Style Bust
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Lollapalooza 2010
15 years ago
Frankly it’s extremely difficult to wrap up 3 days of Lolla into words, let alone limit my thoughts into one blog post. This was my first year of having the benefit of attaining an all access pass. And I can say that the experience is one that I will not forget but next year you will probably find me in the crowd with the rest of the masses.
First of all I may be one of the very few that say Lolla is completely overrated. I always get excited about the lineup and then once I get there it’s like the festival is so huge, its impossible to get a good spot to see all your favorite bands. It’s a lot more work than it should be. And it’s overcrowded, so to truly enjoy the performances it’s a difficult task. My suggestion is to find the stage that is hosting most of your favorite bands and park yourself there for the entire day. You may miss some bands you wanted to see but most likely you will discover so many new bands that you will be happy as a clam.
I think it’s completely necessary to mention Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zero’s. Clearly their following was underestimated, they were put on a smaller stage and their crowd was insanely large. Hands down the best performance at Lolla that I saw. I remember a friend of mine out in LA mentioning a couple years ago that she had met someone that managed a band that had 10 people in it. Her and I had our doubts that such a large band would find success. But as all 10 unique members walked barefoot onto the stage I quickly realized how powerful this band had become in such a short time. Literally, they have a cult following. Other not so surprising highlights of the fest include… Phoenix, MGMT &Arcade Fire.
One of my favorite things to do at Lolla is people watch. Perfect place to look for new trends. I can’t begin to count how many times I saw people in Hunter rain boots… even when there was no rain in the forecast.
These have been around for awhile and I have seen celebrities such as Kate Moss & Mary Kate Olsen rock this style. The trend was in full force at Lolla 2010 – and let me tell you another crazy trend… mom jeans are back. I literally felt as though I should have ran back home to my mothers attic in Iowa – pulled out her old Levi jeans and cut them off. Take a red bandana from my closet and wear it as a shirt.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about this can be a hit or miss trend. But by the end of the festival I saw some really great outfits and girls that definitely pulled this look off. These were the essentials for Lollapalooza 2010. I feel as though I may not ever recover from this weekend. Hollywood definitely overtook Chicago and I’m ready to have my city back. I will be at House of Blues all this weekend and look forward to writing about one of my favorite bands here on Style Bust next week.
The Bookbag: Purses Made From Recycled Book Covers
15 years ago
I’m excited to learn that there is a crafty and useful purpose for all those antiquated/outdated book covers (I’m a total sucker for recycled products). Librarian Kathy Kelly from Erie Pennsylvania has created a line of bags and purses using re-purposed book covers from used book covers. Her line is called Bookbags. The bags are pricey, I guess until she has serious competition she can afford to charge customers and arm and a leg for the bags…I’m SUPER excited for her to get some competition. Call me cheap, but I’m not will to pay $135 plus for a bag like this…although they are damn cute!
For a complete assortment, check out Kathy Kelly’s inventory here.
Valpixel at San Francisco Fashion Week 2010
15 years ago
Valpixel is the last show I saw for San Francisco Fashion Week 2010. I really enjoyed the collection, however it was unfortunate that this designer was placed last in the lineup. The reason I say unfortunate is because even though the pieces themselves were hands-down amazing, the collections presentation was mediocre. The music consisted of one, extremely slow song, on repeat (annoying). The models walked an incredibly slow pace to match the music, and as a result, the presentation was too long for people’s’ attention spans.
If you take a close look at the pieces however, you’ll find that the design and construction of each garment is outstanding. I really dig the muted fire tone colors paired with basic solids. I can’t say for sure whether this collection was designed for a Fall season, but it was completely right to showcase going into the Fall. In my mind the colors paired with the hooded look were Fall.
Photographs by Steven Han.
Pretty in Pale
15 years ago
A few weeks back I wrote about wearing gray this summer and how much I love the color! I still think heather gray is perfect for Summer, but I am also loving the monochromatic trend by pairing pale shades of pinks, mushroom and tan (check out Etro‘s Spring collection).
Wearing these pale shades can be simple…since the colors come from the same hue, they all can be paired together (pale pink with heather gray and tan look great together). And since these colors are so light…they look great with black (especially for Fall)! Wearing head-to-toe pale colors creates a feminine, polished look…that is appropriate for any occasion!
Here are a few looks I put together…so you can try out the pale/monochromatic trend!
Sassy Seating: more haute femme chairs
15 years ago
Last week, my post on haute femme chairs (link here) received positive reviews, so I thought I’d do another story on fun chairs! (Okay fine…the positive reviews were just from my friends, but still. They count.) So this week I thought I’d share some more fabulous and zany renditions of traditional chair designs. Yay!
David Bromstad (HGTV's Color Splash, Design Star season 1 winner) costarring with his white haute femme Rococo chair in his weekly Design Star vlog. Whatever David Bromstad is seen with, it must be right.
We defined haute femme as bringing back the romanticism and plush comfort of eras past and adding whimsical modern twists. Perhaps the first person to introduce this idea was Italian designer Alessandro Mendini in 1978 when he came out with his Proust chair (Poltrona di Proust) as a part of his Redesigns Furniture series. He believed that modern design was running out of new ideas and turned to redecorating classics as a solution. Here, he painted a Louis XV chair with imagery that evokes the work of 19th century writer Marcel Proust.
Proust chair by Alessandro Mendini
Anthropologie, known for its artsy, soulful aesthetic, carries upholstered furniture that follows Mendini’s vision.
Top: Louisa Settee $2,498 Bottom: Striped Kilim Sofa $2,498
Cleo Chair, Katsina $998
Josef Wingback Chair, Butterflies $1,698
Battersea Sofette, Bloom $2,998
Soren Chair, Painter's Palette $1,598
Betram Chair, Vera Bubbles $1,598
Personally, I think Mendini’s experiment became an enormous success. -Beryl
This Week in Fashion 8/7
15 years ago
I am inspired by fashion I see on the streets and now thanks to all the personal style websites and blogs (like Lookbook, Chictopia and Fashiontoast), I have inspiration right at my fingertips!
Here are a few of my favorite looks from the past week…
1. Christeric, 2. Could I Have That, 3. Vintage Virgin, 4. The Glamouri
What I love about these looks is that these ladies know how to accessorize, pair high-end with low-end pieces and their finished “looks” look effortless!
Chan.nel Karama LTD at San Francisco Fashion Week 2010
15 years ago
Chan.nel Karama LTD is a mouthful of a brand. Designer, LC Skinner is the talented, San Francisco native behind Chan.nel Karama Limited and Karama Denim Luxe Brands.
Last Saturday, during SFFW, Skinner presented her Chan.nel Karama Limited collection. As the show began, it was obvious that Skinner wasn’t new to fashion shows (and after doing some research, I’ve learned that Skinner’s brands participated in Full Figured Fashion Week 2010 in NYC). The presentation at SFFW was definitely avant garde, and the models certainly helped execute the presentation through their intense and determined walks and expressions. I got the sense that this collection is for the “tough woman”, “bad ass” type. I really appreciated the simple darkness of the collection as well as the construction details. Some pieces had chains sewn into the them, while other pieces were adorned with obscure accessories. Here are some images from the SFFW show. I expect there will be more of Chan.nel Karama LTD on Style Bust and across the news in coming months!
Photographs by Steven Han.
Alyssa Nicole at San Francisco Fashion Week 2010
15 years ago
Owen Geronimo of the San Francisco Fashion and Merchants Alliance is a friend of mine, and as of this year he is also the man behind San Francisco Fashion Week. Lucky for me, this means I have access to some very saucy San Francisco fashion events throughout the year and San Francisco Fashion Week made the start to a new fashion season a lot sweeter!
Aside from Alexandria von Bromssen, I wasn’t aware of any of the designers on the SF Fashion Week schedule this year. Now, you have to understand how small and disconnected the fashion scene is here in SF; and that the majority of the San Francisco based trend setters and fashion bloggers totally overlook the talent we have in our backyard to go straight to NYC based designers – and most of the time, not even by way of LA. That said, it’s hard to get good, honest data on what the designers here is SF are doing, and how we can see their collections.
This first collection I saw was self titled, Alyssa Nicole. The show started with very upbeat, dance music and cute girly models adorned in high tea type dresses. The collection was loosely tied together by two strings, 1) all items were dresses, and 2) it was entirely pink. As you can imagine this collection could go one of two ways….really, really good, or awfully bad. As you can see by the pieces below, I think most of us would agree that the collection fell into “good, with shades of gray”.
Pros: The silhouettes are flattering. The dress styles are current. The models all seemed comfortable, flirty and maybe even happy coming down the runway. I bet we all can imagine ourselves or closest girlfriends wearing one of these pieces.
Cons: Too much pink. Too many ruffles, layers, and frill for most urban girls.
The designer Alyssa Nicole is photographed in this last image.
Photographs by Steven Han.