Kind of Obsessed With...

Thakoon Addition, Pre-Fall 2012
I can't stop looking at this presentation. I love the use of print and color mixed into the utilitarian silhouettes of the neutrals. It's youthfully spirited but totally "cool girl"--like when you see models in their street clothes and you wonder, "Just how is that so perfect?"
I super die for the grey (looks like) flannel field jacket/coat.
So. Super. Cool.

Death-Inducing Fashion Moment of the Year

I'm gonna go ahead and give my vote for my "I... die" of the year. It--hands down--goes to the new Duchess of Windsor, Princess Kate Middleton, in the Sarah Burton/Alexander McQueen gown she wore on her wedding day.

In a year that also saw the stylish nuptials of the *other* Kate (a personal muse, Ms. Moss), the Princess stole the hearts of all with a perfectly restrained amount of pomp and circumstance. I was overly touched by the ceremony, and also by the respectful tribute Kate played to the late McQueen, the genius artist/fashion designer and London's resident enfant terrible who committed suicide earlier in the year.

This utterly major fashion moment also solidified the coming out of McQueen's protege, Sarah Burton, whose dedication to the gown (and the label she made it for) won her an endless amount of new fans.

Her combination of the world's most beautiful lace, the conservative long sleeve, the oh-so-subtle difference in white tones, the skin-tight, sculptural bodice, and the waist-emphasizing volume in the crisp A-line skirt was nothing short of ethereal. Time stopped as Kate exited the car and prepared to walk down the aisle of Westminster Abbey. Her sister held her train, forming the most perfect drape as she waved over her shoulder. The moment was almost unreal, even for a gal in a different country. No longer was I sitting cross-legged on the floor of my Philadelphia apartment, on the wrong side of sleep, in yoga pants and my boyfriend's button down with my hair pulled back into a disaster. I froze from painstakingly hand-beading a corset I'd been working on for my final collection in Fashion School. I was a pre-transformed Cinderella of sorts carried away in a whirlwind to another continent, experiencing the sweeping emotions of the moment, subconsciously and vicariously living through Kate.

Wouldn't you have to agree with my fashion moment of the year?

The Witching Hour, Pt 3

mildred hubble and friends, all grown up.

... Can't talk about Witches and Fashion without mentioning these sick-ass biddies from the Craft...
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The Witching Hour, Pt 2

Here's the credit to the young Fairuza Balk and that ridiculously amazing movie from my childhood, The Worst Witch.
Oh, Poor Mildred Hubble! If only she knew she'd grow up to be one of the scariest, powerful witches ever (See Pt 3).
Gotta love the school girl look combined with the braids and that cute little non-Halloween hat. Also love the mussed up waves she rocks towards the end of the movie, when everyone realizes she's not the f**k-up she'd been made out as.

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The Witching Hour, Pt 1

If you know me, you know I've been a witch for Halloween for most Halloweens. I love dressing up as a witch because I've always kinda felt like one anyway.

I have to give credit to The Worst Witch as my first favorite kinda goth inspiration--but-- watching Hocus Pocus last night, I was completely obsessed with Sarah Jessica Parker's costuming.

She's bewitching, indeed!
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The Sexiest, Most Fresh VOGUE Cover in Months and Months...

Rooney Mara covers this November's Vogue and I find the image entrancing! I love, love, die for this sheer-backed dress with the apropos beaded dragon applique by Ralph Lauren Collection.
On the first flip-through of the issue, some hidden re-design of the layout, along with Mara's editorial shot by Mert & Marcus, add to the raised bar of definitive fashion set by Ms. Wintour and her team this month.

The last time I was this surprised and breath taken by a VOGUE cover was Gwyneth Paltrow's October 2005 hippie moment in a luscious crown of fall flowers.
When was yours?



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When I Grow Up, I Want to be Just Like...

... The amazingly intelligent, ever stylish, and so very super cool, Joan Didion. XxO, N.
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Love This

... Would make a great digital print for some cool summer dresses.
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It's a Win/Win for the Olsen Girls...

Elizabeth, center, gets to raid the unreal closets of her twin older sisters and wear their stunning Row collections... The twins, on the other hand, have a fresh, slightly-less-Olsen/more relatable, face to showcase their CFDA-nominated looks on the streets.

But surely, they've taught young Elizabeth, half the namesake of their other fashion label Elizabeth & James, many lessons in personal style. Behold...

Woke up with this Inspiration Board on my Mind...

Ahhh, the luxury of undress in a beautifully dressed home.

Emma Stone: The Rich Man's Lindsay Lohan

Last Year's Golden Globes, in Calvin Klein Collection

It all started for me last year, when I saw Emma do the Step & Repeat in this stunning, minimalist Calvin Klein Collection gown at the Golden Globes. For such a young, Hollywood girl, she sure threw a wrench into the A-list's Best Dressed. The whole look was pure perfection: her white blonde hair, her pale, pure skin, and the way the sherbet-color of her dress bounced light off of her face and contrasted the red carpet. Head to toe, she was cool, clean, classic, and modern. She was all of my favorite things. 

When I started noticing how successful she was becoming and how well-received her roles were, I started thinking of her as the Rich Man's Lindsay Lohan. If only LiLo had kept herself together long enough to score some roles with weight and/or comedic prowess, it's my opinion she could have had most of Emma's roles, if only for the fact of being around first. 

Taking a risk, and succeeding... in Giambattista Valli

It's been a delight watching Emma hit the award shows, parties, and press circuit for her recent releases...

And with the designers that seem to be lining up to dress her, I have a feeling we'll all get to see her grow into a (more) mature, sexy actress for years to come.

In Tom Ford

I mean, seriously. She's even rocking Tom Ford like it's no Big... It's huge! Most actresses her age would appear to be dressing in their mother's evening wear in one of his designs, yet she seems comfortable and carries herself with such grace and honesty. It's impressive. 

Again, here, in these two very different ensembles from Chanel Haute Couture, she keeps it fresh, adding some new excitement into our daily fashion-feeding lives.

Insert your most worthy applause here.

Summer in the City

Boy by Band of Outsiders, Spring 09

Let's create a world without cutoff shorts and jean skirts, without flip flops and bra straps hanging out of too-tight tank tops. I know it's hot out there, but just the act of looking cool should be what's keeping you cool this summer.

Air conditioning exists, and so do cabs. So throw a lightweight blazer over your bare arms and strut down the street in some pumps while trying to hail one. Here are some other Cool Summer Looks, perfect for City Girls.

This image of Ashley Olsen reiterates the look Kirstin Dunst perfects above, though she trades a pump for a strappy sandal. The loose wavy hair relaxes the polish of the blazer in a sort of, "Just got back from the Hamptons" way. Love it. 

Veronica Gledhill of Vogue Magazine understands that though the streets are sweltering, the offices are not. She keeps her layers icy in white and grey. A cool, colorless wardrobe for summer is my absolute favorite, and Veronica is perfect from hair to pump in this monochromatic look. 

LSD, from the Sartorialist

Here Ashley Olsen, again, and famed New York Fashionista Lauren Santo Domingo partake in an exercise of proportionate skin-showing. A 3/4 or pushed up long sleeve on a tight, super mini dress is the way to keep it classy in the summer heat. Keep the look pulled together with a shoe in the same color family and use your accessories to add contrast.

Introducing... Anna Kaarina

Decayed Innocence
Imagine walking into an attic, lit only by candlelight, and discovering amongst the cobwebs and dust, some of the most gorgeous fashion creations you have ever seen... This is the Graduate Collection of Anna Kaarina Lake, a close friend of mine.

Anna Kaarina's mind works like a true artist's. She is uninhibited by the challenges of creating her unique visions of beauty, energized by the fear of not getting it "just right", and she works tirelessly, sometimes for days without sleep, in her in-house studio in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Never does Anna Kaarina simply choose a fabric off the shelf. She purchases textiles and trims of the most suburb quality and manipulates them into completely original one-off, couture-level pieces. These are dresses that could never be replicated by anyone else, possibly even herself. They truly have a life and spirit of their own.

Layers of tattered gauze and peek-a-boo lace marry together into a surreal island gown, supported underneath by custom-fit corsetry. Yards and Yards of fringe trim drape effortlessly into a mermaid gown, sprinkled and sparkled with Swarovski beading.

It was no surprise to me, after endless hours of conversation about the heart and guts of her collection, that her felted wool gown with an open back won the coveted title of Best in Show at last weekend's Drexel showcase.

Best in Show

Anna Kaarina was also awarded the Most Salable Graduate Collection by Destination Maternity. While she cites the late Alexander McQueen as influential, her work is unlike anything else on the fashion show circuit. She also looks to the Costume Design of Colleen Atwood (you'll remember her dream-like creations from the wardrobe in Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland) for inspiration. Please join me in congratulating her, not only on her awards, but on her moment of arrival. She has waited years to watch her dream realized, and as she celebrates with her family in Disney World this week, her dream has finally come true. It is with the utmost sincerity that I say, a star is born.

Photographs by Jeff Cohn