dinner at palate

Thursday night, after a great day spent furniture shopping with my mom who came back down to help me move, we went to Palate to celebrate her birthday. We heard an interview on KCRW a few weeks ago, which piqued our interest. Palate is a lot of things, it is a restaurant, wine merchant/cellar, cheese shop, book store located right in the middle of the car dealerships on Brand in Glendale. A very strange location for a shi shi restaurant.

All silver surfaces, mood lighting, we ate at the communal table in the bar area. I was definitely expecting a less urban and more homey/rustic atmosphere, more Beast less Blue Hour. Comparing it's look to Blue Hour though is not fair to my favorite Portland restaurant. The art consisted of grape themed photos and giant urns filled with oversized grapes. It looked tacky and out of place with the suburban modern decor.

All criticisms aside. The food, french based and small plates, was delicious and beautifully presented. Mom had sweetbreads and caponata (presented in a mason jar) and I had a salad with pears and walnuts and duck confit, unfortunately for you I tried to tack photos but said mood lighting and old camera prevented them from turning out. The wine list was awesome too. They had a number of my favorite wines, including the harder to find Sancerre Blanc and Jurançon Sec. They did NOT have Beaujolais Nouveau, which was a super bummer, unlike Paris where everywhere you turn right now are Beaujolais Nouveaus...aaahhhh Paris.

We spoke briefly with the wine director Tim Goldun, we exchanged our favorite Paris restaurants and rattled off some different wine regions and their importance, who kindly brought us a fancy glass of 1989 Vouvray Sec without botrytis (wine speak for made from mold free grapes) with our dessert. My mom had some fancy descriptions for it, I just thought it was very tasty.

Our outfits for the evening:

Men's Levi's Railroad shirt, Earnest Sewn jeans, F21 oxfords, vintage bracelet

Was feeling bleh, so only took one pic. What you cannot see is a little styling detail, I usually tuck this shirt in the back, somehow manages to give it a little more shape, and you gots to show off your assets...HA! Jkfr. But, I did tuck it in the back, cuz I like the way it looks.

Oliver Peoples glasses, Gap sweater, Dries Van Noten top, Goldsign jeans, Delman flats

Isn't Mom stylish??? I found that sweater for her, and that top. And I probably picked out those jeans. But she put the outfit together herself. She is fab.

totally stoked about: miu miu sequined pumps

Omg. I saw these at Barneys yesterday and nearly fainted. They are just about the most beautiful pumps I have ever seen. Never mind I am a sucker for anything that sparkles. These are just too good to be true.

photo credit: barneys new york

Everything about them is perfect. Just look how the sequins get smaller, to the size of ants practically, as they move down to the toes and the heels. And the grayish color looks like a smokey lavender depending on the light... They have the perfect amount of toe cleavage AND that great roundish-pointy heal. AHK!

The silly salesman, who was oh so clueless, said something to me about how they would look great with the perfect outfit. Um yeah, little does he know I would rock those with black jeans, t-shirt, blazer or leather jacket and scarf (my uniform) as well as the obvious party dress. But seriously, how often do I get to wear party dresses??? Not often enough, that is fo shiz.

Unfortunately, even their sale price is more than I have to my name, and I still need to buy a couch...I hate priorities! I plan on waiting, and hoping my size or something near it will still be available, till I can find them for under 3oo dollars. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

jc penny's

On Friday my mom and I got the rock out of my apartment bright and early and drove over to the west side on a very specific mission. I was browsing my new favorite website, dominomag.com, where you can look through their archives and unpublished photos. Since I got to LA, all I can think about is how I am going to decorate/fill my apartment. I am thinking about it more now that I found a bigger, bug free place.

I found these on one of my late night online home furnishing hunts:



photo credit: dominomag.com

I LOVE the mirrored vanity, it is so glam, and feminine. The one in the middle is by far the best; it looks the nicest and has the best details, but it costs an arm and a leg, as does the one on the bottom. The top vanity is from none other than JC Penny!!??!! WHAT??!!?? Anyway, that is the reason we drove over to Culver City on Friday. Unfortunately for us, I got super excited and did not look closely on the website, which clearly stated that it was available online only. WHOOPS. Way to do my research, right?

Now, I just can't decide if it is woth ordering this thing online, when I have no was of seeing it in person first.

totally stoked about: thakoon for target

I have to admit, I haven't been consistently impressed with the Go International for Target collaborations. Go International is a program where Target features mini, limited edition collections from young and emerging designers from around the world. I give them major street cred for doing it at all, but they never really compare to the H&M designer collaborations in creativity or quality. That is not to say that they are not choosing good designers, I think it was pretty genius to bring in Luella Bartley, Rogan Gregory and Jonathon Saunders among others. But, of all the things I bought from that original collection with Luella (and I bought a lot, shopping high = buyers remorse) I still own 3 dresses, none of which i have ever worn. I'm pretty sure the tags are still on them. The Rogan collection was great though, understated and basic with a twist, similar to Rogan's high end eponymous line, not to mention there was very little color involved. AND they brought organic cotton to the masses, even if it was for a limited time. I bought 2 dresses, silk animal print with cotton jersey panel down the center back, and have worn them continually all summer. Just goes to show that high/low designer/mass market pairings tend to be hit or miss.

I digress. Thakoon Panichgul is the next designer lined up. After his Spring 2009 collection with the awesome rose print with female legs instead of stems, the eyelashes and the lips...so surreal, so great, I am stoked on him. From what I have seen in the various photos, there are going to be a few great pieces. This collection isn't going to be about the silhouettes, its going to be about the ethnic batik prints, although these don't quite compare to his RTW prints, they will def please! Basic silhouettes with bright and fabulous prints. The blue and white tie dyed/batik t-shirt is killer. If only i could find that swipe I pulled of it!

Here are a few of my other faves:

photo credit: nylonmag.com

alexander wang + cfda/vogue fashion fund = happy

Fashion wunderkind, Alexander Wang won the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund and the $200,000 prize money and year long mentorship that goes along with it on Monday night in New York City. The 24 year old started his line while at Parson's New School of Design with luxe cashmere basics and gradually expanded into a full line of high end grunge hipster wear. I have been a fan of Wang from the early days of cashmere and have a few well loved pieces of my own (all in storage at the moment, so I cannot feature some outfits in his honor...). Among the finalists, the runners up were Sophie Buhai and Lisa Mayock of Vena Cava (another personal favorite) and milliner Albertus Swanepoel who will receive $50,000.

photo credit: style.com

My question that does not seem to be answered anywhere is who does the actual mentoring? Is it from the high powered members of the CFDA, personal interaction with president Diane Von Furstenburg? Or does it really just refer to the love and benefits that come with that love of Editor in Chief of American Vogue and all powerful fashion god Anna Wintour???? It makes me wonder. Either way this award really proves he is the young (stress young) American designer of the moment, with every hot model/actress/musician/girl about town sporting his simple with the coolest of twists threads. Because this award is so new, only 5 years old, we cant really tell if the award will help with their longevity, or if it just sends their rocket higher, faster and causes a quicker crash??? We must wait and see...

best deal ever

I braved the Glendale Galleria yesterday to go to target for some moving supplies, but more fun, to visit Forever 21 in search of the amazing necklace that the hostess was wearing at Canelé. Alas, the daily turn over there prevented me from finding the perfect Tom Binn's esque neckace (my loathing of knock offs comes and goes with the balance in my checking account) but I did try on a couple cute pair of shoes. Since, I'm still living out of a suitcase, due to my horrible housing situation, I have very limited clothing options. I can deal with wearing jeans and t-shirts all the time, it's the shoe sitch that is really killing me. I packed one pair each of flip-flops, ballet flats and sneaks. So, I decided to get a quick fix and took these Miu Miu ish oxfords to the register.




I was prepared to pay the 40 dollar price tag, but when they rang me up she told me they were 7.95! They might as well have given them to me!

online obssesion: oak

I was scanning through my various fashion blogs and online magazines today, when I came across a new-to-me online store. Oak is the online store for the NYC based boutique of the same name owned by Jeff Madalena and Louis Terline. Both men have design school educations and background in denim design and styling, which shows in their selectively cool merchandise. With brands like Grey Ant, Fifth Avenue Shoe Repair, Acne to higher end Anne Valerie Hash and Rick Owens drkshdw they stock clothes that would appeal to rich hipsters everywhere. My favorite part is that they have the most killer scarf selection of any store (online or otherwise) that I have ever seen, considering I rarely leave the house without one, this pleases me.

A few of my favorite things:

Yarnz scarf

Oak "trashed" jeans

Anzevino & Florence dress


Penny Loves Kenny shoe

As usual my love for animal prints shows...today is an especially zebra day. I can't decide if the zebra print wallabies are absolutely ridiculous or totally awesome. I'm leaning towards awesome.

Just add Oak to the list of reasons I need to plan a trip to New York.