Snow [home] Photodump

I'm currently living in the snowiest city in America. Surprisingly... December starts tomorrow and I haven't seen more than a couple flurries (and that was a few weeks ago!). Where is the cold weather at!?

This is what our winter looked like last year back home in Illinois:

That was the most snow I've ever seen piled on my lawn. Good times.

DIY Garter

Ok, who wants to see a video of ME!? I had to film something for my winter wedding project for my magazine class and decided to do a DIY garter because it's the easiest thing ever. I had initially planned on making a boutonniere but they don't require sewing and aren't as awesome. So here I am, sewing my garter. There are a few shots with the top of my head cut off because I was filming myself and couldn't see what kind of picture I was getting. Note to self: drag brother out of the basement to stand behind the camera for more than just one shot.

Boy Fashion Photogs...

...never mind the blood. :] Fashion blogs never get as much boy-love as they should. Enjoy the punky eye candy from Andrew Whitton. Guess which one is my favorite!

(someone get him a bandaid!) 

More Bridal

Whilst at home, I took pictures at my old stomping ground Volle's for my bridal project. I only worked there for a couple months until I transferred to the tux shop in the connecting building. I prefer working fittings for groomsmen rather than brides, but sometimes I miss the general prettyness and fabulous bling that comes with bridal. Peep some of these pics I took! (I was pleased that Volle's has such lovely lighting.)

(I usually don't like bedazzled stuff, but how beautiful is this bodice?) 

Melting plastic bags... on clothes

I'm back in the flat: Illinois! I did the usual things that I do when I get home (take a bubble bath and bake cookies) and threw in a little DIY since I have been so deprived at school.

I've had this shirt (dress?) from H&M for a while but I hardly ever wear it because I think it looks like a prison uniform. So I decided to modify it with this amazing tutorial I found here titled “fusing plastic bags on to fabric.” That sounds like all kinds of win to me. So I figured that since grey and white stripes are slightly nautical, I should slap a black plastic bag anchor on my shirt. I found an image and traced it onto a piece of paper. 

After cutting it out, I taped it to a plastic bag and cut out the anchor shape. I'd recommend taping the paper cutout to the plastic bag. I didn't want to pin it because I didn't want to put a hole in the plastic.

Figure out where you want your design to go...

Head over to your iron with a piece of parchment paper (so you don't get goopy melted plastic on it. parchment paper also doesn't burn.). Cover the plastic with the paper and press over with your iron for 20 seconds. Don't be alarmed when the plastic bag starts to shrink a little bit, that's what will happen since it's melting.

No matter how cleanly you cut out the design, the edges will probably get a little wiggly-looking. You can't control how the plastic melts. Let it cool off a little bit before you peel the parchment paper off or your design will peel right off with it.

Pretty cool, yeah?

And I made peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. It's good to be home :]

If You Don't Know By Now, I'm Talkin 'Bout Chi Town

Forgive me as I diverge from my usual fashion-y posts. But I'm going home today!!!! (so here are some Amy In Chicago pictures)

Honestly, I live closer to Wisconsin than I live to the city. I've had this split personality my entire life. I love the city because it's close enough for me to get to, it's BIG but not too big, there are always things to do there, etc. But half of my family lives out in farmland Wisconsin so I also feel completely at home listening to country music in the woods in our campsite nook that my Dad built into a hill and staring up at the thousands of stars you can only see in the backwoods where there aren't any lights.

I'm at Syracuse University for my master's program and haven't left since the end of August. For me that's the longest and probably farthest away from home I've ever been. My family doesn't travel often. Every time I'm on vacation, I'll enjoy it for a few days... and then I just want to be back in my own bed in the flat Midwest. I'm really homegrown at heart.

So I'll be on the overnight train back to Chi-City tonight. When I flew home midway through August, I nearly cried when I began to see the skyscrapers popping up on the other side of Lake Michigan.

I had never really considered Chicago my “home” until I left it... It was just always there and I didn't think about it much. Just a little bit away if I ever needed it. It's where my Dad's printing company on the South Side was with its terrifying wall-less freight elevator. It's where I used to look at the Marshall Field's window displays during Christmas (Macy's? WTF is that? Chicagoans call it Field's forever). It's the massive Sears Tower that I can see from Rand Rd by my house on a sunny, clear day (also, EFF the “Willis Tower.” Stop changing our landmarks. CoughComiskeycough coughRosemontHorizoncough)

It's home. And I want it to be home forever.

*pictures taken at the Chicago Cultural Center

cardigan- Urban Outfitters

dress- thrifted

tights- GAP

riding boots- OnCourse, Saddler's Row

necklace- gift

Litas... GTFO Already

I've said this before and I'll say it again: I AM SICK TO DEATH OF LITAS.

For the past 2 years... maybe 3, (I don't remember when they hit the market) bloggers have been obsessing over Jeffrey Campbell Litas. They still haven't stopped their dominating presence on the lookbook.nu leader board. Having them is like a rite of passage.

Buy me! You'll be a real blogger if you have me! People will know you in the fashion world! Everybody's doing it! You'll be top of lookbook! GAG.

Bloggers take pictures of all their different styles lining their shelves like pre-pubescent soccer trophies. The shoe started out black and simple. And then it mutated! Litas became glittery and tapestry and star-spangled and now have kitten patterns. Honestly, how is that ok? There is no way that anyone would buy kitten shoes if they were any brand other than JC. It's unfathomable.

JC marketed the hell of of Lita's popularity, making the style exist in similar forms like the Foxy Wood and the heel-exposing backwards sandal, Lana (Which is horrendous in my opinion. They make you look like you have an orthopedic club-foot from the front.). It's all about the wooden heel and the chunky platform.

I got it at first. They're simple. The heel is thicker and therefor easier to walk in. It probably isn't as wobbly or as painful a stiletto. They're platforms, which add extra height. Fine.

If I wore a pair of Litas, I would be 6'1. I'm already uncomfortable enough wearing heels since they make me a complete head taller than a lot of people I know. I only just starting becoming ok with that. But 5” heels would make me a skyscraping monster.

When it comes down to it, they've become a throw away shoe for me. They don't “make” an outfit anymore, they're just there. I can't even pay attention to them because I'm so used to seeing them. It doesn't matter that the pattern keeps changing, it's still the same shape. They're hardly even fashion anymore, they're like a prop.

There are other platform booties out there. Seriously. And I might get some blog-hate for saying all this. Come at me, bro.

Art Amazingness

This is SO COOL. I wish someone would have painted THIS on my house instead of that piss-yellow color that we just got...

SUPAKITCH & KORALIE "Euphorie" Paris from Raphaël Hache on Vimeo.

Tux Inspired

Tonight I'm covering fashion at the Sammy Awards in Syracuse, which is an awards show for local musicians. The only “red carpet” experience I have is when I stalked the premier of A Dangerous Method with Kiera Knightley and Viggo Mortenson at the Toronto Film Festival (read about that here). So I started googling red carpet things and came across Redcarpet Fashion Awards. 

I got to around page 8 when I saw this lovely number by Jean Paul Gaultier on Daisy Lowe.

Any regular of my blog knows my extensive tuxedo history, so this look floored me. She essentially wore menswear (as womenswear, respectively) on a red carper. How awesome is that!? To hell with the slinky or fluffy dresses. Wear something wonderfully tailored instead!

So I scampered off to style.com to check out the rest of this collection to see other pieces with tuxedo inspiration:

Not all of the collection is quite so "tux-y" looking, but its obviously formal wear inspired. You can see it in the shoulders of this look and also in that satin-looking stripe on the right side (hello satin tux lapel, right?). The shape of the lines surrounding the laced section are the same as tux structure, just emphasized.

There's something about a double breasted coat that irks me. I'm not really a fan of them. They look better on someone with a fuller, bigger body. I think of them as Grandpa coats. I guess that's a contrast when put on a thin, willowy model. Meh...

I want these socks in a bad way.

Ok, this isn't tux-y at all, it's just awesome. Love the full poofness of that skirt.

Shawl lapel. Leaving this unbuttoned gives it a nice flare.

Oooo look at those trousers!

Pinstripes? Oh yes. Pinstripes make everything better. But what is on her head? I don't know.

Bows & Lace

This is actually me for once. I'm not a self-indulgent blogger, really...

Equestrian Boots

I've been in Syracuse for about 5 months now. After living at ISU, where girls wear only sweatpants and t-shirts, I was ecstatic to attend a college in a place where people actually dressed nicely. Meaning they actually care about what they wear and don't just roll out of bed to immediately schlep to class.

I initially got that the theme here is pretty preppy. That's fine. It's upstate New York, they're very Brand-Happy. Everyone wears Hunter boots, Longchamp bags, leggings as pants, and carry Starbucks like an accessory.

But aside from my displeasure at fashion branding, there is one trend that I'm liking: equestrian style boots. I rode horses a bit when I was little and most of my friends did, too. I still have my paddock boots, which resemble current toned down "combat boots" that you can find at Urban Outfitters. These are the same exact style I have but more beat up. I would wear them all the time but they're at least a size too small. I got them in about 7^th grade...

I never had boots like these, which are mainly for showing...

Or these which are worn either by fox hunters or jockeys (*edit. This almost evolved into a post about the difference between English styles of horseback riding boots. I think I need to go riding soon.).

So here are some modern equestrian styles that are not for riding, but for sauntering around like you could hop on your pony and go jump some fences if you really wanted to. Personally, I'm digging the fox hunting boot. And I also think I'm going to put my jodhpurs in my drawer of leggings to wear this winter.