{ home sweet home }

{ home sweet home }

i spent the weekend on a spur-of-the-moment trip to miami, soaking in some sun and tons of inspiration via art basel. as amazing as the trip was, it was equally wonderful to return home to the cozy embrace of my nyc nest. see the whole thing today over on apartment therapy!!

{ bunny } canine catnip & art aficionado

{ bunny } canine catnip & art aficionado

on tuesday, one of my favorite design sites came in to shoot some snaps of the apartment. i'm excited to share the results with you all next week ~ but in the meantime, how about a little outtake featuring BUNNY?!

this teeny-tiny pup of mine was recently attacked by a much bigger cat. when i mentioned it on twitter, we were overwhelmed by the sweet outpouring of well-wishes. thank you for all your kind words ~ she's a much-loved dog! things got a bit dicey, but i'm happy to report that she's healing rapidly and well (yet funnily unamused by yesterday's kitty-print shirt / i may have to shelve that one for a while).

{ inside my studio } scents + spaces

{ inside my studio } scents + spaces

to follow up on yesterday's perfect place post, i thought it would be fun to share a teeny peek into my own perfect-for-me place: my studio! specifically, the wall in that room where i store my favorite art books and other assorted necessities. like my closet, it's not nearly as big as i'd like it to be (oh, the things one gives up to live in new york!!), but it has lots of happy little corners:

as a workroom (where anything from sewing to soldering to computing occurs), my studio is a lot more casually adorned than my living/entertaining space. because i've got to be able to stash some not-so-lovely stuff in there, i need lots of nooks for books & odd objects (gadget cords, things i use for jewelry still lifes, file storage, etc). of course, it's also a room where i need to be inspired, so i try to keep things well-organized and pleasant to look at!

right now, its shelves are strewn with fun, numbered bottles from ralph lauren's big pony collection of colognes ~ i love the way they complement my color-coordinated book collection:

in the coming weeks, i'll be regularly partnering with ralph lauren to debut (and host giveaways of!) these fragrances. i was attracted to the project for two reasons:

1. i almost exclusively wear men's scents (which these ostensibly are, though i think they would appeal to almost anyone!)
2. i love spritzing scents to subliminally enrich a room's decor ~ and thus like keeping a melange of bottles around different parts of the house, to complement the mood & use of disparate spaces.

during the years that i worked as a clothing designer, we would pick a scent every season to spritz the tent with ~ so when guests began to arrive for a show, they would subconsciously start to settle into the spirit of the collection that was about to debut. that's one runway trick i love to apply to my everyday life!

every one of them instills a new mood. the first fragrance (which i'll be giving away tomorrow!) is sporty and dynamic, with fresh hits of lime and oak; the second is more seductive and musky (the sort of scent i like wearing best), with dark chocolate undertones. these two bottles flank a flea-market-found plastic giraffe ~ my absolute favorite animal:

number three is geared for adventure, a woody aroma enriched with ginger and mint. it sits above a beloved box of andy warhol's 'red books' ~ a collection of polaroid flipbooks from his factory days:

number four is the collection's most stylized: a mix of kyara wood and grapefruit. it sits just above a 'glamour monster' doll i made several years ago from a no-longer-worn toile de jouy skirt:


scattered about the surrounding shelves, prada, miu miu and alaia shoes boxes are used to store old documents/receipts, and my twitter followers may recognize a certain ebay-binge-begotten porcelain unicorn:


as always, my trusty sidekick/mascot/assistant/troublemaker is never far from the action:

{ top story }

{ top story }

recently, i told you i'd soon have fun news from the erin fetherston front. now that i'm finally ready to share, where to begin?! well for starters, i'm especially excited to announce that i'll be contributing my own costumery to her site every wednesday ~ beginning right now!

for the last few weeks, i've had a hard time NOT wearing her dylan blouses (in both solid & printed form). seriously, they work for any occasion ~ so today's post is a tribute to them, and all the places we've been! read it HERE.

{ above: scarf-turned-turban, bird print dylan blouse courtesy of erin fetherston, vintage palazzo pants, adorable papillon puppy // below: tom ford sunnies, self-designed necklace, ivory dylan blouse courtesy of erin fetherston // more photos of them both HERE }

also very exciting? erin's currently running a contest on facebook ~ everyone who 'likes' her page before november 10th will be entered to win a $1000 gift certificate to her store!! (be sure to show some love to my page too, while you're there ~ i've begun posting extra photos of every costume!).

what's more, on fridays from here out (as of this week), the first ten people to tweet the hashtag #fetherfridays + a link to their favorite item on erinfetherston.com will receive 10% off their next order.

finally, if you have a question for the designer herself, post it on her fan page or tweet it at her (using the hashtag #EFQandA) ~ she'll be answering every one of them this weekend!

{ favorite furball } + facebook

{ favorite furball } + facebook

this photo was made as part of the series that resulted in THIS POST (and yes, i'm wearing the same pants you saw yesterday), but wasn't originally published. for every image that ends up on this blog, hundreds more find their home on the proverbial cutting room floor. but i always regretted this being one of them, because i love the fact that BUNNY is in it!

the expression on my face also effectively reflects how i felt when i recently (finally!) figured out how to set up a FACEBOOK PAGE for this site. i'll admit, the process involved a few tears and several frantic cross-country phone calls to my very patient and accommodating friend emily, but i did it! and now i have a place to share random musings and extra pics like this one!! check it out.

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PS: now seems like as good a time as any to remind you that i'm also super active on TWITTER. let's swap stories there too!

{ down by } the boardwalk

{ down by } the boardwalk

{ vintage yves saint laurent sunnies (last seen HERE, where someone asked what i payed for them on ebay; i think it was around $150?), kelly framel obsidian skull necklace and chartreuse tiger's eye tassel necklace + new wrap bracelets (coming soon!), banana republic heritage vest, vintage fringe bag (last seen HERE), vintage calvin klein dress (i recently hemmed off 18" and love it more than ever!), corello shoes (last seen HERE), adorable papillon puppy }



i love to travel, but not nearly as much as i love being home with my bunny dog. while i was away in vegas, an earthquake sent shivers through new york city, and i was so worried for her i couldn't get back fast enough! we celebrated with a long walk by the williamsburg waterfront, plus lots of snuggles and belly rubs. now, apparently, we're facing a weekend hurricane. i'm wishing for everyone's safety over the coming days.

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in happier news, i'd like to extend overdue congratulations to virignia zint for winning our ellignton handbags giveaway!

{ little leo }

{ little leo }

spent most of yesterday glued to the computer ~ finishing up a monumental project, and taking occasional breaks to add coat after coat of black paint to the window frames in my living room. a quick attempt at documenting what i had on was abruptly interrupted by... ...the bunny dog ~ who i'm proud to say turns one-year-old today!! she has no clue what that means, but i'm celebrating anyway. happy birthday, furry girl.
{ chloe specs & blouse, vintage necklace, anemone cami, juicy couture leather shorts (gifted), bare feet ++ papillon puppy! }

{ all in the family } bunny bling

{ all in the family } bunny bling

faithful readers of this blog will certainly remember my precious papillon pup, bunny. those who have really been reading a while may also remember when i fell into an ankle-adornment obsession last fall ~ making my own lanvin-inspired 'stem gems.' maybe you've noticed i haven't worn them recently?

the fact is, they've been ruthlessly stolen by that oh-so innocent looking lass i call glamourrabbit! she seems to think they were actually made with her furry little neck in mind, and insists on prancing about (or lounging on her favorite mongolian throw) in them daily.

i can't really fight her on this one. so the girl likes jewelry?! the apple never falls far from the tree.

{ more } midsummer

{ more } midsummer

last friday, i posted an ensemble inspired by midsummer (one more photo below!). the shoot was staged in my bedroom, and designed to subtly reference a time-honored midsummer tradition, in which young ladies pick 7 different flowers and place them under their pillows at night, in hopes that the man they should marry will appear to them in a dream.

since my dreams veer more toward the sartorial than the matrimonial, i went a bit fashion-mad in my interpretation ~ filling my whole bed with flowers and donning the prettiest gown i own. i felt so summery and light, and wanted to re-capture that feeling for last week's midsummer celebration at the soho grand. so, i put on another fluttery frock, made myself a brand new floral crown, kissed the pup adieu and floated off into one of the most wonderful nights i've had in quite a while:



{ self-made floral crown, theyskens theory dress, badgley mischka shoes }

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click here to see some party pics, and remember to also click here to enter kanon's epic summer sweepstakes!!

{ costume of the day } two old dogs

{ costume of the day } two old dogs

although i channeled my inner granny only ever-so recently, this weekend my style was definitely more in an old-man-mode. just sittin' on my rocker, relaxin' to the max:

unfortunately, i've yet to meet an old man with such a penchant for ginormous jewelry as me. i'd love it if i did! this particular piece is part of the new ruined heirlooms collection that just arrived in the shop:

while we're on the topic of shopping: if you follow me on twitter, you know that i spent the latter part of last week on a flea-marketing trip with the beckerman girls in brimfield, massachusetts (or 'brimmy market' as chloe beckerman dubbed it). with their help, i'm working on putting together an ultimate flea market survival guide for you!

one thing that will definitely make the list is a wide-brimmed hat. i forgot to pack one this time around, but was lucky enough to find this perfect hand-made panama early in on the trip. it has barely left my head ever since!

another accessory that hasn't left my side is my self-designed coach bag. when i began working on this project, i knew i wanted the bag to be big enough to fit in all of a day's essentials, but small enough to keep carrying out into the night ~ a tricky balance to achieve, but such a necessity in new york. i also wanted the color to go with anything and everything, all year round. i'm so pleased that the finished product succeeds on both counts! and that it's just so darn cute.

speaking of cuteness, here comes more BUNNY!


{ panama hat and vintage rayban sunnies from brimmy market, the glamourai pearl armor necklace, go international vest, rachel rachel roy dress, commando slip, the glamourai for coach bag, halston shoes // papillon pup }