Tim Gunn (my Hero)

It's a crazy world when my favorite reality show host is turned into a 2-D action super hero. Actually, it feels like an extension of Modelinia's Spiked Heel episodes (supermodels as superheros- starring the one and only Heidi Klum). I love you Tim Gunn, but this is getting too weird. If you're interested in what the comic is going to be about, check out the New York Times article.

Geeks Unite

Satisfy your inner geek with these quirky, but functional items. They can be worn, make your sofa more comfortable, or even clean, not to mention add character. Your guests will surely take a second look at your Ctrl+Alt+Delete pillows. Of course if you don't want to flaunt your geekiness, you can always give them away as gifts. Who doesn't want Playstation controller soap?

Fred and Friends Ice Invaders: $7.50

Ctrl - Alt - Del Three Pillow Set: $58.00

Nerdy Giraffe Tee: $24.50

Brave Space Design Tetris Bookcase- Pricing upon request

Realistic Xbox Controller Replica Soap : $12.00

Free Lacoste Perfume Samples

I’m not really a perfume girl. Most of them come off too strong for me and it’s not something I would routinely use so most of the bottle would be wasted. Instead I actually prefer the scent of my shampoo (Herbal Essence has some of the best smelling shampoo and conditioner out there). However, I do like to collect little perfume samples which I can spray on when I’m in the mood or spray on cards I give to friends. If you like perfume samples too, Lacoste is giving out samples of Lacoste Challenge, Lacoste Touch of Pink, and Lacoste Love of Pink. All you would need to provide is your name, email, and address.

Lacoste Scent Samples: http://www.lacoste-parfums.com/free-sample/

What I'm into Now

My Facebook friend is enjoying her summer in China. She post some pictures of bunny shaped mochi dim sum. I can't decide if I want to eat it or pet it- but I know I want it.


Taghrid's desktop background worthy photo shoot for PIKNIK Magazine.


Recently I've been obsessed with Tiffany blue. In my fantasy future house/apartment, I want to have Tiffany blue walls with white columns and crown molding. Hanging in the dining room, will be this romantic blue chandelier (too bad someone bought it already).


A castle made of paper = hundreds of hours of meticulous work. Definitely check out Tokyobling's blog for more breathtaking images.

Neiman Marcus' digital catalogue usually has some cute spreads. I'm loving the one for Chanel's Pre-Fall 09 collection (pg 48). The Russian themed spread includes adorable Russian nesting dolls with Chanel logos for buttons. The video will bring a smile to your face, as it did to mine.


How The Average U.S. Consumer Spends Their Paycheck
I'm very interested in personal spending and being thrifty so I regularly check out Wisebread and Get Rich Slowly. This was on GRS and it was amazing to see where average American families spend their money. Can you believe that we spend almost the same amount for groceries as we do for restaurant food?

DIY Chain and Ribbon Woven Necklaces

A couple of Christmases ago, I received a chain link necklace with crown charm. The necklace really wasn’t to my tastes. It had a Juicy Couture-ish appeal and I got a thing against brands that stick their label on the hinny area of gym pants. I decided to throw away the charm but keep the perfectly good chain. It was a bit boring on its own so I wanted to find a different pendant but it needed to be hefty pendant with a large hole in order to hang in on the chain. Of course I didn’t own such a pendant. Instead, I soon forgot about it and the necklace stayed in my jewelry case gathering dust.

Inspiration

A few weeks ago, Gilt was selling woven ribbon necklaces by Lulu Frost. The chain was interwoven with brightly colored satin ribbon and tied with bows. They were adorable and inspired me to finally do something funky and chic with my chain necklace.

The Supplies

A chain necklace
Colorful ribbon that is at least twice as long as the chain
A bit of tape

Instructions

1) Taper one end of the ribbon with the tape. This will make the ribbon easier to weave in between the links.

2) Take the chain necklace and pull the ribbon through the first link. Make sure to pull enough of the ribbon through. I recommend at least the necklace and a half length of ribbon.

3) Begin weaving the ribbon into a pattern. To do this I straightened out the chain so the first link lies flat, the second link is on its side, and the rest of the links alternate in that pattern. I threaded the ribbon from bottom to up for the 1st, 3rd, 5th, etc links and the right to left for the 2nd, 4th, 6th, etc links. Of course you can also choose to weave randomly but I liked the braid-like weave my pattern created.


4) Threading the ribbon is a bit tedious so I actually stopped about 1/3 the way through. I tied the ends of the ribbon into a bow and closed the necklace clasp so it created a double chained necklace. If you do this too, make sure to leave the ribbon long enough so the necklace can go over your head. You wouldn’t want to tie and untie the necklace every time you wear it!

5) Or you can also weave the ribbon through the entire length of the necklace to get something more like Lula Frost.

6) I kept mine simple, but you can add brooches, charms, feathers, and gems to it as well.

Happy 21st

Yes, today is my 21st birthday. Therefore I'm posting appropriately celebratory fashion photos.

Not doing much today (ie. no drinking because I have work tomorrow), but I will be treated to both lunch and dinner tomorrow. In fact I will most likely be eating way too much, way too good, food all this weekend. Okay, jogging... next week.

Oh, and I went on a mini shopping spree today at noon. Three words- Gilt Final Sale!!

Finally!! Leanne's Collection on Bluefly

Since season 4 of Project Runway, all winning designers get to create a collection to sell on Bluefly. I'm actually really enthusiastic this time because I adore Leanne and her 'pleating' skills. The long awaited collection was finally revealed yesterday. I must say, I think it will actually sell!! I remember some of Christian Siriano's stuff heavily discounted during final sales, like 70%+, which is highly unusual for Bluefly so I suspect it didn't sell very well. Leanne's collection is more wearable and generally well priced. The price point is actually lower than the apparel on her website. The only thing that bothers me is that Bluefly states the retail price at $210.00 and then discounts it 20% to $168.00, when really the retail price is $168.00 and there was no discount. I hate when businesses initially mark up an item only to pretend discount it immediately. Anyway, annoyance at Bluefly aside, I think this is a great start for Leanne. Go Leanimal!

A First Look at Fall 09 Couture

The fashion shows I like to cover the most are the couture shows. They are only a few of them each season (so I can look at them all) and are known for their amazing quality and vision. The first two up on Style.com are the Dior and Alexis Mabille collections. Surprisingly, both showcased some innerwear as outerwear. Does that mean the rich and famous will be wearing scandalous lingerie under sheer full skirts for fall?

Dior



I can trust John Galliano to put on an elaborately overdone show with elaborately overdone clothes. His looks always border on the absurd but that’s what makes his show the most fun to watch. This year was no exception.



50’s Satin Jackets with sheer skirts over girdles. What can I say- at least he didn’t give us bulbous alien dresses. The jackets actually stay true to vintage Dior suits and will probably sell well. The sheer petticoats, girdles, and such, seem to be incongruent with the polished suit jackets, but Galliano explains that he was inspired by half dressed mannequins. Oookaay… as long as he doesn’t expect people to go around half dressed. All in all, the collection was very lady like, from the jackets, to the handbag, to the leather gloves. More evidence of the Michelle Obama effect!



I'm crazy in love with these mulberry leather gloves. For me, the items that shone the most were the gorgeous, gorgeous, corset dresses.



WTF-ness: 6 (mostly from the girdles)


Alexis Mabille

Mabille said he was inspired by a young woman just getting out off bed. When I see his collection, I can believe it, but isn’t it just an excuse to drape window treatment on models?



Okay that was a little mean, but this collection felt too casual and summery to be appropriate for Fall/Winter couture. I understand designers want to break the boundaries that define couture, but it really didn’t showcase his skill- so why would anyone buy it? Not to say I disliked the collection, but there are very few value pieces that I feel people would be willing to fork over their money for (those few pieces being the snazzy white suit and sheer dress).

Collection favorites

Still it’s not a bad concept, especially if done for a spring couture show. It’s light and romantic and reminds me of a music video I really enjoyed called 'Her Morning Elegance' by Oren Lavie. I highly recommend you watch it below. The song is charming but the film's concept and direction are what made the video memorable.



The film sums up what I thought Mabille was missing in his showing on Monday. Like the song, the look he created was sweet and charming, but forgettable. However, the video applied a cool stop action technique that really wowed me. Mabille should have done the same for his clothes, use technique and details to blow fashion critics away.

Reaction: meh!

Source: Style.com, NyMag.com
Definitely skim those sites for better images- the blogger window is way too tiny!

The 'Anna' Documentary

First Valentino and now Anna Wintour! Looks like all the big names in fashion are getting a feature film documentary these days. I guess people can't get enough of Vogue. To be honest, I think U.S. Vogue has been getting worse and worse- haphazard or boring fashion spreads and articles that read like lists of socialite and designer names. Hardly anything catches my interest. I usually flip to the back first and browse the three pages of guest editor selected 'must haves' (you know, the ones that look like scrapbook pages). Then I check out the photo shoots and luxury brand ads. I get a 1/2 inch thick mag every month and there's nothing in there worth reading, skimming maybe but not reading- boo-hiss! I am definitely not renewing this year.

Despite my complaints with Us Vogue, it's a given I'm going to watch 'The September Issue'. I may not like Wintour's selection on recent issues, but I (and probably every fashion blogger out there) dream of being the Editor-in-Chief of Vogue. Attending fashion shows and everyone asking your opinion on what's fashionable and what not, having the power to promote young designers, putting together fashion spreads and reviewing fashion articles, what's not to like about that job? I definitely want to check out the amazing things you get to see and do as the Editor-in-Chief of one the best known fashion magazines in the world.

Getting Back Into the Flow of Things

It’s been a month since I gave a little insight on how turbulent my life was at the moment. Since then I’ve found a job near my university which is a 2 hours drive from my parents’ house. I drove to my university campus four times the week I got the job; once for the interview, then for the paperwork and drug screening, again to look at housing, and finally when I started my first day at work. It was unbelievably hectic and draining.

I originally planned on finding a summer sublet but found a year lease that was just perfect- very close to my classes and well maintained. The advantage of a year lease is that I can move in during the summer and not have to move again when Fall Semester starts. The only problem was I needed housing asap, but the previous renters weren’t moving out for another two weeks. So I spent two week like a homeless person, moving around from place to place with everything I needed in a suitcase. Thankfully my friends were very nice about letting me stay with them for a few days.

I finally moved into my very first apartment a week ago (it feels longer). It’s still a little sparse with no furniture in the living room, but I managed to clutter it up with my junk and cardboard boxes. Still, it’s a step toward normalcy. Between working 8 hours a day, studying for the CFA exam on the weekends, and meeting up with friends occasionally, the days seem to go by so quickly yet feel so long. So quickly because I have so little spare time and the day is over before I know it; so long because what was only a week ago feels like it happened a month ago.

The past month was full of firsts. First time working in an office, first time being paid a decent wage, first time signing a lease (school dorm leases don’t count) and paying rent. I feel very accomplished right now. I just hope I don’t screw things up.

Image source: the movie Working Girl