Aug 15, 2009 | Fashion
(all runway images: Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week)
Designer Lela Rose drew inspiration for the Fall/Winter ’09 Collection of her eponymous line from the rich, jewel-like colors of the rainforest. A self-proclaimed “big fan of color,” the designer swathed her models in deep emerald greens, brilliant purples and turquoises, shimmering golds, and vibrant crimsons. Wanting to evoke the enchanted forest and all its magical charms, she felt that “this season has both evolved [from last season ]but is new: new shapes, new colors…but the big feature is its really amazing color. “This season is about the jewel- tones that come from the rainforest; we’ve cocoon-wrapped shapes…it’s got a little bit of an enchanted quality but at the same time we know who our customer is and we want to offer her that.” The ombre sequined dresses and tops in shades of turquoise and mustard; the pleated satin cocktail dress in a fascinating crimson; the cobalt redux tweed puff-sleeve jacket; the vertically-dyed splashes of apple green and moss on dresses and skirts; the folded open-collared dress and Grecian-draped evening gowns in gold and white; even the chunky gemstone and bronze bell jewelry evoked a dreamy opulence that was undeniably wearable.
(Clockwise, from far left: Exeter [round-toe pump with black suede straps, in salt-and-pepper Tweed with black suede trim; also avail. in Olive and Smokey Purple]; Mallory [round-toe, stacked-heel bootie with short cuff detail and cut-out tassel vamp in Cobalt Suede; also avail. in Olive Suede, Mallard Green Boucle, and Charcoal Suede]; Everett [round-toe pump with stacked heel in Multi-Color Tweed; also avail. in a black-and-white Geometric Pattern and a Mallard Green Boucle]; and Gilsan [suede strappy cut-out detail pump with tassel-tie in Black; also avail. in Charcoal, Olive, Berry, and Cobalt].
The nine styles of shoes appearing on the runway consisted of Lela Rose’s 9th exclusive line for Payless. Featuring Rose’s signature use of rich fabrics like multi-color tweeds as well as “knot-less” bow accents designed to look like insect wings, the architectural heels appeared in a kaleidoscope of colors that included a punchy magenta and bold chartreuse (reminiscent of a butterfly’s wings or the petals of a wildflower). The designer’s signature use of layering and mixing various textures was employed as a play on the idea of an insect’s exoskeleton. “Working with the team at Payless is always a joy,” Rose said. “They understand what I offer aesthetically as a designer and do a great job of turning my vision into reality. The Lela Rose customer is feminine, but always looking for something special and a bit unexpected – thanks to Payless’ great prices, I am able to reach a much broader audience.” Arriving at Payless stores in September of this year, the average pricepoint for a pair is below $45. For more information visit www.paylessontherunway.com.
Celebrity makeup artist Tina Turnbow for Beauty.com used Stila Cosmetics to create an update on the smoky eye; instead of using blacks or grays, she perfected a smudgy jade color. Using the ChaCha and Mystic (a shimmering teal blue) Stila Eye Shadow Pan colors, Kajal Eyeliners in Emerald and Pearl ($18), and Stila Smudge Pot Liner in Jade Shimmer ($20), she created a multi-dimensional emerald-ringed eye, perfect for Fall 2009. The face was smoothed with Sheer Color Tinted Moisturizer SPF 15 ($34), Perfecting Concealer B ($23), and then dusted over with Sheer Pressed Powder ($28). Convertible Color cream to powder blush in New Camellia ($25) grazed the cheeks, Praline Lip Glaze ($22) glossed the lips, and as a final touch, pink and beige shimmer shadows was brushed over the brows and high cheekbones.
Nonie Crème from butter LONDON created a catwalk wet look for the nails by starting with a coat of butter LONDON’s Swinger 3 Free Nail Polish ($14) (a pale, sheer, ‘antique’ gold), and then adding a coat of white pearl over the top to create a light, shimmery nail in an opalescent hue.
Celebrity hair artist Ted Gibson utilized the rainforest inspiration to create a “a sophisticated, insect-like shape” for the hair. He took the chic-ness of the classic ponytail, and made it current by backcombing the entire front part of the head, putting in a center part, and pulling it all back into a ponytail. The focus on the runway became the bump at the top of the head – creating a beetle-like silhouette when viewed from the front. The artist used Build It blow-drying spray ($28) to first create the texture and the voluminous shape. He finished off with
href=”http://www.drugstore.com/products/prod.asp?pid=158753&catid=13004&trx=PLST-0-CAT&trxp1=13004&trxp2=158753&trxp3=1&trxp4=0&btrx=BUY-PLST-0-CAT&cmbProdBrandFilter=46300″ target=”_blank”> Beautiful Hold Hair Spray ($28), and Tame It shine lotion ($31) to calm frizzies and to give further texture.
Overall, the synchronism of the hair, makeup, nails, and clothing evoked an enchanted femininity despite its insectoid references; the shimmering, brilliant colors, rich fabrics, and classic styling will likely fare well in the season to come.
-Carly J. Cais
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Aug 14, 2009 | Fashion
The 100yen shop (or Hyaku-En Shop, as they say in Japanese, which would make the title of this post nice and alliterative) licks the US Dollar Store into a cocked hat.
Whatever that means.
It’s bigger, for one, sells a larger variety of goods, and each one you pick up the thought “this can’t possibly be 100yen!” floats unbidden through your mind. From the packaging to the instructions, the design to the coloring, pretty much every product is amazing, useful, cute, or something you’ve been missing in your life up until now. But for those homesick for Dollar Tree, they do sell ceramic cherub centerpieces (though in small supply).
Here is what I bought, for $0.97 a piece at today’s exchange rate:
1.) 3 dual-direction zippers – almost as good as YKK brand from Jo-Anns that they charge $5.49 apiece for. Grrrr. DIY Kate Cusack zipper cuff, here I come!!
2.) Paint for ceramics (in white and pink)
3.) Super-long-handled sporks and heart-shaped mini foil cups. Hub was thrilled at finding sporks, since we don’t have any at home, and threw these into the basket, not noticing that they were super-long-handled (for parfaits and sundaes). So now we have a complete set of parfait sporks. Or just sporks for eating food at great distances, which may in fact prove useful at some point in time.
4.) Pack of 3 Jewel-print plastic file sleeves.
5.) Eyelash extensions. I used up all the extensions that came in my Ardell Duralash kit long ago, and since I have tons of the glue left, I wanted to get proper extensions to use with it. (The individual clumps of eyelashes for single-day use do not work at all.) This was the only thing in my shopping that cost more than 100yen – 314 yen, to be exact ($3.10).
6.) 2 double-layered snap-lid boxes and a heart-shaped mirror. (I plan to DIY them after I get back to the States.) The Japanese love it when everything has a place and is in it. So many boxes and cases and compartments…for just about everything you own! I want to go home and box my whole house up into pretty, multi-functional cases.
7.) Clear fake nails with rhinestone and glitter art. Not sure where I’ll wear them, but they’re just so pretty…
8.) Mini-notebook and regular notebook. So many products in Japan are so incredibly chatty. They have English all over them as if they’re desperate to tell us something. The large notebook is the “Fruit Train” notebook. “Welcome to the country of the fruit,” is its kind greeting. “What do you see in this fruit? It is a train that carries your dream.” The majority of my dreams are filled with mini strawberry shortcakes, so this is perfect for me!
9.) Highlighters that draw over an already-highlighted area. Not pictured: Eraseable highlighter and highlighter with acrylic window in the tip so you can read the words as you’re highlighting them. Never had that need myself, but…now I do!
10.) Cute little rhinestone rings on a necklace.
11.) Mini sauce squeezy bottles. Perfect for adding to my son’s bento box that I will be forced to assemble for him twice a week come school days!
12.) White opaque gluesticks. Gluesticks come in a rainbow of colors here – and the crafter in me wants to sing!
13.) Puffy black 3D heart stick-ons, rhinestone variety pack, and 3 packs of mini fake food for all my decorating needs.
And, lastly but not leastly, 14.) 3 erasers for Hub: curry-scented, yakisoba [Japanese chow mein]-scented, and beer-scented.
After all, who would not want to leave the aroma of beer wafting from a freshly-erased page?
Total everything up, and I spent 3014 yen (about $30) on all this bric-a-brac!
xoxox from Tokyo
Carly
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Aug 13, 2009 | Fashion
Well, duh. I always disagree with these things…simply because the celebs they feature never really have the face shape their characterized with. Or in another roundup, one who has an “oval” shaped face here has a “heart” shape there…I mean, it’s so arbitrary. Where’s MY face shape?? (i.e., a POLYGON with the forehead and jawline the same width and cheekbones WIDER than the rest of the face. If I dare gain weight, it all goes on my jawline – so my face shape becomes a TRAPEZOID with the jaw widest. And it’s long too, so do I have a “long face”? Compared to what, I might wonder? It’s pretty long compared to a zucchini, but fairly short compared to, oh, I don’t know…Italy.) And do you go by the face-shape as defined by your hairline or by your head??? Well, for those of you who might find this helpful…here ya go – from People StyleWatch Mag.
See??? PO-LY-GON. Get with it,
People!!
Aug 13, 2009 | Fashion
photo from Sea of Shoes
I had never heard of the boutique Bedrock until Jane from Sea of Shoes wrote a post about the boutique and the amazing Japanese brand if six was nine (owned by the Maniac Coporation). (She posted a photo of herself wearing a fabulous one-armed jacket on said post that I was drooling over for quite some time. So since I was in Tokyo I decided to check out the Bedrock boutique in Omotesando Hills. They carry (among other high-end lines) Ann Demulemeester, Givenchy, Rick Owens, LGB (apparently a more affordable Maniac Corporation line, with a plain tank top clocking in at about $80), and of course, the lovely if six was nine. 
(sorry for the poor photos; you can’t take photos inside and this is all that was on their website. This is the antechamber you enter after going down the staircase. You can see the blue squidlike thing covering the light fixture on the left.)
As per Jane’s instructions, I located the Forbidden Fruit Cafe in Omotesando Hills – and passed through the cafe, towards the back door. Bedrock boutique is neither marked with signage or name on the outside, and does not appear in the shop listing for Omotesando Hills West Building. The back doorway from the cafe is also unmarked, and for a brief moment I thought I was heading into their kitchen or something, but the lady behind the counter game me a nod. I descended down a perforated metal spiral staircase to the basement, where a dark antechamber with a girl behind the counter waited. A single blue light on the wall was covered with a translucent jellyfish-like mass of tentacles. Then through a cagelike wrought-iron grate entrance and into Bedrock itself. Rough cement floors, dark and mysterious, it looked something like a cross between a medieval torture chamber and a root cellar. Albeit a bizarre root cellar.
Hanging from the ceiling was a
double-tiered chandelier lamp that looked like cockroaches slowly sliding upwards and upon closer inspection proved to be slowly rotating dark glass ribbons (obviously, I need to get new glasses). There was a skeleton pelvis that sat on a stuffed gilt chair, wearing a single boot on one of its feet. A wrought multi-tiered pillar candle holder below a shrine-like collection of lit crosses and hanging belts. A taxidermied black buffalo head mounted on the wall. A vintage motorcycle was stopped in a corner fronting a huge cactus garden behind triangular panes of glass. Gray leather-padded changing room doors with oversized padlocks and submarine-like portal windows completed the look.
The clothes were amazing – and, for the most part, amazingly unaffordable. (No steals to be had here, I’m afraid.) The goth angle wasn’t ostentatious – but it was definitely there, and each piece was darkly fabulous and fascinating at the same time. I found a Rick Owens gray $1300 jacket, though (not the Autumn ’09 one with the winglike protrusions on the elbows, but a similar cut), and a one-of-a-kind gown for $8000 in a rich purple silk, covered with scraps of lace and hand-sewn sequins.
A black silk dress with black gemstones sewn onto the lacy collar to make scorpions.
A button-down shirt with pewter skulls for buttons.
A beige corset dripping with tatters of lace, knitted streamers, and fabric straps down to the knees.
Bracelets made out of snake vertebrae in a display case.
Platform shoes with heels made out of curlicued wrought iron (perhaps salvaged from a vintage gate?).
Even LGB-branded angora-blend see-thru rib tankdresses (plain, no adornment) were $80. I could also afford an $80 knitted mushroom-shaped black beret (again, nothing unusual or special about it).
A black bag made from an entire baby alligator (minus the tail and legs) the head flopped over the center and serving as the clasp. (PETA would have a field day here, between the buffalo head, fur rugs, and alligator bag, which was, albeit, more than slightly repulsive.)
Chain mail kerchief-shaped necklaces studded with bronze crosses (I’ve seen them in an editorial somewhere but forget the designer).
I couldn’t find the one-armed jacket Jane walked away with, or the beautiful wing-print long tank dress from their website above, but I’m sure either one would be a little out of my reach. Just something to look at and sigh about!
The store is just so flippin’ fabulous you have to go if you’re here! Definitely check it out if you can!
xoxox from Tokyo
Carly
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Aug 11, 2009 | Fashion
(DIY mirror shard necklace, Le Petit Bateau t-shirt, handmade satin bow belt, Spiral Girl tulle skirt, Ruche wedge heels)
Inspired by Alex & Chloe’s Black Cave Necklace from their Tar Collection, I decided to make my own. (I posted the tutorial here.) I mean, who needs mirrored acrylic and a lasercutter when scissors and mirrored plastic will do??
Le Petit Bateau tees fit and feel like a dream. Not quite sure where to buy them retail near me, though. This one was bought in Japan, so the care label’s in Japanese and French. Funny.
I made my own version of the Louis Vuitton Spring 2003 bow belt way, way back when. Mine I made a puffy little stuffed bow and covered button. It has a hidden snap. Tell me, why does Dritz not sell stiff belting material in 1″ widths??? Are they nuts, starting at 1 1/2″???
Spiral Girl tulle skirt that I picked up at the Spiral Girl store in Honolulu. It’s lined in satin, a big plus when it comes to ballerina-esque skirts (which usually aren’t lined). I love that it’s blue, which is kind of unusual.
For this photo, I borrowed the feet of an 80-year-old woman. I thought they would look nice, and Gaussian Blur definitely doesn’t do them justice. These shoes are uber-cute though, and comfortable since the heel isn’t super-high. Unfortunately, ShopRuche doesn’t sell them anymore!!:-(
Whee! And no you can’t see London!
Hope all you lovely ladies (and lone gentleman reader??) are having a great summer!
xoxo
Carly
Aug 9, 2009 | Fashion
I covet. Again. Many, many nice things. Here’s what I’m lusting after right now:
1. An image from the Alice + Olivia Fall 2009 Collection, just hitting Singer 22. I am in love with every piece of clothing on the model. Unfortunately the only thing that’s available as of yet is the Oversized V-Neck Tee with Chain Belt, $154, Singer22.com. Mmmmm, I’d like….4?
2. Alloy Saddle Up Bag ($39.90) in Mint.
3. Wide Metallic Elastic Necklace, $34.99, Girlprops.com. A decent Fiona Paxton lookalike – and you can even add beading/sequins as you so desire.
4. Alice + Olivia Front Sequin Cascade Sleeveless Cardigan in Gray, $300, Singer22.com.
5. Vince Brushstroke Dress, available only at select Saks. I saw this in person, and the fabric looked lightweight and wrinkly…given that it’s Vince, the pricetag probably won’t be worth it. I’m thinking DIY!
6. Cheap Monday Tight Jean in Painted White, $50, Karmaloop.com.
7. Han Cholo Moving Stone Ring in Black, $54.00, Karmaloop.com.
8. Wet Seal Mutli-Pearl Drop Necklace, $9.90, WetSeal.com.
9. Zara boot (img from Karen-wheredidugetthat.blogspot.com). I’ll be hitting up the Harajuku store while I’m there to see if they carry it, and if they don’t (or, more likely, if it’s completely unaffordable), I’ll just DIY it. I’m thinking the 9b. Alloy Ashley Boot in Taupe Suede ($44.90), coupled with 2 skinny studded belts from somewhere (I’m surprised HotTopic doesn’t have them, but still…somewhere’s gotta!). It’ll probably end a pretty good lookalike, and the price will most certainly be better.
10. Sam Edelman boots, currently going for $500-$799 on Ebay. A girl can dream, right? Maybe I’ll snag a pair at one of these stores where apparently it will be sold for about $250 this August. *sigh*
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