Apr 27, 2010 | Life
img src: Getty Images, if you can’t tell from the watermark:-) The little girls’ expression is priceless – I couldn’t resist!
It was very weird not posting yesterday – believe me, I wanted to! – but I was up late finishing my latest tutorial for Threadbanger, which I’ll be reposting here soon. (Sunday-Monday-Tuesday mornings are always taken up by Threadbanger stuff, so I have trouble keeping up with this blog on those days.)
Anyway, along the lines of what I wrote yesterday, I wanted to put a poll out there for you guys, and really get some feedback on what you want to see here in the weeks to come. I have to overhaul this site and I’d love to hear what you really think!
So first: What do you want to read here? (You can choose as many answers as you like!)
And secondly, please tell me what doesn’t interest you (again, please choose multiple answers):
Finally (and I know this is long, please bear with me!) I have some new ideas that I’d like to throw out there and see if you’re interested in any of them. (Choose as many as you like!)
Thank you so much for your time and feedback…I really want to create content that’s tailored for you guys and your opinions are crucial to how I decide to overhaul this site. If you have any comments that you couldn’t add to the poll for whatever reason, please leave them in the comments section!
Thank you!
xoxox
Carly
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Apr 26, 2010 | Life
…love, Maegan’s chandelier necklace DIY
So normally I’d post a “DIY Links of the Week” today…but I found the blogosphere strangely lacking in DIY tutes this week…or maybe I wasn’t on it looking hard enough. Of course, there’s always …love, Maegan and her great DIY’s (this week a Prada chandelier necklace DIY, above), and OnePrettyThing‘s daily roundups…but otherwise, nothing really caught my eye. (Please let me know if there’s any majorly fashionable DIY tutorials out there that I’ve missed!)
But instead I wanted to throw this out there and see if anyone else who maintains a blog is going through this too.
(img source: Getty Images)
Yup, that image pretty much sums up my last 2 to 3 months. (Love that she’s either plugged in to her computer, or she’s using the power cord as a banana clip. Gotta be fashionable whilst collapsed!!)
I’m currently just starting Week 3 of my second bronchitis infection in a year. (My last one, if some of you may recall, began March 30 of last year, the day before we had to go to Hawaii for a wedding, and lasted until mid-August. Even after I “got over” it, when I was working late [on this blog], and/or dehydrated, suddenly *cough cough* would come burbling up out of me, unbidden, with no warning. I’ve never been a coughy person before…just after the bronchitis it’s like my lungs would start to weaken if the rest of my body was tired or run down. The surprise coughing would only happen once a week or so, especially when I was staying up late or pushing myself really hard to cut back on sleep and get a lot done otherwise.)
So now, after 3 colds in a row after getting back from Hawaii this year, (the second cold bringing laryngitis for a week with it – FUN!), I’ve now come done with bronchitis, AGAIN. I also have pityriasis roasacea (2nd infection in my life – it’s like a rash on your torso, arms, and neck which appears for no known reason, has no treatments, no cure, and just goes away on its own about 8 – 12 weeks later) and a mucocele on my inner lip which I can’t get an oral surgeon to remove until May 25 [10 weeks after I first got it] b/c that was their first appointment available. LOVELY. I’ve not been able to exercise since getting back from Hawaii due to the recurrent colds and bronchitis (except the odd walk around the neighborhood here and there), and have added another 5 pounds to my frame, losing almost all the muscle tone I gained last summer while training with P90X.
In other words, I’m a mess physically. Well, none of these diseases/infections/afflictions are particularly serious…it’s just that it feels like I’m doing something wrong here, like the balance of my life is off. For example:
Here is me in Hawaii on our first trip in early February for Hub’s best friend’s wedding:
and here is me in Hawaii (at the beach, Hanauma Bay, to be exact) when we were there again in March for my brother-in-law’s wedding.
Yes, folks, I was on the beach, in Hawaii, WORKING on my articles on Fashion Week for FashionTribes.com (which have STILL not been posted – Lesley, what are you doing???) and for write-ups for this blog, while Hub and Lil Tot and all my inlaws frolicked in the water.
Now, of course this was my choice – no one put a gun to my head. Wasn’t that stupid of me? But in turn I got stuff done, and I faithfully updated this blog almost every single day, and answered formspring.me questions, and networked online, and added widgets and whatnots and things day in and day out to this site. Oh, and navigated going to New York Fashion Week, and seeing 9 shows, and conducting 5 interviews (many of which I haven’t posted yet…*sigh*), and taking photos throughout.
But at the end of it, here I am, sick yet again. I’ve imposed this once-a-day posting schedule on myself, I know that, but at the same time, it feels…almost pointless. My day has gotten to be where I am doing so little of the things I enjoy (making things, spending time with my family, re-connecting with friends, gardening, working out, watching movies, surfing the internet, laughing) and instead is 3 – 9 hours a day of sitting in front of this computer, writing, editing photos, creating posts, reformatting the blog, researching, posting on other forums/blogs…or taking numerous photos.
I work every single day on this blog. I do write, sometimes: “I’m not posting today,” or I skip a post in a day (but I’ll double up on posts on another day to make up for it) – but I’m still checking email, answering formspring.me questions, answering Cut Out + Keep questions, responding to Threadbanger comments, editing photos for future tutorials, hashing out my editorial schedule, pulling inspiration for a number of sources, combing the internet for DIY info… I mean, I’m on the WWW every single day working on this – whatever this is. I work almost 24 hours a day some days – I check my email first thing in the morning (6:30 AM), and often posting something is the last thing I do before I go to bed around 12:30 AM. Some days I’ll be working until 2 or 3 in the morning. I’ll be on the computer numerous times throughout the day to deal with the huge amount of email I get, comments/questions that need to be responded to, etc. Plus, I work 7 days a week doing this- there are no “days off” from this, from trying to be available and helpful to everyone who requests it. I work 40 hours a week on this…and the funny thing is, to be completely honest, the revenue I make from this blog (since I don’t sell advertising space just yet) is barely enough to buy a grande drink at Starbucks once a month.
So why do it, right?
How many of us would work a full-time job at something, around the clock, 7 days a week, for $5 a month?
But that’s what blogging is, for many of us.
There is a great post over on Wardrobe Refashion entitled Free is Expensive that speaks to this issue, if you are interested. (click thru the links to the articles she provided if you want to know more re: “Your Own Personal Blogging Sweatshop” hehe.) The webmaster [blogmaster?] of the site has decided to make it a paid membership site in order to make it worth all the work she’s put into it, and many people objected to this, so she posted about how much work blogging really is, and how many of us who are putting out quality content don’t see a dim
e for all that work.
I, meanwhile, have left FashionTribes as Contributing Editor, and now post once-a-week step-by-step tutorials for Threadbanger.com.
As you have probably noticed, I have barely been able to make DIY tutorials for this blog here in the meantime. I really want to. But moreso I just want to make things, because I like making things, and that’s how this ol’ blog got started in the first place: I thought “I’ll share with everybody what I’ve made and tell them how to make something just like it!” The response was phenomenal. (Imagine me, squeeing, running around the room saying “They like me! They really, really like me!”) Yes, validation.
I know I am in the wrong since I did not hash out a business plan before starting a blog, nor did I create a specific monetization goal or a squeeze page or any info-product or upsell or anything tied in to Chic Steals. I started it because it was just doing something that I liked: finding bargains on the internet, making stuff and showing other people how to make it too. But it’s gotten to the point where I can’t keep putting so much time into it – where it’s literally affecting my health, my family life, my ability to get a full-time job – if there is so little “payoff” from it. I’m obviously not a very smart businessperson because I would have done something prior to this to make Chic Steals more “worth my while,” not let it get to this point where I start to feel dissatisfaction with the situation.
Having followers, “meeting” you guys through comments, having online conversations with you – it’s fabulous, like a virtual sisterhood, and that’s what keeps me going many days. (Don’t doubt it! I’m not trying to minimize your readership and what it means to me.:-) But in the end, it really is virtual, and if I don’t turn my computer on for the day, there is no connection to any of you. I’ve begun to feel like I spend just too much darn time in the virtual world and not enough time in the real one, and that’s why I keep getting ill with one thing after another, and why this blogging thing is feeling like “work that I don’t get paid for.” Does that make sense?
So anyway…this is just a long-winded way of saying There are going to be some changes happening here.
Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not next week…but there will be some changes in the offing. Total redesign of this site. Re-branding. Narrowing down of content. (Wait a minute…isn’t that more work???)
As of right now, I’m trying to keep the computer off more, cut down on email, not jump to answer questions or comments immediately, and perhaps…*shudders*…not posting every day.
Eek!
Plus, I’m trying to eat more healthy, get out more, and get back to making things without snapping a photo every 5 seconds.
So if I slow down in posts, I’m sorry. If I can’t post a how-to video for a DIY, I’m sorry. If I don’t visit your blog, or don’t respond to a kind comment you have left me, I’m sorry.
The above is why.
Sorry, this post ended up super-long. I could be inscrutable and lofty and just post some editorial photos with a one-sentence comment but that’s not me. I guess my thing is transparency. “This is how, this is why…” and all that. I’m sure a lot of you don’t want to hear some random blogger ranting about how hard she works and how she gets no money for it, and the love she gets from it isn’t enough anymore. But that’s the long and short of it.
But any of you out there – how many of you are feeling similar in regards to your own blogs, and how much working on them starts to encroach on your lives?
Also: tell me what you want to see here! (A forum? Community voting on what DIYs you want me to turn into video tutorials? Online workshops? DIY kits?)
I’d really like to hear your feedback and know what you’d like from this site.
Thank you, as always, for your time and readership.
xoxox
Carly
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Apr 25, 2010 | From You, Media
I received this question in my formspring.me box:
Have you seen the release of the unretouched photos of Brittany Spears for the new Candies ads? (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1265676/Britney-Spears-releases-airbrushed-images-digitally-altered-versions.html). What do you think of them?
This is the 4/14/2010 Daily Mail Reporter article she is referring to:
“Britney Spears bravely agrees to release un-airbrushed images of herself next to the digitally-altered versions
“Celebrities, and the industry around them, are often accused of producing images that affect young people’s body image.
“Which is why it’s so refreshing to see one of the world’s most famous pop stars allowing all of their imperfections to be highlighted.
“Britney Spears has allowed the pre-airbrushed images from a shoot she took part in for fashion firm Candie’s to be used ALONGSIDE the digitally-altered ones, so people can see the difference.
The 29-year-old singer made the extraordinary move in order to highlight the pressure exerted on women to look perfect.
“In the first shot, she is seen facing the camera with her arms behind her back. Imperfections that can be clearly seen in the un-airbrushed shot include blemishes on her calf, her larger thighs and, if you look really closely, you can see her feet have dry skin on them.
“The airbrushed pictures, however, tell a different story with a slimmed-down waist and flawless, skinny legs.
“Meanwhile, in the second picture, she is seen from the back – in the un-airbrushed shot she has areas of cellulite on the back of her thighs, a tattoo on her lower back (sometimes called a ‘tramp stamp’) is clearly visible and her backside is a little out of shape.
“However, in the altered photo all of these imperfections have been wiped out – and she appears to have a pert rear, unrealistically smooth skin, slimmer legs and the tattoo has vanished.
Shaping up: The pop star’s whole body has been trimmed down with the use of a computer, even down to removing a tattoo on her back.
“A source told the Daily Mirror newspaper: ‘Britney is proud of her body – imperfections and all.’
“Of the experience, the singer told press: ‘I had so much fun shooting the Candies for Kohl’s campaign. My favorite set-up was against the gigantic wall of pink cotton candy.’
“And she added: ‘I got to wear the cutest clothes and they are perfect for summer!'”
Source
So…here’s my 2cents since you asked…
I think it’s pretty obvious from Britney’s history that she is not particularly savvy when it comes to press and PR…and thus, it is most certainly stretching the truth to write that she “made the extraordinary move in order to highlight the pressure exerted on women to look perfect.” I’m willing to bet that it wasn’t her idea in the first place, and she likely did not care one way or the other, as Britney Spears has never seemed overly concerned with women’s issues in the first place. (Unlike Jessica Simpson, for example.)
Excessive Photoshopping and “realism” in magazines and advertising is currently a hot debate topic…perhaps in part kicked off by that unretouched photo of Lizzie Miller in Glamour Magazine last September (photo above)…and it’s patently obvious that Candie’s wanted to be a part of it. (Don’t get me started on why they decided to use Britney Spears as poster girl for the Candie’s brand in the first place…I find it a strange and almost PR-blind decision, but whathaveyou.) It’s sort of winceworthy that they chose to highlight Britney’s imperfections in releasing these photos…we’ve all seen the numerous tabloid photos of her over the years and so the public (I believe) is generally aware that Ms. Spears looks quite different in reality than when she is plastered with makeup, posed, and Photoshopped in a Candie’s ad or on her own album covers. (Had this been pulled with someone like, say, Victoria Beckham, I think there would be much more of an “ohmygosh!” reaction. Come on – we all know Britney has cellulite and acne and less-than-doll-like thighs. The jig is up, Candie’s, in case you didn’t realize.) Plus the company is only drawing attention to how much they have Photoshopped and digitally manipulated her in this ad (and therefore, we can assume, in all her ads for them up to now) so I’m not sure this is casting them in a good light by them saying “Look at our spokeswoman, Britney!! Isn’t she such a dog in real life?? But she’s proud of it, so yay!” Eye-roll-worthy…to me, it’s just someone else manipulating Britney’s image to get something out of it.
I think she looks great in the BEFORE photos (especially as a woman who’s had kids and is entering her 30’s)…though to be perfectly and utterly honest, what I expect when I open a magazine is something more like the AFTER photos, which (though not reality for all intents and purposes) display a visually appealing perfection, and offer no extraneous flaws that could detract from the brand message. (Except for Ms. Spears and her history, but we’ll leave that for another day.:-)
And on another note, as
the Photoshopping vs. what is real? debate rages on (with Jessica Simpson appearing without makeup on the cover of the latest issue of Marie Claire, for instance)…Health Magazine decided on this for their cover for the April 2010 issue:
Do you know who this is?
I didn’t…I was like, “I think I’ve seen her somewhere before..gosh she kinda looks like…no, wait, this lady looks much older…who is this??”
And I’ve seen two of her movies, too. Does this look like the Zooey Deschanel you know? (You know, the cute one, lately from the covers of Lucky Magazine and those sweet and sort of innocent-looking Cotton ads.)
I think you can tell that they definitely laid off the Photoshopping for this cover…and as a result I couldn’t recognize her. Or maybe I just haven’t seen her smiling enough. Or maybe her hair/makeup looks very unlike her. Or maybe I’m just an idiot.
Zooey fans, weigh in! Oh, and Britney fans too – and anyone who wants to talk about Photoshopping people for magazine ads/covers…would love to hear your input too!
Thanks for your thought-provoking question!
xoxox
Carly
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Apr 19, 2010 | Fashion
Jeremy Scott long sleeve dress
Launching TOMORROW (April 20th) and available for purchase exclusively on Refinery29.com, Richard Chai and Jeremy Scott’s collaborative pieces with Alternative Apparel are designed not to break the bank. With prices ranging from $69 – $129, the pieces will only be available for a limited time (until May 20th) – so if you’re a fan of the brands (or these super-soft jersey pieces appeal to you), you’ll have only a little time to snap them up before they’re all gone.
Richard Chai long sleeve ruffle tee
Inspired by Alternative’s fashion-forward styles and unprecedented comfort, Chai and Scott each designed a series of signature looks utilizing Alternative’s high-quality, cutting-edge fabrics. The NYC-based Chai, who was recognized earlier this year for his accomplishments in menswear with a nomination for the 2010 GQ/CFDA Fashion Award, worked with Alternative’s luxurious linen jersey and modal silk fabrics to create several reworked and reinterpreted t-shirts, bringing a cool, laidback edge to the classic tee. Using Alternative’s super-soft and refined micro-modal spandex fabric, celebrity favorite Jeremy Scott created three sexy, sophisticated “little black dresses” which take on various incarnations with raised necklines, hoods, and shoulder details.
Since I’m now anti-American Apparel (due to their unusually degrading images of girls in their advertising), I’m all for this brand, which does the soft, slinky tee…well, to a T…and whose burnout tees I’ve been practically living in for some time. (They’re also, BTW, one of the most affordable and trendy tee brands when it comes to wholesaling in small quantities to screenprinters and designers…American Apparel wholesale prices are almost TWICE Alternative’s…a little factoid I found out when I was tees to screenprint for my line.)
Jeremy Scott hooded dress
Richard Chai long sleeve ruffle tee
So what do you guys think? Cute? Buyable? Will you be racing to the site come tomorrow and clickety-clicking?
xoxox
Carly
About Alternative Apparel
Alternative has been challenging the concepts of fashion since 1995, when Foun der and Chief Creative Officer Greg Alterman set out to create the perfect t-shirt—one designed for fashion, made for comfort, and tailored for a flawless fit. Today, Alternative has elevated the tee from casual basic to fashion-forward staple, simultaneously broadening its horizons to offer a complete collection of ready-to-wear clothing and accessories, including an eco-friendly line of sustainable apparel, Alternative Earth.
As a lifestyle apparel brand at the forefront of the fashion industry, Alternative exists to inspire authenticity and comfort—both inside and out. Our mission is about more than just designing clothes that look and feel great: we want our unique community of wearers and supporters to feel comfortable in their own skin, laying the groundwork to inspire others and make a difference with how you live—and what you wear.
Alternative creates apparel and accessories for men, women, babies and toddlers across the United States and ab road, including Canada, Italy, Germany, Australia, Japan, and the United Kingdom. The company is headquartered in Atlanta with showrooms in Los Angeles and New York.
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Apr 18, 2010 | DIY, From You
Awhile ago I received the following question on formspring.me:
I have this really cool old hockey jersey, but every time I wear it, friends say I look homeless. Do you have any ideas for what I could make it into so it’s more hip/flattering?
This was my answer:
OMG, I had one too! I loved it like a brother – it was the NJ Devils – and whenever I wore it (during my long-ago teens), friends would laugh at me because it was so big and mannish.
To make one more flattering…hmm. You could always do what those girls in Philly get done – have their mens’ football/hockey jerseys altered into dresses/cute skirt-and-top combos that are more girly. (I used to work at one such store…there was even a customer who bought a gigantic Sixers’ jerseys and wanted it made into a full-length dress for her PROM. /* o *
I’ll post a couple sketches of styles typical to what we used to make as soon as I get back and have the use of a scanner.
However, it’s been my experience that with a sports jersey, you’re severely limited by the polyester mesh fabric, the color combo, and the gigantic logo, and so you have to end up altering it into something that is still sporty instead of being able to hide its origins altogether. (And unfortunately the re-designs of mens’ jerseys like they do in Philly still scream 2003.) Perhaps you could chop it into something sporty and cute a la Alexander Wang? A cropped short-sleeve jersey (rolled sleeves) to wear with cuffed khakis and wedge-heeled sneakers?
What do you think?
xoox
Carly
And finally I’ve gotten around to posting some sketches I did this evening of the kind of styles we did by refashioning the jerseys. (I was waiting for my Victoria’s Secret catalog to come so some of those lovely ladies could be my models, hehe.) I know some of these designs are really dated (and they aren’t exactly what we made way back when…I honestly don’t remember the exact details), but maybe they give you a starting point to work with?
And these were the neck corsages I used to make – cutting flowers out of different colors of jersey mesh, sewing them on to velvet ribbon, and adding “dewdrops” with a glue-gun. They proved really popular – especially around prom-time…there was even a girl who had us make her red Sixers jersey into a full-length halter-neck gown with matching elbow-length gloves (all out of mesh jersey material)!! *shudders* Each to her own, I suppose!
Hope that helps!
xoxox
Carly
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1 man’s button-down shirt (sized larger than you are; doesn’t matter what size) / thread matching topstitching in shirt
(As you can see, I also added 2 bust darts to make the feminine fit even better; you might need to do the same depending on the size of your bust and how you “fill out” the bust area of the top. I do also need to press the armscye seams and remove the yellow chalk lines…I was just so excited to be done and couldn’t wait to take the photo…;-)
Happy DIY’ing!
