Lee McQueen, designer and founder of the Alexander McQueen brand, was found dead this morning in his home in London. He was such a visionary and the world of fashion will never be the same.
I am shocked and saddened by this premature loss. May he rest in peace.
(img Style.com)
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Today proved a fruitful day. (It’s funny how much stuff you can actually see and places you can go when you’re like “I only have 30 minutes til I need to be somewhere!” You cram in everything and end up being particularly efficient.)
In the morning we headed over to our favorite spot on the West side of the island.
Through Pearl City, where the Two Towers are… (that’s not really what they’re called; just when we first moved to Hawaii The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers had just come to theatres and Hub and I always joked about Saruman standing atop one of them…okay, we’re total geeks)…
As the land turns to dry desert with cacti and the earth stains red… [yes, this is still Hawaii: the only state containing 11 of the 13 different climate zones in the world!]
As the craggy foliage-covered mountains splay to the east and the west…
Past where they’re apparently building a Disney resort scheduled to open in 2011…
Past Maili, where former yokozuna [sumo wrestling champion] Konishiki has his pad (and we’ve seen him driving his little golf cart around on occasion)….
Through Waianae, the most poverty-stricken area of the island, where crystal meth abuse and vandalism run rampant…
Through designated Hawaiian Home Land [land leased to people who have a minimum of 50% native Hawaiian blood from the government] and land seized by the US Army for use for training exercises…[you can probably guess how the native Hawaiians feel about that]…
Past Beach People enclaves [homeless who have elected to live on the beach in tents and hollowed-out cars draped with tarps]….
On top of the mountain to the east is the Coast Guard Satellite Tracking Facility that we just call the Big-A** Golf Ball.
Secluded, rocky, dangerous waves, whales on the horizon, and fabulous, fabulous shells. There are a lot of drupes, tiny nerites, as well as abundant varieties of cone shells – my favorite is the Conus ebraeus with its graphic black-and-white pattern. Cowries that have bleached with time and calcium deposits – it’s almost impossible to find a whole, shiny cowrie out here due to the strength of the waves. And sea urchin skeletons and spines, pulverized. Since I don’t scuba-dive, I can’t collect specimen shells; just do my best at snorkeling depths. My dream is to find a whole Cypraea (Cribrarula) gaskoini someday…
Isn’t it beautiful? (img from marinelifephotography.com)
You can just hear the waves crashing, no?
So we played on the beach and I picked up lots of broken shells since the waves were too rough to dare the waters, and I ended up with a sunburn on my ankles and in an oval on my forearm where apparently I missed putting on my SPF.
Then we headed back to Waikiki, and I stopped in Island Sweetie for a look-see.
It’s a little hole-in-the-wall, but sometimes I can find some fun, trendy things in there. I hemmed and hawed over a cropped black cardigan with a skull-pattern, but the $59 pricetag finally decided things for me. I found tons of studded MMS Design bags (at least I’m pretty sure that’s what the label said, though I’m unfamiliar with the brand), flowing paisley and vintage-flower-print sundresses, a necklace with a cluster of gems like gumdrops, Swarovski-encrusted pens and business card holders, and the owner cutting up printed tees and re-tying the strips he’d just cut, pure 80’s style.
Then to Ward Centre and Warehouse, and while Hub was getting a hair cut (I write it like that because his hairstyle is pretty much unchanged from before going into the salon, hence, my theory is that he only a got a. hair. cut), I took Lil Tot around to some stores.
Yes, the door says “Misfortune.” It’s really hard to see.Misfortune always surprises me in that though they’re small and have comparatively little on the selling floor, I always find something I want.
At many stores in Hawaii you will find pages from Japanese magazines on display – showing the feature or write-up of their store to their Japanese customers. Many Japanese women collect magazine features on shops in Hawaii and visit – specifically to shop at said stores. What I’ve always found interesting is that rarely do U.S.-based magazines mention these stores or “hot” items they’re selling. 😉
This tee with all sorts of extra bits added onto it was especially nice; I’d probably have bought it if it was in a darker color and long-sleeved. Maybe I’ll make one.
I liked the studded bags on the wall, too.
Linea proved slightly interesting but definitely more urban- and club-wear than I could usually pull off.
Second Skin didn’t have much in the way of notable finds, though the graphic print tank in the window I liked (though I could have sworn I’ve seen it in a past issue of Lucky…)
After a dinner of Mizithra Cheese and Browned Butter spaghetti and watermelon-sorbet-honeydew-ice-cream-oreo-cookie-crust ice cream cake (yum!) at the Old Spaghetti Factory, we went back to Waikiki and I hit up Pineapple County, where I lingered a whole 25 minutes until Hub hustled me out of there, complaining he had to go to the bathroom.
Ah, Pineapple County. So many lovely things, affordable prices (think Zara on sale, not quite as cheap as Forever21)…
I’m telling ya, adding a bear dangling off your bag is so IN! (Well…maybe in Japan.;-)
Beautiful dress with a see-through lace skirt.
Totally DIY-able with a grinder-attachment on your handheld drill.
Love this: a tank that has a foldover ruffle at the bustline with a lacy bra-top inset as straps.
I tried snapping more photos but my camera battery died halfway through.
I ended up with a similar skull-print cardi to the one I saw at Island Sweetie (except a heck of a lot cheaper at $10.99, and one size too small but I can easily fix that once I get to a sewing machine), with tiny little skulls like polka dots. Refined. And a white foldover skull-studded bag, and a sculptural hammered silver ring. I also would have gotten a “Pineapple County” printed tee, had I not been hustled out of there. I’ll def. make do with a free tote bag instead!
Tomorrow: the in-laws arrive, we visit the Hawaii Children’s Museum and further scar Lil Tot for life with the 8-ft tall doll with the exploding organs, and meet up with even more in-laws for lunch at Mariposa. Whew!
I hear New York is practically snowed in – for those of you there, how is it right now?
I’m a little worried my flight will be canceled.
xo
Carly
I dyed my hair for my upcoming trip. L’Oreal Feria in #74 Copper Shimmer
I never dyed my hair consistently until last year, when I chopped my waist-length hair off and went short. For 6 months I was having trouble styling it, and finally I found this really awesome stylist last February who suggested coloring my hair, to plump up the hair shaft and damage the follicle a bit. Apparently damaged hair holds style far better than virgin hair – which is what mine was, being that I never dyed it because I liked my natural color so much. But my hair is thin, limp, and has no body or volume – and won’t hold any style (no matter how little or how much) styling products I use…everything would fall flat after about an hour or so. So my stylist gave me the same color as my natural color, just punched up a bit to make it brighter. She also gave me lovely streaky platinum-blond highlights.
This is about $200 and 2 weeks later – after the red faded. Red shades (both natural and from the salon) fade very quickly, so again this time I chose a super-bright shade that will fade to…well, back to my natural color over the course of a few weeks.
I’m also playing around with makeup a little; normally I wouldn’t do such a red lip, but I think I kind of like it with the punchy hair and eyeliner.
In other news, my trip to New York for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week (as they require all us journalists to refer to it) is so close I can almost taste it!
Tuesday we head to Hawaii first for a wedding we have to go to, then Friday I hop a plane from Honolulu to New York, leaving my family on vacation in Hawaii! (I’m now super-scared of flying, thanks to Hub who has these past 4 months, been watching every reenactment of every flight crash in the history of aviation, for his pilot training. I wasn’t always jittery about flying, but after months of me sewing away diligently on my machine, with “And the passengers of TSA Flight72 never knew that an even greater nightmare awaited them in the murky waters of the Florida Everglades below, as the plane barrelled into the swamp, the fuselage breaking into strips and the nose of the 747 crumpling upon impact”….and screams and sounds of crashing and burning going on behind me….literally for hours on end as Hub watched successive videos on Youtube and whatnot…I’ve become a little paranoid! At least when I ask, “um, when was that crash?” usually it’s like 1972, 1994, 1989, etc. Apparently the vast majority of air disasters are attributed to human error, and/or mechanical failure. But mostly human error. I’m not sure if that makes me feel any better.:-/
So, switching gears…
Does anyone have any suggestions for great places to shop (cheap, trendy) – yummy cheap places to eat – must-sees in the Big Apple?
On my list of cool spots is Century21, Metalliferous, Albertine, M & J Trimming, Opening Ceremony, Bird, TG-170, Pixie Market, What Goes Around Comes Around, Seven, and Patricia Field. Any place you gals would recommend?
And I plan to bring my camera and get some cool boutique shots for the ol’ blog!
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
And here’s a little budget travel tip I found out today:
I’ve been requiring sample-sized products for my trip – but Target and other places only sell small-sized products I don’t want. Some of the products I use regularly are in large, pressurized canisters and I don’t want to chance taking them on an airplane lest they burst, and squeezing them out into smaller bottles will cause them to break down. (Like my Olay Definity Deep Penetrating Foaming Moisturizer
xoxo
Carly
what is your favorite color
When it comes to clothes – I'm drawn to black, every shade of gray imagineable, and most blue hues. My fave color in general? Blue! (Though silvery-gray comes a close second:-)
What's yours?
Thanks for your question!
xoxo
Carly
What is bloglovin'
Bloglovin is a blog reader that allows you to keep track of your favorite blogs. You choose the blogs you want to follow and can group them as you wish. It's similar to your “Reading List” in Blogger or Google Reader – Bloglovin is just a separate site with a clean-looking interface and a large area for the post summaries to appear. It's very easy to find related blogs to subjects you are interested in, and see rankings of blogs there.
Hope that helps – and if you like it, please feel free to follow Chic Steals there!:-)
xoxo
Carly
Carly J. Cais I am a DIY’er, designer, sewist, maker, and marketer. Chic Creative Life is where I share what I do, and help others bring their unique style into their own lives.
