blue velvet

sunglasses - rumors; blouse - ted baker via eurotrash; bag - gift; jeans - h&m; heels - zara

I've been gone for three months. Wow. I'm sorry. It's been super hectic but things have seemed to calm down for a while. I've missed you all.

I thought I'd come back with an outfit! This shirt is probably one of my most prized possessions. I picked it up at a boutique here called Eurotrash, which focuses on european designers. This top is a Ted Baker neoprene top, and it's like origami. It's so well tailored and structured and all around beautiful that I instantly fell in love with it and used my very first paycheck on it!

Oh yeah - guess what? I have a job! I'm a functioning member of society! Yay! I work at Hallmark. It's actually really great and gives me an outlet for my OCD since I just get to straighten things as well as some visual merchandising experience, which I'm hoping will come in handy in the future!

So much new stuff is going on! If you didn't notice, I'm blonde again. I'm guessing none of you that know me on here remember the last time I was blonde since it was the very beginning of the start of this blog. I missed it a lot though, so I went back. Hopefully, I can go silver soon. Another big thing is that I'm a model! Well, kind of. Anybody remember about a year ago when I posted about the fashion show at the VMFA (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts)? Well, I'm going to be modeling in it! It's super exciting and I'm walking for a friend of mine who has this amazing style and concept for her design and it's going to be so great. I'm so excited. Besides those, I've mostly just been spending more time wandering  my beautiful city and I think it's done me a lot of good. One of my professors has been getting me into nature a lot more and Richmond is one of those cities where you can get your dose of nature even in the very heart of the metropolis.

I've also been trying to spend a lot more time with my friends, as they keep me sane. So for today's outfit photos you have the lovely Gwyneth to thank! I' m so sick of that stupid brick wall I usually pose in front of, so I'm hoping to make this a regular thing. Yesterday we - Maria, Gwyneth, and myself - went to one of my favorites, Ipanema, for lunch and then went shopping at Deep Groove, Halcyon Vintage, and Rumors.

Have a lovely Thanksgiving.

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lovable & sweet

about a week ago I was involved in the 48 Hour Film Project. it's an international festival where film-making groups get together and write, shoot, and produce a short film in under 48 hours. you are assigned a genre, and all groups have to work the same character, line, and prop into their films. our character was Adam Nicholson, door-to-door salesman, our  prop was a flashlight, and our line was "Why am I always first?".
a friend asked me to join her group as the artistic director. I did the hair, makeup, and costume design for the film, as well as some of the cinematography! it was actually more fun than I had expected.

we were given the silent film genre, and naturally I was very excited. I got to transform our lead, a fantastic actress named Helena, into a flapper, all set to the music of one of my favorite singers, 1920s darling Annette Hanshaw. I went all out, giving her the full twenties makeover, complete with faux finger waves.

the films all screened this weekend at the Byrd, a favorite Richmond hangout. the Byrd is this giant antique theater from 1928, and is almost unchanged in appearance. it's really beautiful inside, chandeliers and red-velvet curtains and all. it was an honor enough to have our little homemade film be shown there.

this short was in no way a real serious competitor for the $5000 prize and film deal, but we had a lot of fun and I loved getting to show what I think I do best. and for that, here's our little film! I hope you all like it. if anything, I think it's really cute. enjoy!

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dip dye diy

so here's something I haven't done in forever : a diy! today's diy is super simple, and honestly i love the outcome so much.

ombre has been big for a while now - from hair to clothing to anything in between. so many bloggers have done the ombre diy, and after lusting after an ombre shirt i decided i'd make one for about $3.

you need:

a shirt in the color and style of your choosing; some fabric dye, a bucket

i personally used a thrifted white collared shirt and black rit dye. my advice to you upon doing this diy is to use a cotton shirt, as cotton retains dye much better than others. do not use polyester, or it will not be very strong. since I was going for gray, i didn't care that my shirt was polyester, but just be warned if you want a really contrasting, bold color it won't really work with polyester. trust me. if you want to do denim, rit dye makes dye specifically for denim.

instructions:

1)gather your dye, shirt, and a bucket. I used a white collared shirt that I got for $1 at a thrift store.

2) mix your dye according to the directions - usually there will be something to mix it with like vinegar or salt and water, etc.

3) dip dye! you may be able to just put the base of the shirt in the bucket and let the dye seep upwards, but if you can't, just dip the part of the shirt you want dyed into the dye over and over. this way you can control how high you want the ombre to be. dip to the highest point you want it to be first, then gradually dip lower and lower, so the color is darker at the base and lighter upwards. 

4) rinse your shirt in cold water until the water runs clear.

5) hang dry.

6) wear it!

super simple stuff. this picture isn't super good because it makes the whole ombre look really faded - it's more contrasting in person. because my favorite color is gray,  I made a gray shirt. also the whole shirt is a little gray now because i accidentally without thinking put this shirt in the wash after dyeing it. oops. you should probably get it dry cleaned, hand wash, or just wait a little longer before washing it on cold. but I love gray so I don't care. I've already worn this shirt like six times.

go ombre all of your clothing now.

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local love

it's time for another installment of follow friday! the most recent follow friday before this was last august... so, I decided to have another one! I'm never shy about declaring my love for this city and it's oh-so-chic people, so this installment is focused on some local blogging talent from right here in Richmond. so, today, here are three lovely local bloggers:

Brian McDaniel of Dirty Richmond

Brian is like Richmond fashion royalty. Dirty Richmond ("where the city is dirty but the people are not") is Richmond's own resident street style blog. it is the dream of all fashionistas and trendy peoples alike in Richmond to get on Dirty Richmond, and it is really a great street style blog. he photographs people of all ages for Dirty Richmond, too!  Brian also promotes a lot of local artists and designers as well as covering events. 

Larissa Wisniewski of RVA Fashion Girl

Larissa's blog is a newer one, only started very recently, but Larissa has been behind-the-scenes in all things pertaining to Richmond fashion. she is the creator of From the Runway to RVA (currently under construction), co-created the RVA Fashion Bloggers group, and works at one of Richmond's favorite fashion boutiques, Phoenix. she's really done a lot of work, but it shows, as she has headed a part of the Richmond fashion movement, and that within itself is quite an accomplishment. and if that weren't enough, she's also pretty stylish to boot. not to mention she has these sunglasses I'm mad for. 

you can also follow Larissa on her tumblr as well as blogger, and check up on From the Runway to RVA soon!

Leney Breeden of A Girl Named Leney

Leney is, in short, a doll. she is a real sweetheart. on top of that, she makes and sells jewelry. her blog is less devoted to fashion than the other two and more devoted to life in general, but even in her non-fashion posts you can see her style seep through - and what a lovely bohemian style it is. her blog is a very happy one, and can instantly cheer you up. besides blogging, Leney runs an etsy, writes and photographs for From the Runway to RVA, and works for herself at Leney Breeden Photography. 

*** ALL images belong to their respective bloggers. I am no thief.***

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some like it hot

bandeau - american apparel; blouse - thrifted; shorts - thrifted; bag - thrifted; shoes - jeffrey campbell; necklace - thrifted

i was getting awfully tired of that old brick wall, weren't you? so whilst out and about, we went to hunt for a new, interesting background. ...and that failed, so we walked over to the church of science and climbed up their stairs to reach these lovely red doors. pretty riveting, huh? 

anywho, it's pretty damn hot in richmond. i love it here so much i do but it is too hot and humid! the things i do for this city.. besides that, i'm not doing very much. although, i do have some posts and other fun things in store. i've been slacking off on the blogging, and while i was flipping through old posts a while back i realized how little was actually on here! i imagine that i document a lot more than i do. with that said, i'm going to start doing it more, especially since i have the time. not like i have a job or anything - although you can't say i haven't tried! no one wants to hire a kid. 

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thank gwyneth for today's shots! isn't she a doll? she dislikes having her picture taken just as much as i do though, so pictures of her are hard to take. which is stupid, considering the sheer beauty of her face.

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there'll be much more around here soon, i promise!

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fat bottomed girls

top - anthropologie; belt - wholesale-dress.net; pants - american apparel; shoes - jeffrey campbell

my poor litas. they've been worn to death. it's been almost a year since I bought them, I'm afraid every day the heel on the right one will break off and I'll fall to my fashionable death. and my mother will say I told you so. actually not really, I'd just be sad because I'd be out of a pair of shoes. any who, not much else has changed in the past month or so since I've posted. I'm a horrible blogger, I know. but I am on the infamous job hunt. I've applied everywhere - diners, starbucks, the works. now all that's left is to wait! I need a job to keep up my shopping addiction really. that, and college. and food. and other things.

 I've been spending my time by having a lovely time with friends. so here are some pictures of that! I love how the rain on the car window looks like bokeh. and today's post will be featuring my lovely ladies Maria and Gwyneth:

aren't they beauties? and i love gwyneth's fortune.  some local baker makes these fantastic "black" fortune cookies with snappy or swearing messages. they're hilarious. first fridays is always fun (although if you're not from rva i guess you all don't really know what they are, maybe i'll do a post sometime later about them), but this time, due to listening to queen obnoxiously loud, eating chinese, and chatting in coffee shops, we didn't really get to first fridays! we were there, but we didn't really... attend? 

UPDATE: Maria has just released her first single. so here it is. I know. my friends are awesome.

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art g40 part 1

About two months back, the Art g40 Summit hit RVA. Hard. It was phenomenal. With it came the mural project, which has now been completed. Several murals now cover Richmond, and so Saturday, with a few spare hours, I decided to go mural hunting. Now, these are not all of the murals, they are the ones I had easier access to as I was downtown. But regardless of that, they are still amazing. Just know there are even more. This is less than half, but I'll be sure to find the rest!

Artists/Locations:

JAZ - 212 W Broad St
LELO - 414 W Broad St
ROA - 1501 W Main St
ARYZ - 1506 W Main St
ANGRY WOEBOTS - 311 W Broad St (on the side of Quirk Gallery)
SCRIBE - 315 W Broad St (across the wall from ANGRY WOEBOTS at Quirk)
JAZ - 309 N Laurel St (back of Nile Ethiopian Restaurant)

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perfectly marvelous

dress -  loft; tights (not shown) - capezio; black patent heels (not shown) - zara

hello again! I'm sorry I've been away again. I spent a while down in Charleston, SC. with all my recent travel I'm beginning to feel like an international woman of mystery. anywho, not much else has been going on. this dress is pretty  new, and it is so perfectly mod. I call it my Twiggy dress. this outfit is an homage to Twiggy, really. even my makeup - blue eyeshadow with thick lashes and thick eyeliner, and light orangey lipstick. you can't see my makeup very well, my apologies.

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not much news at the moment, but I may be doing a full shoot with a photographer friend very soon!

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rva fashion week

The kickoff for RVA Fashion Week was today - a runway show was held displaying outfits created by certain vendors, showcasing their products.  Some of the vendors include independent shops Saxon Shoes and Everything But Water, and chains Delia's, Buckle, Macy's, and Dillard's. Even though this is only the 4th RVA Fashion Week, you can really tell that the Richmond fashion scene is nothing but burgeoning.

I won't be able to attend the rest of fashion week due to having to go to a wedding, and I am so sad that I will not be able to see the actual design portion of fashion week. Very sad. Sigh.

Naturally when you go to any fashion event, the style of the attendees is just as good if not better than the sponsered styles. These are some of my favorites. Note Larissa Wisniewski, mastermind behind From the Runway to RVA and one of the leaders of the RVA Fashion Bloggers, in the middle. I had the pleasure of meeting her in person for the first time today. The woman on the right was one of the stylists, but I thought her outfit was noteworthy. I really want to know where her shoes are from.

Some of the show's highlights:

Some outfits were better than others. It's still a small operation and there are plenty of kinks that need to be worked out, but I have a good feeling that RVA Fashion Week will grow into something fantastic.

For fellow Richmonders:

 there is still a whole week of Fashion Week left! Though I won't be able to attend, that doesn't mean you shouldn't go! Find the details here. 

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