Fashion East, Spring 2011

Ok I won't reference shipwrecks when describing this dress, since I used that reference a lot last week, but one thing is for sure I got a thing for unfinished ends and layering.  This dress has a simple silhouette on top and just adds an element of awesomeness down below.  In case you were wondering "awesomeness" was used when reviewing this collection for style.com.  Ok maybe not, but if you didn't go to journalism school thats how you would describe this dress.  Its the "I am over this depression and living in the dust bowl and I want a new dress" look.  A look that only a true fashionista would love to wear and if one was actually stuck wearing it, one would probably dream of a cleaner more elegant number.  Its a dress, but its also tough...a tomboy's dream dress.  What more can I say?

Bottega Veneta, Spring 2011

"...these were dresses, not gowns—were more constructed, but the way the silk was lightly tacked at the seams meant that these, too, floated on the body. The one low point: a couple of numbers in a trapezoidal print weighed down by a surfeit of excess fabric". style.com, Nicole Phelps

Well, according to Style.com the outfit I choose was a low point of the show, but if it makes Bottega Veneta (or whoever designed the dress) feel better I enjoyed the trapezoidal prints.  I guess it goes to show that at some point who cares what the critic has to say, if your drawn to it wear it...or at least draw it and dream of wearing it.

Matthew Williamson, Spring 2011

Earlier in the week I wrote about a Ackermann dress, which I described as perfect for a shipwreck.  When I was brainstorming what to say about this dress  I was surprised to see that Williamson was going for a marooned on a deserted island feel. 

                   "My storyboard is a girl marooned on a deserted island," he said. "She has 

                    her Western wardrobe, and over time she becomes one with nature, picking 

                    up organic textures and materials." style.com, Meenal Mistry

Could this dress and the Ackermann dress live on the same island and belong to the same girl?  This doesn't have the same rugged feel, more a walk on the beach kind of feel.  Based on survival and if wearing a dress could determine such things...I think I would stick with the Ackermann dress.  This one is more for the girl who thinks she is deserted and then realizes she is a on a private island with a 5 star hotel, which doesn't make me love this dress any less...I just don't think it would help me survive.  In its favor, it's pattern and use of color is amazing, and when I was getting really depressed being alone on an island, this pattern would give me more visual pleasure.  

What do you think Ackermann or Williamson for ultimate island survival?  

Dennis Basso, Spring 2011

I am having writers block and don't know what to say about this one.  I could talk about the layers and little sheer tank under the dress, but as far as what it makes me think of I'm stuck.  I know that sounds lame, but if it makes you feel better I am putting the finishing touches on my soon to be launched website and I only have so much brain power after work.  Excuses, excuses....forgive me.

Haider Ackermann, Spring 2011

Help!!! I am shipwrecked and all I have is this fabulous dress.  Does this dress also give you a shipwreck vibe?  If it does, lets discuss the best shipwreck movie of all times...Swiss Family Robinson. Oh how I wanted to live in a massive treehouse after I saw it.  One could imagine what this dress looked like before the shipwreck, but I prefer it in its rugged-drappy state.  Its got that "yeah this might be made out of silk, but don't mess with me" vibe.  Thats a tough vibe to pull off, but just the vibe you would need if you were shipwrecked and pirates were coming to attack!

Style Memory: Land of Make Believe, 6yrs old

About the time when I decided to start drawing street style I got the idea to also begin a series on style-memory, outfits that are engrained in my memory.  This is one of my earlier style memories.  I wore this outfit on a school trip to Land of Make Believe.  I can remember fighting my mom all morning to allow me to wear these shorts.  I was a budding tot with individual style, I kept harping and whining, until I guess my mom decided it wasn't worth the struggle.  She suggested the white shirt, to balance out the shorts and to make it a little less embarrassing for her, since she was a chaperone.  I think somewhere in the attic these shorts still exist, I hope so...I kind of want to find them and put them on the wall as art.  Mom if your reading this can you find them, pleaseeeeeeeeeeee.

Style Icon, Shail Upadhya

Saturday night I saw "Bill Cunningham New York".  If you are not familiar with that name, he documents street style and has a column in the New York Times, which you can see here. He's really amazing, not only for being 80ish years old and riding a bike on the mean streets of NYC, but because of his love/obsession with documenting street style.  This movie made me want to make a mad dash to to NYC to live and do some style searching and documenting.

Shail Upadhya was featured in the documentary showing off his amazing eccentric suits.  You can also see a short clip of Mr. Upadhya talking about his style at stylelikeu.

"Though he has always loved dressing up, his parents wanted him to have a “respectable” job, so he became a diplomat at the UN rather than following a creative pursuit...He has always been driven to put his own personality into his wardrobe...Shail is taking his self-expression to new heights by designing his own collection of clothes that are hand-painted, based on the designs of the grand masters like Miro, Kandinsky, and Picasso". stylelikeu.com