some images

It has been a busy summer and I haven't had the quiet time I've grown accustomed to over the last couple of years, which hasn't been a bad thing. However, I miss posting in this space.

While I think of what I might want to do here in the future, here is a little collection of photos from my first trip out of the country in five years, to London, Edinburgh, Amsterdam, and Paris. June is my favorite month of the year.

Yours,
Rachel

Yes, burn your bridges

Everlane silk blouse, J.Crew minnie ankle pants, Dieppa Restrepo loafers, Longchamp tote

Long work weeks have left me with no energy to form written thoughts. Here is a typical spring/summer outfit (from before the heat hit)...hopefully soon I can sit down and say something real!

very simple

Random pashmina from an import store, L.L. Bean breton, second hand BCBG trousers, Sam Edelman suede booties

How simple is too simple when getting dressed? It's a boundary I'm still testing, I guess. Lately this basic silky black pashmina bought for under $10 has felt like the answer to everything, but even it is possibly the most simple garment of all. I recently started a new great job that unfortunately begins at 6am, 10 miles from my house, so unless I want to wake up deeper into the middle of the night than I already do, simple, elegant dressing is a must. I felt wonderful in this outfit today but sometimes I wonder if simple clothing looks too drab, too boring...

What are your thoughts on simple clothing?

love the old

     

 Saint James breton, Court Shop pants, Prune bag, Sam Edelman suede boots

"If she can’t afford it, she won’t buy it. If it doesn’t fit (or make her feel good, or flaunt what she’s got), she won’t wear it. If she can’t find it, she won’t compromise. If she loves it, she won’t toss it. She reuses it, rethinks it, lets it age."

- Entre Nous: A Woman’s Guide to Finding Her Inner French Girl

I read that quote a long time ago and the last bit stuck with me. The part about reusing, rethinking, letting it age. I love new things (don't we all) and we're inundated by them constantly, but lately I've been having a lot of great moments of putting on things I've had for years and thinking "yes." I channeled that today with this outfit, comprised of things I've had for one year, two years, four years. Nothing new. I've fallen out of love with all of these things for months at a time, years at a time, but I've always come back to them and remembered why they were favorites in the first place. I moved about 6 times in the past year (not counting times of travel and vagrancy and couch-sleeping) so I had a lot of opportunities to think about what I was dragging around with me. This bag almost didn't make the cut once for one split second as I took stock of my belongings (what was I thinking at age 21 with this bag?? Fringe???) but I remembered this quote, tucked it gently in its protective cotton bag, and put it in my suitcase to head to the next destination. In theory it isn't something I would choose from afar or if I thought about it too hard, but one day in Argentina four years ago I was wandering home from a long day of classes and ducked into the fancy leather goods store that I visited weekly. Nothing had yet caught my eye as the one real investment I would make during my time there as a poor college student, but I continued to look. And there it was. The attraction was inexplicable and immediate. I picked it up, looked in the mirror, and marched straight to the counter. It was more money than I had spent on anything clothing-related in my entire life (still a deal compared to American leather prices) and it made me nervous. However, the way it felt in my hands and against my body made the decision easy. It was me. 

Because this bag is beautifully made, high quality, durable (a few pieces of the fringe are still a little wavy from being soaked to the bone when I was caught off guard in a day-long New York monsoon) it has remained a favorite. It's not particularly simple in design or timeless like a Birkin but somehow it remains timeless for me. The investment in something quality was (as it almost always is) worth it, and what was even more worth it was keeping it around until it became a favorite again. This bag and I have been through a lot together. 

Maybe there are some universal "classics," but it is personal classics like these that I find the most inspiring. The old things you invested in and fit you and your life and have traveled with you for a long time because they continue to prove their worth again and again.

Anyone else have something like this?

new

A life shift occurred, and I'm back in Portland! It is only fitting that this blog begin anew. All old posts are gone, but my favorite images from the last two years have been filed under the "Archive" link. 

Life is really good right now, be prepared to hear/see more soon...

STARTING OVER

Sometime next week, something really exciting is happening. I will pack my little, dented car with my most important belongings and drive twenty-two hours alone through four states to Denver, Colorado. As someone who enjoys condensing and organizing and new beginnings, this is such a huge opportunity. Since I made the decision to go about six weeks ago, I've purged dozens of items from my closet and given a lot of thought to why the ones that are staying have stayed. It's a practical exercise but it's also an introspective exercise. I realize how much I've changed in a year, in six months...I spent the last part of 2010 and the first three quarters of 2011 getting over a broken heart and growing out a related adventurously short haircut and all of a sudden the heart has healed and my hair is long and I guess I feel more like myself again. I tried a lot of things out in the past twelve months, sartorially and in my day-to-day life. Now I feel like I have at least some (let's not get too ambitious) direction in all aspects of my life and the key is simply to have the patience to wait until I stumble across the right thing because, well, I'll know it when I see it.

While organizing some books and folders I came across the art history thesis I wrote last year during my last four months of college. The cover is simple and perfect. In a sense I managed to distill the entire main point of my fifty page paper into two small images, placed side by side, over the title and date. I had no desire to read it again; I know it too intimately to enjoy it. Instead I was reminded of the process of writing it, and what I learned. 

I learned to start a project early, to allow time for meditation on important decisions, to listen to critics but ultimately take the path I felt confident in. I learned to just get some sleep, to go the extra mile for the details, to not put off anything important, and to approach hefty tasks by completing them in manageable pieces. Essentially...I learned not to settle. In the end I produced something strong. I received positive feedback, but in the end I didn't care. I had written about exactly what I wanted to write about. The work that I was launching out into the world was exactly what I wanted it to be.

When I created Object Log I had no idea what it would be about. Now I think I know. It's about not settling. I will use this as a place to post things that inspire me to keeping searching for what I truly want, and track my progress as I build a compact, quality wardrobe. We live in our clothes, and as someone who has had a nomadic early twenties, I understand that they are the only thing that accompanies us everywhere. What we dress ourselves in should make us feel exactly how we want and convey exactly the message that we want others to glean from our presence. This is no easy task! Maybe we'll spend our whole lives doing it! Maybe. But all it means is that we can't...settle.