My father died when I was 16; he was one of the most dapper men I’ve ever met and fancied his things nice. One of the items I inherited was a gorgeous, soft as butter, vintage leather Coach day planner, which he carried around to keep track of things.

It’s been 10 years since he passed and I still carry this in my purse or bag. I don’t use it, even though you can get replacement fill ins. Instead, I like to look at the little scribbles he put  in it, and I swear, if I breathe in hard enough, I can still smell him in the pages.

I like to think I get a lot of my swagger from him, so I’ve decided to introduce you to those things that have inspired my style–like, for instance, this little book and its influence on my refusal to save numbers in my phone, instead opting to scratch them in a little book, just as he did.

Oh, and you can see snaps of ere pa (and ma) here.