Two belfries in the plateresque style reflect in a liquid looking glass, as I walk past the outstretched pond in San Diego’s Balboa Park. It’s a deliciously sunny day, and the sky is a vibrant blue.
My Georgian dress is just as bright, the color of the goldfish in the lagoon (thanks, Mari for introducing me to Georgian fashion!).
If you look up the dress’ pantone name, you’ll find “international orange,” How fitting, that I’d buy a dress in this culturally transcendent shade: I learned that the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco was originally garnished in this hue. The cutouts in this Dots Tbilisi number reminded me of the iconic bridges’ stencils. Plus, the name is on theme, for the sheer fact that I purchased and had it shipped to me from the other side of the world. In one dress, in one place, I’ve traveled across California and the world.
As I take in the Spanish Renaissance architecture before me, I swing my Louis Vuitton bag that my grandmother gave me, to and for. I long to capture this moment and mail that memorial postcard to my brain. I’d like to store it next to the black and white photo of two women dressed in Edwardian finery, walking the same grounds my mother and I are right now. Much of the elaborate architecture we’re beholding, was built during 1915-1916 Panama California Exposition. According to the Balboa Park website, it was one of the first times such “ornamented flamboyant architectural style” had ever been used in the United States.
But it’s not just the arcadian aesthetic that makes these 1200 acres such a wonder. It’s the wooden botanical gardens building (apparently one of the largest pieces of lath architecture in the world) filled with 2100 tropical plants and palms. It’s the troubadours dotted around the park in an unplanned orchestra that create a score for your already visually cinematic experience. It’s the San Diego Zoo and the array of museums. I walked around in my jacquard shoes, reminiscent of a garden itself. Perhaps wearing them was a foreshadow through footwear, being surrounded by such fantastical nature from flowers, to water, to sunlight.
Where should I wander next and what trend would you like me to wear?
Keeping it Krischic,
Kristin Vartan
Also Check Me Out On: 23ABC, ABC7 LA, Entertainment Weekly, The Hollywood Reporter, E! News, Darling Magazine, Pepperdine Graphic, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Keeping it Krischic 