Gossip Girl exteriors today!

Question: Why am I working on Gossip Girl, despite the fact that I already made enough for SAG pension & health this year?

Answer: Because I love dressing up in my best (OK, not really... but close enough) clothes, shoes and accessories, taking a brisk walk to the Upper East Side (where the show is shooting most of the time, at least when I'm on it), getting a black cup of coffee from some breakfast truck and sipping it on the way, and checking out the principals' wardrobe all day long while I'm working. That's why - call me crazy! It's a nice change from squeezing into sample sizes at castings, rocking leotards and pink tights in dance class, wearing drab lawyer outfits for my part-time job as a very un-fabulous office drone on Damages... you get the idea.

As I got dressed for work this morning, it struck me that almost every piece I selected has some sort of back story to it. My call time is not until a little later, so let's see what I have time to share. :)

Black bouclé skirt - Kookai. This skirt comes with a matching, fur-trimmed jacket and I bought them many years ago in Paris. I had agreed to accompany my then-boyfriend on a trip to the French capital, where he was going to participate in a mini-course on business cycles in economic modeling and to present a research paper at Sorbonne. Feeling painstakingly inferior and out of place among his colleagues and classmates, I opted for strolling around the city on my own, day in and day out until our week was up.

I had crêpes aux fraises on various street corners, I was reading Gelsey Kirkland's autobiography in coffee shops all over the 5th arrondissement, I was daydreaming in the Tuileries.... and I was studying my map carefully in the solitude of my hotel room (so as to not have to pull it out of my bag in public... I would never embarrass myself like that) to figure out how to get to the nearest Kookai boutique. When I finally managed to locate it - on Rue des Canettes - and walked in, I found myself being surrounded by a myriad of Parisian salesgirls who were all dying to give me a makeover. I was tall, thin and depressed, with no direction in life - hence being a perfect candidate for their efforts.

These days, I usually tend to wear the bouclé skirt suit ensemble they picked out for me as separates (today, I am pairing the skirt with a white/black beaded 3/4 bell-sleeved cardigan, that I just picked up at a Nanette Lepore sample sale). But whenever I opt for a head-to-toe bouclé look and put on the skirt, the fitted jacket and those old Mary Janes that I was wearing at the time, I feel just like I did that afternoon when I walked out of the store, with the rest of my purchases (and the jeans I had arrived in!) stuffed in a neat shopping bag dangling on my arm... cigarette between my fingertips, people suddenly speaking to me in French, the stride of my step suddenly being so different.

Earrings - LuShae Trillion Cut Hoops. When I was 16, my father returned from a business trip to Venice, Italy, with a pair of earrings he had bought for me - a pair of simple princess cut studs, almost shaped like little snowflakes. Appreciating his thoughtfulness, but not so much the gift in itself, I immediately tucked them away in a jewelry box, thinking to myself I would probably want to wear them when I became "older". And I most certainly did... aside from the sentimental value that I could not help attaching to them, they had a crisp style that went perfectly with the fashions I had developed a taste for later in life. It was inevitable that I would, at some point, lose one of them.

The snowflake was nowhere to be found. During the course of one day only, I had been on the Queens-bound N, at the offices of a LIC production company as well as their neighboring PR firm that owed me some money... I had walked over the Queensborough bridge and visited an Upper West Side photo studio, a SoHo modeling agency and last, but not least, a wardrobe stylist's Hello Kitty-esque East Village apartment to try on some outfits. I did not even try to locate the missing earring - any effort spent would have been less fruitful than trying to find a needle in a haystack. Instead, I desperately raided vintage jewelry shops, contemporary bling boutiques and online stores to find a replacement, or at least something similar... and finally stumbled upon these hoops, that look nothing like my snowflakes, but have yet replaced them very successfully as my most-loved go-to earrings!

Knowing how devastated I was when losing the snowflake, my boyfriend suggested I buy a back-up pair, in case an "accident" would happen again. But while it is not a bad idea, I think I might just have to expand my collection with some alternative styles from the designer instead. Take a look at all the cute pieces here.... the horseshoes will most likely be my next purchase. Thank God my birthday is coming up! ;)

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I am also wearing a faux fur coat with bell-sleeves, cinched waist and ruffled hem from Laundry, a pair of Rowley black buckled nappa equestrian boots (coat and boots pictured above left) and a Mango pearl bracelet (pictured below left), and carrying a Coach Maggie OP Art Sateen handbag in khaki/gold (pictured right). I could share little snippets about all of them, but there is just no time.... however, as a final funny anecdote, the Coach bag is supposed to be a Christmas gift from my boyfriend, but he could not resist my puppy eyes so it is obviously on my arm already...! My argument for getting it a little earlier was that in addition to matching my outfit perfectly, the bag will easily fit one or two of his favorite goodies from crafty, in case I get the chance to "steal" some and bring home with me today. In other words, my wardrobe might look classy.... but don't let that fool you: I'm clearly not! :)

Hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend! xoxox