Lauren Bush (Lauren)'s Ralph Lauren wedding dress

Beautiful.

Poladroid

I was looking around the other day for a quick and dirty way to change my digital photos to look like Polaroids, and I discovered Poladroid!

It's a free application, available for both Mac and Windows platforms.  You download it, open it up, and then drag and drop a photo onto it.  It makes a sound like a Polaroid camera, and then you wait for a couple minutes while it "develops" the photo, like a real Polaroid.  Then when it's done it makes this happy noise.

Apparently even Justin Timberlake is a fan:

Music at Coney Island

Early in October, my friends and I went to Coney Island to shoot a music video for my song, "Drive," which you can listen to and download here. My friend Erica, who shot this video for me, and makes these cool live performance videos of indie musicians, came and shot it on her Canon 7D.

While we were shooting on the boardwalk, a nice man named Bruce came and took photos of me and Shawn, which are what you see below.

This is Shawn.  He and I played a couple of shows a couple of years ago, and he is back in New York from Australia, and we're playing another show this Saturday at 11PM at Sidewalk Cafe.  You can see the details here.  You can check his music out here.

The video is forthcoming, but neither Erica nor I have had a chance to sit down and edit it yet.  I am hoping to get to it by the new year.

Graey x STYLYT

Graey x STYLYT kicks off on Wednesday! Sign up at www.stylyt.com if you haven't gotten your invite yet! This is your chance to design your own Graey piece!

Introducing STYLYT

This summer, my friend Joon introduced me to Nina and Jenny, his friends from Wharton, who were working on a new fashion website called STYLYT.  STYLYT lets users customize the designs of featured designers.  Currently, the featured designer on their site is Althea Harper, who was a finalist on Project Runway a few seasons ago.  

I'm happy to announce that Graey will be the next brand featured, and our contest will launch in a few days.  The site is currently in its Beta version, but you can sign up for an invite by visiting the site here.

Here are some screenshots to show how it works.  First, you choose the item you'd like to customize.

Then you customize each section by pointing to it, and then selecting a swatch on the left side.

People can then vote on their favorites, and then I believe the designer helps pick the winner. 

I'm interested to see what sort of things people come up with -- so sign up!

Sarah Burton (Alexander McQueen Creative Director) chats with Cathy Horyn about Spring 2012

Really cool video with detail shots of the beautiful garments and accessories, and Horyn's and Burton's insight on how young people view the industry today.

Diving for McQueen on Nowness.com.

The summary from Nowness.com:

Diving for McQueen

Fashion Critic Cathy Horyn Enters the Folds of Sarah Burton's Spring 2012 McQueen Collection

The New York Times fashion critic Cathy Horyn meets Alexander McQueen Creative Director Sarah Burton at the label’s Paris atelier to explore the house’s intricate, marine-inspired Spring/Summer 2012 collection in Dustin Lynn’s stunning portrait film. Displaying a love and knowledge of fashion far beyond the catwalk, Horyn’s notorious studio visits define her style as a journalist, producing lyrical portraits of designers truly dedicated to the rigor of cutting and creating clothes. Before becoming head of the fashion house, Burton worked as McQueen’s right hand for 14 years. “With Sarah, it has a lot to do with the training she has had at McQueen, and just knowing what the McQueen studio had been like under Lee,” says Horyn of Burton’s qualification for the job. “It was always a place where it was about the technique and craft.” After the turmoil following McQueen's tragic suicide last year, the provocative label has returned stronger than ever with sumptuously beautiful collections, the record-breaking Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute attracting over 650,000 visitors, and Burton designing the Duchess of Cambridge’s much-lauded gown for the royal wedding.

I'm obsessed with her

From StyleSight

Ferri Roberts Day Off

My friend Graham, besides being a skilled and talented graphics editor for the New York Times, is an extremely talented musician.  He's currently in a band called Murder Mystery, and we became friends through music.  Well, music and Science Olympiad, but that's a whole other story.

In addition to playing piano (he would play Chopin at the end of Orchestra class in middle school), and guitar (which he plays in Murder Mystery), he also played cello.  So we were in Dorchestra (dorkestra, get it??) together, and a string quartet.  At the end of high school we were also in a band together, and in college, he formed a band which went through a few iterations -- Spoontangle (which had a certain special word in the middle), The Classifieds, and then finally, The Glorious Ninth.  I was their #1 fan and was pretty sad when they broke up.

Anyway, he recently started a music project with his very talented girlfriend, Jessica, and their first recording is a cover of Johnny Cash's "Long Black Veil."  Check it!

Inspired...

Today I visited the gallery where my friend Nicole works.  It's called Galerie Zurcher and is located on Bleecker Street next to the Zero Maria Cornejo store.  The show is officially over but was still up - work by a young artist, Matt Bollinger.  There were some drawings but what was really fantastic were these painted collages.  Here is one of them: 

It's hard to tell but what the artist did was paint pieces of paper, cut them up, and glue them to form this image.  So any time you see a shift in color, it's a different piece of painted paper, cut up.  The lines separating the lockers aren't painted, they're strips of painted paper, glued on.  It's really amazing to see close up -- the three dimensionality is striking, and you can't help but be impressed by how much time it must have taken to create the piece.  This piece was sold, and Nicole said it could have sold 7 times over.  Not bad for a painting that cost several thousand dollars.

Here are a couple of others -- these pieces made me nostalgic for my childhood.  The controller in this one was dead on.

As was the logo on this Trapper Keeper painting: 

It's not often I find contemporary paintings that are inspiring, but this was definitely one time.  You can view more of his work on his website.

Spring 2012 Roundup - C

There were a lot of C designers.  This roundup might take me longer than I expected.

I thought this was a cool neckline detail.

Cushnie et Ochs

I liked the mixing of prints and lace.

Clements Ribeiro

Scottish design prodigy Christopher Kane is one of my faves.

Christopher Kane

This is a cool skirt, especially if you have a nice ass.

Christian Dior

I've become a fan of Christian Cota.  I love the colors and delicacy of this print.

Christian Cota

Nice colorblocking.

Chloe

Chanel isn't my favorite, but it's always pretty.

Chanel

Color!

Chalayan

Phoebe Philo is pretty rad.

Celine

Cute top.

Camilla and Marc

Remembering.

One year ago, my grandmother passed away.

Looking at photos of myself with my short blonde hair, I realized I resemble her, or what she looked like when her hair was completely white. Here's a photo from several years ago of me with my grandmother:

And a photo of my blonde hair from a couple of weeks ago:

It wasn't very often that I saw her, and rarely for very long, and since she had problems speaking because of her strokes for as long as I knew her, I never really felt like I was able to develop a deep relationship with her.  However, I experienced her love, and even more, this aching longing to see her son, my father.  I'm not sure I can say that I miss her but I do feel a sense of loss, and I dread the day that I bury my own parents, or really, any other loved one.  At any rate, rest in peace.

The Fashion Truck

My friend Emily started The Fashion Truck last year, and was in New York for an event with Racked.com yesterday, so I finally got to check it out.  It's basically what the name implies -- a retail outlet on wheels.

There is a more extensive post with pictures of the interior on my friend Michelle's Untapped blog -- check it out!

Spring 2012 Roundup - A through B

It used to be that Style.com only featured a select few designers on their site, but now their list of designers is quite extensive.  As a result, this is the first season in a while where I can say that I've viewed nearly all the shows posted on the site, so I've decided to post some of my favorite looks.  For some reason, Blogger adds photos to the top of your post instead of the end, so these are in reverse alphabetical order.

I love the way the black bra peeks out.  And Joan Smalls is smoking.

Bottega Veneta

I can't say this collection got my panties in a twist, but I love these pants (though not the color).

Bibhu Mohaptra

I'm ordinarily not that into BCBG, but they nailed the colorblocking this season.

BCBG Max Azria

I'm liking what Olivier Rousteling is doing at Balmain.  I love the baroque top with the rock and roll leather pants.

Balmain

Ah, Balenciaga. How I love you so. This was probably one of the most commercial looks in the collection.

Balenciaga

Not super wearable, but beautiful details on the bodice.

Anthony Vaccarello

Thought this maxi skirt was really cool, along with how the super skinny belt goes under the flaps.

Ann-Sofie Back Atelje

Loved the print on these pants.

Anne Valerie Hash

Sheer skirts -- might not be practical but looks cool.

Ann Demeulemeester

I liked how he mixed prints.  Joseph, I just thought you were a pretty face but I'm picking up what you're putting down.

Altuzarra

Lim's clothes often bore me in their super-wearability, but these colors are so gorgeous.

3.1 Phillip Lim

Apparently I'm equally right and left brained...

Right Brain/ Left Brain Quiz The higher of these two numbers below indicates which side of your brain has dominance in your life. Realising your right brain/left brain tendancy will help you interact with and to understand others. Left Brain Dominance: (10) Right Brain Dominance: (10) Right Brain/ Left Brain Quiz

Seamless

A while ago I rewatched Seamless, a fashion documentary by Douglas Keeve.  Unfortunately, I can't find a trailer on the internets, but it's viewable on NetFlix.  Keeve also made the fashion documentary Unzipped, on Isaac Mizrahi in his heyday. (It's a bit frightening how quickly designers can go from hot to lukewarm).

The documentary covers the first CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund competition, focusing mainly on nominated designers Proenza Schouler, Doori Chung, and Alexander Plokhov of the now defunct label Cloak. (Plokhov recently launched his eponymous label after designing for several seasons for the Versace Homme label).

The film was made while I was working at Proenza; I make a brief cameo in the film where the production manager Weronika and I were quality checking in the background while Keeve was filming the designers.  Proenza Schouler ended up ultimately winning the award, and I felt a little nostalgic watching the film, remembering working in the Chinatown loft and the process of filming, getting the text from Weronika when she found out we had won.

Despite the lackluster rating on IMDb, I think the film is worth watching as a designer.  It highlights how difficult it is to make it in this business.  It was also interesting to see what had happened to the labels that were included in the documentary.  Proenza Schouler, although still a darling in the fashion industry, seems to still have difficulty actually turning a profit, despite its steady expansion.  I was told recently that Doori is funded by an Indian backer (and is likely to see a bump in her sales since MObama recently wore this gown):

Cloak shuttered in 2007 and as I mentioned, Plokhov ended up at Versace before making his recent comeback.

Also included was the denim label, Habitual. Several months ago, I interviewed with Michael and Nicole Colovos, who founded Habitual, but have since moved on to be the creative directors at the new Helmut Lang, now owned by Theory, and minus the designer himself.

At one point in the documentary, New York Times fashion critic Cathy Horyn says that it takes twenty years to establish a successful fashion label, and that quote really struck me.  She goes on to say that when a designer makes it though, they make it big, and then they show footage of Valentino's ridiculous palatial digs.  I'm not sure how easy it is to establish that sort of fashion empire any more given the current state of the economy, although Alexander Wang seems to be on his way there.  But it takes time to establish a brand and get to a point where your sales are big enough to offset the expenses incurred in building an iconic brand.

What a terrible idea

Alexander Wang makes a lot of cool stuff, but this is just a bad idea.  It's a t-shirt he designed for Starbucks, inspired by coffee stains.  I'm sorry, but anyone willing to buy this shirt for $85 is crazy.