Let’s face it, there’s really not much more that Arlene and I love than easy fashion. Pieces that can be easily worked into your wardrobe, basics with an edge, things we can easily layer, dress up, dress down. That’s us in a nutshell. When we discovered Chrissie Miller’s line, Sophomore, last Spring, we knew we had stumbled upon something pretty great — something that would transition seamlessly both into our individual wardrobes and into our shop. Sophomore celebrates downtown New York, rebel without a cause, bad-ass easy style. Chrissie Miller and designer Madeline von Froomer know that easy, effortless dressing never goes out of style.

“Lower East Side style of the ’70s and Lower East Side style of today look almost the same — people never stray from the basics.”

“In a one-dimensional world of basics, SOPHOMORE brings a fashion twist, soft washed fabrics, perfect fits and a New York vibe that will make the line a clothing staple for years to come.”

True to the label’s sensibility, Chrissie does things her way. With friend and frequent collaborator Cass Bird, Miller presented her Spring10 line in an entirely new way — as a short film that premiered at Sundance. The film features a  bunch of New York hipsters talking about getting arrested, busted, grounded and generally thumbing their noses at authority. Filmed on the boardwalk at Coney Island and complete with fashion, fireworks and beer, she’s created quite an innovative way to showcase her wares.

Sophomore Spring 2010 from SophomoreNYC on Vimeo.

Pieces from the film will be available in our shop later this month. In the meantime, it’s not too late to grab some of the looks from her Fall09 collection.

all images via sophomorenyc.com

This Aneta Bartos editorial featuring Tiiu Kuik has been making the internet rounds lately after being posted on Fashion Gone Rogue. I had never seen it before and instantly fell in love with it. 

I just adore anything with a pin-up girl, film noir,  or old Hollywood feel so this really spoke to me. I was taken with the photography and also the model and came across a few more amazing shots that I just had to share.

These are from another editorial featuring Tiiu, this one from Numero 49, L’Ange Noir.

Love that hair and make-up. The drawn-on eyebrows and the black lipstick — so dramatic.

And a few more from Ms. Bartos…

I love the lighting and the treatment she uses. Just makes me, once again, realize that I was seriously born in the wrong decade.

images from fashiongonerogue, modelcouture, and Aneta Bartos Photography

I’ve been very obsessed with color lately. Maybe it’s because we’re in the throes of gray season here in Chicago, or maybe it’s just because there’s so much darn cute color out there! Either way, I’ve found myself drawn to much different things recently. I’m paying a lot more attention to art direction and set and prop styling. And I’m also really into hair and make-up right now and the way they add to a photograph. It’s fascinating to me to try and wrap my head around all the things that go into creating a shot, not to mention an entire editorial. Stumbled across this bright and glorious story from photographer Chris Nicholls. Lots of cohesive, well-integrated color. The eyeshadow, the nails, the background, the styling. So pleasing to look at.

images via chrisnichollsphotography.com

the original Alice, as illustrated by Sir John Tenniel

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
  Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
  And the mome raths outgrabe.

-an excerpt from Jabberwocky, Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass

I love, love, love Alice in Wonderland. It is my very favorite story ever. I even played Alice once (back in my theater days) and Oh. My. God. did I have fun. I was a brunette Alice, too. I’ve very proud of that!

Well, with the upcoming release of Tim Burton’s remake of Lewis Carrol’s masterpiece (3/5/2010, a very important date!), the world of fashion is fully embracing Alice and her Wonderland. Rumors are swirling about Alice designs to come, including the quintessential Alice dress reinvented by Alexander McQueen, Ann Demeulemeester, Christopher Kane, Haider Ackermann, Maison Martin Margiela, and others for the Printemps department store in Paris. Can’t WAIT!!! I searched all over for pictures, but it appears that none have yet been leaked. What can be found on the internet are images of a few of Tom Binns’ designs based on various Alice characters.

really digging on that Red Queen necklace

Binns’ pieces are broken into 2 collections: a fine jewelry collection with pieces ranging from $1000-$2000 and a collection for Disney with prices at a more attainable $100-$500. But seriously, $100-$500 for Disney jewelry???? I get that it’s Tom Binns, but something about it just doesn’t sound quite right to me. Although, I did see a big red heart necklace that reads “We’re all mad” that I’m hoping, hoping is part of the $100 Disney collection (I know, I’m a walking contradiction. I’ve learned to just accept it.)

Hollywood/Disney mega-power aside, I am very excited about Alice-inspired fashions. The fantasy, the outrageousness, the non-sensicalness, the whimsy… What a fantastic place to find inspiration! Zac Posen found some, as evidenced by his 2010 pre-fall collection that he calls “part Lewis Carroll and part Paloma Picasso.”

Just came across this in the Dec/Jan issue of Numero. Wonderland shot by Dusan Reljin…

And who can forget Natalia Vodianova as Alice, shot by Annie Leibovitz with a host of famous fashion designers appearing as Carroll’s imaginative characters??

Olivier Theyskens as Carroll…

Viktor & Rolf as my faves, Tweedledum and Tweedledee…

Marc Jacobs as the caterpillar. Perfect, because the caterpillar smokes. And it’s also funny to be reminded of Marc Jacobs back when he was scruffy and always had his hand bandaged…

and of course, the Karl…

There are so many places in Alice in Wonderland to find inspiration. I can’t wait to see what pops up next. And in anticipation of the movie, I’ll leave you with Mrs. Tim Burton, Helena Bonham Carter, as the evil Red Queen. 

images from Elle.com, Style.com, Numero Magazine and Vogue.com

+ great styling and hair and make-up = a really good shoot. I know I’ve seen some of these images before, but I just recently stumbled upon this editorial with Caroline Trentini shot by Miles Aldridge for Vogue Italia in March 08. 

She plays the part of the bored homemaker to perfection. Sooo bored.

This one is maybe my favorite…

Although, this one definitely resonates with me, too. Love her hair so dangerously close to the fire…

And I just adore his perspective. The little girl in the doorway — I can almost hear her tiny little voice calling, “Mommy??”

Love. Miles Aldridge, I think you may be my new boyfriend.

all images lovingly borrowed from milesaldridge.com

So, as you can probably tell, Arlene and I have been less than inspired lately, so we’d like to give a giant shout-out to Ms. Carine Roitfeld for bringing us out of our funk. In addition to writing 2 blogs, Arlene and I run an online boutique. There are just 2 of us — we write everything, buy everything, ship everything, style everything, conceive everything… you get the picture. Well, the jobs that we’ve created for ourselves — which we love — require that we be creative and inspired pretty much all the time. A scary proposition.

Anyway, today something finally caught my attention. The 2009 French Vogue calendar, shot by Terry Richardson and styled by Carine Roitfeld. Ms. Roitfeld gets a lot of props for her confident personal style, but we don’t hear that much about her as an editor and stylist. Well, to browse through these shots, her talent is clear. 

And from what I’ve gleaned from the things I’ve read about her, this is 100% her. It’s perfect down to the finest details — a kitty in the crotch???? With a jaunty little straw boater?? I mean, come on. 

Anyway, thank you Carine. Thank you for your inspired personal style, for your amazing creativity and talent, and for always managing to bring inspiration to both Arlene and me when we need it the most.

images from Fashionologie.

I wish!  No…this is favorite editorial #2.  Kaze No Uta Wo Kike (translated-’cover up, it’s cold outside’) from Jalouse this past Sept09.  It’s been posted on my board for a few to many weeks now.  Everything about this editorial is very near & dear …. the layers and layers of knits & scarves, nature + city, Asia & the Far East and the piece de resistance…the cute bebe.

images lovingly borrowed from Jalouse, Sept09

La prisonnière photographed by Xevi Muntane, featuring model Angelika Kocheva and styled by Elisa Malan and Eleonora Panzetta.  Let’s just give kudos now to those due!  There are two editorials I have been obsessing over lately…this being one of the two.  The couture is captured perfectly with all the playful light details throughout and of course, look at that Margiela comb dress and ooooo The Chanel!!  love.

images lovingly borrowed from Crash

Our September Cover Story just went live on the site and Arlene and I cannot get over it! We wanted to shoot with our item shot model, Holly. You’ve heard us talk about her before. We absolutely adore her and think she is a fantastic model and have wanted to give her something meatier to do. Then Arlene found this shot in Crash…

…and an idea was born. We knew that we wanted to work in black and white and we also knew we had the opportunity to work with Karl Rothenberger again. The only problem is that all the clothes we had planned to use weren’t available! Such is the nature of trying to run this crazy website. As we have grown accustomed to doing, we rolled with it. We left the studio on Monday afternoon after a full day of shooting item shots with little to no idea what we were going to do the next day. Hair, make-up and Holly were scheduled to be here at 8am and Arlene and I were praying for creativity and inspiration. 

Somehow, it actually all came together and the result is even better than we ever could’ve imagined. The hair was a BEAST (over 400 bobby pins!!!), but turned out perfect. And the make-up was just exactly what we had envisioned. And Holly and Karl? Well, it was a match made in Heaven. The 2 of them just fed off of each other and worked together brilliantly. During the shoot, as Karl was thinking of how to mix things up, he said to us, “Do you guys happen to know any illustrators?” That’s all he had to say. Arlene immediately got online and emailed the lovely Joanna of Badaude and Joanna took our idea to a whole new level.

We love a good collaboration and this one was maybe the very best yet! Hope you all enjoy it as much as we do! To see the story in its entirety, click here.

A big THANK YOU to all involved!!! XOXOX! A and B.

A while back we posted about an upcoming shoot with Karl Rothenberger. Well, we shot with him and all we can say is, WE WANT MORE! Here’s a little behind-the-scenes action to get you ready for our next cover story. We shot at the gorgeous Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool behind Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo. It was such an amazing location and we couldn’t have possibly asked for a more beautiful day. 

Our fabulous interns, Tessa and Amanda.

The amazing Amanda rode this bike all over town for us (in some serious wedges!) on the off-chance that it would make its way into the story.

And a little taste of the finished product…