And the Best Dressed Oscar Goes to...

Last night I stayed up late and watched the Academy Awards pre-show on my computer. I couldn't stream the actual Oscars for some reason, but the red carpet is what really matters right? Here are the dresses I fancied (I am in the UK now so you know), out of the somewhat sorry lot. 

Unlike last year there wasn't one particularly amazing standout (hello Zoe), but these did the trick. If you can pull-off a nude dress, it's magic. And someone certainly had to wear a dress from that amazing Elie Saab collection, I mean I wish it was one of the rose colored ones, but Mila's lavender works too. 

I also had to add Andrew Garfield into the mix, because after I watched Never Let Me Go and The Social Network on the plane to California, I may have fallen a little bit in love with him.

Random Sunday

SPAIN—In a still from Suddenly, Last Summer, Elizabeth Taylor ignores begging beachgoers, 1959.

My Upside Down Life

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It has been quite a week for me, as I may have eluded to a bit already here on the blog. Ever since I got back from London, the world as I know it, is no longer. Just as my year anniversary of living in Berlin passed this Monday, the final chapter of my days here has begun. I have purchased a plane ticket back to New York, as well as a plane ticket to Glasgow (need to get as much cheap travel in before I am back in the world of expensive rent and over-priced plane rides) to spend some much needed family (my bro and his wife and baby live there) and alone time before I go. 

As sad as I am to leave my life in Berlin (what I wouldn't give for another warm day at Badeschiff) and say goodbye to the person who made it so special, and as scary a feeling it is when your life takes a drastic change, I am actually quite excited about looking at the world from this new perspective and returning to a place I have lived, full of people I love, with fresh eyes. 

So I am back to the airport once again tomorrow and will write more soon...

Photo from LIFE.

The PDD

The Polka Dot Dress that is. As we all know, I have developed a bit of an obsession with leopard these days — but before my fondness for feline kicked in, there was another pattern that prevailed, and is still the most prominent print in my wardrobe. Yup polka dots, they have been all over the runway at Marc Jacobs and more this season, but I have always had an affinity for the polka dot, preferably the polka dot dress, and preferably the polka dot dress in blue, black or white (there I am wearing the maxi).

I purchased yet another (in the front) on my trip to London at this little makeshift vintage sale I randomly passed. Obviously from the photo of part of my collection hanging in my window (just an excuse to document the sun again), I do already have a few. But I didn't have a sheer mid-length one that fits perfectly with my new style for spring. Pretty amazing, right? I cannot wait until it gets warm enough to wear it. What is your favorite pattern?

A Ray of Sunshine on a Cold Day

Okay that title might be a bit dramatic, but this little purchase certainly made my otherwise depressing winter day, and despite the frigid cold there was actually sunshine out there. Anyway, as some of you may already know I have been on the hunt for a leopard print coat for quite some time now. But with my sudden decrease in income as well as the winter winding down (I wish), I had all but given up...until this afternoon that is. 

On my way to meet a friend for coffee (my new primary activity) I was riding my bike — quite fast I might add because it is too cold to be riding — past a little second-hand shop and there on the mannequin was a leopard print coat! I quickly pulled over, almost hit someone, and took a look. It wasn't the exact vintage one I was thinking about, but it was this season's Zara one below, and it was only 25 euro, and it fit, and now it's mine. A-MAZ-ING. 

London Weekend Roundup-ish

I am back from London and my head is in a daze, maybe it is the welcoming -10 degree weather here in Berlin, or the interesting news about my job or now lack there of, that has got me feeling a little (a lot) out of it. Or maybe that is just what happens after a whirlwind getaway that flies by too quickly ends and you are faced with a cold reality.

So yeah, despite my state today, I couldn't be happier about my little long weekend full of friends I haven't seen in too long, serious shopping (I'll fill you in later), nail salons, wine in fancy places, amazing music, gypsy weddings, afternoon parties with cheese and meat and lots and lots of walking and talking. So much going on that I actually forgot to snap a single photo. Silly I know, but one of the things I love about going to London (plus the sandwiches at the airport) is I have been there enough to not feel the pressure to do lots of touristy things (I swear I will go to the Tower of London one day) or take photos, I suppose...

Good for me, not so good for the blog. Instead I have decided to include a few London Fashion Week (another thing I did not do) street style shots that caught my eye — some because I like how they look, some because they look ridiculous.

Photos from Mr. Newton, StreetFSN, Tommy Ton for Style.com, Marie Claire UK, Vogue, The Sartorialist and Garance 

Topshop Want and a Farewell

I am heading to London today for a long weekend to visit some friends, go to some pubs, eat some fish and chips and do some serious hanging out and a little bit of Topshopping. So I couldn't help but peruse the site to see what would be waiting for me behind those store doors. And look here, doesn't this cute silk dress remind you of the one Kirsten Dunst modeled for the Band of Outsiders's Boy line? What do you think of it? I have been wanting a peter pan collar dress for some time now, but who knows what I will actually come home with. 

As for now, I am more excited to see my friend Lucy and just hang in one of my favorite cities in the world. Hope you all have a nice weekend planned as well and I will see you next week. Tschüssy!

Berlin Weekend Roundup: Staycation

Striped shirt (H&M), gold belt (thrifted ???), yellow skirt (thrifted Humana, Berlin), maroon flats (vintage Clothes Contact, San Francisco) grey sweater (thrifted Salvation Army, Marin) 

Coincidentally we decided to do some overindulgent spoiling of ourselves on what happened to be Valentine's Day weekend and booked a hotel here in Berlin for a little getaway in our home city. I have never had the luxury of doing such things until now (one of the benefits of living in cheap Berlin), so we found a deal and spent the weekend holed up in a hotel room watching movies on a big flat screen, drinking vodka tonics, hot tubbing, eating breakfast buffets and well you know hanging out in white bathrobes.

We did however get dressed up once to have dinner in the hotel restaurant and I happened to pack an outfit that mysteriously matched our room (they had yellow pillows and all). But let me tell you one of the best things about staying in a hotel all weekend: you never have to go out into the bitter winter cold. I was actually able to wear my new skirt without tights and just a little gray sweater in my bag. Okay, I won't go into the usual specifics but since it is Valentine's Day I will share one more photo and wish a happy one to you and the people you love.

Random Sunday

WEST BERLIN—Young people in a park, 1965.

Morning Song, Morning Shoe

On my way to work this Santogold song from a couple years ago came on shuffle and now I can't stop listening to it. My music is usually so melancholy, so it is nice to listen to something lively, especially in the morning. Then I saw these Charlotte Olympia shoes and I can't stop staring. What do you think of them? I think I could definitely dance around to this song with some fruit on my feet. 

Front, Back, Long, Longer

All I want to do these days is dress like this: long dresses and even longer skirts. 

Both photos from Aha Shake Heartbreaker's new street style posts. Love them.

The Return of Kirsten

           

           

           

I have always loved Kirsten Dunst — I love the characters she chooses to play (ahem Lux Lisbon), I love her sense of style, her little vampire teeth and that 'I don't care I am going to have a beer and date a hipster sort of rock star' attitude. So it has been nice to see her fashionable self out and about once again being snapped by the paps in the streets, at parties and Chanel shows (you know the usual). I got especially excited today when I saw this look book for Band of Outsiders Boy’s SS 2011 collection shot at the Huntington Botanical Gardens in Pasadena by Scott Sternberg.

Not only do I love the choice of model, but the faded almost amateur feel of the photographs (doesn't it seem like it could almost be from someone's beautiful blog?) and of course the clothes (I'll take the white dress and those platform sandals). But one point against them: if I didn't want it to be spring bad enough already, these photos certainly don't make it any better. The Berlin botanical garden is beckoning me....

Berlin Weekend Roundup: Back to Reality

It has been a long time since I have done a weekend roundup, probably because it has been a long time since I have had a weekend that wasn't so busy and crazy that there would be no way to rightfully describe it in a blog entry (i.e trip home, trip to London, fashion week) and after which all I could do was sleep. It has either been that or a weekend that was so completely dull that describing it I would certainly bore the hell out of you.

It has definitely been a strange last month, actually this weekend was the first one I have spent with my boyfriend since I went home for Christmas. It has been such a long time, I was starting to forget what it was like to be a couple. But luckily, I got a nice refresher course this weekend. And despite me being a little under the weather (I am blaming my weird face in the outfit photos below on that fact), it was so nice having things back to normal. 

It all went something like this: Valentin Stüberl with Anne, late night talk, sleeping in, trip to the mall, new shoes, quesadillas and home-made salsa, projector movie marathon, American Vogue, brunch at Sing Blackbird, rainy afternoon card game at Mano Cafe, Vietnamese food on Skalitzer, White Russian dessert at Hannibal.

Everything thrift except Pinkie boyfriend jacket

Oh and I need your advice on the skirt I am wearing: do you think I should iron out the wrinkles? They are supposed to be there, but I can't decide if I like them. I wonder if it is even possible. What do you think? 

Random Sunday

MUMBAI, India— A red boy during Holi festival, 1996.

Beauty and the Bay

I posted some outfit shots of my trip home to Northern California awhile ago, but I also wanted to share a little more than what I wore. I am a lucky girl to have grown up in such an amazing area and no matter how many times I see it, the scenic beauty of San Francisco, Marin County and the Bay Area never fails to amaze me. 

I think it is one of those places that even the people who have lived there forever, don't take the fact that their homes are surrounded by breathtaking views, waterfalls, lakes, oceans and luscious green forests for granted. Oh and I threw in some photos of my niece Maisie enjoying the life — a recent NYC to SF transplant along with her sister India, my bro and his wife — now yet another reason I love going home.