The Magic's in the Makeup

If I could live in any brand it would without a doubt be Bottega Veneta. Desinger Thomas Maier knows not only great design, but how to construct an entire brand. Its no surprise that Bottega Veneta is one of the brands that's actually doing well while the fashion world struggles.

While perusing style.com today I came across the backstage images from last week's Fall 08 show. Not only are the clothes are amazing (as usual) the hair and makeup are great and totally wearable.

The messy updos are care of Orlando Pita, but I love the lavender cat-eyes the most.

How great does Lily Donaldson look .

Images: style.com

Sarah be my friend

"Sarah of Colette" is all we are supposed to know of the retail genius Sarah...of Colette.

Well, her full name is Sarah Lerfel although the one name thing adds to her cool secretive vibe. She usually likes to stay under the radar, she's been popping up everywhere lately. Scotty Sartorialist photographed her at Dior yesterday and she's been blogging for The Moment, the blog for T Magazine.

Not only is she one of the coolest, most successful women in fashion right now, but look how adorable she is. Her style is eclectic and relaxed and most importantly she seems like she has fun with it.

I love this photo- what a great smile and what great hair- I never thought I'd want to go chop mine all off.

Sök i bloggen*

In honor of our love of all things Scandanavian, here's the latest blog I will be obsessing over.
Thanks to Rumi over at Fashion Toast for pointing me to Milk.

Kvinna is from Stockholm and as such its all in Swedish, so unless you're say...Michelle just enjoy the photos (particularly this one- I may just forgo fit entirely and wear 501's forever).

*I don't know what this translates to, but I do know that their spelling of blogg way more adorable

State of the Closet

February. In anticipation of spring, I organized my closet and took inventory. This is always a cathartic experience. Though it may not look like it shed much weight, trust me, you should have seen it before.

Fortunately, I was able to yield some surprising new outfits from clothes I already owned combined with some recent luck at a consignment shop. All told, I think each of these outfits was assembled for a paltry sum. My mom would be proud. Someone just needs to give me a job for this skill. Here is a sampling of what I excavated:

I'm head over heels in love with this leather skirt from BCBG. It's copper and has amazing stitching across the front. (Tank from H&M, earrings from shop in Copenhagen.)

This sweater is a hand-me-down from my mom, as are the taupe leather Etienne Aigner belt and the white enamel tassel necklace. The tank is American Apparel, the pants are secondhand Diesel jeans, and the boots are Fitzwell.

Here's another sweater (kind of made out of carpet!) from my mom -- I'm lucky! I love the very saturated purple color. The shirt is a red striped Charlotte tee from Urban and the necklace is from a touristy shop in Northampton, MA. I love this color combination. The handkerchief I bought in Copenhagen also goes really well with this sweater. The jeans are J Brand, which I swear by. By far the best quality jeans I've ever had the pleasure of putting on. The shoes are camel-colored suede Converse high tops.

Sorry about the poor lighting/focus in these pictures. We can't all be Style Bytes on our first try! :)

What I'm Wearing Today

I've been experimenting lately with monotone outfits and I'm really liking the new options. This particular outfit is incredibly cozy and makes me feel like a snowball. I think what makes it is the layering of different textures and the string of similarly themed necklaces.

Double breasted knit sweater: Gap
Empire waist silk shirtdress: Uniqlo
Opaque brown tights: Hue
Necklaces: Mom :)

And of course, Shoes: super-worn Clarks Wallabees

Feeling Grungey

Alexander Wang- U Neck Tee $138 ShopBop

The Gap succeeds again with its European Collection. This time it's all about making it easier for me to channel Alexander Wang without having to shell out the big bucks. Grunge is making a big comeback and this outfit by Wang is the best way to wear it for Spring. Gap's version is a little more polished and slightly more wearable, but it gets the inspiration right.

Gap European Collection- Pleated Tunic Top $39.50, Oversized Denim Shorts $39.50

The Materialist

For my Open Source Culture class:



Appropriated photographs + collage:
2 foam core panels (26 1/3 in. x 40 in.)
Mounted full color photograph prints
Mixed craft + origami paper
Mixed metal thumbtacks

Scott Schuman is the man behind The Sartorialist, a popular blog that features photographs of stylish urbanites. Schuman created the blog, he writes, "simply to share photos of people that I saw on the streets of New York that I thought looked great. When I worked in the fashion industry (15 years), I always felt that there was a disconnect between what I was selling in the showroom and what I was seeing real people (really cool people) wearing in real life." In the intervening years since its inception, The Sartorialist has made a celebrity of Schuman, and become a lucrative project in its own right. Schuman freelances articles and photos for more established, traditional fashion media, and also exhibits and sells prints of his favorite snapshots to collectors. He then uses this revenue to finance more ambitious Sartorialist endeavors and now travels often to Europe and Asia to document style and streetwear around the world. The Sartorialist has indeed come a long way.

Through recontextualizing Schuman's digital photographs, my work "The Materialist" invites a rigorous critique of The Sartorialist enterprise. While on one level celebrating Schuman's work (the viewer can luxuriate in the large color prints to take in the style and beauty of each subject, each "really cool person"), it also provokes an awareness of the essential flattening effect that The Sartorialist inflicts on his everyday muses. Through its very obvious use of applied materials in the spirit of vernacular collage, "The Materialist" seeks to return to the image making process the principles of fashion lost in the first transfer of life to film: texture, structure and color.

As part of a 'found art' exhibit, The Materialist appropriates already existing work that aspires to art. But on another level, The Sartorialist himself uses found objects to constitute his art: those of his everyday streetwear models. What makes a Sartorialist photograph more than just a stylish person on the street? Scott Schuman's lens, which frames the subject and composes the photograph as a whole. The collage covers the background in the frame, effectively eliminating what Schuman brought to the subject. That the applied materials represent a variety of colors, prints and textures re-foregrounds the materiality of fashion, which is a tactile, Do-It-Yourself, experiential sport of mixing and matching. There is no shortage of fun in street fashion, but it should not be rendered sterile, frozen or mute by the editorial gaze of one man's photographic eye.

Built with Love by Wendy

You know that feeling of exuberance unique to finding a store that carries just your style? I've had that feeling for Built by Wendy for years now, and with the debut of their Spring 2008 collection in stores on February 15, I've just found another surge of affection for their whole aesthetic. Lots of one- or off-the- shoulder pieces, a seersucker short suit, great prints, tons of blue and a clever wet paint series of tees. Literally, I would wear everything they make.

If you can't wait until then to see the BbW items in person at their stores in Manhattan, Williamsburg or LA, you can go to their website to see a flash animation of the campaign images. One of the models gives a comically inscrutable look in nearly every shot of her, but I'm charmed? Head on over!