Things are the same, But I am different

Coming back to live in LA has been interesting. I laugh at how everything has not changed. I am still crashing at my sister's in Long Beach. My family is still crazy. And I am still struggling with practical career choices over passion and art. What would have potentially sent me (and did) into an emotional tailspin is now just a dip in the clouds.

What Paris and Europe taught me was just to relax and enjoy my life. Even if it is a hard life, it can be filled with beauty. Especially in Paris, when most people are poor, everyone managed to make their way of life into art. I appreciate that so much now that I am in the culture-void epicenter of LA. But I realize that LA has its own sense of culture as well, a kind of rough and tumbleweed, rock n' roll, perpetual summer cool that Parisian girls would kill to have.

The trick is, how to employ my Parisian sensibilities with LA chic and have it be sensible? In Paris, I lived in huge coats and swaddled myself in cardigans bc it was so cold most of the year. But you can forget any type of outerwear in LA. A hoodie or flannel shirt will do for most year-round warm nights. For me, the answer was in layering.

I don't care if you are in Siberia or Hawaii, strange weather is happening everywhere and that is why layering is so important. Parisians are masters at layering, and in LA, the layering effect can take you from day to night easily. I usually would layer two summer coats into one as can be seen with my gap blue peacoat and my flannel Laeken jacket. Both can be worn separately throughout the day, but combined together, they make beautiful fashion symphony, especially during the chilly Santa Ana nights.

I also fell in love with the lightweight knits here in SoCal! My god, Parisians would kill for my black light-knit sweater. Not to mention how cheap it was!!! I have decided never to talk smack about LA fashion (or lack thereof) bc I can appreciate the choice of individuality here for people to dress however they want to, and that's just fine with me.