It's the attack of the oversized hobo bag!!! Urban Outfitters, what's the deal?!
It's like the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man of handbags. . .
Showing posts with label Fashion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fashion. Show all posts
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
I don't know whether I love it or hate it!
I can guarantee this number gets comments wherever it goes!Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Monday, May 26, 2008
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Monday, May 5, 2008
Stop and Smell the Flowers
Welcome to Spring Everyone! On a pricelessly beautiful day like today, when little green buds are busting forth everywhere and the sky is a big blue sea of daydreaming happiness, I'd like to salute vintage flower pins as a perfect way to revitalize spring fashion.
Sometimes I think I am growing out of my vintage obsession and moving into more sensible, mature, attire. Then, I look at my vintage pin collection and I become enamored with the dainty innocense of these precious little treasures.
So, drive with the windows down, drink lemonade, walk in grass without shoes, and wear the gaudiest, most unmatchy, FUN pin you can find in rememberence of days when picking flowers was a very important utilization of your time.
I love this artist's creations! Courtney Anne Chu takes clothing and repurposes them. She's local to Chicago. Check out her website and see her funky designs. (http://www.courtneycourtney.com/)Thursday, March 6, 2008
Borghese Nail Lacquer Vernis
I know, another nail recommendation, but this is the best brand of nail polish I have ever used. Probably because it isn't nail polish! It's lacquer, which means it lasts twice as long. It's kind of pricey (being sold at Walgreens for fourteen dollars), but completely worth it with all the compliments you will get. I have used the the Notte Black and the Rubino Red and loved both.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Scarves
Anyone who knows me, knows that I have a slight obsession with neck “bling.” And, I’m not talking gold oversized jewelry. I’m talking scarves. It is a very rare occasion that my neck is exposed—about as rare as the leap year that will be happening tomorrow or the eclipse that happened last week.
I would like to say, I have no idea why I am so enamored by my little throat-hugging friends and that maybe I am always just really cold. But the fact is, I am quite aware of why I covet scarves so much. And, it has nothing to do with the chill in the air.
I recall with fondness the first scarf that sparked my instant love affair. It was a cheap striped red, orange, grey, and purple winter scarf that I bought in Ireland while studying abroad. A couple weeks after I bought it, I was elated when an Irish family stopped me on the street and asked me for directions because they thought I was a native. Now it could have been the freckles all over my face but, at the time, I attributed it all to the scarf. I felt like it instantly gave the air of sophistication and exoticism that is Europe. I wore that scarf for years after I came back (I still have it and wear it from time to time.)
I look at my vast collection of scarves and they tell me the story of where I’ve been. I am reminded of the many phases/transformations I have gone through. The places I have seen. I have my European scarves that remind me of writing in my journal and sipping tea in Ireland, Paris, London, etc. I have my pseudo “fancy” scarves that I used to wear bar hopping in college (“Were those pretzels I was wearing?”) My “thrift shop find” scarves from Baltimore that I bought because I was so poor and hanging out with my “hipster” artsy friends while entering the dark abyss known as inner-city American life on a daily basis. I have my scarves from Asia. I swear I can smell the streets and open markets of China when I put them on. My African scarves—beautiful native prints that elicit visions of that sunrise over the Indian Ocean. And, then there are my pseudo-hippie scarves that I donned in Utah. The one from my best friend that she knitted while doing Peace Corps; which is about twenty feet long—a testament to how much time she had living in a small African Village. I wore it almost every day I bartended in that quaint mountain town. And, my current scarf collection. . .what says artist more than a decorative scarf?! Perhaps, it’s because scarves are more form over function just like art, itself. Or maybe artists are just colder than the average person. (Probably not.) Regardless, I wrap my scarves around my neck every morning and it makes me feel like I am about to go my artist’s studio and create all day as light filters in through windows with sills covered in old bottles stained by paintbrushes. (Not going to my mind-numbing administrative assistant job answering phones and staring at Excel all day.)
My scarves are my life. They are my past. They are what I hope to be one day. So, much more than an accessory--they are a part of me.
I would like to say, I have no idea why I am so enamored by my little throat-hugging friends and that maybe I am always just really cold. But the fact is, I am quite aware of why I covet scarves so much. And, it has nothing to do with the chill in the air.
I recall with fondness the first scarf that sparked my instant love affair. It was a cheap striped red, orange, grey, and purple winter scarf that I bought in Ireland while studying abroad. A couple weeks after I bought it, I was elated when an Irish family stopped me on the street and asked me for directions because they thought I was a native. Now it could have been the freckles all over my face but, at the time, I attributed it all to the scarf. I felt like it instantly gave the air of sophistication and exoticism that is Europe. I wore that scarf for years after I came back (I still have it and wear it from time to time.)
I look at my vast collection of scarves and they tell me the story of where I’ve been. I am reminded of the many phases/transformations I have gone through. The places I have seen. I have my European scarves that remind me of writing in my journal and sipping tea in Ireland, Paris, London, etc. I have my pseudo “fancy” scarves that I used to wear bar hopping in college (“Were those pretzels I was wearing?”) My “thrift shop find” scarves from Baltimore that I bought because I was so poor and hanging out with my “hipster” artsy friends while entering the dark abyss known as inner-city American life on a daily basis. I have my scarves from Asia. I swear I can smell the streets and open markets of China when I put them on. My African scarves—beautiful native prints that elicit visions of that sunrise over the Indian Ocean. And, then there are my pseudo-hippie scarves that I donned in Utah. The one from my best friend that she knitted while doing Peace Corps; which is about twenty feet long—a testament to how much time she had living in a small African Village. I wore it almost every day I bartended in that quaint mountain town. And, my current scarf collection. . .what says artist more than a decorative scarf?! Perhaps, it’s because scarves are more form over function just like art, itself. Or maybe artists are just colder than the average person. (Probably not.) Regardless, I wrap my scarves around my neck every morning and it makes me feel like I am about to go my artist’s studio and create all day as light filters in through windows with sills covered in old bottles stained by paintbrushes. (Not going to my mind-numbing administrative assistant job answering phones and staring at Excel all day.)
My scarves are my life. They are my past. They are what I hope to be one day. So, much more than an accessory--they are a part of me.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Can't Resist
Just one blog on the Academy Awards. . .
I will refrain from writing about how red dresses were the "it" thing this year at the Oscars. (Was anyone else hearing Chris De Burgh in their head?)
I will, however, say Kathryn Heigl was absolutely stunning. You go girl!
I will refrain from writing about how red dresses were the "it" thing this year at the Oscars. (Was anyone else hearing Chris De Burgh in their head?)
I will, however, say Kathryn Heigl was absolutely stunning. You go girl!
Fashion as Interior Design
I have seen the trend of using clothing as an Interior Design element in several apartmenttherapy.com blogs and I think this is a great way to display your individual style through decorating. I used to do clothing displays for a non-profit thrift shop I helped manage in Logan, UT (Somebody's Attic--all proceeds go to preventing domestic abuse--a great find if you happen to be in northern Utah) and it is a really fun way to bring life to a room. There's something very intimate about clothing that instantly brings personality.
However, unfortunately, don't think that a pile of dirty clothes in the corner of your bedroom counts. Sorry folks.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Friday, February 1, 2008
A Hazy Shade of Winter
I had my iPod on shuffle this morning and "A Hazy Shade of Winter" ironically happened to play on this day of all days that Chicago got completely dumped on. Snow everywhere. We're talking major school closings and an advisory not to leave the house.
So, as I drudged along in foots worth of snow to work listening to a little Simon and Garfunkel, I started to think about the color, gray. (Since my color theory class, these are the types of things I think about--did I mention I got an A? And I'm a total nerd.)
I have to say that I am enamored with grey! I don't think it's hazy or dreary at all.
I think that it is the most fascinating color there is. Interior Design school really forces you to appreciate a good neutral. They are so much more work than primary colors. Try to mix a paint swatch to create the same shade of gray twice and you will know what I am talking about. A little black a little white, red, yellow, blue--this color has it all.
Okay, I know that you really can't ever mix the same shade of a color twice, but grey is seriously complex. It's like the binomial equation of color. PS, I don't even know what binomial equations are. Hold on. Okay, I just googled the term and it's a real term. Here's a link: http://mathworld.wolfram.com/BinomialDifferentialEquation.html
I digress.
Gray is everywhere nowadays in fashion and interiors--specifically the charcoal grey family. And, I couldn't be more supportive of this trend. I don't think I leave the house without at least one grey item a day. It helps that my coat is gray and it's the dead of winter. Seriously, though, I have gray flat boots and they have been my best purchase of the season pairing them with browns and blacks alike. I wear them almost everyday proving the power of gray. The same goes with interiors. Gray does not have to play the part of a neutral accent color. As a matter of fact, I love rooms in which grey is the star player. Charcoal gray walls are hot. And, with bold accent peices in neon colors or fiery reds or oranges, they make any room contemporary and cool (not in a hazy shade of winter way.) Grey peices of furniture can also play the star role. I am secretly on the hunt for the perfect grey velvet sleak-line midcentury-modern couch. Shhh, don't tell my boyfriend.
The only thing I will say is, though, buyer beware of the difference between the cool gray family and the warm grey family. While, it can be interesting to mix all types of gray purposely. When picking a few select grey peices to stand out--stick with one family or the other. Because if you put a warm grey next to a very cool grey. You are going to wonder why you thought that blue peice (a cool gray) would match that brown peice (a more warm grey). Oh, gray, you trickster!
And, lastly, since I'm already anthropomorphisizing the the color gray (if you don't know the meaning of this word--google it and impress all your friends--yes that's SIX syllables friends.) According to interiordezine.com, grey is "steady, deliberate, dignified, protective" along with being extremely versatile (note: it even goes by two different spellings--as demonstrated in this blog.) I don't see anything hazy about how fabulous gray is. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Paul and Art!
So, as I drudged along in foots worth of snow to work listening to a little Simon and Garfunkel, I started to think about the color, gray. (Since my color theory class, these are the types of things I think about--did I mention I got an A? And I'm a total nerd.)
I have to say that I am enamored with grey! I don't think it's hazy or dreary at all.
I think that it is the most fascinating color there is. Interior Design school really forces you to appreciate a good neutral. They are so much more work than primary colors. Try to mix a paint swatch to create the same shade of gray twice and you will know what I am talking about. A little black a little white, red, yellow, blue--this color has it all.
Okay, I know that you really can't ever mix the same shade of a color twice, but grey is seriously complex. It's like the binomial equation of color. PS, I don't even know what binomial equations are. Hold on. Okay, I just googled the term and it's a real term. Here's a link: http://mathworld.wolfram.com/BinomialDifferentialEquation.html
I digress.
Gray is everywhere nowadays in fashion and interiors--specifically the charcoal grey family. And, I couldn't be more supportive of this trend. I don't think I leave the house without at least one grey item a day. It helps that my coat is gray and it's the dead of winter. Seriously, though, I have gray flat boots and they have been my best purchase of the season pairing them with browns and blacks alike. I wear them almost everyday proving the power of gray. The same goes with interiors. Gray does not have to play the part of a neutral accent color. As a matter of fact, I love rooms in which grey is the star player. Charcoal gray walls are hot. And, with bold accent peices in neon colors or fiery reds or oranges, they make any room contemporary and cool (not in a hazy shade of winter way.) Grey peices of furniture can also play the star role. I am secretly on the hunt for the perfect grey velvet sleak-line midcentury-modern couch. Shhh, don't tell my boyfriend.
The only thing I will say is, though, buyer beware of the difference between the cool gray family and the warm grey family. While, it can be interesting to mix all types of gray purposely. When picking a few select grey peices to stand out--stick with one family or the other. Because if you put a warm grey next to a very cool grey. You are going to wonder why you thought that blue peice (a cool gray) would match that brown peice (a more warm grey). Oh, gray, you trickster!
And, lastly, since I'm already anthropomorphisizing the the color gray (if you don't know the meaning of this word--google it and impress all your friends--yes that's SIX syllables friends.) According to interiordezine.com, grey is "steady, deliberate, dignified, protective" along with being extremely versatile (note: it even goes by two different spellings--as demonstrated in this blog.) I don't see anything hazy about how fabulous gray is. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Paul and Art!
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