Oct 10, 2009 | Fashion
(Forever21 shirt, DIY chain harness, DIY zipper cuff bracelet, Hot Topic watch, leggings from Japan,
Sam Edelman Zoe Platform Booties, Icing by Claire’s “Dream” knuckle duster ring,
Cartier and Tiffany rings, jumpring opening ring tool)Woohoo! Post #250 already!
Day #3 of Portland Fashion Week saw me in this – since I was only going to be covering a few designers for the shows that night, I decided to finally try out my brand-spanking-new Sam Edelman’s, from Amazon.com (and thanks to that gift card I’d been holding onto for 3 months!).
It was already getting pretty dark out while we were shooting…in retrospect, we should have upped the ISO since everything turned out slightly blurry. Anyway, you get the picture.
What to say? I got tons of compliments on the boots, but my metatarsal bones were hating me after just an hour. 5 3/4″ heels really put alot of strain on the foot. Anyway.
Zipper cuff is my DIY version of the Kate Cusack cuff that’s been out there for awhile…I left the zipper pull on the teeth for interest. You can buy the original for $110 at her Etsy store.
I fell in love with this two-finger ring from Icing by Claire’s the moment I saw it…they also had “Love” and “Peace” versions, both silver and gold. I love that it’s a knuckle duster that says “Dream.” How ridiculous is that??
And I was making jewelry that morning and forgot to remove my jumpring tool! It’s just a little ring [on left index finger] with slits in it for anchoring jumprings as you pry the other end open with pliers…and I realized, hey this is jewelry too! So I just left it on. Wearing some of my wedding rings which I rarely wear since they get scratched super-easily by coming in contact with just about anything. Who knew platinum was such a soft metal??? My $5 nickel jumpring tool is still shiny and perfect, whereas my platinum Cartier ring is a mess of scratches. What gives?
It’s Portland! I figured the tee slogan was particularly appropriate. [“To be Green is to Be Serene.” Made by Forever21, likely using non-green, non-ethical manufacturing practices. Super-irony.]
Chain harness is a copy of the one Norwegian Wood makes…I have the zipper and chains laying around, so I just DIY’ed my own. I am so in love with everything from that brand…and I’m saving up for a little bustle suspender set and feather-shoulder harness.
And then my son decided to take off his pants and get his picture taken too.
Mommy’s trying to look pretty, ok? Just…can you move over to this side…please…?
Oh, for goodness’ sakes.
Portland Fashion Week is…so far, interesting…somewhat of a letdown in the quality and innovation of the designs…a lot of it seems RTW straight off the Macy’s racks…
But that’s for another post…
Hope everyone’s enjoying their weekends!
xoxox
Carly
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Oct 9, 2009 | DIY
(Jacket from Japan; scarf from I forget; Claire’s wristbands, necklace, and armwarmers; handmade studded ring; DIY Chanel tee; Paris Blues Jeans; DIY’d GoJane boots)
It’s that time of year again when the leaves change color, Fall activities are well underway, and Portland Fashion Week presents 5 days of local and sustainable collections, presented in some warehouse practically off the map in a NW corner of the city. I skipped out on attending Day 1, so here I am on Day 2 of the Collections, as I like to say, since it sounds more frou-frou and New-York-wannabe.
I made this shirt the morning before the madness started – with a fabric pen. Because life definitely needs more cavorting! (The real version says “Cavour Roma” in case you were wondering – here’s a piccy below:)
(sorry I don’t remember the site I saw this on) Actually it was on KnightCat, I remembered, and a reader mentioned it was originally from Lookbook.nu. Thanks Danni!
I know armwarmers went out of style (or never came into style) like a decade ago, but my hands get cold easily and I often add them to an outfit. Yes, inside of me is a fashion-challenged 12-year old. With warm hands.
Even though it’s Fashion Week, when you’re covering the shows my best piece of advice is:
Wear comfortable shoes!
I wrapped a long strip of ultrasuede around these flat, scrunchy boots from GoJane and tied the ends. I’m all tied up!
Fashion Show coverage coming soon!
Have a lovely Friday!
xoxo
Carly
DIY Update: For those of you who were wondering how to make the shirt…
1. Take a white Men’s XL t-shirt and a black fabric pen (I used a FabricMate Chisel Tip
). Place your shirt over a piece of cardboard and apply a liberal spraying of Spray Laundry Starch
to make it literally “flat as a board.”
2. I used Photoshop to create the lettering (and added my initials as the double-C logo in the middle, haha), printed out the image, and placed the paper underneath my t-shirt on top of the board. Then I simply traced the letters and filled them in with the fabric marker (took awhile).
3. I cut off the hem a little higher in the front and lower at the sides so it makes “side-tails,” cut off the neck ribbing and the sleeves, and stretched the cut edges until they rolled slightly.
4. Then I washed it on the delicate cycle in the wash and laid flat to dry, to get rid of the starch and “set” the fabric marker paint.
So super-easy to make! I’d love to see everyone’s DIY versions!
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Oct 8, 2009 | Score!
Entry #11 (Deb) who wrote:
Cool pumps.
But Deb! Hello!!!!
You did not leave us an email address for us to contact you!!!
What to do??? Deb, you have 72 hours to contact me (that is…by SUNDAY OCT 11; and my email is on the “contact me” section of this blog)…or else I’ll be drawing another winner! I’m drawing another winner! See my next post for who won…
Thank you all so much for entering, for following on Twitter, and for blogging about this giveaway! (We’ll be doing another one real soon – maybe even sooner if I don’t hear from the elusive Deb!)
xoxox
Carly
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Oct 7, 2009 | Fashion
In case you were wondering what happened to that chick with the flirty dresses and bad posture from “The Fashion Show” (that aired in late Spring 2009 on Bravo; admit it! You were watching since “Project Runway” was still a couple months off and there was nothing to watch except that horrible Isaac-Mizrahi-fueled train wreck)…
Anna McCraney, winner of “The Fashion Show” on Bravo, launches her Spring 2010 collection under the label Annabelle, inspired by the photographs Sally Mann took of her children, published in her book Immediate Family. According to critics, the photos “captured the confusing emotions and developing identities of adolescent girls” and created “a place that looked like Eden, then casting upon it the subdued and shifting light of nostalgia, sexuality and death.” For Anna, they evoke memories of her own childhood, growing up in the South, the good, the bad, and the ugly, seen through the eyes of a child.
Sorry, but the one on the left cannot possibly be a dress. Didn’t she watch Project Runway Season 2 and remember Zulema’s barely-butt-covering gold disaster?Some of Sally Mann’s photographs:
This one truly disturbed me until I found out it was a candy cigarette. It’s still disturbing. Yeesh.
Visit
her website to learn more.
(I could do without the photo of her on the toilet, just FYI.)
What do we all think of her collection?
In the infamous words of the many idiot judges that passed through those chairs on the show….
I’d buy it.
-Carly J. Cais
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Oct 7, 2009 | Score!
It’s til midnight TONIGHT chickadees!
Don’t forget to enter (following the instructions
HERE)!
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