LiLo Goes Loco for Fornarina

American viewers are sadly deprived of Lindsay Lohan's latest and greatest mass marketing appearance. Italian label Fornarina (a.k.a. retro stripper gear masquerading as fashion, and high-priced fashion at that) has recruited our fave party girl for this insanely, um, insane ad campaign featuring neon, magical sparkles, bad animation and a scary blonde wig. Who is this aimed at? I mean, I get that it's not meant to be serious, but it's SO badly done. I almost love it. Actually, yeah, I totally love it.

floralskirt floralskirt

my skirt came yesterday!
normally I hold onto new stuff for a while, but this one I had to wear right away.

I wore it high-waisted, with:
tights, grey tall boots, grey AA tee, thrift necklace, plaid jacket

mixing prints is my new hobby.

OK spring, i give in

So for ever (basically since last fall, I think), I've been really entrenched in fall/winter colors. Grey, black, navy, yum yum yum. I remember writing a grumpy blog a year ago being all like "EWWW florals and spring things, spare me."

But suddenly the whole spring thing is creeping under my skin and I find myself doing things like...ordering this skirt, which just arrived and I can't WAITTT to wear! (albeit probably with a little black jacket and black boots at first, but still.) It's so loud and not-me that I kind of adore it.

And somehow, despite my vow (again, about a year ago) that I would quit dyeing my hair and never trouble myself with it again, I'm suddenly craving a little lightness...damn you, sunny weather, giving me all sorts of high-maintenance ideas. Maybe it's a grass is always greener deal, but I kind of miss the old color.

The past:

[1: hi ana!]

vs the present:

What do you think? Should I take the plunge?

Fashionable People I Know Are Doing Neat Things

1)

[UO blog via blackburn&sweetzer]

Kime is making tights for Urban Outfitters! Normally I am a little skeeved out by UO but I have to hand it to them for recruiting the infinitely lovely Kime Buzzelli, artist extraordinaire, to make something as cool as TIGHTS for them. When I worked at Lucas on Echo Park Ave, I ran into Kime all the time (Show Pony, her store, was next door) and she's one of those ridiculous people who's not only talented out their ears but is also beyond nice. And she did limited-edition Blonde Redhead tees. Come ON. Leave a little coolness for the rest of us, lady.

2)

B&S, my obvious fave blog of the day, gave Maxine the thumbs up that she merits with her very solid collection, (above, shown at Box8 on Sunday): "Maxine Dillon’s tailored, vintage inspired mini dresses, using strong patterns and rich turquoise to soften the predominant black and white, were the only exception; her collection had a point of view and was able to represent what LA design could stand for. It is no surprise that this label has been able to establish itself over the past few years and has garnered a loyal following." I haven't even gotten a chance to snap up her spring pieces yet...and already the Fall 09 is taunting me! Love that blue.

3)

Satine, where I used to work, is doing crazily well considering The Current Economic Situation. Not only is it expanding into a bigger space across the street on West Third, but Jeannie Lee is now doing a lingerie line (Bocini) with Anthropologie AND a tee line (Shibuya Mon Amour) with Forever 21. Brand diffusions and brand collaborations are definitely fashion's most current direction, so props to her for keeping up. Let's hope that Anthropologie's copywriters don't get to them... Also, I wonder if the whole birds of prey thing is a little overdone at this point. Or is it only overdone in higher-end fashion and now it's the right time for F21 to cash in on owls? I dunno, but I do remember when we were looking at doing a new logo/"mascot" at Satine and they were looking an awful lot like these animals, so maybe it's just a personal taste thing with no regard for trend. Knowing them, though, it'll end up a smash success.


guess I'll have to get cracking on my own projects, huh...get ready for the new A Material World x T-Payne x Whole Foods x Agyness Deyn collab line I have coming out for Summer '09!! it's gonna be off the chain!!!!!
shopbop, collette and karmaloop are already fighting over the exclusive rights. don't say i didn't warn you.

Food & Fashion Combine (Weirdly) at Stubb's

OK, so I didn't go to SXSW this year. But I did come across one of the oddest sneaker collaborations that I've seen (and when you work with streetwear brands, you see a lot): the Supra X Spin Magazine X Stubb's BBQ "Stubb's Skytop SXSW Edition."

[courtesy of highsnobiety]

They're saying,

“The Skytop takes its name from the one of the best places to eat and see live music when you are in Austin, and takes its looks from their world famous sauce. To coincide with this release, we have created a special edition to only be sold at Stubb’s Bar-B-Q this Friday in Austin, Texas.

This special edition includes a pair of Stubb’s Skytops, an apron, a bottle of Stubb’s sauce, all inside a hand made wooden box. This box, as well as the apron are both branded with a 2009 SXSW seal. There will be ONLY 50 boxes for sale this Friday from 10am-11am. Each box is also hand numbered.”

What's cool about this is that I was just listening to a spot on NPR about the original Stubb and what an awesome guy he was. He would host all kinds of now-super-famous musicians (Johnny Cash, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Willie Nelson, Muddy Waters) to jam at his little BBQ restaurant in Lubbock, TX, and he'd stay up all night cooking turkey dinners and have everyone over to his house. He had no business sense at all, and was constantly running out of money, but he was so beloved & his place was such a community hub that people would always get together to help him out. Now he's gone and his BBQ place has moved to Austin, where it's a landmark music venue as well. Pretty cool. [Thanks, NPR.] So that's cool because I love coincidences and running across 2 unrelated Stubb's items in several days pretty much counts as a coincidence.

What's WEIRD about this is that....well, it's a sneaker based on barbecue sauce. I'm not sure who this is aimed at. Hipsters? Austin dudes? Would anyone not from Austin get these? Or would only tourists get 'em because people from Austin wouldn't fall for that gimmick from a local standby? Point is, when I look at my feet, I don't want to think "pork."

FABULOSITY FRIDAYYY

I used to do Things I Love Thursday, a la Gala, but I'm not on top of my game enough to actually remember to love things on the proper day. But I have been feeling a lot of love today, so here ye reap the benefits:

• Dunkin' Donuts has a Twitter!!

• So does Popeye's!!! My all-time fave junk food chains now both have really hilarious corporate Twitters. I have impeccable taste. Seriously though, go read them.

• This quote from the kid at Stylesighting's encounter with Le Lagerfeld:

He explained to me that curiosity is not something you try to have - you don’t suddenly wake up one day and say, “I’m going to investigate culture today and go to a gallery and read a book and then this afternoon I’m going to discover some new bands.” He was saying that a curious nature - a desire to know everything about everything - is just part of who you are. If this is your nature, then no effort is required - curiosity and discovery will be as natural to you as breathing.

• The Impulsive Buy ("putting the 'ew' in product reviews") is my new favorite food blog discovery. I like food blogs that tend toward the ridiculous over the actually useful (see above). It reviews food and branding and misc products, and is hilar squared. Plus introduced me to a new Asian-dessert-snack that I must find: Chocolate Crush Pocky!

["peanut noodles" @ tastespotting]

• Tastespotting, which in defiance of my previous statement is a relatively serious food blog, but as "a community driven visual potluck," for me it's more image-driven eye candy than anything else. Yum.

What's up with all the food today? Just the way the cookie crumbles, yo (god that was bad, but whatevs, I like my unintentional bad puns). I wasn't actually hungry today at all, so I've no idea. ANYWAY, back to fashion...

• My lovely friend Maxine had a runway show at Box8 last Sunday (congrats!) and you can now purchase her GORGEOUS spring collection on Revolve.com!!!!
  

[diamond pleat cardigan dress, maxine dillon]

Gen Art's LA fashion week kickoff - behind the scenes

in case people forgot where they were

our lovely tarah (in a cropped studded jacket SHE MADE) interviewing corrine of society for rational dress.  

corinne showing her gosh darn amazing chained pumps. they went with the insane, wonderful chain vest (badly photographed at bottom) which she said was her favorite piece this season. thank you for not capitulating to recession chic, corinne. the other two designers' collections were so awfully black and dour.

raquel allegra's racks

looking up into the rafters. the LA Theatre is downtown, on broadway at 6th st, and it is just to most fantastical venue. totally over-the-top and old and marvelous. backstage is very backstagey.

raquel allegra's runway instructions. priceless.  our video guy (named guy) decided his new facebook status would be "effortlessly sexy." somehow this struck him as funnier than "positive recession :) "

ufo explosion in the society for rational dress racks!  no i kid, i kid, it's just me being clever with my flash and the steam rising from the frantic pre-show silk steaming.

i was not the only one with a camera. note: all the little girls in black are the dressers for the models. they were all so rapt.  how could they reach up all the way to the tall tall models?

that grecian chain vest from society for rational dress.

being backstage made the whole production so much cooler. getting to hear from the designers about their process and the looks they were putting forth makes it so much more relevant and involving than only sitting in the audience and being presented with a show to decipher (not to knock that either, though...).  if you want to see more of a coherent report, because im addicted did an official one.

lessons:

--all 3 lady designers (maya from grai, corinne from society for rational dress, and raquel allegra)were perfectly lovely and utterly un-divalike.

--models have the tiniest little butts you can imagine. i mean, i know this, and i've seen em before, but each time it reminds you afresh just how teensy and grapefruit-half-y people's butts can be. the cameramen and my male colleagues were pretty happy to be in the dressing area (especially with the NO BRAS rule)

--LA fashion week is more fun than NY, as far as i can tell.  we got crazy bands and live mid-set drummers and everything.

FASHION WEEK/END

[models waiting. photo: me.]

friday night i spent at the gen art fashion week kickoff (held at the most excellent LA Theatre), first backstage and then watching the shows. such a cool venue and great time. more pictures to come.

TONIGHT my lovely lovely friend maxine dillon has her runway show, same place same time (9pm) and i will be there with bells on. i've worked with her on various things and i'm so excited for her collection. check it out online (or on revolve) and then go see in for reals tonight!

off to fashion week gala i go go go

i'm leaving in a few minutes to head to the Gen Art kickoff gala for LA Fashion Week. uber doober excited to be behind the scenes while GRAI, Raquel Allegra, & Society for Rational Dress shows are getting prepped to go. models and makeup and clothes oh my.

[i'm working on a campaign for an energy drink's "what's next" campaign & we're featuring Gen Art. will be chatting w. designers about what they're going through right before the shows and highlighting the overall event. i love backstage of anything so this will be loads of fun. and we have Tarah Smith as our lovely interviewer! will give yall the footage as soon as it's ready.]

am leaving to meet up with film crew in 2 minutes but fyi i am wearing these:


i dieeeeeeeeeeee.

Speaking of Vuitton...

[elle]

...I would like this, please. okthx.

Louis Vuitton + Kanye West Create Sneaker [Streetwear Fiends Drool, Eliminate National Drought]

I keep meaning to write some lengthy, unwieldy post about how streetwear is taking over the popular fashion market and how designers, who have always secretly gone to the street for their inspirations, are now openly reaching into the depths of streetwear to populate their runways with sneakers, tees, neon, etc etc etc.

Lucky for me, Louis Vuitton is epitomizing that whole unwieldy, unwritten post with one shoe:

[photo: black rainbow via sneakerfreaker]

Louis Vuitton. Kanye West. One glorious, retro-futuristic, subtle-suede-vs.-neon-rubber, luxury-tasselled and old-school velcroed, long-awaited and teasingly sneak-previewed product. WOW. It's completely unbeatable. The LV x Kanye sneak already has blogs fighting just for the photos, and soon fans will start lining up around street corners just to get a shot at purchasing a pair in June.

Black Rainbow says:

This collaboration between the french house and the american artist is really interesting and significant on the high-fashion market, and sneaker market. It means that sneaker culture and sneaker market (sportswear one) as we knew it are dead. The mass market is gonna totally absorb it. And it means also lots of thing about the fact that LOUIS VUITTON wants to extend his consumer targets. LOUIS VUITTON want to have this new consumer: older with some money, and a new fashion culture.

Just think. Vuitton = high fashion couture brand beloved by streetwear logo lovers. Kanye = hip-hop icon who loves fashion and is in return beloved by fashion freaks both high and low. This collabo is, like, written in the stars. It's going to take over the world. June ain't far - take stock of your surroundings and hold on.

winter coat wishes

thanks, Helmut Lang, for filling me with pointless wishes.
a) wish I had this asymmetrical leather funnelneck jacket RIGHT NOW. it is so perfect.
b) wish the winter had many months left, necessitating new jackets
c) wish I had bajillions of extra dollars (even on gilt, this here item of yours is still over 4 hundies)
d) wish you would stop READING MY MIND. leather jacket + asymm zip + floppy neck + grey = I think we have a connection, baby. are you straight, Helmut?

"Heritage Chic" Hits The Breakfast Table

[general mills digs through its archives. credit: thedieline]

I've always hated flashy, cartoon-covered cereal boxes. My cereal tends to come in bags from the bulk bins at Nature Mart or else in cartons featuring kindly old people who like fiber. But General Mills is now doing an awfully good job at reeling me in with its new retro-graphic boxes. I'm really loving them, I have to say. I have a thing for endearing vintage packaging (I collect old soda bottles, I have greeting cards with the old Sugar Smacks box on them...) and these are totally charming.

the old trix bunny rollerskated! the modern one scares the daylights out of me.

And of course, this is all about branding. In fashion, the trend is "depression chic" (see post on "Heritagewear"), more kindly called "a return to tradition and quality." People have overdosed on flashy and are looking to spend their money on things that seem more restrained, classic and lasting. Even though cereal isn't any more or less restrained, classic or lasting whether it's in a vintage box or one covered in disco ball holograms, General Mills' cereal division is banking on our primal urge to run to the symbols of old-school, corn-fed Americana. I think it's kind of genius. The only question is if it will work on kids. They don't have nostalgia for anything designed before 1996, so what's the point? To be honest, though, I don't remember anything before 1986, but I've read and seen enough to get the message that the old Trix rabbit is sending vs. the new one. And THAT is key: while the kids could care less, it's their culture-steeped PARENTS who are forking over the $4 a box, and who will feel the warm and fuzzies for these boxes. I'm halfway considering stocking up on Honey Nut Cheerios right now...mmmmm.

[more images: thedieline.com]