Elaine Benes, an unlikely fashion icon

Elaine, fashion icon

  
If you ask me what my favorite TV show of all times is you may be surprised that as a "fashionista" is not Sex and the City, or Gossip Girl, or... The O.C. or whatever. Nop, it's not Friends either. God forbid. Don't get me wrong, I love Carrie and Blair and Summer –I even loved Rachel at some point– but there's nothing, I repeat NOTHING, like Seinfeld. And for all of you who think the show has nothing to do with fashion, think again.

OK, it's not really about fashion. But it had amazing fashion choices. The costume design was flawless. Each of the characters reflected who they were with their clothes: Kramer's loud shirts, George's checked shirts with white t-shirts under them, Jerry's denim everything and white sneakers.

But Elaine was the best, she was so 90s. Amazing: floral dresses, masculine suits, black shoes with white socks. And a lot, I mean A LOT, of vests. Also, I find her hair choices really inspiring. She did everything: short, long, braids, curly, straight... You name it.

Denim on Denim.

Menswear... Love the shoes!

I think she's super pretty.

With Jerry in matching suits.

And this BuzzFeed article explains everything anbout how is not only her fashion but her EVERYTHING, that makes me wanna be like her. Sort of. She even worked in publishing and a J.Crew-style catalog! Writing, editing and fashion? Sounds like me... I also LOVE that she hated "The English Patient" the way I hated "The Illusionist". Hating a movie eeeeveryone loves? Very me.

Anyway, Elaine was so crazy with her choices and quirks (the way she danced!) so authentic that she is an absolut icon for me.


Español
Cuando alguien me pregunta sobre mi programa favorito se sorprenden de que no sea Sex and the City o Gossip Girl. La verdad es que esos me encantan, sobre todo por la moda pero creo que mi favorito de todos los tiempos siempre será Seinfeld. 
No, yo sé que no tiene mucho que ver con moda, pero la verdad es que el programa tuvo un excelente diseñador de vestuario que supo reflejar la personalidad de cada uno de los personajes en su vestuario.
Uno de mis ídolos, por lo tanto, es Elaine Benes. Sus looks son muy de los noventas. Precisamente porque el show era en esos años. Pero me encanta la forma en que se refleja su personalidad. Amo que trabajara en editoriales y en un catálogo al estilo J.Crew y que un día decidió cortarse todo el pelo nada más por que sí. Como yo. Me gustan sus chamarras de mezclilla, sus miles de chalecos y sus trajes masculinos. Creo que son looks que se pueden aplicar súper bien a la moda de hoy, sobre todo jumpsuits y pantalones de vestir a la cintura. 
Pero bueno, lo que más me gusta es que es un personaje completamente loco y libre. Y eso se refleja en su ropa. Un verdadero ícono.

I want to be her! (Seriously)

Sometimes you find a book that reads like your own story. Most times such book is a novel about a boy who is a wizard and has a dorky friend and you think you are that boy's friend with a weird name and bushy hair. OK, not really. But, this time it's something much more real for me.

Last year I got the memoir/style book I want to be her! by Andrea Linett, and seriously it's like I wrote it. Not only because the author's name is my name too, but because her life is super similar to mine. OK, it's more like I want my life to be like hers... But who cares?

Andrea Linett has worked in magazines her whole life, from being the receptionist at Sassy (where she discovered Chloe Sevigny) to founding Lucky. One of my favorite magazines, by the way. But the most amazing thing is that she did it being the weird girl. I love the illustration above with the (vintage) shoes she wore for her first day at BAZAAR compared to the ones the other girls used. Yes, she wore vintage in a sea of Manolo-wearing-Carrie-wannabes.

The other thing I really enjoyed while reading the book, were the super pretty illustrations by Linett's BFF, Anne Johnston Albert. These, along with the bullet points and quotes make for a really light reading. Like I said, I read the whole thing in 5 hours. And if you don't fell like reading, you can visit her website. But the book is better, I swear.

She is now at Michael Kors and has an awesome life (see for yourself), and she's a book author sooo.... I feel really identified with her and I'm definitely planning on following her advice, both fashion and career-wise... Because, of course, I want to be (like) her.

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¿No les pasa que leen un libro y sienten que podría ser su vida? Recientemente terminé de leer (en un solo día) el libro I want to be her! de Andrea Linett y justo me pasó eso. Obviamente me emocioné porque tenemos el mismo nombre, pero la historia que cuenta es increíblemente similar a la mía. Yo aún estoy en un punto muy inicial, pero me encantaría seguir sus pasos.
Ella es fundadora de Lucky, una de mis revistas favoritas, y trabajó en Harper's Bazaar. Pero lo mejor es que lo hizo muy a su manera, usando vintage cuando aún no era cool y sin intentar ser como todas las demás chicas de las revistas.
El libro es hermoso, está lleno de ilustraciones de la mejor amiga de la autora y es una lectura súper ligera. Lo recomiendo muchísimo para cualquiera, no solamente para fans de la moda.
Yo, definitivamente, quiero ser como ella. No solamente en cuanto a moda sino también en su carrera.

I just wanna wear sweaters, even if I'm sweating

This fall is all about sweaters, I already ordered what I hope will be my favorite sweater for fall and still I keep seeing more and more options. This onsession came from my (twitter) friend Gina and her blog High on Fashion. I just want EVERYTHING she has (maybe I would style it differently, but seriously I WANT EVERYTHING. But this post with the 3.1 Phillip Lim sweater mixed with a baroque skirt was specially inspiring.

Gina from High on Fashion.

If I could choose any sweater I wanted, it would be these nine (yes, ONLY nine).

Top, left to right: Mulberry, Burberry Prorsum, Jason Wu. / Center: Carven, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Sonia by Sonia Rykiel/ Bottom: Proenza Schouler, Tory Burch, Lanvin. Everything from net-a-porter

*Español: Amo los suéteres y ya pedí a ASOS uno que pienso usar todo el otoño. Mi idea es usar suéteres con todo tipo de outfits, en especial los más inesperados. La idea me surgió de un post de Gina de High on Fashion donde combina un suéter INCREIBLE de Phillip Lim con una falda y botitas azules. Recomiendo ampliamente su blog, de verdad estoy enamorada de todo su clóset.

CHANEL's LBJ

At the entrance to the exhibition... I was so excited I wanted to cry.

Sometimes you're just in the right place at the right time. Going to NYC on a post-grad vacation, I was not expecting to see a CHANEL exhibition. So it was a huge surprise for me, while on Twitter, that I would be able to see the exhibition accompanying the book "The Little Black Jacket". And I was really, really lucky... Because it was a one-week-only exhibition.

Carine Roitfeld channeling Madmoiselle Coco next to Anna Wintour's back. 

A pregnant Charlotte Gainsbourg. Perfect.

The show is incredible, really small, but incredible. I'm a huge fan of Coco and Uncle Karl, so this was really breathtaking. The girls working at the gallery wore beautiful CHANEL clothes and shoes, and they were super nice. The best part? You get to take a huge poster home. Vanessa Paradis shot in b&w by Karl Lagerfeld will be hanging in my future room.
 

 I'm not a fan of Yoko Ono, but these pictures are incredibly cool.

I'm still learning how to use my new camera, but I hope you like the pics!

 

And finally me again...

...and my mom.

When I grow up I want to be... John Fairchild

The super eighties style cover.

Looking for inspiration for my thesis, I found the book Chic Savages. It was written by John Fairchild, of Fairchild Publications. He was the heir of the company started by his grandfather, Edmund Fairchild, where he worked since he was 13.

The book is a really funny memoir, telling parts of his life and how he created W magazine out of Women’s Wear Daily. He writes about designers and fashion people in a hilarious (and sometimes inappropriate) way. He has amazing quotes and incredible stories of being around people like Yves Saint Laurent and Bill Blass.

Mr. Fairchild talking to Vogue editor Diana Vreeland.

With YSL.

In 1997, when he was around 70, he retired as chairman and editorial director of Fairchild Publications, which is now owned by Condé Nast. He was a very controversial person in the fashion world, getting into feuds with designers and journalists alike. It is rumored he had a huge fight with my beloved André Leon Talley. Still, it really is a must read. I tried to choose my favorite quotes but there are too many and too good.

Of course, the book is super old... Almost as old as me. But for someone wanting to go into the magazine business is a must-read. It's entertaining and shows how things used to be. And maybe how they should be again. I keep thinking (hipsterly) that maybe fashion should go back to being not so mainstream. I hope I get a magazine job soon. And maybe I could have as much fun as Fairchild did in the eighties.

Happy Birthday Audrey!

Audrey Hepburn’s 83^rd birthday is today. That is why Savannah is having a three movie marathon in a real theater this weekend. And I couldn’t be more excited to have a classy-old-movie-weekend because, of course, I love her. Who doesn’t?

The eating part of this still will be easy to replicate.

I will be watching Roman Holiday, Charade and Funny Face. Recently I saw Roman Holiday and I love when she cuts her hair super short. She looks beautiful, and I of course love short hair. Also, I’m planning on replicating the Breakfast at Tiffany’s scene this summer in NYC and get my mom to get me something (maybe I’ll post a pic if it comes out the right way).

 

I love her whole Roman Holiday look, and I own a similar skirt. But my favorite from this pic is the smile and the hair. 

Now I must go and plan what I will wear. Maybe the Roman Holiday look, maybe an LBD (not Givenchy, for sure). You, meanwhile, enjoy some pics from what I will see in a big screen! 

Yesterday I wrote about sunglasses, so this still from Charade seems fitting for today's post.

Funny Face: an Audrey movie about fashion. Do I even need to caption this?

What I Want Today: Karen Walker Sunglasses

I'm a really huge fan of sunglasses. It may be due to the fact that I'm too white and I don't want to get wrinkles. So I never leave the house without a pair. I also look better in pictures with them on. And I think they are something very inspirational, you can get a piece of Dolce & Gabbana for $200 and wear them every day.

Recently I discovered Karen Walker sunglasses. Karen Walker is a designer from New Zealand and she designs quirky, colorful frames. Right now I'm very much into round sunglasses, especially oversized ones. And also really thick ones. And Karen Walker has both. I really, really like them. Because, who doesn't love pink and oversized?

The next two pairs are my favorite but you can find more here and here.

Super Duper Strength Sunglasses, $250 at ShopBop.

Harvest Sunglasses, $280 at ShopBop.

While I decide if I get a pair or not, because I'm broke as always, I'll just stay home and wait for the nice UPS man who's bringing me the new Tom Ford shades I got from The Outnet.

*All images are from shopbop.com

Creatures+Music+Vintage

Since this weekend I should be enjoying Coachella but I'm not, I decided to do another musical post. As always, it needs to have a fashion element and since I love boy and girl bands with retro looks, this post is about Metronomy. Metronomy is a band I don't know how I found. Like almost every "indie-hipster-alternative" band I know. They come, as expected, from the UK and have released three albums. And, surprise, they're playing at Coachella too.

The concert poster for their Mexico City show last October. Of course, I missed it. I took it from here.

Recently I came across the video for my favorite song of theirs: The Look. And guess what I found... A three guys, one girl band wearing retro looks and some birds. Birds riding go-carts. As you know, I love creatures so I thought this video was amazing and just perfect for the song.

The Look birds.

The girl, who plays the drums, is Anna Prior. In the video she's wearing a red dress (I'm pretty sure it's vintage) with a Peter Pan collar. I even found a blog post on how to recreate the look of  The Look. You know, there's just something really cool about a girl playing in a band wearing vintage. 

 Anna Prior playing. I love her bangs and hair color.

They played in Mexico City last year but I was in Savannah, so I missed it. But Metronomy will be openning for Coldplay (yes, I love Coldplay) in their 2012 North American tour so maybe I'll get to see them both before moving back to Mexico. Meanwhile, enjoy the video!

 The Look, Metronomy.

When I grow up I want to be... Garance Doré.

One of my favorite bloggers of the moment is Garance Doré (@garancedore). She started her blog, where she uploaded her beautiful illustrations, in 2006. Then she started adding text, in a very cute, kind of funny way. (I guess that’s the way to make a good blog, writing about what you like in your own style… Not just having ads and posting outfits). Then she started taking pictures and fell in love with The Sartorialist. She is exactly the kind of blogger/writer I want to be.

  Garance Doré at some Fashion Week.

In her “about” section of her website she writes: 

“That’s how it became quite clear to me that fashion was my dearest subject. I like how often it changes its mind and in it, you can see the passing of time. I like that it’s as beautiful on movie stars as it is on the street because everything is only how you look at it.”

 I really like her beautiful illustrations. This one's illustrating Prada.

Her love for fashion is one of the reasons I love her. But not the only one, here are my five top reasons she's my favorite at the moment:

• She seems like the nicest person in the (fashion) world.
• She has the cutest French accent when speaking English. We both have an accent! Something in common...
• She’s dating, like I said before, the Sartorialist’s Scott Schumann. And together they won the CFDA Eugenia Sheppard Media Award. 
• She’s very casual in her writing tone, I like to think we write in a similar way. (Something else in common).
• She writes super cute “hand-written” notes over her pictures.   

 
With Scott Schumann, The Sartorialist. I love that they're wearing 

matching shoes!

Clearly I'm in love with the woman. And I was completely obsessed with her “Pardon my French” video series about Paris Fashion Week. I thinkink watching them was the moment I fell in love with her personality. She’s one of the people I want to be when I grow up.

  This is episode 2 of the Pardon My French series, "Fashion & Technology". It's my favorite, I hope you like it too.  

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

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.