Rachel Antonoff

Really love this video by Lena Dunham for Rachel Antanoff's Fall 13 collection. So creative and so funny.

That is all the blogging my fingers can muster during a time as physically and mentally gelatinous as Spring Break.

Going back into my hole now.

The Oscars, my friends. THE. OSCARS.

I have finals to do. I am like, really busy. Like, super busy. But why not take 6 hours on Sunday when I should be doing homework and projects due the next morning to first watch Ryan Seacrest awkwardly compliment celebrities on how jealous he is of their hair volume followed by about a half a dozen long haired men accept awards for things like sound mixing in a foreign animated short or Avatar (that's still being nominated, right?). I'll tell you why. We do it for the fashion. We do it for the moments when Jennifer Lawrence falls on her face. We do it for the rare occassion every few years where we get invited into Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck adorable marriage. WE DO IT FOR OSCAR. 

And where I didn't time budget on Sunday, I am having to time budget now. For this year's wrap up, I don't have enough time to rip apart Seth Macfarlane's sub par hosting job or how much I don't like Jennifer Hudson (I know. Sorry.) but I'm going to focus on my favorite fashion moments. Duh. 

Let's start with the big winner. J-Law. This Dior Haute Couture dress was simultaneously her best friend and worst enemy. Yes, the dress fit her like a glove and emoted sophistication and timelessness like no other, but it also ended up being to blame for her great fall (which, I might add, could not have been done more gracefully) when accepting her award. The pale pastel color was a definite trend of the night, as well as my top picks. 

Me and my clique absolutely loved Amanda Seyfried in Alexander McQueen. Not everyone can pull off the high neckline (also worn flawlessly by Salma Hayek later in the evening) but her choice to keep her hair, makeup and jewelry simple complimented the dress beautifully. She rarely ever makes a misstep when it comes to fashion choices and this is just another one in the bank. Well played, Cosette. 

Ok, this is almost completely arbitrary to write, but Charlize Theron looked beautiful. She is wearing Dior Haute Couture. Her hair is amazing. Her makeup is stunning. Her jewelry is sparkly. I loved it. Let's move on. 

Oh, Anne Hathaway. What are we going to do with you? I love you. I hate you. I love you. I hate you. You love your husband. I hate you. Let's start at the beginning, ok? Your dress. My sources at E! tell me that you were supposed to be wearing a Valentino gown, someone you've worn beautifully a number of times before, but at the last minute (an hour before leaving for the red carpet) decided to switch to this Prada dress. I want to love it. I see the great potential in it, but the problem with changing your mind at the last minute means that the weeks and weeks of tailoring said dress that would have happened with the proper planning, had to be Macgyver'ed in hour that was allowed. Thus resulting in a beautiful couture gown being worn by a beautiful woman, but that fit poorly. A shame indeed. Especially considering the flack she has taken this awards season for campaigning for her Oscar win, I'm going to assume that the Valentino dress she was previously planning on wearing just screamed "winner." Maybe she got cold feet and wanted to do something a bit more subdued, but everyone knows her Oscar was in the bag, so I wish she had just gone for it. 

Still love the dress, though. 

But before we move on, allow me to point out the lady to Miss Hathaway's left in the background. Opaque white tights. Baby pink Mary Jane's. A one shoulder black dress and a white cardigan. And that, my friends, is how you rock the Oscars! 

I absolutely loved Jessica Chastain in this Armani dress. Completely beaded could have gone wrong. Terribly wrong. But like everything Miss Chastain gets her hands on these days, she knocked it out of the park. Her Golden Globes look was a bit more editorial and I liked it, but this is a quintessential Oscars moment. 

Eddie Redmayne wins for the boys. Every time. Forever and for always. <3 

That's it for this year. I hate when awards season is over. 

Chanel

I've watched this video about a dozen times already and I'll probably watch it a dozen more. And so far every time the video finishes, I find my jaw wide open in utter respect and amazement at such a strong dedication to craftsmanship. If you ever have wondered what excited me personally about fashion, watch this video and then you'll see. 

Every bead, every petal... wow. 

Let me repeat: R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

Devil with the Red Dress

Last Sunday, I was very lucky to have the very talented Kara Reichart finally photograph a dress that I made way back in Spring quarter last year. And, no surprise, she killed it.

This dress and I have had a long and rocky relationship (three words: wrong fabric choice) and so it was awesome to finally see it on a body (a rockin' Baille Younkman body, to be specific) and finding it's place with the proper shoot location and lighting.

I gotta say-- with all of the uncertainty that I keep letting myself dwell on, it's nice to be reminded of the fun parts of making clothes: actually seeing them on people! Novel thought.

Anyway, look at the pictures. And then look at them again. And then, if you're like me, again and again and again and again.

Big ups go to Kara and Baille, obviously, but also to head photo assistant, Spencer Malinski, last minute recruit, male model, Mitchell Rowland (Baille's main man) and the residents of Ardsley Park for not calling the cops on us for "tresspassing" the "abandoned" women and children shelter that we "borrowed" for a couple of hours.

Plans.

Yesterday morning at 9:00, I met with the career advisor for the Fashion Department. 

For some reason, when I was getting dressed to head over to Eckburg, I was really, really nervous. I think that maybe it was because I knew that this was the kick that would start the ball rolling towards next summer. And that   scares me. Because I just moved on from this summer. This summer of future job search anxiety and take-out dinners alone and  watching the West Wing to avoid the scorching heat of Manhattan summers and midnight walks  through the East Village and my first  introduction to the professional, semi-capable version of myself. ...And more take-out. It was a three month scavenger hunt through the City picking up new and exciting unrecognizable parts of myself along the way.  This summer was hard. And I loved it. Or I don't know if I  loved it. I guess that's sort of my point-- I'm finally really removed from this summer and here it is again. Next summer. Popping in to say hello. And I don't quite feel like I'm ready for it.

But I went to the meeting. And wore a white blouse and spoke in a like totally like professional way. And we talked about resumes. And cover letters. And past work experience. And future goals. And e-mail etiquette. And my counselor was so helpful and wore cool glasses and she listened graciously when I told her about how overwhelming school can be and she was nice, but the entire time I sat there and wondered what I was doing all of this for? For weeks now, the little creepers of freshman year and sophomore year and this summer have been making me wonder if this-- fashion-- is really what I want to do with my life. And maybe even bigger and scarier of a question: if it's not this that you want to do, then what?

When I think about all of the possibilities of the future, one of the most frustrating things is the fact that there are so  many possibilities. I know that in 15 years, I'll look back and wonder what in the world I was so afraid of when I am so lucky to say that there is virtually no way that I can fail, but right now the future scares me. And taunts me. And I see flashes of my future-- or rather, what I would like it to be, but I have no way of knowing how to get there.

It's been a while since I've gotten all ranty and intense on here, so I thought it was high time for me to over-share and make people feel sorry for me. So, after all of this, there are no definitive answers. And  I don't think there will be for a while (which just makes me want to eat ice cream and watch Grey's).  I've decided that for now, I'll focus the next few hours on the only thing that I truly have control over: what font I want my resume header to be.

Fashion Illustration

Besides the all nighters and the ink covered hands that I have made a nasty habit of complaining about, I have to admit that I am absolutely loving my Advanced Fashion Illustration class. I am not an illustrator by nature and I am terribly uncomfortable with the idea of drawing in general (I think it's because I lack the patience), but for some reason, I am really responding to it this quarter. 

One of the best parts about the class is the research that goes along with each project and the illustrators that I had no idea about that I am now very excited about. I took a similar class last quarter that taught us the more basic and technical skills of fashion illustration-- extremely helpful, but sometimes monotonous and uninspiring. This quarter, my professor is encouraging us to explore our own styles, and mess an up and...wait for it... have fun! Crazy! 

Until SCAD, I always grouped all illustration in the same basket of anime and comic books, but there is this great, big, wonderful world of beautiful and interesting illustrations that make me want to buy a print and hang them in my house. 

Vogue just had these vintage illustrations on their website and it just brightened my day. Aren't they beautiful? 

Here are some more. 

NYFW

Due to an unfortunate lack of internet for the last week or so, I feel that I have majorly dropped the ball when it comes to my New York Fashion Week blog coverage.

So unfortunate.

And the idea of trying to recap the last two weeks in just one post simply does not feel like it would do the months and months of work of these designers enough justice. 

So, I bring you the compromise. This video follows one of my favorite designer's, Diane Von Furstenburg, in a way so backstage and personal that you are literally seeing the whole experience through her eyes (thanks to some very Stockholm-y looking glasses).

Pretty cool right?

All About Solange

Earlier this summer, I was at dinner with my friend, Jessie, and we were talking about which celebrity's closet we woud steal (such a girl conversation) if that were at all possible. Jessie said she'd go with Jessica Alba and I said, hands down, Solange Knowles.

I am completely obsessed with her colorful Brooklyn inspired style and her boldness when it comes to the ever-changing look of her hair. This moring, I found out that she is the new face of, one of my all time faves, Madewell!

I'm already loving this short video, but I can't wait to see the ads they cook up in the coming months.

(via the Cut)