Fall is coming.

Scotch & Soda, Marc Jacobs, Fei Fei Sun, Natalie off Duty, Jason Wu inspiration board

xox,
Sara

Madewell done well

I've been working at Madewell for nearly three years now, and I am continually excited to see pieces from our store splashed across my browser on blogs and celebrity gossip sites. Katie Holmes, January Jones, and Jessica Alba are big fans, and it's always a surprise to see what pops up on street style blogs and my daily reads. Enjoy a couple of looks from recent blog posts!

The Sartorialist: a beautiful shot of some Madewell layers atop a striped jersey maxi

Man Repeller: Leandra wears the perfect ex-boyfriend chambray 

(and the ever-so-covetable Jenni Kayne d'Orsay flats GIMME GIMME)

Keiko Lynn: Rockin' this polka dot blazer

Cupcakes & Cashmere: Emily wears the manuscript mini-wedges

xox,

Sara

Golden girls

I was seven in July of 1999. The Olympic games were held in Atlanta, and though I don't remember much about them, I do remember watching the women's gymnastics competition with my dad. He had taken two weeks off of work to tape the games, and for one reason or another, we were both intensely invested in the women's gymnastics team: Amanda Borden, Amy Chow, Dominique Dawes, Shannon Miller, Dominique Moceanu, Jaycie Phelps, and Kerri Strug.

I remember my insides bouncing with excitement as I watched the girls compete, first on bars, where they popped out 9.8 scores, one after another. I envied their long lines and grace, watching them compete on the balance beam (I later learned that the beam was the width of a video tape, so I would frequently take one outside and trace my own colorful balance beam on the sidewalk with chalk). I still have pieces of Dominique Moceanu's floor routine, choreographed to "The Devil Went Down to Georgia," etched in my brain. 

And then came the vault. Dominique's two falls. Kerri's failed first attempt. The way she soared through the air on her second vault and winced as her feet hit the mat, her left foot immediately retracting. The way Bela Karolyi's face lit up with pure elation before a dark shadow was cast, when he knew Kerri was terribly hurt. The roar of the Atlanta Dome, the way the paparazzi swarmed Kerri's stretcher, and the tiny voice that came out of the night's heroine, saying, "I can't believe this happened!"

Vaulting champ McKayla Maroney & the elegant, fluid Kyla Ross 

Gymnastics' wunderkind, Jordyn Wieber 

The quietly strong team captain, Aly Raisman 

Gabby Douglas, who can teach you how to dougie

Awaiting Aly's floor exercise score and the confirmation that they've won gold...

(Photos via The Oregonian)

That summer and into the fall, I tumbled around our front yard with my neighbors, where we had designated certain areas for each of the gymnastic events. Our sidewalk chalk beam, the tree branch that acted as parallel bars, the long stretch of grass perfect for vaulting, and the rest of the lawn, the floor exercise. These girls, who seemed eons older than me, who acted with such maturity and moved with such elegance, had left a lasting impression on my seven year-old brain. I wanted so much to be like them. To have the same powerful, strong bodies that created knots in the air. I devoured books about gymnastics, went to open events at the local gym, and re-watched the optional events over and over again.

The Olympics stopped interesting me as I grew older, but for some reason (maybe because our girls were slated to win again), I've thrown myself completely into this year's London games. Dad's taken two weeks off from work again to tape the entire series of events. Now that I'm done school, I have no summer work to worry about, and I've been eagerly anticipating many of the events this year. Seeing the US gymnasts skyrocket to gold tugged at my seven year-old heartstrings. I can't help but think of my former self... how influenced I was by those young girls... and how young they actually were!

Watching the Fierce Five (as McKayla said they'd like to be called) excited me almost as much as the Magnificent Seven did in 1996, knowing that these young women are inspiring a whole new generation of girls.

xox,

Sara

The Ever-Terrifying Job Hunt

So, I'm officially a college grad, right? Well, that means that I have absolutely no more daily responsibilities and I have the freedom to vedge on my parents' couch for the rest of my life or, you know, do whatever I set my mind to, or whatever, if I can find a job. Finding a job. Not as easy as it sounds. I mean, you don't just wake up one day and say, "I'm going on a job hunt!" You don't pack up your weaponry and gut-cleaning tools and head out for a day of career-shooting out on the range. No, sir. It's a long, drawn-out process that depends on the reliability of your own motivation.

MOTIVATION? WHAT IS THIS THING YOU SPEAK OF.

Motivation. The evasive, sneaky li'l son of a gun who always waited until the night before a paper was due to appear and crept away every time you got on a roll and then you ended up on, say, tumblr -- "oh just for a minute!" -- and WHERE HAS TIME GONE I'M LATE FOR CLASS. That motivation.

What with my part-time job taking 20-30 hours of my week and the summer camp I just finished eating up two weeks of my summer*, and every episode of LOST consuming at least 3 hours a day**, when do I have time to search for a job?

That being said, I did find time to whip up a few applications and I ended up going through a few stages of interviews for a merchandising position at a retail giant based in New York (didn't get it). Now that camp is over, I'm scouring the internet for other companies/organizations I'd like to work for. Thank God for the internet. I mean, back in the golden ages people had to sift through classified ads in the newspaper and type up cover letters and resumes on typewriters and mail them out and wait for a response. Nowadays, just click the "Careers" link at the bottom of every website ever and voila! Job opportunities!

I found that magazines are a huge help if you're looking for some kind of career in fashion. Magazines that chronicle new store openings or the successes of little start-up sites can help pinpoint places that might be hiring that you would not have thought about or considered. I grabbed this month's issue of NYLON, and as it's the denim issue, I think I'll have plenty of companies to contact in the next few days...

In honor of becoming a working girl, here are some muted newsroom vibes for fall:

Photos via tumblr

xox,
Sara

* Totally worth it though, omg can I just say that middle school theater kids are incredible.
** THANK YOU, NETFLIX. JULIETTE & SAWYER 4EVER.

Insta-garb

My go-to outfits as of late:

Madewell market popover, high riser jeans, whistlestop sandals, necklaces, belts, chambray (similar one here); BDG chinos (via Urban Outfitters); TOMS shoes

Thx, instagram, for making it easy to snap covert outfit pics at work without the embarrassment of having to bring my tripod out to my backyard and risk the neighbors pointing and puzzling!

xox,
Sara

Boy meets girl

When menswear and womenswear meet, the subtle twists on gender make my chest go tight and my pulse start to race. These three images have been waiting patiently inside a folder on my desktop, and they're finally ready to come out to play. Gotta love the tailoring, proportion play, and the rockabilly throwback.

Raquel, Miranda, Angela - images via Fashion Gone Rogue

xox,

Sara

Sunday style crush: the New York girl

In all of my past blogging endeavors, I have attempted to start repeated series like calivintage's weekly style round-up, The Clothes Horse's outfit remixes, and pretty much every divinely gorgeous thing Miss Moss posts. I've never been very good at keeping a blogging rhythm, but I'm going to try to do a weekly style crush/icon... or at least a once-a-month installment of ladies & germs whose personal style I admire.

First up? Madewell's marketing maven, Gigi Guerra.

Photos of Gigi and her apartment (via Refinery29)

Homegirl worked at YM, Jane, and Lucky magazines before she started at Madewell, where her quirky style and affinity for words serves her well as the Brand Marketing Director of J. Crew's little sister. I fell in love after seeing this feature on her over at Refinery29, and have been keeping my eyes open for street style snaps ever since. When I found her on Pinterest, I was happy to find that she has a refreshingly unique eye for funk and fashion. I'm always eager to see what she digs up from the depths of the internet!

Keep an eye out for this girl. She's pretty awesome, non?

xox, 
Sara