Archive for the ‘FASHION’ Category

I first had this photo in my street photo post, then I decided I didn’t really give it proper credit for awesomeness…

Prada’s AW 2011 campaign… freaking fabulous and alarmingly beautiful in photos, but also quite cooky.

(Those boots were awful in every way… Although I now see how they worked with the collection, but NOT for real life.)

On the runway:

Backstage:

And then, on the street!

Never did I ever think that I would see a human being wearing this in real life… but I have to say, it’s amazing. Like, I don’t know how I didn’t see the awesomeness of this coat before. ( The shoes are Versace, and the sunglasses are Dior. )

I agree that this is a whole lotta look for one person, but if you can wear a furry peach bathing cap with confidence, KUDOS to you my friend! And if you woke up and put this outfit on, and NO ONE asked to take your picture for a style blog, how crappy would you feel?(If no one photographs me in my runway coat, did it ever really happen?) So I kinda HAD to ask her, didn’t I? Seriously though, it was like a Bird of Paradise just flew in from the tropics to make my day!

This makes me want to dye a sheepskin.

As much as I love a good sale, I absolutely LOVE when there are new fun products in stores that we aren’t sick to death of seeing yet… And I also love getting catalogs. Like a lot. Even bad and boring ones like Smith & Noble… (And now after I read them I throw them right in the garbage, instead of letting them pile up. It’s my new life.)

Anyway, there are exciting things happening! West elm has goldware! PB Teen has the furry chair that everyone is going to put with a parsons desk or mirrored vanity in 2 months, you’ll know when you see it all over pinterest that I called it. Jamie Herzlinger made one bad ass x based stool and I thought I was over those.  I collect belts, and these are some good ones. Floral Jeans! Stools that are supposed to be for a nursery, but I think would kick ass anywhere! Coolest appetizer plates ever at Cb2! Green, anywhere anytime! Serena & Lily has potentially the best bedside table ever made!

So go, browse, shop and be merry. It’s Sketch42: I do the work so you don’t have to!

1. Serena & Lily, $395

2. Marni $220

3. Burberry, $495

4. PBTeen, $254

5. Crate &  Barrel, $199

6. Jamie Herzlinger Furniture Collection, $1350

7. West Elm, $29/5 piece setting

8.Stella McCartney, $225

9.Acne, $1400

10. Cb2, $39.95

11. Citizens of Humanity, $190

12. Cb2, $3.95 

13. Serena & Lily, $88

14. M Missoni, $295

First, some pretty pictures to lighten the mood…. the visuals that are inspiring me lately:

Duh, Pinterest.

And second: Last night, we were walking home from dinner and we saw a couple making out against a wall. For a second, the girl pulled away, but then she resumed… In that split second, my hub and I looked at each other and we both started laughing… WHY? Because he knew I was thinking ”DOES SHE NEED HELP!?!?!?!”  I didn’t even have to say it out loud and he knew. HA! Apparently, now I’m hyper aware of this type of thing. Ridiculous, I know. But funny too…

Then my husband said: If life were a movie, this would be the moment when we would cue the hard core training montage, mingled with scenes of you DIYing your own super hero costume… Lets bust out the glue gun!

But what would it look like?!?!?! Something like this?

Photos Via The Spandex Statement

How perfect would that Rihanna costume be for me? RIGHT? RIGHT?

(And I know this doesn’t have to be said, but Im saying it, because people on the internet are morons, I AM JOKING, THIS ISNT SERIOUS… THIS IS A JOKE, AND YES ABUSE IS SERIOUS, BUT WE NEED TO POKE FUN AT OURSELVES TOO. After 2 days of being all banged up, I’m laughing at myself now.)

And so what does your inner super hero look like? I added the glitter cape for all of you girly girls out there. And even though I hate glitter, a glitter cape would be freaking amazing….

TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!

(OH! And one more thing! I am kicking off a series called Furniture Friday on the blog Canoe Design, talking about my new favorite item, my dot chairs! AND, you can see the front and backs of the chairs! GO SEE! HERE.)

Remember when I said I was changing my life and going through a lifestyle REVOLUTION? Well this was the first part of it. My lifestyle revolution is that I am going to live a more uncluttered life. Im not going to say MINIMAL, heaven forbid! But more organized and neater. AND I’m not going to let sentimentality (unreasonable sentiments, not normal ones) and stuff have power over me. Its been about 2 weeks since I started this and I actually feel so much better… lighter, in a way. The stuff was getting in the way of my life.

I’ve spoken about my hoarding many times before…It’s not so much that I let things build up to gross and disgusting levels of clutter so much as I have a hard time parting with things, plus I’m unorganized. So my apartment was pretty much starting to look like a little mini antique shop… and in terms of my closets… they weren’t horribly messy, just literally JAM PACKED.

Two of my best friends decided that I needed an intervention. They started a company called C&C Closet Concierge, and thought I should be a client. First they organize your closets with you, and then they help you figure out what you need, don’t need, and should never wear again!

Here is a little bit about what they do:

So obviously, I agreed. These are the girls I go to when I have parties, photo shoots and need some tips! BUT lets just put it this way, throwing things away did not go down easy. AT ALL. I was like the worst patient ever. I went down kicking and screaming over every pair of jeans from 2001 (True Religion 3 sizes too big, am I EVER wearing those again?!? I hope not…) Gap maternity button downs that I used to cover my love handles in my 9th month…. 8 billion black t-shirts…. Ugly things from H&M or Forever 21, you know the things you buy when you are test driving a trend, but not ready to commit to it… those things. Ugh…. So here it is, the before, during and after. And the during was a really really really hard thing for me… Painful, but necessary.

BEFORE:

So you see, it wasn’t so messy (it could be neater) but it was just too jammed and apparently, I had everything in the wrong spots… And no one can get over that I fold my jeans, but I do, and its something I will never change! (You know I had to make the before photos black and white like those commercials…)

DURING:

A sweater in mid-flight and a heap bigger than my 3 year old.

Surveying the damage….It had to get worse before it got better!

Violá!!! 6 garbage bags full of giveaways. Not to mention the shoe boxes, which I don’t know why I bothered keeping for the past 6 years.

After:

And now, color coded everything, sweaters with sweaters, shirts with shirts, blazers with blazers….

That beige belt is vintage Alaia from my mom. It fits like a corset, and I get dizzy from no breath when I wear it, but by god, I will never part with it!

When I had the closets made, I had a hamper built in to the closet because I didn’t have room in the bathroom. I chose not to put in a lot of drawers, because I find they are terrible and get messy so fast and so I just keep work out clothes, underwear, socks, bathing suits in the drawers… I also keep a leftover Ikea stool from a party I made for Cookie in the closet so I can reach everything.

Bags and clutches are moved out of the way so pretty sweaters can be the first thing I see. Jeans and T shirts are also easily accessible.

I had a very shallow wall on one side of the closet and rather than leave it empty or have belt hooks on it, I had the closet guys build in 3″ shelving… I absolutely LOVE these shallow shelves. I use them to hold my belts, some of my jewelry, gloves etc… I also leave my contact lenses, deodorant and some make up in there because sometimes I like to put those on in the closet.  Its also where I keep extra business cards, check book and other stuff I don’t want flying around the house. 

After my friends left, I was still kind of nervous that I threw out something good. Then I dropped them to my moms house so my sisters could look it over, and while a lot of it was good stuff, it was nothing that I would or could ever wear again. Most of it was stuff that I NEVER EVEN LIKED IN THE FIRST PLACE! Things that never fit right… shirts a bit too low cut to wear, shoes a bit too small etc, things that I just held on to for no reason.

Next came PART II, THE FUN PART!!!!

Claudy helped me figure out what items were missing from my closet… Here are a few looks she put together for me along with a closet analysis. She mixed high and low to help me fill in the blanks.

LOOK 1:

My Closet Analysis from Claudy:

One thing that I noticed and loved about Nicole’s wardrobe, is that she’s not your typical shopper. Unlike everyone else, Nicole’s wardrobe is filled with statement pieces as opposed to basics. For example, she has a shrunken vintage brown leather jacket that doesn’t close, but doesn’t have a decent black leather jacket. She has a floral blazer, but her only black blazer was made out of sweatshirt material. The only problem with that is that there were no basics to pair these statement pieces with!!  My suggestions for Nicole were to add in some everyday basics to mix and match with her trendy duds. Like most of us, she is guilty of gravitating to the same style and color palettes ( Nicole is like a downtown hipster meets Ralph Lauren equestrian). The pieces I suggested for her would give her wardrobe a bit more of an edgier\ city sheek look for a more complete wardrobe.

 Bluelab reversible skinny jean in Cheetah HERE with a grey tshirt tucked in ( $29, Urban Outfitters)  topshop leather jacket ($260, TopShop ), topshop mesh chain bracelt bumper set ($40,TopShop $) with rag and bone newbury booties (saks.com $495) or her Jill Sander black oxford laceup shoes for warm weather days and a ps1 small leather satchel ($1225, netaporter.com) 

LOOK 2:

Start with wine colored Rag and Bone jeans that Nicole already owns HERE, paired with her Isabel Marant DIY beaded navajo belt. Denim topshop button down( HERE ), or a crewcuts denim top size 14!! (HERE) Lanvin wedges (HERE) since nicole mentioned that she needed a nice wedge for day/night, or you can pair it with the Rag and Bone Newbury Booties from the first look. 

LOOK 3:

Helmut Lang leather pants HERE- if you’re lucky you may be able to score a pair on bluefly.com for 60 off!! With a light blue button down shirt by Caroline Hedaya (contact Caroline for more info) and my all time favorite black Isabel Marant mony fringe boots. HERE  

Of course if you arent one of the lucky ones to score the leather pants on sale and you dont want to break the bank, you can always substitute them with the bluelab reversible jeans that i put in day outfit #1 and wear them on the black wax side, along with the denim button down from day outfit  2 and this floral blazer that Nicole and i both snatched up from Zara HERE.

Accessorize with my all time  favorite Yves Saint Laurent arty gold plated glass ring available in many different colors HERE or with any  gold cuff you can find at H&M, Topshop, Forever 21 etc.

For  a TRIP:

Since vacation season is approaching and many of you are going to be jetting off to warm sandy beaches I figured I’d put together a few outfits you can wear to the beach or out at night.  Here are some simple and chic outfits.

Bathing suit shopping doesn’t have to be painful. For the honeymoon HERE,for the small chested,HERE or  for the bustier woman, HERE for the stomach conscious HERE.

I know beauty is only skin deep…. but it sure is pretty, isn’t it?  Meanwhile, aside from the astounding beauty of the models, photographer Aram Bedrossian just can’t take a bad picture. All his photos and especially portraits are captivating.

Not that she is unattractive, she’s pretty – but even Martha Stewart looks exquisite… they all do, really. I spent two hours in his blog last night. HERE.

(Side note: I wish my wedding photographer made me look as beautiful as these pictures feel. (Not by a long shot. Wrote shit by accident there for a second, coulda left it. Same difference;))

This really makes me wish I could take amazing photos. Thats my next challenge and future hobby. 2012 anyone?