Floral silk dress, See by Chloe'; Black silk blazer, Alessandro Dell'Acqua; Nude leather pumps, Timberland (oh yes); Ruffly belt, DIY.













Sorry i've been such a bad bad blogger. Ah, I've been in Boston and the suburbs since the last entry. J'aime Boston! C'est tres cool et fun. The perfect break from super-industrial, surrounded by coal-plant cities, no? Well, here is one of zeee recent Chloe' acquisitions. Yes, Boston and Cambridge are, indeed magical. This dress is a size too large, but it was nothing that a sleeveless jacket could not fit, right? No? What? Butterfly?

Have you ever been addicted to hand-made looking things? Lately, DIY projects have taken this head by storm. It's addictive! There are already gifts for P. and some early HanuChrisKwanzaa presents even wrapped up in Martha Stewart-like formats. Hahaha. The ruffly belt here was a J.Crew-bridals inspired project from the ChicSteals blog.

XOX!

The Girl Getting Crafty at the Atelier's Closet.

Overly Seized

Rag Doll

Some garments are beautifully unwearable. They are hard to wear. Their looks are so unusual that one just has to have them... but to harmonize them with what? They dont harmonize. Will you wear them just by themselves? Maybe with a pair of amazing shoes?

Too bad that indecent exposure is... well... indecent...

But seriously, a high waisted vintage tulip mini, a shredded white tank, those Dolce & Gabbana plaid green gaucho trousers... you get he idea. Then, there are other pieces that are so straightforward that you have to work to make them seem original or unique in any way. To express yourself with everything else.

Gap into Alexander Wang DIY

[Blrown Studded shield sunglasses, Marc Jacobs; Black T-shirt dress, Gap; Leopard colored graphic ankle boots, Franco Sarto; Copper Arabic Coin necklace, Flea Market]

Turned this Gap T-shirt dress with Scarf into a DIY of the Alexander Wang stretch dress. Although his version is in white, black is so much more preferable sometimes! Ah, yes, you love black. It is the perfect color.

Also! Mom and moi drove to the flea market! Got lots of goodies, which you will see very very soon. This Arabic coin necklace is one of them!! Yes, very moi. Well, some of us just cant help it.

And did you notice the sun came out from its hiding place? Welcome back Mr. Sun.
Cup of Chai Latte to celebrate,

Shine bright like a diamond

Gray beaded jacket, Vintage; Black heart sunglasses, Betsey Johnson; Lavender-ish pink tiered skirt, ??; silver branch necklace worn as bracelet, Flea market; Black patent pumps, Coach;

Beaded vintage jacket, backwards and zipped up... It started raining as I was taking these pictures and the wind blew down the camera. Note to self, invest in a tripod.There was this teen boy staring from his porch.

This skirt was a gift from my sister in the summer of 2007, a tiered boho-ish number she got at a sale. I asked her how to wear it and she said with a white tee and sandals. But it was overplaid. The look was on too many retail catalogs. So, she said, "figure it out, skinny girl."

Hence, it had never been worn. It could not. It refused with it's velvety might!
Yes, this skirt refused. It said, "No, Mari, no!"
So there it was, in the donation bag... until last night, when it suffered a scissor attack and lost a tier.

Love these necklaces.

Things I Like: DIY and Basement hunting

Not sleepy enough for sleep, not awake enough for studying.... But there was a pair of scissors and an oversized sweatshirt that mostly acts as a makeshift dustbag for mon leather goods. There was a DIY feature on teen vogue about how to make a skirt out of an oversized red Christmas Santa Claus sweatshirt. Now it's an asymmetrically hemmed skirt with Santa as an apron. The weirdness of the shape and the dark humor in is guaranteed some more of those looks from my fellow suburban locals. Ahh, yes, picket fence suburbia. The skirt is All I hoped it would be. Perfectly mon taste.

Current Mood:

Won the jackpot with this oblong, shimmery scarf. To think it almost stayed behind; I could kick mon self for such neglectful shopping. Gee, I make myself laugh sometimes...

Peachy Daytime Sparkly Beads

I'm so lucky to have found this dress yesterday! The bicycle broke down in the middle of nowhere in north Tucson so I walked into a store, relieved, and asked the girl clerks if they knew of any taxi cab service to go back home. Of course, all i got was a snotty remark about the bus, although no one knew where the stop was. And there was a computer since it had internet, but no interest. Said bus stop was 2 miles away... up-hill. Thank you, ladies, for the extra excercise!

So, at the end of the day, I wandered into a store and was so lucky to find this vintage beaded dress! At first, it looked like something that granny used to wear with a little purse, and her straight blondish hair up on a knot. Oh, man, that was so long, long ago. We all wanted to wear her clothes, so much that some of us ended up scolded in the corner with rouge all over our faces and tangled, knotted hair, and a trail of cookie crumbs and marmalade on the pretty floor.

The long sleeves are so airy and sheer-ish, the cuffs are folded and beaded too. Oooh, and the shape is really, reeeally loose with so much drapey fabric, but it comes with a matching sash so it could be a mumu, or an empire waist, or a mid waist, or a low waist... So it would fit just about any figure. I can see it going down the family tree with so much ease!

Can't wait to dress it up with a blazer, a nice black bag, belt, and pumps for the office or with strappy heels, a clutch, and a glittery head piece for a formal event/party/date.

Peachy nude beaded dress, Vintage; Golden gladiator sandals, Sofft; Brown gradient sunglasses, Cole haan.

Origin of the Trends

With summer peeking it’s sexy head, who doesn’t want to bring their airiest tops and sheeny accessories? I’ve been so ready to bring out this shredded top since last fall (when i made it). It is a kid’s size M and was meant as an undershirt for my sweaters. But it tight and could ride up any second. One of my Puerto Rican friends from school, who is really into hip-hop, was wearing something similar after rehearsal. She told me to bring it to dinner. This was perfect to do when waiting for the laundry and while watching House MD!
Lots of people have caught on to this cool trend, and its origins are even cooler. Ripped, cut, and tied trends have been around since the early 80s or even earlier thanks to Hip Hop. Kids needed stylish and fresh fashion to get street cred but they could not always afford much more than tees, jeans, one or two pairs of sneakers, and shoe-laces. Lots of the tees used to have shoe laces too (think Spring 2005 Marc Jacobs =)
Oh, why I love the grass roots.
Con el verano sexy acercandose ¿A quien no le dan deseos de sacar sus franelas mas frescas y accesorios mas lustrosos de los baules?
He estado lista para poner a la luz esta franela destrozada desde otoño pasado (cuando la hice). Es de talla mediana… de ninos. Se suponia que fuese una franela para ponerme bajo mis abrigos, pero me quedaba tan apretadita que no me sirvio ni para ese proposito.
A una de mis amigas puertorriqueñas de la uni, le gusta mucho el baile de hip-hop, y llevaba puesto algo similar después de uno de sus ensayos de baile. Le pregunte como la hizo, y me dijo que le traiga una franela esa noche a la hora de la cena. Pues destrozar y desmaranar esta franela fue el pasatiempo perfecto mientras esperaba que se lave la ropa y mientras miraba my programa favorito, "House M.D.".
Este verano, las franelas destrozadas han alcanzado gran popularidad por ser una tendencia interesante. Lo que muchos no saben es que sus origenes son a un mas interesantes. Los t-shirts rasgados, cortados, y amarados son una tendencia que ha existido desde, por lo menos, los anios 80s gracias a la cultura del Hip Hop. Los chicos y chicas de esas eras necesitaban vestirse con estilo y frescura para que los respeten un poco en la calle. El problema era que no siempre les quedaba presupuesto para comprarse más que franelas, pocos los pantalones vaqueros, uno o dos pares de zapatillas deportivas, y cordones. Pues, alguinos de las franelas se hacien blusas y las hacian con cordones de zapato (No te recuerda a la coleccion de verano de Marc Jacobs 2005? )
Oh, como amo los origenes de las cosas.
Mucha gente desprecia a la cultura del hip hop, algunos por no saber, y otros por prejuiciosos. Pero el hip hop es el origen de muchas pasarelas de moda a las cuales los mismos que no entienden el hip hop, aplauden y visten creyendo que el inventor fue el disenador de la pasarela. =)