Ashish And His Sequins

Ashish Gupta is a genius. Or a madman. Or likely both. I think to an extent madness and genius are directly proportional. Whatever Ashish is, it's awesome and I love it and he should never stop being that thing. I happened upon his eponymous brand around a year ago and felt like crying and doing a little jig when I saw his Spring/Summer 2012 collection. It was a perfect combination of flowers and cowgirls and braids and sequins. And when one combines those four items gracefully--nay, MAGNIFICENTLY--said person clearly has a great deal of talent and should be showered with rose petals and chocolate chip muffins every morning. 

There isn't a whole lot of info on the designer himself on the Infinite Internet, but I did find a short interview he did with the people at London Fashion Week. He began his line in 2005, interweaving pop culture references and product placement between his messily glamourous clothing right from the get-go. Ashish has been quoted saying that his signature design focal points are, "Sequins, glamour, sportswear, and more sequins."Basically, SEQUINS. He sometimes uses them subtly as small accents, he sometimes dunks the models in bowls of sequins and sends them on the runway, he sometimes loads Nerf guns with sequins and goes on midnight panty raids thus armed. (Disclaimer: nothing I just said is true at all.) 

Ashish gathers inspiration from the cinematic world and pop culture, as well as Tumblr. He thinks Tumblr is fascinating because of how it gathers inspiration and information from millions of people worldwide. He calls it an "ever-evolving giant scrapbook of ideas." That's one way of putting it. 

The thing I love about Ashish is how endlessly funky and fearless it is. Whoever's wearing his clothes obviously does not give a flying fuq about what other people think of them, which I think is highly admirable. Good for them, and good for Ashish for promoting such intense awesomeness. 

You should check out all his collections on his website, I promise promise promise you will not regret it. 

[Photos via Style.com.]

SPRING/SUMMER 2012

SPRING/SUMMER 2012

FALL/WINTER 2012

FALL/WINTER 2012

SPRING/SUMMER 2013

SPRING/SUMMER 2013

FALL/WINTER 2013

FALL/WINTER 2013

Now I want to destroy all my old pairs of jeans and create a patchwork jumpsuit. Actually, I think I'm going to go do that. Like, right now. 

P.S. Alina and I are going to Governor's Ball this Saturday (along with a bunch of other Can I Have Your Closet veterans, like Octavia and Olive) so I'm definitely going to post about that once I've recovered from the psychedelic experience. We're seeing Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros (aka the one band in the entire world that I would follow around the world if I had the funds/means), Animal Collective, and Dirty Projectors, among others. My excitement is ova-flowin'. 

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First Grade

As the shrewd Patrick Star, PhD once said: "It's first grade, Spongebob!" 

He was of course, referring to wumbo. 

Sadly, wumbo is not the topic that I am here to speak to you about today. 

This past weekend, I went on a super Savers spree at--you guessed it--Savers with my mom and sister. It was an impromptu idea sprouted in the brain of my mother as we drove past it while in Connecticut. Due to our fantastic experiences in the past at Savers, we decided that only good could come from making a brief stop, just to check it out. If you've ever been in any store ever, you know that it is impossible to go inside for "just a minute." Physically impossible. We quickly left our self-imposed thirty-minute time limit in the dust as we moved around the cavernous outlet in a whirlwind. Half an hour effortlessly became an hour and a half. After I had gotten over the initial shock of the overwhelming mass of clothing in front of me, I was able to dig my way through every rack possible, not even stopping at the little markers that let me know that my size would not be found in the next section. 

My sister and I operate the same way: grab as much as you can, and whittle down your selection later. I entered the dressing room with approximately twenty pieces of clothing, and exited triumphantly with two short sleeve button-up shirts, one tweed skirt, a plaid shift dress, and a pair of crimson silk pants (that are secretly polyester) slung over my right arm. I then entered the shoe aisle(s), and emerged with a pair of white leather Keds, some flat black woven pointy-toed sandals, and a pair of brocade Victorian chunky heels. I was this close to buying a humongous old leather suitcase for ten dollars, but my mom told me that there was absolutely no reason to do that. My rebuttal was that I will someday be a world travel and I need a really nice leather suitcase right now. My reasoning didn't go any further than that. 

The other day I decided that it was pointless to gradually incorporate my new items into my wardrobe when I could wear the additions all at once. The result was a funky 80s nurse, according to Olive. I said that I felt like I should be bowling. Physician's assistant by day, integral part of the underground bowling scene by night. That's me. Now you know it all. 

But, in order to tie everything together, I must explain the significance of this post's title. The use of primary colors in colorblocked form reminded me of young children creating tempera finger-painted artwork in first grade. 

My thought process: Savers → colors → first graders → wumbo. 

[Photos by me.]

Blouse: Northern Isles

Pants: Norton McNaughton

Shoes: Keds

Looking discontented. That seems to be my default facial expression.

This shot was an accident, but it reminded me vaguely of an 80s teen horror film. If that's even a genre. 

Look at that white leathery eight-dollar goodness. 

I'm getting pretty excited about a new project I'm working on but I refuse to tell you about it until I'm done. So the joke's really on you. 

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Nailed It

In addition to McKayla Maroney's stick landing in the Olympics, other things that have been nailed: nails of the finger variety. I've always been intrigued by painted phalanges, but recently I've been particularly drawn (no pun intended--jaykay, my puns are always intended) to the artistry of them. The possibilities are becoming progressively more endless as people begin to open their minds to the prospect of neon-glitter nails and intense designs. The door to the industry of nail art has swung open wide, and with it has come a sea of people ready to jump on the band wagon. WAH Nails, for example, is a company that opened in 2009 in England and has now expanded to New York. Blogs have been posting nail art tutorials and DIYs left and right, so all of the sudden--as in at the beginning of the summer--I've become enamored with the idea of painting my fingers in fancy and inventive ways. When I paint my nails, they better be a work of art or I rub the lacquer off and start again. Remember these red sparkle explosions from the winter? Those made an incredible statement even when I wore the most boring of outfits (which I tried to keep to a minimum).

Fashion Week is creeping up upon us quite rapidly, so in light of that, I thought I'd inspire you all--and myself--with a lilabet (lilabet = a little bit; courtesy of Elly Goetz) of photos displaying nail art in its prime. I intend to try several/all of these out, at least one before my internship (what?!).

The Cherry Blossom Girl's Alix is one of the most put-together and classy-as-hayl people I've ever seen. I tried to rock the same design as she did on my nails before I realized that she had done it(I even used gold in the same place she did), but it was a complete failure.

Find her tutorial here.

Shini from Park & Cube has some surrious skillz when it comes to decorating fingernails. Those gradients are dainty and painterly. 

Find her tutorial here. 

Annabel Wendt of LoveMore is one of the coolest Australians I've seen to date (although I know some pretty cool Australians), and her extremities are no exception. These nails are so recreate-able that I just might have to do it. 

Ivania of Love Aesthetics is a whiz at doing crazy shiz to her fingers. Exhibit A: paint-splattered nails. So Jackson Pollock. 

Find her instructions here.

Ivania does it again, this time with an even simpler, more minimalistic design. These are a perfect example of a "Hey, I can do that!" sort of project. 

Find her instructions here. 

Don't leave your nails naked. You wouldn't want to walk out of the house with nothing on, right? Don't answer that question.

It's the weekend! Olympics? Beach? Burritos?

P.S. Expect a DIY minus the D, the I, and the Y (unless you are masochistic or own a darning needle and a shizton of time and patience) in the near future.

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Dream Is My Reality

Not only is the title of this post a reference to a fantastically awful French movie entitled "La Boum," it's also a succinct description of two aspects of my night yesterday. Wanna know what I did last night? Guess. Do it. (Hint: I told you about it in this post.)

Da suspense is killin' you, right?! I'll just tell you. Olive and I went to the H&M flagship store on 5th Avenue and 51st Street to celebrate something to do with the NBC show "Fashion Star." It was hosted by Nicole Richie, and it was freaking incredible. I won't tell you too much because next week's Chictopia article will essentially be hardcore story-time. (Speaking of Chictopia, didja check out my new article from Monday night?) I will tell you that I finally wore that vintage Elie Tahari velvet sheath dress I bought at No Relation Vintage with Chris and Ben. I've been fantasizing about wearing it to a classy party with a 1920s hairstyle and my black round toe heels ever since I got it. Olive helped complete my Great Gatsby look by doing a pretty fancy smoky eye on me that I could have never accomplished otherwise. Snaps for her. 

The party was basically people shopping at H&M and mingling. Highlights of the night: 

1) when I was approximately five inches from Nicole Richie  

2) when I had really great conversations with Natalie Suarez, Nadia Sarwar and Claire Geist. (They all looked amazing; I was pretty starstruck. Just conversing with extremely famous bloggers on a Tuesday night, da yooj.)

Photos by me. 

Da partay scene! Check out all the minglin' singles! (eHarmony should use this as their website's main photo, no?)

Nicole Richie. Looking like a boss with her top knot and such. 

Aww shucks, ain't she just the cutest darn thang you e'er saw? 

These balloons hit several people in the head. They were about the size of a capybara. 

The only reason I got this photo is because the paparazzi were so annoying and rude. They were all guys (go figure) and kept shouting at Nicole to turn around. It was extremely infuriating. The only other reason I got this photo is because a terribly nice camera man told me where I'd be able to see her best and helped me stand up on a step stool to get better shots. Thanks, man! 

Her tattoos are pretty awesome. I still think Romy wins, but you can't beat dandelions. 

Photos by my sister. 

Dress: vintage Elie Tahari via No Relation Vintage 

Collar: Pippin Vintage Jewelry

(Invisible) Shoes: ??? #thrift store shwag 

(Also invisible) Polka dot tights: I got 'em from my mama! 

Haircut: Olive 

Sorry about the bad photo quality. It was dark, it was late, Rachel was impatient. 

H&M represent!! Feeling pretty hyped, if you can't tell. 

Let's get down to business. When the hand goes on the hip, it's sassy time.

C'est Olive and I. I wish you could see her dress; it was pretty jammin'. We both got complements on our dresses/jewelry from Nadia Sarwar, at which point I internally freaked out. 

That's about it for today. Except...

Enter the giveaway! 
I'm going to keep bugging you until you do it. All you really have to do is follow my blog and leave a comment below with your name and email address. If you want to get fancy, you can also follow me on Bloglovin', Facebook, Twitter and/or Tumblr for extra entries, a.k.a. a better chance of winning. To quote Nike, JUST DO IT. 

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Can I Have Your Closet: Olive B. Godlee

Olive B. Godlee is one of those people you only meet every so often. She's sort of like a beautiful urban gypsy princess goddess, if you can imagine it. First of all, her name is Olive B. Godlee. So there's that. Then there's the fact that her family is Australian. Then there's that she dresses incredibly; I wouldn't be writing about her otherwise. She lives in Brooklyn (mad jellin'!), and her mom is an artist and her dad is a costume designer. Olive says things like, "I'm down with that," or, "I dig that," or, "Let's bounce," which is basically my vocabulary in a nutshell. She's ridiculously nice and equally gorgeous, but above all she is inspirational. I can't even count how many times I've seen her wear something and the next day or a few days later I've tried to replicate it. The best part about Olive's fashion sense is that it's so unique. Sure, there are people who dress similarly and totally rock it, but no one that I know personally. It's always a massive letdown when you talk to a crazy-well-dressed person and they're obnoxious and snooty about it. That is the absolute worst. Fashion is not an excuse to flaunt your wealth by any means, although far too many people use it for that purpose. Often the best dressed people are the ones who have the most original pieces, which means they could've found their entire wardrobe at a flea market in Texas. I don't know. 

Part of the reason Olive is so inspirational is because it seems to me that there's this element of mystery with her. You never know when she's going to cut her hair or what she's going to wear tomorrow. She may walk into science class with a scarf wrapped around her torso or thigh-high boots creeping up her legs. One day she's wearing a sweet and girly vintage dress with red lipstick and the next she's sporting jeans and a ripped t-shirt with a flower pin in her hair. Olive's not afraid to experiment, and it always works out in her favor. She knows what to wear, but she's not grandiloquent about it. She keeps you guessing. That's the fun part. 

You can read more info about this awesome chick in our little interview below. 

Odelia: How would you describe your style?

Olive: It goes from kind of like a sixties Twiggy look to a grunge kind of thing. I feel really pretentious saying that but like that kind of thing. My brother's told me who—he's twelve—he told me that his favorite look of mine is the kind of more punk look, which is like—this European guy cut my hair and he was really really gay and fabulous and he told me that the longer end of my hair is the “ugly” bit of my haircut, so it's the more punk part.

Odelia: Who are your fashion icons and who do you admire aesthetically?

Olive: I love Twiggy with a burning passion, and Marilyn Monroe obviously, and the whole kind of sixties look. But also love the kind of Victorian look, like the long dresses and corsets and stuff.

Odelia: Where are your favorite places to shop?

Olive: I love Odd Twin and Beacon's Closet and Guvnor's and Olive's, which is on Court Street [in Brooklyn], and just flea markets are by far best.

Odelia: If you could own one item right now that you don't have, what would it be?

Olive: It would either be like, a legitimate corset or a pointy sixties bra, or the swimsuits from the sixties, they're really really hot. Also, I need a pair of creepers, that's just gotta happen.

Odelia: Would you say that fashion is a big focus in your life?

Olive: It is, but at the same time...okay, no, it totally is, I choose to paint my nails disease colors over studying for my science test, so yes, I would.

Odelia: Natural choice. Would you say that you spend a lot of time—okay, not spend a lot of time, but would you say that make-up is an important part of your day?

Olive: Well, sometimes, but I usually end up doing it on the train, which is really un-classy, but I try to go for a more interesting look or something that goes with what I'm wearing.

Odelia: Okay, thank you!  

Photos by me. (Note: These photos were taken before Olive changed her hairstyle; I stuck in one at the end that was taken more recently, so you could see what it looks like now. I totally dig it.) 

This look is a perfect mix of sixties and punk. It's like Swinging London in the nineties. The dichotomy between the two aesthetics somehow looks just right on her. 

Be any more of a badass, I dare you. 

I don't know anyone else who can would wear a yellow dress to school. Peep the matching fingernail polish on the left; I feel bad, I kept her from studying for our science test that day because I influenced her to paint her nails the night before. 

The piercing blue eyes; the Twiggy makeup; the delicious hair... Now you can confirm that I wasn't just saying nice things about her because I know she's reading this. (Hi Olive!)

She recently (okay, a few months ago) cut off the "ugly" part of her hair (see the interview for this reference). It reminds me of what my hair was like when I cut it in December: shorter in the back. I'm going back to that style again because having the hair on my neck buzzed is just so much fun. 

And this is her backpack. Customized by her, and freaking incredible, if I might add. 

On the back is a quote from The Little Prince. I mean, come on! This is pure genius! 

Photo by Louis Vaccara. 

This is Olive with her new-ish haircut and the aforementioned flower in her hair. 

Et voilà! Just soak it all in.

We go to an arts school, so of course she's an actress and an awesome artist as well, so I think you should check out her Tumblr if you want to see some more scrumpdiddlyumptiousness. I'm not even a Tumbl-er, but I really enjoy hers.

Okay, that's enough fangirling for me for one night.

Up next week: Olive's friend Nora DellaFera, a vintage angel.

P.S. Isn't "dichotomy" a great word? I learned it from Leandra. 

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