Coral Crushin'!

Tints and shades of a singular color ALWAYS look great together. It's monochromatic but the hue variance is a bit more FUN! Throw in all of those textures, and I am literally dying!! Leather, knit, fur, hammered jewelry, it's all Heaven! I can just hardly stand it!  Coral I got a crush on you. Sheesh. (Don't tell Peter...)

Skirt: Pop-o-orange leather pencil skirt from Goodwill, Columbus OH.

Shirt: Vintage 1950's peach knit shell from Salvation Army, Columbus OH.

Jacket: Vintage 1960's cropped coral box jacket from Vintage Vogue, Independence MO.

Silver fox fur: Salvation Army, Columbus OH.

Shoes: Gucci

Tights: Donna Karan from Nordstrom, Columbus OH.

Jewelry: 30mm hammered brass ball necklace from Vintage Vogue, Independence MO.  Bracelets from friends and thrift stores!

Unlikely magic

You may have guessed it (hopefully) by now. I like things that don't seemingly go together, but go together. It doesn't make sense, or does it..? It does! Because in the end it's all about the simple rule of balance.  God bless balance!  A few months ago I found this amazing hammered metallic lame top at the thrift store, the sad aspect was that it had been a dress that someone had hacked apart at the waist.  I actually like it better this way, it feels fresher cropped.  I love it with high waist denim and fringe.  I could almost say the fringe makes it. Almost. (Why almost? Because I am forgetting about the metallic gold Keds...)  All unlikely pieces but when combined together make some magic. 

Top: Salvation Army, Columbus OH.

Jewelry: Wow. Big assortment of 5 layered pieces one being made by me.

Jacket: Vintage fringe leather jacket from Volunteers of America, Columbus, OH.

Pants: Vintage dead stock (I cut the tags off from the 70's to take this picture!) from Boomerang Vintage Warehouse in KCMO.  I get ALL of my vintage high waist pants from the owner Ken, have been these past 10 years...

Shoes: Vintage metallic gold Keds from Ohio Thrift, Columbus, OH.

Clutch: Vintage 1930's black plastic pyrmaid clutch. My favorite, favorite, favorite of all time and wildly versatile.

A tiny bit weird, a tiny bit wonderful. (oh ok, ALL wonderful!)

I am kooky in a lot of ways. If you know me personally, well, you know I'm not fibbing about this! I am incredibly happy that I have friends who indulge my kookiness with fashion.  I have Kate who thrifts with me every Wednesday for half-off day at the Salvation Army while I deliberate over strangely embellished sweat shirts, and I have Erin (my eye angel!) who indulges my weird/strange/wonderful whims in eye wear. (Thank Heaven!!!) I contacted Erin a few months ago when I was looking for the Givenchy cat frames from their Fall '11 show and sadly had no luck tracing them in the states.  Brilliant ideas are born from loss so I soldiered on intrepidly until I had that "aha!" moment! That moment arrived as I was perusing the sunglasses section at Nordstrom and spied the Prada Baroque sunglasses from Spring '11. They were big! They were woooooonnnderful! They would make ideal prescription glasses with transition lenses so they could delicately straddle those two worlds between practical (I need glasses to see) and fun (I get to have super large amazing sunglasses TOO! Bonus! BTW, transition lenses have come a LONG way...) My dear friend Dr. Erin hooked me up.  The vision became a reality (pun intended) and now I am one step closer to resembling my idol Iris Arpel or maybe in another 60 years. ;) 

Glasses/Sunglasses: Prada courtesy of Dr. Erin Eye Doctors of Lawrence Ks. If you live in the Lawrence area and need a creative, kind, caring, fashion adoring eye doctor then I couldn't more highly recommend anyone else.

Dress: Crazy patchwork vintage dress Salvation Army Columbus OH, purchased on half off day (Of course!)

Coat: Literally a patchwork quilt jacket! Purchased from River Market Antique Mall in Kansas City Mo.

Vest: Hounds tooth fitted vintage vest Salvation Army Columbus OH.

Necklace: Vintage tube and cord from Ohio Thrift, Columbus OH.

Tights: Nordstrom

Suede booties: Marc Jacobs collection from Neiman Marcus

Lipstick: YSL Rouge Volupte #12

A party of smiles :)

Lately I've been busy creating a party of happiness for my neck and wrists. A confetti, glitter bedecked explosion of joy, wonder and bright eyed wearable excitement. Finding myself outside of NYC and the jewelry district there, I am forced to use the materials at my ready disposal.  Where I once sought out bead and precious stone vendors on 48th St. now I visit Michaels and Hobby Lobby at a strip mall.  Creativity is all about what you make of it and I have seriously enjoyed using the materials of the masses to create items so "un-mass" like.  I do admit the vintage chain and findings are from my last NYC visit in September but the main body and inspiration of my work are those kid friendly plastic iron beads with a dash of glitter, can you believe it? Happiness and creativity truly come from the unexpected.  Party on.

Panda-monium

I am fresh off of my Columbus "Photoshopped" 2-day weekend class done by the fabulous, talented, and sorceress of all things Adobe related...Ms. Robin Oatts of Genre Creative.  I cloned, I stamped, I retouched my way across 14 hours of intense editing lessons (all done while eating fresh waffles, mixed berries, popcorn, gourmet sandwiches, movie candy, Starbucks coffee, wine and gouda!) I was well fed and now I am well versed in my new favorite program. ohhhh snap!

Lately my obsession has been animal sweaters, Panda bears exclusively.  I leaped in my seat when Robin mentioned our portraits for today and I excitedly thought to myself, "Tomorrow! The panda sweater!" I could hardly wait (not sure I slept)! I topped off the look with Nars lipstick in Schiap and my clear Oliver Peoples frames. Panda love all around.

Sweater: Salvation Army Columbus, OH

Necklace: Ohio Thrift Columbus, OH. The pattern and glitter on this metal collar remind me of Miu Miu Fall '11 which is my hands down favorite Miu Miu collection yet.

Portrait: Robin Oatts Genre Creative check her out! Give my girl a shout.

Retouching: Moi!