Kenzo Paris for F/W 2012

http://vimeo.com/50493786

This is too funny! The corporate videos of the world were waiting for a rift and Kenzo nailed it, although they could have off the huge KENZO logo in the middle of the screen (or maybe that is the point). Every time I fly American Airlines and they play their new video instead of having the flight attendant speak to us, I am thinking ‘who in their incredibly competent team thinks this type of cheezy format is still relavant?’

Since 2011 Kenzo has had the creators of Opening Ceremony at the creative helm. WIth LVMH behind them the line has the budget to make clothes that feel fun, experimental, and yet still polished and refreshing, which is what the piece exemplifies. Their line usually carries the Made in Poland tag.

textual chemistry

Have you ever had a text session go wildly awry?  Where like everything is as it seems, you think your rockin’ it, maybe your playfully flirting or whatever and then bam! you have no idea what just happened?  That’s totally what I just experienced and I am thrown so off my game that now I am writing all Valley and stuff. No but seriously, I normally love texting over conversing with new additions to your circle.  It is perfect for being able to think about what you want to say and look up references to seem wittier than the real you. But this was down right bizzarre.  Somehow, though I still am confused on how, while trying to be odd and coy, I managed to make the follow-up second date 6 months from a great first date that happened last night!  How is that even possible we live like five minutes apart? Remember in high school where you just saw each other everyday and had to deal?  Oh the simplicity of yesteryear.

round and round the poem has gone, in my head for days…

From Lord Byron

Digital Manifest Destiny

This article was brought to my attention today by a close friend and kindled a flame of excitement that can sometimes get low in the night.  Our generation, that is alive and thriving now, has this sub-culture of cool kids where all things Americana have street cred and deserve attention.  Idea of Steam Punk, Classic Cocktails, or all things Etsy.

Most people go on living their normal lives, listening to regular news channels, watching the million-hits YouTube videos, and shopping for mass produced concepts- and then-there is this other group searching out things just below the surface of mass media, teasing out the secrets and the unknowns in flood of ordinary and mimicry. Things that without a tilted head can be easy to miss, hard to interpret, or even disconcerting to find. These are those forging a path and allowing for the expansion of concepts beyond realm of the currently conceivable.  I love the quote from Ted Anthony’s article from Julie Fenster:

“I can invent my way out of problems”

Hey! You know that hot guy asleep in the other room…

…don’t do it!

It’s just not a good idea. As a city, Dallas, you are my friend, and a good one at that. I would like to stay friends with you and live with you for a while and the bottom line is: we don’t really like like eachother. We are just two young decent looking people who get a long and are currently not, well you know. Sorry to be harsh, Dallas, but you know I am right. Besides it is so expected. New York is assuming it, Austin said why not (that sly minx), Fort Worth is hoping Dallas and I act like “adults” and know the difference, and New Orleans, well New Orleans is always rooting for the carnal side of life. In a way it is a little boring in that regard. I mean yes, Dallas, you are a sweet talking city whose in good-getting-great shape and yes you made it quite clear you be willing, and yes it has been a while since I have been sweet talked and undressed with every other glance. But it would be bad and feelings would get hurt. So even after I had had a few to many the other night and convinced myself to do it anyway-I couldn’t.  I stood there, outside your door at 3:30 in the morning, in nothing but an oxford and I could not make myself go in. It was kind of like when you look at the dessert menu or a box of cookies and think mmm, that would be tasty…maybe I should….nahhh and walk away. Yeah, kinda like that.

Three Tin Shakedown

How do you make 5 great cocktails all with at least 5 ingredients in less than 1 minute while taking money for the 5 you made 1 minute ago and talking to the crowd of three deep who each want 5 more?
I don’t know either, but tonight is my first weekend night at a scenester bar where I was told the bartender’s motto is “if your not shaking three tins your moving too slow”
Yikes!

Made me laugh this morning

This is exactly how I feel every time I have tried to quit drinking coffee…too funny. Not that I dont throughly enjoy tea on occasion, just not in the morning when I really just want coffee

“I gave her my heart, she gave me a pen.” Part two

For part two:

It is funny how you can tell what love looks like, how from an outsider’s perspective love has a look and feel that is overwhelmingly different than something either trying imitate it or when someone thinks they have it and everybody else knows different.  Unfortunately I am realizing I fall into the second category. I was the idiot who thought New York was for me and that we were in love, and now people are calling to tell me how they knew all along. humph!

Here is a collection of stolen moments of love, some even seem hard to look at because they feel private.

 

“I gave her my heart, she gave me a pen.” Part one

The first installment of “she gave me a pen” is the newest video from Fight Facilities. I dig the animation and the song feels both sad and cool. It is not about heartbreaks per se but it is about a guy who has somebody on the side, which would be heartbreaking to his woman. So I guess in my break up with New York this would be from New York.

You likey?

Wind blown away

Why is hair so sexy?  I mean good hair, you know the kind, can really get your blood flowing in the right situation.  Now that I am single in a new city full of strangers, everybody is an exciting outsider.  After having someone to be close and intimate with for so long I have a total case of the doesn’t-take-much-to-get-my-heart-racing syndrome.  Do you know it? Well in attempt to be good here are some great hair images to get help me my fix…and maybe yours too:

The World is flat and my arms are long

During my usual morning email checking and blog filpping I came across a new, well new to me, shoe website.  Whoa! so cute.  Yes, they are millions of sites for shopping and yes, they have some of they usual cute and trendy regulars (Jeffery Campbell, Doce Vita) but they go beyond that.  In trying to do a little good by giving back to the community in some way I am always searching for companies where I would want to have dinner and converse with people behind the curtain.  Which, for me, means showcasing independent and up and coming designers that might otherwise get lost in the fray.  And Ashbury Skies can come to my dinner table anytime :)

I always feel a little silly when my shoes are so much brighter than the rest of my outfit but cool colored shoes can really make a boring outfit feel polished. Never thought about tie dyed shoes but it kind of tones down the beautiful pink so it is possible to wear a bright color without it being so loud.

Aren’t these hand-beaded beauties perfect for shorts or even a long skirt!

These will be mine, Oh yes, they will be mine

Field Notes

The folks over at  A Continuously Lean posted this video a couple of days ago and it made my morning.  Aaron Draplin is so excited about life, Americana, and great design that it is awesomely contagious. So if you are in the mood for smile then take a minute and enjoy.

Down came the rain

Every morning I wake up on my friend’s big leather couch stretch my arms, smile and say ‘Good morning Dallas!’ The nights are harder than that though, and I usually stay up looking at blogs until my eyes hurt so I don’t think about the fact that I am laying on a friend’s couch after breaking up with New York and walking out with nothing but my boxes clothes to start a life I am scared of starting. Everyday is different: some are good, some are whatever, some start good and end horrible some start with me never leaving that friend’s couch until Dallas’s bright shiny sun has long disappeared and end with me eating a seven course meal with a large group of people I just met across from the owner of the best bar in town, in true Texas style he is ex-NFL, whose business partner hired me only hours before. Dallas has been a welcoming city, and if Dallas has his way with me I will be fat (hellooo Texas’s No Table Left Behind program for chips and guacamole) and happy in no time. So, yes I have a jobby job! and I will post pictures of the spot soon. On today’s list of how to keep a girl away from the the path of doom are find beautiful fresh produce grown by the good people of Texas and drop off an overflowing bag of ripe clothing to a homeless shelter. Who couldn’t feel great about that kind of Friday? Ooo and it’s raining!!

(photo was taken on an iPhone and uploaded through Instagram)

Ouch is right!

Dallas, you cannot be serious! These boutiques have got to be a joke right? Store after store of so bad they became actually awesome. How can you have so many adorably designed independently owned restaurants and have such gawd awful taste in women’s clothes, all in the same neighborhood? We will work on this together, I promise. Other than that Dallas is being great friend, today I lay in the cool water of the bright blue pool listening to not a soul in sight. That is magical! In New York I was never alone, especially at a pool on a nice day. There was the quiet hum of the central AC unit, the rustling of the tree leaves and the beautiful songs of the summer birds. Big D, today you are healing my heart.

message to my heart

I found this on a house in New Orleans and I knew I needed a picture for future smiles. Yesterday was that day. After hitting up a Tiki bar with my new city Dallas on Sunday I drunk dialed New York at 4am. Bad, bad idea. Monday was spent laying on the couch in the dark thinking OMG what have I done! I missed the New York sounds that make him so cool, Dallas is many things but he is not a city to claim cool. I missed New York’s heart, made of so many cultures, and his conversations that felt so much more elite than Dallas’s. For the first time since I drove out of New York I felt heartbroken.

Signs of my new strange land

Hello Darlin’

Pulling into to Dallas is only for the brave of heart or a master of your own transport, even on a good day with beautiful sunny weather.  The two lane highway with a speed limit of 70 miles per hour could easily be called border-line-lethal with its complete lack of shoulders and encasement in two solid cement walls.  If that doesn’t make you sit up straight throw in a procession of giant freight trucks that barley fit in their own lanes hauling like, what is that expression, oh yeah, a bat out of hell on the last leg of their journey.  My goodness! it made my heart race and adrenaline flow, quite the hello from an old friend.  Dallas was the one that never was for me.  He was a close friend from my school days and a city that could have had a bit of a crush on me.  It had been decided, Dallas would be a home base for awhile and as excited as I am to be here, he is not a city I would have thought I wanted to hang out with.  When my break up with New York happened and I needed a place to set up shop and Dallas offered no judgements and no restrictions just big friendly ‘come on down.‘ So I did, and here I am.  There was a part of me that wondered if there would be chemistry between us after all these years, because, even though I had kept in touch with Dallas we hadn’t really seen one another more than a handful of times in over 10 years.  Getting out of the car I was bubbly and awkward looking up at big strong strapping Dallas.  He gave me the kind of sideward glance that only rugged old southwestern cities can pull off. Huh.  After settling into two fingers of Texas made whiskey and some healthy flirting I remembered that the ole’ cowboy in Dallas always had a way of making me feel a little more like a lady, dainty and graceful.  Where New York made me feel short and off Dallas made me feel like a firecracker (small with a punch).  In the plains of beautiful full-figured blondes Dallas had his eye on me.  Pass me another beer, I am going to be here awhile.

Diving into cold pools and cheap vintage

Leaving the swamp cities moving westward toward the Big Boys that smell of smoke and tobacco I crossed the Texas state line and stopped to say hello to Beaumont. A weird one that city is, so neat and clean that Beaumont feels almost cold and unfriendly. Beaumont’s and my dinner was odd as well, served by the meaty hands of a young gentleman with a black eye, he asked me if I was European (I guess my perfect english and American accent were not dead giveaways). I don’t think Beaumont liked my outfit. Thanks for the carrot soufflé though, it was worth every minute of our awkwardness. We were a strange match so I drove on. The city I call my best friend was waiting for me and she was dying to hear the juicy details of how New York and I split up after so long together. It was way past midnight and as sleepy as she was on a Monday night, Austin greeted me with open arms and big licks from some of her Boxer rescue dogs. This felt good, the familiar arms of Austin spread over me and let me cry. The next morning Austin bathed me in her warmth and handed me an organic juice made from local produce to wash down the vegan Tex-Mex she made for breakfast as we sat on the porch and listened to trucks pass by. Jumping into the icy Barton Springs was like being stripped, the weight of the baggage I lugged down here on my excursion was left somewhere on the mossy bottom to be nibbled on by turtle another day. Doing the dip unclothed would have made it perfect. Who would have noticed anyway, the guy swimming in the gold thong or the girls with cropped bangs and intricate tapestry for skin? Austin had cooler things to worry about than the exposed Northerner and my less-than steam punk self was not worth her eye. Maybe I should have stayed longer with Austin, best friends have a way of instilling hope and making things easier, but the truth is I wanted to feel uncomfortable. Making the life I have been to scared or lazy to with New York was not a commodity to be undervalued. Like a new car, I was depreciating and Austin would never be honest about that. So after diving into cold pools and cheap vintage stores I got back on the narrow road and headed a little north, towards this city I knew when I was a kid. We were good together once and he is who I thought of when, on that fateful night, I learned New York no longer cared.

The long kiss goodbye

Expecting to slip out of the hotel room, shoes in hand, I was surprised to find New Orleans had woken before me and prepared us breakfast. Could this be true? The city everybody warns you about, but no one can resist, is reeling me in. He smiled at me over breakfast and convinced me stay through the afternoon, to walk in the warm sunshine through his colorful streets, to let New Orleans make me lunch and look longingly into each other’s eye over coffee and french pastry. Promising to find a shadow for one last hurrah I agreed. New Orleans was special, everybody knew it, and I had no idea I would fall for hot-bad-boy type who turned out to be just as much fun in the day as he was in the night. Like any amazing one night stand I found it hard to say goodbye, standing in the Garden District amongst the low hanging trees, high standing mansions and wide wrapping porches I began trying to figure out how to stay. Who could I call a favor into? Where would lay my head? There was something about the emptiness of the city that made me want to stay and fill it, to tell New Orleans not to be heartsick any longer over his life changing break-up that I was here to hold him. Now wasn’t the right time though, so, alas I got in my truck and headed on road again. Bumper to bumper traffic and a few wrong turns delayed my departure- a smile came to me: it was hard for New Orleans to let me go too. A long distance relationship would never do, he is not that kind of city, there would be many that will lie with him in my absence and he made no attempt to hide it.

One guess where I am

Made it to the city who is my dearest friend and like all best friends she is keeping me busy with girl stuff. Check back soon.

It had to be you

Oh my Virginia, I had no idea! You too Tennessee, how nice it was to wake up laying next to that. Over the course of two days I was swept off my feet by these states’ big strapping mountains and the endurance of their long winding roads. Tennessee doesn’t taste great but my goodness what a sight for sore eyes. And the smell! Everyone should bat their eyes and hold hands with Tennessee in the Spring. He will intoxicate you and make you feel like the person you know you are. Yes, Tennessee is a good man, the kind you take home to the family and pretend you’re are shy with. And like most good men Tennessee was a bit close minded but it was a nice change from my recent ex, New York. By the time I hit Alabama I found myself so impossibly happy that not even the good men of the Alabama State Police could get me down. Heck, standing on the side of the highway chatting with a couple of young handsome men in uniform was a highlight of my morning. Then a game changer came along. Threw a wrench in everything. To be honest I didn’t even see him coming. It was just after lunching with Alabama, where he showed me a lovely coffee house tucked away in his downtown. Alabama got up to say hello to a friend and then he whispered in my ear. “No, I couldn’t possibly…you weren’t even in my radar. Seriously, stop this is inappropriate in front of my date with Alabama.” But I couldn’t stop the rise and fall of my chest growing deeper and that little corner of my mouth from turning upwards. Oh dear. By the end of coffee it was inevitable: tonight I would go down, all the way down, I would cross that bridge giggling with delight, and I would be with New Orleans. This was a tryst that had to happen, the perfect rebound that was impossible to plan. There are only a few cities worthy of New York’s jealousy and I had caught the eye of one of them. The unbathed, unclean rawness of New Orleans enveloped me and, in a way the that is only possible when there are no strings attached, I let him in. Waking from a bizarre dream of swimming naked in the sea while staying at sanitarium I laid there with the stink of all things Bad Girl on me. Thank you New Orleans, all girls need to feel irresistible every once in a while and this was so good I found myself thanking New York for doing me wrong.

Pennsylvania, no sir!

So many cities so many options, I am feeling good about this today.  Tonight I found myself on the right side of Knoxville. Being the quite subdued type he took me to a conservative dinner and then to drinks where the Saturday-night-collage kids provided the entertainment.  When he wasn’t looking I slipped off to the hotel to get ready for Birmingham…shhh

this could be fun

Letter to New York CIty

To my dearest first love,

At first I was not that into you, I mean you were hot, the time was right, and I knew you had your eye on me but there was another I was holding out for. You reached out and flirted, letting me see there was something there to be desired, but it wasn’t until I realized how jealous it would make this guy that I decided to go for it. No holding back, all hands on deck right? that is what the great New York City required. So suitcase packed I came to you scared, alone, no bed to lay my head on, but I had a job. And oh man did you make me work for it, I stripped down to nothing gave you all I had and you laughed! ah man, you so laughed right in my face. Told me that while some were better and some were worse I was nothing special. For the first time in my life I knew the sting of being a Random. Wielding my big chef’s knife I hunkered down prepping cooking cleaning, prepping cooking cleaning until I had cleaned all the glamour out of the kitchen, cooked down my self identity and prepped myself to back to the bar. Once I changed my clothes and put some makeup on you changed your tune, didn’t you? You asked me for drinks, introduced me to some of your friends (not your best friends but I didn’t care) and showed me a good time. Like the sailors and the sirens I stopped doing anything else and became lost at sea. Two years had gone by my hair was long my body uncared for and I couldn’t tear myself from the scene. Then someone pushed me, not you of course you could care less if i gave myself over to you, they gave me a map and mirror and I screamed at the sight. The new course was set although the goal was the same: impress you, show you I am special. In my cardigan and ballet flats, my short hair and slender frame, I pranced onto the Ivy League campus and showed you what I was made of. Oh, you like this side me do you? My butt looks nice in classic fit american made jeans, I see you staring! Finally we can make this work together I knew you would come around. Wait, this is haaard! How long am I supposed to keep this up? Oh dear, my back hurts from sitting up so straight. Back to the dark side for me and I think you’re coming with me. In dark corners we sit holding hands amongst the seedy characters you call friends. Licking your chops you shoved me against the filthy wall and kissed me hard reeking of booze gum and cologne. With your hand up my skirt I see your eyes begin to wander. One heat becomes another and I am enraged at the thought that I am still not enough. Scrambling like a magician in a tough crowd I try all my best tricks and while making my way out of the hanging water tank you kissed her. Right there I opened my eyes under water, still handcuffed inside, and saw it happen. How could you do this to me, my beloved city? Then you remind me that so many others have done something similar and while some were better and some were worse, I was nothing special. Well, I will show you Mr. others think differently and I learned a lot from you. So bags packed, heels on (well not for the driving part) I am leaving you with my head held high. There were long talks before I drove off though and you promised to make it up to me…ummm if you’re lucky, we’ll see.