Fashion, two ways.

Two favorites:

Dead Fleurette.

Tavi, the Style Rookie.

They're both very young, but old for their ages. They both have killer style.

Fleurette has a very French approach--an extremely pared-down, minimalist wardrobe of beautiful neutral pieces, carefully selected for color and fit and saved-up for.

Tavi sees fashion as play and art, with an apparently huge wardrobe of thrift finds, designer freebies, neon brights, frumpy grandma shoes, and things that don't fit "right" and she likes it that way.

And here's me--wanting to look so polished and classic and fine. And wanting to just have fun with ridiculous colors and crazy makeup.

I suppose I lean more towards Tavi's end--clothes, beyond the immediate function of protection from the elements and covering parts of one's body not considered acceptable in public, are a frivolous pursuit. Why spend a giant chunk of change on a beautiful designer bag that is utterly and in all ways perfect, when I could put a fraction of that into an equally functional bag that I like pretty darned well, and the rest can go to a nice dinner out, a trip to somewhere fun, rent, fixing my car, an electric mixer, a gift for my boyfriend, a ton of great second-hand books, or a video game that will provide hours of entertainment? Granted, some of said other things are just as frivolous, if not more so. And that cheaper bag might fall apart after a year or so, or even a few weeks, and could have been made in a horrible sweatshop, and I'll probably hate it before it even manages to fall apart because cheap items are also often fearfully trendy.

THIS IS WHY I WANT TO MAKE MY OWN CLOTHES, DAMMIT.

My mother gave me her sewing machine. Why spend $80 (US) on the perfect t-shirt, when a few dollars worth of lovely organic cotton and a few hours can earn me a replica or better, and I can say "oh this thing? I just whipped it up the other day" when anyone asks.

Granted, some things I definitely can't make. Shoes and chunky sweaters spring to mind. But I don't mind so much spending money on nice versions of those things, which I usually don't grow as bored with.

Now if I can train myself out of buying beautiful cheap stilettos, though, THAT will be something :-\

Woah, do I never update this thing or what?

Also, Blogger changed their layout system to something new and super-fancy! If only I could put my own images in the background easily, I'd totally switch.

Another new layout

I don't know a thing about web design. Well, I can tell a bad design, but I can't make one--even a bad one. So Blogger layouts it is.

I like this one. I like narrow formats because a full widescreen of text is difficult to read (my laptop is widescreen). I like the gray-on-gray. I need to crop my header down and spruce it up a bit, but other than that I think this may be the one.

Long time, no see.

I should share comics on this blog too-fits in with the art-and-design thing.

So, A Softer World breaks my heart, regularly.

Friend love

One of my bestest friends, and a fantastic artist, has opened an Etsy shop:

hFlowers on Etsy

She focuses mainly on graphic and detailed original linocuts, often of dreamscapes and scenes, but also assembles beautiful bead jewelry--I'm loving the pearl strand and moon necklaces. I also own "Gifts" framed, and lemme tell ya, her prints are even more fantastic in person. I've watched her grow as an artist for the last four years, and she's improved in leaps and bounds with art that consistently delight and surprise me.

And she has no clue that I've just written this, so you can be sure this isn't an advertisement--I just believe she deserves a lot of love (and sales) for her work!

The Comforter.

Must. Have. This. Comforter.

After the past two-and-a-half years with a black comforter on my dorm bed, I've come to like it--black comforters are warm, dark, and soothing. But this one POPS as well. Picture it on a slightly shabby white iron bed. My Manly Man boyfriend won't like it, but I don't care--I need this in my apartment.

Pictures of said apartment are still pending, but beware: it's MESSY, and the bathroom is WEIRD.

Comforter is from Target, here.

Beach Houses

As promised, a thrown-together post on beach style, inspired by This Young House.

John and Sherry's moodboards often include elements that scream "BEACH!" at me--natural, textured neutrals, light and airy colors and fabrics, and touches of beachy blue.  Their latest Design Dilemma moodboard especially got me thinking: Shelly's Design Dilemma, based in part on Shelly's Floridian love of ocean colors.

So I threw together (really, in about five minutes) a little collection of beachy things on polyvore:

Beach by shadowofaseraph on Polyvore.com

The Ikea Ektorp couch has always reminded me of beach-type furniture: poofy, traditional, and utterly neutral (so that none of the possible renters of your beach house will be offended by your furniture).  Hang a beach-scape print over that poofy couch, add an ottoman with those seagrass baskets with seashells in them.  The side-tables don't match--ideally, they'd be castoffs from your actual house, and at least one of them should be wicker.  Ditto the lamps, but for a little extra flair you might add in a new one in a beachy blue, or a capiz chandelier.

I actually spent some time this spring in a particularly interesting beach house in South Carolina--it was over 100 years old and furnished mostly with things the owners had gotten rid of over the years--with the exception of big matching lamps on the nightstands, and matching white iron beds in the attic:

I loved the light in that space, and the great view of the ocean.  Note, again, the slightly tacky (and redundant--the beach was right outside the window) beach painting on the wall.  The porch was even better--huge, right on the beach, white with black shutters, lots of rocking chairs and daybeds and a hammock--but I'm keeping that one to myself.  It's too good to share right now.

Apartment Therapy had a post on beach house style about this time last year: Beach House Inspiration.  Their inspiration photos are more modern and less thrown-together than my idea of a beach house, but the focus on neutrals and sunlight keeps it beachy, with the occasional piece of driftwood thrown in for good measure.

I found a post from Desire to Inspire as well that features a decidedly beachy design: Jodi Macklin.  Most of the photos are from a Macklin-designed summer house with all sorts of coastal accents.  I especially love this shot:

The white floor!  The huge porch!  The poofy cushions!  The seagrass chair!  It's probably not hurricane-proof, but it's b-e-a-utiful.

And this one:

This would be the little girls' room in the beach house, decorated more extravagantly than the adult quarters.  Turquose and bright pink are so Florida.

I think that's all I've got today--I probably won't get to the beach this summer, so I've got to dream somehow.