The Civil Wars: Billie Jean cover

Emma Stone in Vogue

I love Emma Stone's look in the July 2012 of Vogue!  I confess that I went to the market this afternoon and grabbed some the colors that she used for the shoot-mainly Revlon's Super Lustrous Lipstick in Just Enough Buff.  I'm absolutely going to have to try my hand at recreating look this weekend and add it to my weekly repertoire.

The Queen's Coronation

photo via The Londonist

 

The Queen's Diamond Jubilee is going on now; including a recent trip to Northern Ireland to extend a peaceful hand to the leader of the Irish Republican Army.  It's amazing that Queen Elizabeth has been on the throne for 60 years and still enjoys as much popularity, if not more, than she did 40 years ago.  This portrait from her Coronation, photographed by Cecil Beaton is still amazing...that dress, those colors, that architecture!

The Mast Brothers Chocolate

The Mast Brothers from The Scout on Vimeo.

I adore this video through and through. This short film about Mast Brothers Chocolate is beautifully filmed, the brothers seem like amazing people, and I love that they want to go sailing in search of chocolate.  Some times when I just dream without trying to figure out if it's plausible or not, I think of getting a boat and sailing around the world--or at least sailing in a tropical place for a couple months.  It sounds amazing and challenging all at once.

 

photo via Inspiration Lab

How To Survive Texas Summers

photo via Blood Is The New Black

 

Checklist of how to survive Texas summers:

1. Water to sit in or put one's feet.
2. Beverage of one's liking.  I suggest Lone Star, a personal favorite complete with a kuzi.
3. Friends.  To whom else is one going to bemoan the blistering heat?

Wooden Shades: First Attempt

My man Conner made a pair of sunglasses this past weekend.  It's our first attempt at making a pair of sunglasses and I'm hoping there will be more soon!  Wooden glasses seem to be all the rage these days and we had to try our hand at it. 

Portland Garment Factory

Portland Garment Factory is a "lady-owned manufacturing house"; they do everything from helping you design your clothing, to making it, to marketing the finished products.  It all sounds pretty cool, especially the manufacturing bit since that's the part that I always get stuck on; if I can't make it myself I seem to get lost on how get my idea get made on a large scale and therefore make a buisness out of it all.  This manufacturing mess is what I'm currently trying to figure out with my eyeglasses idea.

The photo above is from a fashion show the Portland Garment Factory did several years ago and I especially love the colors.  I wish I could have been there!
Via Honey Kennedy

Daily Outfit: 13

I went out to cocktail hour with the ladies on Friday and didn't get home in time to take photographs with that nice golden evening sun.  All the photos I took with the flash ended up being terrible, although I did try.  In lieu of my failed photographs, I've posted a previous one taken with the same Cupcake Princess dress that I wore on Friday.

Honestly WTF: DIY Gold Tube Bracelets

 

The ladies at Honestly WTF have some of the better DIY tutorials I've been around the web.  This one posted recently for DIY Gold Tube Bracelets caught my eye and I may have to make these soon.  A girl can never have too many bracelets, right? 

Daily Outfit: 12

Easy Tiger

 On the hunt for the best Bloody Mary in Austin, we checked out a new bakery & beer garden on 6th street called Easy Tiger...so cute!  I walked by this place during SXSW and made a mental note to come back and try it out.  The bakery is on the top floor (which smells amazing!) and the beer garden is on the bottom floor near the canal.  While the canal looks like it's seen better days and couldn't possibly support any life, it does-so many cute little turtle families.

 The highlight of their Bloody Mary's is the garnish; pickled brussel sprouts and cauliflower.  Brussel sprouts have to be the new hipster veggie.  All of a sudden I see them everywhere and after getting over my childhood phobia of the mini-cabbages, I've found that I love them.

Nothing better than having some afternoon cocktails in the sun.

Daily Outfit: 12

Cathy Cooper: Stylist

 

Cathy Cooper, a stylist, living in Echo Park, CA.  I totally wish I had her hair. 
via Closet Visit

Daily Outfit: 11

Oh man, I cheated again!  I got rid of my gray loafers and added these brown brogues from JCrew and added some gray pants.  There are some days that a girl just does not want to wear white pants.

Musical Style: Andre 3000

Andre 3000 has great style across the board.  I first saw a picture of him on The Sartorialist and adored his outfit.  He has this genteel thing going on that makes me think of sipping a mint julep and I think it's ultimately successful for his musical career because it makes him much more approachable and marketable.  I heard an interview on the radio many months ago about how hugely successful musicians now are no longer simply musicians; they are brands in-and-of themselves.  Beyonce is a perfect example where she is a musician first but also an actor, a designer, a workout guru, and a brand ambassador.  It seems as if Andre 3000 is positioning himself to achieve all this as well by moving away from the usual rapper attire and adopting a more gentlemanly style.

 

 

Now that Andre has Idlewild under his belt, he's on to another acting project and this time he's playing Jimi Hendrix in a biopic, called All Is By My Side, that focuses on 1966-67 when Hendrix was first discovered in a small NYC club.  It looks mighty interesting.

Daily Outfit: 10

 

Mondays are always difficult, no?  I'm thinking of a couple of songs, off the bat, that attest to this fact.  This one was just like all those woe-is-Monday sentiments with work but I have lots of hope for tomorrow because The Love Leighs are playing tomorrow night and I do so want to go see them.

K + L Wedding Video

K + L from Duncan Wolfe on Vimeo.
via You Have Broken The Internet

Daily Outfit: 9

Ensemble: The Style Of Music

Music & Fashion.  It's been in unison for ages and there's really nothing new that I could say about it except to highlight some amazing musicians who have used fashion to their advantage.  So I shall be starting a new albeit, sporadic, post series where I'll do just that; I'll put up all the musical artists that rock on soundtracks and magazine spreads. 

I found this awesome poster by Glen Michael of Moxy Creative House and illustrated by James Alexander called Ensemble: The Style Of Music.  The style of men like Chet Baker, Prince, Kiss, Pharrell Williams, and Andre 3000 are included.  The breakdown of the rest of the poster can be found here.

Living in Austin, where one can see live music every night of the week, I'm always kind of amazed that more musicians don't make an effort with the outfits.  Most local musicians are jeans and a t-shirt kind of variety and sometimes it comes off as super-schlepy; that's why my friends and I did the Don't Bring Me Down project, where we dressed a hypothetical band.  Unfortunately it was only hypothetical because we didn't have time to find a real band to let us take over their whole look, it was only a month-long endeavor from start to finish.  Instead, we created one that would have their musical chops based in funk and a heavy bass drum while their lyrics would be reminiscent of 18th century Romantic poetry, by the likes of Baudelaire and Rimbaud.  I still think that would be an interesting mix and it's too bad I don't play any instruments, otherwise I'd do it myself.

Suzanne Jongmans: Foam Sculptures

 

Dutch artist, Suzanne Jongmans, creates portraits reminiscent of 16th-17th century Dutch paintings by artists such as Vermeer and Holbein, except that Jongmans uses packing materials to create her etherial clothing.  Something so beautiful yet made out of trash.  I love it.

Daily Outfit: 8

This is the car that my man and I lived in on the road for a little over a year. We call her Breathless Mahoney.

Shel: The Battle Of Evermore

A quartet of musical sisters out of Fort Collins, CO, named Shel, who do an excellent rendition of Led Zepplin's The Battle Of Evermore complete with mandolins.  Plus, I love their style.

Daily Outfit: 7

What's that I'm reading, you ask?  Why that's my new subscription, the first one to arrive at my new house!  I have large dreams of being a better hostess in the near future and Ms. Martha Stewart is just the lady to help me get there.  And that gentleman there is my special man, Conner.

The Hillside Farmacy

Some friends and I went to brunch at a relatively new restaurant in town today called The Hillside Farmacy.  The decor was amazing and I just had to take some photos of it. 

 

Also, I'm on the hunt for Austin's best Bloody Mary-a little "hair of the dog" is essential on Sunday mornings-and I simply had to try their Wasabi Bloody Mary.  It was pretty darn good, had a nice little bite on the tail-end of the sip.  Not sure if it's my favorite so far, but it's in the running for sure.