Hansel from Basel

A few weeks ago, Samantha gave me some knee-high socks from a label called Hansel and Basel. As a tights and socks fanatic I was intrigued to learn of an indie legwear label that I hadn't heard of before. The label is based out of LA and was started two years ago by Hannah Byun, who had worked in the hosiery industry before that in production. She has four collections so far, each of which has a theme (S/S 08 for example was inspired by "Mondrian, sherbert stripes, and springtime picnics!"). Some of my favorites:

In addition to the ones Sam gave me I picked up the spats knee highs in black and white:






Oh and that's a new bag I made for my Etsy site (going up soon) and will also be available at Treehouse.

A side note, what is with "tights fetishists"? I recently decided to stop participating in the Wardrobe Remix group on flickr because of all the tights fetish dudes lurking around there. Seriously, tights? The male pysche never ceases to confound and amaze me.

DIY Luella Headpiece

Luella S/S 09 was my favorite collection of the spring... sums up pretty much everything I go for: girly, ruffled, vintage-inspired, and chock-full of beautiful color combinations that you may never have thought of. However, my favorite thing of all were the bows with the veils that most of the models wore in their hair.

I loved too that many of them were shaped like vintage bow-ties. This is also featured on the new cover of Lula magazine. Figuring that they would never be affordable, but looked pretty simple to make, I gave it a try myself. I picked up some taffeta (polyester, silk was too expensive), veiling, and a hair clip and voila!

The next one I make I am going to have to fiddle with the veiling a little bit cause I am not loving how it is lying against my face but it works for now. Can't wait for spring so I can rock these with a little dress or something.

It snowed today

It snowed lots, to be precise. NYC public schools closed for the first time in 5 years. I, however, still went to my internship, like a good girl. It was damn cold.

This is what it looked like when I looked out my window in the morning:

Then, once I got outside my door:


Chip the scooter was hiding under his cover.




Wahhhhh I am cold...


This taxi driver is probably PISSED.


But you know who is enjoying today? These two:



The end.

The Rachel show episode 1

I've actually been making a few of these videos but this one is the most entertaining so far...

The Rachel Show from Rachel Hill on Vimeo.