Zac Posen accessories

Hi, I haven't had any ideas of what to post here lately. I'm interning 2 days a week at a trend forecasting company, basically cropping photos all day but its fun so far, eye candy all day long. Its nice to look at the shows in high resolution.

I've been working mainly on accessories, my favorites from New York Fashion Week were the laser-cut brooches at Zac Posen, I hope to see this ripped off soon on Etsy? I didn't really like the actual clothes that much but these pins rule.

50's styling shoot

I finally got my photos from my 2nd styling shoot for my LCF course. My model was Gabrielle Bassett, I think she did a great job (she did her own hair and makeup!).

The assignment was to do a 40's, 50's, or 80's themed photo shoot. I decided to go with what I knew best, though if 60's were an option I probably would have done that instead. The idea that I had was to do a "night and day" theme, where not only would we do night and day looks, but they would represent two sides to the girls personality. In other words, daytime was a new look silouette and very sweet. Nighttime was a wiggle silhouette and a little bit naughty. Here is the story board that I put together:


We combined items from both my and Gabie's closet to get the final looks. I had 4 looks ready to go but we were only allowed to do 2. We got to use the LCF studio which was amazing! The only thing I was a little bummed about was that the black dress was a bit wrinkled, they didn't have a steamer there.

PORTLAND!

Dudes, lots has changed in the past few weeks! As I mentioned, I left England. It was sad, but what can you do... I am looking forward to new things and pursuing a real job instead of, say, working in a crap pub for 5.75 an hour cash in hand. I actually got a couple of job offers in England before they learned that I was only on a tourist visa. Damn, why do I always have to be so honest with people?

It was good to get back to the states in time to go to Automne and Graham's wedding in Portland. I don't really know these kids too well, but Automne and I had been corresponding via emails and blogs and what not so I felt like I knew what I could expect from them. I'd never been to Portland before but it also lived up to expectations: lots of vegan fixed gear kids, lots of bums/homeless people, lots of vegan/hippy shit, but... LOTS of amazing vintage shopping. As Elizabeth put it, it is ENDLESS and AMAZING.

First, the wedding... Automne's dress was OOC (out of control) radness, it was a purple, floor length number that she customized with tons of fabric flowers. And she wore matching pink and purple chiffon veil. They made a ZINE complete with mixed CD (which, sadly, I think I left in my hotel, ARGHHH!) and they even did a blog with profiles of all the wedding guests. The actual ceremony was the best part, I think... very informal and sweet and they wrote their own vows. They even had a "wedding manifesto." It ruled. I won't post my photos cause theirs are better but be sure to check it out.

The rest of the trip we spent riding bikes and vintage shopping. There were, fortunately, a good number of stores near our hotel which is where I made my purchases. First up, and best really, was Bombshell Vintage. There was a great selection of midcentury stuff, it was on the expensive side for Portland but cheap for someone coming from London and New York. I bought a 40's black silk dress and a 50's Lorrie Deb chiffon dress that I ended up wearing to the wedding. Came in at under $100, not bad.

Next up down the block was a shop called Zeno Oddities, which was an odd assortment of records, vintage, and other, well, "oddities." The guy who ran this shop was obviously much more interested in the records, but there was a nice, very small assortment of vintage, including a 40's dress that I picked up for $30 (score!). He gave me $2 off because a button fell off, pays to be a seamstress.

Further along Burnside was Hattie's Vintage. This was by and large the most expensive of the vintage shops we hit, but they had a nice selection.

I tried on a couple of 30's dresses including this black bias-cut number (very Madeleine Vionnet!)... I still can't get the hang of a long hem though so I left it there, even though it was really cool. Plus I'd already spend over $100.

The last store on this stretch was one called Rock and Rose. It was pretty mediocre, lots of vintage tees and stuff of that nature. Ana found some stuff though for cheap. I still have a hard time accepting that 90's stuff can be called "vintage" now.

The next day we ventured over to the Hawthorne District, which reminded me a lot of Telegraph Ave. in my hometown, Berkeley, CA, and lived up to a lot of Portland stereotypes. Behold:

I died a little inside. Aaaanyways, there were outlets of Buffalo Exchange and Crossroads (both in Berkeley as well) around here which we skipped but we did check out Red Light, which we were told was Portland's answer to Beacon's Closet. There was lots to look through here, also lots of crap and clothes from a few years ago. I had my eye out for things I could re-sell since I'd already spent my clothing budget for myself the day prior... I found an Emma Domb 50's dress for $20 and a couple of other things but determined that they were not really saleable so left them all behind... I'm still thinking about them days later and wondering if I made a mistake. Oh well, you never know!

Monday Ana and I went for a bike ride with rented bikes from the hotel. We rode for about 2 hours along the river.

On Tuesday I checked out Fringe Vintage, which was cute but not really worth writing home about. Not enough mid century. Nice merchandising, though. After that I met up with Elizabeth and we had tacos. She was being shy for some reason.

Then it was off to California, they put me on the smallest plane ever and it was super claustrophobic.

You could see Mt. St. Helens.

Waning days of summer

Well, this is it kids, the last week of my stay in England. I am totally bummed out. I have been pounding the pavement for the last week and a half in search of a job that might pay me in cash (since I don't have a work visa), but alas, these are hard to come by in the days of recession and EU expansion, and I came up empty handed, so the logical thing to do is pack it all up again and head home. I wish I had the money to continue my education, and stay on here a bit longer, but unless I wanted to do something drastic (i.e. fake marriage, or fake national insurance number, even riskier), there is not much more I can do. I guess I am just a little scared about having to face real life again, find a job in a new career in such a hostile economic climate, and get back in the rat-race New York City frame of mind. Last week I sent a text message to my friend saying we should move to LA, half kidding, but actually half serious. Like I had said in the beginning of the summer, NYC to me is a real love/hate relationship, and next week will be my 10 year anniversary of moving to the city in the first place. Maybe it is time to move on.

Before I pack up everything here in London I did an obligatory weekend in Stockholm, where I got to visit my lovely Swedish friends and bask in the glory of the Swedish summer sun. It being late August there was not the near 24 hour light that there is around June, but it was still a beautiful time of year to visit. I came in on Thursday afternoon and met Sara, suitcase in hand, to hike down to the waterfront and take a swim. It was freezing. I went in for about 30 seconds and hopped out, while Sara was more brave and went in for several dips. Phil showed up and we drank Pimm's and lemonade (Phil's duty free gift from me) and some fruit.

Friday afternoon I met up with Emil for some brunch and then a walk up to Observatory park near Odenplan. We had not seen each other since San Francisco so it was nice to see each other on the other side of the world in a completely different context. We brainstormed Iphone applications and get-rich-quick schemes. Needless to say, we did not come up with any in the 2 hour period.



Later that evening I met up with Phil to attend the Grolsch block party, which is basically a few different businesses in the "Sofo" (south of Folkunsgatan) area of Stockholm which were giving away a few free beers. Free beer or booze of any kind is a very rare occurance in Sweden, and by law you have to be on the list because it is listed as a private event. As a result, any free beer that appears usually disappears immediately. Fortunately Phil was able to get me into the Beyond Retro party where I did a little drunk shopping (no purchasing) and attempted to watch the burlesque show but everyone in Sweden is too tall so I could not see anything.

Later that evening I went to go meet up with Sara for her boyfriend Igor's birthday party, which was at a restaurant called Allmanna Galleriet 925. It was a really cool place, hidden within an office building next to a porn shop (Sara had to come get me from the subway since I would never have found it on my own). We played Swedish round-table ping pong (weird tradition where you get three or more people playing ping pong and run around the table, hard to explain) and had a few more beers.

Saturday Phil and I had some Thai food and then went into town to go shopping. I was very good and only bought a couple of 150- K tops at the new Weekday shop. On the way home, we walked along the water at Hornstull and accidentally came upon a giant Swedish food festival called Smaklust. Every area of Sweden was represented and there were hundreds of vendors with their local specialities for sampling. I had just eaten the leftovers from my Thai lunch so was not hungry but got some ice cream and sampled about a dozen cheeses and different kinds of sausage. Phil had a Gotland lamb burger. We knew we would have to come back the next day with a proper appetite and bring friends.

We went to a Stockholm institution Saturday night, Debaser, one of the first places I'd ever been in Stockholm. In the summer they have a huge beer garden that stays open until around 3am, without any fear of being shut down for noise complaints because they are basically on a little island not near any businesses. There were rumors that Debaser was going to shut because the city was re-constructing the Slussen area but it seems red tape has stalled that process and Debaser continues to thrive. I made Sara and Phil balance drinks on their heads in tribute to my well-known party trick. They need some practice.

Sunday it was back to Smaklust where Phil, Emil, Sara and I came hungry and left satisfied. Emil and I sampled what was one of the more bizarre things I have ever eaten, it was a moose burger with lingonberry dressing, but this was not just your ordinary moose burger, it was in the shape of a moose with a moose shaped matching bun. The vendor apparently had a patent on this design and was very proud of his invention. He was also wearing a hat made out of Swedish flatbread.

Verdict: Moose are delicious. Phil had a reindeer wrap, and Sara had a Swedish traditional dish that translates to a "bodycake," which is basically a mashed potato ball stuffed with meat (pork in this case), boiled and then eaten with cream and lingonberry jam. Not especially healthy, but really, really tasty. I had all kinds of random animals today, I will not go into more detail so as not to offend my vegetarian friends.

And that was that... said goodbye to my Swedish friends and hoped to see them soon as I headed off back to London, carrying sausage, goats cheese, and carrot chutney with me (carrot chutney seized by airport security a few hours later sadly). The older we get, the less and less we see each other, it is a bit sad.

Sara said that to go to graduate school in Sweden is free and they admit foreign students. Maybe I will apply for next year.