and these cuties coming for Fall…

So in the words of Devo, let’s whip it, whip it good!

{image sources: Chloe ad via fanpop; Chloe Silverado bag via Google;  Vena Cava x Tenoversix image via Tenoversix’s instagram}

Another treasure for today comes from the wonderful world of fashion and from our friends at Sarafan Showroom, Thank you Sarafan!   Here’s a strikingly simple line that I love for it’s humor, confidence & lux…Julliett from Tel Aviv.

Bastille Day, La Fete Nationale,  Le quatorze Julliet, or as we like to call it around my house, Brandon’s birthday… Whatever you choose to call it, it’s one of my favorite days of the year. And since it’s my birthday, my post is a little late It’s really fun to have your birthday on Bastille Day. It makes you feel like there’s this whole little red, white and blue celebration that is just for you. It’s Summer, everyone’s happy and having fun. I guess having your birthday on the 4th of July would feel very similar… Anyway, it always gets me thinking about France.

I love France. The first time I ever went to Paris was with my mother. She took me when I was 19, and I remember that I wanted so desperately to look cool and, most importantly, not American while I was there. To that end I carried this trench around with me everywhere and kept it slung over my shoulder while trying to look disinterested. So cool.

So in honor of Bastille Day, France, and the CIty of Lights, here’s a few things that make me say, Je t’aime Paris…

Obviously there’s more, but I have to get this post up before Bastille Day 2012! Hope you all had as wonderful a day as I did. I think we should live every day as though it’s quatorze Julliet. What a fun day!!

Viva le France, y’all! (I’ve learned to embrace my innate Southern-ness…)

{image sources*: French flag via Google; Eiffel towers clockwise from top: partytights.tumblr,  i983photobucket, graphic-exchange, syxxsevn.piccsy.com; baguettes via heatherbullardtypepad; Marion Cotillard via suicideblonde.tumblr, Audrey Tatou via musingsinfemininity.tumblr; Vanessa Bruno product images via vanessabruno.com, VB image via Style.com; brie images via davidlebovitz.com and ffffound; top hair image via VanessaJackman, Jean Seberg via Google, Audrey Hepburn via GoodHousekeeping.com; bottom image via modernhepburn.tumblr} *if you know any of the original sources of any of the above images, p l e a s e let me know and I will update lickety-split!

I find that I always look to and admire the things that I’m not — specifically, French and sophisticated. I aspire to be these things and often forget and neglect where I come from. I’m a Southerner, in case you don’t know.

Set in a trailer, the above shoot really spoke to me, but that’s a story for another time…

I neglect my roots, but I am proud to be an American.

So here’s to the stars and the stripes, the red, white and blue and the U.S.A. Happy 4th of July and God Bless America, y’all!

{image sources: 1. Matt Barnes; 2-6. Graham Dunn for Fashion Gone Rogue; 7. via ModernHepburn; 8. via Surlaliste; 9. via ModernHepburn; 10 and 11. via Tumblr; 12 and 13. Karl Rothenberger; 14. GaranceDore; 15. via fuckyeahstreetstyle; 16. via ManRepeller}

I am a big fan of anything unique that makes a statement, so it was love at first sight when I first laid eyes on New York-based jewelry line, Falconiere. A collection filled with collars, cuffs, leather, feathers and chains, there isn’t a piece with which I’m not obsessed!

Loved seeing the entire collection at the showroom. So fun to try it all on!

And with some help from the lovely ladies at the awesome Maryam Nassir Zadeh showroom, we were able to get our hands on a few of these babies for our latest punk/grunge-inspired editorial shoot.

It was so much fun to play with it all and figure out all the different ways to style it.

Can’t wait to share it all with you in our July cover story, so stay tuned.

Falconiere: that’s what I call fashion!

An extra big shout-out to Jen at Maryam Nassir Zadeh Showroom for giving us the hook-up. Thanks, Jen! Love you and love that awesome showroom!!

{all images by twentythirtyforty}

It’s been all rain rain rain this spring : /  Trying to find the love…

awww...great heart shape!

OK a cute trench would definitely help my mood these wet spring days

love the clear cape & awesome hat!! and, yep, them legs belong to Anna Dello Russo

woah...perfect to battle the elements, samurai umbrellas!

image 1 - via Keegan Gibbs

image 2 & 4 - via Garance Dore

image 3 - via HiP Paris

image 5, 9 & 10- via google images

image 6 - via ALL THE PRETTY BIRDS

image 7 - via streetFSN

image 8 - via TRENDLAND

You’ve heard us talk about writer and illustrator Joanna Walsh, aka Badaude, before. We just love her smart and original approach to blogging and can’t get enough of her adorable illustrations. We feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to collaborate with this genius from across the Pond on more than one occasion.

Remember these?

Illustrated touches throughout our Fall 09 lookbook

Our very own exclusive illustrated story. How great is that?!

Well now you, too, can have your very own piece from Badaude because she’s WRITTEN A BOOK! I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I am to get my copy!

London Walks is sort of a walking tour through London, highlighting all of Joanna’s favorite places. She’s a smart, stylish and sophisticated cookie, so I’m sure this is an absolute must-have guide to the city. Not to mention, it’ll be a treat to look at even if you’re nowhere near London. And if you order your copy from Joanna, she’ll even sign it and add a little illustration just for you. The book comes out on June 1st, but you can pre-order your copy today. What are you waiting for? Go get it!

And have a great weekend, all!

visit Baduade to order your copy of London Walks today

For our latest cover story, we took our inspiration from some gorgeous photographs Erika Dufour took while in Japan recently (bamboo scaffolding, geishas on cell phones… have you ever seen such things?!)

Erika shot film (with her Hasselblad, the same camera she used to take the awesome images she captured in Japan) and Arlene and I channeled our inner geishas. Here’s what we came up with:

Ours was sort of a reluctant and petulant geisha-in-training, if “geisha” at all. But we definitely had fun and LOVED the challenge! So so so fun to just go out and get creative. Although a lot of time and energy went into it, it really did feel like good old-fashioned play time. And I am totally okay with that.

{image credits: photography by Erika Dufour (with assistance by the mahvelous Melinda Jane Meyers), styling by Arlene Matthews and Brandon Frein, hair and make-up by Kristina Marie, and model Erica Miramontes of Ford.}

Please check out the entire story here. (Yes, there’s more!)

We did another pop-up shop over the weekend at Revision Home and, as with last time, we met some really awesome and interesting people. One of the many awesome people we met this time around was Tim Long, curator of the costume department for the Chicago History Museum. {In case you don’t know, the History Museum has some of the best fashion exhibits in the city. Now we know why!}

Gesturing at the many Sonia by Sonia Rykiel trompe l’oeil pieces we had sprinkled throughout the pop-up space, Tim informed us that Elsa Schiaparelli was the one who first brought trompe l’oeil to the fashion scene. I say “informed” because Arlene and I certainly didn’t know that.

A collaboration with artist and filmmaker Jean Cocteau

Having now done a little research on Elsa Schiaparelli, I’m, shocked that I didn’t know more about her before now. Not only did she introduce trompe l’oeil to fashion, but also the colored zipper, the shoulder pad, the wedge heel, the wrapped turban and culottes. And she was light years ahead of her time, too, creating skeleton dresses and shoe hats and all sorts of avant-garde craziness (we’re talking the 1930s here — scandalous!) No surprise really that she collaborated with the likes of Salvador Dali (who hand-painted a giant lobster onto one of her gowns) and Jean Cocteau, and traveled in circles that included artists Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp.

The skeleton dress, a collaboration with Salvador Dali

The shoe hat, another Dali collaboration

I’m completely obsessed with her now and am eager to pick up her autobiography, Shocking Life. Apparently, she was a diva; but with a history and a creative mind like hers, I suppose she earned it.

{image sources: images 1,2 and 4 via Shrimpton Couture; image 3 via The Style Notebook; image 5 via Fashion Beyond Fashion; image 6 via The Budget Fashionista}

Two 80 degree days in a row calls for a little celebrating!   Or in the very least a whole lotta daydreaming….vacations, shorts, outdoor get together’s, strappy sandals & cute dresses, berry herb fizz coolers  Oh yeah, it’s beginning to smell like summer!!

popsicles!

berry herb fizz cooler...must try! link to the recipe below :)

image 1 - Anthropologie summer catalog

image 2 - A Detacher macrame sandal via lambearshoes.com

image 3 - via bliss

image 4 - via stylesoup.tumblr ….shop it here!

image 5 - via brownpaprpackages.tumblr

image 6 - via miluccia.canalblog.com

image 7 - via Vanessa Jackman

image 8 - found thanks to pinterest, the scent of green bananas

image 9 - via something’s hiding in here…check out the recipe here via design*sponge