The Uniform Project

I'm inspired and amazed by what Sheena Matheiken has done. Since May 1st, 2009, Sheena has been wearing the same seven black dresses and accessorizing them with vintage, handmade, or hand-me-down clothing items "as an exercise in sustainable fashion." Along the way, she's been raising money for the Akanksha Foundation to improve the educational system in Indian slums. Now, she only has eight days left until she's reached her goal of 365 days. Learn how to help out by visiting her website The Uniform Project.

Uniform Project Picture Book from The Uniform Project on Vimeo.

Dieppa Restrepo

Pictures from Dieppa Restrepo

One of the biggest trends in spring footwear is the oxford shoe. This classic style adds a bit of menswear-chic to your outfits, and the flat heel makes them comfortable for everyday. I love how they give that girl-next-door/tomboy look.

While browsing the Theory website, I fell in love with the white and tan oxfords that their stylists used and inquired who made them. The response - the brand is called Dieppa Restrepo, a brand of unisex shoes founded by Columbian designers Andrea Vargas Dieppa and Elisa Restrepo. The Dieppa Restrepo website calls their shoes the "quintessential grown-up sneakers," known for being "fashion-minded, yet comfortable and durable."

Theory will be stocking these shoes come April at their New York Gansevoort store, and I'll be waiting (impatiently) until then!

Anyone else excited for Eat, Pray, Love?

I first heard about this book when I was watching the Bonnie Hunt Show (which is AMAZING, I love Bonnie's sense of humor) and she had Elizabeth Gilbert as her guest, along with Jane Kaczmarkek (Malcolm in the Middle) and The Hills' Kristen Cavallari. The point was to have guests at different ages of their lives come together and discuss Gilbert's book, and I was touched at how much the book had connected with Bonnie and Jane (both are going through or have been through divorces). And they showered it with praise and said it was the kind of book to give to your daughter, a book they wished they had when they were younger. So I decided to give it a go.

Let me tell you, I loved reading this book. It was inspiring, thoughtful, and very well-written. Gilbert is incredibly brave for sharing her story. I was surprised at how spiritual the book came off (I guess the word "pray" should have warned me), but in no way does she come across as preachy or presumptuous. She's new to the whole thing herself and exploring all of it with the reader. I also loved reading about her experiences in exotic locales (I wish I could just pack up and go country-hopping for a year) and her sense of humor.

And now Hollywood is making a movie of the book with Julia Roberts! I can't wait!

The September Issue

I just watched The September Issue for the second time, and I absolutely loved it! I can positively say that this is one of very few films that I've watched where my whole body is tense from beginning to end with excitement. I loved all the photo shoots and the wonderful personalities of some Vogue staffers, especially Grace Coddington. I think I may have to buy the DVD for the outtake footage!

Alexa Chung + Madewell?!?

I'm so excited for this! I just read on the Vogue website that Alexa Chung will be designing a collection for Madewell, coming out this September! The pieces are expected to be items that Alexa herself would wear, like "high-waisted pants and jeans, velvet dresses with Peter Pan collars, and a coat based on a vintage children’s one [Alexa] found that originally came from Harrods". Expect retro influences like "forties tea dresses, sixties mod dresses" and anything cute.

Coming soon to an arm crook near you...

I hear that the Alexa bag is coming to stores in a few days. This is my dream bag right now - it has that perfect balance of polished and casual. Saving up my pennies for this one... which starts at $1150.

I got my giveaway prizes in the mail today!

So, BIG NEWS! I won Chloe's Blog Anniversary Giveaway about two weeks ago (if you guys aren't already reading Chloe's hilarious commentary on her blog The Chloe Conspiracy, you're definitely missing out) and both packages arrived in the mail today!

This Simply Vera by Vera Wang necklace came wrapped up in cute pink and yellow paper!

CUPCAKES! IN JARS! (I have no idea which one is more exciting - never seen a cupcake in a jar before in my life)
I devoured one right on the spot - it was SO good.

In the spirit of Chloe (and Kitty and Petunia), I decided to include a picture of my furbaby Winnie!

In this rather awkward photo, I was trying to take a photo of my cupcake and my dog scrambled over to beg for a taste (or more like photo op, haha).

Thanks Chloe!

An entourage of vest-clad dancers

How great is this video?



I'm loving this rendition of Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You, feels so camp 70's (even though it was produced in 1982). I found it while looking for music from Sonia Rykiel's SS 2009 runway show, which I absolutely adore!



I've been obsessed with Sonia for a while and was elated to finally be able to step into her boutiques in Paris. I visited her store at St. Germain des Pres desperately hoping I could afford something and walked out with a cute knit beret! There were so many cute berets in the look book (one sparkly one and another with a giant bow tied in the back) but they were sold out! Also, something fun to mention is that there's a naughty section at the back of the store!

And now I hear that Sonia is H&M's next designer collaboration - how exciting! Even better - it's a two-part collection! First lingerie, coming out Dec. 5, and knitwear in the spring. Can't wait!

P.S. An extra video I found at www.rykielles.com - with Sonia's own commentary on her surprise gift at the SS 2009 show.

Alexa Chung

+ Blazer: Aryn K.
+ Blouse: Isabel Marant
+ Skirt: Wren
+ Shoes: Chanel

Alexa gives such great style inspiration - boyfriend blazer with a sequin skirt. And she's almost always wearing lovely Chanel shoes in her new MTV show.

I've always wanted to own a piece from wren - this outfit is so cute and I love the polka dot tights!


I've been eyeing this outfit from their spring summer collection for a while and debating whether or not to buy. The skirt, the cardigan - it's all perfect for summer!


Sources: MTV Buzzworthy and wren

I can't wait to step into TOPSHOP!!!

And see all of these amazing goodies from their a/w collection! So excited!

How AMAZING are these faux fur jackets? Esp paired with sequins/paillettes or metallic pieces! They're from the "Marianne" collection, inspired by "vintage glamour meets grunge".

And this entire emsemble is beautifully styled - the shoes!

And these pieces below from the "Horror Girls" collection - key words "Gothic" and "Victorian" - clothes in a state of disrepair

This structured mini is already for sale at the website - but not in this color


Thigh high platform boots for the brave at heart - love how the bottom of the dress is structured


I MUST get my hands on this deconstructed sweater!!!! Great oversize sleeves


This look reminds of Where The Wild Things Are - again another amazing sweater!


Pictures from nitrolicious

Addicted to Looklet

If you love to play dress-up, Looklet is a new website that allows you to create your own outfits using pieces from their online fashion closet. The entire outfitting process is very user-friendly, allowing you to easily mix and match, layer, tuck in or out, and button or unbutton pieces. You can save your outfits to share with friends or enter them into their styling contests to win prizes. Think of it as paper dolls for grown-ups, it's quite addictive.

Growing Jewelry

Live Icelandic moss at your fingertips.
Flex your green thumb here.

blogger's block

Lately I've been suffering from a case of blogger's block - not so much feeling uninspired, but more so feeling like the little details that have been inspiring me lately aren't substantial enough to be written in blog post form. And fleeting, too. Add in a little bit of laziness (ha), and that explains why I haven't been posting lately.

I have been surfing the blogosphere, though, more frequently than I ought, and must urge all of you to check out the newest Chanel No.5 Ad with Audrey Tautou at Haute Design, which is otherwordly romantic and features my favorite French actrice! And then hop on over to Lorick and the brand's beautifully designed website and feel inspired by everything français!

UPDATE: For the full-version of the Chanel No.5 Ad, click here. And for interviews with Audrey and the ad's director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, videos on the story of Chanel No.5 and the making of the set, visit the Chanel website.

DIY Tulle Skirts: Planning

I decided to take the plunge and buy the aforementioned dress, and good thing I did yesterday because it's now sold out in my size today! Luckily enough, the same dress in a solid color blue also appeared, also the last one, so now I have two dresses coming! It's a bit overkill to have the same dress in different colors, but I'll think of it as my back-up in case the abstract print looks unappealing irl.

The blue version!

Also, in the previous post, I got a fabulous recommendation to pair a black tulle skirt underneath because the skirt is so short. That's definitely a concern of mine, and because it's a full-looking skirt, a bit of breeze could be embarrassing. This got me thinking about ways to cover up our "bobbly bits" when wearing short, and especially full, skirts. Models can wear short, swingy skirts and leap about the pages of a magazine editorial, carefree, completely oblivious to the dangers of public exposure that we normal people must constantly worry about.

I tried to come up with a few ideas on how to solve this problem:

1) Wear tights or leggings, although now that summer is approaching, I think this will become less practical.
2) Wear cute hot pants or some other kind of tight, non-bulky short shorts. I have a pair of polka dot American Apparel hot pants which are really cute, and I've paired them with the same brand's shorter, full skirts. However, sometimes I don't understand how these would be any different from underwear, except for a bit more coverage. I believe that when the wind picks up, all anyone will get a peek and assume they've seen polka dotted underwear!
3) A tulle skirt is a really cute way to get a bit more fullness under the skirt and cover up underneath! It can veer towards a punk rock-inspired look if the skirt was pink or any other bright pop of color or towards a gothic, lolita look if the skirt were black. Too much tulle could end up looking a bit prom, but I think a very toned down, cream colored tulle skirt could end up looking fantastic!
4) And if worse comes to worse, just wear cute underwear, haha!

After an exhaustive search for tulle skirts and crinolines online (and serious consideration in buying a girl's size skirt and praying to the 'skinny gods' that it would fit), I started feeling a bit crafty and decided it shouldn't really be that difficult to make one. Tulle isn't expensive, and plus I could customize it for length and "poofiness". Everything's gonna be hidden under the skirt of the dress, so it wouldn't have to be perfect. My only setback is - I don't know how to sew, ha. My only sewing experience has been a single summer home ec class waaay back in the day. My mother's old sewing machine is practically a relic, and I've always been afraid of it ruining my nice fabrics.

So, in my spontaneous diy mood, I found a few pictures for inspiration:

Probably the easiest to make, Taylor Momsen on set as Jenny Humphrey has a bit of hot pink tulle peeking out from under the hem of her skirt. In truth, I'm not sure if there's crinoline underneath or if they've just sewn some tulle on the hem.

The ultimate in tulle skirts, frothing at the mouth goodness. Of course, this one's meant to be proudly showcased for all to see, rather than hidden under a skirt. Balmain Tulle Skirt featured at Elle

While the poofy, striped dress in this ad for the Hello Kitty/MAC collection is over-the-top, I do like the piping of the tulle edges underneath.

If anyone out in the blogosphere has any recommendations, suggestions, advice, I would love to hear them!

EDIT: For those of you curious to know what happened to my dresses, well, THEY NEVER ARRIVED! After waiting for more than two weeks, I emailed CS and they refunded the cost. So I never got to do this little DIY project. :o(

Tracy Feith for Target

Inside Tracy Feith's boutique
From www.nymag.com

I've only recently heard about Tracy Feith, but I'm absolutely enthralled by the fact that he is a surfer turned designer. Even more exciting is that he's doing a collection for Target, which will be out May 17th! FabSugar released a sneak peek of the collection, which showcases plenty of bohemian frocks and beach-ready attire. There's lots of vintage design details and fun prints to be found! A few of my favorites...

Images edited from nitrolicious

All of it is so cute! I can't wait!

These flowers would last forever...

If money were no object, I'd be all over this! Garden-inspired jewelry from Dior's Milly-la-Forêt collection by Victoire de Castellane, Dior's Fine Jewelry creative director, isn't exactly new news, but they're such a creative idea, and so exquisitely crafted and beautiful, that I can't seem to think of anything else! Victoire was inspired by Monsieur Dior's garden at his house in Milly-la-Forêt.

And these "Oui" rings are perfect for a francophile like myself!

(notice the "oui" prong settings!)

And finally, the Milly Carnivora collection - garden party on acid! SO FUN!


Check out Dior's Fine Jewelry website for fun animations showcasing all of the collections plus a special video on how a Dior Joaillerie ring is crafted!

One Look with a few key pieces - Rodarte

Rodarte's Fall 2009 RTW collection was dominated by these gray bondage boots.

According to style file, Rodarte's signature gowns were a no-show because the designers wanted to make the show "about one silhouette". The blog then brings up the interesting recession-inspired idea that this season could be all about having one look, defined by a few key pieces. I think this idea is really interesting - those few "key pieces" could be something splurge-worthy or maybe in a neutral palette or in a classic shape. Or, maybe these pieces would be current and bring an outfit some fashion-forward direction, like those thigh high bondage boots? Something to mull about...

Pictures from style.com

Eating in the dark? and bouquets arranged by smell?

I was browsing the Zara website when I came across Dans lee Noir?, a restaurant with a truly novel concept - you eat in the dark! Blind waiters lead you to your table, where you can order the Chef's Surprise and identify the dishes solely on your sense of taste and smell. Described as a "truly sensory culinary experience," there are only two locations - the original in Paris and a newer one in London.
Also on the website is a small review of Odorantes, a small flower boutique in Paris that arranges bouquets based on smell unlike the American way of arranging by color. They are best known for their locally grown roses, especially their signature Black Baccara roses, and their bouquets are wrapped in simple black paper for the ultimate chic and romantic gift. Apparently it is a favorite of Sophia Coppola among other American and Parisian stars.

Boys Over Flowers

This my not be your cup of tea, but I've recently been sucked into the blackhole that is called "Hallyu" for the second or third or bazillionth time. For those of you who are unfamiliar with "Hallyu", it's best you not know until you're well prepared for the consequences. You'll be cooped up in your room, rotting away for days at your computer chair. You may question your taste in television entertainment but not be able to look away. You may witness unspeakable acts of cuteness. You may feel an irrestible impulse to buy a plane ticket to Korea so that you can find yourself a hot man.

For days on end, I have watched episode after episode of "Boys Over Flowers," a Korean drama series based on the popular Japanese manga, obsessing over the love triangle that is Goo Joon Pyo loves Geum Jan Di loves Yoon Ji Hoo. It's kind of like Gossip Girl because it's set in an academy where all the rich kids go, but there's a lot more physical violence (in addition to the expected social cruelty) plus tons of cliche moments/tv tropes/guilty pleasures like makeover transformations (which I personally thought were for the worse), social class differences, Austenian pride vs. prejudice, costume at a non-costume party, that scene from Sandlot where the kid fakes drowning so he can kiss the hot lifeguard. All the good stuff.


And best of all, hot men. Better than that, hot, WELL-DRESSED men. The fashion for men in this show can be kind of out there, but I wish more men would dress like these guys in real life.


So if you have your life a weekend to spare, here's a high-quality, English-subbed video for the first ten minutes of episode 1 (it gets better later in the episode):



Don't say I didn't warn you when you find yourself days later sucked into this series which resembles The Hills with a nine-member girl group, while simultaneously catching up with old episodes of Full House and My Girl.

H&M COUPON!!!

THIS is absolutely perfect timing!!! It's like the retail gods are saying, "Go forth, and shop!" Thanks to Amanda, the blogger behind eep! ramblings, I now know that H&M is offering a 20% off coupon on their website. ON ANY ITEM OF YOUR CHOICE! Go to the H&M website and click on the 20% icon at the bottom right corner and print!

Also, while you're checking out her site, eep! ramblings has an amusing post on how to dress like a Madewell employee. Which is only halfway funny for me because I actually WANT to dress like one, haha!