Maya. The girl in the black dress and yellow flats took my breath away. She is magnificent. I loved all the others too. The skinny bloke made me smile.

Actually, a girl that I know from school was the subject of what might have been the most controversial post Sart ever made! I just thought of that now.

He wanted to give her a makeover, and he suggested taking her to places like J Crew, the Gap, BR...the kind of places we talk about all the time here. And of course all the fashion snobs raised their voices in protest that he was stifling her originality by taking her to these chain stores. I don't know if they ever went through with it or not and I couldn't ask her because she had dropped the class she had with me!

The girl in the black dress is the same girl in the traditional garb standing in the garden. That is my favorite picture he has ever taken. It looks like the set of an opera. I just felt like the India photographs really lent themselves towards his style of photography. I usually don't pay much attention to the setting of each picture, but he got some really sweet background shots there.

I was kind of wondering about whether all his shots were just of random people, because I've seen the same people in different shots wearing different things. I think the "random" shots he gets are the ones where people are walking away on their cellphone or something like that, but I'm not sure. I like his Paris and Italy photos. My least favorite are the ones of Russia. Some were okay, but I recall a lot of harem pants.

That photo of the girl in the photo is gorgeous! I almost always notice the backgrounds. He uses a lot of the same ones in Paris and New York.

Ana, this picture alone made Russia my least favorite group. I think it's the worst outfit I think I've ever seen in on his blog...perhaps in my life.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qjpw.....pleWeb.jpg

Although I did really like Mirochka:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qjpw.....raAWeb.jpg

I guess I noticed the India backgrounds more because they were so different from the ones he usually posts, and the NY backgrounds are so familiar I pretty much tune them out completely.

Yes, Maya--that's the outfit! A purple harem pant jumpsuit? Really?! I just...don't even know what to say. I like her hair, I guess.