Black Coat

This is what I called my "lifesaver" or "magic" coat. It is from H&M and it goes down to my knees. It has a very high collar and a hood, and when it is cold and windy you will not feel a thing. I don't think it is filled with feathers but it has quilted details at the sleeves and edge of the hood.
I had set this on the floor to sketch it when half way through my cat came and plopped on it and took a nap! I was going to paint it with black paint and a thick brush but instead used watercolor pencils once the cat made an appearance.

RRL Coat

I am suffering through a bad cold and my pen tablet is not working, and yet here are the latest sketches.
This is a white & black pinstripe shirt from Forever 21, from 2 seasons ago. I paid practically nothing for it and it's still going (I wash it in the delicates cycle though).
I paired it with a tan corduroy vest from... Old Navy. Yikes, right? But it was actually very well made, from three seasons ago I think, when they were trying to go into a different direction to compete with H&M a little.   I am not one to freely mix black and brown, but it works when you are evoking a bit of a "Wild West" look, for which RRL is so well known.

This is one of my favorite coats: a RRL brown wool toggle coat. I bought it at the RL San Francisco store in 1997 or 1998 without knowing that one day I would end up working for the man himself. It never goes out of style and it is a more relaxed take on your classic preppy toggle coat. It is the length of a car coat and does not have a hood. Those coats are way too preppy for me and always make me think of "My Bloody Valentine" starring Melissa Gilbert back when in the 80's.

Grey & Black

Another grey & black combo. I paired it with a purple sweater actually. It was warm enough that it was all I needed along with a black linen scarf. This autumn has been awesome, I was actually wearing a polo shirt outdoors yesterday.
The boxer shorts here are from Faconnable and they actually used real Liberty of London fabric for this line. I bought them several years ago at the flagship store in Rockefeller Center. They were pricey but worth it. The buttons are mother of pearl, the elastic has lasted a long time, and the cotton lawn fabric is a delight. I think all boxer shorts should be made of cotton lawn.

Fair Isle

Fair Isle season is here again. I took out this Fair Isle vest in navy with jeweltones. Most of the Fair Isle out there is very neutral, but I liked the intensity of these colors, which look better on me. The pants are RL in a simple Tartan. And the gingham shirt is by American Living.

I don't know where I found the focus to sketch last night. I went to Tartine for dinner with friends in the West Village. Because it is BYOB, I always tend to drink too much. Lisa brought a bottle of Domaine Tempier rose - it is late in the season but it was warm enough last night for a rose in November, fancy that. I brought a 1999 burgundy Hautes Cotes de Nuits, which I was saving for a special occasion. It aged so well. The taste was a bit spicy, with a very faint hint of oak, a bit alcoholic, but it tasted expensive.

I started a new sketchbook last night, this time focusing on compositions. Here is most of my outfit today: a Forever 21 tattersall button down shirt, Polo RL moleskin pants (my favorite clothing item this season), H&M socks and C&A underwear.
I was going to add color to this drawing but my instinct tells me to leave it as is.

Herringbone

I have owned these pants for several years now and they are timeless... and cheap, from H&M. It is a grey herringbone wool.

This is a Polo RL navy blue quilted jacket that I bought in the San Francisco store in 1997. I am always tempted to give it away because it has seen better days, but again it is a timeless piece of clothing. It has a grey herringbone lining.  I love how this drawing came out, it is very very faithful to the original.  This along with the drawing of my car coat are my favorites.

Finally, the last page of my sketchbook! A Louis Vuitton wallet in dark green Taiga leather, which I also bought at the LV San Francisco store on Post St. It has been my companion during these last 12 years and it still may have 3 more to live. I could have replaced it a long time ago but it has a nice patina. It is the squarer European size.

I will now move to sketching compositions. I haven't figured out how that will work or how it will look.

Black Cords

I am going to wear these tomorrow. They are fine-wale black corduroy jeans from Rugby, very skinny. I was dismayed to see they went on sale this weekend, a couple of weeks after I bought my pair. I had to seriously restrain myself from buying anything this weekend at Rugby, including the purple cords I saw a couple of weeks ago, and the grey herringbone tweed jacket.
I drew this using an old fashioned pen nib and ink. Several years ago I bought vintage Gillott nibs, and there is one that produces the finest hairlines ever, but at the same time if you apply pressure, the line becomes 10 times wider. It is a nib used for copperplate sketching, I believe, and I can see why.

Herringbone Plaid

This shirt was given to me several Christmases ago. It was purchased at Kohl's. It is a grey herringbone yarn dyed plaid, slightly brushed. I know I write this about all my clothes, but it has held up pretty well, with no flannelly pilling. I normally wear this on weekends but I brought it to work today with my Uniqlo skinny black jeans.

Purple Gingham

I feel my sketching was in better shape last night, perhaps I was too tired the other day. I will never be Ingres, but these drawings reflect my "hand," even if they are recolored in Photoshop.

I was going to wear this polka dot tie (vintage) with an H&M purple gingham shirt, but ditched the tie because it looked too thick and wide with the skinny fit of the shirt.

The socks are from H&M but they were too warm so I ended up not wearing them. The underwear is from C&A, my fave.

And the sweater is a wool/acrylic blend from Old Navy. It is nicer than it sounds and I love the light grey heathered color. It has held up well and not pilled. I haven't visited Old Navy in a long time, I don't like their quality.

I am three pages away from filling an entire pocket-sized Moleskine sketchbook with drawings. For the next sketchbook I am thinking of drawing compositions of two or more items of clothing together. I don't know how long I will continue this sketch project, but I am thinking that when this is over, I will start sketching everything I eat at home: for example, an egg, a vegetable, etc., moving on to finished dishes? I will call that blog "Foodsketch."

Brown boots

I have to start by saying that I hate this drawing, it looks ridiculous, like a teenager made it during recess. I obviously was not too inspired last night when sketching.
They are a pair of English ankle boots in brown pebbled leather.