Interlude

Somehow, this fashion week in London is by-and-large a bit disappointing. All-black collections and rampant biker influence are to me, like inviting Elton John to an NRA meeting. Luella seemed to do grunge some good, however, it all seemed a bit safe.

Great bag, love the hat-- but ladylike grunge isn't a far-fetched concept, to be sure.

I do like the prim, 60's shape with the biker/bondage attitude here. Although, the very first person who comes to mind when I see this dress is Lindsay Lohan.

I loved this look as well-- great fabric for the pants, like the velvet jacket, but this season's shows have been rife with similar looks... although, in the end I'm sure it must be difficult to fight the zeitgeist.

Absolutely gorgeous blood-red patent, and I adore the combination with the dark teal leggings and furry brown pompoms.

Now, one show that truly blew my mind was up-and-comer Mary Katrantzou. Her collection was small, but tight, sticking to a theme of incredible, figure-creating patterns on simple sheath dresses.

I think that this dress's pattern would make a lovely perfume bottle.

Beautiful colors-- the jewel tones give the otherwise video-gamey graphics a "heritaged" appeal.

Regal. Where do I sign up?

I won't have much time to check up on the rest of the shows this week, or for anything else extracurricular, really-- I have several huge projects that need to be summed up this week, as well as a secret big project I'm working on, as well as MOVING! My goodness, how I'll keep my head is beyond me. Updates to come!

"Check ya later,wink!" I really do not belong in photos. Cropped peacoat: Dollhouse. Scarf: NYC street vendor. Tshirt: Target. Jeans: Target. Boots: Gift-- thanks Wendy!

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Eye on the Prize

There has always been nostalgia, and people interested in antiques and vintage clothing. Before 10 years ago or so, these people (referring to the habitual vintage wearers) tended to be extreme counter-consumerists. Now, vintage is relatively de rigeur. Everybody craves the throw-back ish; vinyl, boomboxes, Wayfarers; even new things are sold by calling them "retro" or "vintage".

Rainy Days - by spandexpony on Polyvore.com

Doing my future-looking-to duty for the universe via Polyvore. Not a vintage item in sight. Except for the 1960's Dior Shades. Rats! I'm incorrigible!

I read in Newsweek yesterday that the economy has fallen to 1998 levels. I began to wonder if our collective, heightened nostalgia may be a factor in our backwards slide-- like, "The Secret"-style self-fulfilling prophecy. I feel as though far fewer people anticipate the "wonders of the future"; instead we wait around until Apple announces the next generation of iPhone.

There's no clear trajectory of the future for people to hang their hopes and imaginations on, so we find comfort down memory lane. Are we at the top and have nowhere to go but back down? Or are we on a plateau-- unwittingly gearing up to climb a face so sheer we can't even begin to imagine the peak?

Ponder, if you dare, then revel in the reverse with my favorite video today, "Typical", by MuteMath.



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Om nom nom, pretty, om nom...

Matthew Williamson. Why have I not heard of you? Thank you for refusing to go all post-apocalyptic, black and grey on us, because I have certainly seen enough of that this week! Let's just... soak in the spangly fantasticness, yes?

My Spirograph just called to say she loves you.

Like Pendleton blanket coat, Bonnie Cashin-ified. What an orange.

Oh man, I hate Zebra Stripes. Well, the Mermaid brought them to the party. Oh well, I guess they're probably cool then.

The pattern reminds me of the time I broke a friend's parents' glass TV cabinet, and it shattered in a bazillion pieces. After the uh... initial freak-out, we decided to paint the pieces of glass and glue them to her windowsill. All kinds of hell were paid that day, but her parents did rather admire the end result.

This dress reminds me of one we did for our final project last quarter. It also makes me excited to shun minimalism this fall. For reals. It's going down.

Don't care for the boots, but velvet plus fur looks ridiculously, sumptuously cozy.

Oh my freaking wow. I wonder if it would be possible to make a ruff like this out of the blue-colored strands for sale at the hair store? Without looking like a whole lot of weave just fell out of your head?

Did I mention my thing for colored fur? This outfit screams Tricia of Bits and Bobbins fame to me.

Babies are the New Black

It seems the toy-world has gone baby-crazy...

Sonny Angel Animal Series, Urban Outfitters.

... especially for babies dressed up as other things...

Momiji friendship doll, Kidrobot.

The weird thing is...

Scavengers (Series 2), Magic Pony.

...I don't think I mind.

Sonny Angel Animal Series, Urban Outfitters.

Is it weird to have a shelf-full of fruit-headed babies?

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Barbie's 50th Anniversary

Already a few shows are catching my eye-- Bibhu Mohapatra, Elise Overland, and United Bamboo to name a few; but my absolute favorite so far has got to be the Barbie 50th Anniversary collection.


Although I'm not, nor have I ever been super huge on Barbies, I felt that the contributing designers really did so much to pick Barbie up out of the political dirt that's been clinging to her lately and create a show that to me, perfectly exemplifies the classic Barbie can-do attitude, freshness and fashionability.

Definitely not a classic Barbie look, but still feminine, fierce and a whole lotta fun: I don't know about you, but I'd love to march down to the pool with a battle-ready swimsuit, huge "put sunscreen on my back if you dare" spiked bracelets and a clear little bolero (water wings?).

Looks like jewel green is going to be the color of next fall, judging by the looks of it. This was the sole green outfit here, but many many shows are exhibiting similar emerald hues. I love that the bodice and sleeves of this dress are so off-hand and t-shirt like.

Part medical, part alien, part St. Tropez.

As would be expected, pink was huge in this show-- and with such force and intensity of color as to imbue the color with quite a bit of power. It really struck me half-way into it that pink really is a statement, especially when worn like this; it takes balls to put on this feminine hue. PS-- have you seen my gloves? I love colored fur!

My favorite look of the whole show. Love the hair, the swimsuit, and the cheeky socks-with-sandals, worth repeating.

It also struck me, during the show, that wearing evening gowns with shades and short gloves is bad as hell.

Another fabulous suit, with librarian-tastic stockings with matching arm-hosiery.

That hair! That fabulously pink dress that is Barbie personified (might I even have had a similar dress for mine back in the day?)

A lot more pink needs to happen in my closet.

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Branded!

In celebration of fashion week, some designer logo tattoos. Like most tattoos to me, a great big, "Hmm."


This girl's tat treads the line between awesome (because she's all gamine and dark like Coco herself) and hackneyed trend.


Although these pigs were anesthetized before the Louis Vuitton logo was emblazoned on their backs by some artist, this ish is all kinds of wrong. At least they did it to two of them, so that they could be brothers in pig-ostracism.



Ah yes... remember Johnny Depp's "Winona Forever" tattoo, that he eventually had changed to say, "Wino forever"? Maybe Marc Jacobs' ex-boy can change his to say... "Maaco"? "Forever"?



[images via lemondrop.com]

Going.... down?

In the spirit of the season of lovin', I've found a few of the rarest pairs... especially designed for all of your horizontal pursuits.

...cuz God knows you won't (or can't) go far from the boudoir in these...



I might seriously consider these IF-- and only if-- I had a glam-rock band and a series of wires to hold me upright/fly across the stage. Note to self: start glam-rock band.



Well, now I know why I never should have given up ballet-- a couple of years en pointe and these babies would be like walking on clouds. Is it just me or are these shoes actually bizarrely hot?



The Pierre Cardin fan in me eats these up. All you need is a space helmet and a little white eyeliner to complete the look.



My favorite pair... why shouldn't every pair of shoes leave a little hoof-print behind?

[images via www.punitiveshoes.com-- what a name!].

Just the facts, meme.

Dude, somebody in the Midwest must have done something really good, because this weather is kickin' ass. Ahh, 63 degrees with a breeze, children playing in the schoolyard... what's not to love?

Sweater: Victoria's Secret. Swissdot Dress: Urban Outfitters. Grey tights: Target. Boots: Urban Outfitters. Scarf: thrifted.

The lovely and talented Sal of Already Pretty has bestowed upon me a lively little tag... I don't tend to do tags, mostly because they take up so much time to do, but this one was short, sweet, and kind of novel. Who doesn't like to see behind the scenes? This tag requires the taggee to show off their blog workspace.

So, without further ado, presenting Where the Magic Happens:



The desk itself I bought from a addled, hilarious lady who is tired of life. She owns a basement shop and sells thrifted furniture she decoupages. This desk was a really good deal; and incredibly heavy. The chair I rescued from the curb. The computer I work on is an eMac, originally designed for and used only in schools. If you can zoom in, you can actually tell what song was playing on my iTunes when the picture was snapped!

It works awesome and came with the whole Cs3 suite on Ebay, but needs a bit more memory, hence the extra gigantic external harddrive with the unicorn on top. My iPod (cozied in a arm-strap for running) is to the right. Directly behind the computer is where the TV and VCR live... yes, I am guilty of plastic drawer-use to store dvds in.


I am one of the thirstiest people I know. There's always gotta be a glass of something laying around, usually water. Sticky notes abound; these are ideas my sweety was workin' on for wedding food. The cat holds all my pens and other desk necessaries. I love animal figurines, but I typically don't like ones that are functional, like this one, or like planters or watering cans. Why? I don't like the lines of the animal to be interrupted by functionality. Read: I don't enjoy jamming pencils and scissors into the cat's porcelain brain. Somehow, this guy passed the test, although with that last sentence, I might have to come up with a replacement for him.


I'm always taking notes at the computer-- whether it be to remember where I got a photo from or phone numbers for the pizza place. Here are notes I have on music I need to obtain... Tapes 'n' Tapes, Cansei de Ser Sexy and A Place to Bury Strangers are all on the list. I need to cross off the White Stripes discography and the Kaiser Chiefs. The notebook also houses my color scheme ideas and at this moment, my orange gloves trimmed in orange rabbit fur. Oldies but goodies.

Who's next? I nominate:

Missa of Thrift Candy
Eyeliah of Style Symmetry
Diana of Hot Chocolate and Mint
Megan of Mallrat Couture
Sunshine of Blog Full of Jelly.

Show us where you bang it out!

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Color Me (absolutely) mad!

Unfortunately for readers like myself 5 years ago, my brain is definitely in the wedding zone. We've only started planning a couple of weeks ago, a foolish move according to Real Simple Weddings (they suggest starting 16 months ahead). We've got a date (in late October) , a place (a Conservatory), and now, after much hemming and hawing, a motif.

A lovely inspiration for a guest book or invitations.

We both love vintage-hunting and old-school anything (even actual old schools). We're both huge fans of the Art Deco period, and the cool, smooth metal and glass of the greenhouse we'll be in lend itself well to the period.

Luckily, Flickr user Gatochy is like a virtual Library of Congress of Art Deco Images.

Considering the theme and time of year, this picture was almost custom-made for our perusal. I'm in love with the low-backed, bias-cut, Spanish revival-style gowns of the period. Do you think I can rent a wolf for the occasion?

After themes come colors-- and I'm an absolute nut for putting colors together. Seeing as I don't have a Pantone stick or unlimited hues of colored pencils, I found Adobe's Kular site, where you can search for or create your own palette of 2-5 colors.


I'm not really down with a all-autumn look, but "smackings of" are fine with me. I'm really drawn to brown, pink and gold.


I love this whole situation; brown for tablecloths, burgundy for runners and pink for napkins. The green represents the foliage (not to be competed with), and the gold, as with all other decorative elements in my life, is so necessary. However, the look is perhaps a bit more subdued than I'd like. Another awesome thing about Kular is you can upload a photo and have a palette automatically generated from it:


I loved the super-festive colors in this print celebrating autumn. I dig the blue because the Conservatory's lighting becomes blue and purple after dark. The above scheme might be a bit too elementary for me though; but I love the idea of using the spring green with the purple of the mountains.

I decided to try my original inspirational image, even though the colors themselves didn't exactly sing out to me:


Although, when laid out side-by-side, this palette looks like nothing I've seen lately, but completely ravishingly beautiful! I know Sweetness wants to wear a grey tux, and peach is one of my all-time favorite colors. And, best of all, my fear of not being able to wear gold jewelry with grey surroundings is thankfully assuaged by our heroine above, completely stacked with gold bangles.

All images are sourced from my new Flickr-crush, Gatochy. If you love Art Deco as much as I do, you'll definitely want to check out her varied, comprehensive photostream.

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Not so fast...

There may be a dark, moldy cloud to our silver lining... we just hope that it's not stachybotrys, no matter how good a background it is to my latest fashion thirst: long, black vintage dresses.

Missmode 21 on Ebay.

Nothing to me combines elegance with disco-tastic glamour quite like a long, black, one-shouldered gown. A white version might be my ideal you-know-what dress.

Fringevintagepdx on Etsy.

A most elegant application of a Gary Numan video-looking 80's print.

Chic-lovershop on Ebay.

Simple, and just lovely for a summer evening... I think my rekindled interest in long, black dresses is spurred by fantasies of summer parties at the new place. However, they can serve as mourning garb (pun, haha) as well, if this new place turns out to be toxic.

LittleTown on Etsy.

Hellooo dolly! I'm in love with this dress. I want to buy it a drink and tell it I'm in med school. 'Til then, I'll stick with my own repertoire of black dresses:

Here I am, elegantly mean-mugging in a Coat: Macy's, Long black dress: thrifted. Long pearl necklace: thrifted, Silver Clogs of Delight: thrifted.

Sigh... wish me luck...!


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