Great Minds Think Alike, Halloween Edition

Obviously, by now you all know my Halloween plans (and yes, they are in full effect.*) Imagine my glee to find that I'm not the only one with this idea...

Are You Being Suri Cruise For Halloween?

(Why yes, Missbehave Magazine, I am.)

...but, if you read the comments section, I AM the only one to put the plan into action! People are saying things like "I’m not cool enough to be Suri, obvi." Oh no? HAH! I WIN!!!

*plan being in full effect entails: my having gone to the thrift store and agonized over a) a grown-up-sized shortie romper vs. b) an empire-waist, 90s-ish printed sundress that I'm chopping off to Suri length. Clearly, I went with option (b), but not without a panicked call to my Katie Holmes partner in crime first. I also have gold flats (essential, as seen above) and a stuffed bunny, PLUS the totally amazing secret weapon of BUTTONS. Yep, my fabulously generous friend is making me several buttons with "I <3 Mommy & Daddy" and a pic of Tom and Katie, with "Sponsored by Burberry," etc. I'm even getting my bangs trimmed tomorrow. in honor of Miss Cruise. This is serious, guys. I'll even stop the laziness and take pictures.

What about you? Any marvy Halloween plans? As fashion bloggers & associates, I can't help but suspect that you, too, have my inescapable glee re: dressing up....

Halloween Costume Story Contest, WITH LOOT!

Hey Y'ALL, how's your Halloween costume going? Are you painstakingly pasting popsicle sticks onto a hoopskirt, or perhaps sourcing the perfect anchor-printed garters for your sexy sailor outfit? Wait, you're not? Some of you don't care anymore about this commercialized, cavity-causing holiday, and don't make plans until the last minute, when your friends haul you along to someone-or-other's spiked-witches-brew-themed bash?

Right, me neither. I usually come up with a costume by accident, or as part of a late-night joke, like my costume for this year (which I still haven't done anything about, naturally). But whether you are or aren't Seriously Into Halloween, you probably have stories from Halloweens gone by that you could send to Winona of Daddy Likey for her TODAY-ONLY "HALLOWEEN COSTUME CHRONICLES" CONTEST! Other than the joy of sharing the tragic time you tried to be a slutty construction worker and your overalls fell down, you'll also have a shot at a rad prize. Winona says:

"I want to hear your best costume stories. What's the most original costume you ever came up with? What's the one you thought was stupid that turned out to be a smashing success? What was the most expensive? The cheapest? What's your craziest Halloween costume experience?

Maybe when you were five you were intent on dressing up as Henry Kissinger. Maybe last year you went for a traditional sexy librarian costume, and ran into your local librarian. Maybe your mom forced you to be a ghost every year because she didn't know how to sew. Pretty much any great story involving a Halloween costume is fair game! Take ten words or two-hundred to describe it, and feel free to include a photo in your email if it helps, but entries with photos won't necessarily have an advantage. You know I love funny, but poignant stories and wince-worthy humiliations are also welcome. Just do it! EMAIL ME: daddylikeyblog@gmail.com

I'll post a big group of my favorite entries, to help inspire my lovely readers who are still looking for costume ideas, and one winner will receive a $100 gift certificate from the fabulous ModCloth.com! With that kind of moolah, you can afford to dress up every day as, well, someone with rockin' style. " All entries due today!

*Note: I, sadly, will not be winning this contest. I have no Halloween stories that really qualify as "chronicles," and most of my costumes have ranged from the totally-last-minute ("a hippie," 7th grade) to the utterly obscure (the My Bloody Valentine record "Loveless," sophomore year in college). But you bet I'll be checking back with Daddy Likey to see what everyone else has to offer....

[the key component to my Kelli Kapowski costume some years ago. classy.]

"The Rachel Zoe Project" Report #2: What I Learned From RZ

I'm not liveblogging this time (I would have, but I've fallen behind in my viewing of "The Rachel Zoe Project" so I was watching a several-weeks-old episode and the whole immediacy thing seemed a little irrelevant). But I have not lost my desire to watch this surprisingly intimate portrait of the mega-stylist, and, since my understanding of the Rachel Zoe phenomenon is deepening (as well as my incredulity), I consider it an educational experience. I also can use the show to evaluate my personal life. For instance:

Rachel and Assistant Brad are in a car on the way to or from something or other during NY Fashion Week. The theme of this episode is "Uh oh, Rachel has a spending problem!" Honestly, I think anyone wearing couture has a spending problem, but whatever. So Rach contemplates something and then asks darling, natty Brad, "I've bought three leopard coats this week and a leopard cape. What do you think about that?" Without skipping a beat or looking up from his iPhone, Brad replies, "You could use another one." He then goes on, in a personal interview, to say that he is they type who understands the need for fashion; "if you're buying that Birkin even though the rent is due, I will stand there and help you sign the receipt!" He's the ultimate enabler.

After much thought, I've concluded that I, too, need a yes-man. There are wayyy too many times when I ask myself, "Should I do this?/Can I wear this outfit?/Even though it is utterly unnecessary and totally absurd, may I buy this?" All I'd need to vault me from a normal, moderate, responsible lifestyle to a FABULOUS LIFE OF FABULOSITY is a person whom I pay to cheer me on. If only I had fab Brad standing next to me to pat my back, sign my receipt and say "Of course you should, and get two while you're at it!" I'm a big second-opinion getter, and this would really be life-changing. You'd feel so much more reasonable being massively frivolous if you had someone telling you that you were! You guys think that's what Pheobe Price has?

[the inimitable phoebe price. gracias, gofugyourself.]

When Trendsetters Are Trend-Followers

Do y'all get the WhoWhatWearDaily email? It's a sort of eye candy full of fashion pix, sources for great items, silly videos instructing you on how to wear a loose blouse with a tight skirt or whatever...and, recently, the feature "MySpace Muses."

This feature always bugs me, and I've never understood quite why. All the girls definitely look cool, they're all well put together and I like the candid shots...but something just irritates me. When I examined today's report, above, I got it: they're usually NOT MUSES. They have outfits that correspond, TO THE LETTER, to the latest hip-young-thing trends. Everything those nice girls are wearing embodies the most obvious current trends. Tight high-waisted minis? Check. Shorts, tights and flat mannish shoes? Check. Gladiators? Check. Baggy pleated pants? Check. (OK, maybe this is sort of muse-ish, as I rarely see actual people--versus runway models--wearing these.) All stuff we've been seeing so much on magazine pages, our eyeballs are falling out. YAWN YAWN YAWN.

Let me clarify, just to make sure you don't think I'm a huge jerk. I think these muse ladies are great. They look cool (except baggy pants girl, since, admirable though her attempt may be, I just CANNOT get behind that look). I just have issue with the fact that they are inspirED, rather than necessarily inspirING. And really, what I'm REALLY ACTUALLY complaining about is this same phenomenon in lots of fashion media. We see "fashion icons" just parroting the same things that actual fashion icons pioneered months before, and are told that they're role models. Obviously, we cannot all be (as we say in marketing) "tastemakers" and "influencers," but we shouldn't claim people are when they're just people who use trends well.

OK, now I'm going to go finish my 7-liter bottle of Diet Coke and try to calm my tremors.

How Do I Take Outfit Photos?

Despite requests, I basically never--unlike most fashion bloggers--post up photos of what I've been wearing. Why? Not to keep myself shrouded in a romantic mystique; no, I just can't manage to take good photos. I'm not just saying I look ugly. No, the photos truly suck. I tried again yesterday, and look what happened:


See? Horrific. The flash makes a spot in the mirror, the no-flash leaves everything blurry, and taking pictures of oneself is just awkward no matter what.

SO: what do all y'all do? I know I have some pro readers who succeed tremendously in the outfit-photo department. What's your secret? A nifty tripod? A nifty tripod of a boyfriend? My boyfriend, while extremely nice, never took tripod class.

Also, and no less importantly, how do you get over feeling like a total jackass for taking pictures of yourself and putting them on the internet? Do you simply justify it with the very real demand from your eye-candy-hungry readers? Maybe I'm just not cut out for this. Maybe I'll just focus on taking pictures of my cat, which I am very good at.