Nailed it
via egosiastic.com
I like big brands, but don’t really want to wear them. Unless they’re vintage. I can’t really explain why. Something about consciously trying not to follow the fashion norm, while possessing the desire to be on top of the trends. Not picking and choosing from all that’s supposed to be cool is more fashion-forward than blindly piling on the labels.
For Cartier, though, I might make an exception.
Have you seen the relaunch of the 1970’s “Juste un clou” bracelet? Yes, it is just a bent nail, albeit $6000+, but it’s definitely what I’d define as brand name meets cheeky kitsch. And vintage at that. Only Cartier could get away with peddling amped up versions of what’s sold at Home Depot.
Hitting the nail on the head when it comes to my fashion trends, golden household object turned bracelet might just be enough to convert this sarcastic fashionista.
Just a nail? Yes, please! Or rather, mais oui!
Cracking Cunningham
Making good on my morning mission, I’ve decided that sparking the interest of Bill Cunningham requires a different angle. I have to beat him at his own game. By photographing the photographer.
Track my progress on my new Tumblr page dedicated especially to my main man. And my mission to be his AM find.
Seeing spots
via themathhattan.com
For anyone passing by the Louis Vuitton store on 5th Avenue, you’ll probably have remarked the gigantic black dots covering the outside of the flagship. No need to rub your eyes; you’re seeing clearly. LV has gone totally spotty for it’s most recent fash-art collaboration with Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama.
via fashionloving.co.uk
Kusma, a quirky, 80-something with bright orange dutch-boy hair, was spotted (yes, pun intended) in the Big Apple last week for the unveiling of a psychedeilc window display introducing this meeting of traditional French luxury and Japanese craziness.
Dots appear and reappear in Kusama’s work (the artistic personification of the splotchy hallucinations she’s suffered from since childhood) and are now bleeding, not only onto 5th Avenue architecture, but onto the bags and shoes and RTW pieces usually marked by the iconic intertwined L and V. Brown and tan are, for a while, typical Kusama black, red, white, and yellow.
via shefinds.com
If you can’t manage a Kusama’ed accessory, check out her retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the pop-up store at the Louis Vuitton location in SoHo, or download the Kusama App, which transforms your photos into Kusama inspired dotty creations.
Mission Impossible?
So I’m back in New York. 5 days and 2 sightings of my man, Bill Cunningham.
On the initial spotting I was so proud of my superb luck; first day on the job, two ticks from the front door of the office and…voilà! To my dismay, I have since learned that he’s usually hanging about on the corner of 57th and 5th looking for the day’s chic right about the time that I’m heading in to work.
So, what to do when you’re frequenting the same spots as New York Times fashion photographers? Get snapped by Mr. C.
But how?
via LENZARTIS
The first day I engaged him in conversation with a jovial “Good Morning!” and a smile. Nada. On the second, after eyeing him from a block away, I thought quickly, elegantly held the long, mint green hippie skirt, and struck, yes, a slightly awkward, pose as I waited for the light to change in the crosswalk. Nope. Both encounters Billy Boy, wide, toothy grin and camera hanging around his neck, made absolutely no movement towards a shot.
What does one have to do to be one of New York City’s finest?
Have no fear! I will make this mission possible.
Love on the net
Remember last week’s pseudo-rant regarding Internet dating and everything awkward about online profiles? I’ve just come across a call for love posted via the interwebs that has to be the best collection of romantic pixels on a screen.
For all of you weeding through Match.com or concocting your own introductory paragraphs, feast your eyes on the master of witty, funny, slightly self-deprecating, but totally and fantastically sweet advertisements for love. His name? Matthew Gray Gubler. Take note, ladies…but get in line.
via gublernation.wordpress.com
I mean, who would turn down a dude who can both whip up a little poem and isn’t afraid to wave his single status and oddly cute quirkiness to the world? It certainly doesn’t hurt that he just happens to be a former Burberry model. Plus, the lanky, vintage Ray Ban wearing, disheveled hipster is totally my sort of guy.
I wonder if the call for a girlfriend still stands?
Warming up with…
To deal with the horrifically frigid temps and occasional, and very much unwelcome, snow flurry of my current location, I pass my time looking for a new winter coat. Or, new winter coat inspiration.
Always one for simply chic styles that feature an interesting twist on the norm, I am completely sold on three fantastic options from the Pre-Fall 2012 collections.
Crazy cool collar? Totally. Leather sleeve detail? For sure. Funky toggles with a touch of fur? Yes, please.
Now if only I could warm up to their prices… Next mission? Finding their high street version.
Blinged out nails
Ever had those periods when everyday, anywhere you go, the same things seem popping up? Lately, for me, it’s been the Kanye West – Jay Z collab and out-of-control nail art.
A few months ago I commented on the 4 to 1 manicures that I’d been spotting everywhere in NYC. But for the last few weeks I’ve been amazed to see, on the chicest of style bloggers, the rockabilly tech-wiz character on Criminal Minds, and even Zooey Deschanel’s quirky tuxedo-clad fingertips at the Golden Globes, that colorful, personalized, and at times, let’s be honest here, kitsch, manicures are now just about a dime a dozen. Is “nail art” the fashion recessionista’s latest answer to hand and finger accessorizing?
Do you lack inspiration? Afraid to give it a go? Not an excuse. TV infomercials sell roll on stampers. Sally Hansen offers press-on nail decals. There is a Youtube site, cutepolish, that explains the step-by-step DIY to any image imaginable, from mustaches to Chuck Taylors. Blogger Elizabeth of moveslightly, recently featured in Lucky magazine, dedicates a portion of her website to tutorials for recreating her eclectic manicure ideas inspired by looks from the worlds most important fashion runways. Although I have yet to try any myself, I’m hooked.
via moveslightly
On the other hand, as someone who, as a kid, used to paint her toenails into an American flag for the 4th of July, I also wonder how far you can really go with this trend, without crossing the fine line between creative and laughable. When are three blue nails and two pink sparkly ones cooler than the hideous shooting star or palm tree designs they propose on those claw-like acrylic nails at the salon?
I’ve just uncovered a possibility that responds both to my desire to participate in this trend and my fear of all that could be colorfully tacky… meet the nail ring by NYC brand Bijules.
Now this would make for my ultimate 4 to 1 manicure!! Sign me up.
Single questions
Do you remember S.A.T logic problems? They were my arch nemesis. No matter how many possibilities I worked over in my head, the most rational choice was never the right response. For me, these sorts of problems were solved using anything but logic. Lately I’ve begun to wonder if my love life reads like the S.A.T.
Let me walk you through the problem. Girl – boyfriend = _________. My response: single girl. Simple, right? Wrong.
Being temporarily back in the heart of small town, mid-western perceptions, I’ve been faced, more than once, with one of two comments/questions regarding my singledom. Are you gay? (Whispered.) And, Don’t you want to have kids? (Emphasis on the “want” and said in a slightly derogatory tone.)
Exactly how does “single” involve sexual orientation, lifestyle choice, or procreation desires? I’d really rather not pay a pretty penny to have the peeps at Princeton Review coach me on the reasons why my totally normal civil status makes the rest my small, suburban world worried.
So, as much as I hate to admit it, in an attempt to make myself seem (ok, feel) less like the questionable single girl, I decided to try to find a date or two. By doing a little “window shopping”. On Match.com. Reactions to Internet dating couldn’t possibly be any weirder than those I’d already faced for not dating at all.
But what they don’t tell you on those TV adverts about Internet success stories is all the crrrraaazy s*&t people add to their online profiles. A few of the most odd and frankly off-putting include:
- 30-something guys looking to date an 18 yr. old.
- Profile names that incorporate cheesy pick-up lines or allusions to physical or financial prowess.
- Self-taken iPhone pictures into a mirror of a shirtless torso or awkward posed shots highlighting muscles.
- Exclamation points at the end of every sentence in a personal description.
- Dudes who incorporate words that are understandable only because their Latin root makes them a cognate for a more regularly used equivalent in the Romance Language in which I majored in college.
- Exotic pets. Especially lizards.
- Ideal date: gym/ working out / triathlon / a run / inter-city bike ride
- Ideal profession of your date: fashion / model / beauty
Really? Come on, LetMeLuvU69 , you’re freaking me out. MealTicket2011, no one exclaims their gym routine and pet preference. And, abs don’t make up for everything, including haughty vocab.
Maybe I’m being too choosy. Too harsh even. But I quickly decided that the world of Internet dating wasn’t my scene. I’ll stick to the chance encounter.
And, lucky for those so keen on questioning me about what it means that I’m single, my current zip code just made the list for the top ten cities for scoring a date according to glamour.com. Phew! There is still hope.
glamour.com
Coffee Talk
creepiosity.com
I’m totally fascinated by coffee table books. And even more fascinated by the coffee table owner’s choice of coffee table books. Thus was the case on a recent trip to my totally boho BFF’s suburban apartment.
Instead of the over-sized, glossy living room collection of the greatest works of Duchamp expected from this quirky university art history professor, I found a teeny, kitch paper back with a hairless cat on the cover. Creepiosity: A hilarious guide to the unintentionally creepy. (Ok, I take it back, maybe this is expected choice from the above mentioned artsy fartsy).
After thumbing through this weirdly funny list of all things bizarre, I couldn’t but begin to start a mental list of my own oddities. This continued. The whole weekend.
Here are just a few of what I think should make the second installment in the Creepiosity series. Calling David Bickel…
1. Taking a trip to Chicago, or New York, or Dallas, with the sole purpose of visiting the American Girl Store.
2. Dressing your car in a holiday costume. Plush antlers and a red nose aren’t meant for a Subaru.
3. Guys whose profile pictures are shots of their shirtless torsos taken into the mirror with an iPhone.
4. Perfectly memorized, perfectly perfected, 10-min long Starbucks orders. For a single drink.
5. Signage with inexplicably incorrect punctuation.
6. Ventriloquist conventions.
7. TV commercials for any feminine hygiene project. Example: Summer’s Eve. Eek.
8. Chewing with your front teeth.
9. A completely empty nail salon, save the man getting a pedicure and enjoying the massage chair.
10. Middle aged, mid-western males wearing berets.
Twi-hard to believe
I’m not sure if I should dare admit it. I did it. I’ve officially seen all Twilight movies. And, yes, the last one was seen in the cinema. On opening weekend.
However, I find it seriously Twi-hard to believe that that these films can continue to garner so much attention and such a following. In my small opinion, the films, well, suck. Yes, pun totally intended.
But as it is with all things that gain worldwide, popular appeal (I could go on an on about Justin Bieber here…), more often than not, it’s in analyzing, and over-analyzing and over-over-analyzing them – successes alongside crappiness – that their influence and stronghold in mainstream media is assured. Furthered, even. I mean, all the talk, and all the photos, and all the crazy fan behavior drew in even this self-proclaimed Twilight non-fan.
So here goes: a little blurb on all things I can’t seem to wrap my mind around when it comes to multi-bazillion dollar vampire sagas.
Eight hours of cakey white makeup and orange lips, brooding, and vampire-on-werewolf combat, and how many events have actually transpired? Five? Six, tops. Girl meets vampire. Girl is chased by other vampires. Girl goes to Italy and encounters a new group of vampires. One of the aforementioned vampires chases girl again. Girl marries vampire. Girl births half-vampire baby that is sure to create, at maximum, one more event in the two-hour “thriller’ that is yet to come. Equals…six. Amazing. This fan of French cinema, notorious for its total lack of action and cornucopia of clever dialogue, must admit that more actually happens in the average French film than has happened after four movies here. And one definitely can’t cite riveting dialogue as it’s saving grace.
lastendeavor.blogspot.com
Yes, Edward is oddly appealing in his artsy-fartsy, tousled hair, withdrawn, old-school gentleman persona. But, seriously, what modern, independent, headstrong girl is turned on by a guy so out of reach that the only way to completely solidify her presence in his life is to leave hers behind and completely transform? Haven’t mothers, and best friends, and the ladies from Sex and the City tried enough times to counsel the female population on the merits of finding a guy who allows you to be you? And I can’t even begin to express my weirded out state when watching the long-awaited love scene. Bruises, hand prints seemingly burned onto the skin, and an intense focus on a completely destroyed bedroom surely don’t scream a profound love for which a lonely vampire has been waiting a hundred plus years. And our heroine actually pleads for more. Begs really. Gross.
Keeping to the theme of vampire love, the only thing more more stomach-turning than the 1-hour of vampire/human action are the completely cheesy sexual innuendos. The film’s dorky references to sexuality – Bella’s orgasm-like reaction to Edward’s bite, the restraint he must adopt to overcome his carnal desire to to transform Bella, references to Bella as something to “eat”, Bella’s threat to seek help from Alice if Edward won’t give her what she wants – are just a few. Such blatant references don’t necessarily mix well with all the talk of abstinence until marriage and gentlemanly vampire ways. Maybe I’m the raunchy one in picking out the sexual ironies here, but this sort of talk doesn’t seem to jive with a movie based on a book by a Mormon author and destined for the tween population. And for all of those adult Twihards out there, is this really a turn-on?
Please, I beg of you all, do explain what makes this series so good! What’s the attraction? What draws you in? Critics scream flop while movie goers, myself included, fork over the cash. Maybe another opinion may help me understand the addiction to seriously bad cinema.
And will I see the last installment? Errr….probably. It’s almost like not being able to avert your eyes when passing a car accident on the freeway. Who would miss witnessing a train wreck waiting to happen?
aseabetween 