On To Pop

Vintage Moschino Cheap & Chic striped top, vintage suede belt, American Apparel purple denim skirt, vintage Coach bag, Repetto patent leather oxfords

Today, my friend Emily and I headed to MoMA see Andy Warhol: Motion Pictures; screen tests and short films featuring the likes of Edie Sedgwick, Lou Reed, Allen Ginsberg, and my personal favorite, singer, Nico. But when we got MoMA we found out that the exhibit had closed on Monday……

Check out Emily's amazing silk pajama-y pants from Paris!

But there are always things to do at MoMA! So to get our Warhol fix we headed down to On To Pop, an exhibition of objects and images we encounter in our daily lives that have been represented throughout the Pop Art movement of the 1960’s. But we were tremendously disappointed by the exhibit. The gallery was filled with one of Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe pieces, Jasper John’s American Flag painting, Warhol’s iconic Elvis and Campbell’s soup can paintings, and a few others. Now I suppose this was the entire point of the exhibit, to show the pieces we most commonly align with Pop, but I was hoping to see pieces I hadn’t seen before. Not to say that I don’t think Andy Warhol was and is a genius (because I do), but I just don’t see why they had to put the most obvious pieces on display. I mean, really? There is more to Andy than Marilyn and the soup can.

My feelings, exactly.

Painted records on display in Looking at Music 3.0 exhibit at MoMA 

We did stumble upon a few truly noteworthy exhibitions, though. There was the one devoted to “Pablo Picasso: Guitars 1912-1914” as Picasso moves from sketch to painting--- deceptively simple, but he used such subtly beautiful combinations of newspapers, cardboard, and geometrics to build the shapes he was depicting and with each picture you follow, its like getting a glimpse at his inner artist psyche. Another great curation was Looking at Music 3.0 which explores music at the epicenter of culture in New York in the 1980s-1990s: from Riot Grrrl to hip-hop. What I loved so much about this one was the way it was set-up; TV-screens blared various music videos from the dynamic decades and at each screen were a set of headphones for listening purposes. While on the tables were lyric sheets and music zines to pine through and painted records to check out.

Almond-flavored bubble tea at TenRen

After MoMA I had a serious hankering for bubble tea (so much so, that I ordered two!). Between Emily and me we ordered the almond, lychee, and black tea flavors.

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Granny Vibes Are In For 2011

  

1. Image via Yarn Yuck

2. Image via via Yarn Yuck

3. Sir Paul McCartney image via fyeahgrannysquares

4. Image via Flickr

If your mom or grandma were into crocheting during the 1970’s, she most likely made something with granny squares. What are granny squares, you ask? They are type of crocheting in which you knit motifs (typically squares) together to make things like blankets, bags, tops etc. Through the years, they’ve had their good (and bad) fashion moments: Paul McCartney’s granny square vest and Cate Blanchett’s dress that looked like she had run late and donned a blanket from her couch before hitting the red carpet in 2009. And to be honest, up until now I’ve just thought of them as completely hideous. 

1. House of Holland Autumn/Winter 2011 Runway, image via NYmag.com

2. Topshop Crochet Blanket Flower Cardigan, $140 via Topshop

3. Granny Squares Blanket, $17 via Etsy

4.  Vintage Crochet Gray Sweater Vest, $16 via Etsy

5.  Christopher Kane Autumn/Winter 2011 Runway, image via NYmag.com

6. Red Knitted Crochet Dress, $130 via Topshop

7. People Tree Crochet Maxi Dress, $233 via ASOS

8. Leather Crochet Tee, via Need Supply Co.

9. Cream Crochet Swing Dress, $100 via Topshop

10. Rodarte Crochet Granny Square Dress, $2,990 via Opening Ceremony

  

But Granny vibes made a more impactful comeback this past Fashion Week. Christopher Kane’s Autumn/Winter 2011 collection featured granny squares made from interweaving leather, while at Henry Holland’s latest House of Holland runway debut, granny squares were seen displayed in the form of colorful prints on maxi dresses and scarves. These fun twists on your grandma’s favorite pastime feed into the 1970’s, Jodie Foster Taxi Driver-look, which is totally in for spring. Yay grandmas!

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Just My Cup of Tea

(above:  photo I took of Kaly Soto's “Sipping Serenity in The City” article for The New York Times)

Tea has such restorative powers; dating back to Ancient Asian cultures, it has even been used a medicine, which makes sense why the art of drinking and making tea are taken quite seriously throughout the globe. Even so, tea parlors are often more of an oasis than your typical restaurant experience. In the March 10^th issue of The New York Times, I read an article by Kaly Soto, entitled “Sipping Serenity in The City” which just made me smile. In writing the piece, Soto explored some of New York’s best tea party spots like Tea & Sympathy, a riff on lyrics from The Rolling Stone’s song “Let it Bleed” and which Vogue magazine’s , red-headed, cat-loving style maverick, Grace Coddington has noted as one of her foodie favorites. Along her exploration, Soto infuses personal anecdotes, vocabulary (that help us differentiate between regular tea and “high tea”), and even gives a little history lesson about the beloved aromatic beverage. If you’re a follower of this blog, you know that Alice’s Tea Cup is one of my go-to spots for all things whimsical and delicious, so I was delighted to see when Ms. Soto gave it a riveting review. Alice’s is named after Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, which is notable from the murals of scenes from the book throughout to the names of items on the menu like The Mad Hatter tea special. Others on Soto's  tea-spree included The Russian Tea Room, (the more opulent of New York's tea parlor offerings), The Palm Court at The Plaza (where they pay homage to Eloise with her namesake tea), and many others of interest. By the end of the article I was craving tiers of scones and finger sandwiches.

Check out the article here and comment with your favorite tea spots!

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Freewheelin'

Whether you’re homebound, traveling to a city, or kicking it back at the beach, Spring Break is an opportune time for carefree lackadaisical dressing.  Come springtime I’m looking forward to dressing from both ends of the style spectrum—that is, New England-Prepster-Meets-Ultra-Mod. Absolute opposites, yet when thrown together, these "waspy" and 60's pieces  somehow look so right.

1. Lisa Perry "Gingham Yellow Fleurty Dress," $795 via Lisa Perry

2. Oversized White Cat Eye Sunglasses, $21.52, via ASOS

3. Opening Ceremony x NYABF "Marc Hundley Tote," $30 via Opening Ceremony

4. Sailboat-embroidered Straw Hat, $35 via Estella NYC

5. Navy Polka-dot Underwire Bikini Top, $52 via JCrew

6. POP Magazine Spring/Summer 2011 Issue, $10

7. NYX Cosmetics Fuschia Glitter Nail Polish, $5.75 via Amazon.com

8.  Delfina Delettrez Evil Eye Necklace, $720 via Opening Ceremony

9. Matt Bernson Raffia Wedge, $168 via Urban Outfitters

My Spring Inspiration

Music: The Like, the songs of Brigitte Bardot, and Au Revoir Simone.

Runway:  Retro Gingham and Hawaiian prints at Peter Som S/S ’11, geometrics and pop flowers patterns at Marimekko S/S ’11, Twiggy-style shift dresses at Lisa Perry S/S ’11, futuristic resort wear featuring pop fruit graphics at Prada SS’11, and raffia, embroidered bags at Chanel Cruise ’11.

Culture:  “On to Pop” exhibit at MoMA, The Dreamers (2003), A Freewheelin' Time, by Suze Rotolo, and these watercolors.

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An Article I Wrote For Refinery29: "What A Real High Schooler Wants To Wear To Her Prom"

Above is a snapshot of an article I wrote for Refinery29 on taking inspiration from past movie heroines and style mavericks like Romy White and Michele Weinberger of Romy and Michele's High School Reunion when deciding what to wear for prom. To read the rest of the piece click here and comment on it! I’d love to hear your thoughts.

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What's In The Bag?

From left to right: vintage Coach handbag, Revlon lipstick, vintage Nicole Miller lipstick case, cherry red BlackBerry, Forever21 Pendleton-inspired wallet, rose salve, and plastic lavender star-shaped sunglasses

The idea for this post was inspired by one recently featured on the lovely Madelene’s blog, Le Portillon.

Bag-- This Coach bag was found at a Church thrift shop during my summer-stay near Woodstock. It only cost me 4 dollars, which is pretty crazy considering it's authentic and in good condition, but many people upstate don’t consider thrifting “trendy” so it’s easier to find goodies. While I’m not a big Coach fan this bag is atypical of their standard stock; it looks like it’s been weathered a bit or worn in for just for me.

Lipstick case-- My mom got this lipstick case at a Nicole Miller sample sale in the 80’s and it is printed with all of these unusual buttons. Nicole Miller’s 1980's designs are so unlike anything else I’ve seen in fashion; her cooking and time travel prints (always displayed atop a black background) will always be engrained in my memory.

Wallet- One of my closest friends helped pick out this wallet for me at Forever21. It’s a play on Pendleton, so obviously I went for it!

Sunglasses- These plastic star-shaped sunnies were gifted to me by my neighbor. Although she’s a toddler, she acknowledges a fashion moment when she sees one.

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