Beauty & Fashion

Behind the Seams: Vaccine Queen

Kate Sloan

May 16, 2021

A while ago, I read an article about people getting dressed up for their vaccinations. This idea immediately resonated with me: I love dressing up for things and find that it helps imbue events with extra significance for me. The ritual of assembling my femme ensemble helps me feel more put-together, centered, and prepared.

Shortly after reading that article, I wrote a poem about why it would feel emotionally impactful to wear something cute to a vax appointment. I won’t share it here because I’m waiting to hear back about potential publication, but one of the things I wrote in the poem was that I wanted to wear a leopard-print dress to show I was still wild after a year+ of captivity. On the day of my actual first dose, I hovered in front of my closet, trying to decide which dress would be best, and then I remembered that poem as my eyes alit on this leopard-print dress. Of course! It was the natural choice.

I got a lot of compliments on my look as I waited in line outside the clinic. I hadn’t realized, until people started commenting on it, that I’d inadvertently adorned myself with multiple rainbow hearts. The nurse who gave me my shot complimented my pen and pencil tattoo. Overall, a wonderful day.

 

What I’m wearing:

• Leopard-print skater dress – American Apparel, via eBay
• Black KN95 mask layered under a Pride heart mask from Threadless
• Red sparkly heart necklace – Tarina Tarantino
• Rainbow heart prescription sunglasses – Zenni
• Pink leather Cashin Carry tote – Coach (a findom gift from my love)
• Black leather harness boots – Frye

May 27, 2021

My psychiatrist told me recently (as he’s told me many times before) that I should try to go on more walks. “I always tell my patients to do that,” he said, “but recently I took some time off and started going on daily walks myself, and wow, it really makes a difference!” Unfortunately for my lazy ass, he’s right.

My dominant asked me what they could do to incentivize me to take more walks, and after pondering it a bit, I replied that I thought they should put “take a walk” on my to-do list on days when my workload seemed lighter, and provide a small assignment to do on the walk, something specific to photograph. I felt that would give me motivation, momentum, a goal.

It’s been working out well so far. I wore this outfit on a nice springtime walk with the intention of photographing a statue, for example.

 

What I’m wearing:

• Pink ribbed tank top – the Gap
• High-waisted skinny jeans – Madewell
• Pink cowboy boots – Jeffrey Campbell
• Pink leather Cashin Carry tote – Coach
• Turquoise Toy Story-print mask – an Etsy shop
• Hair in pigtails because it’s long enough to do that now!

May 31, 2021

This was my last day at my social media dayjob (which I call a dayjob purely out of habit; at the point that I decided to leave, it was only taking up 3-5 hours a week and bringing in ~7% of my income). In the pandemic age, I find it’s extra difficult to celebrate successes. You can’t invite your friends to go for a pint and clink your glasses together over what you’ve achieved, or take a mini-vacation as a reward for a job well done. So I asked my partner what they thought I should do to commemorate entering the land of the fully self-employed, and they suggested I order a bottled cocktail from Civil Liberties, my favorite bar.

I went online and ordered a double serving of the Call Me Maybe, a yummy drink involving grapefruit juice, fennel, fino sherry, and tequila. Then I decided to walk all the way to the bar – about 45 minutes – because it was a beautiful day. I think this was the first time I’d worn a crop top outdoors in nearly a year. Yay, spring!

 

What I’m wearing:

• Royal blue crop top – Forever 21, I think?
• Black A-line jersey skirt – ASOS
• Black bike shorts (worn underneath to help with chub rub) – American Apparel
• Red socks – the Gap
• Nike Air Zoom Pegasus 37 sneakers in teal – a findom gift from my love
• Pink leather Cashin Carry tote – Coach
• Black KN95 mask

June 2, 2021

Feeling in touch with my femmeness has been challenging this past year. I think that as much as my inner angry feminist often wants to snarl “I don’t dress up FOR YOU!!” there is nonetheless an element of my aesthetic that doesn’t feel worth performing if there’s no audience for it. Gender and style are both concepts that have an inward component as well as an outward component, and that outward one is hard to reckon with during a pandemic.

I put on this sweet floral dress to go buy some limes and mint so I could make a fave summer cocktail, the Southside, when having drinks with my friend/roommate Sarah later that night. We may not have been able to go sit on a pub patio or hang out at a cocktail bar, but I was determined to make our indoor lives feel summery and celebratory nonetheless, dammit.

 

What I’m wearing:

• Black/white/pink floral dress – CowCow
• Black leather Frye harness boots
• Pink leather Cashin Carry tote – Coach
• Black KN95 mask

June 3, 2021

Comfiest “outfit” ever. Sometimes I attempt to make my loungewear ensembles look aesthetically pleasing and intentional (as opposed to the times when I just throw on an oversized T-shirt from some rock concert of yore, pair it with underwear and fuzzy slippers, and call it a day).

I had recently reorganized my T-shirt drawer and resultingly rediscovered a bunch of shirts I forgot I owned, like this black cropped tank top, which is an essential item for when I want to feel summery but also goth.

 

What I’m wearing:

• Black ribbed cropped tank top – Forever 21? H&M? Not sure
• Black modal lounge pants – the Gap
• Tie-dye Bombas ankle socks – a gift from mb’s mom

Kinky Cuties & Their Book-Spurred Adventures

Kate Sloan

As an author, it’s hard not to imagine the people who’ll read your words as you’re writing them. When I was writing 101 Kinky Things Even You Can Do – which is coming out on October 12th and available for preorder now! – I thought a lot about who I hoped would read it.

It’s geared toward vanilla people and total beginners to kink, although I think there’s still plenty in it that more advanced kinksters will find interesting and illuminating, by sheer virtue of the fact that it really does contain one hundred and one different kinks. You’re sure to find something in it that you’ve never tried before, and that’s really thrilling to me!

Here are 3 totally fictional people I imagine would read my book, and the stories of how they found it…

 

Jess stuffs 101 Kinky Things into their backpack as they leave the bookstore, and starts their walk back to their apartment, already rehearsing the speech they plan to bust out when they arrive home.

Hey Kyla? You know that lipstick you wear sometimes? The red one?

Their sneaker soles hit the sidewalk pavement with sharp snapping noises, their pace picking up. Jess is more terrified by the conversation that awaits them than they are by anything they’ve encountered in their sports journalism dayjob; live post-game interviews with towering basketball players are way less intimidating than telling your girlfriend about your secret fetish.

Well, uh, I found this book that talks about how lipstick can be a kink for some people… and I was wondering…

Making quick work of the downhill trek, Jess lets their mind wander to the last time they had sex with Kyla. Her soft mewls and pillowy curves under Jess’s muscled body. Her kisses and caresses becoming steadily more desperate as Jess slammed into her with their blue silicone cock. The way her wavy crimson hair frizzed up from all the sweat. Jess’s clit throbs in their boxer-briefs at the thought.

I thought maybe it would be cool if you gave me a blowjob in lipstick, so I could… see whether it’s really something I’m interested in… maybe?

Jess’s key seems way too loud in their apartment door as they let themself in. Kyla’s sprawled on the couch, munching a salad and watching Top Chef. “Hey, babe!” she calls. “How was work?”

“It was okay,” Jess hedges, and tugs the book from their backpack. “Um, I wanna talk to you about something but I’m kinda embarrassed.” Kyla mutes the TV show and quirks an eyebrow. Ruffling their short dark hair, Jess checks the book’s table of contents and adds, “Can you flip to page 159 and let me know what you think?” Despite all their practicing, they just can’t quite bring themselves to say the words.

Kyla takes the book from Jess, a quizzical look in her eyes, and finds the page in question. As she reads, her eyes don’t widen in fear or narrow in disgust; instead, they light up, delight gradually filling them like the dawn of a new day. When she’s done, she lifts her head to look at Jess, who’s taken a seat beside her on the couch. “Shall I go get my tube of ‘Lucky Red’?” she asks mischievously. Jess bites their lip and nods, already hard and throbbing.

Anna was tired of the pitying looks her friends always gave her when she talked about her divorce over brunch. Couldn’t they see that it was something to be celebrated? Sure, she and Tom had been together for 22 years, but that didn’t mean they were destined to be together forever. In fact, she mused to herself as she walked away from the last settlement signing session at Tom’s lawyers’ office, it had been a long time since she’d felt this happy and free.

Having taken the day off from the art gallery for the occasion, she figured she’d go shopping (with some of Tom’s money, admittedly) and find herself something pretty to celebrate her newly reclaimed singlehood. But the Chanel, Gucci, and YSL shops didn’t light her fire as much as they once had. It was only when she stopped into an upscale bookshop and saw glimmering gold text proclaiming “101 Kinky Things“ that she felt a spark of something like excitement.

As she paged through the text, she couldn’t help but reflect on all the late-night arguments she and Tom had had, probably waking their neighbors with their antics. It was always some version of the same fight: she wanted sexual adventure; Tom didn’t. She wanted to go to the local sex club and try out swinging; Tom didn’t. She wanted to experiment with bondage, sensory deprivation, facesitting; Tom didn’t. She wanted him to appreciate (or even just acknowledge) the pearl-handled flogger she’d brought home from Agent Provocateur; Tom didn’t.

When Anna landed on the page titled “Dominance,” her breath caught. A blush crept onto her cheeks and she had to remind herself mentally that the bookish strangers milling around her couldn’t possibly know about the femdom porn she feverishly flipped through late at night. They couldn’t possibly know that her ex-husband’s utter disinterest in submitting to her had been the nail in the coffin of their doomed relationship. No one knew that except Anna’s leatherbound diary and her best friend Janine, truth be told. And maybe the people at PornHub.

Tucking the book under her arm, Anna sidled up to the cash register and handed her new treasure to the clerk. He swept his dark brown curls out of his eyes before scanning the book’s barcode, and Anna looked him up and down like a hungry wolf finally allowed to prowl free. His nametag said Danny. “I’ve heard good things about this one,” he said conversationally, taking her heavy gold credit card from her hands.

“Always good to learn something new,” Anna purred with a smirk, before scribbling her number on Danny’s copy of her receipt. “And to have someone to practice with.” She winked, and then strolled out into the sunshine, a new woman.

It had been 3 weeks since Sadie had been to the dungeon, but she couldn’t stop thinking about the scene she’d seen there.

Her friend Marissa had taken her along. Sadie, a notoriously shy and anxious femme, had been a wallflower at every kinky or queer event she’d ever been to. She couldn’t help it – her body just seized up with panic whenever she stepped into one of those spaces, like every moment was a matter of life and death. Far too often, she’d found herself face-to-face with some hot butch girl or charming trans boy or leather-clad enby and found she could barely get any words out. If she couldn’t even say “Hi, I’m Sadie,” she wasn’t sure how she’d ever manage to actually meet someone and ask for what she wanted in bed.

The dungeon had been different, though, because Sadie had been allowed to just observe. In fact, she’d been encouraged to do so. Marissa, a towering blonde with a staggering amount of confidence, had tugged Sadie to a leather sofa at the side of the room. “Sit here. Watch,” said Marissa, before strutting over to the St. Andrew’s cross and simply waiting. Marissa was the type of beauty who could just show up in a room and people would be drawn to her like flies. It wasn’t long before a boyish lesbian with an emerald fauxhawk strode up and started whispering to Marissa. Sadie couldn’t hear the words, but she could tell from Marissa’s sweet smile and coy body language that there was flirting going on.

What had followed was a knife play scene, something Sadie had never even heard of before, let alone witnessed. The fauxhawked girl had a thing for knives, and Marissa had a thing for adventure, so before too long she was cuffed to the cross, spread-eagle, with the blade of a cold steel knife being slowly and carefully dragged across her skin. It left dainty white marks against the pink of her breasts and belly and arms and thighs. Sadie shivered in her seat. She was so utterly rapt that when a Bettie Page-looking femme sat down beside her and tried to chat her up, all she could manage was, “Sorry, I’m watching my friend’s scene.” She was a useless flirt anyway but she’d be especially useless right then.

Sadie was pondering that fateful knife-play scene, yet again, as she walked uptown to the queer book club Marissa had invited her to. “You like nerds, right?” Marissa had said. “Book clubs are total nerd bait.” Sadie was surprised when she knocked on the door at the address she’d been given and the person who answered was that same Bettie Page lookalike who’d attempted to talk to her at the dungeon.

“I remember you!” the girl practically shouted, immediately so much more gregarious than Sadie had ever been. “Come in! I’m Lulu. Want a beer?”

As a brand-new member, Sadie hadn’t done that week’s reading, but the group was happy to fill her in. A bespectacled androgyne handed her a copy of 101 Kinky Things. “It’s new,” Lulu explained. “There’s a lot of information in there.” The others laughed in agreement.

While everyone chattered happily around her, Sadie started to flip through the book, eventually stopping on a page titled “Fear Play.” A now-familiar shiver went through her as she read the author’s suggestion to “replicate the terror of being held at knifepoint” by showing one’s partner a big, scary knife, blindfolding them, and touching them with a butter knife or credit card instead, letting their fearful mind fill in the rest. She was so absorbed in the words that she barely noticed when Lulu knelt beside her and handed her the aforementioned beer.

“Are you a pervert like me?” Lulu asked with a dark giggle. “Because I love scaring the shit out of pretty girls.”

Sadie gulped, blushed, and managed to get a word out at long last. “Yes.”

Curious? Preorder your copy and let me know what adventures you get up to once you read it! 😉

Why Are Pearl Necklaces So Damn Sexy?

Kate Sloan

Sometimes I just get obsessed with a particular fashion item and I don’t know why. It’s like being struck by a new kinky fantasy: it’ll pop into my head one day, or I’ll see it in a piece of media or hear someone talking about it, and I’ll fall down a mad rabbit hole of Googling (or Pinterest-ing). Most recently, I felt this way about pearl necklaces.

You know, the classic jewelry item worn by style icons like Jackie Kennedy Onassis and Grace Kelly? The kind of thing you see on women in period dramas like Mad Men and The Crown? Yeah, those.

I find them not only gorgeous, classy, and timeless, but also sexy somehow. At first blush, it would seem obvious why: there’s a sex act known colloquially as the “pearl necklace,” in which someone ejaculates onto someone else’s chest and décolletage, creating a pearly effect. But that’s never been a kink of mine, and I don’t even particularly like watching this act performed in porn – if the coming isn’t happening inside somebody’s orifice, I’m probably not interested! #InternalCumshots4Lyfe

So the question then becomes, what is it about pearls as a jewelry item that is so alluring to me?

In answering this, my mind goes straight to the phrase “clutching pearls.” To clutch one’s pearls is to react with shock and dismay to something, and it’s a phrase typically associated with upper-class types, or morally “superior” types, reacting to something they consider low-class or immoral. (Think: Helen Lovejoy in The Simpsons screaming “Won’t somebody please think of the children?!?”)

I am decidedly middle-class and don’t consider myself a moral authority on anything, so this isn’t an image I can directly relate to – but in some ways, that’s what makes it hot. The idea of pretending to be a certain type of woman that I definitely am not – of co-opting a classy aesthetic to conceal the mischievous mind behind it all.

Pearls’ associations with 1950s housewives also appeal to me. A standard string of pearls isn’t super long, so you can do household chores while you’re wearing it and not worry about dropping diamonds in the dishwasher or sapphires down the sink drain. This delights my inner submissive, and fills my head with images of waiting around dutifully for my spouse to get home from a long day of work, to a clean house, a hot meal, and a hot wife.

The financial aspect of pearls also definitely adds to their charm for me. It’s not that they have to be wildly expensive – the two strings of pearls I own are from Horae and Kay’s, and cost $45 and $100, respectively – but they have the air of being expensive, and for me, that’s enough. I’ve explored financial fetishism from several different angles, and my newest pearl necklace was sweetly bought for me by my partner as a financial domination task I assigned them; I can also imagine finding it deeply erotic for a sugar daddy(/sugar mama/glucose guardian) to buy me some pearls and place them around my neck before a glamorous dinner date. Like a perfectly-tailored suit or little black dress, they’re the sort of thing that can make you feel instantly richer, fancier, and more powerful (or more spoiled, as the case may be).

Notable, too, is that pearls don’t look out of place no matter what I’m wearing, and even when I’m wearing nothing. I feel very Marilyn when I spritz on a jasmine perfume, dab on some lipstick, clasp my pearls around my neck, and slink into bed completely naked. Rachel Rabbit White says she likes to have sex with her false lashes on, and I feel similarly – not only about lashes, but about lipstick and pearls, too. (And, uh, socks, but that’s neither here nor there…)

I’ve looked at a lot of pearl jewelry online these past couple months, and many such pieces are far too ostentatious, expensive, or just plain weird-looking to attract my interest. It’s only the most timeless, simple, and elegant pieces that call my name. Someday I’d perhaps like to get a triple-strand pearl necklace, as those really take fanciness to the next level. But for now, I’m thrilled with the two very straightforward single strands I own. They go with everything, they gleam under every light, and they make me feel like the world’s sexiest little minx.

Behind the Seams: Leather Weather

Kate Sloan

March 20th, 2021

mb’s building has a cute little open-air courtyard that is open to residents, and on this day, we sat there in the chilly early-spring sunshine for a while, writing poems and reading ebooks (me) and reading about sleight-of-hand and practicing magic tricks (mb). It was a lovely afternoon. I always feel so much better when there starts to be more sun in my life.

As with many of my favorite outfits, this one could just as easily be rocked by an ’80s teen queen or an 8-year-old girl. Fuck “dressing age-appropriately,” tbh. You don’t have to if you don’t want to! (I mean, if you have a job with a strict dress code, then maybe you do have to… but only when you’re at that job!)

 

What I’m wearing:
• Black modal slip – Calvin Klein Sleepwear
• Hot pink cashmere sweater – J. Crew
• Black leggings – the Gap
• Pink metallic cowboy boots – Jeffrey Campbell
• Black leather jacket – Danier Leather
• Red sparkly heart necklace – Tarina Tarantino
• Blue/grey/black colorblock Coach Willis bag
• Rainbow prescription cat-eye sunglasses – Zenni

March 21st, 2021

Wore this on an outdoor walk. Sometimes on bad pain days, I gravitate toward dark colors because they’re easy to match and tend not to get me noticed or looked at much in public; often I respond to overwhelming health symptoms by wanting to be invisible in some sense, to deal with my symptoms unobserved and in peace.

This hat is from the Wythe Hotel, the Brooklyn spot where mb and I stayed on our 3rd date. We had recently gone back there for a brief staycation to celebrate our anniversary, and had a lovely time. Normally you can buy these toques from their shop but they left two of them for us in our room free of charge, with a nice note thanking us for supporting them after the extremely rough time the hotel industry’s had during the pandemic. Aww.

 

What I’m wearing:
• Navy blue Wythe Hotel beanie
• Navy blue lacy tank top – the Gap’s sleepwear section
• Black leggings – the Gap
• Black leather Frye harness boots
• Black leather jacket – Danier Leather
• Blue/grey/black colorblock Coach Willis bag

March 23rd, 2021

Was feelin’ casual, I guess! I’m really not much of a Jeans Person but occasionally they’re called for.

Sometimes when mb and I go out together while they’re in chastity, I’ll wear this necklace, which has their key on it. It jingles and jangles a lot while I’m walking around and serves as a perpetual, cute, kinky reminder for both of us that they’re locked up and that I’m the one who controls when they’ll be unlocked again. Isn’t kink fun?!

 

What I’m wearing:
• Heathered black Lickability logo T-shirt
• High-waisted skinny jeans – Madewell
• Black leather jacket – Danier Leather
• Black leather Frye harness boots
• Lock & key necklace
• Blue/grey/black colorblock Coach Willis bag
• Pat McGrath MatteTrance lipstick in “Elson”
• “Abortion is a Right” pin from the ACLU

March 27th, 2021

This is what I wore to do a livestreamed concert celebrating my 9-year bloggiversary. I was surprised and delighted that 30+ people showed up to watch me play and sing!

Usually I like to buy a new dress to wear on my birthday, and while my bloggiversary isn’t quite the same as a birthday, this year the tone of the celebration was pretty similar! (I used to play a birthday concert at a rented venue every year when I was in high school, because I was a messy bitch who lived for attention, I guess.) I settled on this dress after looking at way too many other ones, and it was actually one of the least expensive ones I considered, at around $35.

Thanks so much to everyone who came out to watch the stream – it was so much fun, and might become an annual tradition!

 

What I’m wearing:
• Blue/green patterned Maggy London wrap dress – Nordstrom Rack
• Black leggings – H&M
• Elaborate eye makeup involving (among other things) Sugarpill eyeshadow in “Polar” and a huge pair of Sugarpill false lashes to top it all off
• I was also wearing an Agent Provocateur bra underneath, because this dress really kind of requires one, as much as I hate wearing bras of any kind these days!

April 8th, 2021

The temperature dropped again but we wanted to go sit outside for a bit, so I bundled up.

Still loving this Yokoo cowl. I wish I’d had more opportunities to wear it during the winter but 1) I just didn’t go out that much, and 2) it tends to exacerbate the classic fogged-up-glasses problem that occurs when you are a specs-wearing person who also has to wear a mask because you’re living through a global pandemic. (Sigh.)

I feel like this color palette is much more “grown-up” than how I normally dress… except most adult businessladies don’t have a Nintendo Switch in their handbag. Or so I would assume.

 

What I’m wearing:
• Blue and white floral-print dress – H&M
• Black leggings – H&M
• Black cashmere cardigan – the Gap
• Black leather jacket – Danier Leather
• Black leather Frye harness boots
• Navy knit cowl – Yokoo on Etsy
• Blue/grey/black colorblock Coach Willis bag
• Red lipstick

What have you been wearing lately, friends?

4 Dream Outfits for Post-Pandemic Travel

Kate Sloan

It would be an understatement to say that I miss traveling, and I know I’m not alone in that. In an era when the farthest that most of us can safely venture is the local grocery store, it’s only natural to daydream about dreamy destinations you hope to jetset to, one day when it’s possible to do so.

In that spirit, here are 4 outfits I’d dearly love to wear if I was able to visit these wonderful cities…

 

London, England

In doing a little research for this article (i.e. furiously googling “how do Londoners dress??”), I looked at plenty of photos of well-known London party girls like Alexa Chung and Kate Moss – and while world-class supermodels obviously aren’t a perfect encapsulation of their home country’s overall fashion sensibility, they did give me a clue. When I think of stylish English women, I mostly think of timelessly cool pieces, the kinds of classics that could just as easily have been rocked by Vivien Leigh in the ’50s as by Sienna Miller in the oughts.

…But of course, I had to put my own spin on this look, because working in the world of sex, I’m much likelier to hang out with quirky sex journalists and elite escorts in London than supermodels or businessladies! That’s why I went with a pink-hued Michael Kors trench coat instead of a classic tan one. This pale blue Valentino ruffled blouse adds a touch of British classiness to my usual wacky style, and I love the idea of tucking it into this pretty pink satin-jacquard skirt, which was designed by Alexa Chung and reminds me of English roses.

Navy tights would keep my legs toasty as I wandered around, and the ubiquitous combo of matching Hunter wellies and umbrella would keep me dry (I hear it’s a rainy town!). My bag of choice for a London trip would be a navy Coach Rogue, because it’s structured, smart, and roomy enough to allow for just about any eventuality.

 

Paris, France

There are so many clichéd ideas of “how French girls dress,” as if the whole female population of France is a monolith. A lot of the tropes of supposedly French style are about “effortlessness,” a concept I’ve never much liked when it comes to getting dressed. My outfits are effortful and I don’t mind people knowing that!

A striped boatneck shirt is about as quintessentially French as you can get. I don’t want to rock mine with perfectly-fitted vintage stovepipe jeans like so many French “it girls” seem to; I’d rather tuck it into a long skirt, comfy enough for strolling through the Louvre all day but fashion-forward enough that I wouldn’t feel out of place shopping on the Champs-Élysées.

This leather motorcycle jacket is by Valentino but I’d just as soon sling one on that I bought at a vintage shop and re-conditioned myself. Cat-eye sunglasses are the ultimate in cool, and these black leather Strategia ankle boots add a little toughness to this otherwise feminine-leaning look. A red quilted Yves Saint Laurent bag would be a dreamy addition, appropriate for the setting. Of course, I’d finish off the ensemble with a classic red lip, and a red beret to match. (The internet assures me it’s only tourists who wear berets, not actual French people… but hey, there’s nothing wrong with being a tourist!)

 

St. John’s, Newfoundland

I’ve wanted to go to Newfoundland forever and would love to take a road trip there with my love after all this is over! The most striking thing about photos of its capitol, St. John’s, is how vividly colorful all the houses and buildings are against the bright blue sky. So of course, I’d have to rise to the occasion, outfit-wise!

This sunny yellow polka-dotted Dorothy Perkins dress is ideal for strolling up and down St. John’s hilly streets, and a prim blue cardigan would mitigate the windchill while also making me look like a Canadian Zooey Deschanel. Cute red leather flats and a blue crossbody bag round out the primary-colors motif, while this silly yellow wide-brim hat would make me instantly spottable in a crowd, even from across the bay.

 

 

Florence, Italy

When I spent some time in Rome a few years ago, I wished I’d brought more fancy clothes with me. It just wasn’t the same as vacations I’ve taken to more casual towns like New York or Portland; I felt underdressed in my simple cardigans and sparkly crop tops.

This red dress by Kate Spade is the sort of thing I’d love to wear to an upscale Italian restaurant for some classic Florentine cuisine, with a structured black leather jacket tossed over it. While I’m not normally much of a heels girl, these black leather Jimmy Choo stilettos would help me walk the streets with confidence (provided I could deal with all those cobblestones). An alligator bag and jaunty porkpie chapeau would top it all off, along with the must-have red lip. That’s amore…

 

What vacations are you looking forward to taking, if/when it’s possible again for you?

 

This post was sponsored. As always, all writing and opinions are my own.