... but that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be turnin' red...
Especially if I were wearing a pair of Jessica Swift Rainboots!
I went to high school with Jessica Swift, a woman who has grown into an incredible artist. She works a lot in patterns (which has been featured on fabrics as well, for all you home sewers!), and all her work is infused with her spirit of love and inspiration. It is no secret how much I love rainboots (even though we only get rain a couple months out of the year here in LA), and I can honestly say that the designs Jessica is kicking around are fabulous! Probably the coolest I have ever seen!
Plus, there is a secret extra bonus! Each pair of boots is designed with a special loving, inspirational message printed inside to remind you how fabulous you are each time you put on those fabulous boots!
Right now, Jessica is using kickstarter.com to get this awesome project off the ground. For a donation of just $100, you'll be sent a pair of boots once they hit the production line! Contributions of any amount from $1 on up are greatly appreciated and are being rewarded with other awesome Jessica Swift art. Just think how amazing it would be to help Jessica's dream come true and land yourself a truly special pair of boots!
I can pretty much guarantee that no rainy day or mucky puddle will get you down if you were wearing these amazing boots!
Here's a fun little video that features headpieces of past British Royal weddings, speculation on what head wear Kate will wear on her big day, and a collection of de-lic-ious hats!
With Mardi Gras just around the corner on March 8, I thought it would be fun to check out what Etsy has to offer in the way of masks for the holiday. Fat Tuesday is all about excess, so a simple gold and purple plastic half mask from Party City just won't do.
In my house, the Oscars are a big social occasion. I have a great time, but I don't actually get much of a chance to analyze the fashion. Also, today I happened to spend the first half of the day having a majorly awesome vintage shopping experience (more on Shareen Vintage in downtown LA later!) so I didn't catch most of the red carpet action.
A couple of trends I did notice:
Emeralds. Women are still shunning the necklace. Sheath dresses, body conscious silhouettes. Beads, metallics and sequins, oh my!
After scanning some of the fashion more closely online, I have to say that I think my favorite of the night was Helen Mirren in a classic and sophisticated Vivienne Westwood.
On the other end of the spectrum of loveliness was True Grit's Hailee Steinfeld in a dreamy Marchesa gown.
I also thought Natalie Portman pulled of maternity beautifully in her Swarovski studded Rodarte and I really loved her Tiffany & Co tassel earrings.
Prince Albert, Duke of York (later King George VI) and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon were married on April 26, 1923.
After proposing to Lady Elizabeth three times, Prince Albert was finally accepted on January 13, 1923. Elizabeth did not refuse Bertie because she did not love him, but because she was reticent to enter a life of public service and celebrity.
The princess-to-be was given a sapphire and diamond engagement ring, sapphires were said to be her favorite stone.
Lady Elizabeth had eight bridal attendants from the British aristocracy who were dressed in a similar fashion to the bride.
The wedding ceremony took place in London's Westminster Abbey. As the bride began her procession down the aisle with her father, she placed her bouqet of white roses on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in somber remembrance of the fallen soldiers of the recently ended First World War. The bride had lost her brother Fergus in the war and herself had spent the war caring for wounded soldiers.
It is important to remember that when one marries into royalty, they become not just a spouse, but a representative of an entire people. The Archbishop of York reminded the couple of this in no uncertain terms during the ceremony when he stated, "The warm and generous heart of this people takes you today unto itself. Will you not, in response, take that heart, with all its joys and sorrows, unto your own?" This seems to almost foreshadow the unprecedented manner in which Prince Albert was later to reluctantly become King George VI and the tumultuous times in which they would reign together, steadfast and courageous in their commitment to the United Kingdom through the horrors of World War II.
You can learn more about the lives of the Duke and Duchess of York and their controversial rise to the throne in the Oscar nominated film The King's Speech.
King George passed away in 1952, it is believed that the great stress of reigning through World War II contributed to his untimely death. In 2002, at the age of 103, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother died. I was studying abroad in London at the time and I was able to attend her funeral procession. It was clear that she was much beloved by the people of England as well as her own family, I'm sure Prince William will be thinking of his dear great-grandmother on his wedding day this April, 88 years and 3 days after her marriage to Prince Albert.
And here is a sweet video of the wedding day. I can imagine how fun it would be to replicate this style of videography for a present day wedding.
While marriages between commoners and Royals are not unheard of, the love match between American-born and educated Lisa Halaby to King Hussein of Jordan was certainly unusual.
Lisa Halaby was a 26 year old Princeton graduate working as a decorator for Pan-Am in Jordan when she met the thrice-married 42 year old King of Jordan at an airport ceremony in Amman. Halaby, the granddaughter of a Lebanese man who emigrated to the United States, reportedly felt very at home in the Middle East and was already acclimated to life in Jordan when she first encountered King Hussein. However, she took three days to accept the King's proposal which followed a six-week courtship that consisted of being dined every evening. Agreeing to become a Queen is not something to be taken lightly, but she did finally agree, out of love "for the man, not the king."
It is not the custom in Jordan for women to receive engagement rings.
The couple was married on June 15, 1978 at Raghdan Palace in Amman in what Halaby later described as "perhaps the one of the most modest Royal weddings of all time." The ceremony was a small, traditional Muslim affair, with no bridal attendants present, and reportedly was only four minutes long. Halaby looked like many other Western brides of the late 1970s. She wore a modest, simple Dior gown and very little jewelry with a traditional white tulle veil, carrying a cascade of white orchids.
Upon marrying the King, Lisa Halaby's name became "Noor al Hussein" or "Light of Hussein". The two had four children together and remained married until the death of the King in 1999. She remains Dowager Queen Noor to this day, devoting her time to charitable pursuits.
The marriage of Queen Victoria to Prince Albert was one that was essentially arranged for them by family, seen as a means to ensure friendly relations with great nations. However, it is also abundantly clear that the two had a true, genuine, and passionate love for one another (this is the subject of the 2009 film The Young Victoria)
Despite their implicit betrothal, it was essentially the Queen who proposed to Albert. Of course, her offer was accepted and the Prince gifted her with an unusual engagement ring fashioned to look like a snake which was symbolic of eternal love, encrusted with emeralds. It was the fashion at the time to give a woman an engagement ring that featured her birthstone. She loved the ring so much that it is believed she was buried wearing it.
The wedding took place nearly two years after her coronation on February 11, 1840 at the Royal Chapel of St. James' Palace. Despite the rain on Her Majesty's wedding day, crowds of subjects thronged the processional route from Buckingham Palace to St. James', eager to catch a glimpse of their Sovereign and her Consort in their finery. The ceremony was attended by 2100 guests.
Although Victoria was not the first Royal to wear white to her wedding, it was her doing so that set the de riguer trend that continues even to this day. In this way, she is perhaps the Royal who has had the greatest influence on bridal fashion.
She purportedly chose the color because she wished to use some fine lace that she particularly liked that she believed looked best with the rich white satin she selected for the gown. The lace, completely hand made, was four yards in length and three-quarters of a yard wide and reportedly took eight months to make. The pattern for the lace was destroyed after its completion so that it could never be replicated for another client.
In order to emphasize the solemnity of the occasion, Victoria chose to rely more on adornments of orange blossoms than on her Royal jewelry collection, although she did wear large diamond earrings and a diamond necklace. Her veil, which did not conceal her face, was of hand made Honiton lace and took six weeks to complete.
She had twelve bridesmaids, who all dressed in a similar fashion to the Queen, wearing primarily white with accents of light blue and many floral embellishments.
Victoria and Albert, by all accounts, enjoyed a rich married life, producing nine children in the twenty years that they were married. After his death in 1861, the Queen wore only black for the rest of her life to pay homage to the mourning she felt at his loss. She continued to reign dutifully over the largest empire the world has ever seen until her own death in 1901.
To celebrate reaching 100 posts on this blog, I have a little roundup of fashion images from the past 100 years. It certainly is not exhaustive, but gives a fun look at the way silhouettes have changed over the last 100 years, and what elements have been recycled over time.
To recognize all the new and expectant parents out there and perhaps because we've been having a cold rainy spell here in Los Angeles, I wanted to share one of the coolest pieces of baby wear I have seen... baby legwarmers. These are ingenious. First of all, they are a sure-fire way to make sure your baby is looking hip and stylish. Secondly, and most importantly, they are incredibly convenient because they keep those precious baby legs warm like pants do but they make diaper changes a breeze because you don't have to wrestle your little one in and out of pants or fuss with tons of snaps. If you're expecting, put these on your wish list and if you know someone who is expecting they make a fantastic baby shower gift!
You can find them at BabyLegs and Agoo and a search for "baby legwarmers" on Etsy will turn up tons of hand made options. You'll get big time bonus points if you know how to knit and make your own (check out the free patterns here)!
The film has been very well received. It has screened at the Palm Springs International Short Film Festival and the Rome International Film Festival and has won Best Comedy Short at the Sonoma International Film Festival, Best Produced Short Film at the Producer's Guild of America Producer's Challenge, 2nd place Best Short Film at the Los Angeles International Film Festival.
This week's event was our first red carpet experience, and I was fortunate to be able to attend with my husband (one of the perks of being married into the entertainment business). I wore a navy Piko 1988 ruffled cocktail dress I have had in my wardrobe for a couple of years and a pair of metallic gray ruffled peek-a-boo toe Madden Girl heels, with some costume bangles and earrings.
To be candid, it was quite an awkward experience. I felt kind of out of place on the red carpet, since I didn't actually work on the film. I should have read this first. And I shouldn't have followed a professional actress who knew what she was doing, it was a bit of a blow to my self-confidence. But, there is a first time for everything and now that I have a better idea of how they work, it shouldn't be so bad next time. The event and the evening were really fun and we enjoyed the Opening Night screening that featured some fun shorts starring celebrities like Mina Suvari, Will Ferrel, Don Cheadle and Zooey Deschanel. I'm looking forward to more fun evenings like this as my husband's career progresses.
I was so excited to see this story pop up on my Yahoo! homepage. I love it when the creativity of young people is highlighted, I tend to think we don't hear enough good things about teens in our culture. Anyway, these teens are all being celebrated for creating their prom attire completely out of duct tape! The winners, pictured above, achieved a charming and romantic look. All that filigree must have been a challenge to execute! Many of the other finalists' designs were excellent as well, with lots of whimsical, period, or fantasy influences. This is a far cry from a duct tape wallet!
A friend of mine who used to work at the LA Opera with me now lives in Italy, designing and creating her own accessory masterpieces and selling them on etsy. And, as luck would have it, she's currently running a sale! Monjio Creations. You know you want all of these gorgeous pieces:
Spats! I mean, really... who doesn't want a set of SPATS?!
Hands off this awesome bolero made from a pair of trousers... I'm buying it as soon as I have a good excuse to wear it.
Fall bride? Yes, indeed.
Because you know you love love... the perfect bridal headpiece any time of year.
Quoth the Raven: Never before have I looked so good as I do on top of this fantastic polka dot headpiece.
In March I went on a little weekend trip to my hometown, Boulder, Colorado. A friend and I were window shopping on Pearl Street Mall when we decided to duck into this awesome little shoe boutique called Two Sole Sisters. The place was chock-full of incredible shoes and I couldn't move more than a couple feet without exclaiming how cute/unique/beautiful this or that pair was. The shop is so chic and comfortable and... now this is the real shocker... the ladies working there were completely friendly and were not pressuring us OR giving us the stink eye because we weren't buying. I love shops like that!
Anyway, I totally fell in love with a pair of shoes and have not been able to get them out of my mind since my visit. I shot an email to the store yesterday and described the shoes. In a matter of hours I received a response telling me who made the shoes, what their style name was, and a tip that I could probably find them for sale online! She also informed me that their store will soon be setting up some e-commerce, so keep checking back with them!
Without further ado, here is my shoe crush: Larue, by Gee WaWa:
Someday, they will be mine (in case my fairy godmother is reading, I think and 8 or 8.5 would do very nicely, in rich brown, please).
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