30 days of brandon

i need to give a huge, spectacular shout out to my dear friend brandon, of twentythirtyforty.net, who has been in the midst of a 30 day style challenge for the past month, in which she has challenged herself to wear something completely new every single day without repeating an outfit. i went over to the studio one day to take her daily picture and we were discussing how difficult it is to create a completely new outfit everyday, with just your closet as a resource. she has done beyond fabulously, and i'm so proud of her. these are just a few of my favorites, but you should really check out styled in chicago - the chicago now blog on which she's been chronicling this journey - to see her entire 30 days (look 30 premieres today!).

she is a beautiful, wonderful, creative, fabulously dressed women, and i have inserted each of the photos from her challenge directly into the "style inspiration" folder on my desktop for when i've nothing to wear. xoxo.

images: styled in chicago

vogue. in vogue.

i really thought vogue did a good job with this editorial. although i think it could be more encompassing (it's a little sparse, period-wise, no?) the styling was nice, and the variance of the images was effective. still very us vogue, but nice to see a chronology of different imagery.

what did you all think?

images: fashion gone rogue

givenme

i heart these givenchy studded heels. and their open-toedness, animal skin, big thick heel, and star embellishments.

image: jak and jil

perfectly cuffed

image: olsens anonymous

put me on the row

it's no secret that i'm a big old sucker for the olsen twins, and their fall collection for the row is no exception. with all of the potential hype their fame and influence could generate, i so appreciate the understated, delicately chic aesthetic of their fw2010 collection. after years of setting trends, and having their style so closely critiqued, i feel as if they've grounded their look and personal approach to fashion.  love it love it - count me in. 

images: style.com

fashionable friends

i love the look on the left. it's definitely something i would wear.

fashionable friends are my favorite. instant, effortless glamour.

vika gazinskaya, miroslavia duma - image source: jak and jil

semi-wrinkled cotton, olsen style

only ashley olsen could pull off chicago bears colors in semi-wrinkled cotton without looking trashy.  and mk, i'll steal those sleeves and golden animal belt buckle any day. the olsens always put me to shame, gleefully. but as long as i can observe them as delicious eye candy, i'm okay with that.

image source: fashion roadkill

in the mood

don't get me wrong. i loves me some fashion month. but the ultimate downside of the ferocious web-attention it requires is that i spend all of my free time (which, thanks to grad school, is none. i've taken to now drinking many cups of coffee around the 7pm hour so as to keep me going through the rest of the night) ogling over style.com, and i neglect the other wonderfully inspirational blogs i usually check on a daily basis. as i was doing some work for my wired writing class tonight, i serendipitously happened upon one of my all-time favorite blogs, moodboard, which always has the most stunning images. in honor of fashion week, moodboard was featuring images of designer's homes, which were, as you can probably imagine, awash with creative genius. because we all need to shake it up a bit, i want to share some of these photos with you. it's always fun to look at execeptional fashion, but what's more interesting than a home that radiates personality and an acute sense of taste and self? as i think of the mess that my poor bedroom has turned into in recent weeks...i say, nothing.


thea bregazzi's closet, elle (2008)





erin featherston, domino magazine (2006)









marc jacobs, house and garden magazine (2000)

thanks, marie claire

ashley appears in this stunning editorial in marie claire next month, and the whole thing is absolutely beautiful. if i had a shot of myself framed by a beautiful antique doorway, wearing a high-slit gown perfectly draped around my body, i'm pretty sure i'd die happy.

from the interview:

"I think you're either born with a sense of style or you're not," Ashley says in her small, soft voice, giving her knuckles a loud crack. "Either you care or you don't. And we"—she and Mary-Kate—"love fashion.

"The dark eyeliner, the scarf around the head—it's just so interesting and natural."

"Mary-Kate and I are very aware of trends and style, but at the end of the day, we don't even think twice about it. It's just, What do I feel like wearing today, and how do I want to put it together?"

"The amount of beautiful things we've ruined—not having the patience for a tailor and cutting everything ourselves … My sister once took an Alaïa dress of mine and just cut the whole thing, and then she was like, 'I cut it too short.'"

"Mary-Kate and I don't think about fashion as these clean, beautiful objects. We just kind of wear it and live in it."