Images courtesy of Black No. 12 | 2010.

Think of it. Scrawl it on paper, a napkin, wrist. Have it keep you up at night. Grab the materials. Cut it up. Destroy it. Mend it. Reunite everything. Tag it. Scrutinize it. Hang it up on the door and just look at it. Have trouble going to bed thinking of it.

Wake up in the middle of the night and look at it some more. Take a picture of it. Take 50 more pictures of it. Edit. Re-edit. Edit again. Kiss it goodbye.

There’s the process in a nutshell.

Image courtesy of Russh Australia June/July 2010
Photographer: Will Davidson
Models: Ieva Laguna and Tony Ward
Fashion Editor: Stevie Dance

Look at how eerily calm she looks getting blasted by concentrated Tang. That’s a shot you have to get right the first time.

No R. Kelly jokes.

I am officially on Etsy!

Once I started posting a couple things, it felt like eBay all over again and the rhythm started to pick up in my fingers. I must admit that I would get pretty obsessive with my eBay account. I would watch as bids increased and numbers went up, people watching, people no longer watching. I have a sneaking suspicion that Etsy may sink its fang into me deep.

The color of the LIMU KALA dress above reminds me of the tide pools in Hilo, Hawaii. I remember picking up the most beautiful bouquet of seaweed. The different colored greens that were in it were amazing. So amazing that I shoved some into my mouth. Salty. Gritty.

This is where I work. This is generally what I wear when I am working. This is what I do when a camera is in my face – even if it is a self-timed shot.

There is a face in this picture and it belongs to Rauschenberg.

Can you spot him?

Here are some new things from DALAT Designs.

There are select items available now at Etoile Boutique. There will be more to come on the site and on ETSY too. I swear I will get better at taking more pictures and keeping you updated. Naughty naughty me.

Model: Guinevere van Seenus
Photographer: Tierney Gearon
Stylist: Sophia Neophitou

I always flip through TEN Magazine. I love their layouts and consistency. After looking at this editorial, which I adore BTW, I fell in love with – the violet garden hose. Now I am going to find out where to get one.

I have been sourcing and collecting vintage/used clothes for as long as I can remember. I had a penchant for the designer labels that were in my mother’s Vogue and Harper’s and it was the only way that I could quickly recreate the runway looks. Now, you can see young aspiring bloggers doing the same thing. But instead of their artistic translation being only limited to school, their outfits stretch across the blogosphere and get press in Teen Vogue. A polka dot homage to Rei Kawakubu here. A tartan McQueen-inspired look there.

A perfect vintage find is great because if you are lucky, it was a deal. It is mostly likely superior in quality and construction and always accompanies a great story!

You should check out the post in the NY Times. Click on a photo on the vintage lover wall (there are 100 of them) and see what people have to say about their favorite vintage possession from all around the globe.

Image courtesy of Apartment Therapy

Here are some random images from the slideshow for T Magazine’s Profile in Style | Kelly Wearstler.

I no longer believe that the Dos Equis Man is the most interesting gentleman on the planet. That title now goes to the Undercover Icon | Irving Harper, featured in this month’s T Magazine.  Please read this article.

Harper is 93 and made the most wonderful paper sculptures. They started to overrun his house and so he stopped making them five years ago. He never sold one. Not one. He just never needed the money.

Imagine the restlessness of such a prolific and imaginative soul. I want all of those sculptures in my house, peeking out of my drawers and cupboards, hiding under my bed and looking at me while I do the dishes. I would carefully and lovingly dust every single one. They are truly wonderful! BTW, there will be a book on them by the end of the year.

Harper is credited with the Sunburst clock which was put into production by Herman Miller, and he created the still-in-use logo for the company. Harper is an old soul and does things old school. When a client gave him an Apple computer, he just stored it away in a closet.

He said:

“With a computer there are too many choices, and I always liked working within limits,” he said. “You know, if you look at Mozart, who had this strict classical framework — an allegro, an andante, a scherzo and a finale — you see that within that formula, he got results he might never have gotten if he had all the options in the world.”

I would not be surprised if I did a post on Supermarket Sarah already. Now that I am typing it, I think that I already have. But, I was catching up on blogs and different designer’s sites last night and wanted to see all of the new stuff on Sarah’s walls.<<

Her store is awesome. Awesome awesome. Simple and clever. She organizes a bunch of merchandise onto a wall. The sellables range from artwork to jewelry, to clothing and home decor stuffs. You hover your mouse over the items and click to buy. It’s such a nice break from the typical grid layout of a an online store.

I love it.

And just look at the muted hodgepodge linoleum tiles in the first picture. This color combo speaks to me in so many ways right now.

Sigh. If only grocery shopping could be this fun!!

I want all of my summer pictures to look like this. And I want all of my clothes to look like they are mangled or on the verge of deterioration.

The pearl necklace is ova. Hail the Mikimoto vest!

And on a side note, speaking of pearls, to determine whether a pearl is real and came from the actual womb of an oyster, gently scrape it against your teeth. If it is slick and slippery, it’s a faux. If it is gritty and feels textured, it is most likely real.

When you strike at a king, you must kill him.

This Ralph Waldo Emerson quote that’s fencing in a model in Milkshake Magazine reminds me of the movie Role Models.

Images courtesy of The Block Spring 2010.

Photographer: Louis Christopher
Stylist: James Worthington DeMolet

The Vogue UK site distracted me for a few hours tonight. I was able to see every single outfit that Alex Chung wore in April, and I found Paul Smith’s blog.

I like Paul Smith. I really like Paul Smith.

I love the brand and after seeing some interviews via Podcasts, was happy to find out that he is a really friendly and super positive guy – which is just so refreshing. In response to the inspiration for his Spring 2009 RTW collection, he sang “Hey Paula”.

The image above is from his blog. There’s also a picture of him crouched in a corner wielding a camera. He shot his new advertising campaign in his own studio in London. His reason: “to give an atmosphere of where I work”. I can’t wait to see.

One Smith ad that I saw a couple of years ago featured a head-to-toe zoom out shot of a model, the height of a pack of matches. The rest of the page was just blank white. I remember thinking, “This man is definitely NOT afraid of negative space”. The ad was just so simple and pleasing to the eye. A visual break. A comma. An honest and pure breath of air in a jet stream of visual distraction..