Good Measure: The Sharp Dressed Man

As you know, I offer up a lot of fashion tips and advice on the Zelma Rose blog, mostly because you ask, and who are we kidding, I love talking style. Today, I'm giving my own personal take on what makes a sharp dressed man.

Zelma Rose Blue Ombre Bow Tie + Pocket Square

I gave an interview with Goods of Record last week and one of the founders asked me, "Why a Men's Collection?" As a woman designer, I get this question a lot. Truth be told, I love menswear. Structured suits, textured knits, leather details, and of course bow ties. It all really appeals to me and when it comes to my own closet, I am often looking for pieces that mimic the attention to tailoring and quality that is so inherent in men's fashion.  Above all else, when I think about noticing a man's dress, no matter the style, it all comes down to tailoring. When it comes to being a sharp dressed man;

TAILORING IS KING

A Collected Gentleman | The Fashitecteur | Dressed to Ill

Isaiah, Jared, and Rob, three of my favorite male fashion bloggers pictured above, take tailoring very seriously. Even in casual looks they know that nothing looks sharper than a proper fit. From pants to shirts, and blazers, even sweaters and t shirts, every look can benefit from a custom fit. Don't be afraid to take in the shoulders, shorten a sleeve, or lengthen a pair of pants. Finding a tailor you like can take some time, but the good news is you only have to search once. Word of mouth is best, but also ask the sales people where you shop. Many stores offer tailoring and can tell you where to find a pro in your neck of the woods. For more about tailoring visit here.

PATTERN PLAY

Outside of a custom fit, looking sharp really comes down to color and pattern. I always notice pattern play and love it when men get creative in mixing and matching pattern. Isaiah, Jared, and Rob are pros at it , but what I love most about pattern play is that mixing it up really lets individual style shine through. Dress shirt and tie combos are great places to mix pattern. Think stripes with plaid or polka dots, even plaid on plaid! Mixing pattern can be playful, outlandish, classic, and modern. No matter the look, letting your individuality shine through always looks confident, and that's the key to killer style!

Dress Shirts Pattern Play at Paul Fredrick

OWN IT

One of the many things I've learned from my customers over the years is that when it comes to looking sharp you've simply got to own it. One of my favorite things about living in Northern California and catering to the bohemian and unique style of my customers is that the very same bow tie can be just as effective on a tattooed bike messenger as it is on a financial district VC. As long as you own your look, I'll consider your style to be razor sharp. 

Zelma Rose Bow Tie

There are a million so called rules out there that one can follow to look their best, but I think having style is about following a few simple and straightforward ideas that you create for yourself. When it comes to my own designs and who I design for, looking sharp is as easy as:

FIT

+
PATTERN

+

OWNERSHIP

then

REPEAT.

xoxo

Lisa

4 the Record: Carly Simon No Secrets

Carly Simon's No Secrets was released in 1972 and pretty much launched her straight to super stardom.  You're So Vain has remained one of those songs that you find yourself and everyone else singing along to on line at the grocery store. It's a classic for sure and few things feel better after a breakup than belting it out in your car. It's definitely my favorite song on this album and when I heard it on Pandora while working yesterday I wished there had been a piano in my studio! Carly's voice is as distinctive as her style and I just love everything about the boho 70's vibe she is rockin' on the album cover. This look could be in the pages of any fashion magazine today and is both chic and comfortable. It had me immediately running for my floppy hat and over sized hobo bag.

Hat + Hat Band | TShirt | Scarf | Bag | No Secrets | Boots | Denim | Poncho | Necklace

My favorite look from this round up has to be the vintage onyx squash blossom necklace. They are nearly impossible to find and if the gift fairies are listening, the answer is yes please!

What are you listening to?

xoxo

Lisa

Local Love: Home of the San Francisco Giants

I think you all know by now that I LOVE baseball. I was fortunate to grow up going to games with my Dad, Mets and Yankees, and if I had endless hours to fill my day they would be all spent at the ball park.  When I moved from New York to San Francisco in 1997, becoming a Giants fan was an easy sell. The franchise started in New York after all and with the promise of a brand new ball park on the horizon it was a good time to start sharing some of my Yankee pinstripes with the orange and black.

Last year we started a new family tradition around here by going on a tour of AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants, every October. If you are local, or planning a trip to the Bay Area, add taking a tour of AT&T Park to the top of your to do list. Now granted I love baseball, but if you are just a little luke warm on the sport, setting foot on the warning track, sitting in the dugout and walking around the visiting team locker room might sell you on the sport.

Plus, it's just plain beautiful. With sweeping views of the San Francisco Bay, the Oakland Bay Bridge, Treasure Island and pretty much as far as the eye can see, a visit to the ball park offers so much more than just great Giants history.

Not only will you get to see the World Series trophies, but you'll learn why the ball park was built in 5 separate sections, who championed the Giants staying in San Francisco and helped raise privately donated money to build the stadium, and why the green goes deeper than just the outfield.

I think I can speak for all Giants fans when I say we deeply love this team. The last 4 years have been an incredible ride and I am so grateful for all the fun and memories. The Giants embody all the things I love most about baseball. They work hard, play hard, and just like Travis Ishikawa's walk off home run in the NLDS, they provide us with inspiration and celebration. While I will root root root for the Giants in the next few days, no matter the result I will be proud to call the orange and black my home team.

Good luck boys!

xoxo

Lisa

All photography by Lisa Anderson Shaffer for Zelma Rose

Good Measure: Fan Gear

The San Francisco Giants are going to the World Series. I'm a huge Giant's fan, so my October is looking pretty good. Truth be told I've had a pretty good run with my fandom. I grew up in New York, went to the 1986 World Series, yeah I was at Game 6, and yeah, it was amazing. Follow that up with the Yankees winning the fall classic a million times in the 90's and you can imagine, baseball was not a hard sport to love.

When I moved to San Francisco from New York, loving the Giants was pretty easy. They were originally from New York after all, and with the plans of the new ball park under way, it was hard not to take notice. Fast forward to 2010, my daughter being born during the World Series, two parades and endless fun later, you can say I bleed orange.

We visited home of the Giants, AT&T Park this past weekend for our annual family tour. I will be sharing the fun with you later in the week, but for now I wanted to talk fan gear. It's not for everyone, but for those of us who just need to show our colors I do have some advice.

Keep it simple. There is a lot of great design happening right now in fan gear. Go with something that feels right and can become part of your regular weekend wardrobe. Whether you are in to hats, t's, hoodies, or scarves, you can probably find something you would wear even if it wasn't advertising your favorite team.

One at a time, with exception. Wear one piece at a time. Keep it to a hat or a shirt or a jersey. The exception being of course if your team is in the World Series. Then just go crazy and wear it all at once. It's the freaking World Series and it's great.

Quality. Sure the shirts sold in the parking lot for $5 are great, but chances are the stuff sold in the team store will probably hold up a bit better. This goes for jerseys too. If you are going to wear a jersey, wear a jersey. Get the nice one for the big bucks like the players wear. That's the whole point right?

I picked up the sweet shirt above at the Dugout store yesterday. It's bright, super California, and just what I need to get me through the Series.

It's October. I'm obsessed. All hail baseball.

xoxo

Lisa

4 the Record: Talib Kweli Eardrum

Talib Kweli, Eardrum always remains in heavy rotation. I once had it in my car for a year without removing it from the CD player. I have loved it since it's release and this album is a go to when I want something to get me through the afternoon funk. Talib remains one of the most thoughtful artists out there. Lyrically he offers complex and beautiful rhymes bringing a new sound and perspective to familiar themes. I pretty much love everything about him.

Sunnies | Headphones | Sweatshirt | Beanie | Eardrum | Backpack | Denim | Ring | Kicks

My favorite song on this album has to be Give 'Em Hell. What can I say, I'm a sucker for a sweet hook. 

What are you listening to this weekend?

xoxo

Lisa

The Homestead: The Wayfair American Made Custom Upholstery Collection

Custom Upholstery You Can Actually Sit On

This post is sponsored by Wayfair. Thanks for supporting this partnership! All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.

The folks at Wayfair just launched a brand new custom upholstery collection. Yeah, it's pretty exciting to be able to order custom furniture from home at 4 am, but what's even better is that true to Wayfair this new collection comes at a more than fair price and the best part is, it's made right here in the USA. Better yet, to celebrate, Wayfair is offering Zelma Rose readers 10% your custom upholstery purchase!!

Wayfair is known as having something for everyone and this new collection is no different. I took a look, ordered some swatches and was happy to find a piece that fits right in at the old homestead.

At $599.99 with free shipping and the option to order a bunch of free fabric samples the Addison Slipper chair kind of had my name all over it. The clean lines, straightforward design, and height from the floor made this chair a favorite and perfect for a quiet corner of the home. With the variety of available color and texture options I was able to find something that meets my laid back boho style and can withstand a lot of creative uses. And by creative uses I do indeed mean spills, possible dog vomit, and of course magic markers. Never a dull moment.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

I think this little collection has reading corner written all over it. And whether that means an actual reading corner, or a new place for the dog and kiddo to cuddle up, I'm cool either way. Happy shopping!

xoxo

Lisa

This post is sponsored by Wayfair. Thanks for supporting this partnership! All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.

In the Know: Mastering the Art of Email

Email is amazing. Running the show at Zelma Rose and being able to stay at home with my daughter would be completely impossible if I were not able to communicate with customers at 4 am. Seriously, the internet and email has made it possible for me to have it all. I bow down to you oh glorious internet overlord!

For those of you who don't know, before I became boss lady at ZR I was headed down the path to becoming a psychoanalyst. Yeah, Freud and the couch, the whole big mess. I still love psychology, specifically psychoanalytic theory and believe it or not, many of the ways I run my business are seen through a psychoanalytic lens and email is no exception.

Email is such a huge part of running a business and I'm not talking email newsletters and catching up with your inbox. There is something entirely special and unique about being able to communicate with another person without being in the same room or on the phone. Think about it, in an email you get to communicate exactly what you need to without interruption.  It's magic. You can take the time to really read a customer's concern or a team members question to completely hear them. Email allows us to stop time and remove the emotion of physicality and there is no other form of communication that allows for this as successfully as email.  This is huge people!!!

Now I do have quite a bit of experience in understanding communication, I would have to right? And my psych training does come heavily into play in terms of having successful communication with customers and clients, but the good news is that mastering the art of email communication is something that everyone can learn and I'm all about sharing my tips with you! That's right, so go ahead and put on your Freudian slip and join me over at Makeshift Society Tuesday night for my new class dedicated to helping you have stellar customer relations, better management skills, and complete email confidence! To check out some of my psych thoughts on email you can head on over to here and here.  In the mean time go ahead and check out the class listing at Makeshift Society and sign on up for some fun!

Here's to being your own inbox superhero!!

xoxo

Lisa

The Homestead: Family Portrait Prep

TIPS FOR NAILING THE PERFECT FAMILY PORTRAIT

This post is sponsored by Tiny Prints. Thanks for supporting this partnership! All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.

It's beginning to look a lot like fall, which really means that the holidays are right around the corner! If you are a fan of the photo holiday greeting card, your family is probably about to check the annual family portrait session off the to do list. October is a great time to schedule a family portrait. The weather is mild and the time line allows you to order holiday cards and custom prints and gifts from your photos just in time for the holidays.  Our favorite custom cards this year are from Tiny Prints. The hardest part was choosing just one, so we went with four! 

We scheduled our family portrait on the early side this year with friend and photographer Sarah Deragon of Portraits To The People. She snagged some great shots of all of us that will make perfect gifts for family and friends who we don't get to see as often as we would like. It's always a great time with Sarah and it certainly helps when your friend is a professional portrait photographer. But hey, let's be real, the time leading up to your family portrait session, no matter who is standing behind the camera, can be kind of intense. With little ones, there are inevitably wardrobe malfunctions, colds, and unexpected protests. Add in getting everyone in the same place at the same time and it's kind of magic that it even happens! 

To help you get it done and get it right, I pulled together some tips for perfecting your family portrait this year! First things first, it all begins with the PHOTOGRAPHER. When you set out to hire a pro to shoot your family portrait, do your research. Word of mouth is really best. Ask around and think about your family's specific needs. Who is great with babies? Toddlers? Who can get your moody teenagers to put down the phone for more than 2 minutes? What photographers specialize in working with pets? All important questions to ask. Conjure up your inner critic and scout around at portfolios. Some portrait photographers specialize in posed portraits, others, like Sarah, specialize in a more journalistic style. Decide what style speaks to you and can best represent your family. 

Let's talk LOCATION! If you live in a more mild climate like California, you can most likely schedule an outdoor session, but in other places where temperatures might drop a little sooner than they do here, shooting outside can be a risk. Don't rule out a studio session. I know what you are thinking but studio photography has changed a lot since you were in high school and having the promise of perfect lighting and climate can be a good thing especially with small children. That being said, smart pros will offer a few ideas for an outdoor shoot and be flexible if the weather is inclement, knowing nearby places to take it indoors. For our shoot, we chose Fort Point and The Headlands, located on either side of the Golden Gate Bridge for our locales, because really, what could be better?! Yeah I'm a little biased but in all seriousness, They are both special places for us and choosing a grand location also enabled us to create some location based cards and gifts as well. 

When it comes to STYLE think classic and basic. Dressing everyone head to toe in the same exact outfit is good for a gag, but might not be the best way to create a memorable moment. Neutrals, denim, and mild patterns work best. Your photographer will be able to tell you what patterns to stay away from and what colors will get washed out. We kept it basic in denim and grays allowing for our location and emotion to be the focus of the portraits. 

Last but not least have some FUN! No matter the drama leading up to the moment, let it go. Remember why it is important to have this moment frozen in time and have some fun with it. Opt for some serious, funny and heartfelt shots to make everyone in your tribe happy. And worse comes to worst, Photoshop can edit out last minute stains, holes, and rashes!

xoxo

Lisa

Original photography, art direction + styling for Zelma Rose by Lisa Anderson Shaffer.Portrait photography by Sarah Deragon.

This post is sponsored by Tiny Prints. Thanks for supporting this partnership! All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.

4 the Record: Rumors

Listen to the wind blow, watch the sun rise...

The Chain gets me every single time. Rumors is magic and maybe it's because it was recorded in nearby Sausalito, or that it was the late 70's and there was a lot of magic music happening, but the history speaks for itself. Fleetwood Mac Rumors at the time of it's release was the fastest selling album of all time and quickly sky rocketed the band to super stardom.

It is rare that I like every song on an album, but I can actually listen to Rumors from beginning to end with total engagement. I listen to this album in the studio a lot while spinning around in a black fringed shall and shaking a tambourine.

Bag | Necklace | Dress | Hat | Fleetwood Mac Rumors | Shawl | Necklace | Shoes | Tambourine

What will you be listening to this weekend? 

xoxo

Lisa

The Homestead: Fall Home Scents to Please Everyone

Fall is my favorite time of year. Here in Northern California we are blessed with an incredible season. Not only do we get to enjoy the changing of the leaves, apple picking, and pumpkin patches, but we get to enjoy it all under the sun with some of our most mild temperatures of the year. It's magical!

I always try to take some time during late September to prepare the house for the new season, putting away some of the more summery decor and switching it out for gathered greens and finds from the yard, along with rich woven pillows and heavy wool blankets. Besides getting to break out some of my favorite blankets and throws, an essential part of my fall home prep has become candles.

I'm not one for strong scents around the house and prefer to keep things woodsy and natural. Plus I like to burn something that everyone can enjoy and makes sense given our woodland setting. To help set the mood for autumn, I pulled together my current favorite burns to share with you, as I think they are scents that everyone can enjoy. None overpowering and perfect for a quick burn or to last the whole day.

PF Candle Co. makes my favorite candles and it's not just because owner Kristen Pumphrey is a friend, but watching this lady boss build her company to super stardom over the past 6 years certainly helps. Kristen + husband Tom's candles are all 100% soy wax and hand poured from their studio in Downtown Los Angeles.

They are clean burning and not over powering in scent, perfect to please ladies + gents. I'm a huge fan of the Teak + Tobacco, but Kristen really blew my mind with one of their newest scents, Neroli and Eucalyptus. A scent inspired by our home state of California this intoxicating candle is the perfect combo of minty eucalytpus and deeply herbaceous neroli and is well suited for fall.

My second favorite burn for fall is Palo Santo Incense. I picked up a new bundle of these from Half Hitched Goods this past weekend. Carrie sells them in lovely little tied bundles which make for a beautiful display and the perfect thank you gift. I enjoy the sweet woodsy fragrance on it's own but they also smell nice when burned.

When it comes to creating a flame, my favorite way to light a candle is with matches. I love the sound, smell, and old school charm of striking a match. In our home we use the Apothecary Matchstick Bottle.

Created by Oakland local Jen Pearson, each is made from reclaimed apothecary bottles. Jen's design is both beautiful and sustainable. I keep them all around the house and at the ready. Guests always comment on their modern and minimal design. You can find Jen's matchstick bottles online and at Rare Device.

I hope these favorites have inspired you to fill your home with some warm woodsy scents that everyone in the family can enjoy this fall!

xoxo

Lisa

Original photography, art direction + styling for Zelma Rose by Lisa Anderson Shaffer