Hobo Chic

Today, I give you grunge.

Are You Living With Your Eyes Closed?

Such a beautifully appropriate image to stumble upon. Living in Spain is a privilege that I want to experience with the heart, soul, mind and eyes. In that order.

Is that... Kanye West?

I've noticed a certain trend fascination with quirky words, phrases or photos of celebrities placed on vintage items of clothing. I've seen everything from Taylor Swift's silhouette to Kanye West's face (get it? Ha-ha.)  But this photo actually made me laugh out loud to my computer screen. I must say, if you find yourself printed on two gowns that must meet juxtaposed to one another to depict a portrait of your face, you've made it. Bravo, Kanye. Bra-vo.

From Fallas to Runway

Jean Paul Gaultier Spring Couture 2007 looks quite a bit like the statue that will be built outside of my window in Valencia, Spain!

Grecian Swag

as per Christophe Lemaire.

Viva Valencia

I've just arrived in Spain and if one human isn't better dressed than the other...

Why is it here that men are always in slacks, never sweatpants, and each woman's coat is more lovely than the next? I'm not sure what America is doing wrong, but Europeans know how to live and live well. Wine, great food, late nights and fabulous style. I'm excited to photograph what I see.

'Til then! Xx. 

Back to my leather obsession

Michelle Dockery wearing Collection at a Downton Abbey screening hosted by Ralph Lauren and Vanity Fair’s Graydon Carter. What a beautifully shaped dress. I also love her subdued makeup and "vampirey" white complexion.

Isn't it though?

The combination of strength and beauty. Well said.

Python & Leather

Men! Easy trend alert. Will probably make you look more important than you already are.

Team Biebs

Next time your flight's delayed, watch this vid for entertainment. Note how Nick has his backpack on in the last scene. Dancers have more fun :-P

And nothing.

Django Unchained

Warning: Trailer is a bit gory.

Quentin Tarantino does it again with his new cinema, Django Unchained. I was watching this trailer in the theatre when I noticed the costumery. From the silk royal blue neck ties to the grey fur coats and white double-breasted suits, it was truly alarming. It's one thing to make a movie look like it's set hundreds of years ago. It's another thing to make the characters look chic. I can't wait to see this film. How refreshing for a director to defend the depiction of slavery and turn it all around.... fashionably.

Best Believe.

"When you have a passion, there is no choice but to follow it, fight for it, make it your life’s work. Because when you love what you do, you live in your destiny."

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre

Looks like a hell of a foot rub.

Va Va VROOM.

I am thankful for leather! The Sartorialist truly knows how to capture a great leather look. Biker chic is most definitely coming back in and I'm a fan.

Influencers Influencing the Influenced.

I've been thinking a lot about what PR means in the fashion field. I've interviewed PR professionals who work a lot with social media. I happen to be great at social media. So, naturally I'll be successful if given the right opportunity, correct? No. How could anyone be so ignorant? As we attempt to define PR in my classes, sometimes the category of social media gets swept under the mat. Instagram, blogs, Twitter, yeah yeah anyone can do that. I can upload a pretty dress in a vintage filter. I can position a pair of shoes to look divine. Is it that easy? Sorry for all the hypothetical questions, but I just don't think anyone can use social media strategically. Social media is one of the many tools in a PR professional's tool kit. Granted having a passion, interest and large following in social media is necessary, but without proper application, you're wasting your time. Social media has become one of the main sources of news for target publics. As a part of an organization's objectives, it falls under a PR's job specifications to disperse those objectives to as many people as possible. That, is where strategically filling a void can cause room for promotion. Whether it's being the first to create a brand-endorsed Spotify, or giving breath to an otherwise boring fashion column, it's about doing something that hasn't been done before. There is so much room for that in social media. Like PR and like fashion, social media is constantly evolving and coming up with new platforms. It's our job to think of something before someone else does. There's no better way to disperse that information to millions of followers.

My Superman.

Have you ever seen five separate entities move as one? Special note how they use the suspenders as part of the choreography. Absolute perfection. Maybe my favorite dance video to date.

Are you happy, interesting, or dare I say... both?

I was mindlessly scrolling through my Instagram feed when I stopped upon a square snapshot of a newspaper article uploaded by the Man Repeller. I believe it's a clip from Vanity Fair, but I don't want to read the article without thinking about it first. Its main point is: "The interesting adults are always the school failures, the weird ones, the losers, the malcontents. This isn't wishful thinking. It's the rule."And the Man Repeller's caption to the photo is: "But does interesting equal happy?" Does it? In my opinion, it absolutely does not. Referring back to Watcha Thinking About?, I note how the most talented, interesting people were the most bonkers. They were also, most definitely, not the happiest. They were tortured, bizarre and completely consumed. The work they produced and the people they became were extraordinary and admired by all, but they themselves didn't even recognize that. They were just executing life as who they were.

The author notes that there is no solace in peaking too soon. I have been saying this for years. Heck, my 18-year-old sister has been preaching this for years. We cannot help when we hit our elusive "prime," but we can notice which parts of our lives are filled with the most depth and importance. For some, it truly is being captain of the cheerleading team in 10th grade. And for some, it's being in the best sorority as a college freshman. And for others, it's getting a fabulous job right out of college.

Happiness is an art, not many seem to master it. But who is to say who is happy and who is not? The never-was-es-now might truly be happy with their beer bellies and trucker hats. They might not be too successful, worldly or interesting, but they could be happy. Interesting does not equal happy and vice versa. I say we let each category stand alone. If you're lucky to cross over into both of those traits, let's set up a coffee date.

Enjoy this great read.

(My apologies for starting so many sentences with a preposition. Just felt right. Damn you reporting.)

A little early, but nonetheless, keep it in mind.

Meeting People We Already Know

After seeing someone you haven't seen in a while, it's normal to feel like you're meeting someone you already know. Whether it's his or her longer hair, trendier clothes or deeper voice, there's something so primal about revisiting a familiar friend. However, it's important to tread lightly. Do the same things make them tick? Laugh? Debate? It's interesting how we evolve and change. Things used to make me upset that don't anymore. Things used to amuse me that no longer interest me. This is how we should aim to meet new people we've never met before. The familiar, warm intonation is comforting, but the light questioning is inquisitive and makes you seem interested. I'm going to watch carefully how old friends, new friends and mere acquaintances interact. You can learn a lot by observation.

I like to call this...

...business on the right, party on the left.

Ci-a-ra

I absolutely love how the clothes, sound and dance take me right back to the 90s. The beautiful and talented Ciara just gets better and better with age.

Sir Alexander McQueen

What do you all think of the RTW Spring 2013 design?

Is that a velvet blazer?

If there ever was a more perfectly adorable child. You will be mine!

Watcha Thinking About?

I'm not sure why I've been so intrigued by people of astute creativity lately, but could ya blame me? Something about their minds. The free thinking, obsessive and completely enraptured thought process intrigues me. I like to think of myself as consumed, but not fully. The people who are fully consumed with a craft are often viewed as odd, weird, unusual, or some other litany of estranged adjectives.

I was recently watching Almost Famous, a movie about a boy struggling to find himself as a rock journalist during the greatest era of rock and roll. His mentor, gives him so some profound advice. Aside from the popular line, "be honest and unmerciful," there is another concept that goes largely unnoticed. He mentions the fact that even though being a rock journalist is a glamorous job, often the writer is uncool. Women are a problem for them. He says, "most of the great art in the world is about that very same problem. Good-looking people don't have any spine. Their art never lasts. They get the girls, but we're smarter." He notes that great art is about conflict, pain, guilt, longing, love disguised as sex, sex disguised as love. I am inclined to agree. The greatest artists of our time, the ones so glamorized post-mortem, were on the verge of being tortured psychopaths. Kurt Kobain, for example. Bonkers. Michael Jackson. Bonkers. Heck, even Beethoven. Super bonkers.

The bond between two uncool people, to me, has so much more guts than a shallow, surfaced relationship. Don't search for the cool or even the uncool. Search for the people who get it. Search for the people who let something consume their every thought. I don't mean question them, pursue them or even befriend them. But learn from them. A long time ago, everyone became consumed with something. People had trades, apprenticeships, passions, obsessions. Now, it seems everyone has mastered the guitar, designs clothing and choreographs for Justin Bieber. The one who spends his or her life perfecting a craft has the true brilliant mind. Forget dabblers of anything and everything cool.

Strength.

As I've said time and time again, nothing in dance is more beautiful than apparent strength. There's this stigma that dancers aren't true athletes. There is the struggle between whether dance is a sport or an art. My question is why can't it be both? The lines, rhythm and power that this dance portrays is the perfect balance between sport and art. It's a spart, if you will. Same is the struggle between fashion and art. Are the clothes just a series of colored and textured threads? Or are clothes artwork in which we wear? Each look on the runway is a different piece of art. All created because of some inspiration which drove the designer to create. In dance we create. In fashion we create. In art we create.

Om.

Wishing everyone a cool, calm and collected week!

Dare to... oh just dare.

This past summer, each time I exited my Lincoln Center apartment, something new would incite, ignite and inspire me to write, dress and dream. I like to think of this fall as a buffer for what's to come. I'll be in Europe in 105 days. Is that too far away to start a countdown? As I tirelessly stalk Tumblr, Pinterest and hundreds of blogs, I don't think I can last much longer without seeing something new and exciting every time I walk out the door. However, I must admit I'm being a little lazy. Where I am is full of new and exciting things. These things are just hiding a little better here than they are in New York or Spain. Maybe that's a test. If you can let the little things excite you that normally bore you, then I must say, 'you've got it.'

Homer is that you?

Well, I guess women's street style is now completely inspired by nintendo-playing, beanie wearing, skateboardin' little boys. *Cough cough, Cara Delevingne.*

The Sartorialist knows

So I might have stolen this little tid bit, but I must say, the grey suit and brown tie is a winner.

Oh, so these things exist?