Where Have I Been?

I haven't been around... you may have noticed.  That's due to exciting things in the works.  As you may or may not know, you've probably realized from looking at my blog, I make things.  I am working on turning my love of making things into a business.  A complete one.  One where you can buy items, partake in the World of Pretty Things!

Sounds interesting....  well I've been working on labels, and this creative decision making is really difficult sometimes - Flamingo Pink is only slightly lighter than Confetti Pink, and which will read best and convey the best message to the audience?  These are the questions I've been mulling over while playing Art Director on Photo-Shoots and Head Pattern Maker in my studio.  Sounds like a lot, huh? (It feels like a lot).

I'll be sharing when I can, while I go along.  I don't want to give anything away yet...shhhh...but, when I can, I'll share an image or two.  Keep checking back, please!

Simple Cool.

Absolutely beautiful in simplicity.  She is so cool.  Found this picture of Jean Seberg on The Impossible Cool.

Pastime of my summer.

Being at the beach has become my ultimate summer pastime.  I just spent a beautiful weekend in Montauk and I am becoming more and more obsessed with beach culture.  

I love the simplicity of only wearing a swimsuit and never dressing up.  I love seeing the surfers (maybe I'll learn someday).  I love the calmness of nature at the beach.  I love the deep relaxation in induces.  I'm finding everything there, and everything about the culture around it, very inspiring.

tres New York: coffee

This is me. This is probably you. All I want when I'm out of my house to start an early day is my coffee.  Large?  Yes please!  Really, it is the only thing that gets us through our mornings.  A simple pleasure that can bring a little redemption to whatever task you have to do or wherever you have to go first thing in the morning. 

New Obsession: Edward Steichen

The most beautiful and inspirational photography I've seen in such a long time.  How did I not know about him?

Soaking in the sun.

Rainy Day

Girl Slippers

I've wanted ballet inspired shoes for a long time now, and I don't quite have the resources to make for myself the shoes I design.  So, I decided to go with the original thing: simple leather ballet slippers. I took them to my local shoe repair and had a sole put on the heal and the toe, now I can wear them out!

Audrey.

Finding some time.

Lots of Lace, Lots of White

Lace: it's so pretty and it's so feminine.  I saw a striking amount of it throughout resort this year along with a lot of white.  (I think that the prettiest and most unique looking lace was done by Thakoon on his blue and white striped jumpsuit.)  Lace can be easy to wear year-round, it can be put in any color.  But white, can be a little tricky...you remember the old rule, "No white before Memorial Day or after Labor Day".

I hate rules in dressing and I've always hated and refused to heed this rule once I got a little fashion confidence under my belt.  Resort collections are not always going to be worn when people are in destinations and they will be worn throughout the winter months, therefore it looks like we have designers all embracing the anti-rule!  How fantastic for fashion!  I'm looking forward to getting my hands on some pretty white pieces to cheer up the winter months.

Above: Look, 1 See by Chloe; Look 2, Stella McCartney; Look 3 and 4, Thakoon; Look 5 and 6, Chloe.

Aren't we Sophisticated!

As I was looking at Resort collections, I was struck by how sophistication is really being adopted by young women.  Gone seem to be (for now in better fashion) of the micro-mini's.  We are young and beautiful, but we are also sophisticated.  I love it so much!  

The hemline's seem to be much longer across the board.  Necklines are higher too.  Very high heels seem to be traded in for a casual flat or a demure low heel.  Beauty is evident in the simple and the mystery of what is covered up.  It is not boring, it has a lot of style, attitude, beauty and youth.

I have been growing up in my sense of fashion and I love that designers seem to be too.

Above: 1 and 2-Chloe; 3 and 4 Reed Krakoff; 5 Proenza Schouler; 6 Suno; 7 and 8 Honor.

Why I love Resort.

 I love Resort Collections!  I'm not fully sure why, perhaps because their intended reason for being is whimsical: they come to us in the middle of winter supposing that we are going somewhere fabulous.  Designers these days tend to mute the concept slightly to make resort sell-able to all (even to us New York working girls who can't always get away to a fabulous destination in January). 

Nevertheless, I always am enchanted by Resort because there is a supposed ease of wear in it that does not always come out in the almighty Spring and Fall presentations, and it is coupled with a fanciful notion that we, Resort.

More to follow.....

Let Loose

I love when inspiration hits.  This past weekend I was in Charlotte, NC to celebrate a graduation on Saturday and Mother's day on Sunday.  Having had a prolonged winter in NY, I welcomed the sunshine in the south.

Stepping out onto a green field on the warm sunny Mother's day, the question was whether or not to run down the hill, inspired like a child.  We answered yes.

Letting loose a little sometimes brings good things; like a smile to your face, a feeling of freedom and inspiration, and sometimes, a few great shots.

An old but fun one!

The Most Delightful Holiday

Easter.  As I thought about it's arrival this year, I wondered what I would do and who I would spend it with...another Holiday in New York, unlike holidays at home with families, they are times where new traditions are born and things are done very unlike the ways remembered.

As I thought about Easter, I realized that it used to be one of the most exciting holidays when I was a child; with new dresses, shoes and hats, bright jelly beans (and loads of other candy), egg hunts, a day at Grandma's with family, fresh mowed grass, the arrival of Spring, and Christ's resurrection, why wouldn't it be a favorite?  Easter was perhaps the prettiest and most whimsical holiday of them all!

This year, I am remembering my Easters' as a child and spending it with the one family member I have in New York, my sister, doing fun and perhaps child-like things...the park, painting, cooking, church...attempting to capture the delight, joy and whimsy that I remember this holiday embodying.

For Friday

 As I was working last Friday, I walked past a mirror and stopped, thought about my weekend and said, "wooooo!", with a tilted head.  This illustration is what I saw in that mirror (sans the cute outfit).

Not that I hate working and not that I party-it-up on the weekend, rather, I get excited about the weekend because it feels like freedom, space to be creative.  We have to get excited about something and it seems my free creative time is what I get excited about...shocking, I know (said sarcastically).

Happy Friday! Happy Creative Time!

Summer Headscarves Have Arrived

This winter hit is transitioning into a summer thing.  It is currently being offered in three color ways, as viewed above: White, Hot Pink and Brown Tie-Dye.

They are 100% cotton and will thus be very breathable in the summer.  Wear them to keep hair out of your face, hide your messy head, or as a fashion accessory.

Buy on Etsy.  Just $15.00 each!!!

Dyckman Farmhouse Museum

Lacking a little inspiration this past week, and for the first time in I can not remember when, being uninterested in Fashion Week, I was thrilled to stumble upon this jewel in Inwood, New York.  My sister recently moved up to Inwood and we were exploring.  

The Dyckman Farmhouse is located at 204th and Broadway and was built c. 1784.  Can you imagine a New York farm that stretched from the Hudson to the East River, and the change that the property went through as modern New York arrived?  The History Lover in me had a little field day at this house.  The old is enchanting and being able to experience something like this preserved in upper Manhattan is very inspiring and unexpected.

Outsider Art

 I had my first experience this week with Outsider Art,"art brut" in French, translated "raw art" or "rough art".  I am blown-away by this genre that I had previously known virtually nothing about.  Having heard about the fair through a Times article by Robert Smith, I was interested and went to check it out.  For those who like myself a few days before, do not know what this genre is, it is art that is created by individuals on the fringes of society, untrained in classical art, and separated from the traditional world of art.  Originally, this term classified mostly people in insane-asylums, people who did not think as the rest of society.  Now, the genre encompasses many more than those institutionalized for mental problems, it is any art that is made without the influence of the traditional.  Outsider artists are also people like Winfred Rembert, who while in prison, learned to make art on leather; his work is so descriptive as well as rhythmic and has a very clear commentary.

I found this art so special because it recognizes the artistic heart and sometimes the unadulterated flow of the mind; describing how things are and what the world is like.  In it, there often isn't such a strain to achieve perfection or demonstrate a certain learned skill and as a result, what is made often is very raw and very straightforward.  

Some of the art is very fun, and will make you smile.  Other pieces will make you think and stand in awe of the clarity that they achieve.  The genre on a whole, gives me inspiration and encouragement in my own work as well as renews my faith in our ability to see the value that all individuals have, regardless of what society at whatever particular time chooses to value.

Below are a few of my favorites from the show.

Daniel Belardinelli

Jim Bauer 

Sketch; for your Sunny, January, Tuesday

A Simple Kind of New York Morning

Breakfast at Foragers City Grocer on 22nd Street.

Sunday, Sketch Day

I fell in love with this street shot of Edie Campbell on the Jak & Jil tumbler.  She looks so chic and mysterious...I kind of had to draw her....

Exaggerated Proportions. Favorites from Pre-Fall 2013

 

When I watch new seasons being loaded on my Style.com App (in my top 5 favorite Apps), I begin to see things I really like and then begin to put them together, trying to run a thread through them to explain what they have in common and why I like them.

Above we have: 3.1 Phillip Lim (I want to be in all Chloe next Spring and all Phillip Lim in the Fall!),  Acne Studios,  Kenzo (all too adorable), and always a favorite, Rochas.

All these looks are really special because of their PROPORTIONS (kind of a pun on the caps...oops, maybe silly, oh well).  Nothing is classically put together. And nothing is expected.  There aren't rules as you can see: Rochas is big all over, usually a faux pas; while Acne has only an over-sized coat with tall skinny boots; Kenzo's look is loose on top and on bottom but the pants do become defined at the waste. 

NO RULES.  It's ALL STYLE. And those are the two reasons why I like this play-on-proportions for Fall.