Salt House Collateral
Salt House is one of our favorite places to celebrate in the city. We like to sit upstairs, order cocktails and a shellfish platter to share, and watch everyone talking down below. Their design details are charming.
Hand-stamped coasters cut from corrugated cardboard.
Vintage playing cards used as coat-check numbers.
Seafood shipping tags as business cards.
I love it when businesses find clever ways to distinguish themselves without impacting the bottom line adversely. Smart.
Mighty Closet: Mai Le, Outfit 5
Whoops. Future posting snafu — sorry if you were looking for this on Friday. Now without further ado:
Ka-POW! That that, little black dresses.
This is Mai’s cocktail dress, the kind of thing she’d wear as a wedding guest. It’s a Diane von Furstenberg column dress, which she picked up at a vintage store on Divisadero.
Her shoes are certifiable. They’re by Walter Steigler, and I’m still trying to figure out the physics involved. The downside is the pain, the upside is that Mai never has to carry around a compact when she wants to check her lipstick.
Mai looks so badass in this picture. We should have posed her with a baseball bat beating down an intruder. Hindsight.
Anyway, it’s cold at night in San Francisco, so every dress needs a layering piece. This denim jacket is Junya Watanabe for Comme des Garcons.
The jacket has so much detail, stitch patterns, shoulder slits, but the printed lining is particularly fun. Mai’s Caveman hammered ring from is from Fancy Jewels, and her square ring is from a trip to Mexico City.
Another piece that’s even cooler from behind. Mai is the master of walking away from you.
She picked up this two-finger ring in Bangkok. It’s the kind of accessory that elevates the most boring outfit. Not that Mai has ever had that problem.
Thanks for letting us into your closet Mai! You have me thinking very differently about shoes, my friend.
Mighty Closet: Mai Le, Outfit 4
This is secretarial Mai and her trusty steed, a 1978 Raleigh Rampar 3-speed. The blouse is vintage, and this is an outfit Mai would wear to deliver her sandwiches — one of which I happen to be eating as I type this:
It is delicious.
So many of Mai’s outfits have unexpected pockets, it’s tempting me to sew pockets into all my skirts. (More pockets in women’s clothing, designers! I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but girls totally have hands.) Mai’s skirt is by Feral Childe an Oakland/Brooklyn label. It’s from this Spring’s Yosemite Collection.
The day-glo shoes are a bit of a DIY project. They’re by Again and Again, but Mai cleaned them up and painted them. Why has it never occurred to me to try this? Tights are by We Love Colors.
Vintage gold clutch with room for a hundred dollar bill, and a lipstick. And a cellphone and an extra pair of tights.
Here’s a detail shot of Mai’s dreamy headband with a little girl gazing up at an airplane. It’s the Cloud 9 gold headband by YellowGoat. Works particularly well against Mai’s dark hair, I think.
Tomorrow, we wrap up Mai’s closet feature with her cocktail look. Her shoes will end you, people.
Mighty Closet: Mai Le, Outfit 3
Here’s what Mai wears out to hear live music — a short skirt because she knows she won’t be sitting much anyway, and extra comfy shoes for the same reason.
Her V-neck sweater is Comme des Garcons for Play. It comes with the creepy little heart.
I’m pretty covetous of Mai’s pink sequin skirt, though I doubt I’d get the use out of it she does. For example, I’d wear it on New Year’s Eve; she wears it grocery shopping.
Who makes a sequin skirt with pockets? F. House, a Ho Chi Minh City-based designer — Mai spent several months in Vietnam recently. The skirt is a sample that never went into production.
Mai’s shoes are by Ann Demeulemeester. Great for travel, and for round about the cauldron goings on.
And again, a little something happening at the heel.
Her bag is also Comme des Garcons. It’s a Beach Ball Handbag and has big leather knots on either side.
Mai did her hair in about fifteen seconds by rolling it up from the bottom and securing with bobby pins. I don’t know why more women don’t use bobby pins anymore. They make it so easy to pull your hair back in an interesting way.
Mai loves to jump in photos. She’s an instigator of jumping photos too. Tomorrow, join us for Mai’s Secretary About Town look.
Elsewhere: Mighty Goods
Mighty Closet: Mai Le, Outfit 2
This is Mai looking suspicious in what she describes as her first date outfit — first dates put me in a dubious frame of mind as well, my friend.
Her versatile gray jacket with red detailing is by Grey Ant, which is based in L.A.
The purple tights are by We Love Colors, and her black platform wedges are from Loeffler Randall’s Summer ’07 collection. Shoes that offer a compelling view as you walk away are the best kinds of shoes.
Cute right? This view is undoubtedly wasted on Mai’s dates, however. In my experience, very few guys are looking at your shoes as you walk away, even if you’re wearing wooden wedges topped with a metallic insole.
This is Mai humoring my request for a cheesy ’80s pose in celebration of her vintage Laura Ashley dress. It’s violet jacquard with a drastically shortened hemline and big ol’ sleeves. Mai favors volume or detailing in her sleeves, and if you ask her opinion while thrift shopping “great sleeves” is her highest praise.
The vintage belt is part of Mai’s signature Superhero Prom Queen chic. Every time I see her, I kick myself for not wearing more belts.
As you can see, Mai’s style is refreshingly eccentric. I don’t know anyone else who dresses like her, so I find her pretty inspiring. We were at a bachelorette party in Vegas a few years ago, and she wore a full-on ’80s prom dress out clubbing — massive sleeves, zero irony. Knowing Mai will be in a crowd of friends means I can wear something outrageous without worrying that I’ll be alone in my exuberance.
Elsewhere: Mighty Junior
Mighty Closet: Mai Le, Outfit 1
At last, a new Mighty Closet! Did you think the day would ever come?
This is my very fun, multi-tasking friend Mai Le, who blogs about street style over at Fashioni.st. (The Masons have been featured on Fashioni.st a few times over the years, and now it’s Mai’s turn in front of the camera.) In addition to blogging, Mai is an artist who makes excellent plushies, and her interest in the emerging San Francisco street food scene led her to launch banh mai, a Vietnamese sandwich delivery service. She is the best dressed sandwich maker on record.
The Wild Oats denim jumpsuit she’s rocking above was only $5 at the Alameda Flea Market, and this outfit is the kind of thing she’d wear to make and deliver sandwiches.
These are three stacked vintage belts, two leather and one twine. You never know when a jumpsuit might fall down.
Mai’s squared off rings are both from Oakland Museum of California annual White Elephant Sale, which is legendary. Her Mary ring is so Gillmore Girls.
The Rodarte-inspired fishnets are from Etsy, and as you can see, Mai is very serious about her shoes. These are Martin Margiela nail heel booties. I’m not totally sure about the mechanics of walking in them, but the nail is an accurate representation of how I feel about stilettos.
A view from the back gets you a better look at that heel. Here’s a pump from the same season, and the over-knee version.
Mai’s eyeliner is Nars kitty and her lipliner is Nars dragon girl.
Tune in tomorrow for her first-date outfit. Actionwear!
Make 1,000 Lovely Things: Fishy and Jellyfish Costume
Behold! The cutest little fishy on the face of the planet.
And his little fish bum too! Oh. My. Goodness. The glue-gun burns were a small price to pay.
Bryan was a sea captain.
And I was a jellyfish. I made my hat from a lampshade.
The joy buzzer was the best part of my costume.
The whole costume only cost me like $11. Before going out for the night I added tentacles and a sweater. Surprisingly, there were tons of jellyfish on the street, the best one being a girl who had affixed blacklights to the underside of a white umbrella. I practically genuflected in the street. Happy Halloween!
Mighty Girl 
