Rumi Neely, or Rumi Dowson (her married name), was one of the first bloggers to jump into the design space, launching her “casual luxury” label, Are You Ami, in 2014. The line offers a combination of sexy minidresses, sassy swimsuits and crop tops with west coast vibes. Dowson designs all the clothing, which is manufactured in the heart of Los Angeles. If you are one of his 683,000 followers on Instagram, you will notice that the aesthetic of what he sells aligns directly with what he shares: it is about being confident and showing some skin.
In 2006, Merrick and I went to London on a study abroad program. It was fantastic in every way.
I remember that for the last two weeks, we started to notice that British girls were wearing skinny jeans. And they were not few, here and there. Virtually all people, men and women.
Skinny jeans hadn’t even been on my radar in the States, and it was still another year or two until they really started catching on. I remember thinking they looked so WEIRD, but when we left London we could identify Americans by their flared jeans.
And less than a year later, I bought my first pair. Now I only have one pair of NOT skinny jeans. And I never wear that pair of jeans.
Since then, I’ve been wary of saying, “I will NEVER use x, y, or z” because. . . yes, I probably will.
But! There are a couple of things that I am pretty sure I will never wear. (Remind me to delete this post if I ever buy any of the things I’ve mentioned here …):
Monkey. I suffer from looking like a preteen in normal clothes. I certainly don’t need to wear toddler clothing styles. And besides, if you’re going to wear overalls, at least go to Goodwill and buy a mega cheap pair, instead of paying a ridiculous TWO HUNDRED NINETY EIGHT DOLLARS for this pair. Just say.
Monkeys Over the weekend, Bart and I went shopping with the girls, and when we passed the windows of Forever 21, we both cracked up at the mannequin wearing this faded denim jumpsuit. It is this . . .prison chic? I just don’t understand it at all. The good news is, like all Forever 21 merchandise, it’s pretty cheap. So once you’ve bought this, you can at least feel good on just around $ 30 (you know, of course, that $ 30 is still a fortune to spend on any item of clothing in my opinion).
Shapeless dresses. I titled this photo The Bag Dress in my files. There is a lovely person I follow on Pinterest who has excellent taste, except I’ve never seen more pictures of shapeless dresses that were possibly made from garbage bags. (I also hate clog-style shoes like in this photo, so this is the worst outfit I can imagine.)
