{ a little while } in SCADstyle

{ a little while } in SCADstyle

i am so proud of my southern heritage, and every time i return from my adopted northern home i swell and swoon in reverencial deference to the good-gosh graciousness of southern hospitality.

even still, when i was invited to be a guest of the savannah college of art and design, for this year's annual fashion symposium, i was quite honestly floored. i vividly remember my first trip to SCAD. at the time, i was 12 years old, earnestly tagging along on a painting trip with my best friend and her artist father. they were touring the southeast coast on a plein air pilgrimage. we'd pull over every time we spotted an especially lovely wisteria or victorian manse along the way, take out our easels, spend an hour or two painting it, and then move on. can you imagine?!

somewhere along said trip, just after an hiatus in hilton head, we chanced upon savannah. my friend's artist father was so excited to show us the SCAD campus ~ never mind the fact that it happened to be saint patrick's day ~ and every type of hydrant (in a town made of fancy fountains and bootleg brew taps alike) was lit up in green-dyed waters and beer-foam fizz. at that age, i didn't know the difference between the two. i just thought i had arrived in willy wonka's workshop! obviously, i was ready to live there for the rest of my life.

and yet, i never actually made it back to savannah until yesterday. shame, because it's just as magical as i remembered it ~ and then some. truth be told, a bit of the allure lies in that i finished reading 'midnight in the garden of good and evil' on the flight over, and in the fact that i met writer julia reed (role model alert!) upon landing. add these whimsies atop my childhood memories, and there were stars in my eyes, to be sure.

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however (grown-up-goggles fully fastened), i also remember graduating college, starting out in the real world of fashion, and realizing that my professors hadn't even begun to prepare me for what was in store! i don't think SCAD kids have quite so dire a problem. awhile matriculating, they work in state-of-the-art facilities (with better equipment than most nyc production houses), and every year their esteemed professors truck in everyone from andre leon talley to yigal azrouel to isabel toledo to chris benz to fashionistas, marketplace mavens* and silly little glamourais alike, to tell them all about the REAL DEAL fashion spiel. soup to nuts! i think it's just too cool for school.

*PS's: those fashionistas (lauren!) and runway renters (jen) were my perfect partners en voce in savannah! though our former confederate, lauren, is forced to fly back home post haste, please come see jen & me tonight at 7:30 in atlanta! i'm having so much fun meeting real-life glamourai readers (other than my mom... we've met.)!

{ costume of the day } risky business

{ costume of the day } risky business

{ vintage ysl sunnies, the glamourai earrings (similar style available at shrimpton couture!), rag+bone jacket (trimmed in suede!), gaultier blouse, prada pants and shoes }

i'm so glad to be young enough to have avoided the 'casual fridays' epidemic. sure, i've worked in informal environments before ~ most notably at an ad agency in los angeles (it doesn't get much more laid back than that!). but thus far, my career has largely been spent in settings where putting oneself together is a prerequisite. i like to dress like i mean business, even on days when i'm working from home. always having an occasion to look nice is part of the promise of the grown-up world! this, which i wore to a recent meeting, is my riff on the classic suit: boyish trousers, a bow-tie blouse, quintessential lady-jacket and d'orsay pumps. only, i couldn't care less that none of it matches.

i'll be talking a bit more about my career in fashion next week, when i head to georgia to participate in SCAD STYLE: a nine day event occurring across two campuses. i'll be joined by andrew bevan (of teen vogue) and jennifer hyman (of rent the runway) for a series of panel discussions on the topic 'behind the screen: bringing fashion online'. the first talk will take place at 6pm on may 4th in savannah, the second at 7:30pm the following day in atlanta. i'd love to meet some of you there! click here for the full schedule.