partytown

i made this happen. wha wha!
negotiated the sponsorship, booked the venue, bullied down all costs, booked the talent, designed the flyer.
love that my little troublesome twosome, skeet skeet and rony, are going to be there. in full effect, etc.
should be a bit of fun.

from holy to s&m with one letter

dear PR chick,

thank you for this adventure in creative spelling:

Hi-

Hope all is well. Sir Alistair Rai has unique and effortless pieces for summer that are in sync with the upcoming movie Eat Prey Love’s focus on travel and the Far East. 

Eat Prey Love, huh? Is that a twisted, down and dirty version of the new Julia Roberts movie? Kind of like my fave adaptaion, Playmate of the Apes? AWESOME.


many thanks,


Rachel

this guy...

...decided to come home with me the other night, and so I let him camp out on the middle finger of my right hand. nice of me, yah?

[by which I mean, I checked up on him for the millionth time on Gilt, and he'd gone down in price so I finally caved, clicked the "order" button, wrote myself a little love note and lo and behold he now lives with me.]

I'm not big on animal jewelry (never got into the horse necklace trend, god that lasted a long time) but the idea of a baby porcupine made of tough black studs just cracks me up.

[rhodium plated & c.z. ring: noir jewelry]

i love: inspiration from mr brainwash

credit: highsnobiety

pop-up bbq! july 3rd yum yum yum.

Afraid your hip vegan friends won't have enough charred meat for you on Sunday?

Come pre-game for the 4th with some freebie burgers 'n' beer at my little Ever pop-up store on Abbot Kinney!

goddammit

how do I keep doing this?

but seriously. look how wonderfully sweet these are.

and look what a TOTALLY SWEET little online boutique-in-the-form-of-a-blog they come from!

--> topsy design

it's run by two hate-worthy creative folks who live in Silver Lake, near me. by hate-worthy, I mean they're some of those people who do everything you wish you'd thought of doing, and way better than you would've, and look fantastic doing it. this particular pair runs a vintage store out of their fantastically stylish house, which doubles as their showroom.  check it (via style section LA):

"When we first moved out here, we thought we were gonna open up a space," says Frank, sipping coffee in his living room. The couple, who met as NYU arts undergrads, planned on turning a Pasadena live/work loft into a retail showroom for their vast collection of goods, which they source and refurbish before selling. But they quickly ran into zoning issues.
"Turns out it wasn't a live-sell loft, which is how we support ourselves," Jacober adds. And so a web business was born. 

The site, built using Google's free Blogger platform, feels modern with a clean, simple look that lacks the bells and whistles typical of budding e-commerce businesses. Frank uploads the merchandise, Jacober takes the photos. And together they scour the country for the Oddfellow ritual masks, 1930s bathing suits and old newspaper obituaries that are curiously awesome."

wow. good work, team. that makes such a better story than your typical I-sell-random-vintage-on-Etsy deal. nothing wrong with that, and some people do it very, very well; however, adorable couple-slash-showroom-house lends a lot more quirk and atmosphere to the shopping experience. since I am always looking for more fun weird housey things, I wonder if they'd let me shop in real life...? ahem, ahem?

new love

i love how when i started this blog, i was all like, "this is NOT going to be one of those dumb vapid blogs where they just put up photos of shoes."


uhhh, yep. that's what i said.

leather & ink blue nubuck boat shoes: madewell

we's famous on the inner nets!

Now, I know DailyCandy isn't pay-for-play and they're very lovely and nice people, but I still always assume that they have all kinds of publicist deals or I don't know what for their main features.  So it was to my complete surprise when today's DailyCandy LA Weekend Guide featured the pop-up shop I run as its main story! Uhh...YAY!

Thanks, DC!

The shop is a lot prettier than it looks in that photo, by the way. You'll have to see it to believe it, so please do stop by.  I'm currently lusting after a shrunken taupe leather jacket/cardigan and the swingy, printed matte silk tops. yurrrmmmmmm.

i just had to.

Okay, okay, I KNOW that this is NOT what I should be posting to break the seal on a very long and unjustified blog drought, but...

I just had to.
------------------>

This is not from the cover of some bizarre toga-fetish porn videotape. No, it's just the illustration from a menswear sewing pattern from the mid 70s.

There are so many things to love about this that I can barely contain myself.  I mean, JEEZ.

1. Hands on hips. So elegant.
2. SIDE. SLITS.
   (The ancestors of Adidas snap-side track pants? I had some of those back in high school when I played lacrosse. Genius idea, bad look. But these? What, dude, you gonna go for a jog in between groovy shag sessions and mustache brushing?)
3. Double slits on toga man. Really? The crotch-high frontal ventilation just wasn't enough? My stepmom did always emphasize the importance of cross-breezes in a house, so....
4. Shirtlessness. Patterns usually show the garment how it's supposed to be worn, so I can only assume that these pants are meant to impress poolside. Awesome.
5. Gay undertones? On a sewing pattern that would likely be used by a wifey? MIND EXPLODING.
6. Last but not least, veins. Seriously, how veiny are these guys' feet and legs? I'd like to think that this photoshoot was done after a long night of drugs. Drugs... and ankle-waxing.

All right, kids. Happy Monday. You're welcome.

Everlasting thanks to DaddyLikey for this treasure.

happy sneakster

awww.  thanks nike.

available via easter bunny or ATC

LXRY LTD Pop-Up @ AK1511 launches todayyyy

i already have too many watches. but...

colette tempts me.

go to the links to see the true fruityliciousness of these candy-factured old-school delicacies.

http://www.colette.fr/#/eshop/article/579450/swatch/95/
http://www.colette.fr/#/eshop/article/2175368/timex/95/

pop-up party // this friday // "XLARGE x HAN CHOLO PRESENT" @ AK1511

we are having another party. 

this is the party. ----->

XLARGE x HAN CHOLO Present:

DJ Battlecat & Mykestro
Friday, March 26 from 8:00 - midnight at the 

XLARGE x HAN CHOLO Pop-Up Shop @ AK1511

Open bar by Belvedere, Corona and AMP Energy.

RSVP required for entry. 

21+ only. Doors open at 8pm / no entry after 11pm.

AK1511 event space
1511 Abbot Kinney
Venice, CA 90291

shoes for a reality other than our own

it's alternate-universe shoe day!

THESE popped up in my mailbox this morning, courtesy of my aunt who lives in a tiny new england town but always knows about the best shoes...

THE ‘FREJA’ LACED ZIP BOOTS BY ALEXANDER WANG

it's the whole toe-less boot thing taken to its logical conclusion:
no, we are not shoes, we are actually small leather jackets.

then there are THESE pieces of abstract art masquerading as shoes...

THE 'SAPPHIRE' MULTI-HEEL BY ACNE

basically, you are walking on three rusty nails, one of which actually reaches the ground.


and in conclusion, i give you the eye-candy of kate lanphear hanging out looking awesome during paris fashion week. the connection here is that she's also wearing weird toe-less shoes. but really i just think she looks casually, weirdly, perfectly fabulous.

i'll throw in louise ebel on the right (also despite her weird shoes), because she is so damned cute.

PARIS STREET STYLE on REFINERY29

extra dressing

The real reason I started writing/photographing/blogspotting here was to explore the idea of fashion as an intrinsic part of our society and our personal lives. Not to chronicle runways or to talk about the latest shade of coral, but to examine, critique and appreciate (albeit with a lot of slang and capital letters and general snarkiness) the role fashion plays in our lives. But I don't get deep into it nearly enough, really; the subject of why we wear what we wear and hearing different people's takes on it is endlessly fascinating.

Sooo... I don't normally cut and paste here, but on that note, I'm so inspired by Rumi of fashiontoast, who makes the case for "dressing bravely," taking the focus off "who's looking at me?!?" and making fashion into joy.  Look:

I get a lot of questions in regards to the "braveness" to dress any way you want to in the public eye..be it the grocery store, school, party, etc...and where I get the confidence to wear this or that. 

My outlook has always been that people in the streets aren't dressing to please me, why should I take them into account when dressing myself? Playing with clothes is one of the most basic pleasures in life along with other stupid crap like peeling nail polish off in single sheets, crawling into a sun warmed car, and laughing about nothing and everything. If I were to die tomorrow I would be glad that I wore a slightly inappropriate coat and five inch heels to a deserted train station in the middle of the day. You know what I mean?

looovvvve.