pretty things i find

Christian Lacroix

2006-10-11T14:37:00.000-07:00

I love the red, black, and white together. We saw quite a bit of this for fall, but it still looks fresh. The ginormous necklaces (most extreme case: fifth picture) are really fun, though I'm still trying to figure out how they could translate to real life.

A great look-at-me print (also on the jacket above).

A few more colorful prints, also great. (What is it with me and fun prints this season?)

These prints work really well together. I love how one is in color and one is black and white, but the little shapes make them coherent.

Vena Cava

2006-10-11T07:49:00.000-07:00

Vena Cava's latest collection was filled with modern, effortlessly chic clothes. I wish I had the occasion to wear such lovely cocktail dresses (and the money to afford them, of course).

It's a good thing that the clothes were obviously beautiful, since the presentation format wasn't doing them any favors. It was very hard to tell what the clothes looked like, and the picnic setting was somewhat inexplicable. (Who would ever wear clothes like that to a picnic? How do the clothes even relate to a picnic? Whatever, I guess I shouldn't complain...)

A great casual outfit.

This day dress is chic in both color combinations.

Here are the fabulous cocktail dresses. I especially love the cityscape print in the first and third pictures.

Here's a video so you can see the clothes a little better. While you're looking at the collection, note how terrifyingly skinny the models look when they're just milling about instead of strutting down the runway. (Also note the really awkward "dancing" about halfway through. Priceless.)

Proenza Schouler

2006-10-11T07:28:00.000-07:00

I thought Proenza Schouler's latest collection was underrated. The 80s shapes are very fun, and I love the palette of using greys with brights.

Even if these narrow, striped skirts are totally unwearable for people who aren't model-skinny (can you even imagine having hips that narrow?), they are super cool.

These graphic prints are great.

I love how they have taken the wild grey and yellow print from above and combined it with the basic jacket to make it more accessible.

With these two, they used more mod shapes, again making the somewhat 80s-ish print look very wearable.

A good basic, with another great combination of neutrals and brights.

Trovata

2006-10-10T23:27:00.000-07:00

I think Trovata's casual wear was the prettiest we saw this season. Their clothes are entirely wearable, with great attention to detail.

How much do I love big buttons? They seem to make any good basics better.

The collection drew somewhat heavily on last season's trends (but only the trends I liked, so it was fine with me). First there's a shirtdress, which still seems very clean and a great basic. Next we have a couple examples of the high belt that was so popular for S/S 2006. While this may be getting a little played out, it is still extremely flattering and may therefore have some staying power. (I, for one, love it.)

More great basics. Still borrowing heavily from last season's trends (e.g. nautical), but with some great personality unique to this label.

I would definitely wear these pieces now and think I'll still love them several months from now. I think Trovata, as a new label, still lacks the confidence to break totally new ground, but these clothes are great and fun and wearable. Just for their take on these old ideas this is one of my favorite collections for spring, and I'm excited to see where they take the label next.

Pucci

2006-10-10T23:08:00.000-07:00

Normally I'm not a huge Pucci fan, but this season Matthew Williamson managed to make the label fun and young and relevant. The bright colors are uber-fun, and I love the easy-to-wear retro shift shapes.

My only worry: according to style.com,

Rachel Zoe was the first in line to congratulate Matthew Williamson after his Pucci show.

Please don't tell me Rachel Zoe will ruin this collection for me by pawning it off on Nicole Richie.

I loved the color-blocking with the big, graphic necklaces. Maybe they're too much for real life, but on the runway they couldn't look cooler. The shift shape in the first and third dresses here is just splendid.

These classically Pucci prints look great on these shift dresses. (No, I have no idea what's going on with the skirt/shorts in the first picture, though I do love the purse.)

This bling is fantastic.

Chloe

2006-10-10T22:24:00.000-07:00

This season I think Chloe did a good job of creating a collection that is both wearable and fashion-forward. Last season's clothes seemed too much like they had been vetted by focus groups, but--in contrast--these have a nice dose of personality. The shapes are some of the same we've been seeing from Chloe lately, but the volume is taken down a notch to a more flattering level.

The collection included quite a few good basics like these below. I especially liked the jumper with the blue blouse, because I can't get enough of the jumper-layering trend.

I love the mustard and brown colors used here. They're so 70s, but with the Chloe shapes they seem very rich and modern.

My favorite pieces were these embellished ones. The second dress especially looked like it was straight out of a Gustav Klimt painting. I can't quite tell what's going on in the front of the first dress, but it looks like it has some dimensionality to it, which is very cool.

Basso & Brooke

2006-10-10T22:00:00.000-07:00

While everyone is going to be talking about Marc Jacobs's take on the 20s, I think Basso & Brooke did it best this season. Their collections had tons of beautiful drop-waist dresses in gorgeous prints and vivid colors. The prints reminded me of beautiful old near eastern and far eastern tapestries. (I know, not all the links are strictly tapestries, but Google image search only gets you so far and I was lazy...)

A few of the best dresses:

There also were quite a few leggings-based looks, which I thought were awful. We'll just pretend they weren't there.

Antoni & Alison

2006-10-10T21:38:00.000-07:00

For Antoni & Alison's collection, I don't have much to say--the pictures seem to speak for themselves.

Antoni & Alison showed a ton of super-chic, somewhat cartoony dresses. Elle.com included them in the "anime" trend round-up, which seemed about right. The dresses were done in all sorts of bright colors and fantastic prints, and basically looked like they would be a riot to wear. (Why can i never find anything like this at the fabric store?)

The styling also added to the cartoony effect. The models' make-up looked like it was inspired by some of the more extreme make-up I've seen in photos of girls on the streets of Tokyo.

And the shoes were simply fantastic. You would feel like a superhero wearing these.

They also had some normal, non-patterned dresses that were quite pretty, but less exciting. (Perhaps this was simply to prove they could do it.)

Hussein Chalayan

2006-10-10T17:58:00.000-07:00

On the other end of the spectrum, there was the nearly universally acclaimed collection of Hussein Chalayan. His collection was truly forward-looking. When other designers try to avoid references to the past, they often simply turn to a different set of cliches. (For instance, I thought Balenciaga's collection looked like what ever designer for ages has imagined the future would be like... robotic, synthetic, clean lines, etc.) Chalayan managed to bring something original to the table, even if you don't consider the gimmicky but fabulously cool shape-shifting clothes.

The traditional clothes he showed were fresh-looking and simply gorgeous. The lightweight materials were perfect for spring, and the shapes are a nice variation on the babydoll dresses that are everywhere. And the colors are so beautiful! I especially like the dress on the model in the back of the second photo.

This dress would make you the prettiest girl at any party.

Maybe this is a concession to traditional, cliched "futurism." At least this dress is really beautiful regardless.

Somehow he can even make normal clothes a million times better.

Of course, his shape-shifting clothes were awesome. Still photos don't do them justice at all--watch the video below. My favorite part was the shifting neckline around 0:45.

Emanuel Ungaro

2006-10-10T14:45:00.000-07:00

For my first most inspirational collection, I've picked one that I thought was unfairly panned.

From the Guardian:

Peter Dundas at Emmanuel Ungaro had what may well have been the worst show of the month but at least it proved useful in reminding people how bad ankle boots, an unfortunate trend this season, look with sequinned mini-dresses.

They misspelled "Emanuel" but we'll let that slide.

I don't deny that some of the stuff he showed was downright awful. As the collection as a whole goes, it was rather hit or miss. But the looks that did work were original and fun and much better than most of the boring stuff other designers were showing. And that's the reason he makes my top dozen-or-so list.

First, I loved the palette he used for the beginning and end of the show that used hightly saturated colors, especially blues and purples.

While the two outfits below were definitely unwearable, I did like how he put mismatching patterns into really interesting combinations. The first one here is held together nicely by his use of complementary colors, and the second with three analogous colors.

I thought this polka-dot dress was just super cute.

Although some of the 80s stuff he did was awful (as mentioned above), a few elements he brought back really worked. The first dress has a fabulous 80s silhouette and print but somehow looks current. The second and third dresses bring back some 80s excess with the sequins but still are wearable because they're in normal, understated shapes. I would love to own the orchid (?) dress.

Fashion Week Wrap-Up

2006-10-10T14:43:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,
As you might imagine I've been pretty busy lately with law school but I should be getting some new content up soon... Other blogs have done a good job of summarizing all the important shows, so I'm going to take a more idiosyncratic approach. In the next couple weeks I'll be posting about the dozen or so shows I found most inspirational, chosen solely by what caught my eye at style.com and elle.com. (I'm trying to liberate all the photos just hanging out in my "My Pictures" folder.) Enjoy!

multiplying like rabbits

2006-08-21T14:19:00.000-07:00

it seems that while i was abroad the street-style website population exploded. i won't list them all here because facehunter already has an excellent round-up. visit the site and check out the links in his sidebar.

one fantastic new page i want to highlight is stockholm streetstyle. it appears that it began in july (i say appears because i can't read the swedish faq). i've decided, based on this and hel looks, another of my favorite street style sites, that nordic people are just too cool. this new stockholm site is also ridiculously high-volume--often several posts per day.

here are some of my favorite outfits from the site's two-month history:

shoulder embellishments--good idea or bad?

2006-08-21T13:42:00.000-07:00

i saw several instances of shoulder/upper sleeve embellishments when i was looking over the fall runways again. i'm still deciding whether this is cool and interesting, or a bad throwback to 80s shoulder pads.

chanel

pringle

sinha-stanic

from the sartorialist (at louis vuitton show in paris)

my favorite dress shape for fall

2006-08-21T13:12:00.000-07:00

i just can't seem to get into the drab, unflattering layering that was all over the runways for this season. perhaps some of the voluminous shapes could be fun, but for the moment count me as a skeptic.

one shape i did see that i liked a lot was a mod dress that seemed to be everywhere--short and a bit boxy with long sleeves. it seems like a reasonably practical choice in cold weather if you wear tights and maybe boots. i saw many of them worn with gloves and they looked very chic, plus they work well with all this season's belts. best of all, they could work in warmer weather too with bare legs!

here are some examples:

costume national

giambattisti valli

giambattisti valli

rochas

temperley

i also saw dresses like this in the collections of antoni & allison, caroline herrera, miu mu, naum, oligo tissew, paco rabanne, sari gueron, stella mccartney, trovata, and versace, but i didn't want to upload all the photos and look too obsessive... check out style.com (and in some cases vogue.co.uk) to see more.

i picked up a cheap fun dress like this in june at goodwill (before i even knew i wanted one so much!), but i'm going to keep my eye out for another in a solid color and a nicer fabric.

fun with trompe l'oeil

2006-08-21T12:41:00.000-07:00

lately i've been excited about trompe l'oeil--i've seen examples from all over the place popping up from time to time.

it all started with this fabulous t-shirt that fashionologie linked to a ways back. i ended up making my own version of the shirt by using a photo of a gun to make a cool stencil, then stencilling it on an old t-shirt myself (instructions).

here's some more inspiration:

jeffrey's project runway creation, complete with fake belt. (clearly, he should have won last week.)

one example from tata-naka's fall/winter show. (there were lots.)

a fun fake sailor shirt from cathy90's mystylediary page

one more fun one i've seen around (here from stylebubble's fashion blog)

and finally, my trompe l'oeil jewelry obsession (via sylebubble again). too bad i don't really wear rings, or it might be a fun $90 splurge... you can buy it at etsy (more cool stuff there from independent designers, check it out).

clutches galore

2006-08-07T07:28:00.000-07:00

how i am longing for a clutch, that least practical handbag...

two with metallic appliques at mighty flirt.

a great green print at cut x paste.

dots at stylesse, via omiru.

cool, normal clothes

2006-08-05T17:41:00.000-07:00

for as much stuff as i post here that's slightly outlandish and risky, i (like most everyone) generally just wear normal clothes. i don't really have as many opportunities to wear fabulous jewelry or crazy clothes as i'd like, so a lot of days i rock the t-shirt and jeans. anyways i wanted to showcase some of my favorite everyday outfits i had found in the mystylediary archives.

user karatelincoln

user i_love_pomegranates (via user absentminded)

user freelancer

user wafferl

user muchacha

user festes_weiss

i'm back!!

2006-08-04T12:40:00.000-07:00

hi everyone! i just got back home to alaska after six weeks in europe, so posts should recommence soon. hopefully i still have a handful of readers who haven't given up on me.... expect new content within the next couple days.

loving the circles

2006-06-23T19:26:00.000-07:00

here's how to dress like you're from the future as conceived in 1960:

top is $125 at mighty flirt.

apologies

2006-06-20T00:50:00.000-07:00

i am heading to europe tomorrow for six weeks of backpacking, so posts may be less frequent for the next while. i'll see how often i can make it into internet cafes, and how much they cost per hour. maybe i'll become a much faster blogger since each post will now be an expense!

obsessed with this shirt

2006-06-16T07:22:00.000-07:00

truly, i am. it haunts me because there is no way on earth i can afford it.

shirt is $190 at mighty flirt.

amelie!

2006-06-14T17:35:00.000-07:00

i've been meaning forever to post this photo of audrey tautou (who will be toujours amelie to me). her fabulously quirky dress is by tsumori chiato, and this was taken at cannes.

shirtdresses

2006-06-14T11:22:00.000-07:00

shirtdresses must be my favorite spring/summer trend. i had been wanting one for a while, for reasons that had nothing to do with what was showing up on the runways, so it was such a pleasant surprise to start seeing them in stores! (a brief story: one of the girls in my house was sharing her impressions of photographs she had found of her mother that had been taken in paris in the 1970s. she said she was terribly impressed by her mother's style, and one of the examples she mentioned was a perfect shirtdress.) anyways, here are some great shirtdresses i've seen on other fashion blogs lately:

photo by louise dahl-wolfe, found in a retrospective. via stylebubble.

$58 at urban outfitters, via i am fashion

dvf, was $285 (now unavailable) at nordstrom. via omiru.

$129 at bebe, although the other photos there look much sluttier (figures). via omiru.

shirtdresses on three mystylediary.net members: wafferl, k_lam, and festes_weiss.

i ended up buying a black wrap shirtdress from forever 21 (under $30). they have several other pretty dresses on their website, so go check them out!

sadness

2006-06-14T11:08:00.000-07:00

this canada.com article affirms that i will never be able to afford designer clothing. the writer, on a mission to see what one can buy in high-end stores for less than $250, comes up with a chanel cell-phone charm for $200. i suppose in us dollars it might be a little less, but regardless.

via papierblog.

flea market finds

2006-06-11T10:36:00.000-07:00

this weekend, i went to an awesome little flea market in the parking lot of a nearby high school. i feel like these days a lot of so-called "flea markets" are filled with booths reselling crappy chinese imports. this flea market, though, was filled with booths run by retired women who buy estate jewelry and resell it as a hobby. i ended up finding some of the coolest things, and for about $50 i got three scarves, two necklaces, a bracelet, three pairs of earrings, and about five brooches. a few of my favorite things:

these two scarves are vintage vera silk scarves. i plan to tie them in my hair when i'm traveling in europe. :)

this scarf, which i picked up for a sweet $1.50, is actually about the spanish civil war. (yeah, i had never seen a political scarf either.) the text in the middle says "entre los dedos acerados del proletariado morira el fascismo"--"between the steely fingers of the proletariat, fascism died." i love the colors too.

a couple pairs of cool retro earrings:

this photo didn't come out too well, but i love this quirky owl pendant:

i had been looking for the perfect necklace with jet black faceted beads, and this one was just excellent. now i can stop pestering my neighbor lauren with requests to borrow hers.

the blue beads on this necklace are very hefty. (glass?) of all my purchases yesterday, this was the most expensive, but i think it was worth it because it is so unusual.

finally, i bought an assortment of hollow brass beads, and strung them on a bracelet once i got home. i especially like this because each bead probably has a unique history.

if only i were her...

2006-06-05T14:32:00.000-07:00

i often check out mystylediary.net for fashion inspiration. it's this wonderful site where people post outfits they like--like a customized street style site where you can look only at those whose taste is compatible with your own. i love it especially because it offers rss feeds for individual users. i keep up with about fifteen of them, and my favorite is probably kokopuff, who has just impeccable taste. Here are a few of her most recent outfits that I love.

superfantastic online fashion mag

2006-06-01T14:25:00.000-07:00

n.e.e.t. magazine showcases independent designers and offers diy tips. the whole production has an indie sensibility i love. it's only available in an online version (so no wasted paper) and everything item is linked to the seller's website--pretty slick. since i just found the site, i haven't had time to digest all the features, but i'll keep you posted on what i find!

outrageously cool shoes

2006-06-01T12:44:00.000-07:00

i'm so excited about bright-colored flats lately, and i really don't have a pair i love. they have several fantastic pairs on the free people website, along with other interesting shoes. too bad these are pretty pricey, or else i would buy them all.

britons' takes on fashion for cool days

2006-06-01T09:39:00.000-07:00

from a telegraph article, some cool examples of layered outfits seen on the streets of london. i want to dress like this during the fall in boston.

cold-weather style

2006-05-29T09:06:00.000-07:00

so clearly summer is approaching, but i've been thinking a lot about the coming fall and winter in boston. living in california for the past four years i haven't bought much warm clothing. i'm excited for getting some new stuff when i get to the east coast. i think my inspiration will be the photos at hel-looks--people from helsinki are way cooler than people from alaska when it comes to dressing for the weather.

menswear so cool it hurts

2006-05-27T00:48:00.000-07:00

i love this retro havana look by heike jarick. note to self: start dating someone who dresses like this.

i think i'm turning japanese i really think so

2006-05-24T14:24:00.000-07:00

current obsession: obi belts. (now if only i actually owned one, or--for that matter--had ever actually seen one in real life.) dries van noten had a bunch of gorgeous belts in his spring/summer collection:

since i had never seen the backs of them i had no idea how the wrapping was going on, but i found some ebay auctions for obis that show how an (uglier) obi is tied.

now that i understand how it's done, this might make for a fun project.

===

incidentally, the rest of dries van noten's spring/summer show is gorgeous.

although his fall/winter show is, unfortunately, often drab and unflattering.

more jewelry

2006-05-24T11:07:00.000-07:00

i'm really feeling the pretty layered chain necklaces lately. here are some more cool ones from dirty librarian chains:

these are a much better take on the chain trend than all the godawful jewelry they're selling in bp and forever 21 these days:

i mean really, does this look attractive to anyone?

the senior formal necklace?

2006-05-18T10:35:00.000-07:00

i need to buy or make (read: replicate) a stunning necklace for senior formal. perhaps this one, by madley, is it...?

2006-05-18T10:25:00.000-07:00

frufru & tigerlily, a little singaporean boutique, carries some awesome new wave-inspired clothes at their website. evidently they ship internationally if you can afford the clothes to begin with!

best shots of the month

2006-05-18T01:29:00.000-07:00

facehunter captures particularly stylish partygoers in europe's capital city. les voici - les parisiennes les plus chics du mois dernier.

fun necklace!

2006-05-17T23:12:00.000-07:00

more nautical accessories, for your enjoyment.

a jewelry project?

2006-05-17T15:56:00.000-07:00

elegant, simple jewelry from anne rachelle.

undesigned

2006-05-17T15:09:00.000-07:00

i have mixed feelings about this collection from undesigned, purportedly for "urban nomads" (whatever that means). there's some real ugly stuff there, but a few of their pieces are beautiful:

shumaq

2006-05-17T14:26:00.000-07:00

vanessa barrantes for shumaq millma - gorgeous gorgeous dresses. i wish i could buy them all.

bex rox jewelry

2006-05-17T12:45:00.000-07:00

so much beautiful jewelry at bex rox. a pity it costs a fortune!

yay

2006-05-17T12:41:00.000-07:00

this bag is about the silliest and most fun take on the whole nautical thing that i have seen. it's from fred flare, which sells really fun and cheap clothes. i don't know why i had never heard of it, but it seems like their stuff is in all sorts of blogs.

art school fashion

2006-05-17T12:18:00.000-07:00

from the school of art institute of chicago-- the white dress up front is weird and wonderful. (though not as weird as the dresses in the back, obviously.)

potential diy project

2006-05-17T12:13:00.000-07:00

this shirt is $90 at cut+paste, but i think i could just make it myself. perhaps this is a project for early june, once my job is over....

darling shoes

2006-05-17T12:08:00.000-07:00

i am loving peep-toe flats, and this may be the perfect pair. $72 at le train bleu.

beautiful bags at stars & infinite darkness

2006-05-17T11:44:00.000-07:00

bags are v. expensive, and by lorraine mccue

why this site even exists

2006-05-17T10:57:00.000-07:00

if you've been talking to me for the last few months, you may already know that fashion blogs are the latest in my long string of fixations. (is this a less productive fixation than wikipedia? probably.)

anyways i am always seeing beautiful things that i like, then i lose track of them. no longer! i have been inspired by style bytes, whose author keeps a scrapbook of her cool finds, and am creating a blog so i don't lose mine.