The BCBG campaign featuring Jessica Stam in a red wig was one of my all-time favorites. The warm, orange-y hues on this page remind me so much of fall and I am beyond ready for it. I’ve been guzzling Starbucks Pumpkin Spice lattes and I just ordered my first-ever Topshop item — a big, hand-knit chunky woolen sweater. I have a detailed Fall fashion post all planned out and I can’t wait to share it with you next week. View the full Fashion Notebook set on Flickr.
Last week, Gala, Molly, Jazzi and I were at the InStyle Lounge at Fashion Week and spotted these two striking ladies. The blonde looked at us and said “Personally, I’m more into avant garde fashion like you girls” as she clutched her wine glass with the longest silver fingernails I’d ever seen. She runs a company called Crybaby Productions. The brunette heads up a company called Tender Gloving Care. She claimed to be the personal stylist of the blonde. After some brief chit-chat, they waved goodbye and left the lounge in sky-high stilettos, trailed by their videographer. We were in awe. But, I am getting way ahead of myself…..
It has been an annual tradition of mine to fly to New York for my birthday and throw a joint party with Gala for quite some time now and this year was no different. Last Friday, I hopped on a plane and flew overnight, waking up in the city on 9/11 and getting stuck in snarled traffic. Gala and I spent the afternoon running around the city, picking up last minute party favors.
The party was exactly what we’d hoped for — very, shall I say…..Gothic Liberace?! Candy-colored cupcakes, a disco ball, balloons and skull goblets galore.
Gala and I spotted this very lovely graffiti on our way home.
After our party, Bianca joined me for the ModCloth party at 10 Degrees. We had an awesome time sipping chocolate martinis and chatting with photographer Kristin Cofer.
The next afternoon, Bianca and I decided to trek to Century 21, a massive discount designer superstore. While there are many amazing items lurking in the racks, don’t be fooled — not everything is wearable. We were completely dumbfounded by this pink fur / black mesh / lace skirt. My face says it all. REALLY?!!!
Bianca: “Hmmmmm….should I or shouldn’t I?”
Thanks…….but no thanks.
Do you like my new $500.00 sweater with fuchsia accents and flower embroidery? Fashion Week, watch out!
That night, Bianca and I went clubbing (how 2005 of us). Let’s just say that The Greenhouse is seriously amazing. If you ever have a chance to go, please do. The upstairs features a ceiling dripping in glass balls while the walls are covered in blinking lights.
The basement walls of The Greenhouse are covered in faux ivy.
Rad Warholian street art.
There seemed to be a theme of red drinks throughout the week. Top photo by Bianca.
Quaint city corner.
On Monday, Gala, Jazzi and I went shopping in Soho. We all managed to share some unbelievable restraint. Some highlights: H&M’s displays and the Rodarte jacket at Opening Ceremony.
I have no idea what this art is but it’s so unbelievably cool.
Gala had a meeting so Jazzi, Sean and I followed her up to Times Square.
Jazzi pulls up Nubbytwiglet.com on her iPad.
Highlights from the Lower East Side.
On Tuesday (my birthday), I spent the afternoon in a meeting with Gala, Jazzi and Molly. Aren’t they adorable?
After the meeting, Molly took us to her top-secret members only club. It was beautiful.
Molly’s new Alexander McQueen ring.
That night, Bianca took me to a bar called Fat Baby. When we walked in, half naked men were serving cupcakes on platters. I wore a vintage red wool dress that I’ve had for ages.
I wanted to take a minute to mention this dress. On my way to a meeting with Gala, I realized how shockingly underdressed I was and we made a beeline for Urban Outfitters. We walked out with the three of same exact dress in the same size, in different colors. I think that this is a great demonstration on how the same dress can be styled so completely differently.
Downtown Graffiti.
I love New York.
This week was fun but the adventure was far from over. On Friday morning, Bianca and I boarded a plane bound for Las Vegas. But, that’s another story for another time. Hold tight, the Week in Pictures: Viva Las Vegas™ edition is coming soon!
Peace, Love & Nubs,
• An expert analysis of Lady Gaga’s meat dress.
• I love it when people take the time to explain their jobs — Anna of D16 shares how she became a book cover designer.
• Reading about ‘it’ girls makes me feel like a shit girl. Rachel Hills says “It strikes me that ‘It’ people – or at least the ones that are sold to us through magazines and the like – are not naturally in possession of that “certain something” so much as they are imbued with it through the repeated endowment of flattering camera angles and flattering words.”
• Beautiful illustrated letterforms by Jonny Wan.
• Trekking through Midtown without using the avenues: “The goal: to walk from the Empire State Building, on West Thirty-third Street, to Rockefeller Center, on West Forty-eighth, without ever setting foot on Fifth or Sixth Avenue—to knife through tall buildings in a single bound, or at least in stepwise forays.” Hey, everyone needs a hobby!
• Gala just closed commenting on her blog for good and tells us why she did it. This is a huge move and a decision that every blogger has to make for themselves. While I currently love and welcome commenting on my blog, I can understand why others are making the change.
• Ahhh, I love this! My old high-school friends won’t go away.
• If you need to track down really rad office supplies to outfit your desk, Kris Atomic delivers. So much good stuff, so little space!
•Ten online personalities (including me) share what makes them feel beautiful.
When I celebrate birthdays on my own, they tend to be pretty low-key. It just seems like too much trouble to put together a massive party so I usually end up at a bar with a handful of friends. But, in the last few years since I’ve known Gala, that’s all changed. She is a party throwing master! With our birthdays being just one day apart (hers is the 13th, mine is the 14th) it made sense to join forces. We’ve done a few birthdays together now and each time, they keep getting even more elaborate.
The week before I arrived in New York, I received a flurry of quite random emails that darted between the acquisition of skull goblets and cupcake orders. While I tend to be a bit more practical and low-key, Gala always believes that more is better. And, I have to say, she was right. Once again.
On September 11th, I flew into New York nice and early. Of course, traffic was a snarled mess, with cop cars everywhere but I didn’t let that damper my mood. Gala and I met up and began the race across town, darting through Party City, Sugar Sweet Sunshine and many other stores on a quest to add the finishing touches to our party.
When we arrived back at Gala’s apartment and she began pulling out piles of accoutrements including the skull goblets, a multi-tiered skull cupcake stand and oh-so-much-more, my eyes got really big and I looked over at The Dish, bewildered. Though, I knew he couldn’t console me — we were helpless in her quest for party madness! Our birthday theme would be nothing less than “Gothic Liberace.” Did I mention that Gala had also managed to reserve a private garden for us?! She has the magic touch.
The private garden was gorgeous. The Dish helped us hang a mini disco ball over the table and a handful of friends (including Jazzi all the way from LA!!!) joined us for a low-key afternoon. It was really perfect. Chloe Rice did the photography honors.
We had to clear out of the private garden in a hurry so we quickly packed up piles of cupcakes and collected the goblets. It was time to move on. We took our mini army over to Thompkins Square Park where a festival was going on. The music being played was weird new age headache-inducing drone madness.
Thanks to Gala’s planning and a great group of friends, this was my favorite birthday gathering to date. Good cupcakes, great company and skull goblets — what more could a girl ask for??
Cozy knits and peachy shades have me yearning for Fall even more. Let’s just say that there’s a chunky off-white Topshop sweater that I have my eye on. View the full Fashion Notebook set on Flickr.
Last night, Bianca and I decided to relive old times and go clubbing. But, no outing with us is ever quite complete without a pre-party and a photo shoot!
Before we went out, we sipped vodka and cranberry juice out of my favorite white goblets. Bianca knows me all too well and basically serves me EVERYTHING in them. Coffee, tea, water, booze — she has the routine down.
We sat on her couch, watching the MTV VMA’s, doing impersonations of Rihanna and Eminem and critiquing everyone’s fashion choices before we started shooting photos. My look can best be summed up as “Gothic Michael Jackson.” If I was a lolita schoolgirl on my way to an MJ concert, this would surely be my uniform.
I Wore:
Jacket, necklace, dress, belt and headband, Forever 21
Tights, Givenchy
Watch, Nixon
Boots, Minimarket
I am in love with these Givenchy tights. $12.00 at Century 21, baby. But beware — not everything at Century 21 (or, the 21st Century, as one foreigner called it!) is stylish. Just you wait for the photographic evidence!
Theme-wise, Bianca and I became a yin and yang of one another. Polar opposites. Black vs. white. We totally worked it!
The Greenhouse was PACKED. The inside was purely out of a movie set — walls covered in blinking lights, parts of the ceiling dripping in invisible chandeliers. It was gorgeous. 90s house music bumped and the crowd couldn’t stop dancing. It was pretty much a perfect night and reminded me of why I love New York so much.
Goodbye, Summer. You’ve been good. But, Fall is upon us, my bags are packed and it’s time race across the U.S. to New York for birthday celebrations, Fashion Week, time with friends and meetings. In other (unrelated) news, a little while ago Joey painted this super cool portrait of my A.F. Vandevorst shoes. I love it.
I never quite know what to pack because my wardrobe has to work across birthdays, afterparties, club nights, meetings, photo shoots and who knows what else. I always end up throwing piles of black into my suitcase along with 3 to 4 pairs of shoes in varying heights and a pile of colorful accessories.
Speaking of the birthday, Gala’s been firing off downright random and hilarious emails at all hours in our quest to plan a shindig from opposite coasts. She summarized it in her newsletter earlier this week: “Change is afoot & my Filofax is bursting with scrawled notes in black ink pen. Poor Nubby is bearing the brunt of what I like to call the Gala Hurricane. She’s been receiving crazed emails in the middle of the night, darting from topic to topic (birthday parties! Fashion Week! Photoshoots! Llamas!). She’s a trooper.” Haha. I can’t wait for tomorrow.
Hello! Jeffrey Campbell has delivered again, this time with the Brisbane. I never knew that walking around with hunks of wood attached to my feet could be so stylish!!!
This is an outtake from True Blue. I really really wish I had a scooter sometimes.
I love both of these books — I’ve been doing a some research for an upcoming blog post. Though, with the birthday / traveling whirlwind, things will be slowing down a bit around here for the next two weeks.
Alas, it’s time to finish packing and rush off to the airport so I can join my New York friends and cheer being another year older. In case you were wondering, my actual birthday is September 14th. Enjoy your weekend, stay out of trouble and I’ll return soon!
Peace, Love & Nubs,
• Such an amazing collection of Volkswagen literature! Imagery spans from the early 1930s and goes all the way until 2005.
• Fear. Debt. Money. I’m 45 and scared. What are you supposed to do next when you’ve ‘done it all’ and hit a dead end?
• A very intriguing Vanity Fair profile on the normally press-shy genius, Sean Parker, co-founder of Napster and Facebook.
• My newest guilty pleasure is English 50 Cent. Behold the Real 50: “Soulja and fab kicked it they cool now aint no more beef you cock suckers have a nice day lol” which was interpreted by the Queen’s English 50 as, “Soulja and Fab have reconciled their differences, but have run out of meat. Warm regards to my homosexual followers. *laughs*.”
• Identity Designed is a brand new “showcase and forum for those involved in the design of brand identities.”
• Avoid blogger burnout: 5 tips to save your sanity.
• Too many people feel let down because their life and looks aren’t ‘fabulous’ all the time. In Making Magic 2: On the Tyranny of Image, Rachel Hills says, “…One thing I believe quite firmly is that we’re sold a lie that through changing our appearance, we can change our lives. That if only we lost weight, had “better” hair, the “right” clothes, we’d be able to access that certain, indefinable magic we’re convinced the people who do have that aesthetic possess. I’ve been speaking with women who do have that magic – that capacity to make amazing things happen to them – and unsurprisingly, what I’ve found is that it isn’t about what you wear or how you look at all.”
• New celeb status: having so much traffic that Twitter dedicates entire servers to you.
• Fashion blogs versus fashion magazines.
• Designer Promise Tangeman weighs in on copycats. She says, “Now, I totally understand that sometimes copying can be a good thing and help in the learning process. As an art student I had plenty of assignments where I would have to copy a famous painting technique, color scheme, or exact drawing. And I DID learn a ton in that process. But in the professional competitive business world it cheapens your brand.”
Hello! I'm Shauna, a graphic designer, blogger and co-founder of The Blogcademy. Oh, and I love shoes. Read more…
