Cardinal

A Revolution

I recently bought a the Dolce Vita remix of that fabulous YSL pump (I had at one point entertained forking over the hundreds and hundreds of dollars for the real thing so to be able to buy the knock-off for a mere $100 seemed so genius...)

Not too bad, eh?

Now, I'm completely obsessed with them but have to yet to wear them. What's the cause of this? Not a disinterest in height and how fabulous it is to tower and teeter about BUT the pump (even with a nice pair of massage-y gel inserts) is really a stand around look pretty kind of shoe - and, to be candid, it's really a stand around for about an hour before sitting for the rest of the day/evening kind of shoe. In my youth I would have endured the pain but I'm an old lady at this point and like walking too much to continue to suffer.

BUT I have found the solution: I have discovered the platform/wedge. HOW how how how how have I lived my life for so long without it?? 

My current love affair is with a pair of Jeffrey Campbell's I practically live in (I'm even trying to justify them as good shoes for bad winter weather... No? Maybe?)

 
The actual heel-to-toe difference is probably an inch but the enormous platform gives you legs for days - they're perfect with pants, with leggings, with dresses... Amazing. And the strange metal leather trim gives them that little twist. J'adore.

I am now saving my dollars to invest in a pair from Mini Market from their Spring 2010 collection, is it bad to want both colors? I love the play in color and texture and that they come higher up the ankle. I'm pretty excited about them...

The best part about the platform is that they don't have to be expensive the way a pump really needs to be. I learned both in the YSL/Dolce Vita experience and my New Years in Aldo booties that to be comfortable in a high heel it needs to be made well, that there is, in fact, an art to the pitch (the angle at which the ball of the foot hits the toe of the shoe) and more money buys you more comfort (not to mention better leather versus plastics and acrylics will mean less sweating and thus less swelling). The wedge, however, is fantastic at all price points and my favorite shoes right now are also my most affordable. Look at lines such as Mattiko , Jeffrey Campbell, Dolce Vita, Aldo, or sites such as Urban Outfitters, Top Shop, Pixie Market, LF, and Oak for awesome versions at amazing prices.

Oh, This Was A Great Idea...

....

At $63 I think I'll buy two or three to make sure that if I need to wash a pair I'll always have a back-up.

More Thoughts on Hats

Bitching & Junkfood, a shop and blog, recently launched a jewelry/accessories line featuring among other things fantastic headbands made of feathers that drape across the forehead a la fringe. I find them hauntingly beautiful and have been fantasizing of the oily black one, in particular, as its shape and color generally mimics my own hair (well, my hair isn't an oily black, but... you know what I mean).

 

Queen Michelle of Kingdom of Style modeling hers:

As I superfan of all things headdress related, I present three more lines I love:

1. Which Goose makes whimsical fairy crowns using twigs, silk flowers, feather butterflies, ribbons and tulles, They are charming and adorable. I love that they manage to be super feminine and evoke these fantasies of fairytales without coming off as overly cutesie.

2. Jennifer Behr's pieces are more evocative of a retro glamour, think Golden Age of Cinema, rhinestones, vintage costume jewelry, silk, velvet, and sparkle. While all of it is lovely, her more avant garde pieces are by far my favorite, for instance, a punk reworking of the turban, a pearl-studded veil.



3. Ban.Do has created somewhat of a headdress empire at this point, offering designs at a number of price points and recently adding collections of other accessories such as corsages and collars. I like that their point of view and attention to detail is apparent at all levels from their Heart by Ban.Do collection (no piece is more than $50) to their couture designs.

Well Done

When Fashion Baffles Me (Alternate Title: WTF??!#!%@!#)

Today I received an email from Shopbop showing three "go anywhere" looks featuring Fall's "key pieces".

Ok, so... Where to start. I guess, yes, the thigh high boot is "in" and the military jacket and the Chanel bag that is just everywhere. But do I really need leather underpants? That I wear with said military jacket and Chanel bag AND thigh high boots? All at the same time? With lace-printed leggings? Who styled this? And then thought "this is a go anywhere look"...? She looks uncomfortable (look at the riding up, and this is just a studio shot) and, frankly, no one, not even this model should be wearing lace underpants... ever, really. (Those "shorts", by the way, retail for $755. The ways I would spend that money... not on Alexander McQueen leather "shorts".) Who is the targeted demographic? Who are they marketing it to?

This is when I get scared about the state of the Contemporary retail market. So much of it is just so strange. What if you are a girl who just wants simple silk, cashmere, chiffon, wool in black and charcoal, relaxed, easy yet still interesting, not too styled but enough to make a statement? Where do I go? I can't only wear (or afford to only wear) Isabel Marant. Perhaps I'll just have to start designing it myself...

The Brooklyn Trip

An odd theme of this blog is my rediscovery of places I thought had disappeared. My newest discovery is that Environment337 is still alive and well and kicking in Brooklyn. Environment337 is a store I happened upon last Christmas season. During my hiatus from the city this summer the store on University Place closed. I learned that this was to allow their expansion in Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, where the original Environment337 is.

Only a month old, Retrospect is the newest project, a beautifully curated store. The store is dark, sexy, and the theme eccentric and Victorian (imagine lots of florals, strange preserved animals). The store features a wide range of religious iconography such as crosses, alters, and rosaries, and antique signs, trinkets, and images. What makes it even better is how well-priced everything is. Most jewelry is under $200, the rosaries a personal favorite and all marked at less than $50. It's a quirky store and the perfect place to go when looking for a gift that is unlike anything else.

Located at 333 Smith Street, just a block off the F train, visiting the store is highly recommended. 

While in the neighborhood I quite accidentally happened upon Bird. A dangerous discovery, to say the least. I did my best to restrain myself but when the rack of Isabel Marant was uncovered it was hard to resist. Everything I imagined, the store is even more fantastic in person than it is online. This is mostly due to the fact that so much of what they carry is stuff that deserves to be handled, interacted with. Lines such as Tsumori Chisato or Rachel Comey, though intriguing in photograph, are stunning in person, far more luxe and special. In fact, those two lines in particular are lines that I had always questioned their high price point. That was, until I was able to see them today. Though still expensive at least now the value is understood. 

Favorites of the day included these two items from Tsumori Chisato, the top I bought for my sister for her birthday:

Cotton and cashmere, so cozy and absolutely adorable (notice the astronaut embroidered at the upper neckline, so beyond cute).

I also loved a line called "Bruce". They are actually responsible for a number of fashion-related projects including an amazing jewelry line that features vintage beads and beads made of molten rock, which I did not photograph and cannot seem to find them online. The clothing is just as fascinatingly subtle yet bold (if that's even possible, or makes any sense):

I love the tassels and embroidery, the play on texture that is subtle and still fashion-forward. Both made of silk it was hard to resist buying both. 

The greatest part of the trip was how nice and helpful everyone I encountered was, perhaps a Brooklyn thing or perhaps just testament to these stores and their fantastic customer service. Engaging, helpful, generous: all things you want from a shopping experience. It's nice to see that customer service is not dead (it just moved to the Cobble Hill area?)

I had to leave Brooklyn after finding Bird, it was too tempting to stay and shop. I do, however, plan on returning soon, especially now that I can stop creating the dreaded fantasy that Brooklyn is this impossible-to-reach other Universe that you cannot escape. Today I learned that it's simply not true and that I can't wait to go back.

Gabriele Colangelo

It is a huge disappointment that the images aren't larger or the lighting isn't better (for instance, if they were studio shots rather than runway shots) because the work by Gabriele Colangelo is incredible. This is true luxe: any velvet-like texture you see is, in fact, shorn mink (yes, a shorn mink shift dress and blazer, amazing) and the crystal embroidery, I'm sure, is infinitely more incredible in person. Even more incredible, Gabriele Colangelo's debut collection was in February 2008. These works are compellingly couture: Like Roland Mouret or Jil Sander, the tiny tucks, layers, pleating, all evoke that high fashion ideal while maintaining respect for a woman's body.

 

This Isn't Really All I Think About

It seems a week cannot go by where I don't spend serious time here discussing fetishist fashion. I feel this odd urgency to justify, analyze or explain this: is it me? Am I fascinated by this odd place in counter-culture as it merges with avant-garde fashion design practices that brings me back to the subject again and again? Or is the trend just that pervasive, that popular that there it is all there is worth paying attention to at the fringe? I suppose part of it is also our current point in fashion that finds leather, studding, tears and rips and other more aggressive previously-punk-associated detailing co-opted by the mainstream. Five years ago the only place to get skinny jeans was at fetish shops or punk stores in lower Manhattan; now, it's all you can see everywhere from legit punks to preppy mommies walking their strollers on the Upper East Side.

I found some time ago a company, Atsuko Kudo, a self-described Couture Latex and Rubber Fetish clothing company and winner of the European Fetish Award for Best Fetish Design 2008/09. Ranging from more overtly fetish things like pasties and corseting to things "easily" integrated into the everyday like latex leggings, skirts, stockings and bras the work is quite stunning (I say "easily" recognizing how much of a statement it is but also completely obsessed with the idea of it). It is all offered in a wide range of colors and textures and prints and rather well-priced all things considered.

 

The last image is what appears to be a rubber blouse, j'adore. The only reason I have not commited is that I am unsure what exactly it takes to commit to wearing latex or rubber. For instance, the website sells polish and silicone spray: is that to help get it on? make it so it will come off? do you have to constantly be polishing the fingerprints off of you? what about dust? or the fact that I live with cats? will I just be a lint magnet like the rubber protector on my blackberry?

Perhaps that is why it exists in the fantasy world of fetish... Just the same, I dream of the day I can wear a pair of latex pants with a nice cashmere sweater and patent leather flats and have dreamt of that day for the past 5 years or so when my interest in latex was first sparked. 

In a similar theme, Colette recently started selling a designer, Betony Vernon, Virginia Commonwealth alum and creator of what is described as fetish fine jewelry. Her work is inspired by the urge for sexual openness and exploration and she is as much a designer as an educator (she has published books on sexuality). Her jewelry is designed to bridge the gap between quotidien wear and more private usage. Rings, for instance, appear innocent enough, and, yet, are designed to enhance sexual interaction.

 

I applaud her frankness, her openness. I find it refreshingly sexy, too. The designs are bold, strong, but their true intent elusive enough that it isn't so obvious. And I suppose that is the theme that unites these two different though related designers. While, yes, there are pieces that are far more obvious (catsuits, whips, corsets), they still manage to successfully approach fetish without becoming kitsch, a true challenge and skill.

       

Mark Squires

Today Roisin Murphy's newest single, "Orally Fixated" hit the internet and it is incredible. Even more incredible is the profoundly sexy photograph taken by Mark Squires that is advertising it (most likely the album cover).

I am usually opposed to sepia but this I think works quite perfectly. She really looks stunning.

From there I went on to explore Mark Squires's recently launched Photo Diary, a blog of sorts. 

Of his many shoots, I have to say that his photos for A.L.C. by Andrea Lieberman are unbelievable. The eyes of that model are bewitching.

 

 

 

Mark Squires also managing to rekindle a long-time obsession with ballet (I bought a tutu as a result). I have somewhere in my rather large fashion-related archives from a brief flirtation with design school a binder filled with various iterations of the idea of ballet-for-fashion. There is something about ballet in particular, that fascinates me: the line of the form, the near abusive obsession with technique and body, the demand to be lighter than air as it conflicts with the very human reality that the body is weighted. This shoot for the American Ballet Theater is deliciously gritty.

No, Thank You

Oh good. Why go through the extra step of putting on leggings AND shorts (it's such exhausting effort, really) when you can have it all in one?

While they are called the "Cher Jeans", and I do understand why, they also oddly remind me of the opening scene from Grey Gardens:

Images courtesy shopbop. Jeans by Ksubi.