Ceil Chapman beauty

Haven't posted on here forever.  The Oscars got me hunting for gowns (for, you know, like, when I get invited to the Oscars) and I stumbled upon this Ceil Chapman beauty.  I mean... the Peacock!  Seriously?  Anyone got $786 to spare (actually a very fair price for this dress).

Nylon TV

Styled this video for Nylon TV.  If the clothes credits are not on there yet, they will be soon (they forgot to put them on).

Mexico

Wow. Mexico was beautiful, you guys. Really, really special. Hard to really communicate without images, so I made a little movie. Enjoy!

MEXICO

It has been a very long winter here in NYC and as we roll into March, I am really getting sick of my winter uniform. THANKFULLY my friend Ana and I have booked a trip to Mexico, somewhere I have never been (besides an afternoon in Baja) to escape the cold and sit on a beach. In less than a week we will be heading off for Quintana Roo and exploring the ancient ruins and cenotes. I am so excited that I started packing a week early (something I never do, much to my mom's dismay) and going through all my summer clothes. I was envisioning bright prints in geometric and ethnic patterns to match the landscape. I put together a little mood board representing what I would want to bring if money was no object.

Mexico Moodboard by nouvell_vague featuring chain jewelry

Top 5 creative presentations for NYFW Fall 2011

Well ladies and gentlemen another fashion week has come and gone and I have the cold to prove it. While I didn't go to as many shows and presentations as I did last season (partially because I was working on producing Rebecca Turbow's show, post on that forthcoming), I wanted to touch upon a positive trend that is emerging in fashion presentations this season, and I hope will continue. While it's true that a fashion show or presentation is really about the clothes and making sales, with so many happening at the same time, it's increasingly hard to make your show memorable.

So in that regard, some designers are putting a bit of performance into their shows. I wanted to highlight the innovation of the following five presentations that took place this past week:

5) Band of Outsiders -- While this was more or less a traditional runway show, this was the first runway for Scott Sternberg and his brand and he wanted to make it memorable. The first few models repelled from the ceiling and descended onto the runway, superhero style.

4) Erickson Beamon -- Jewelry is always a difficult product to market via a traditional fashion show, and frankly I'm a little skeptical that it's the best medium in which to do so. However, I have to give it to Erickson Beamon for this ballerina inspired presentation. Dancers from the Bolshoi Ballet Academy wearing the jewelry (some where the jewelry was meant to be worn, others with it worn over their faces like masks) were perched all over a scaffolding and doing ballet poses while a tenor from the Metropolitan Opera performed with a violinist. It was a little awkward as everyone was talking during the presentation but it was still something special.

3) Elise Overland -- Taking advantage of the temporary ice skating rink at the Standard Hotel, Elise Overland had her models perched on the ice while professional skaters, also wearing the collection, skated in circles around them. The presentation culminated in a performance by Johnny Weir who emerged from an igloo. I did feel rather sorry for the poor models, though... they looked so cold, one of them looked like she wanted to cry. Not exactly a lot of fat insulation to keep them warm, either.

2) Rachel Antonoff -- Taking things up a notch from her last season's "sleepover" themed presentation, Rachel Antonoff continued the theme of childhood nostalgia with her Fall 2011 presentation entitled "The Dance." The invites were designed to look like prom invitations, inviting you to a dance at La Guardia High School. The auditorium was decked out in streamers and balloons and models danced to songs by The Like. While this was ultimately one of the most creative presentations of the week, we do learn one lesson: models can't really dance.

1) Moncler -- Finally, the number one most creative presentation this week was this flash-mob style presentation by Moncler Grenoble. The presentation, which took place in Grand Central Station, included 150 dancers and 300 extras. Granted, this is a skiwear company and people have the kind of mobility that you need to participate in such a presentation. But... this will definitely be talked about for years to come and has set the bar for everyone else.

Winter wonderland

The winter here has been pretty brutal. Snowiest January on record, I'm living in my Hunter boots. I've been staying in a lot and trying to be productive.

Believe it or not, these last three photos were taken on my HTC G2 with the Retro camera app, a really brilliant program.

Lady Jane Lingerie Collection 2

I'm working on some patterns for my 2nd "collection" for Lady Jane Lingerie (I suppose it can't really be called a collection as it's only two pieces but whatever). I'm finally making a bra. Fitting bras is really challenging and to make it authentically vintage means sacrificing some of the advances in fit that have been developed over the past 70+ years. But, hopefully they will look great anyway. Here are some initial sketches. All designs were adapted from vintage 30's and 40's patterns.

Diaghilev and the Ballet Russes

I was in London recently and got to see an exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum about Diaghilev and the Ballet Russes. Admittedly, I did not know much about him and mostly only knew about the Ballet Russes as an inspiration for Yves Saint Laurent's groundbreaking 1976 collection. This was a truly fascinating exhibition that explored the Ballet Russes influence on modern art, fashion, music, and culture. The costumes, reflecting the surrealist and art nouveau movements that were happening at the time, were the highlight for me, as well as the fashion illustrations by George Barbier.

Pieces from YSL's collection

I totally forgot to post this shoot that I did with Katie Coleslaw for her and Georgina Bacchus's magazine Nothing Bad this summer. We did the shoot in Coney Island and the designers are all local and mostly Brooklyn-based.

I turned 30

I know this blog is boringsville lately... winter is aiming to be long so hopefully shall pick up a bit.

I turned 30 last weekend. I was so scared of it for some reason and not looking forward to it, but then it happened and I was into it... the majority of my friends have reached this milestone already and say that life is so much better in your 30's... so I'm looking forward to what this shall bring.

Fashion week Sept. 2010

I had a whirlwind week for S/S '11 Fashion week and clocked in somewhere around 15 presentations. Lots of stuff to look forward to this spring. Here are some of my favs of stuff that I actually saw in person.

Samantha Pleet (obvs)

Jonathan Simkhai (up and comer, totally different from last season, one to watch for sure)

Timo Weiland, loving the print

Katie Gallagher (really want her to get big this season! Has got to be more commercial though)

Rachel Antonoff, want this whole collection!!

More on my flickr

Vintage re-selling

I have mixed feelings about vintage re-selling. In one sense, it is something I do myself, scouring flea markets and thrift stores for good finds to sell on my Etsy site.

But then, you get people who buy stuff from your Etsy, complain about shipping price, and then turn around and sell it for more on Ebay?

I am always so happy when I make a vintage sale because I expect it to go to someone that is gong to love and cherish that item. It kind of makes my heart sink to see this happen.

My original item:



It's new ebay listing:

How does everyone else feel about this?

Current Style Inspiration: Fried Green Tomatoes

Totally into that hole rural down south 30's floral summer dress look right now. I know this movie was totally cheeseball chick flick (though they TOTALLY downplayed the lesbian angle, which was very forthright in the book), but stylistically it was total eye candy.

Swimsuits

A shoot I styled is up on Refinery 29! Photography by James Ryang and art direction by Keren Richter.

Bling!

I'm styling another shoot (last one will be up shortly), this time for my friends Katie and Georgina's web magazine Nothing Bad, and I've been pulling some great local designers for it. I just wanted to share a couple of the great local jewelry designers that I've discovered and am using in the shoot:

Kiel Mead

I am dying over Kiel Meade and his awesome hand-cast jewelry. I mean, a retainer necklace, are you kidding me? Definitely on my must-own list. Also, he's a babe. Just saying.

All for the Mountain

One look at these guys website and I KNEW I had to pull their jewelry. Its super raw and modern and a little bit masculine. Go visit just for their illustrations, they are killer.

American High Style

I recently visited the Brooklyn Museum for some vintage eye candy. My favs? The Schiaparelli stuff and the unreal Steven Arpad shoes, totally surreal! Seeing as how these are from the 30's I would call Alexander McQueens Spring 2010 shoes pretty tame.

I don't have time to type up much stuff so I'll just post some photos. Go visit for yourself if you're in the area, its on through the summer.

Charles James Butterfly Dress

Charles James 4 leaf clover dress

Schiaparelli ensemble

Steven Arpad shoes

more Steven Arpad

Scaasi

Much more on my Flickr