A sneak peek of Marni's Summer 2013 capsule collection, entitled SATURDAY MORNING (sounds very Ivana Helsinki, right?) is pretty cute, every summery, fun and light. Cute. ♡
scarves for the marni summer 2013 capsule collection.
The other day I got into what felt like a huge debate with a fellow blogger and friend (though she was pissed) about this new "menswear collection" for Opening Ceremony that Yoko Ono designed. This said blogger ripped it a new one, liking Yoko to Kim Kardashian (as in celebrities have no business designing) and the sketches that Yoko had for the line as sucking or "they suck". I didn't understand the rant at all. And I had a bit more to say because I actually did a huge story/interview and fashion shoot with Yoko Ono for Oyster magazine when I was an editor there. I spent the entire day overseeing the shoot with Marc Baptiste and I got to hang out with her alone for an hour or so (she kicked everyone out of the studio when it was time to do the interview). I found her to be amazing. Also, I love her as an artist. In addition, I also knew Carol and Umberto from Opening Ceremony, covering their store opening back when it was just a baby and frequently seeing them at events or attending their private parties on Crosby Street in New York, which always had the best designers, artists, magazine kids and all the Downtown people I love. They were my favorite parties really.
little sketches from yoko and john's wedding night in 1969...a gift from her to him.
At the time I had not seen nor read anything about this supposed menswear line, except for said blogger's post. But late last night, I read the Associated Press story on it and I just could not believe how worked up she had gotten. First of all, this isn't a real or "real" menswear line. It's more like an art collection. Anyone who sees it and knows anything about Yoko and OC would know that. Second, these sketches that she said "sucked" were actually these cute little doodles that Yoko had done for her new husband (John Lennon) and given to him on the night of their wedding in 1969 (1969 people!). They're CLEARLY a little inside joke about their sexual attraction and you can see how hot she was for her new hubby. I mean, they're hilarious. But when you think she drew them for him on their wedding night, they're really sweet (and still funny, too). You know they were probably shacked up having the greatest honeymoon ever. These aren't serious design illustrations at all. Where's the fire? I didn't read that info in my fellow blogger's post. I doubt she even read it herself. I can't imagine her reading that and still calling them terrible design sketches. They're more like silly love notes to John.
i think these outfits just say, "i want you, john..." and nothing else.
I personally think it's a fun and funny and cool idea to actually produce them. They, I'm sure, really mean something special to Yoko. When I interviewed her, you could see and hear how much she still loves John Lennon. And how she hasn't really ever let that go. And you know what, fashion isn't supposed to be all about serious stuffy judgements and perfect things and stagnant silhouettes and boring color. It's about freedom and expression and FUN. Uh, yeah...I said fashion is supposed to be fun.
The Associated Press story I read (and some others that followed) and the writers/journalists who wrote them seemed to get it, with headlines like, "Oh, Yoko! Ono's fashion line gropes for Lennon" and "Yoko Inspired by Lennon's 'Hot Bod'". They see the sex, the love, the art and....the humor in it. If anyone thinks it's anything else, my advice would be this:
LIGHTEN UP...it's just fashion.
(In her defense, she's a great fashion enthusiast and about to pop a child out, juggles career, family, et al...but I still think she missed the point of this collection.)♡
Alice Roi is back. But it feels like she's been gone for a very very long time now. Some of you might not even know who she is. Well, I started following her back around 2000-ish. I was in San Francisco and OBSESSED. I would comb through Ebay looking for pieces from her first or second collections. She was one of the super cool designers that we loved, like Liz Collins and Wink (both are not designing but I still love those lines, too). I'll try to find an image of my favorite Alice Roi top. It's amazing.
alice roi spring 2001
alice roi spring 2001
alice roi fall 2001
When I moved to New York, one of my best experiences was when I got to meet Alice. We were doing a story on her (I did a few) and a big fashion shoot for a magazine called Anthem. She even gave me an amazing top at that shoot from her then-current collection. (But sadly it was taken away by a nasty girl who never gave it back to me!) I'll post some of the images from that shoot down below.
spring 2002 (looking a little buffalo gal)
fall 2005
fall 2005
Recently, a dear photographer friend whom I've on Nancy Girl a couple of times emailed me that she had done a new video for the return of Alice Roi. I was so excited! I guess Alice had taken time off to have a baby and now she is back. You can't see the clothes too too well in the video, but it gives you a pretty decent look at it.
fall 2002
fall 2007
Alice is very very New York and very chic, which is natural for her as she grew up in New York City. I'll try to do a little interview with her after the holidays. I hope I get to pick up some of her new pieces eventually, too. See the video below done by Heidi Hartwig (and the rest of the credits are at the end). See more about Alice at aliceroi.com (not sure this site is up and running yet!).♡
alice roi, photographed by margo silver and styled by masayo kishi (i was the editor of the story)
one of the shots from the alice roi story (i think this was one of her last collections) photographed by margo silver and styled by masayo kishi (i was the editor of the story)
another shot (the boy model is also wearing some alice roi, though she does womens wear), photographed by margo silver and styled by masayo kishi (i was the editor of the story)
Now normally I just cover silly little things, bits of fashion history, favorite eye makeup looks, really talented women (and men). This normally isn't a serious blog...I don't have the head or the patience to cover the heavy stuff seven days a week. BUT I do think it's VERY VERY important for us to reflect on what's happened in Bangladesh in garment factory that belongs to one of the biggest money makers in fast fashion...and how for the sake of making money, most likely paying their employees peanuts and forcing them to work even under strenuous conditions which normally goes hand-in-hand with these kinds of billion-dollar companies supplying what we think is a "really good deal" on a sweater or a coat, have neglected humanity for a fast buck (too many of these fast bucks) and safety and now at least 124 people are dead. Just so people in the States and some of the other countries they supply to can go buy some dumb tops or jeans.
If you haven't already heard, the story is here...on the New York Times site. But in a nutshell, a fire broke out in a factory owned by Tazreen Fashions.
Here is an excerpt from the above story:
The weekend fire at the Tazreen Fashions factory ranks as one of
Bangladesh’s worst industrial accidents. Witnesses described a desperate
scene, as workers leapt from the upper floors of the factory, trying to
land on nearby rooftops and escape the smoke and flames. Others
suffocated inside the factory building, as the blaze apparently rendered
stairwells impassable.
Kalpona Akter, a Bangladeshi labor leader, said she toured the factory
after the fire was extinguished and found labels for a variety of global
retailers, including Faded Glory, a brand she said was manufactured for
Walmart. Ms. Akter said she also found labels for brands sold at
leading European retailers.
“These international, Western brands have a lot of responsibility for
these fire issues,” said Ms. Akter, the executive director of the
Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity. “In this factory, there was a
pile of fabrics and yarn stored on the ground floor that caught fire.
Workers couldn’t evacuate through the stairs. What does this say about
compliance?”
Bangladesh is a garment powerhouse, with more than $18 billion a year in
exports, ranking second behind China. More than three million workers
are employed in the country’s 4,500 garment factories, most of them
women. The industry has become an essential engine for the domestic
economy, and a critical source of foreign currency that helps the
government pay for imported oil.
and here is a bit more:
The Clean Clothes Campaign, a European group that opposes sweatshops,
said that more than 500 Bangladeshi laborers had died in factory fires
since 2006. In 2010, 29 workers died from a fire inside a Bangladeshi
factory making clothing for Tommy Hilfiger.
If you recall, during the Olympics, Tommy Hilfiger came under immense fire after it was made public that the US Olympic team's uniforms were made in China. Tsk Tsk.
What's even more interesting is the time of year this is all coming to light. You know right now millions of people are frenetically going through tables piled with cheap tops, pants, sweaters, socks, etc that most stores lay out during the holiday season. They ramp up the deals and push the crappy clothes onto customers. And customers, like sheep, flock from one sale to another. Never once looking at the label, understanding why or how these garments run so inexpensively, or who is suffering to produce these pieces. One promising thing about Internet shopping is that customers can take time to read about the clothes. They aren't subject to high frenzied shopping that happens in malls and big store chains like Walmart (who always ends up being the villain in most garment issues...and other issues, too). I have to say that as much as I dislike brands like American Apparel, at least we know it's made right here. At least we know these factories are protected. Another thing to consider is that you might end up paying more for a garment at a better shop that doesn't deal with sweatshops in other countries, but at least you know what you're paying for. You're not contributing to the ill abuse of innocent workers at the hands of big fat money makers who could care less about them as long as the money comes in.
Really, it's early enough. I know I myself don't shop very much for clothing. I get some pieces here and there. But I'm not innocent of buying or featuring products made in factories like the one that burned down in Bangladesh. But at least I'm trying. It's early enough that everyone can take a couple more minutes and either buy from sites like Etsy, go to small designer shops that only house pieces made by smaller designers where you know they are making the items on a smaller scale or shop vintage, which is what I tend to do.
I feel so sorry for those poor workers who tried to leave but were met by either managers who told them to ignore the fire alarms and get back to work or an emergency exist door that was locked on the outside. It's almost 2013, people. Things have got to change.
I just love Ruth Crilly's holiday gift guides. They're some of my favorite things to watch during the Christmas season. She has the best suggestions. ♡
Well, the lovely Charlotte Tilbury has just uploaded a new makeup tutorial that looks very similar to this...PERFECT for the holidays, dinner parties, glamorous cocktail get-togethers and of course...
Here is a compiled list of deals relating to fashion and beauty for today (Black Friday), Cyber Monday...and the couple of days in between...not in any particular order:
20% off Illamasqua cosmetics...enter promo code xmas20....free uk shipping and free intl shipping on all orders over 35£
My girl Anna Sheffield's gorgeous jewelry line BING BANG has a sale going on, too...I'll do a post on all her awesome skull and black diamond jewels (from her signature fine jewelry collection)
Receive 20% discount on all purchases made from November Friday 23rd to Sunday 25th inclusive, from orlakiely.com/usa and their store in Mercer Street, NY
I've been a huge fan of artist KAWS since well, maybe the late 1990's when I started writing about graffiti and the art boom (I wrote about it for years for Dazed and Tokion and other magazines and I pretty much interviewed everyone except KAWS, Shepard and Twist because there were already in every magazine you could think of...). I actually own the very first run of his Companion action figure...the one you see in the video below with the skinny legs. I have that exact coloring. It's signed and numbered by him, too. It also came out in an all-black version, but I really love the gray coloring and I wasn't about hoarding everything that came out because I was buying art from a lot of the artists coming on the scene (I have also wanted to start an art blog, because I know so many of them after all these years and sometimes it's much more interesting than say...fashion). So I was really excited to see or hear that he was doing a balloon for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City this year. I will add some footage of it once it goes up, but I managed to find this awesome interview about the balloon's making and his art in general. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!♡
We will be off today and tomorrow for THANKSGIVING! (Though I'm a vegetarian and only really eat mashed potatoes and drink wine on Thanksgiving. I sit under the covers and watch films and rest if I am not going to dinner parties. This year, I feel like staying home and being creative and hanging out with my baby dog, Lotte.) BUT I wanted to give you some great info...!
First! If you are an old school book reader who loves/covets/collects/adores old books and hardcovers and handmade goodness, Maybeparade (my publisher) will be selling a hand-bound hardcover version of my novel ARCADIA! I will post more info on here soon. We will have teaser images and there will most likely be a pre-order something once they are ready to bust them out! You can email info(at)maybeparade.com for more info. The covers are GORGEOUS and the flier below is a little teaser/sneak peak of what they'll look like. Sort of. :) Thanks for Lara Sabatini for the lovely cameo hesher heads and to C. Sabatini for putting these lovely books together by hand! ONLY IN PORTLAND!
Next...I want to let all of you in Los Angeles know that ARCADIA is selling at one of the best indie bookstores in Hollywood...SKYLIGHT BOOKS on Vermont in Los Feliz! AND if you go into the book shop on SATURDAY NOVEMBER 24TH AND SUNDAY NOVEMBER 25TH, you get an extra 15% off the book! You can also order these books online from their site at skylightbooks.com. This is a THANKS FOR SHOPPING INDIE promotion and we LOVE supporting indie!
I intended to do this post later in the week, but I just received an email with a great BLACK FRIDAY offer to the readers...so I thought I should post it up today! Because they might be sold out if I post this up later!
the long sleep shirt $210
the long sleep shirt (back)
A while ago, my dear friend and fashion maven Alexandra Suhner Isenberg from Searching for Style announced she was producing/launching a line of sleep shirts modeled after a vintage piece she discovered years ago while living in London. She gave some of us (her friends) a chance to pre-order and so I did. They come in a longer version (which I will also purchase) and a shorter version (which I own now). I've had mine for a month or so now and I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE it. It's cotton, with blue stripes and reminds me of the work shirts my father used to wear when I was little (the fabric, not the style). It's EXTREMELY well made, feels super super luxe and fancy girl (which I LOVE LOVE LOVE) and is very chic. There's also something very sexy about these sleep shirts. It's almost like wearing your boyfriend's shirt to bed or waking up in his shirt and lingering around his penthouse. It's just awesome.
The Sleep Shirt is actually the most perfect gift for that hard-to-shop-for lady (or man) in your life. The one who covets Dyptique candles and orders their socks from Commes des Garçons. :)
the short sleep shirt...i don't roll the sleeves up. i think it's more chic to have them long and buttons at the cuffs. $195
the short sleep shirt (back)..i am quite petite and the shorter sleep shirt is above my knees and below my thighs...somewhere there...(sexy!)
The Sleep Shirt can be ordered on thesleepshirt.com. The long sleep shirt is $210 and the short sleep shirt is $195. And...lucky readers of this blog will receive an extra 20% off on Black Friday (through the weekend) on all sleep shirt orders! See below...and get your order in as soon as possible!
As soon as the weather shifted, my skin took a nose dive into dryness. SUPER DRYNESS. And now most of the foundations I was using during the summer and fall are no longer working...the way they should. My skin looks parched and even flaky somethings. Ick. And it feels awful. And even though I use all of my hydrating skincare and do the vitamins and water, that foundation thing was just not happening. The only one I could really use all day and still look fresh was the Revlon Whipped Foundation, which looks pretty good and lasts all day without any touch-ups. (Not even my Nars or Chanel are doing a good job during this climate change). So I decided it was time to migrate over to a brand I've been coveting lately, Laura Mercier. I stopped at the counter the other day and explained my face situation to the nice sales lady. I also explained that I need to more coverage sometimes, because of some pigmentation. She immediately suggested the Crème Smooth Foundation, which comes in a pot, can be worn sheer or built up to fuller coverage.
I was surprised to see the pot. I didn't even know some of the LM foundations came in a pot. It's a gorgeous little pot of luscious cream. I have only used it once so far, but I did love the texture. It didn't dry out. But it doesn't seem to have quiiiiiite the staying power as my Revlon Whipped Colorstay foundation has (even though that's a drugstore brand, it is an awesome foundation!). Also, the Laura Mercier foundation feels richer and less silicone-y like the Revlon foundation. I also think I was given a shade just a tad too dark and too orange-y for my skin. But all in all, I do love this foundation. I do think Laura Mercier is my new favorite brand and once I go through the shelves of skincare and cosmetics I already own, I will be replacing them with everything Laura Mercier.
The foundation is $50, and you only need the tiniest amount because it spreads evenly and smoothly. Amazing. It's so nice to use products from a brand that live up to the hype. I don't even think a brand like Chanel really always does that (and I do own quite a bit from Chanel).
So if you are freaked out by the weather change and your skin is not having any of the foundations in your collection, maybe get a sample of the LM Crème Smooth variety. You will probably love it. (I will most likely be buying this foundation as soon as I go through some of my others.)
I just discovered this film recently by accident...it's ROLLER BOOGIE from 1978, methinks, so the outfits and hair are AMAZING (lots of vintage Gucci!). PLUS, it was shot in Venice Beach (California), which is cool to see. It hasn't changed too too much. Though there are some places in the film that are ghetto-ish back then...and now they all have multi-multi-million-dollar homes (especially when you see them skating around the canals).
It's worth a watch. It's not really painful at all. Especially if you love 70s fashion! And if you are a fan of Xanadu, you will LOVE it!!!♡
YEA! Masayo Kishi (my favorite stylist...once you look at her post, you will see why) has a new post for NANCY GIRL about one of her latest projects! So exciting...see what she has to share below:
Hi! I hope you guys are well. We are back on track here in New York after Hurricane Sandy finally.
For my second blog post for Nancy Girl I would like to talk about my recent work that just came out. This is was a feature on Odeya Rush for Flaunt magazine. The photography is by my favorite duo, Ioulex. We had a short fashion story to accompany her interview, as well as a short film. Both of which (the fashion story and film) became my favorite work immediately.
A little about Odeya...she is only 15 years old, and I was fascinated by her every second
during the shoot. She was stunning. Odeya wasn't just a cute school girl...besides being stunning, she is smart, quiet, charming, well-behaved and humble. Odeya worked hard for at our every request, too. How perfect a girl she was/is. I haven't felt like this on a shoot for a long time.
I am absolutely in love with her! And I'm sure that she will be a very important actress in the world. There
is a possibility of her becoming a legend, which is why her entire family moved
to the USA from Israel...
brooke shields as violet in the film pretty baby (1978)
dolce and gabbana fall 2012
Anyway...amazing photography duo Ioulex proposed an idea to make her look like Brooke Shields' role as "Violet" from the movie Pretty Baby (1978). I instantly loved the idea. But I wanted to focus on the style, not turn Odeya literally into the character. So, of course, Dolce and Gabbana's Fall 2012 collection was perfect for this fashion story.
Please enjoy my falling-in-love story with Odeya Rush.
Masayo Kishi
The fashion film that accompanies the fashion story above:
I love the brand Orla Kiely and how they market and style their pieces. It feels a little Miu Miu (meow meow!), but much more affordable. I could wear so many of these pieces. But I'd rather wear them with a pair of Marc Jacobs burgandy booties that he came out with around 7 years ago. I have so many little dresses like this that I have yet to wear. Soon....soon. x♡
