It’s been a whirlwind year already.  I look back at goals I had set for myself and miraculously watch as they’re each ticked off the list.  This year has been like a lesson in personal manifestation – the more tuned-in you are to your goals, the more you work consciously and subconsciously to achieve them.

This year I got the boot from my “safe” job that was slowly wearing away at my nerves.  This was probably the best gift-in-disguise I’d ever received.  I felt safe, and totally relied on the paychecks that came in on the regular.  I had motivation to leave, but I didn’t have the cojones.  You know when you are stuck in a rut and there’s reason to leave but you’re afraid to take that plunge?  That was me.  When it did happen, I packed up my things, walked out to my car and did a Saved-By-The-Bell-style, jump and “Woohooo!”  I never thought I’d be so relieved to be laid off (for “restructuring” apparently…)

This year I found a new job doing work that I love, and inevitably find myself doing.  I work with a Web Design, SEO and Social Media company: RoryMartin.com.  I’m their Campaign Genius (that’s what my cards say) and we specialize in thinking outside the box.  Being able to creatively think about the work I have is a huge bonus, and everyone I work with is incredibly cool. Oh and did I mention I get to work from the comfort of my own office, write creatively every day and set my own hours?  Productivity is bliss!

Oh and I got into school!  The pursuit of that magic piece of paper from an esteemed university somewhere has been my goal for… well… ages.  I’m a brain.  I like learning stuff and I finally felt it was a good time to get with it.  I hadn’t previously, because former job frowned on my educational goals.  For real.  Like they told me I could not work and go to school (nevermind that I’ve been taking evening classes for like 3 years).  I was pretty appalled that they’d tell me I couldn’t go to school – most employers are thrilled because they can mold your education to their needs. So I put in an application at UW (hard school to get into) and they laid me off, and then last Friday I got the acceptance letter.  I’ll be studying French (something I love) at an amazing school.  And my new employer is totally stoked for me.

Other goals have been connecting and maintaining relationships with amazing people and making sure Deco Modiste is off to a good start.  It’s amazing to watch all this stuff just fall into place.  I generally don’t give a whole lot of credit to magical manifestation, but I really feel like when you want something badly enough, your whole being goes into overdrive to get there (whether you realize it or not).

Little things are: Being more creative about my ensembles.  Attending fun events like Haute Summer Night and the Body Shop Honey Bronze event (more on that soon).  Learning from those with experience.  Gym-related endorphins.  Being able to walk the pup around the neighborhood in the sun.  Buying my ever-coveted white Chanel sunglasses (COVETCOVET).  Summer travels.  Gettin’ shit done!

How are your goals for the year going (so far)?  Is there anything you want to achieve in the next 6 months?  I’d love to hear about it

So last assignment for Pretty Shiny Sparkly’s Bloggers Do It Better involved pairing neon with neutrals. Since I don’t really… own any neon colored pieces, I went for the next best thing – as bright as I could get.  I mean, I guess my nails count, since the tips were hot pink (a failed LivingSocial deal that I was a little sad about… more on that later.)

I was pleased because I was able to show off this super cute Deco Modiste skirt – at what some would call the “Impossible Skirt Length”, falling below my knee.

I love this little jacket – thrifted by Kimberlee from Deco Modiste.  I know someone’s saying, “Jackets!?!”  This June has been chilly.  The temperature stays somewhere between 65 and 72…

Excuse the silly camera angle – I’ve been kind of lazy when it comes to outfit photos.  It just seems like such a process to get out my DSLR and snap pics – especially when it’s already full of photos from events, or Deco Modiste shoots.  I also work from home so my outfits aren’t usually this dressed up.

I paired the entire outfit with white accessories – a headband, a bag, and some super cute shoes to lighten up all the gray.

You can kind of see the neon nails in this photo.  Also the fact that I regularly wear several different shades of gray.   Sassy!  Also, I am a shaggy pony.  Someone needs a haircut, yes?

The outfit garnered quite a few complements – mostly on the shoes.

I wore:

• Green wrap skirt – Deco Modiste Clothing
• Gray henley – Fluxus
• Gray wool jacket – Thrifted
• Black and White shoes – Diesel
• Headband – ?  Who knows
• Bag – Céline from Rice and Beans Vintage

Did you participate in Bloggers Do It Better?  What did you wear?

PS – Don’t forget to enter the Haute Summer Night Fashion Event Giveaway! You have until the end of the day, and you have a very good chance of winning. Please, and Thank you! xoxo.

This is probably the cutest thing I’ve seen all day! Special thanks to David the Majestic and Beautiful Laura of Birdie Royale Adornments. The music is Ondulé by Mathieu Boogaerts. I love this video so much – and we had such a great time shooting photo and filming! Yay!

Thanks again to Laura and David (especially since Laura was one of our models too!), to Gorgeous Kirsten for being one of our models, to Mitsy for modeling, and to Kimberlee of Deco Modiste for designing all the clothing and for letting us raid her house. More photos will come, eventually… Stay tuned!

PS – Don’t forget to enter the Haute Summer Night Fashion Event Giveaway! There are only a few entries so you have a very good chance of winning. Please, and Thank you! xoxo.

Now here’s a campaign I can get behind:  Gemma over at Retro Chick has started a Campaign for Clearer Clothes Sizing. She says: “I think clothes stores should be made to put the measurements they use to cut their patterns on the labels of their clothes. They should be made to publish their size charts online in a clearly marked location (not hidden in the customer service section) and have a link to it from every garment they sell. Unhappy, frustrated customers don’t buy clothes. Customers that never go in your store because they don’t know that actually you cut clothes that would fit their non average bodies are a customer lost. So it’s in shops interest to be clearer about their procedures.”

And I agree.  It’s nuts that I can buy anywhere from a 00/XS to a 06/S-M.  And it’s nuts that when I order jeans, I can be anywhere from a 25 to a 28.  My waistline doesn’t fluctuate that much!

Which is why, when considering the new hang-tags for Deco Modiste, we decided to go with inch measurements – which means, that if the waistline is the most restricting part of a skirt (because it’s an A-line), we’ll tell you the waist and hip measurement in inches.  Or if it’s a cute jumper dress, we’ll put in the bust, waist and hip measurements in inches – because we know how ridiculous vanity sizing is.

If you’re in Seattle, you can find some of our current designs at Velouria in Ballard.  If you’re not – we’ll have the Etsy shop up shortly!  And stay tuned, because we’re working on photos of our fall pieces right now.

Hi Guys!  Time to toot my own horn and fill you in on what I’ve been doing outside of Bonne Vie…

As you know, I’ve spent a lot of time curating a lot things with Kimberlee from Deco Modiste.  Recently we’ve discovered we have a lot of scrap, a lot of unused or broken vintage to repurpose and a little free time.  We created this shop to off some of that excess and maybe make a little cash as well!  Right now, it’s a little sparse, but we do have more to come!

Also, I made that banner and I love the shit out of it.  What do you think?

More work with Totally Blown – including the launch and administration of the Totally Blown Etsy shop.  I’m Dehanna’s assistant and online sales gal.  I’ve been doing product photos here and there, and it’s been a lot of fun!  Need gorgeous gifts from local artisans?  Let me know.  *wink!*

In addition I’ve been working a little with Recycled LOOT! Genevieve creates gorgeous glass jewelry out of the broken, otherwise unrecyclable pieces of art glass from local artisans like Totally Blown Glass.

I’ve been helping Genevieve set up the Recycled LOOT! Etsy shop as well, and helping out with product photography, so she’s able to spend her time making delicious eco-friendly, repurposed, candy-colored glass jewelry instead of farting around on the computer.  You may remember I talked about LOOT! last Christmas.  Don’t mind the banner though – that was a quickie, slapped together on Picnick (through Flickr).  Her jewelry is so much fun, and worth every penny.

Last but not least, I’ve been working with Dana from Sustalux, hoisting her vintage empire off the ground.  Currently we’re working at LUXOutlet, where you’ll find an array of fun vintage stuff at incredibly low prices.  I’m assisting everyone and their mother right now.  Yeehaw!

Last Post, I mentioned Planet Shoes sent me the J Brand Spring oxfords to try out.  And I mentioned I’d be posting what I wore…

I had a date with Mr to the Seattle Art Museum to see the Picasso exhibit.  We had our evening planned, complete with delicious sushi and a night à la musée.  Of course, I dressed up a little, because I got this amaaazing fox hat from Sustalux and needed somewhere to wear it.

Foxy!

I know, you’re probably thinking “EW! FUR” and I think  it’s okay because this hat is 50+ (?) years old (the interior lining is very 60′s).  I think this piece tells  a story of style in an era long gone – defining luxury in a way so vastly different from how we define luxury now.  And though we’re so much more conscious about our environment, the luxury of fur still is carried over into today.  It’s so anti-the-way-the-world-is now, yet we still have this antiquated statement of personal status in our present society.  It’s a luxury that’s even been mimicked through synthetic-materials, and the fashion world continually vocalizes on this ever-present trend – for fur or not for fur (let alone faux fur and issues of environmental damage and sustainability).  I think this hat tells a story… And before I wax too poetic, here’s the rest of the outfit:

Pictured in:

• Fox hat from Sustalux
• Black scoop tee from Spun
• Blue wool pencil skirt from Deco Modiste
• Gray herringbone tights from Gap
• Blue J Shoes Spring oxfords from Planet Shoes
• Art Deco style Earrings from Mosey Dog
• Blue lace overlay clutch from Torkiska Bags
• Black geometric Paloma Picasso bangle from Tiffanys (A birthday gift from Mr!)
• Black and silver wide belt from Charlotte Russe

And a close up of the shoes…

We arrived at the museum to an enormous crowd, stood in line for 10 minutes, and were told that the exhibit was sold out until almost midnight.  Super Bummer.  We weren’t going to wait 5 hours to get into the exhibit so we marched across the street to our dinner date where we gorged ourselves on sushi and tried to decide what to do next.

I sighed over my sake and mused how fantastic it would be if there was something fun happening at Benaroya Hall that night.  Mister lit up and mentioned that they usually have Thursday concerts.  A quick check on my phone, and a mad dash placed us front and center in the auditorium to hear Gil Shaham play a Bartók piece on the 1699 Comtesse de Polignac Stradivarius.

It was like some magnificent joke – turned away from the SAM (the guy didn’t even offer tickets to view the rest of the galleries, which were free that night – what the hell?!) we ended up listening to a violin virtuoso play an instrument a) made for the Countess who was favored by Marie Antoinette, b) made 300-something years ago by Antonio Stradivari, and c) that is worth more money than I can imagine seeing in my lifetime.  The violin came from Stradivari’s “long period” where he changed the shape of the instrument by lengthening it without changing the sound, making that instrument even more valuable than other Stradivari.  And the Bartók wasn’t bad either!

While we were out, I garnered polite stares, several compliments and strange looks.  It was exciting.  And warm.  And the hat sheds like you wouldn’t believe, but it’s beautiful and maybe a little magic?  Cos really, our adventure was a little magic – like some cosmic goof up that turned out in the best way possible!

Recently, I had a chance to dig through some of the old Deco Modiste back-stock from the last couple Spring/Summer collections. I took some of these cute little pieces over to the Sustalux studio where Jess and I spent an afternoon playing dress-up. There’s something about goofing off in amazing vintage pieces and new, wearable items that sparked my creativity, and I got some great shots of Jess…

The lighting was a little dodgy – we had one light and my flash.

And then we started mixing-and-matching… a little DM here, a little Sustalux there (you’ve already seen this photo and I’m reposting because I love it so much…).

And then we just ended up playing around in all the vintage goodies…

I know I should be like “OMG FUR?!?! NOOOOOO!”  Except that didn’t happen at all.  It’s all vintage and we couldn’t have prevented the animals from dying/becoming wearable, so we decided to make photographic use of fur that’s been around since long before we were even a twinkle in our mamas’ eyes…  Truly, buying fake fur is bad for the environment, right?  Buying new fur is unethical.  But recycling vintage fur (by donating for like Coats for Cubs/Wildlife Rehabilitation) seems a little… oh… Soylent-Green-creepy to me – moreso than me parading around in it for a photo or two.   Quelle conundrum, eh?  But I’m rambling…

All in all, a hilariously fun day where I came home with a cute vintage dress (more on that soon) and a CF card full of photos.  Till next time!

Last Thursday, Fashion Network Seattle invited bloggers, designers and Seattle’s industry elite out for an arty night-on-the-town.  The occasion was FNS’s rebrand/launch, and the premise was simple – pick your favorite designs.  The atmosphere was very arty warehouse party, and I saw some fantastic eye candy - definitely the reason I’m drooling my face off over the JM Sweetheart dress (which FYI! will be at the Spun Collective on the hill).

It was an exciting night for Deco Modiste too, with the preview of one of our newest  designs – now coined the “Bardot” dress.

Deco Modiste “Bardot” – the little black dress

The dress is a little black 60′s style sheath with POCKETS!  The fabric Kimberlee used is a black cotton with rayon ribbon sewn onto it, giving the dress sort of a floral pattern without being floral.  Worn with Penthouse cutout heels (surprisingly comfortable), a vintage Gucci box purse from Rice and Beans Vintage, a peridot necklace by Wendy Brandes and a gold bangle courtesy of Eboni Ife.  But seriously, what the hell is my hair doing in this picture?  I don’t think I’ve had it cut in over 6 weeks.  Oops.  And if you haven’t heard, Rice and Beans is having a megasale right now, so get your butts on it!  Also, my necklace was a great addition, but it kept falling behind the neckline of this dress.  The moral of the story – wear something longer/heavier over round-neck dresses.

See?  You can’t see that necklace here either.  But I swear I was wearing it!

It’s this necklace, by the way:

I went simple with the makeup, opting for gold lids and navy liner.  I think I might have been the only person there who opted for simple (*wink!*) – and it worked as a concept, with the little black dress.  I was told twice that night I looked like I was channelling Brigitte Bardot, which is why I keep calling it the “Bardot”.   Not a bad look, eh?

Oh and sort-of-but-not-completely-unrelated:  Did a little Deco Modiste shoot with the gorgeous Jess Estrada and let me just tell you – the fuzzy hat crew is where it’s at!  Also this cute little peplum top fit Jess like a dream….

Furry hat crew 4 lyfe!

More photos to come…

While we were putting together my wedding, Kimberlee mentioned the idea of a reception dress. Vintage brides would have changed out of their long, heavy gown into something more suited to socializing. It offered a way to preserve the wedding gown itself and to de-constrict the bride. Reception dresses were popular as far back as the 1800′s (farther, possibly?) and have (relatively) recently declined in popularity.   These days, the reception dress seems extravagant when the gown itself often rings up well into the thousands.

The wedding dress design

Though my dress didn’t have nearly that price tag, it very well should have. The silk was silvery gray, $35-a-yard silk crépe-backed satin, and I’m sure Kimberlee put at least 20 hours into it (and probably much more than that). Much of the dress was hand sewn – the hem, hand rolled. It was gorgeous for a formal event but definitely not a dress to party in – it wasn’t heavy, but it was hot. I love the dress so much, though, that I couldn’t think of wearing anything else on that day so Kimberlee (the GENIUS) suggested we alter my gown pattern to make a shorter party dress. It would be easy – the pattern was already cut and she’d assembled it once so it wouldn’t take long to construct. In fact, she told me I could probably assemble it in a couple hours – and I did.

Kimberlee had this amazing and gorgeous “granny lace” that she’d used for the little bed jackets last spring. We decided to use that because we wanted my dress to be light – being the bride and all. We still had to line it and since my shoes were a seafoam green (I swear they weren’t that color on the website!) it made sense to put a green cotton or linen underneath. Kimberlee sent me to Joann’s for zippers and a me-sized swatch of green cotton.

The Thursday before the wedding, my friend Raishawn (one of my bridesmaids) and I showed up bright and early at Kimberlee’s house. I laid out the pattern pieces from my gown, Kimberlee showed me how to pin them down and cut them. Per her instructions (because we all know it can be difficult to read sewing patterns), I assembled the bodice and skirt separately. Then Kimberlee took over. I didn’t see the dress for another couple days.

We arrived on site the Saturday after. I hadn’t tried on the dress at all and had been battling a horrible case of nerves all day. The wedding went well and I only remembered the reception dress after dinner- before we busted out the pinatas. I snuck off into the dressing room and then thought to myself “Oh crap. I never tried this on – I hope it fits.” I sewed the bodice a little smaller than the pattern asked for. Kimberlee had put the two parts together, given it straps and a zipper. Not only did it fit PERFECTLY, but the way I’d cut the pieces out made the lace pattern line up – an apparently amazing feat for not having paid much attention. And girls went wild for the design.

From L to R – Kimberlee (dress design), Scarlet (hair), Laura (Birdie Royale), and Raishawn (decor)

After the party, Kimberlee and I got to talking and decided that it was a simple enough party dress to make, and it’s practical – enough that we decided to keep it in our pocket for a possible Deco Modiste Spring 2011 release. The best part? I came back from my honeymoon, not registering that fashion week had happened. Kimberlee informed me that lace had been big on the runways for Spring. Keep an eye out for replicas of this little number (sorry – small photo…)

Dancin in my reception dress.

I love the way this outfit came together with the amazing Amenaza Maxi Skirt from EtceteraPeru.

The skirt is an interesting gray, with draping in the front and a backseam (it used to only go halfway up the back of the skirt, but I fixed it so it a) fit me and b) didn’t look like a buttcrack ).

The full silhouette is very slim and I added a break in the heavy almost Deco-style patterned top with a waist-belt.   The top is a Deco Modiste original!

The rest of my accessories needed to incorporate well with the pattern, but I also felt like I needed a little color.  These green resin earrings came from Banana Republic, and I tossed on some simple silver bangles for fun.   This outfit is worn with my Where CARA brogues.  It’s warm enough for spring in Seattle without feeling overdressed.

I, personally, love the tailored maxi skirt look.  I feel like it’s not done nearly enough though!  The tailoring on this skirt gives it a sort of Steampunk/gawth feel, but is very versatile.  What’s your feeling on the maxi skirt?  Love it?  Hate it!?  Tell me about it!