In 2007, I moved back to NYC from Los Angeles to be with my new fiancé, but also to start a new career. I had published a couple of articles (one a cover article in a national teen magazine) and had graduated from a good school, and so I thought hey, I’ll just stroll into the Time, Inc (or wherever) offices and be handed a job, and presto: upward trajectory, corner office, et cetera.
Instead, I discovered the joys of profound, no-end-in-sight career panic and unemployment.
I could barely even get an interview. (This was during the time when the print magazine industry sort of panicked about the existence of online content, and started firing people with years and years of experience – pretty much everybody, actually – so they weren’t exactly all that into the idea of hiring…me.)
I did manage to finagle my way into a meeting with an assistant to an editor at a Conde Nast magazine, and I was so nervous about it that I ran down to Diane von Furstenberg and bought a ridiculously expensive outfit that I could in no way afford just because I felt like it would give me the confidence boost I needed to get the job (and also because my uniform in LA had been cutoffs-and-flip-flops, and I figured “looking the part” was probably pretty important if you wanted to work at, say, Vogue).
Anyway, I didn’t get the job.
But I still own the outfit, so I guess, hey: upside to everything.
I was thinking about this time in my life yesterday, though, because…you know, going to the Conde Nast building never stops being exciting, intimidating, a little overwhelming. I know it’s just a myth, a mystique thing…but still.
And so to get the chance to not only go yesterday, but to style and shoot a campaign there…it kind of blew me away.
First, I need to show you the shoes that I wore (they’re L.A.M.B. c/o Piperlime), and I can’t even with how much I love them. (I can’t believe I just said “I can’t even.” But I can’t.)
Here’s another picture, because they deserve it.
Here’s Lucy, being sad that Mama’s leaving for the day.
We were shooting the Jones New York Fall ’12 campaign, with a focus on their printed jeans (the Ikat pair – my favorite – is pictured above). I’ll post the pictures here once they’re up, of course.
Here, I’m in a Jones New York faux fur bolero and jeans, and my own accessories and shoes. I love faux fur jackets, and that one is so cute, no?
And finally, here I am all wrapped up and on the way back home.
So…I don’t know. Yesterday just made me so happy, because it made me remember how I felt just a few short years ago, and realize that I feel like a completely different person now, and that my life has changed in ways that I could never have even imagined.
It’s such a surprise, how much and how quickly things can sometimes swing in the opposite direction.
