Monday, June 1, 2009

Regarding ratings systems on fashion sites

Trisha from Bits and Bobbins brought up a great topic today. She wanted to know, how do we feel about being rated on sites like "chictopia" and other fashion sites.

Here is my reply to that........

I think the rating thing is pretty lame, myself.

I was watching of all things, Oprah earlier today and they were talking about what is acceptable to say to your friends. As in, “you have something in your teeth” (yes) OR You have too much makeup on (no). It makes sense that these website have popped up, woman are constantly judging each other, is it not true that we are known to dress for each other. I like to dress for myself, in what makes me feel good, but dressing for others is such a stereotype. I believe it is true on some level. Maybe younger ladies are not as confident in their own “styles”.

The internet can be a harsh place, I think that people are really eager to judge and it is so easy to do via the world wide web. I have posted many photos of outfits to sites and gotten many low ratings on outfits that were some of my faves. I think that everything is subject to opinion, so the fact that the people on that site didn’t like my style, is relative. I’m in my 30’s an a lot of these fashionista sites, in my opinion, are full of teens and twenty somethings that are really trendy and don’t have much creativity (outside of following trends) in dressing. However I would never go leave them negative comments about how they dress. Thats just not in my nature. I am a positive person. I think the internet makes it really easy for insecure people to take their insecurities out on others. I can say this hasn’t affected me negatively but I would be lying. Most of the time, I just brush it off, but there have been times that it sort of made me feel bad. Maybe it was PMS, or just human nature.

One time I put a picture up of a dress I had created from scratch on one of these sites, In my opinion the dress was gorgeous. The fabric was vintage, embroidered satin and it was a 20’s style dress, so it was past knee length. Someone left me a comment that if the dress was shorter it would be better. I was pretty offended that someone would leave a comment on a hand made garment that I created with no pattern, all on my own. The funny thing is, now that I look at the dress about a year later, having not really worn it since I created it, I kind of agree with the comment. At the time, I was so proud of the creation, I would not want to think of changing it. I guess It can be constructive as well, even if it takes a year to process.

I do think that what matters is to take the time to dress up in some way to make yourself feel good. The reason we are all here is because, after all, its’ fun to see what other people are wearing, their creativity, it’s inspiring and I love that.



Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Fashion Flashback

Back in 2002 I was a muse for a friend of mine who created a ball gown for a "paper and plastic" fashion show. The dress that Tyrone made for me was made completely with Betsy Johnson bags. The base/hoop skirt was with the handle bags and the ruffles and draping were all done with garment bags. It was such a gorgeous dress and so much fun to wear. Right before the show I had bleached out all my hair, then put some pink in it for the show. It was outrageous.




Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Outfits

I go through fazes and right now I am feeling the 70's vibe. I have been craving folky shirts and big bell bottoms and simple dresses. The other night I went out with some ladies to a reggae/dub night in the mission (my hood). We had a great time dancing to awesome live reggae and dub.

I am wearing-
70's leather jacket-garage sale in oregon
Scarf-f21
Mexican embroidered shirt-thrifted
Jeans-Ross
Purse-Marshalls



Eliza is wearing- (what I know)
Jeans-Crossroads, mens
Boots-thrifted on haight


The "infinite dress"

I found a crazy looking thing today while out shopping for my store. It was a nice fabric and looked really weird (two of the usual things that make me swoon). I couldn't tell what it was while it was on the hanger but a trip to the dressing room revealed it was a dress that could be worn many ways. I looked it up (from the tag "infinite dress") and it's totally a "infomercial" dress. I purchased it for 5.99 not knowing what I was going to do with it, maybe a DIY or just see how it can be worn. It seems a bit too long for my taste so I might shorten it, It also seems a bit large too, so perhaps I will take it in too. Did I forget to mention this thing costs 200$ on the website, wow. I guess I scored a great deal too. I just tried out some new more modern ways to wear and, I can tell this is going to be a fun addition to the closet.


Academy of art spring fashion show part 3

Here are some more of the photos I shot at the fashion show for the students graduating with a masters degree from the Academy of art. I was stunned by how beautiful their designs were. Again, sorry for the bad quality, I was far away and had to use my zoom.

This was a collaboration with a clothing and jewelry designer, the neck piece went all the way down the back too.
The next few were my fave designer of the show.


I LOVE LOVE this one!



Another jewelry colab, her dress was incrusted with lots of metal.

The last one of the show, super awesome colab again.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Adventures to snacking land!

My boyfriend and I took a drive on Saturday to go see some of the country side and check out the oyster farms. It was such a gorgeous day! We stopped for lunch at a cute old restaurant that had been there for 65 years, right on the water. We then kept going and stopped at two oyster farms, where we ended up getting 2 dozen oysters. My boyfriend is jewish and didn't have much experience with oysters so I had to shuck them all as he had no clue what to do. However, he did enjoy the fruits of my labor. On the way home we stopped at a little store that sells the meat from Marin Sun Farms and got some meat for the week, Lamb chops and a roast. It was really neat to be in the area where a lot of our organic and local food is produced. We stopped along the road and took some photos of the cute cows, they were so friendly and seemed really happy. Their milk is used to make yogurt for Wallaby organic yogurt. It was a great one day vacation from the "shitty" (city) as a old hippie friend of mine used to call it.

Cute old farm house
Tunnel of trees
Perfect house on the water
Gorgeous view from the road
Happy cows at the Wallaby Yogurt farm
This cute cow lifted it's head for the picture!
Patio at the restaurant

I'm wearing
Dress-traded at buffalo exchange
Belt-thrifted and really neat with cool designs on the silver and a gold buckle.
Purse-Marshalls
Shades-F21


Monday, May 18, 2009

New shoes in the store



One upon a time before it was cold

I wore this earlier today before I got cold and put on pants and a different shirt. The weather was much more cold today and I wasn't expecting it. I ran errands earlier then had to change to go out again because I was chilly.
I am wearing-
White tank-boyfriends
Vest-vintage thrifted
Skirt-thrifted originally H&M, I cut about 6 inches off it.
Shoes-thrifted

Sunday sunny sunday

My boyfriend and I tool a long walk on Sunday afternoon, the weather was amazing, it was about 80 degrees. Our neighborhood is very colorful and full of great murals and beautiful blooming vines and flowers. Click on the photos to see the murals more clear.





I am wearing-
Grey tank-Arkay Workshop
Vest-vintage and hand dyed by me, I added ribbon too
Skirt-vintage, thrifted
Shoes-vintage thrifted