Blog Entry #10: Christmas Shopping

I just got off the phone with my mom. Ugh. That statement alone should easily generate some empathy from at least some of you. Well, I love my mom, I DO, but everytime I've talked to her over the last 2 months, she's asked me what I want for Christmas (what a terrible mother she is). So what's on my list for her? 1.) For her to drop the air quotes when she says I'm "beautiful"; 2.) Her love. But she told me to get serious and tell her something realistic--even though I inevitably get the same thing every year: a huge gift box with a note inside that says "I let you live" (I'm the middle child--enough said).

However, if you're not like my mom and you have a hard time picking out gifts for the people you know, you've come to the right place. With Thanksgiving already here on Thursday, Christmas is looming around the corner. While I would love to give extravagant, expensive gifts to the ones I love, as an unemployed student living in New York City--wait, just give me a second to stop crying from laughing so hard because there's just absolutely no way that could happen right now. So here are just a few things for which you won't need to break into your piggy bank to please everyone on your shopping list.

For the Jewelry Lover:

The girl who loves jewelry is usually looking for something beautiful, cool, and unique. This body chain happens to be all three. Body chains are a great alternative to necklaces because they can completely transform the look of a plain top or dress into looking like it has metal chains all around your body. Suhhhhweeeet! Triple Coin Body Chain, $28 at Topshop.com

For the Party Girl:

For the girl who is staying out until the sun comes up just like Audrey. (Or the insomniac who stays up eating ice cream and catching up on homework and TiVo). Holly GoNightly Sleep Mask, $15 at FredFlare.com

For the Art Lover:

"Oh Starry Night, these socks are warm and fuuuuuuuzzy." (sung to the tune of "Oh Holy Night", naturally, for those of you who didn't catch on). These socks are perfect for your art-loving friend to wear under her boots or just around the house to slide around on the tile floors. Starry Night Knee Socks, $12.50 at FredFlare.com

For the Crafter:

P.S. - I Made This has been one of my FAVORITE blogs for years now because I love to partake in fun with hot glue guns and glitter, and I like to do crafts too. ;) Anywho, the creator of the blog, Erica Domesek, came out with a book of over 25 crafts with easy step-by-step instructions just like on her blog. Perfect for anyone who loves to DIY anything they can! P.S. - I Made This by Erica Domesek, $18.95 at Shopbop.com

For the Techies:

This Rebecca Minkoff neoprene laptop case is the perfect gift for the friend who won't separate from their precious computer. The pyramid studs double as a weapon against anyone who may try to steal it--a 2-in-1 and that's always a great plus! Comes in pink and purple too. Rebecca Minkoff Pyramid Neoprene Laptop Case, $78 at Shopbop.com

For the Girl with the Roommate Who is Driving Her Up the Wall:

We're in college. For some of us, we are stuck living in dorms. Very small, cramped, living-on-top-of-eachother dorms. There are even those people who live in apartments with roommates and don't get along with them. For all of these people, I present to you a checklist of all the complaints everyone wishes they had the guts to say out loud, but now don't have to! Things like "Do your dishes" and "Turn off the TV"--it is fantastic. I make a motion that they add "Stop moaning loudly in your sleep" and "SAVE THE RAINFOREST AND STOP USING UP ALL THE TOILET PAPER" (Uhh...I heard these were common complaints and they have nothing to do with my roommate). They may need a new roommate afterward, but it'll be worth it to get it all off their chest. Hey A**hole Pad, $9 at FredFlare.com

So the last one may have been completely for me, but I hope the rest helped to at least give you some ideas. Figuring out what to get for our friends and loved ones can be mighty stressful; as if we need anymore stress on top of worrying about final exams, projects, and running out of toilet paper EVERY. DAY. (I MEAN C'MON, SERIOUSLY?? THIS IS RIDICULOUS)

Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! :)

Blog Entry #9: New Fashion Show Formats

Where's your phone right now? I bet you could tell me in an instant because let's face it, folks, we're addicted to technology. Our generation started out not being able to go to bed without our stuffed animals and blankets, to now not being able to go to bed without our phones. We use them for the usual phone calls and texts, as well as ignoring annoying people trying to hand us fliers on the street and homeless people shaking their tin cans at us (Oh get off your high-horse, you do it too)--my point being: they come in handy. But I digress.

With the rate at which technology is becoming a constant part of our generation's lives, it's no surprise that retailers and designers are trying to get our attention through more innovative and technologically-enhanced ways. That means changing the traditional format to something we haven't seen before.

Burberry has recently gone on a technological tirade, launching its 2010-11 Prorsum Fall collection in live 3-D and launching new stores equipped with huge LED screens.However, they took it took a whole other level. To celebrate the opening of a flagship store in China’s capital, Burberry’s show featured holograms walking through eachother, multiplying along the catwalk and exploding into snowflakes. This definitely wasn't your typical catwalk. Before the show officially began, images were projected onto huge screens all over the room, including ones of the iconic, signature plaid in bag form rippling across the ceiling. For the actual show, instead of the usual angry-looking models strutting down the runway, there were only 6 angry-looking models walking down the runway and the rest were angry-looking model-like holograms! Of course we know that Alexander McQueen got the ball rollin' in 2006 when he featured an unbelievably chilling and beautiful holographic Kate Moss on his runway.Take a gander at the video below and some of the stills I posted just below it:

Spontaneous Combustion on the Runway?

I spy Abbey Lee in the finale

Five years later after the iconic Moss moment, and this is definitely a bit more updated than Mr. McQueen's hologram for sure. Despite that, I think it was a very neat progression of the hologram runway. Burberry's chief creative director, Christopher Bailey, is young and has been bringing Burberry back into the current age of fashion and technology--and it seems to be working for them. In an interview with Vogue, Bailey said he will try to continue being technologically innovative with the brand. It's all cool, but hopefully the prices on the signature trench won't be holographically or literally doubling anytime soon.

Blog Entry #8: Video Lookbooks

Ever have those days where you look in your closet and feel like you have nothing to wear? It makes me wish I had never left my life at the nudist camp. I mean, what?

...anyway, on such days, I like to take a little inspiration from different lookbooks that designers, companies, and/or stores put out. Lookbooks are a printed showcase of still images of a fashion designer or fashion brand’s collection. They have gotten a bit more creative than just some still images. Designers have started to get with the digital age and put out digital and video lookbooks. They are more editorial nowadays and tend to give a sense of the feeling of what the designer and collection are all about. It also serves to give you ideas on how to wear the items from the collections that are currently out or items that the store is offering. One of my absolute favorite places to look for these are shopbop.com. Most of you have probably heard of them, and if you haven't, they're an awesome online store that has fantastic lookbooks and more...so, like, get on it....now. They're the best because they have multiple lookbooks by designer, by item, by individual style, etc. So you can get tons of ideas for many of different items of clothing--which is super convenient when you need fresh ideas for your wardrobe just before you're about to give up and run to class in your skivvies.

Shopbop has the normal "still" lookbooks that show cool models hanging around in super cool outfits being super cool, and then they also have some designer lookbook videos where there are more cool models dressed cool and being cool with movement and music. It's fantastic for the self-esteem, really. I like things that are not-so-serious (shocker, I know) and more fun, which is why I was drawn to the Alice + Olivia Fall 2011 lookbook video. It's very Parisian-chic, young, ladylike, and playful, filled with lace, silk, sequins, pearls, glitter and everything that is characteristic of Alice + Olivia.

"Ahaha let's play tag in these fabulous clothes so some more fabulous clothes will just magically appear on our bodies" I would play tag all the time if that happened to me. But nooooo, everything good happens to beautiful people and the rest of us are doomed to live out our ordinary lives where we have to physically put on and take off our clothes. That's what I call complete bull-honky, my friends. As depressing as that truth is, it's still nice to look at pretty clothes (and no, I have no shame in being a stereotypical girl).