Back to Basics

OR -- HOW WE FASHION OURSELVES AFTER MARK ZUCKERBERG!

Several days ago, we read that Mark Zuckerberg wears the same thing every day: a gray tee shirt. We got to wondering if we could also wear the same thing every day. Your friends might begin to wish you would shower if you wore the same thing every day, so we didn't actually do that (and Mark doesn't either - he says he has about twenty identical gray tee shirts in the one drawer he has). Instead, we each wore one base outfit, and dressed it up three different ways, all on the same day. Here are the results:


Valerie: Remember the movie 9½ Weeks? There's a scene early in the movie where the heroine opens the hero's closet and sees a rod full of black suits. They all appear to be identical. What to do so you can wear the same thing every day, and not have people thinking "She wears the same thing every day"?

Base Outfit: White button down shirt by Focus Lifestyle, black pants by Comme des Garcons. Accessories: unlabeled vintage hat, vintage target earrings, red velvet Prada platform sandals.

Base outfit plus black and white polka dot hat by Brigitte, black and white polka dot earrings from Jean's mom, black zip-up bustier by H&M, black metal cuffs from Matsuya Ginza, red mocassin boots by Frye.

Base outfit plus aerated vintage derby by Hattie Carnegie, unlabeled metal earrings, unlabeled bolero, pleated scarf by Nuno, vintage braided leather suspenders by Issey Miyake, double layered metal cuff from the flea market, Melissa shoes designed by Gaetano Pesce.

Base outfit plus unlabeled vintage hat, Mondrian-style necklace from the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, Ivan Grundahl jacket, unlabeled vintage red leather gloves, two pairs of Mondrian-style socks from Sock Dreams, one worn on the feet, the other cut up and worn on the wrists; Aerosoles shoes.

Jean: Having gone to Catholic grade school and high school and worn a uniform every day for 12 years, I could really embrace the concept of wearing the same thing every day. On one level, it is very freeing. It takes all of the guesswork out of figuring out what to wear. The challenge is to make the uniform your own, so you don't look like anyone else.

Base Outfit: Icebreaker black long sleeve tee shirt; Israeli designer Ronen Chen pants (from Rosebud on Thompson Street in Soho); Underground creepers from Trash and Vaudeville on Bleecker Street.

Base layer plus Outfit #1: Kyodan jacket; unlabeled vintage felted wool hat.

Because the temperature in New York City plummeted 20 degrees in less than 24 hours and is in the fifties, I added an Ivan Grundahl light wool top coat.

Outfit #1 rear view.

Base layer plus Outfit #2: Brigitte peplum jacket; vintage black feather and felted wool hat; Woodstock lucite frames from Avenue A Optical; Made Her Think lucite skull necklace; Kirsten Hawthorne dice and lucite necklace; vintage lucite cuffs, rings and earrings; and customized Dansko clogs.

Outfit #2 rear view.

Base layer plus Outfit #3: Vintage red felted wool hat with veil from Stacy LoAlbo's Incogneeto; Anne Klein silk kimono jacket; vintage red wooden gumball necklace; vintage bakelite earrings, rings and bracelet; plastic and silk fan.

To read the full article about Mark Zuckerberg’s wardrobe choices, click here. Mark and his tee shirt below (photo from CNN.com):

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 10-11-12 IS COMING. MARK YOUR CALENDARS! For those of you keeping track of these silly dates we mention periodically, another silly date, 10-11-12, is coming up this week. We will be celebrating by raising cocktails at 9pm (to make 9-10-11-12). Next month will be 10-11-12 if you're using the European dating system (day - month - year), and in December there'll be 12-12-12. But after that, really cool numbers will be harder to come by. 11-12-13 comes to mind, but that's a long way off, so gather ye rosebuds while ye may. If you can think of any others feel free to let us know. .