baja + bcbg

{baja sweater} BCBG Max Azria {pleated leather skirt} Le Fou by Wilfred, Aritzia {pvc clutch} Peter Pilotto for Target from Netaporter {sunnies} Karen Walker Number One in Crazy Tortoise {photographed at} Laguna Beach, Orange County

Few articles of clothing are as synonymous with the bohemian beach lifestyle, or California surf culture as the baja sweater or jacket.  Also known as a Mexican Threads Hoodie, sudadera de jerga, or in the cannabis sub-culture- a drug rug.  The sweater garnered it's name since it was popularized in 70's era California, by surfers returning from wave-riding excursions to Baja California, Mexico.  Today, the style has remained classic, still retaining it's associations with laid-back beach life, and well granola hippies living in VW vans along the coast of Santa Cruz (hey, there's nothing wrong with that, Santa Cruz is beautiful this time of year).  I love the reimagined fashion version by BCBG Max Azria.  In a super soft knit, with a more tailored shape this sweater is my new go-to.  Excuse me while I get sentimental, I'll be wearing my hoodie and listening to Brian Wilson's "Surfer Girl" while I chill on Laguna Beach.  

Remember that time I went to Newport Beach, I was heading back to my car and the sun was setting.  The only other vehicle in the lot was a beat-up old RV.  A dude appeared on one of the beach trails and approached me.  He asked if I had a light, explaining he was eager to "light one up".  I shrugged apologetically.  He headed over to the RV and knocked on the door several times.  Suddenly the door creaked open and a voice bellowed, yelling furiously "why would you knock on my door!!!"  The dude scurried away confused by the angry man in the RV.  This folks, is how episodes of CSI start.  And there is your random story of the day.    

silverlake + sandro

{dress} Sandro Remini mesh yoke tunic dress {sandals} Loeffler Randall {sunnies} Karen Walker Number One in Crazy Tortoise

Silverlake is one of my favorite 'hoods in LA.  It might be the closest doppelgänger you'll find out west to my New York neighborhood, the L.E.S and East Village.  Both have that hip, artsy vibe with vintage shops, tons of artisan organic cafes, and coffee spots lining the street.  Granted it's easy to poke fun at these "hipster" standards, but when you're just out here livin' life there's something to be said about a nice cup of coffee, and a corner succulent shop.  Not only did Forbes name this THE coolest neighborhood in the U.S. (I'm still unsure of the criteria used to determine such things..."cool" is subjective, no?) but all of my NYC Lower East Side friends who have moved out to LA have settled right here.  Maybe it's the urban legend surrounding nearby Echo Park Lake, supposedly once a favored dumping ground for...well, severed heads.  That sort of gritty edge is untouched by any level of gentrification, or sump pump.  "What a lovely park!"  "Remember when people used to dump heads in the water?"  "Oh."  To set the record straight, I'm pretty sure that was all urban myth.  Pretty sure.  The public restrooms in that park are still worthy of a fright though.  Speaking of the dirty "g" word, gentrification- the area was also once subjected to real estate developers who wanted to turn the reservoir into a hipster resort.  Yeah, that happened.  They wanted to call it "Hipster Beach".  Sooo glad that never saw fruition.  We're in LA folks, there's a real beach just due west.  You will have to cross the 405* to get to it thought, which I know for many is a deal breaker.  (*Inside LA joke, the 405 divides the east and west side fairly far to the west, westsiders often refuse to go east of the freeway divide and well eastsiders loathe going too far west.  What?!  We're ridiculous in this city, that's already been established.) 

Here I am going off on my Silverlake tangent and forgetting to even talk about this look.  Here's a wrap tunic dress from Sandro.  It has a perfect black and white pattern reminiscent of those composition notebooks we all had in school that we scribbled bored musings and doodled little hearts into.  Yeah, those books we were supposed to be taking chemistry notes in but instead divulged our deepest darkest secrets and sketches into- that composition book.  These cut out bootie style sandals from Loeffler Randall give the elusion of a more substantial shoe, since it is fall, but in LA it's still summer.  Sometimes you have to just pretend to be seasonally appropriate.