Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Have Your Cake and Wear it Too

It's Set time again!

This is probably one of the most exhausting sets I've ever done. The lighting had to be right to catch the berry-ness of the shoes but not make me look strangely disproportional, that the shadows cast by the lights weren't too bad as to obscure the outfit, that the shoes were turned the right way to catch the heel and the print, that the bowler hat didn't look too squat (and it does in most), that the angle was redeemable, that the clothes had to be adjusted correctly or else I would've come off looking like a huge marshmallow in the photos, etc. Anyway, brief story behind this was that I received a used pair of Christian Lacroix I got from ebay {I always buy used leather, never new leather-- see link to the left}. Managed to snag them for a very good price.

...normally I really try to buy true vintage, but you know with all these street savvy girls egging for vintage now, it's now actually HARD to find real vintage shoes that I like that don't cost like upwards of $50...especially you know the ubiquitous vintage woven flats. Anyway I was lucky to stumble across these used floral Lacroix beauties... I mean I might end up sending them back on ebay since they're a little tight... but then again it's a a hassle so I'll see.



So I got them in the mail, and I was thinking of good ways to take advantage of it, which is basically what most of us try to do ... and I wondered how they'd go with my eyelet print leggings from Anna Sui, NY. Pairing them together, my mind kept flashing Strawberry Cheesecake, Strawberry Cheesecake. And after some more combinations, I came up with a Strawberry Cheesecake-like outfit. Hence the title of the post.

A tad of graham-cracker brown, fluffy white cream, textured cheesecake-like skirt, and a drizzling of strawberry-like colors on the bottom. The bowler hat was for fun. Kind of gave it a england look? Sometimes I wish I had a job that would allow me to wear these interesting concoctions... I mean you can't wear this out in central jersey unless you want to feel uncomfortable and frou-frou.

So I tried different stylings with this set, but most of the different stylings just revolved placing the graham-cracker skirt in different places and twisting it around as sort of a scarf. Can I call it a skarf? Like skirt+scarf?

This set has a lot of photos cause I kind of went crazy and perfectionist-like, but I want you guys to see it in a way that you can't get from a couple photos, so I was like, "what the heck, I'll just put them all up". No more mind-numbing editing.



main players in the set: Christian Lacroix floral wicker wedges, Anna Sui Eyelet Leggings, Urban Outfitters soft white cropped trapeze-like top, Light heathery white Isabel Marant top underneath with black embroidery, Express thin soft brown skirt, Childhood textured yellow skirt, Urban Outfitters Black Bowler-Equestrian-like Hat.

Feel Free to Click any to Enlarge for Details.

Let them Eat Cake

































Action of the Week

ONE.org


Senator Tom Daschle
ONE Member and National Co-Chair ONE Vote ‘08:

"In Rwanda, I saw the tremendous impact of some of the very things you’ve worked to make possible. Deaths from malaria have been cut by 66%, in large part because of the increase in bed net and anti-malarial medicine distribution. The death rate from malaria, as well AIDS and TB is going to continue to fall, because of your work pressuring Congress to reauthorize PEPFAR, America’s global AIDS bill, for five more years.

Victories like PEPFAR are saving lives and giving people in places like Rwanda new hope, making the whole world a safer and more prosperous place. Now we have the chance to make ending extreme poverty and global disease a focus for the Democratic and Republican parties.

Click below to sign the petition and I’ll deliver your signature when I meet with Democratic Party leaders to ask them to make the struggle against global poverty a priority in 2008.

http://www.one.org/platforms/o.pl?id=443-1564728-pqT3x2x&t=3"

Monday, July 28, 2008

Neon Floral (2 posts back) Update: ebay find


Hey y'all! So on my neon + florals outfit set [refresh your memory? 2 posts down], a lot of you seemed to really dig the neon floral shorts I owned. Although ebay didn't yield many fruitful neon floral shorts, it did yield - what I think is- this gorgeous vtg 80's neon floral swimsuit. It's only $12, so will someone who has a bigger chest than me please pick this up? It's adorable!

See item details and measurements here: Modern Nostalgic

you better hurry, item ends in 2 days...

((btw, comments are disabled for this post since I don't think there's much to say other than, "wow! cute!" However, if you feel the need to comment about it, leave it in the comments for post below this one, xoxo))

Friday, July 25, 2008

Animal-Friendly Alternatives Update: Te Casan S/S + Botkier- Target

So I keep putting this off for some reason, but finally I'm staying up so I can make a quickie post about some updates on animal-friendly labels [aka not real cow skin etc].

Before, I had talked about Natalie Portman's very refined-looking vegan shoe line for Te Casan. However that was her F/W collection. Now that I'm sure probably 50% of you are religious Project Runway watchers, there might be some interest in seeing her Spring Summer collection... some styles are on sale, but keep in mind these are considerably pricey: $100 range. just like the cost of any other well-crafted shoe.

So if you're well, in the zone for a new pair of shoes (and who isn't), maybe this is a good time to try out Natalie's collection... To be honest, when most people gripe about non-leather shoes, half of them probably haven't tried them, and the other half probably have only tried cheaply made ones. And what else do you expect? If it's cheaply made of course it's not going to feel good. If some unknowing stranger slipped these Te Casan beauties, I bet they couldn't even tell it's *shh* not leather. To see what the big deal is about leather, see this past post. Go ahead, click it. don't be scared..



Te Casan actually recently updated their site, so now you get really good close-ups of the shoes. And I have to say that I am really really impressed. Not only do they look like real skins-- although it personally wouldn't matter to me whether it would-- but the workmanship really really looks divine.









The second item of note is considerably more affordable, yet by a famous famous handbag designer: Botkier for Target. I myself haven't been to Target since it came out a week or so ago, but they don't look bad from the photos.

Some of them aren't quite to my taste, but some of them actually look like a decent piece of work and actually...pretty attractive. I think most of the time, when people just think "target" design collab they think it's so so much worse that what the main line actually is. But I think Botkier's Target line is pretty true to the Botkier sort of image and design aesthetic, and with the quality of Rogan's Target line, I think these cheaper designer collabs have quality that really is improving [at least from Erin Fetherston's Target collection... worst quality ever].

Come on, face it...if I had just said Botkier, and not Target, you know you would covet half these bags. And if you found on sale for the Target prices, you wouldn't take a moment to pull out the bills. The psychological shopping mind is very intriguing sometimes...

For some reason, I'm really taken to the first raspberry colored one, and almost all the shiny shiny metallic ones. And somehow the metallic bags don't look cheap. Which is quite a feat in itself. Especially that round duffel-shaped one... it looks very very scrumptious...

Update: Actually I dropped by my Target this morning. The bags were as I expected-- they all looked pretty good, but especially the ones I mentioned beforehand (esp. the raspberry one). However, the "croc-print" bags, though they look good a foot away, if you touch them, they obviously don't feel like leather-- if that's what you're going for. Also, the duffel one is a pinker in real life than in the photo. And I loved the look of the small crackled gold wristlet. Quite tasteful!








all photos: property of Target

...this is when I wish my summer internship was paid.

Friday, July 18, 2008

Florals and Fluorescence

Outfit photos as promised! The overall theme was florals and fluorescence. The primary goal was to fix stuff up around last post's neon gladiators, but then when I got my vintage floral legwarmers in the mail [ebay], I just had to try to use them; Legwarmers and Gladiator Sandals? Sure! What, it's 90 degrees outside? Nevermind that!

Anyway, there wasn't much logic to the way things shot off but I ended up trying to put together a variety of different looks, that could be worked with a certain of style or age group.

The main players in this set were the following pieces: Neon green gladiators [but of course!], childhood stretchy bright floral shorts [I've had these since I was like 10 and only recently understood their potential value], an old Free People floral cardigan, Mary Ping white wide tank, and Fruit of the Loom white tank.

I'd talk more (all of you know I'm liable to chatting away) but I just got a total of like 10 flea bites as I was putting this post together because I was sitting still and now I'm itchy and scratchy and I think I must have fleas or something or else how could they get at me so much within a small time period and rape my entire arms so? aghhhh.

I am actually very sad. I can't tolerate such itchiness. This is quite off topic, but anyone know an ointment that will actually not just relieve the itchiness but effectively make the spots heal? If not, I will not be able to walk out the door in anything other than a long-sleeved shirt for the next month. These are big obnoxious bites and it's HOT..

wow, I have no idea what just happened there. anyway, enjoy the set!


The First Go; Very Youthful!



Wear your Heart on your Sleeve, and your Cardigan on your Neck.







Fire & Ice & Garden Parties




A Bright Idea



Conservative Cool (w/ tank tucked in)





My Seasoned Lady Look
[those were actually my grandma's loose shorts, it's not a skirt]



Demure Floral



A Shot of Neon- please!



Nighttime Fluorescence



[I love the way the colors glow]






Action of the Week [HSUS]

=
please take a minute to read! I ask for nothing else=

Help Support The Great Ape Protection Act

Approximately 1,200 chimpanzees, our closest living relatives, are languishing in laboratories across the United States—most for decades.


The Great Ape Protection Act (H.R. 5852) has been introduced to end invasive research on the 1200 chimpanzees remaining in laboratories, retire the approximately 600 federally-owned chimpanzees to permanent sanctuary, and make the recent decision by the National Center for Research Resources—part of NIH—to stop funding the breeding of federally-owned chimpanzees statutory.

TAKE ACTION

Please make a brief, polite phone call to urge your U.S. Representative to co-sponsor The Great Ape Protection Act. Call the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 or click here to look up your Representative and the Capitol office phone number. It is especially important to contact your Representative if he or she sits on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
After you make your call, fill out this message [already pre-typed] with your information to your Congressperson:
https://community.hsus.org/campaign/FED_2008_apeprotectionact2