Girls Club

This year, my school announced my grade’s outdoor ed trip would be visiting Governors Island. At first, I found it funny that our outdoor ed trip was still within the boundaries of NYC. Actually going there though, I found it to be a pretty cool place. If I didn’t look notice the water encompassing either side of me, Governors Island could Stars Hollow’s doppelganger. Plus, I’ve also decided that a college should take over the island so I can eventually go to school there. It would be the perfect mix of campus and city life, as I’d be just a ferry ride away from Manhattan! So NYU, can you please get on this?

 Beforehand, I didn’t know much about Governor’s Island other than, um, She & Him had performed there. One of the main attractions of Governors Island is all of the tandem bikes that are available for rent. My friends and I took a 4-person bike around the island until we stumbled upon a string of buildings that had signs for the Governors Island Arts Fair. Evidently, as I am writing this, I just remembered that the fair ended its season today.

The program, started by 4Heads Collective, was inaugurated in 2008 as a way to gentrify unused spaces in New York, by filling the empty space with works that celebrate over 100 independent artists from around the world.  Each artist who is a participant of the program is given their own room to fill in one of the buildings in the Building 12 compound, where the arts fair takes place. I wish I had brought my camera and worn something cute for the photo-op, but I assumed I was just going to be doing nature- outdoor education activities---so, impromptu cell phone camera shots in my leggings it was! Who knew Governors Island was fostering some of the coolest artists ever?

There were so many things to see that I couldn’t share it all, let alone, I didn’t have enough memory space on my cell phone to take enough pictures. Some things of note: there was a room filled with wax body parts, a Dia de Los Muertos shrine/party room, a room filled entirely with trash sculptures, loads of different mixed media components where you could interact with different videos. Basically, if I was Editor-in-Chief of a magazine (as I hope to someday be), I would get my butt over to Governors Island and do an entire fashion editorial in the different rooms of the arts fair. But Anna, if you steal my idea for Vogue I’ll be really pissed…

Exhibition by The Lower Eastside Girls Club

I actually squealed when I turned the corner and saw this colorful room. It was PERFECT. The room is designed by The Lower Eastside Girls Club, an organization which is devoted to providing services to girls and young women on the Lower East Side. The women behind the organization are kind of obsessed with Coney Island and attend Coney Island’s Annual Mermaid Parade, so the room combines both of these wonders. There’s obviously a very nostalgic quality to the space, but it was the only one of the rooms in the fair that actually felt like it could really be in someone’s home (in this case, a very imaginative little girl’s bedroom). I especially loved the juxtaposition of the fanciful mermaid dolls with the photographs of real women dressed up as mermaids at the parade.

Photography by Jada Fabrizio

The room next door to The Girls Club fantasy room was all photography by Jada Fabrizio. It was interesting seeing the two exhibits right after one another, because Jada’s work is also influenced by childhood. Even though her work seemed to take a more eerie approach, I still thought it was so beautiful. I snapped pictures of my two favorites with my phone: in the first, Jada looks inquisitively at a dollhouse, and the latter one, a woman is dressed as a child in a penguin’s mask.

While scoping out lunch, my friends and I came across this tree house that was like no tree house I had seen before. It had ornate chairs, dressers, mirrors, and even French doors within it, yet in every nook and cranny there were kitschy painted details like peace signs, kitty cats,“Ethan + Evan” forever, etc, to be found. Take me back please!!!!!

Follow me on Twitter @emmaedition

Samantha Pleet Spring/Summer 2012 Presentation

My love for Brooklyn designer, Samantha Pleet was first ignited when I watched a video of her talking about her wardrobe on StyleLikeU. In the video she cites J.D. Salinger’s Franny and Zooey as a major influence for her Spring/Summer 2010 collection, which brought me such joy as it’s a favorite novel of mine. Since then I’ve been a follower of Samantha’s career.  

I was so excited to attend Samantha Pleet’s Spring/Summer 2012 collection during New York Fashion Week. The presentation was held at The Highline Loft and throughout the presentation models stood on pedestals making them looking more like live artwork in a gallery than models. I thought this went with the ethos of the collection and the surrounding artsy Chelsea neighborhood.

Samantha never fails to produce retro silhouettes with fresh prints. The color palette of this season’s collection was predominantly colors you might find in a painting of the Grand Canyon; everything from terracotta  to charcoals. Part of what attracts me so much to the Samantha Pleet line is the interesting textiles. When I asked Samantha about where she sources her fabrics she said: “me and my husband---he’s an architect---we design all of our textiles ourselves! We sit there after I’ve sketched the clothes and then design prints to go into the collection or vice versa. Sometimes the prints inspire the silhouettes. Textiles for me are just as important as the actual clothes.”


The diamond motifs as featured in the adorable dress above were also sprinkled throughout the collection. I especially loved this look because it was accessorized with this triangle necklace by Black Sheep and Prodigal Sons (they designed all the jewelry used in the collection) that reminds me of the Deathly Hallows symbol from Harry Potter (I’m always down for a Luna Lovegood moment).  

The music that echoed throughout the presentation was by Caroline Polacheck of Chairlift. It was pretty and yet eerie, almost like the collection itself which Samatha describes as “telling more of a mythical legend…Something that could happen in the far off future or even way in the past. The line has more powerful characters and soft characters that are characters telling a distinct story of history.” I definitely got a Neolithic or post-modernistic wandererluster feel when I saw the collection, which was especially evident in the textiles and bone jewelry pieces. The compass/cosmo print in this dress was subtle and yet ethereal and fit right in with the aesthetic.  

The diamond motifs continued as cut-outs on the twist-knot romper and dresses. I thought these were especially clever as the twists looked so seamless and chic.

Can we talk about Black Sheep and Prodigal Sons' horsetail jewelry? How cool? I just hope it didn’t hurt any animal to get this…

I love making up stories when I watch collections. I always think to myself about who the girl is etc. The rough edges of this skirt brought to mind a modern play on The Flinstones.

The beige shoes were very 1930’s dancer shoes and contrasted the mythological feel.

The cape for the swimsuit was quite cool. It reminded me of bird’s wings.

Overall, I thought the collection was cohesive and had a good balance of dresses, tops, and bottoms to offer in earthy tones.

Since, you know, I’m 16, I was curious to also hear about how the style Samantha had in high-school influences her as a designer. I thought I'd leave you with this tidbit that Samantha shared with me: “I was in high school in ‘90s. The late 1990’s was horrible fashion, so maybe I take more away from my 12 or 13 year-old self,  but you can totally see my childhood in all of my clothes. I wore a lot of vintage and got made fun of a little bit. I would get the ‘you’re weird!’ because I grew up outside of Philadelphia where people wore J.Crew and I was always trying to stand-out, do art, and express myself.” Samantha, you rule!

At Samantha Pleet’s showing I also met Christina Culver. If you want to get your nails did this is your girl. Check out these banana-print nails inspired by Prada’s S/S ’11 collection!

My grandmother’s vintage embroidered floral blouse, thrift plaid kilt, French Soles polka-dot flats

This photo of me at Samantha Pleet was taken by Naomi Nevitt, the online editor of Teen Vogue whom I met last February at the Chictopia10 conference. She is literally my style/career guru and so I was freaking out when I met her and she tweeted his picture of me!

Follow me on Twitter @emmaedition

Fashion's Night Out 2011 Part 1

Lisa Perry is by far one of my favorite designers.  I really can’t stand the Upper East Side, but her store makes hanging around there bearable. The store itself is totally stark white; everywhere you turn is punctuated by an array of powerful pop colors on her mod clothing, accessories, and home interiors that remind me of the inside of the spaceship in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.

 

Lisa Perry was stop #1 on this year’s Fashion’s Night Out agenda. For her FNO soiree, Lisa and co teamed up with the cast of Pan Am, a new show premiering on ABC on Sunday, September 25^th. Pan Am glamorizes the life of flight attendants in the 1960’s who work for Pan Am airlines and follows them through their relationships and such. The show essentially seems like Mad Men in the sky (in the best possible way), so it made so much sense that the master of mod, Lisa Perry, would collaborate with them for Fashion’s Night Out. Along with the in-store debut of Lisa’s A/W 2011 collection, guests mingled with the cast of Pan Am and the first 50 people who arrived that night even received a signature Pan Am bag. During the party, models dressed as Pan Am flight attendants, passing out snacks and drinks, while The Archies soundtrack played on the speakers along with other tunes that might be played at 1960’s school dance. I loved every minute of it.

From left to right: Lichtenstein's "No Thank You," "Light On," and "Spray" painting dresses.

Last year, Lisa did a line incorporating some of Andy Warhol’s most iconic pieces which made my heart flutter a million times over. Following her art-inspired collection, Lisa’s latest body of work sources some of Roy Lichtenstein’s most well-known art for a limited edition Lichtenstein collection at Lisa Perry's Madison Avenue store, from which a portion of the profits will also go to  benefit the Parrish Art Museum.

The Lisa Perry store also has these two big bookshelves with all of these cool nods to the 1960’s in it. I felt like the biggest weirdo for staring at the shelf for so long during the party, but there was just so much to look at! I mean, there were books on Surreal Things, Marimekko, (another one of my favorite designers), Pierre Cardin, and even old Barbie dolls which had been made into mini-mes, outfitted in one-of-a-kind Lisa Perry originals, similar to dresses I’ve seen on racks in the store.

I DON’T THINK YOU UNDERSTAND HOW EXCITED I WAS TO MEET LISA PERRY!

Paparazzi in da house

From left to right: Christina Ricci who plays Maggie in Pan Am and Carine Vanasse who plays Colette

This dress reminds me of when TV screens get messed up and are always multi-colored. And I like it a lot.

Fruit salad, yummy yummy (like The Wiggles, you know?).

The Bob Dylan framed-dress is a work of art

 Do you think maybe, Lisa will let me move into the store? Maybe, just maybe? These images are going to be my inspiration for my first apartment.

Lisa Perry; 976 Madison Avenue (between 76th and 77th streets); 212-334-1956.

Every time I pass by the windows there’s a completely different set of utterly desirable shift dresses hanging—everything from bold geometrics and picnic ginghams to even Campbell’s Soup Can graphics and pictures of Edie Sedgwick (whom, I imagine would have LOVED to wear Lisa Perry’s designs). That night of course, the window was decked out in Pan Am-inspired loot.

PART 2 OF FASHION'S NIGHT OUT TO COME SOON!

Follow me on Twitter @emmaedition