The look for today is "Childhood Dreams and Aspirations"

I started getting into fashion at a fairly young age. I was probably 11 or 12 when I first discovered Dior Homme. I never really cared for fashion because my idea of men's fashion was basically 90's Versace. Which is a cool thing now but it certainly wasn't cool in the mid 2000's. I fell in love with the rock n' roll vibe that Hedi Slimane put out at Dior, it was unlike anything I had ever seen before. I had seen skinny jeans and skinny ties but nothing to that extreme. I went home after school every day and just spent all my time listening to the Dior Homme soundtracks and looking through pictures of old runway shows and advertising campaigns and basically become a Dior expert.

My first purchase from Dior, or anything chic in general, came when I was in 8th grade. My dad used to take me and my sister to Sam's Club all the time and sometimes we'd stop by the optometrist's shop and I'd look at the sunglasses and when I discovered that they had a few pairs of sunglasses from Hedi's "Black Tie" collection, I nearly lost my shit, to the extent that a 13 year old boy could lose his shit. I saved up every penny I had, I even started packing my own lunch every day so I could save my leftover lunch money. I knew I had to have a piece of Dior in my life. Then came the day when the sunglasses made it to the sale table. I begged my dad to let me buy the sunglasses, and when I did, it was probably the most exciting moment of my life up to that point.

The point of all of this is to say that for as long as I've been into fashion, I've aspired to owning many things. And for the most part, I've never really been able to buy any of it until the last year or so. Usually I get tired of things very quickly but when an item is special enough, I won't stop searching until I find that item.

The first of which is a Dior Homme sweater that Hedi originally designed way back in the day. I visited the Dior Homme boutique in the Wynn hotel in Las Vegas once and this girl was wearing this oversized men's grey sweater that was all torn up along the seams, and I thought it was the most amazing sweater in the world. It went against everything luxury ready-to-wear was supposed to be. A few months ago when I found a similar one on Yoox.com, I knew it was finally my turn to own it. When I received it, I really felt like everything came around full circle. The item that sparked my interest in fashion is now a part of my wardrobe.

Another item that meant a lot to me were the Maison Martin Margiela "Pilot" sunglasses. I'll be completely honest, when I was in high school, I was OBSESSED with the first pair of l'Incognito sunglasses that were released. They were essentially just one rectangular lens with arms that looked to be a part of the lens. I absolutely HATED the second rendition, which was the exact pair I know own. The turning point was when Beyonce wore them in her Video Phone music video. I realized that they were actually amazing, but when I e-mailed the Maison Martin Margiela boutique in Beverly Hills, I found out they were $545. Which is a lot of money for a 17 year old student with no job. So I never got them and they eventually sold out everywhere.

During my second or third year of college, I managed to save enough money from my job serving samples at Costco to splurge on something nice. And I had just found these glasses on eBay and all of a sudden I was obsessed again. Even though I've only worn them a handful of times over the few years that I've owned them, I'm pretty sure this is something I'm gonna keep for the rest of my life. So there you have it. I've had fashun dreams and aspirations for as long as I can remember. And there's nothing wrong with that.

Sunglasses by Maison Martin Margiela
Sweater by Dior Homme
Jeans by Saint Laurent

The look for today is "It's my only chance this week to wear a leather jacket"

I checked the weather forecast before going to work today and it said the high was 75, which is cooler than every other day this week. So I figured this would be the only chance I'd have in a long time to wear my leather jacket. And I did.

I mean wearing a leather jacket at all in the summer is simply unwise and I don't know why I thought it was okay but sometimes you just gotta make sacrifices to be chic. My compromise was that I'd skip out on sleeves.

I decided today that I would get Pinkberry instead of a post-lunch coffee. It was the worst idea in the world, I still have a headache and it's almost midnight. I'm pretty sure this is a caffeine migraine. It's not easy being chic. I need a tall iced white chocolate mocha with half the syrup and no whipped cream.

Jacket by Allsaints
Tank Top by H&M
Scarf by Saint Laurent
Jeans by Marc Jacobs
Boots by Valentino
Card Case by Balenciaga

Details #1

One thing I love about Givenchy shirts is this little cross detail on the back. Actually it's really the only distinguishable thing about Givenchy dress shirts.

Also, note that The Fashun Chronicles will now be known as Chicnanigans. The Fashun Chronicles was intended to be a temporary name until I found something I wanted to stick to and I think Chicnanigans is essentially everything I want this blog to be.

Chicnanigans #1: Beer tasting

So if you're in San Diego, the hip and happening thing to do is taste beer. There are so many local breweries all over the county, and North County is especially dense in the number of breweries present. I actually know nothing about beer and I normally only go to breweries when there's a barbecue. But since it was family time, I figured I would go.

So I got 2 beers from Rip Current in San Marcos. The one on the left was an IPA that was supposed to taste like passionfruit and the one on the right was made with like an English tea. Both just tasted like beer and I don't know why I felt like I needed to order 2.

Over at Belching Beaver, I got a peanut butter stout. It smelled like a peanut butter cup. It also kinda just tasted like beer. I can't tell the difference between an IPA or a stout or really any type of beer. It all kind of tastes bad to me. But everybody else seemed to enjoy it so that's good at least.

This is me pretending to drink the beer. I quickly realized that beer is not for me. Except for the beer from Indian Joe's, which tastes like juice. It's just down the street from Belching Beaver but I got hungry so we got cheeseburgers and called it a day.

Sunglasses by Celine

Tank top by H&M

Shoesday Wednesday

So the look for today was super shiny shoes. Michael is always super polished in his nicely tailored suits so he opted for a polished brown derby. I'm always super short and these jodhpur boots give me an extra lift and make me feel tall. Allison, always the chicest of the bunch, killed it with her shiny black python oxfords, which are obviously appropriate for any occasion.

Clockwise from top left

On Michael: Shoes by Louis Vuitton
On Casey: Boots by Valentino
On Allison: Shoes by Christian Louboutin

I'm not always the biggest fan of Louboutin's red sole but on a flat shoe like this oxford, it barely peeks out and it's shoes like these that will turn me into a fan.

The soles on my shoes are hardly pretty but I love that they have an industrial work boot styled sole. I'm prone to slipping in my foam soled Margiela boots (only when it rains) and these grip to the floor like Pirelli tires. And they contrast nicely with the polished look of the boot.

Must-Have #3

The must have beverage of the moment is a tall iced white chocolate mocha with half the syrup, no whipped cream, and an extra shot of espresso. It's my go-to drink from Nordstrom's eBar.

I tried to substitute my beverage today for a grande iced white chocolate mocha with half the syrup and no whipped cream because it's basically the same thing except in a bigger cup and 10 cents cheaper... Except it was way too big and took me 20 minutes to finish so yeah I didn't actually have the must have beverage today but I should have, and you should try it too! I also need a haircut soon.

Shirt by Saint Laurent
Jeans by RPMWEST

Must-Have #2

The must have fashun item of the moment is dark magic. Anybody can do classic and most people can still do classic with a twist. But can they do this?

My take on classic with a twist is this Maison Martin Margiela belt that has no belt buckle. "How does it stay on?" You might ask. I could tell you but that would ruin the illusion so I'm gonna let you figure that one out on your own. Also I always keep a bent paper clip on hand but that's not part of the closing mechanism so just pretend like it really is dark magic, which is way chicer.

Belt by Maison Martin Margiela