Labor Day Dressing and Great Expectations

I have been thinking a lot about expectations lately. What I expect of myself, yes, but even more what I perceive others expect of me. How should I move forward and in which direction? How do I choose which way to go? And then Labor Day came along and so did the answers to my not-so-existential questions. It was a single answer actually. Follow my gut. It is at once relieving and wildly dissatisfying (terrifying even?), to realize that the only one with the answers to your burning life questions, is you. Oh, your friends and family can, and — if they are good at their respective supporting roles in your life — will offer their opinions, but, in the end, it’s on you. I hate this truth. I still want someone to hand me life’s manual. The roadmap. The key! Alas. That key is me. So I followed my gut right into this easy breezy dress from Forever 21. I’m starting small people, and it’s Labor Day after all. But tomorrow I’ll take the next step on my journey of a thousand miles and then the next and the next. Each step of the way checking in with this here gut. And I have great expectations for what’s to come.

With love,

Amanda

Spectator Sneakers and an Ode to Menswear

The Spring 2016 Menswear shows begin today in NYC and so I figured this was as good a time as any to put my pants on. Black stretch cigarettes from Forever 21 to be exact. And then I got to thinking as I got to dressing, that my views on men’s fashion are pretty black and white (see where I’m going with this?). I like it when men look polished, yes, but a little rough too. Considered but with enough laissez faire to make them mysterious. Masculine always, but with an intuitive sensitivity. Wait, I may or may not still be talking about clothes. Let’s regroup. Here I’ve paired my high-water trousers with a basic white tee from Gap, a bag from Big Buddha and, the piece de resistance, my Kenneth Cole spectator sneaks. (I couldn’t find mine online for you, but click here for a nice substitute.) The shoes, just like the men who used to wear them in the roaring twenties, bring just the right amount of flourish and intrigue.

Amanda Garrigus - Black & White Kenneth Cole Sneakers

Amanda Garrigus - White Gap T-shirt

Amanda Garrigus - Forever 21 Capri pants

Amanda Garrigus - Kenneth Cole Spectator sneakers

Love and a White Lace Dress

When I fall in love, I fall hard. And right now, my heart belongs to the white lace dress. My love is evidenced by the fact that I own multiples of this at once trendy and timeless wardrobe must-have. The version I’m wearing here called to me from across a crowded Forever 21. I bought two of them. I wish I’d bought a dozen. They are perfection, and when you find the one, you gotta hoard. I have anxiety over the day when this one is too worn to be, well, worn. Then what will I do?! But enough about the end, this love affair has only just begun. I’m making memories in this dress that will last a lifetime. I’ve already taken her to the season wrap party for Kingdom (a spectacular TV show my hubby wrote and produced alongside a team of stellar talents); she’s been to Gracias Madre for a birthday dinner and to the opening night of the LA Modernism Show. I like to play with contrast and pair her (yes, I anthropomorphize my clothes) with a black bootie, these ones from a several-seasons-old Alice and Olivia collection. In the immortal words of a one Lana del Rey, who would rock the heck out of this dress btw, “when you find true love it lives on.”

Amanda Garrigus - White Lace Dress

Amanda Garrigus - White Skater Dress

Amanda Garrigus - White Mini Dress

Amanda Garrigus - Forever 21 White Dres