how to sound like the text in a vogue fashion spread in 7 paragraphs

a good striped anything. sweater, shirt, bag, scarf, shoe, even a pant or short if the stripes are vertical, is a must. i love it like i love the combination of navy and red with gold accents and a nautical inspired accessory like anchor earrings or a sailboat pin or a rope infused linen bag. i don't know when this happened or why. i have never really had a style icon or someone whose style i have tried to emulate (save for a brief period where i tried to pull off the diane keaton in annie hall quirk and realized i didn't have her frame). i know it is not a particularly unique look, especially now, but i feel like it came to me organically and in that way i have my own take on it.

there are tons of women whose style i admire, but know that i could never pull off as my own. i think the conversion happened sometime in my late teens, early 20s, when the rule i had been told all my life, chubby shouldn't do horizontal stripes, was changed forever by someone who told me that was bullshit. i don't remember who it was, but i would like to tell her thank you. i put on my first striped shirt and never looked back. i (almost) don't go a day without them and feel weird if there is not a pattern of some sort woven into my clothing. in the spring and summer i tend to look like a french sailor on leave, or at least what i imagine one would be in a stylized hollywood movie.

striped sweaters are essential to the 'french sailor on leave' look

i wear wide bell summer jeans; red and cream, blue and cream, black and gray, navy and red, green and brown, green and white striped shirts and/or sweaters. if the striped shirt has small brass buttons say, on the shoulder like dainty epaulets, that is the ultimate. my summer bag is natural linen with navy trim and rope handles. fastened to the front in a vintage pin of a sailboat. i wear a navy jacket with a subtle vertical stripe detail in the fabric and blouson shoulders. my earrings are often these beautiful natural coral ones i got one summer in italy and which i adore as much as one can adore an accessory. they look especially good with a tan freckled face. i don't think a french sailor on leave would have freckles though. i forgive this small difference. i switch out the coral earrings with these with large gold hoops or these small gold anchors or the dangling fake coral ones with gold accents.

i wear tan leather sandals or colored flats. for dressing up times i have espadrilles to accentuate the 'by the ocean feel.' sometimes i leave my toes unpainted because that is what i think a french sailor would do. who has time for primping on the open seas? fashion is innate, beauty regimens are unnecessary suckers of time.

i don't really wear makeup on a day to day basis. i am too lazy. but since cutting my hair, i feel it necessary to wear eyeliner and mascara to accentuate the positive. make myself more dramatic. in the summer this is highlighted with a light smear of gold shimmery cream eyeshadow. it highlights without adding color. i feel it is allowed in the beauty regimen of a french sailor as it takes but two seconds to dip my finger in the pot and swipe my eyelid. the same holds true for mascara. i do not feel i have betrayed my muse.

as for the bag, i found it one day while looking through j.crew. although priced vastly over my budget, i immediately called the store and had them put one on hold until i could get there after work. i think a french sailor on leave would most likely carry a well appointed navy duffel, but for my purposes, the smaller modified version with its cheeky bits and bobs holds up quite well.

if i ever run into a french sailor on leave i hope that he speaks english, i hope he says to me 'oh my are you also a french sailor on leave?' (even though i know no french) and i will say 'yes' and then snatch whatever accessories i can before running into the sunset.