Welcome to the (Lipstick) Jungle

Sure, the three of us have to wake up fresh-faced to model for Margarita Saplala's S/S '09 lookbook, but that doesn't stop me from posting my birthday party flyer everywhere online into the odd hours of the night.



Haha, how gross/amazing is a jungle-themed birthday party??? (I mean, I diddd steal it from an episode of My Super Sweet 16.) I'm especially thrilled to have one of my best gays and greatest loves, Greg K (of Misshapes fame) guest deejay!

If you're in the area you should come!!!!

xoxo, Nicollette

Why Fight It?

Scandinavian? Check. Male Model? Check. Musician? Check. Thus goes my checklist for "ideal male" (um, outside of my darling husband) and Christoffer Fagerli satisfies all of the above requirements. I recently found this Norwegian Dior Homme model through Pudri. Go listen to his haunting songs on his Myspace, which are absolutely lovely. If I wasn't doing a fashion blog, I'd probably be writing an even dorkier music blog, so that's my excuse. You can also check out this article written by my awesome friend Fumi, who always knows all the hottest boys (I met her through my male model friend Jonas).

Anyhow, I blame Zana for unleashing the "modelizing" demon inside me when she posted these images of Nick Cave's Balenciaga model son, Jethro Cave.  Hey, why fight it?

-Tiffany

Jack of all trades master of none cry all the time cause I'm not having fun

What I ordered: White Poisongarden dress 92 € also in black (125 €)

I've already written about Antti Asplund's clothing---simple silhouettes and clean lines infused with distinctly morbid iconography--but to truly understand Antti, you have to go beyond the fashion and embrace the lifestyle.  Personally, looking at his work, it recalls my college obsession with cult photography book, Wisconsin Death Trip, the story of a small rural town at the turn of the century inflicted by a malaise of madness (probably lead poisoning in the water) that resulted in two decades of profuse murder, strange suicides, arson, window-smashing, and general collective insanity.  I've always been a fan of insane-asylum chic, and Antti does it best.  What else does his work, and his world remind me of?  The creepy paranormal White Lodge of Twin Peaks, the dark humor and cartoon irreverence of Tim Burton, and the maudlin romance of one of my favorite bands, Beach House (along with the matching decay of Victorian row houses in Baltimore, which is what I think of when I listen to them).  Oh, and throw in a touch of anime and Howl's Moving Castle, and then maybe you have a sense of the kind of trippy alterna-universe that Antti evokes in my imagination.

Sadly, Antti's designs are almost exclusively available in Scandinavia and Japan.  That is, until now.  Antti has setup a Paypal service, and is shipping internationally.  In addition, most of his store is on sale  at the moment, and available at a hefty discount.  Even though the dollar is still in a pretty sad state compared to the Euro, I took this opportunity to order the white Poisongarden dress that I've been dreaming of for the past few months.  Antti also threw in one of his new translucent cross necklaces as a gift, so now I will have two to alternate, or more likely, wear together.

Here are some images of my favorite pieces which are available at the sale, along with some of the aforementioned things that they remind me of.  You can see the rest of the pieces here, and if you are interested in ordering anything, you can email Antti.  Wisconsin Death Trip styled photoshoot with my new dress to come...

Vapour scarf/collar 46 €, Vapour skirt 79 € SOLD

Spider skirt 80 €, Eggs necklace 54 €

Vapour skirt 147 €

Adjustable Sprocket skirt 102 € (worn on a dress here)

I wear my Antti Asplund cross everywhere.  Rosa and yellow Crosses 15 €

Left: Reflective Crosses 15 €, Right: "Roses" Blood Transfusion Necklace 8 €

The man, the myth the legend...Antti himself in full Twin Peaks form.

A photo of two hooded women from Wisconsin Death Trip.

Beach House's video for Heart of Chambers, directed by Alistair Legrande.

-Tiffany

Rodebjer's Equestrian Chic

The Rodebjer collection at W29 showroom, featuring two of my favorite looks.  Also note the awesome bags to the left. I want to order the briefcase style one, but in the black and grey plaid.

Rodebjer might have shown their Fall 2009 collection this Monday at Stockholm Fashion Week (which is wrapping up today), but we got to have a little sneak preview  last week at W29 showroom. The collection was inspired by British socialite Nancy Cunard, who served as the muse for Man Ray and Ezra Pound, and who lead an inspired life marked by activism for African American civil rights, and extensive travel.  The resulting collection was full of British riding clothes and jackets, soft mohair knitted wooly plaids, long silk dresses paired with sneakers, lush velvet dresses with a sparkling of black paillettes, and flashes of gold netting.

Having seen the clothes before the fashion show, I was very excited to see how they would be styled.  Rodebjer takes a common sartorial reference point, British equestrian attire, and gives it an entirely contemporary spin.  I imagine these clothes are made for wearing to your country house and then coming back into the city and going out to dinner with friends without having to change a thread.  Completely wearable and immensely desirable, I already am making a wishlist of what I want to pre-order once the prices come in.  I definitely need one of those woolly plaid hoods and a matching bag.  If I can afford one of those sumptuous plaid jackets, I'll take one of those too...And finally, the absurd jersey romper with a jodhpur style swelling at the hip, which my husband would immediately decry as infant wear, has been calling to me, even though I'm sure it would swallow my small frame whole.

Here are some of my favorite looks from the runway show from Stockholm Streetstyle.

A gorgeous full length black and grey plaid coat.

The plaid mohair jacket is worn belted and with the sleeves rolled up, but I would just wear it as a short jacket.  It's super warm and fuzzy.

This is one of my favorite looks, a velvet jumpsuit with a stripe of black paillettes, worn under a long coat and with a mohair hood.  It's very Aldous Huxley doing hallucinogens and Wicca in the woods.

Although it looks like a dress in this picture, this piece is actually a romper with jodhpur style full hips.  I love the styling of it, matched with a flimsy vest, plaid bag, and Alice Dellal style hair, and against my better instincts, I am dying to take this look for a spin...

One of the prettiest pieces in the collection, a gold netted blouse.

A 90's style velvet dress that can be dressed up or worn everyday.

-Tiffany

Secret Weapon

I am sharing with you one of my favorite stores in NY, The Village X. It's far from Barneys but, no matter how much my wardrobe evolves, I will always LOVE a great beat up band shirt. Luckily, The village X has plenty of them, but unfortunately the beating is left to you, since these are mostly reprints. They also have amazing studded cuffs and belts (we broke up after high school but they are back in my life), they are a great accessory for a high and low look. If you are ever around St Marks, I definitely recommend stopping by.





Here are some single studs, I feel another Rodarte DIY coming on!


-C

Counterfeit It: DIY Rodarte Diamond Cut Leggings

DIY Rodarte-style leggings, Coven sweater, Count Aapo Tee, Burberry booties, Antti Asplund cross necklace, Iosselliani ring.

So, after getting a headache from doing so much Rodarte knitting, I decided I would take a small "break" from my dress project, and make some diamond cut leggings, similar to the ones that they showed at their Spring 2009 show. Thinking that this would be a pretty easy project, since it's a no-sew, no-knit DIY, I grabbed my old American Apparel wetlook leggings, which were starting to look tired anyway, and decided to give them a makeover. While it was pretty easy, it was actually much more time consuming than I ever expected, and I would take knitting another couple of pairs of Rodarte tights over doing this project again. Just warning you. If you are interested in doing it, here's how.

What you need:

1 pair of wetlook leggings

shears (I suggest Gingher)

tailor's chalk

graph paper

*a lot of time (and preferably the Twin Peaks box set to keep you company)

*anal retentive attention to detail

Inspiration: The leggings from the Rodarte show, which I haven't actually seen in person, appear to be made of laser cut leather, with zippers up the back. They aren't actually full leggings, they're thigh highs that are held up with a garter. The pattern in the front is completely cut out in diamonds, and has the appearance of large fishnet.

Close up, you can see that the pattern become irregular at the back. I followed the same idea, cutting out the entire front section of the legging, while cutting diamonds selectively (but not arbitrarily) from the back. Also note that since the wetlook fabric is spandex, it will stretch a lot more than the leather.

1. I started by making a stencil for myself on graph paper, which approximated the size and pattern of the diamonds.

2. Carefully, I cut out each of the diamonds.

3. I turned the leggings inside out, and placed the stencil on top of it. Using tailor's chalk, I transfered the pattern onto the legging, starting first with a couple of rows. I proceeded to carefully cut out the diamonds, starting at the tip of a diamond and making a tiny V shaped incision with the scissors, and then cutting around. Try to keep the lines clean, and straight! When I finished, I repeated the step, being very careful to line up the stencil with my previous cut-outs to ensure a uniform pattern. Continue this step until you reach the bottom of the leg. Do the other leg.

4. For the back of the legging, I used the stencil to design a more random pattern. I also made sure that I cut some random diamonds down the side of the leg, to avoid having a long continuous line of unbroken black fabric.

Anyway, this is kind of a massive pain in the ass project, and if you do it, don't be surprised if you find yourself thinking "F***, I'd rather be knitting/blogging/making out" so I advise you to do it bit by bit. I completed this pair after working on it a little bit every day for a week.

-Tiffany

On the Road Again..

First off, I have to apologize for being the more negligent (cough cough) blogista of the Six Six Sick outfit. I have been busy on the Screaming Mimis front (i.e.: get ready for a screamingmimis.com re-launch soon, designed by Christina's forever-boyfriend James!) and tonight is no different. I'm reporting from the Double Tree in Houston (Bush Country, eek!) on my pink BlackBerry--pathetic!

I'm here for the Halloween and Party Expo, the third leg of my trade show marathon (Accessories Show, Surf Expo in Orlando, next week I'm going to the Gem Show in Tuscon). That being said, I travel a great deal for my (dream) job. With every e-tinerary, my idea of travelling becomes less and less frivolous and my luggage becomes smaller and smaller. (Oh, the dread of waiting at the baggage claim and the fear that they lost it all together, not to mention most airlines charge for checking in luggage now!)

Here's my recipe for a fashionably effective carry-on:

-a really easy dress (for me, a black lace slip dress, ala The Craft)
-a "nice" top (I packed a sheer white ruffled blouse by Proenza Schouler for Target)
-two beat-to-shit vintage tees (I NEVER travel without my prized Simpsons and Ren and Stimpy tees)
-one pair of black leggings
-a pair of cutoffs
-another more-than-basic bottom (CDG for H&M dropped crotch pants, and I also slipped in a pair of floral printed vintage leggings)
-black tights
-cardigan
-jacket (Alex Wang-ish/80s blazer was my choice)
-work shoes (sneakers or boots, almost always boots)
-cute flats (Its a bittt warmer here than NYC, so I couldn't resist the my Henrik Vibskov fabric tie-up sandals)
-statement jewelry (ALWAYS my Antti Asplund black acrylic monk cross)

(I apologize for the lack of pictures.. My BB has decided to go on the fritz, therefore so has my livelihood.)

Hot Tip!: Go for the tee/legging/flats combo for the commute. Security will be a breeze, you'll be comfy for the grueling hours on the plane, and the cute flats will keep you from looking dumpy.

Ta Dahhh! Now you're one step closer to preventing baggage- and fashion-induced scoliosis!

xoxo nicollette

Brainwashed.

Comme des Garcons for H&M jacket and blouse, Zara pants, Pied a Terre over the knee boots, H&M scarf, vintage beret, Antti Asplund cross necklace.

A couple of months ago, Lulu came to New York to visit, and to guest host with us.  She landed in the middle of Comme des Garcons madness, and was also at the height of her drop crotch obsession.  While Nicollette, Sofia and Aapo all pounced on the CDG drop crotch style, Christina and I shied away, saying to each other, "well I like them on other people, but they would never ever look good on me."  We both top out at 5'1", and are very adverse to the idea of anything that will make as look shorter, and probably stumpier.  When Lulu learned that we had passed on her beloved drop crotch she exclaimed, like a missionary to two potential converts, "but drop crotch looks the BEST on short people!"  And like so many other of her blog readers, I couldn't help but notice that they did look quite good on her own similarly sized frame.

Well ever since Lulu's subtle brainwashing, Christina and I found that our minds have both been subconsciously wandering towards the infamous drop crotch, ruminating, dissecting and turning it around in our heads,  and a couple of weeks ago, we ended up wearing a drop crotch style romper fashioned out of an upside down dress (pictures to come) for 66Sick.  Both of us couldn't contain our excitement, and I felt an increasing pang for the drop crotch pants.  And so I found myself walking into Zara yesterday, which is a veritable warehouse of discounted drop crotch, harem, and jodhpur pants at the moment, and trying on half a dozen styles.  All were too large for me, and at various times I found my body revolting in a "this is not appropriate for me!" sort of way, but I ended up walking away with a pair of slightly drop crotch harem pants, one size too large, but at a 75% discount.

For my first night out in drop crotch, hosting the Valerie Collective show at Webster Hall last night, I decided to do a riff on a similarly brainwashed lady, Patty Hearst, during her time as "Tania," bank robber and freedom fighter for the Symbionese Liberation Army.

My similarly brainwashed muse for the night, Patty Hearst as "Tania."

-Tiffany

Rodarte's Anti-IT Bag

Yesterday, Nicollette gave me a very belated Christmas present, an eco-tote bag bearing an original Rodarte fashion illustration on it, that she bought when she was working at the Paper Magazine 24 hour store in L.A. last fall.  Apparently Rodarte was one of the many supercool vendors to partake in this very special retail events, but instead of selling their pricey pieces, they set up a booth that exclusively sold these shopping totes, each with a different sketch on it.  Nicollette snapped up one for herself, one for Christina, and one for me, each bearing a girl who most resembled our individual styles.  My lady naturally sports a hot pink, one-shouldered flouncing number with an exposed bra.  My Rodarte obsession probably can't get any worse at this point, but this is probably the closest I will get to owning an actual Rodarte rather than spending hours making my DIY craftacular versions.  And since Rodarte haven't launched any proper bag line, this little number is kind of a DIY one-off of their own, an Anti-IT bag if you will...Material wise it might be the antithesis of a luxury leather handbag.  Still it remains extremely rare, and bears the clear personal touch of the designer, and that's what matters the most to me.

-Tiffany

The Jewel

My new Iosselliani AR100 limited edition ring. There's a better picture here.

Today we stopped by W29 Showroom again for a fitting with the lovely Margarita Sapala.  We will be working on her lookbook, and got to try on some of the unfinished samples.  While I'm at W29 I always have to touch everything I see, especially the jewelry.  I've been lusting after an Iosselliani ring for a long time, but I'm on a permanent self imposed jewelry buying ban (because I can make it, yo), so I've been resisting for a full year now.  All you clothe whores out there know how rough that is, and every time I walk through those W29 doors, I hear the siren call of pretty jewels.  This time I caved.  I've been a pretty good girl this month, and when Shelley told me that they had one of the limited edition styles that I wanted in stock, I couldn't resist the opportunity.  I knew I wasn't going to get a better price (wholesale and landed!) and I didn't even have to go about with all that pesky pre-ordering nonsense, which always makes me antsy (I'm all about instant gratification).  Suzanne, the owner of W29, warned me that Iosselliani jewelry is a veritable addiction.  Like I need another one of those.  Anyway, who knows what maelstrom of nasty jewelry buying demons this purchase has unleashed, only time will tell, but I am already trying to curb the urge for a second piece.  In the meantime, the piece I already own has reminded me of this pop-noir video by the appropriately named Swedish band Juvalen (The Jewel) for their song Hanna.

-Tiffany

My Latest Knit Obsession: Coven Fall 2009

A long wooly sweater adorned with swag from the Coven Fall 2009 show.

It's always Fashion Week somewhere in the world.  Hong Kong and Rio just wrapped up their fashion weeks, and I just got to take a look at pictures from the Coven Fall 2009 collection which showed in Rio.  Coven is one of my favorite labels that we represent at Fiftytwo Showroom, but since they're Brazil based, we don't get to go to their Fashion Shows.  This season featured a lot of the big runway trends: bodycon shapes and silhouettes, bandage style dresses, and their signature knits.

Personally, I am obsessed with the sweaters that they produce, and for Fall 2009 they made huge fluffy sweaters dripping with crystal swags and jewels.  As those of you who read this blog know, I'm pretty obsessed with DIY knits, and let me tell you, I've had many good up close and personals with the Coven sweaters at the showroom and know that I can't do any of them at home.  They're knit on a machine with a heavy dose of hand embellishment afterwards, something that I have no patience for.  I picked up a frothing black sweater from the Fall 2008 collection, which is practically spitting knit balls, bugle-bead covered polka-dots, and giant shoulder pads.  Christina became similarly obsessed as soon as she saw them, and also ended up getting a long burgundy version for Christmas.  Both pieces were original runway samples that never made it to production.  I can't wait to see (and touch! and play with!) the Fall 09 collection when it gets in, and hope that maybe I will get to order a fluffy sweater for myself when the season is over...

These pictures are just some of my favorites, but you can see most of the collection here. 

My Coven sweater from the Fall 2008 collection.

-Tiffany

Welcome Home Wa

In honor of our BFF Waseem moving back to NYC, I decided to celebrate our reunion by getting henna done. It was a lot of fun and I am now addicted. We found a small place in Murry hill, but I really want to make an appointment with New York Adorned, their work is amazing.


Waseem and Chet waiting for us to get done.


It is supposed to last about two weeks, but sadly mine barely made it for a week.
-C