Hold Please

Thanks for the notes and Twitters, Mighty Girl is having server issues. Most notably, lots of our comments have disappeared. They should be back soon, and your ability to comment on posts will hopefully return to normal as well. Please rest assured that I haven’t blocked you, unapproved you, flagged you as spam, or otherwise maligned your solid reputation as a Mighty Citizen. Thanks for your patience.

Friday Mixtape

This is part of my Life List project to listen to 1,000 new songs. Right now I’m up to 174, and on Fridays I share some of my discoveries. If you’d like to send me your own mix, please email me a link or send a CD to Friday Mixtape c/o Maggie Mason, 766 Valencia St., San Francisco, CA 94115. Happy weekend, everyone.

http://v.nate.com/v.sk/movie/0|211421692/20100126010100978325241001

“Pursuit of Happiness (Nightmare)” by Kid Cudi, MGMT, and Ratatat
Via the Let’s Make Party Mix sent in by reader Jennifer Nichol. Thanks, Jennifer!

“Two Weeks” by Grizzly Bear
Also via Jennifer Nichol

“Undercover Martyn” by Two Door Cinema Club
Also via Jennifer Nichol, though she actually sent the Passion Pit Remix.

“Brand New Shoes” by She and Him
Via the ladies at Merge Records. Thanks guys!

Mighty Closet: Jaime Chen, Outfit 5

Jaime does cocktail just right. Her outfits are always spot on, but vaguely disinterested, like she ran home to throw something on quickly because she was playing late-afternoon tennis. Except she’s not sweaty. Maybe she was having a late afternoon chess match. As one does.

She bought the scarf to wear with her wedding dress in 2008. She uses it all the time, and says it’s surprisingly warm. (You may remember Jaime as the bride who remained unnaturally calm when the florist didn’t order the flowers I planned to use in her bouquet. Jaime was a shockingly laid back bride.)

The dress is from Hengst, in the Mission. The sexy see-through with no actual reveal is right up Jaime’s alley.

Here’s a close up of the front. As you can see, I’ve dragged Jaime back to the garage again. The light was incredible in there. Nothing like some spectacular garage portraits to remember the paint cans by.

Her shoes are Helmut Lang, purchased from City Soles in Chicago. They’re like a heeled flip flop, but with a raised edge to keep you from stubbing your toes.

And that’s a wrap! Thanks for letting me take pictures of you in front of all your neighbors, Jaime. Also for inspiring me to edit my closet. Does anyone want an orange feather boa and a sequin tube top?

Mighty Closet: Jaime Chen, Outfit 1

Hooray, a new Mighty Closet! My friends, it has been too long.

This is Jaime Chen, a dear friend with incredible taste. Pity she’s so unattractive.

Her hideous deformities aside, I admire Jaime’s approach to wardrobe building because it’s the opposite of how I shop, and the results are enviable. She focuses on buying clothes she knows she’ll wear, which means she’s willing to pay more when she finds something she loves. I buy everything that interests me and is under $20. We go shopping all the time and she almost never buys anything. I find myself baffled, shoving shiny things at her in an effort to feel less alone in my rampant consumerism, but she remains steadfast.

Her outer jacket is by Hengst, purchased in the Mission. Jaime is incredibly faithful to brands, and Hengst is one of her favorites. In fact, she owns a heaver version of this same jacket in wool.

This warmup jacket is by Heff Christiansen, purchased at Helen Yi in Chicago. Jaime is also faithful to stores once she feels like she can trust the selection, so Helen Yi is another favorite. The grey cords are J Brand.

The back of the jacket is the best part, by the way. Jaime was trained as an architect, and her clothes reflect an interest in structure. Her pink tank is by Vince. She owns it in two other colors, which she has yet to wear, because she’s hoarding them for when the pink one dies.

Her colorful wallet was a gift from her husband Henning. It’s a mywalit from the I.D.E.A. Living store in Amsterdam. Now let’s talk about The Bag — it’s from the Pleats Please line by Issey Miyake. Jaime has been looking for a bag for years, since I met her in fact.

She finally found it when she randomly walked into Mio for the first time. I was actually surprised by her choice, particularly the color — Jaime tends to wear lots of grey and black. The fabric is so lightweight that the empty bag is almost weightless. There are tons of pockets, and it ripples and folds along those triangle shapes, so it looks like a completely different shape whenever you change how you’re holding it. So killer.

These boots aren’t so bad either. As I’ve mentioned before, San Francisco is a walking city. Jaime’s hill-friendly boots are by an unknown Japanese designer, purchased at Cotton Sheep in Hayes Valley.

Nicely played, Chen. Tune in tomorrow to see Jaime wearing a fedora without looking like she planned her whole outfit around it. I’m still not sure how she does that.