Although Micol and I generally share the same fashion sensibilities, since she prefers to remain the photographer behind the lens it’s rare for our readers to get a glimpse of her individual style. A shame if you ask me, because she’s one of the most fashion-forward girls I know.
Don’t believe me? Check out how she worked 80%20’s versatile Edie loafer into two completely different, but equally cool, looks below…
WORKING WOMAN
Outfit details: Marc Jacobs Crosby Sutton bag, Blank Denim jeans, White zip blazer from La Di Da Dee, Brooklyn.
Work attire doesn’t need to be a drag! Here Micol dressed up the Edie for the office by incorporating a black and white palette, a crisp blazer and a structured handbag. I especially like how the black and white tones allow the subtle color of the shoes to stand out.
BRUNCH BEAUTY
Outfit details: Thrifted sundress, Vintage Member’s Only jacket, Marc Jacobs 70’s style shoulder bag, vintage belt.
Who wants to think about the office during your day off? To achieve a laid-back weekend look, Micol paired the Edie with a voluminous striped sundress and vintage bomber jacket. Perfect for brunch at one of our local favorites, Walter Foods (PS: See if you can spot our favorite bartender Reuben in the background).
What is The Marcy Stop? It’s a New York fashion blog that’s the brainchild of two friends and neighbors living and swapping clothes in Williamsburg, Brooklyn just off the Marcy Stop of the JMZ subway line. Here are a few things to keep in mind about Micol (the photographer) and Lauren (her muse) as they join 80%20 as guest bloggers this month:
Lauren: total Francofile, graphic artist/designer/sometimes painter, California girl at heart, of Vietnamese descent, has been known to spontaneously break out into a British accent.
Micol: Baker, half-marathon runner, closeted writer, Jameson enthusiast, tech nerd, of Sicilian heritage, will spontaneously break out into a Southern accent.
Mutual Loves: cocktails, Alexander Wang, Pies ‘n’ Thighs, summer/the beach, home cooking, travel, dance parties, oysters, accents, our neighborhood, and our bike gang: the Southside Heartbreakers.
Our daily frustration: we’re not the same shoe size…
Thank you 80%20 for giving me the opportunity to guest blog, and thank you all for reading! For my last post here, I wanted to include a photo diary as a glimpse into my life and what inspires me. Follow more of my adventures at http://heyprettything.com.
Bag Raiders is a synth-pop house duo of DJs Chris Stracey and Jack Glass from Sydney, Australia. This song has been my anthem for welcoming in spring. It’s the perfect beat for cruising on a warm orange day with the windows rolled down and wind in your hair. The track also features vocals from electroboy Dan Black.
Check out the music video directed by Fleur&Manu, and produced by Division. It makes you want to cancel all your plans and go on an adventure…with a monkey.
A long day around town requires comfy footwear, and these boots were made for walking. I wore my Pepper Black ankle boots to brunch with friends this weekend and then to a meeting with a florist for my upcoming wedding. Here I styled them with bright jeans. The classic shape and cute brogue-detailing make these booties easy to pair with popular spring trends like pastels, brights, or patterned jeans. I should also mention that there’s a 2-inch hidden wedge in these shoes too!
Last weekend music lovers came out in droves for the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago. I would have loved to attend the festival but we’ve been hard at work gearing up for our upcoming collection. Then we thought, let’s team up with one of our fave style blogs, Très Awesome and collaborate with founder Emma Batia Arnold! We’re so happy she was into the idea! Meet Emma and keep an eye out for her wrap up of Pitchfork Music Fest!
Très Awesome is a Chicago Street Style Fashion Blog created in 2010 by Leo Burnett Art Director and fashion expert Emma Batia Arnold. Très Awesome is a perfect combination of Emma’s life long loves, photography and fashion. Fashion obsessed from an early age, she comes from a long line of photo enthusiasts. Her grandfather was a news photographer in the 1930s and owned a Camera store in Chicago. She started taking pictures when she was 12 with her Dad’s classic 35 mm Nikon F and was hooked.
“I want people to read my blog, not only to look at the pictures, but to find inspiration in them. I want the person who has the fabulous 80′s bolero in their closet, that they bought from the resale shop because they HAD to HAVE it, but have always been afraid to wear, to put the damned jacket on and ENJOY it. I would love it if my blog could encourage people to become more comfortable with experimenting with style and embrace what is truly an enjoyable part of life…self-expression!”
And so the post depression starts to hit us as we say goodbye to another beautiful Coachella weekend. We all flock towards the Technicolor desert and boiling heat to listen to our favorite bands play, hang out with familiar faces and mostly take a break from reality. As always, Coachella never seems to fail us with their musical acts and the fashion crazed outfits. It all began Friday night as The Black Keys and Arcade Fire played their talented hearts out to the thousands of fans as the crowd echoed back every single lyric. With our summer laced dresses, and 80%20 platforms we were able to dance to every tune til the very end.
We woke up Saturday morning with an intimating party schedule with the cliche frame of mind of “too many parties, too little time”. The parties always manage to fill up our day schedule as the Oasis and Lacoste pool extravaganzas start at the break of noon. The parties are always fun but we never let it distract us from the sole purpose of why we are really there, which is the actual festival itself. Saturday’s line-up excited us as we sat on the hot grass for Bright Eyes, Mumford Sons and The Ray and The Ro’s personal favorite, Empire of the Sun. The night ended with a quick stop at the 944 Magazine‘s Neon Carnival which was located minutes from the festival. With colorful rompers and cut-off denim shorts we took our looks straight from day to night. (There is just no time for a wardrobe change!)
Busy P (Ed Banger) at the Lacoste party
Sunday arrived with a feeling like it was Christmas. The people over at Coachella actually saved the best acts for the very last night. It just so happens that the Coachella Gods decide to put Duran Duran, Best Coast, Death From Above, Strokes and Kayne all in the same night. To us, this was absolute perfection. We lost ourselves somewhere between Duran Duran’s version of Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face”, Julian Casablanca’s mysterious domineer and Kayne West’s over the top performance. As the crowd herded back to our cars with not an ounce of discomfort in our feet (so rare!), we were left absolutely satisfied and grateful to experience once again another amazing year.
Coachella is simply our favorite holiday of the year and to of us who attend every year religiously, it is our first taste of summer and the weekend we will always remember. The parties, the music, the palm trees and canyons as your backdrop make this festival so magical and special. Aside from the amazing music, fashion also plays a huge roll where everyone lets out their inner hippie.
Admit it, we all plan out our outfits months ahead and want to look our best. It’s important to keep in mind the “rules”, and not make the rookie mistakes: First, wear as little as possible because face it, it’s the desert and it reaches up to over 100 (it was 103 degrees on Friday!), Second, for the girls who aren’t a fan of the flats, (cough, like US) shoes become an important dilemma. Even though we would love to wear and sky high wedge, it’s simply not realistic. That’s where 80%20 came to our rescue. Walking around the festival in hidden platform wedges that are stylish AND COMFORTABLE makes us believe that miracles do happen.
*Rachel and Roberta are the creators of therayandthero.com, check out their style site!
We teamed up with Rachel and Roberta of the style blog The Ray and The Ro for exclusive Coachella coverage. They’re back in L.A. and are ready to share their Coachella adventures! Stay tuned as we’ll be posting photos with commentary over the next few days.
From working right next door to each other, Rachel and Roberta bonded over their love for shoes and each others’ distinct styles. With Rachel having effortless sense of mixing sophisticated designer and vintage finds and Roberta in love with all things avant-garde and bohemian, it would only be right to combine fashion forces.
The two girls became instant friends, fashion soulmates, and now co-partners for The Ray and The Ro. The site was named off their nicknames to each other, The Ray (being Rachel) and The Ro (being Roberta) with the objective to bring you a little taste of all the HAUTEST things in fashion.
The “cray cray” that was New York Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2011 came to a close yesterday, with many show-goers such as myself sporting dark circles, over-sized sunglasses, and other signs of exhaustion over the last few days. Though I may have not gone to some of the most well-known designer shows (think Anna Sui, Perry Ellis, Calvin Klein, and Donna Karan), I tell myself that it is actually OK because anyone could end up seeing these collections at major department stores, such as Bloomingdale’s or Macy’s, anywhere in the country. Most of the designers that I saw were either local NYC designers, or brands that very few people have heard about, which actually makes it more worth it to go see these presentations in person and get a first-hand look at some collections that might be very hard to find at your local mall or even on that popular shin dig called the Internet. Every show and presentation I went to, I made sure to bring my camera along so I can snap up photos just for all you 80%20 blog followers! Below are some photos of my favorite outfits, pieces, and looks that I ran into on my “Tour de Fashion” this past week.
Julian Louie was inspired by his love of collage for his collection as he included unmatched hemlines and abstract cuts into about all of his pieces. My favorite piece was this silk satin dress with tassel embroidery in ivory and black. I love dresses that are in black and white, and with the addition of the copious amount of tassels, it helps push the dress closer to the world of couture yet still remaining a ready-to-wear piece.
LEILA SHAMS
NYC boutique International Playground was the host to Leila Sham’s presentation which also happens to stock the designer’s glam and edgy clothes as well. Her Spring/Summer collection was a small, but awesome one that will appeal to all sorts of shoppers and body types. I really liked all the pieces, especially the feathered mini skirt and the long-sleeved black mini-dress with multi-colored knit embroidery on the front.
This probably had to be my favorite collection as a whole this season. As I briefly mentioned before, I am a big fan of black and white colored garments (and red too!) Staerk had a whole lot of black and white going on in this collection in addition to throwing on some black lipstick on the models which I was a big fan of.
If Staerk was a young woman who was into modern art and the downtown NYC scene, and who also had a slightly older sister with a 9-to-5 desk job, and lived in fancy Uptown Manhattan – then this would be the collection for her.
REBECCA MOSES
My first impression of this collection was “Uptown Girlie” which does not quite appeal to my own personal style. I did appreciate the sets that were constructed for the presentation as it gave the show an Alice In Wonderland-esque feel to it. My favorite outfit was the black and ivory floating polka dots jersey asymmetric bubble chemise. The model’s hair who reminded me something out of a Dr. Seuss live action movie was pretty baller too. Next to that model was another model whose hair and make-up was really spot-on with the messy pin curls, red lips, and simply-defined eyes.
PETER JENSEN
I first heard about Peter Jensen when I was reading an article about his Fall/Winter 2009 collection in the November 2009 issue of Elle UK. Ever since then I have been admiring a few of his pieces. For his Spring/Summer collection, Jensen uses lots of primary colors and invokes a boho chic, Señorita theme via the late 1960s/early 1970s. The yellow rain jacket was a highlight for me, as well as the long black sheer boho dress.
PABLO RAMÍREZ
Pablo Ramírez is an Argentinian designer who showcased seven outfits during the Argentina Group show at Lincoln Center. He was the last designer to present in the showcase and I could understand why – his collection really put on a show and ended the presentation with a bang! If you have ever seen old videos of fashion collections from the late 60s from designers like Pierre Cardin where their designs were far-out and surreal, that is what Pablo Ramírez‘s designs reminded me of. I really did adore those Cat In The Hat meets Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s black hats. Those hats are an example of what is missing from most runway shows today – some sort of shock factor or something over-the-top to keep the audience entertained and wanting more. I guess I should just wait till the couture collections come down the catwalks in Paris to get my avant-garde fashion fix!
Overall, I was surprised by many designers incorporating black and white in a majority of their collections for the Spring/Summer season. One would expect to see light colors, pastels, bold, rich hues; just more color in general for the warmer seasons. But then again, I am glad that black and white will be a popular color combo for the Spring and Summer as they always have done me justice! If you want proof just look at my Nory, Small Giraffe 80%20 shoes in the photo of me at the top of this post!! There is no way I could have survived Fashion Week without the comfort and chicness of those babies.
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Outfit details: Marc Jacobs Crosby Sutton bag, Blank Denim jeans, White zip blazer from La Di Da Dee, Brooklyn.
Outfit details: Thrifted sundress, Vintage Member’s Only jacket, Marc Jacobs 70’s style shoulder bag, vintage belt.
We woke up Saturday morning with an intimating party schedule with the cliche frame of mind of “too many parties, too little time”. The parties always manage to fill up our day schedule as the Oasis and Lacoste pool extravaganzas start at the break of noon. The parties are always fun but we never let it distract us from the sole purpose of why we are really there, which is the actual festival itself. Saturday’s line-up excited us as we sat on the hot grass for 
Julian Louie was inspired by his love of collage for his collection as he included unmatched hemlines and abstract cuts into about all of his pieces. My favorite piece was this silk satin dress with tassel embroidery in ivory and black. I love dresses that are in black and white, and with the addition of the copious amount of tassels, it helps push the dress closer to the world of couture yet still remaining a ready-to-wear piece.
