Alexander Wang DIY

I'm not an Alexander Wang girl.

A complete Wang look requires you to ooze the mussy sexiness that looks like the smudged kohl rimming your eyes after you wake up in the morning without washing your face .

It requires your pencil thin arms to jut out of the sides of your cavernously large dress when you hold your Marlboro Red out for a light.

And when you dress to go out, your natural inclination is allow your midriff to feel the evening air or pair that blazer with a sheer bra.



Regardless of my lack of grungy insouciance, one element of A.Wang's Pre-Fall'09 looks caught my eye.

I love the length of his sheer tight shorts, especially when paired with the casual jersey shorts on the right. It's the perfect length for spring.

I fully intend on trying to recreate the look myself with in March (I promise to detail this experiment in full) and layering it with some of my more mini dresses and skirts.


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Pretty Porn

If you're SM, I sent you the link to this hilariously wonderful article in the Huffington Post titled Addicted to (Pretty)Porn.

"Here are some of the things that figure largely in PrettyPorn: scanned Polaroids of cozy-looking disheveled beds; charmingly messy dinner tables post-dinner;high quality jpegs of romantic braided hair; skinny women's pale backs; cats; cups of tea/wine; fields of wildflowers. Lot's of French things." E.A. Hanks

I fully admit to my own addiction to ethereal shots of charming settings and even more charmingly pretty people.

These photos of Lou Doillon, from her S/S'09 ad campaign for Vanessa Bruno fall comfortably within pretty porn's aesthetic.

French? check. Disheveled model in beautifully crafted clothing? check. Dreamily artsy photography? check.


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Feb.10

I've never posted a picture of myself on my blog before but I am going to start posting looks I liked that vary from my usual studious uniform of Converse shoes, J brand jeans and assorted variety of colorful sweaters coupled with immaturely chipping nailpolish in a variety of garish or somber tones.

If I start to feel shy about putting my visage and style on the www (or more likely, insecure compared to the wonderful styles of my favorite fashion bloggers Susie and Jane), this feature will cease to exist!

No matter, from now I will place myself at the mercy of my four readers (Hi mom!) and show off my outfit from yesterday.

chunky scarf: zara
layered sweater/tshirt: target
blazer: j.crew
cropped pants: urban outfitters
brogues: unidentifiable repetto knockoffs

I love the winter combination of olive, gray and black and I felt like Oliver Twist all day in my slouchy cropped pants. I've been craving menswear in my look lately and this outfit fulfilled my tomboyishly dapper fantasies. The pants are actually very thin and I wore them over break in Abu Dhabi with a gray t-shirt, flat sandals and my Wayfarers and felt very casually cool.


This is what my hair has been doing lately when I put it in my regular chignon. I rather like the wispiness in front. (excuse the vanity, please)

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Fr.Vogue '08

I've been incapable of getting this image from French Vogue's October '08 issue out of my head.

Yasmin Warsame looks so incredibly badass, head tilted just so, as she lets a slight stream of smoke float out of her mouth while priming her pointer finger to ash her cigarette in her uber-luxe bag, daring you to gasp at her nonchalance.



Her irreverence, trashy-couture look and obviously, her absurdly architectural heels have been egging me on to dress with a little more disdain, a little more humor.

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Michelle in Vogue (pun intended)

I can not wait for the March issue of Vogue to hit my local Barnes so I can pick up the Michelle Obama cover and following article. I read style.com's edited version of Andre Leon Talley's article and loved the way he weaved his own experience on the campaign trail with his family, and America's, history with Michelle's interview. He's a wonderful storyteller and you should all run out and get your own copy!



I just love this picture from the upcoming issue. Michelle looks so strong and elegant. I'm enamored with her ability to mix Alaia with J.Crew and her confidence to eschew tradition (read: staid, elaborately boring concoctions) for a young Taiwanese-American's frothy, one shouldered gown for the Inaugural Balls.

She's basically my adult sartorial dream.

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Umberto Boccioni Hits the Runway

As I clicked around on the New York Times during my European travels I read about how an economist derived his own system of artistic ranking, placing quantitative measurements onto a genre that romanticizes its ability to eschew the concrete for the intangible sphere of ideas and concepts. But for those of us who aren't selling pickled animals for a cool $20 million (Hello Damien!), a formalized hierarchy doesn't seem so daft.

As I clicked on the top 5 list, I noticed Umberto Boccioni's sculpture, Unique Forms of Continuity in Space and I immediately thought of the shoes created for the Prada Fall 2008 collection.



Boccioni's sculpture seems strong and almost soldier-like in the thick plates jutting out on the thighs and shoulders but the posture is delicately held with the knees locked in position and toes ready to fly off the ground, like a futuristic Mercury running through the air to deliver an urgent message.

Prada's shoes, with a winged back and armored shield, encasing the arch of the foot are perfect for a woman bored with the YSL tribute,the ubiquitous sexy-girl, ankle-breaking blister-creating platform shoe of the season. These shoes are tough but lovely.





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Green is the New Black

If you've picked up a fashion magazine or browsed your favorite online shopping sites you'll recognize that green is the new black.

Natalie Portman designed a line of vegan footwear for Te Casan, Style.com touts an earth friendly beauty guide, and you can drop off your old tees at your local Barneys to be recycled into new items by Loomstate.

While I haven't bought into this new eco-clothing craze in the shape of $300 organic jeans and the absurd notion that eco-friendly fashion must be luxe and only attainable for those who can afford Stella McCartney's raffia sandals, I do recognize that taking a real look at the ways we engage with our clothing and the potential for real waste is a worthwhile endeavor.

In honor of Earth Day, I recommend 2 easy ways to inject a little green into your choices.

1. Check out Thread, the BBC's online eco-fashion magazine with colorful and inventive fashion spreads and great features on how you can decrease your impact by investing in vintage pieces or supporting independent labels that produce organic or sustainable clothing.
Thread also presents a well-informed and interesting argument for green clothing and an overall decrease in unnecessary consumption, I promise you won't be disappointed by the site.



Also click on Blood, Sweat and T-Shirts to watch clips from a new reality series on BBC where 6 young addicts of the "fast fashion" cycle (buy it at forever 21,wear it once, throw it out) travel to India and work the clothing factories that create their "cheap chic" pieces.
I definitely am going to think twice about where my clothes are coming from after watching the show and the ethics behind the West's feeling of entitlement for extremely cheap and disposable clothing.

2. Head over to your local Target on May 15th (or Barney's Co-op) and pick up some slouchy pants or tissue tanks from their first every green line made from 100% organic cotton. Rogan Gregory's line is proof that an award wining designer (of the line Loomstate and collaborator with Bono & wife for green denim) can create affordable clothing without sacrificing environmental values.



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