And the Oscar goes to...

photo credit: zimbio.com

...Mila Kunis! She may not have gotten an Oscar (or a nomination) from the Academy for her role in "Black Swan," but she got our vote for best dressed. This Elie Saab gown looked like it melted on Mila's body and was the perfect combination of sex appeal and class. The gown had a soft vintage feel to it and the color worked wonders for her complexion. When I get my (inevitable) Oscar nomination, I'm calling Saab.

The Kiddie Couturiers

On Wednesday, in an article titled “The Kiddie Couturiers,” the NY Times wrote about children who had started their own fashion line. Yes, that’s right. They may not have reached puberty, but they have reached the fashion world. Of course I had to look more into this.

The most established "kiddie couturier" mentioned was Cecilia Cassini who, at the ripe age of 10, launched her own label.

photo credit: LA Times

Cecilia's creations retailing for $146 and $86 respectively.

Then there was Grant Mower, a 12 year-old who this past October won a design competition in Dallas, Texas.

Grant and the design that won him the competition
photo credit: ndfw.com

Other "kiddie couturiers" mentioned included Madison Waldrop and, of course, Lourdes Leon.

Is our welcoming this new lot of designers proof of society's progression, or society's regression? I'm no hater and these kids are definitely cute, and definitely have some talent. And hey, if my parents had taken my propensity to cut up my clothes and sew them into other forms a gigantic leap one step further and offered to help launch my own clothing line, well, I wouldn't have objected. But I have to wonder. These kids have entered the fashion world with energy and natural born inspiration but, with few years, not much else. Will they stand up to the inevitable test of time? Will all those crazy hormones gearing up to take over their bodies afflict their creative juice? Or vice versa?

All this made me think of a talk I recently watched on TED in which Elizabeth Gilbert of “Eat, Pray, Love” spoke about her fear that at 40 she had already achieved her biggest accomplishment. “Now what?” she said. She went on to talk about others in creative fields who have perished under the pressure of trying to produce something better than their previous creation. All of a sudden I feel really bad for these kids.

We are always told that, with years, we will “figure it out” as who we are and what we will achieve is a process. So when the fashion industry is willing to serve up the final product without much of that process, the result is glitz without much substance.

On the other hand, just think of the benefits. Perhaps, contrary to what we have been taught, we do have it figured out in childhood. Things would be so much simpler if we didn't have, ya know, all those life experiences to muddle things up.



Yup, that’s it, I’m not voting for anyone over 13 in 2012.

Uh oh, it appears the Republicans already have a candidate that fits that bill:

Hmmm.....

Ashish

Don't get me wrong, I'm all into using fashion as a vehicle for self-expression. If I had a dime for every time I walked into a room to the chime of "what are you wearing?!" from my friends, I'd be a rich little girl. That said, there are times when I come across a look that makes me scratch my head in confusion. This is one of those times.

Ashish Fall 2011
photos via Knightcat

All this makes me think of is how I need to invest in some moth balls when I store my sweaters away for Summer.

Mismatch Fashion

When I was younger, I would put together my outfits painstakingly aware of anything that didn’t objectively match. When my mother would pair her favorite blue and green patterned shirt with a pair of pants that weren’t neutral in color I would leer at her, embarrassed to be seen with a mother who clearly had no fashion sense. But apparently I had it wrong. My mother was the one with the fashion sense after all. In fact, she was a fashion forecaster.

Perhaps in an effort to gain control of our own disorder, in today’s world of fashion we commonly seek combinations that don’t “match.” Stripes with a floral print? Obviously. Stripes with a floral print and an abstract print? Yes, please.

jacket and top: Diane von Furstenberg
printed culottes: Roberto Cavalli
photo credit: Elle

photo credit: The Sartorialist

The overt mismatching of prints and colors boggles the mind and confuses the eye. One doesn’t quite know where to focus: the stripes? the floral print? the abstract print?

The trend almost seems to capitalize on Seurat’s pointallism. When we stand too close, look too hard, and/or pay too much attention, we get dizzy. But when we relax the mind and the eye (mind’s eye anyone?), everything enjoyably comes together. Is fashion instilling one of life’s lessons? Maybe. Then again, as is always a possibility, maybe I’m just overthinking all of this.

Either way, Fall’s Fashion Week showed many designers still focusing on the mismatching trend, though now in a more streamlined form.

Jonathan Saunders Fall 2011 RTW
photo credit: New York Magazine

clothing: Dolce & Gabbana
photo credit: Yannis Vlamos via TheHauteHoosier.com

clothing: Tsumori Chisato
photo: Monica Feudi via WeLiveHarlem.com

The message was clear: mismatch but keep the prints or color scheme similar. So, for a friend who asked my take on his penchant for the combination of vertical and horizontal stripes: no need to stop. Your affinity for said combination is still oh so on trend. Good job.

The Dress and I

When I was in 9th grade, I was invited to attend a gala. My first. Better still, it was in celebration of the Millenium. I happily RSVPed with a “yes,” and off I went shopping for a dress. To this day I’m not sure how I did it, but somehow I convinced two of my guy friends to come along and sit outside my dressing room as I paraded around in different gowns. And though I tested their patience with 10+ options, I knew exactly what I wanted going in: a dress befitting Deborah Kerr's character in the 1956 film “The King and I.”

In the “The King and I,” Deborah Kerr plays Anna, an American teacher hired by the King of Siam to teach his royal children English (it can be inferred from the number of students Anna has that the King definitely took advantage of his kingly status and got around). Throughout the entire movie Anna wears dresses with a very large crinolin. In one scene, sitting on the floor with her pupils, Anna becomes enveloped in the sea of her dress. The moment I saw that, I wanted to experience it.

____________Anna in the sea of her dress _____________ _______________Me in the sea of my tutu

And so it was that given the opportunity to purchase a gown, I sought one that gave me that sensation...or at least one that would come as close as it could (after all, I still wanted to be able to walk through doors without issue). I think I did a pretty bang up job of channeling Anna, no?

I bring this all up not just to show cute pictures of myself, but because a February spread in Harpers Bazaar Espanol elicited that same desire born of Anna's dresses in "The King of I".

Giselle in Karl Lagerfeld

And let us not forget the Versace Couture gown Carrie Bradshow wore in Season 6's episode "An American Girl in Paris, Part Deux." Oh how I loved that dress. *Le sigh*

The sheer girth of these dresses make them quite decadent. They demand attention and they demand space. After all, there is no way to go unnoticed when people have to part ways to make room for you to pass, is there. The girth also creates a certain protective barrier. And all the material nestled around you when you sit down? Well that's just like a big blanket. And the flounce? Oh the flounce. If I could flounce all day in one of these dresses, I most certainly would.

Perhaps the greatest feeling these dresses provide, however, is that they make you feel like a princess. After all, you weren't a Disney Princess unless you had a dress with girth.

1930s Prediction of Fashion

I think someone should get on making that electric belt, like, stat. I have a feeling the cold weather isn't going away any time soon.

On another note, all you fellas out there: carrying around "candy for cuties" is not a bad idea. Not a bad idea all.

I've Got a Fetish

Two weeks ago, en route to meet my father for dinner on his birthday, I passed by Pippin Vintage Jewelry. With 20 minutes to spare, I stopped in reasoning I could shake up my father's style with the purchase of some vintage cuff links. Really though, who was I kidding? I wanted to see if there were any great finds for me. And never one to disappoint, Pippin provided.

Trying on a pair of earrings, a necklace caught my eye just beyond my hand-held mirror. The saleswoman explained it was a fetish necklace, I tried it on and, well, the rest is credit history. I felt rather guilty buying myself a present instead of my father, but further speculation led me to the following justification for my purchase: if my father hadn't been born, I wouldn't have been born, so therefore celebrating the day of his birth is by extension celebrating the day of my birth! See? I totally deserved a present.

Desiring more information about my new fetish, I went home and did some research. With the history of the Zuni dating back to some time around 2500 B.C., and not wishing to 1) write a research paper and 2) make you read a research paper, I'm going to keep this brief and fetish applicable.

The Zuni, part of the Pueblo people, are a Native American tribe who live in Western New Mexico and are considered to have been discovered by Fray Marco de Niza, a Franciscan friar. It was 1539 when, in search of rumored wealth, Fray Marco de Niza and a Moor named Estevan came upon the Zuni. Desiring their turquoise and women, Estevan, naturally, demanded they be handed over to him and his companion. Estevan was quickly executed and Fray Marco de Niza ran home scared, though alive enough to claim the discovery.

A traditional people, the Zuni’s economy has historically been dependent upon their irrigated agriculture and livestock. However, in the 1830s, realizing the profitability of the precious stones indigenous to their land, the Zunis began to improve their jewelry making skills and used their handmade crafts for trade with other tribes. By the mid-1940s, their crafts began to account for more than 50% of the Pueblo cash income, and it only grew from there.

Typical to Zuni crafts are fetishes, animals carved from precious stone. The Zuni believe animals possess unique spiritual powers, and the fetishes are the incarnation of these powers. It is believed that possessing a fetish brings you closer to the animal spirit, thus bringing you good luck and prosperity. Fetish necklaces are composed of fetishes and heishi, small beads made out of shell.

Apparently there are not that many people who still make fetishes, so possessing them can carry a high price tag. One site cautioned that any fetish necklace purchased under $200 is a fake, and since mine cost nowhere near that amount, I’m calling their bluff. The people at Pippin are just too nice to lie, and they told me it was real. Not to mention that, in the end, real or fake, it looks great on me so who cares.


By the way, here's my dad, forever a kid at heart, at his aforementioned birthday dinner playing with his food. Typical.

references: Zuni Gallary of Indian Art, About.com, KESHi, Pueblo of Zuni

Some Things Never Change

I was a really quiet and restrained child.

me circa 1990

Jane Aldridge Makes Me Feel Old

Jane Aldridge, a Texas native, started her blog Sea of Shoes when she was just 15. Initially the blog centered on her love of shoes, but it quickly morphed into much more as she began to post photos of herself adorned in various outfits straight out of her awesome, and quite extensive, closet. So awesome is her closet, in fact, that it was featured in a spread for Rue Magazine. Now, to be fair, Jane's mother is a vintage connoisseur and fashionista herself, so Jane really had a leg up with the whole hand-me-down thing. And yea, I'm jealous.

Jane's eye for pulchritude and great panache radiates through her blog, and it is the reason she quickly became a fan favorite. In 2008, Jane was named the "It Girl of Tomorrow" by refinery29, and last year she teamed up with Urban Outfitters to create a line of shoes aptly named Sea of Shoes.

Fashion world aside, Jane is just your (not so) typical High School adolescent forced to wear a uniform 4 days a week. I think her choice of wear on one "Free Friday" clearly shows how confined her mandated stiff skirt and white colored shirt makes her feel:

photo credit: Sea of Shoes

When I was in High School I definitely wore my fair share of crazy outfits, many resulting in a "talk" from a teacher, but props to you Ms. Alderidge: you've definitely one-upped me. I just hope you didn't have to dissect a cow's eyeball (yea I did that) or frog that day, because that can get really messy.

Here's Jane in all her glory:

photo credit: Sea of Shoes

With the exception of the chair photo, which is from the Rue Magazine spread, Jane gives little/no credit to her photographer. She does, however, give credit to her clothes which range from vintage to high-end designers to American Apparel.

Looking at her photos I find it hard to believe that Jane is only 18 years old, but alas she is. Seven years my junior, I feel as if she could be my peer. In fact, I feel as if she could be older than me! Clearly I'm living in a dream world and honestly, after some consideration, I'm not sure I want to leave. In my dream world I physically stay 20 forever, my closet is the size of a huge bedroom and overflowing (though very organized thanks to my maid), I have insanely long, thick, silky hair and I'm a full 7" taller. I'd also like to be married to Joseph Gordon-Levitt or Adam Brody (shh don't tell!). Paul Rudd would also do. And obviously I'd be saving the world. I mean, did you doubt that? Just call me Supafly Superwoman.

And it should go without saying that being Supafly Superwoman I, of course, own (thank you Century 21!) a pair of one of Jane's favorite pair of shoes, her Margiela boots seen below (note: mine are short and a very light minty green):

photo credit: Sea of Shoes

I guess I'm just that cool.

Happy Super Bowl Sunday!

Since the Jets aren't playing, and I really couldn't care less who wins between the Packers and the Steelers, I'm going to be rooting for my stomach this year as it stretches to accommodate the mass quantity of food I will be eating.

photo via mygloss

Saga Sig

Meet Saga Sig:

photo credit: Saga Sig

Saga hails from London, and besides being unbelievably adorable she's also a very talented and accomplished photographer. Saga shares her photos, her inspirations, and gives us a window into her personal life in her blog The Neverending Story. With inspiration ranging from Dorothy's red sparkly slippers to an overweight man with seashells covering his man breasts and 2-feet long spikes on each finger, you can imagine how wide the range of her photography is.

While all of her photos are lust-inducing, some achieve their sensuality with the glace of an eye, and others with a touch of sadism. Saga does not play it safe, but her photos are always tasteful.

Saga, if you're reading this, let's be BFF.

photo credit: Saga Sig