I stamped the Frida Kahlo design on some fabric with black Clearsnap Colorbox Crafter’s ink. 

Then I sewed two pieces of fabric together with the face on one side, wrong side out. (Even though I did wrong side out, the Frida design still showed on the wrong side, which was great because I could see where to sew.) 

I turned it inside out and stuffed the doll with Fairfield Poly-Fil, and then sewed it up. 

At this point, my Frida Kahlo doll looked like a tube of toothpaste, but never fear, my Sizzix die is here. I ran various colors of Kunin Felt through Eileen Hull’s Borders & Hydrangea die, and those borders made a beautiful shawl and dress for little Frida. I glued them on the doll form with Aleene’s Fast Grab Tacky Glue because that stuff works great on felt and really holds it in place. Okay, I can’t get over how perfect that shawl is.

And those cute little hydrangea flowers made the most fabulous floral headdress!

The scalloped edge at the bottom of the dress, when fanned out, helps her stand. Hello, (Frida) Dolly!

To paint the design, I used DecoArt SoSoft Fabric Paint, which goes on like buttah, dries quick, and doesn’t even need to be heat set. I used 5 different colors, just like the original Mondrian paintings – white, yellow, red, blue and black. I needed between 2 to 3 bottles of each paint color to cover the blazer.I originally put masking tape on the jacket to help guide my paint job, but that was a disaster because the tape would not stick to the fabric. So I just penciled in the design and painted it freehand. The hardest part was painting the black lines. I wasn’t perfect, but you know my motto: “close enough!”

I love how it turned out. When I took it to the tailor to have the buttons sewn back on (I removed most of them before painting), he thought I bought it that way. He couldn’t believe I painted it. Thanks DecoArt!

This is the back.

I even got matching shoes. Now, I did not paint these. I bought them at Zazzle! I uploaded my own Mondrian-inspired design, and they printed — and delivered — my shoes in less than 48 hours. They’re super comfortable too.

Here in Southern California, it does get cold in the fall and winter (anything below 60 degrees is considered freezing here), and I like to wear an overcoat when it’s cold. But most men’s overcoats are really boring. They are typically navy, grey or camel, and that’s all the choices there are. I’m a plaid-ophile, so I had been on the lookout for a plaid overcoat, to no avail. Until I found this frock coat on topman.com. Technically, it’s not an overcoat, but it’s a long coat, so no one would really know the difference. Paired with the matching pants, it’s a pretty cool look.

The best part? It was a steal. The jacket was on sale for $55, and the pants were on sale for $35. Plus, I got a 20% off discount on top of that, so the coat and pants were $71 total – no tax or shipping. For that price, I had to say, “why the frock not.”

I have no problems ordering clothes, even suits, online. I’ve bought numerous suits from Topman online, and they’ve been great. (I always assume I am going to the tailor to do some alternations.) So how did my first J. Crew suit fit? Let’s start with the jacket. I usually wear a 36 short. And the Ludlow 36 short fit perfectly. Even with the Topman jackets, I have to take in the sleeves. But with the Ludlow, the sleeves were perfect. And there’s a really nice taper to the jacket so it doesn’t feel boxy at all. I love it.

The pants, on the other hand, did not fit as well. I usually wear a 30″ waist. (With some stores like H&M and Uniqlo, I have to up that size.) The Ludlow pants are supposed to be trimmer, but they were huge on me. The waist was fine, but the pants were so baggy, so I just took the pants to the tailor to make the legs more fitted. They’re still not as skinny as I’d like, but my tailor really has an aversion to skinny pants.

This suit goes with a lot of shoes that I own. It looks great with my navy suede wingtips, or even my black plain toe bluchers. For this pic, I chose my teal Cole Haan wingtips. A bold suit deserves a bold pair of shoes.

Photos by Lynn Pelkey.

Short suits look great with regular neck ties, but they’re also fun with bow ties. (My bow tie here is from Brooks Brothers.) And since there are no long pant legs to cover up the shoes, you can really make a statement down there. Here I wore them with my pink and yellow Cole Haan wingtips. 

I once had a landlady who lived in New York during the 40s and 50s, and she would tell me how she never went outside with a hat and gloves. People were always dressed up. It’s sad that we’re so informal these days. Maybe that’s why I love Paris so much; people dress so chic everywhere.

I had my eye on this Topman plaid suit for a while. It was on sale online during the holidays, and I was hoping it would be marked down further, but then after the holidays the price went up and stayed there. Finally they were having a a suit sale where every suit was $150 off, and I got it for a great price. I’m a huge fan of plaid, so to be in a bold plaid pattern from head to toe is so much fun. If that’s a bit too much look for you, the jacket would look great with a pair of jeans, and I think those plaid pants would look good with just about anything. So I will definitely be wearing them as separates. 

Anyway, here is my first look. I love this purple suit I bought from Target online. Remember a few years back they did that “Color Changes Everything” commercial with all the men in colored suits jumping out of a hot air balloon? Well, it turns out they were selling those suits. So I bought one in five different colors. For a suit I bought online, I was surprised how it fit like a glove with very little tailoring. The sleeves were a little long, so I took it to my tailor to have him shorten them. He shortened them from the shoulders, rather than the cuff, so he wouldn’t have to change the working cuff buttons. It was more expensive that way ($20 more per sleeve), but it was worth it. The suit itself was less than $60 on sale.

I’m also wearing a hot pink shirt from Express Men, a tie from Topman, pink polka dot shoes from Dr. Martens, and Warby Parker sunglasses.