Earth Day

Happy Earth Day! I fully embrace the idea of upcycling - taking existing materials generally deemed as worthless and giving them new life. I love the movement that is in full swing right now that seeks to reimagine things in a new context. So I thought I would celebrate Earth Day by showing some of my favorite recent appreciations.

First, a fantastic window dressing that Anthropologie near Rockefeller Center had displayed a few months ago. Back in February spring seemed far, far away but thankfully it has arrived here in New York. These great fixtures are made from colorful bits of plastic and arranged to appear like a flowering plant.

They remind me of the junk chandeliers I saw all over Europe last summer. Stuart Haygarth created the most well-known of these types with his Tide piece back in 2004, which was created from material that showed up on the beach near his home in England. He also made a chandelier made completely of eyeglasses.
These are great DIY projects that can make use of junk around the house or pretty much any item you can get your hands on. I love this one that was shown at the Stockholm Design fair a few years back.

The display at Anthropogie also featured a chair made out of an old radiator and trees with roots made of large plastic bottles filled with soil.

The former chairman of the Dutch Architects Union, Wassenaar Kees van der Hoeven, is creating a living space out of a shipping container with a flower pot facade. I saw this flower pot thing done in a few magazines a while back, but I think it is such a great design element.


It was featured on Superuse, a mecca for all things upcycled. The site inspires so many amazing projects I don't even know where to start.

So go... be inspired!

Where My Girls At?

Most of my fashion week photos are dudes, mainly because I feel like I generally focus on women's style. But every once and a while I found some ladies I thought were unique.











This last girl might be a fashion disaster, but I liked the hat.

Man Bags and Mandazzling

All fashion week long it seemed that the men were dressed better than the women. That could just be because I saw more men around the menswear shows and all. However, the magic of men's clothing is clearly in the accessorizing. Here are some that dazzled me with either their brightness or love of a great bag.











The zipper detail on this jacket is sorta amazing

Trend Watch: Long Coats

New York fashion is a far cry from LA style with the main difference being the existence of winterwear/outerwear. So for me, all of these trends are new, but one particularly eye-catching one is ultra-long, floor length coats. Particularly made of fur or accented with some sort of furry friend.







(sorry about the blurriness of this last one but that coat was too good to let go.)

NY Fashion Week: Y-3 and Perry Ellis

This was my first NY Fashion Week and I had invitations to a few shows, which made it that more exciting. I learned very quickly that it is pointless to even try and photograph anything that happens in them - everything is so dark, so far and moving so fast. Fashion shows take longer to seat everyone than to present the show, but the most fun part is certainly checking out everyone's outfits.

Regardless, I had to document the outings. The Y-3 show was amazing. Not a whole lot I would personally wear, but Yohji Yamamoto's collections are always very daring and present things I've never seen before. He is the man responsible for the hammer pant in the 80s... Plus it brought out a few big names and the photogs went nuts when Ciara came in.

Check out Y3's full collection to see some actual details.

I also went to Perry Ellis, which was a really interesting collection full of looks with a richly warm color palate featuring loads of velvet and patchwork leather and styled nicely with lots of scarves, suspenders and bow ties. Very steampunk, yet wearable.

Check out all of the Perry Ellis looks or check out this runway video, which they streamed live during the show.

NY Fashion Week: Day 1

The blizzard that buried the city in snow the last 48 hours did not stop any of New York's fashion elite from donning their best for the opening day of New York Fashion Week. Bryant Park was covered in ice, and although I witnessed a few near spills from girls in towering heels, most people sucked it up and braved the conditions, albeit on a beautifully sunny day. Many saw it as an opportunity to display innovative outwear combos accented surprisingly often by mid-calf or knee-high Timberlands, which are clearly making a huge comeback and Russian fur hats. The inner-woods(wo)man exposed.

I did not stay out for long, mainly because this California girl is not equipped to handle the chilly New York air unless she is running laps or spending less than 15 minutes outside. Regardless, I caught a few good ones of some jazzy men outside the tents.

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Guess all those ladies who have been carrying their big "it" bags for the past few seasons have passed them on to their male-friends. It clearly is the must-have accessory for men. However, I am very intrigued with what they put inside these giant things. Without makeup, changes of clothes, beauty products and other such things women shove into their purses, what's left to carry? Thoughts welcome.