Sawdust and Diamonds

Freja Beha.  I like you in runway shots and streetstyle shots, and I know if I saw you in real life I would literally stop breathing.  However, I tend to be underwhelmed by your editorial/advertorial work.

That has changed:

Oh Freja.  THANK GOODNESS!

Also any photographer called Boo George gets an A+ in my book.

And ALSO me Ava Lee are about to take awesome amazing pictures, get excited!

-Hannah

v l o g

-Ava

Say hi

For some reason Daul Kim’s death has really got under my skin.  I don’t know why.  Maybe because it’s the first celebrity death I’ve witnessed that didn’t surprise me.

Anyway, I’ve been thinking about her, projecting personal identity issues onto her, et cetera, and I felt like compiling some songs that express what I’ve been feeling.

RIP Daul Kim.

-Hannah

You Ain’t Got Nothin I Want, She Said

BIG NEWS! Over Thanksgiving Break, Hannah and Lee and I have the opportunity to work with a professional photographer and live out some of our more fantastical editorial whims.

We’re all quite excited, and are each setting our minds to coming up with ideas, images, moods, and concepts we want to explore, which will magically meld into a beautiful and unique shoot! …That’s the plan, anyway!

So I thought I’d share with you my little “inspiration board”:

[images courtesy of ffffound, dripbook]

Hannah and I have exchanged a few facebook videos with potential makeup concepts, which include playing with layering textures using paint, serious eyebrows, nude lips, and some contouring work. I wanted to build off the atmosphere of our makeup looks to create an overall aesthetic simultaneously reflective of and contrasting with the strength of the faces.

Another source of inspiration for me was Cormac McCarthy’s absolutely stunning novel Child of God. As often happens when I immerse myself in a particularly compelling literary or cinematic world, reading this book has tinged my aesthetic lens with its unique and inexplicable starkness; I’m craving the novel’s untamed wilderness and poignant, subversive, and rather disturbing atmosphere, tempered by a sad sort of beauty in the form of beautiful lighting and vast expanses of chilling, autumnal nature…

Anyway, despite the fact that my attempts to verbalize my ideas have fallen short (as usual), suffice to say that I am busy dreaming up all manner of editorial fantasies! I’m really excited to put together this shoot from a very directed, focused perspective and to follow the interweaving of our ideas through the entire process of creating a cohesive final product.

You’ll see the results soon!

-Ava

Grindin’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the past two weeks, I’ve been existing under the stupefying influence of 9 AM classes, unrelenting and unapologetic cold and sopping wet weather, papers, French exams, and a general bout of ennui.

I felt like I needed some sort of visual jolt to lift me out of my slump because, as we all know, sometimes the suggestion of a new sartorial attitude or perspective is all you really need to renew your will to live! So here is my new manifesto:

slick black/sharp shapes/watery, flowing prints/texture texture texture/sheer sheer sheer/pops of white/dark eyes/////// and, hopefully, THE SHOES OF MY DREAMS:

These Balenciagas, seen here gracing the feet of Carine Roitfeld, have garnered my unadulterated LUST ever since I first locked eyes with them… (Aren’t they just arresting?) Now, they’re being dangled right in front of my face on Yoox… do I dare??

ANYWAY. I’m going to go don a beautifully functional and minimalist ensemble and dream of slipping my feet into these Balenciaga beauties and taking over the world…

-Ava

[images courtesy of dripbook, Garance Doré, Jak & Jil, Modern Love, Le Fashion, Google Images]

 

 

We Are Likeminded Individuals Sharing A Common Vision

Today I saw this picture by The Sartorialist that somehow completely summed up my current ideology:

I mean, I love everything about it.  I love the purple/gray and aqua, I love the rainy color tone.  But what I REALLY love is the marriage of function and design in her headphones.

I’m in art school right now and I haven’t picked a major.  But I’ve come to realize is that what I’m passionate about is finding a way to put more beauty into the real world, not just the art world.

Makes sense, right?  I mean, I’m writing a fashion blog, not a fine arts blog – that means something.  Part of it is that I have more access to fashion and have a better sense of how to discuss it.  But part of it is that fashion is much more democratic than fine art.  It’s completely accessible, and, whatever the critics say, it really is meant to make people feel more beautiful and confident.  More things in life should serve that purpose.

I know this is a super wordy post with not many pictures – sorry!  But I would love to hear your opinions on this!  I’ve been in both beautiful and nurturing environments and, well… high school, and it makes such a huge difference.  I’ve decided I want a career that addresses beauty in public spaces, and I just want to talk about it a little.  So forgive my rambling.

Oh, and this!  I love this song, and I love the message.  Enjoy!

-Hannah

The Institution

As you’ve probably noticed from some of my recent posts, my sartorial and aesthetic focus has become inextricably linked to my academic studies and, as I’m about to attempt to explain, the environment in which I’ve found myself.

Almost all of my classes are held in this colossal building in the center of grounds called New Cabell Hall. It’s not new at all… in fact, it’s nearly sixty years old and would be considered by most people rather dilapidated with its mismatched linoleum, questionably working electrical outlets, and preponderance of eerily dark corners.

I, however, have found myself completely enamored with its unique aesthetic. The whole thing is a mixture of textures, colors, and materials that are both endearingly nostalgic and, when taken together, refreshingly current and, in my mind, easily applicable to the fashions I’m craving right now.

[It also helps that the whole thing is kind of reminiscent of a hospital or mental institution (see the claustrophobic but also kind of awesomely beautiful courtyard below...), which adds a healthy dose of subversion.]

I know this is coming off as completely abstract and confusing. To that end, I’ve put together some of my favorite Fall ‘09 looks that embody how I’d like to apply this aesthetic sartorially:

Bottega Veneta– both Hannah and I are really lustin’ after some Bottega Veneta right now… I related this collection to the building’s sublime color palate (rose! nude! white! greyish-pink! I.AM.IN.LOVE.) and am also realllllyyyyy feeling the fabulous understated vintage shapes and luscious silks. YUMMY.

Prada. Again, super-elegant rounded shapes (that are also reminiscent of the beautiful – BEAUTIFUL – curvature of the handrails in the photo below), coupled with a fascinating wild glint in the models’ eyes that plays into the slightly creepy, institutional atmosphere of the building.

Burberry Prorsum. I can never quite decide how I feel about Burberry in general, but sometimes they really just GET. IT. RIGHT. Here, I’m loving the academic tweed, fabulous swinging skirts (and coats, OH, the COATS!!), and overall luscious classicism that I think contrasts beautifully with the slightly disheveled appearance of the building. Especially those gorgeous dresses. GOSH.

The marble of these stairs is really pinker in person (a beautiful kind of grey-pink that my paltry point-and-shoot camera couldn’t begin to capture), and worn down beautifully and organically by sixty years of use. As you can tell, this stairwell is probably my favorite place on earth right now.

And finally: Dries Van Noten. Once again, the colors the colors the COLORS. I cannot express enough my desire for peachy-pinks and nudes anchored by flashes of black and compounded by some dusty blues and eggplants. I’m really going to try to create an outfit that translates the visual elements (lines, textures, matte vs. shiny etc. etc.) of the photo below, coupled with some Dries-tastic proportions and silky, slinky movement. Stay tuned.

I hope that made even a modicum of sense; I’m definitely frustrated with my inability to convey an accurate representation of how uniquely gorgeous this building is. Suffice to say that I’m completely in love and will not rest until I can do a real photoshoot there in the near future.

[Hannah? Next time we're together? You up for some awkward interactions with people who are just trying to use the stairs and feel no particular affection for sixty-year-old linoleum and the soft lighting provided by glass-block windows?? Who am I kidding- OF COURSE YOU ARE.]

-Ava

Open Atmosphere Take Me Anywhere

While performing my super necessary hourly last.fm checkup, something caught my eye.  New Fever Ray pictures!  Well, one new picture.  I have a few well-cultivated obsessions, and everything-Karin-Dreijer-Andersson-touches is definitely one of them.  So then, only one picture of someone no one else cares as much about?  To the blog! thought I.  So here I am, sharing.

Isn’t it amazing?  I think so.  Let’s look at a closer version:

It’s like Beowulf meets Star Trek.  This is a totally great look, right?

Upon finding this, I searched in vain for its parent photoshoot.  Google image yielded nothing!  However, if I find out anything more, be prepared for a big fat edit.  I’m not giving up, not yet.  I need to see if there’s more.

Oh, but I did find this.  There’s an article of some sort, too, probably about what an awesome person/musical god Karin is.  Check it out. And her myspace has a new song.  IN CASE ANYONE IS INTERESTED.

Totally swoon-worthy.  She’s the top, no question.

Oh, and the reason I was on last.fm in the first place is that I was researching an upcoming post on Dolly Parton!  I love everything about her, including her crazy amazing wardrobe.  Girl knows how to work some sequins.  So that’s coming… be excited!

-Hannah

Unknown Legend

Guess what I’m TOTALLY FEELING right now?

(OK these aren’t exactly new BUT….)

Ferragamo ads = most beautiful thing in my life.  I am in deep and abiding LOVE.  I’ve been thinking in terms of COLOR so much lately and you know what?  It feels so good.  I’m not even fighting my seasonally inappropriate inclinations – I want skirts and color NOW, wind and rain be damned.

Me and Ava are together right now and it is the best thing ever.  We are cooking and eating and being gloriously lazy.  Life is perfect.

-Hannah

Garance, Garance, Garance

I’ve recently come to a realization. Garance Doré is quite possibly the coolest woman in the world. She’s confident, witty, strikingly beautiful, endearingly self-depricating, and, above all, completely real. Not to mention that her gams are pretty damn fantastic.

Two things in particular about the above photo. One: ADORABLE. SO. ADORABLE. Two: she is one of the few people I would trust to use Burberry plaid for good, not evil. I’m definitely having some umbrella envy right now…

[images courtesy of Google Images]

I was completely star-struck when I met her outside the Chanel Haute Couture show in July; I can’t believe how nice she was! (I, on the other hand, behaved like a stammering idiot…)

The moral of the story? She’s pretty much my ultimate style icon right now. I’m totally feeling her muted color palate, astute use of menswear shapes (no one does it better than her), free-flowing hair, and fabulous shoes.

Ah, Garance, si seulement je pouvais être aussi fabuleux que vous…

-Ava