Jenny Doh

My 10 Tips for Building a Wardrobe You Love and Use

I love clothes.

And though I love to splurge once in a while with some really special high-end pieces, I love getting most of my pieces from either Goodwill or Salvation Army and juxtaposing them with those splurge pieces. Here are my tips for building a beautiful, affordable wardrobe that you love and use. Use the tips if you want to. :)

10. When going to Goodwill or Salvation Army, go alone or with just one person who can be honest with you. For me, it's my daughter who has the strength to say to me "That's fugly." I need that honesty.

9. Go to Goodwill or Salvation Army when you have time to look through with patience. You will be AMAZED at what you can find for very little money when you have the time.

8. Even if it's only 5 bucks, ask yourself two questions: 1: "Do I love it?" and 2. "Will I wear it?" If you don't love it and if you think you won't wear it, don't get it. Even if it's only 5 bucks. Because closet space is limited. It can only hold so much. Your closet should be filled with things you can't wait to wear every single day.

7. As soon as you get a piece that you know you love and know you'll wear, wear it. Wear it immediately. And wear it often. Even if it's a fancy little black dress and there's really no fancy occasion to wear it, wear it in the house. Wear it to the grocery store. Wear it to the PTA meeting. If you wait to wear it for the right occasion and you classify it as being too precious, you will probably never wear it. And people at the grocery store, your neighborhood and PTA will think of you as the person who always dresses fabulously.

6. Juxtapose something high end and polished with something that's more rough and street. Like a silk blouse with a distressed denim jacket or a throwback concert tee with a tailored blazer. That's awesome.

5. Splurge on shoes.

4. If you haven't worn something in over a year, take it out of your life. Give it to someone, donate it. Even if you paid a lot for it, even if you know it's fabulous, if you haven't worn it, you won't wear it. Also, when you bring in a new piece into your wardrobe, take one thing out by giving it to someone or donating it. You gotta make room for new and fresh to come in by letting go of the old that never gets used or that just doesn't suit you anymore.

3. Take care of yourself by getting regular exercise and eating right. Even bad clothes look pretty darned good when you take care of yourself.

2. Be inventive and wear it the way you want to wear it. Just because something is a skirt doesn't mean it can't be worn as a dress. Or a poncho as a skirt. Or a necklace as a belt.

1. Clothes aren't you. You are you. But your clothes can help your inner you be expressed and noticed. Let what you wear help your inner you shine, rather than hidden or obscured.

Embroidered Converse Tutorial

Love wearing Converse, don't you?
Recently, I decided to add a little bit of embroidery to my black pair. Here's how ...

For the right shoe, I took one of the stitched white lines of the shoe as my guide to add simple straight stitches, first with red perle cotton and then white perle cotton to make an arrow. No pattern, no transfer lines ... I just went fo rit. And then I added some scallop-shapes with back stitches, and then some random straight stitches and French knots.


For the left shoe, I made a heart, using one of the stitched lines of the shoe as my guide. Again, no pattern, no transfer lines. More like doodling with needle and thread. I finished with some small cross stitches and straight stitches.

With some white socks and skinny jeans, I'm ready to go. Easy peasy.


Happy embroidery! :)

Inspired by Newsha Tavakolian

Last night was the annual Zoofari Gala Dinner that I go to every year with The Mister. Right before we left, Monica and I had a spontaneous photo shoot where I put on my boxing gloves for these shots.

They were inspired by this shot that we both admired while at LACMA. Stunning.
It is part of a series of photos taken by Newsha Tavakolian.
I love the idea of art and commentary through photography. So powerful.




And here I am with The Mister ... seconds out as we headed off to Zoofari. Gloves off.

What I Wore :: Remain, Trouvé, Kors

Thought I'd show you an outfit that I got from my kids for Mother's Day a few months ago (er ... um ... with a little help from their mother, of course!)

A nice flouncy blouse by Trouvé, paired with a killer mini skirt by Remain ...

paired with my tried and true sandals by Michael Kors (from a few years ago).

I wore this to the B-52s concert and I know I'll wear this outfit a million times or more in the years to come.

Luciano Padovan, Halo Shoes, and Sensibility on the Side

Dear Luciano Padovan:
Thank you for creating these amazing shoes. Thank you for designing them to be perfectly black and strappy ... with hot pink soles.

Dear Halo shoes of Portland:
Thank you for buying these for your store and marking them down so that I could afford them.
Dear Universe:
Thank you for reminding me that with certain things, it's ok to be sensible but that with shoes, it's ok not to be.

Amen.

Hair Update :: Pigtails!

For SO many years I've had short hair and loved it. And then one day not too long ago, I decided that I'd try something different and start growing it out. Just like that.

Today marks almost 2 months since my decision to start growing it out. I'm sort of thrilled that I can put my hair in pigtails! I love it.

My hair is still in an awkward state but it's gotten less awkward than just a few weeks ago when I was asking myself what I had gotten myself into. And then soon after, I learned that I can sweep the upper half up with a comby clippy thingy and I like that very much, but not as much as my new pigtails. :)

In terms of whose hair I'm aspiring to, it would say the way Kate Winslet is wearing hers lately in the photo below. So beautiful, I think.

Who knows. Maybe I'll not have the endurance to grow it out as long as hers but that's where I'm aiming. It'll take a year or more I'm sure. Lots of discoveries along the way which I'll keep you updated on. Cause I know you want to be updated on things like that. :)

Oh, this happy life filled with discoveries, complications, tangles, curls, intrigue, friendship, love, and changes.

Always unexpected changes.

Project Home Ec Fundraiser for Water.org :: 1 Outfit, 2 Events

So I have a couple of major events to attend in the next couple of days: Art Walk Studio with Book Signing and Painting Demo tomorrow night in Studio CRESCENDOh (which I hope you'll attend), and a holiday get-together with some friends. Rather than figuring out two different outfits, I decided I'd put together one killer outfit and use it for both events. Totally different crowds so I don't think anyone will notice.

So it's my trusty dress that is used as an overcoat, whcih I've been doing a lot of lately, with a super easy dress by James Perse underneath.

And to go with the dress are super high knee high socks and my trusty black boots.

Help me bring clean water to the world and help me dress up my dress with your handmade accessory by sponsoring me here.

Project Home Ec Fundraiser for Water.org :: Freudian Slip

Tonight's gonna be fun. I'm going to a pre-Halloween costume party with The Mister and a very fun crowd of friends. For my costume, I integrated The Dress by embroidering the word "Freudian" on one of the lapels.

Underneath The Dress I will be wearing a hand-dyed slip that was recently given to me by the lovely Sherry Mattia-Welch of Glamarella Junk. And so this year, I will be a Freudian Slip.

I've been a Freudian Slip before but this year, The Mister will actually be Sigmund Freud (with a beard, cigar, 3-piece suit, and all), which makes the costume truly completely. Keep up with my Instagrams tonight and I'll try and capture a few fun shots from the party.


Sherry does a great job scouting vintage slips that she dyes to perfection. So lovely. This is actually my third dyed slip from Sherry. they are perfect over jeans, as an under dress, as just a sun dress. Check out all of her offerings here.


Here's the most important part to all of this:

Help me bring clean water to the world and help me dress up my dress with your handmade accessory by sponsoring me here.

Project Home Ec Fundraiser for Water.org :: Zoofari & Crocheted Bear Ears

Tonight is Zoofari. One of the best events that I get to attend all year, given that one of the things that The Mister oversees for The City of Santa Ana (along with all the parks, rec centers, and the library) is the beautiful Santa Ana Zoo. Zoofari is the annual black-tie gala where guests are invited to dress in black-tie with a twist ... in honor of the animals. So tonight, I'll be taking my dress to the event but it will likely be used late at night, when the heat dies down, as a jacket that I wear over this dress. 

For some reason, I had the darnest time getting a head-to-toe shot of the dress with my favorite pair of red shoes on ... but you can sort of see one of the shoes peeking out in the shot below.

Oh, and of course, my twist to the black tie will be my crocheted bear ears ... one of the many projects that will found in my new book, Crochet Love :: 25+ Zakka-Inspired Projects ... coming out in 2013. Super fun.

I'll try and snap some shots of the fun scenes from Zoofari tonight on my Instagram ... keep up with my Instagrams here.

Help me bring clean water to the world and help me dress up my dress with your handmade accessory by sponsoring me here.

Project Home Ec Fundraiser for Water.org :: Heart

It was a hot night last night.
Which is why my dress became a jacket that I hardly used because it was so hot ...

Under the jacket was an outfit that came together in honor of Heart ... one of my favorite bands who we got to see in concert last night.

A simple black skirt, a brown cami, a black vest, and hot shoes.

So many wonderful songs ... but my favorite one of all-time by Heart is ... Dog and Butterfly.
It was a special moment when they sang it last night ... got me a little weepy to hear it up close and personal.

Help me bring clean water to the world and help me dress up my dress with your handmade accessory by sponsoring me here.