Happy Birthday!

Someone should get me this cake (yes, it's a cake!), or the real thing.

Today is the my blog's first birthday! I should probably celebrate by going shopping or something... But I can't because I'm busy writing my thesis. I just wanted to write how happy I am to be doing this blog, thanks to my Writing for New Media teacher, Beth. And also thank you to everyone who reads it. I will keep working on it and try to make this the first of many anniversaries.

Kate Spade's Helping Hand

I wrote a paper about the importance of fashion for my Persuasive Writing class last fall. Of course I got an A because I had a thousand arguments saying how wonderful fashion is for (almost) everyone.

Kate Spade Bangles as shown on their blog.

One of the sections was about charity. But not in the way of let's have a party with $1000 dollar tickets and super expensive champagne. I like the helping-someone-build-a-life approach to charity. But sometimes the things sold for good causes are very much "look at me changing the world" kind of objects. Like the (RED) products. It's not that I don't support their cause, it's jsut that I like something more understated, something that you know is helping but doesn't have to advertise it.



That's exactly why in my paper, I wrote about the partnership between Kate Spade and Women for Women International. And just today I got an e-mail promoting their new products. And I like their approach to selling something that helps.

Hand in Hand Frienship Bangles in different colors.

I fell completely in love with the "Hand in Hand Friendship Bangles". I love the colors and the small dangling spade. And the best part is that you're helping women in Afghanistan rebuild their lives after the war and without men. And, you get free shipping while doing some good.

*All images taken from katespade.com

The First Hipster

And to keep up with my music theme and reasons I would love to go to Coachella: Pulp. But don't panic, in one month they will be playing in Mexico City and I will finally get to see live one of my favorite bands ever (as you may recall from this post). And I say finally because they separated in 2002. I never thought they would get back together so I bought all their CDs, yes CDs, in my trip to London in 2003. And last year it happened, and this year I will finally get to see Mr. Jarvis Cocker dance.

I got this really cool Jarvis polaroid pic from here.

For me, he was really the first hipster, and he dressed like no one else in his time... Those glasses he wore way before it was cool. He has worn skinny jeans forever and sometimes ties. So, he really was always ahead. He was even in Harry Potter. What's cooler than that?

The band.

But not everything is about Jarvis. I also love that they have Candida Doyle playing the keybords. I'm pretty sure in 1978 there were not many bands who had women. Maybe it was just luck, but after playing for the first time with her, they got their first major record deal. Or cassette, or whatever.

I took this picture from an interview with her in 1996, here. A great website about the band.

I love what she's wearing in this video. Her belt is super 90s, and I'm pretty sure I had something similar but of course I looked the total opposite of cool. I love that this was the very first time they played 'Common People' in a festival in 1994, when I was just 9 years old. And still today it's one of my favorite songs ever.

I'll let you know how the concert goes... And of course what Jarvis, Candida and I wore.

I still want to be a Cheerleader

I love music (although I'm not the best at discovering new bands). And, surprise, I also love fashion. So I really love bands and singers who wear cute outfits. I really find them inspiring both creatively and fashion-wise. That's why I wrote about Cults' Madeline Follin last year. And that's why it is St. Vincent's turn.

I just adore this picture.

I mean, clearly I'm no expert in music because her first record came out in 2007 and I'm just falling in love with her, but I can't get enough of her music and her curly hair and outfits. My favorite songs are definitely 'Cheerleader' and 'Cruel'. (You can find all her music here. And see more pics and videos here.)

I like to think that we have things in common like crazy curly hair, super white skin
and a love for lipstick.

I really love, love, love the way she dresses. It's kind of the look I try to go for with vintage-looking dresses, simple shapes and lots of lace. NEVER slutty (I hate slutty). And always letting her clothes be a complement and letting her music take center stage. Also, she reminds me of my friend Maya.

I love her vintage inspired style.

So she is (sigh) just another reason I'm extemely sad I'm not going to Coachella... And worse? She'll be in Mexico City and I won't be able to go... But maybe, just maybe, May 19 in Atlanta? Maybe? If I find anyone to come with me... Anyone?

And like I said, I'm no music expert but I'm so cheering for her (duh!) and she totally beats Lana del Rey in every department.

Here's a video live at the Met in NYC with the lyrics to Cheerleader. Enjoy :D

Creatures

Everyone who knows me knows I love creatures and I want everything that has one on it. That's why I got shoes with an actual leopard and not only leopard print. And that's also why I went back to Urban the day after getting those to get the pair with birds after feeling like I was in Sophie's Choice (yes, I am that dramatic when it comes to shopping). Aaaand, that is also the reason why I took pictures with every kind of creature I could find around DC.

Me with different creatures in DC, including my favorite: "Thinker on a Rock" by BarryFlanagan at The Sculpture Garden of the National Gallery of Art.

But most important for this post: I couldn't stop myself from buying this vintage safari shirt with zebras (not cabras, Judy!) and leopards at my favorite store, Arc. I loved it so much that I wanted to wear it the very moment I paid for it. Just like when I was little and I wore new shoes right after my mom payed for them. It's kind of cropped so I wore it with high waisted jeans... And I got so many compliments that I can't wait to wear it again. If only the Savannah heat would let me show my love for creatures.

I'm wearing the vintage shirt from Arc, black Les Follies de Joie jeans, Arc
sunglasses and booties I got at Urban.

I want to leave you with these images from the exhibition South African artist Jane Alexander has at the SCAD Museum, Surveys (from the Cape of Good Hope). Which is, as you can guess, full of creepy-funny-looking-creatures. There's photos and sculptures and I really, really liked it. Because, you know, I just love creatures.

CropTop

For my last class as a grad student (yes, I'm freaking out about the future) I wrote a paper about fashion and it's devolution (this is a great Vanity Fair article on it). And one trend from the 90s I didn't think I would want to come back is the crop top. But now I'm actually loving it and wanting to wear it. Although I will need to excercise a little.

My favorite online store Net-A-Porter did a great article about this trend in their online magazine, and I especially liked this photos of celebrities wearing it. They totally got me into buying something like this. I only wish I could buy it from them.

My favorite, Gwyneth in Pucci. Hanneli Mustaparta. Rooney Mara in MiuMiu.

If I had all the money in the world, and a thousand places to go dressed up pretty, I would wear this MiuMiu cropped top with all the pretty skirts from Net-A-Porter.

MiuMiu cropped top, the one Rooney Mara is wearing on the image above.

Chloé, Valentino, See by Chloé


Miu Miu, Lanvin, Preen Line, Jason Wu

But, since I don't have all that money, this is how I will actually be wearing it. I got this light blue denim top at American Eagle and I'm planning on wearing it with my Jason Wu for Target high-waisted pleated skirt or my Les Follies de Joie jeans in black and/or pink.


I love this collage of the trend by Fashionista. But what I love the most? It's about showing just a little hint of skin. That way no one can see the scar from my crazy times when I got me belly button pierced.

Different lenghts, sizes and shapes from different designers. Collage
courtesy of Fashionista.

And for even more options and ideas see Trendy not Trampy at Refinery29.

*Most images were taken from net-a-porter.com but I edited them myself.

New New + Vintage New

Next Tuesday the Winter quarter at SCAD will be over. My last quarter... That means I'm graduating soon. In June. And I need to finish my thesis. Now. But I've also been thinking about the things I'm going to miss the most about Savannah. Number one on my list? Arc. OK, just after my friends.

The beautiful new store. It is almost five times bigger than the old space.

Arc is the store that made me a vintage clothing obsessed person. It probably is my favorite store in the whole world. And they just opened their new store. It is on West Broughton Street, one of the main streets in Savannah. It is right next to Marc by Marc Jacobs and across the street from Urban Outfitters. I'm sure this will sure increase the clientele. Because it was already the best store in Savannah (I'm super biased, but I swear they didn't pay me).

Behind the window, pretty clothes and props.

A rack of coats. Everything vintage, bought at estate sales.

Kyle, the owner, has been adding new products since he opened the other store about a year ago. He just got Baggu shopper bags and backpacks and new lines of jeans. He is also planning on moving all the vintage clothes upstairs and have new-new brands downstairs. Including Alexander Wang and similar designers.

Beautiful blouses, all for me.

Vintage books in a vintage book case. I'm so happy their dressing
rooms are bigger too.

And since I was going as a reporter and not as a costumer (OK, I browsed a little) I was wearing a very professional blazer. My beautiful Christian Dior lace blazer that I got (surprise!) at Arc a couple of months ago. You may remember it from this post. Pretty much everything else I'm wearing is from the Gap. But I liked how I mixed the blazer with everything else.





I will leave you with a picture of Kyle and his cute dog, who's at the store all the time. Oh, yes, I will really miss this place.

Another obsession...

Two years ago my friend Cecilia forced me to get on Twitter. Just like she had before with Facebook. Yes, I admit it, I wouldn't leave Hi5 (if you even remember what that is). Today, there's not a moment Twitter is not open in my computer browser.

I guess I was kind of a late adopter, although I like to think of myself as part of the early majority, (and yes, that is a link to Wikipedia [sorry to all the schools I have attended and dad for spending all that money, I'm lazy sometimes]) in the whole Twitter craziness.

So, to not be one of those social-media-late-adopters I started posting on Pinterest a couple of months ago. But it's just now that I'm really getting into it. Especially with the Fall/Winter 2012 collections being presented and the Award Show season.

So here it is, in case you want to follow my (many) obsessions: http://pinterest.com/andrevii/ . It's mostly fasion related but there's also some funny stuff that I like. And shopping. And more fashion.

This is one of my several outfit and inspiration boards with everything I see on the internet
while pretending to do work (click on the image to go to the actual board).

And this is my egocentric board with my own outfits (click on the image to go
to the actual board).

Go to my Pinterest page to see all my boards! And sorry I couldn't keep even this post short. I guess I am a real writer after all.

June 1972

I've been missing my parents a lot lately. I want to go home ASAP because I hate missing people. And I want to eat Mexican food.

But since I can't go now (but probably I will in April) I want to share this picutre of them. It looks like it was taken with Instagram, but it is really old, not just pretended old. It was taken in June 1972, even before they were married. And waaaay before I was even born. I love this picture, I think it's my favorite of them.


The picture reminded me of the blog and Lucky magazine feature My Mom, the Style Icon. I never though of how much my mom and I dress alike until I started liking vintage clothes and looking at told pictures of her. I actually have a red skirt that looks like this one that I got at my favorite vintage store, Arc. I do wear it with striped t-shirts, but I really don't understand those shoes.

And this is what we look like now (at my cousin's wedding in July). My dad is wearing a "guayabera", since that's what men wear to a day wedding in Mexico. I really like how he looks in this outfit. I can even forgive the shoes and the long pants. My mom chose her dress by herself, but of coursed I styled. She's wearing a Zara belt as necklace and I changed the shoes she had chosen. I wish I will look as good as her when I'm her age. I'm wearing a Shoshanna dress and (sigh) Jessica Simpson shoes.


And this is a picture of me trying to scan the other picture. It makes no sense but I thought it was really funny.

150/15 by Darcel @ Colette

150/15 is an exhibition of 150 portraits by Australian-in-New-York artist Darcel Disappoints to celebrate the 15 years of fashion, art and design store Colette. Colette is a store in Paris, one of those super cool places that I would love to shop at but certainly can't afford. Still, I like to go on their website and online-window-shop.

Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld. I wish I was cool enough to know him
and call him Uncle Karl.

Anna Wintour. Oh, you know... Just editor-in-chief of Vogue. No big deal.

Darcel has worked with Colette for several years, but his main source of expression is his blog www.darceldisappoints.com. In it he tells through images the misfortunes of his character as someone trying to "make it" in New York.

One of my biggest inspirations in life, the amazing André Leon Talley. Vogue editor and Savannah regular, one of the
funniest persons ever and with more fashion knowledge than anyone else.

Probably my favorite artist of all times: Andy Warhol.

To celebrate Colette's 15th birthday, Darcel made 150 portraits of personalities from the fashion, music, design, photography and art worlds. The portraits will be exhibited in the store during March. And all the images here are from the exhibition... They can be bought for €150 and there's only 15 of each. I chose my favorite 15 out of the 150 to show here, but you can see them all here: 150/15.

Just one of my favorite designers. I also love her because she's BFFs with my girl
crush Gwyneth Paltrow.

One of the coolest persons I've ever seen, Waris Ahluwalia, of House of Waris and Wes Anderson movies fame. He was
at SCAD Style last year and he's just so cool.

Grace Coddington, creative drector of Vogue and redhead extraordinaire.

CC. If I need to explain her, you shouldn't be reading this blog.

Suzy Menkes, fashion editor of the International Herald Tribune. A real fashion journalist
and true inspiration for me.

Bill Cunningham, the original street style photographer. And one of the cutest
men of all times.

Another real fashion critic, Cathy Horyn from the New York Times. Such a critic, she has
been banned from shows.

YSL, mon amour.

I just love the Olsen twins' line Elizabeth and James... And that they really, really don't care what
people think about them.

Alber Elbaz, who recently celebrated 10 years designing for Lanvin. He's just like a Teddy Bear.

*All images come from the 150/15 website. They all belong to www.colette.fr.