A time to rip, a time to sew, a time to blog

I should be sewing tonight, mending seams and the occasional tear on some pieces in the very vast stash of vintage clothes and accessories I picked up on my week-long shopping trek to NYC and back. But instead I'm baking a strawberry cake - using fresh strawberries and batter from scratch (the only way to bake) - and writing the first post for my new blog.

I'm going to avoid defining exactly what's going to go on here and just let it evolve organically. But I can assure you that a good 80 percent of what you read here will relate to clothes.

I am passionate about fashion - so much so that I have devoted the majority of my journalism career writing about style. These days, I also work as a stylist and sell vintage clothing here in Music City, which is much chicer than most folks give it credit for being.

But enough about my blog.

Let's talk about my outfit!

I met with Trisha Brantley of Hip Zipper Vintage today to discuss the upcoming Tomato Festival fashion show in East Nashville this afternoon and had her snap this picture of me, with her super-duper packed (and, indeed, super-duper in general) store in the background.

I'm wearing a black cotton spaghetti strapped smock top I got at Urban Outfitters eons ago but still wear all the time (I have no idea why I hitched it up like that); my Christopher Ross swan belt buckle (love!); the fabuloso metallic striped and dotted and flounced all over Marc Jacobs skirt I picked up in NYC two weeks ago (thank you, 70 percent off sale!); and some Donald Pliner purple velvet wedges I got at the inimitable Cool Springs discount shoe Mecca, Marti & Liz.

Because it's impossible for me to be serious when someone's taking my picture (I loath posing), we started cutting up, doing stupid poses. Therefore, in the picture below, I'm wearing the same outfit, but channeling one of those intense, self-consciously model-y model poses you see in high end fashion mags. Enjoy!