My Style Then and Now: Birthday Dressing

Rag & Bone sweater / J Brand pants / A. Wang bag / Christian Louboutin shoes / Eugenia Kim headband / Smythson notebook

Here I am, caught in a moment of juggling my very busy schedule and updating my datebook (and was I trying to do a young Chanel here or something?) Judging by the gift bag, the frilly socks, and the polyester pouchette with my name on it, I'd say this was on my birthday. So for the birthday edition of MSTN I picked an outfit made of things I want for my birthday.

And even though that bag doesn't have my name it, IT HAS MY NAME ON IT, nah, meen?

now i'm 25 @toomanyronis

Some Randoms

This is me standing in front of a collage I made in college that is still hanging on my wall is that weird?

This is me on the day it was 21º after going to my friend Logan's awesome dance performance. I wore my new shoes.

This is my new shirt that has a pastoral scene on it and it's vintage. This jacket is from Opening Ceremony.

These are some random pictures because I don't have many good pics from the last week. I'm going back to Portland on Sunday! Hooray! Right now I'm watching Stella.

My Style Then and Now: Holiday Dressing

Lot78 jacket / Roberto Cavalli jumpsuit / Mulberry bag / Missoni bracelet / Marni shoes

Ahhh the holidays. It kind of blows my mind how fake this picture looks... but this moment really happened. This is at Christmas at my grandparents house, and that is my Aunt Kakie on the left and Aunt Alicia on the right. I'm not sure why I'm so "dressed down," although I do seem to recall that there were a few years when I didn't get that into dressing up on Christmas (here's hoping I can find a photo of the time I wore my Palladium boots with an Earth Day t-shirt over a thermal). I'm obsessed with this disco-in-the-city fantasy outfit, btw, even if it isn't winter appropriate.

I have a couple holiday/birthday photos to enter into the MSTN archives over the next weeks. I'm really looking forward to it. By they way, my birthday is December 21 (solstice! shortest day of the year!) in case you want to turn any of these fantasy outfits into IRL outfits for moi.

deck the halls with fashion and stuff @toomanyronis

Some of My Hats

Supreme hat / rando LA hat / Jeremy Fish x UP hat / New York Kings hat

These are some pictures I took this weekend when I was being lazy around the house. I have some cool hats but I don't wear them that much anymore partly because I guess I thought my head was smaller than it is cause many of them don't fit. Also these bamboo gold hoops are rad, they have little butterflies on the sides and are secretly part of the Disney Couture jewelry collection. Well not secretly, but you know what I mean.

Why does my head look not attached to my body in all of these pictures?

DeSean Jackson, tomfoolery and stuff. @toomanyronis

Rainy Day + Brunch, Again

Topshop poncho and wedges / Gap jeans and shirt / Ray Ban sunnies / BDG hat

This was kind of Portland-y weather today and I was kind of loving it. This weekend I made a bunch of Christmas cookies with the buds, ate a bunch of them, watched TWO Harry Potter movies since the boyf needed to catch up, and now we're in the processes of slow cooking some pulled pork for tacos tonight. Woo woo! Also these are some of my favorite wedges that I own 'cause they're kind of Proenza-y. To my right in all these photos is where they bottle the Manhattan Special, which is a coffee-flavored soda that I have never tried but sounds really nasty.

I started tumbling too, and DANG but it's addicting. Now I'm going to spend the rest of the day creating fantasy wishlists from a million stores online and reading Real Simple.

get like me @toomanyronis

Required Listening: N.W.A.

This is a very rough history of N.W.A. told with vids and images.

First, Dr Dre was in a group called World Class Wreckin' Cru, recording super sessual 1980s Electro-hop R&B jammers like "Turn off the Lights:"


At that time, he looked like this:

Then Eazy E swooped in on Dre and Ice Cube who were buddies and both performing at a club called Eve's After Dark on a regular basis, and N.W.A. was formed (other members included DJ Yella, Arabian Prince and MC Ren).

It all started with this...

"Straight Outta Compton" recorded by N.W.A. in 1990. Then, Eazy E gave $2,500 to the Republican Party and had lunch with George H. W. Bush. – but that's just an aside. He was a cutthroat businessman who saw hip hop as the best new way to make a buck, and make a buck he did, despite rapidly losing his cred because of his shady business tactics and inflammatory statements to press.

Then Ice Cube said, Eff this I'm out (he wrote about half the lyrics on platinum-selling "Straight Outta Compton" and got well under $100k of the $650 it grossed), and recorded the incredibly awesome/harsh diss track, "No Vaseline."




Next up Dre ditched N.W.A. for Suge Knight and Death Row after similar issues with Eazy E, and recorded this:


"Dre Day." Oh hey Snoop! This song is another epic Eazy diss but also PLEASE WATCH the video at minute 3:38 and look closely at the 9 year old white girl dancing in the background. Umm.

Eazy came back at Dre with "Real Muthaphuckkin Gs" (censored version: "Real Compton City Gs"):

You can't really be mad at Eazy for using pics of Dre from his WCWC days in this video...

N.W.A. was dissolved completely. Eazy then signed a Jewish rap duo called Blood of Abraham, and started doing a whole lotta good with the money he'd made, taking kids from Compton on trips to Disney Land, sponsoring community events and giving kids money for college. Outside of the public eye, he became a local hero.

Here are some amazing pictures of Eazy E / N.W.A.

Read Jeff Chang's incredible piece on Eazy E's story here.

EK Day 2000 @toomanyronis

The Suzan "Home"

If this video/song doesn't make you smile, you're in trouble. The Suzan is my favorite girl band of the moment. Read my interview/feature on them here and check out this sweet group shot:

now watching: valhalla rising @toomanyronis

All the Shoes I Own #18: Pink and Black Nike Air Max 90s

These are pretty sweet. Pink, black and silver Air Max 90s that I bought on eBay. I think maybe the only thing I've ever bought on eBay. I placed the winning bid via my Blackberry during a smoke break when I was working at a dive bar called The Deck on the Columbia River one summer. It was a sweet gig. They are a bit snug but they still look fairly new-ish, so I try and take good care of them.

Also can I please have these Christopher Kane mens pieces asap?

Christopher Kane Mens SS 2011 via HS

have you ever had sex with a pharoah? @toomanyronis

Curls and Some Music

Okay first of all... I finally learned to curl my hair.

This was a major triumph for me. I went to an event at Folica last night where some awesome stylists from White Plains taught us how do holiday hair – for real. We learned a "fancy bun" (the only one I've truly mastered), a Jessica Alba updo and a Taylor Swift updo. I also learned that all curls have different names. The above curls are Victoria's Secret curls slash Sarah Jessica Parker curls (cause they're really messy underneath). You should check out their blog, HairJunky, it has lots of practical advice if, like me, you suck at doing hair.

This is a picture of Ghostface Killah and Raekwon, who is also the guy in my banner.

Here's a good Raekwon download I found today. He even shouts out YSL and Ferragamo, so fashion lovers will like it too.

Raekwon - "Butter Knives" via

Here is an event better download that I found via Brittnee:

2 Live Crew

Yimmy Yayo's mixtape for The World's Best Ever. Read the tracklist and you'll get it:

01. Fantasy (Remix) by Mariah Carey
02. Holiday by Naughty by Nature
03. Poison by Bel Biv Devoe
04. I Wish by Skee Lo
05. This Is How We Do It by Montell Jordan
06. Got Your Money (Dirty) by Ol’ Dirty Bastard
07. 1,2,3,4 Get Your Woman On the Floor by Coolio
08. Informer by Snow
09. Push It by Salt N’ Pepa
10. Check Yo Self by Ice Cube
11. Here Comes the Hot Stepper by Ini Kamoze
12. The Humpty Dance by Digital Underground
13. Now That We’ve Found Love by Heavy D & The Boyz
14. Pop That Coochie by 2 Live Crew
15. C’Mon & Ride It (the Train) by Quad City DJs
16. Humping Around by Bobby Brown
17. Let Me Clear My Throat by DJ Kool
18. Too Close by Next

DOWNLOAD IT NOW, DUMMY!

a licky boom boom yeah @toomanyronis

All the Shoes I Own #17: Studded Faux-Gucci Heels

Got these puppies at DSW for about $30. They're definitely in MAJOR "homage" to the super gorgeous Gucci heels from their F/W 2008 collection (pictured below), but I couldn't resist them. There very comfy and even though they hit on a trend that is dying off a bit, I'll probably hold on to them for a long time. I have been  thinking of starting an e-store for some of my shoes/stuff though... but I'm not sure if anyone would even want my stuff... ?

not phony just a roni @toomanyronis

Oh Hey Boss!

OH HEY! Behold, the incredibly beautiful Leora Kadisha, StyledOn's wonderful founder and CEO, in Sally Singer's debut issue of T Magazine. Wearing Proenza, of course. I've really enjoyed what I've read of the issue so far, from the arts/books features, to the REALLY REALLY good Zing! editorial styled by David Vandewal. But seeing Leora on those glossy pages was definitely the highlight.

On another note, this little getup from YSL seems to be an editor favorite this season (at left in Dec. Elle, at right in T) ... and while I am headoverheels in love with Alba's juicy stack of bangles, Nicki's attitude is killing it. #Win.

my boss is famous @toomanyronis

Stripes, Redux

FCUK skirt / Gap shirt / Dad's sweater / Olsenboye shoes / Anne Klein coat / H&M sunnies / BDG hat

Wore this on a windy Saturday to fuel up at Sel de Mer before mainlining more Nip/Tuck (ppl say season 5 sucks, but I'm really into this Portia de Rossi / Bradley Cooper / Tia Carrera hot mess. Bring on the dram). I have had this skirt since high school and just recently had it tailored to fit better, but I think I've had it so long that I've lost all perspective on whether or not it's actually a cool skirt. Does this happen to you? I'm so used to seeing it my closet that I'm like, "Oh, you again. Do I even like you?" Is it really not cute and I just don't know it? ISSUES.

Today, I think I'm going to re-lace some of my sneakers to fresh-en them up a bit, put together a much needed music post for the Roni, and do my christmas/birthday wishlist post (btw my birthday is December 21, I'm a solstice baby). That mayyyyy be a bit over ambitious, especially since I just discovered the holy grail of style sites that I can't stop clicking at.


come on homegirl @toomanyronis

Tory Burch Resort, Roni Style

I'll be honest. I haven't always been a big Tory Burch fan. Her ubiquitous logo flats just didn't do it for me, but as I've grown more familiar with her collections, and as her designs have started veering away from the logos, the more I've fallen in love with her clothes. Her resort collection is full of really awesome patterns, different textures and COLOR – my favorite.

This week I got the chance to join some other bloggers on behalf of StyledOn to style a look with pieces from the 2011 resort collection. Here's a look at my favorite shots from her lookbook, and the look that I styled:

The look I styled for Tory Burch.

I couldn't resist her monkey-patterned pajamas, so I used a top from the PJ set, a super soft cardi and an amazing neon three-strand necklace. Plus the bag is pretty sweet. I'm happy with the results, but I wish I could have done more more more! Makes me want to try more styling work – BUT LET'S NOT GET AHEAD OF OURSELVES.

more monkey business @toomanyronis

Club Monaco is Killing it Again

 Last night I briefly popped into Club Monaco for the Sugar and Cashmere event to launch their collaboration with Fresh, and stayed long enough to snap some shots of my Christmas wishlist items. Loving this hat, the velvet pants, chunky knits, and conductor striped shirt... read on for more pics of my favorites!

All the Shoes I Own #16: Jeremy Fish Limited Edition Adidas

This pair of sneakers is pretty precious. They are probably in the best condition of all my high tops – they are special limited edition high tops with designs by Jeremy Fish who is a pretty fresh artist. They were given to me by a very close friend and I heart them. Here are a few examples of Jeremy's work, you may also recognize his handiwork from Aesop Rock album art and other fine duds at Upper Playground.

love and other thugs @toomanyronis