Wednesday, January 26, 2011

my mom, the style icon.

my mom is my style icon.


Audrey Ireland,
the daughter of a theater seamstress,
grew up in Liverpool, England,
then left in search of a new life at age 21.

her travels took her on many adventures,
working her way from one city to the next.

 upon arriving in los angeles, 
she met and married an architect 
that worked for warner brother studios
and lived a life of hollywood parties and glamour 
{she always looked like a starlet
because  she bought all her clothes from 
beverly hills second hand stores}. 
she had a style that all her 'hollywood' friends envied.

for 40 years, my mom has lived near the beach, 
but she never adopted the southern california, beach-y style. 
she never owned a pair of jeans or a pair of flip-flops. 

when i was in high school, i loved going through my mom's closet, 
 borrowing her gorgeous, eccentric, gypsy embroidered velvet skirts, 
sequined tops, floral pumps, costume jewelry, 
designer scarves, boots and bags. i read voque. 
i, too, loved to dress up
and thought nothing wrong of emulating madonna.
i was a material girl.

she worked hard, shopped {always} and traveled the world. 
she was, and still is, my style icon.

today is her birthday. 
she is 82 years young 
and still dresses beautifully everyday and has a closet 
that would make any vintage seller envious.

it is no surprise that i followed in her footsteps.
fashion has had a hold of me for 
as long as i can remember {thanks mom!} 
and now, on a daily basis, i catch
my daughter rummaging 
through my drawers and closets
looking for something to wear.
maybe one day she'll look back 
and think that, maybe, i might have been 
'her' style icon. let's hope so. :)

as seen in lucky mag and
inspired by this cool blog:
my mom, the style icon.