sexy time

food for thought

I think this is a fascinating time in design. Vintage is over. This is going to be a very important moment in fashion because we cannot just reproduce; we did the Twenties already, we did the Thirties, the Fifties, the Sixties, up to the Nineties. Instead, we have to think. We have to start inventing again.

-alber elbaz, lavin

Bedknobs and Broomesticks

A brief glimpse into the everyday art world of the east village . . .

Exquisite Shopping

The best thing about moving downtown is the vibrant boutique scene right around my corner.
Last week, I called in sick and spent the day pounding the pavement in search of the perfect dress for my brother's upcoming bar mitzvah on New Year's Eve. I needed something special, slightly conservative, and definately vintage!

A stones throw away from my apartment at Exquisite Costume I found THE dress! Exquisite's owner, Stacey Lanna handpicked it for me along with a couple high waisted wool skirts that were pretty awesome as well. The dress is a luxurious navy blue velvet from the 1940's with puffed sleeves and a flounce to the skirt which hits mid-calf. Don't you love the feeling of trying something on and knowing that you will not leave without taking it home! The dress was an instant hit and a perfect fit and I quickly snatched it up, an unexpected finaly to my normal shopping trips that are plagued with indecision.

Be sure to check out Exquisite Costume (see business card on right and click for enlargement). Compared to most vintage stores laden with overpriced and unoriginal polyester threads, the collection at Exquisite Costume is classy and quite impressive. The shop stocks Victorian lace blouses, mod high heels, flowy 1970's disco tops, and antique accessories - hats remniscent of a speakeasie crowd and groovy hand bags of a certain 1960's glamour. Prices are reasonable and although some items are more expensive, take solace in the fact that the vintage clothing and accessories at Exquisite Costume were not picked off the rack of your local salvation army and marked up. Stacey works as a stylist on fashion editorials and has been a vintage collector for years. This stuff is legit. Now if only I could find the perfect heels...

Vintage Par-tay

I have SO much vintage that has just been piling up over the past
few months. I quit doing the market many months ago but I have been
shopping like crazy! I have so much stuff and would like to make it
available to you but I cant possibly photograph it all. So, I think it
would be really fun to have a vintage party at my place! I live in
beautiful Fort Greene, right off the C train on the second floor of a
brownstone apt. I will have plenty of room to try things on, nice big
mirrors and lots of wine! I can do this tmrw evening , Saturday or
Sunday afternoon. Depending on how many people get back to me about
which time is best, I will make my plan. Thanks!!! -Eliza ALSO-this
is a more inexpesive way to shop considering you wont have to pay
shipping, paypal fees etc., and you can try things on!!!

SCARY

Planned Parenthood just sent me this message about a new Bush administration appointee, who is anti-birth control and anti-family planning. Even worse, he's been put in charge of the country's family planning program.

Eric Keroack was the medical director of five so-called "crisis pregnancy centers" hat oppose contraception and do not distribute information promoting birth control. In Keroack's new role, he will oversee hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding meant to provide access to contraception and reproductive health information.

Sometimes nostalgia is awesome

playing hard to get when we're together
hard to get there on your own
when will you ever come to conscience?
i let you be alone
you never had it better
than when i was with you baby
so come back to earth
let's drink some tea and smoke some herb

tuesday's temptation

check out Paper Magazine's TIPS FOR TODAY in NYC:

THE TEMPTATIONS CHRISTMAS AT THE APOLLO THEATER What’s Christmas good for if not nostalgia? Tonight at the Apollo Theater, The Temptations will bring you their motown-y versions of old Christmas classics. Doo wop do waaah. The Apollo Theater, 253 W. 125th St., (212) 531-5305. =8 p.m. $45, $55, & $65.

Don't forget to get the HPV Vaccine

FYI: Studies have found the vaccine to be almost 100% effective in preventing diseases caused by the four HPV types covered by the vaccine. Girls/women do not need to get an HPV test or Pap test to find out if they should get the vaccine. An HPV test or a Pap test can tell that a woman may have HPV, but these tests cannot tell the specific HPV type(s) that a woman has. Even girls/women with one HPV type could get protection from the other vaccine HPV types they have not yet acquired.

cOVer MY pILLs

Last time I checked some of you gave some great advice about Birth Control methods. Last week, I visited the Margaret Sanger Center on Bleeker Street, which is the Manhattan branch of Planned Parenthood NYC.
I had a great discussion with a smart midwife at P squared.

One of the things we complained about was the lack of insurance coverage for birth control pills which we both agreed was a dumb move by misogyonistic health companies and policy makers. She reffered me to a site called COVER MY PILLS which advoces that contraception is basic healthcare for women.

their mission:

We believe that contraception should be treated in the same way as other medical needs. This means that insurance plans should treat prescription contraception the same way they treat other prescriptions, and that to fail to do so is sex discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. This also means that pharmacists and doctors should make sure that a woman's contraception prescription gets filled, no matter what his or her personal views about contraception are.

According to the midwife, those making these decisions just aren't aren't particularly partial to women's health care, a mistake that could be costly.

Consider the newly released HPV vaccine. Doctor's offices must pay $200-$300 for each vaccine which must be stored at a certain tempature until it expires. As of now, there are very few places offering the vaccine due to the cost, some of which is undoubtedly passed on to the patient. Imagine if pharmaceutical companies, insurance and healthcare providers, and hospitals decided to offer the vaccine on a widespread basis. There is a lot of money to be made in that venture!

Inspirational Boutiques

THIS SATURDAY AND SUNDAY VISIT NEW YORK'S PREMIER VINTAGE MARKET. AT THE SAME SITE FOR OVER 30 YEARS. A "MUST" STOP FOR THE NEW YORK DEALERS!
WE HAVE A VAST ARRAY OF VINTAGE CLOTHING, FURNITURE, LINENS, JEWELRY, GLASSWARE, RECORDS, ART WORK, BOOKS, RECORDS, COLLECTIBLES, SILVER, AND ALL SORTS OF TABLEWARE ETC. ETC.
EITHER TAKE THE"F" TRAIN TO 7TH AVENUE OR THE"R" TO 9TH STREET. HOURS ARE 9:00AM TO 4:00PM. REMEMBER THE DAYS ARE SHORTER. COME EARLY TO GET THE GREAT DEALS.
A PERFECT MARKET TO BUY THOSE SPECIAL GIFTS.

Bargain Blowouts

Since we are all thrifty ladies who like to look chic and put together, but sometimes don't have the dough to do it . . . i thought that this clip i came across would come in handy for us all:

Salon V2 - 153 Hester Street - 212.226.7690

"One of downtown Manhattan's best kept secrets, Gary Liao is the King of Blowouts. Whle blissed out from a 10-minute shiatsu scalp massage, you'll watch this dashing stylist straighten your locks until they gleam, twisting th ends around a brush for a bit of kick."
Price: $10-$15


Carsten Institute - 22 East 17th Street - 212.675.4884

"Like a good tavern during Prohibition, this beauty school and salon has an unmarked entrance. inside are blowouts so cheap and gorgeous they should be illegal. The loft bustles with talented stylist aspirants who specialise in soft, naturally flowing stules, and the intoxicating scent of heral products will give you a guilt-free buzz."
Price: $12

Free Association

In the Fashion & Style section of The Times this week there is an interesting article about a boutique in California called Free City.

800 Very Unsquare Feet

Nina Garduno, a fashion industry veteran opened Free City with the idea to "make things with the simplest elements with the highest of possibilities.” The boutique sells vintage bicycles, jeans, T-shirts, and also "functions as a gathering space." The article discusses the idea of fashion with regard to big corporations and small boutiques and the idea of authenticity. The article talks about the way in which fashion has been redefined.

"But in another way, Ms. Garduno may have instinctively realized that fashion was being redefined. It was no longer strictly about the clothes. It was, as a number of executives grasped, about the accessories. More farsighted individuals recognized that fashion’s ability to confer status or taste was illimitable and, indeed, could be transmitted through other forms, like a style of cellphone, and even by more abstract notions, like authenticity.

Several stores were on the edge of this wave, none more so than Colette in Paris and Corso Como in Milan, which sells fashion as well as books and CDs. But Ms. Garduno believes these stores are no longer innovative, in part, she says, because the shopping experience has grown static and in part because people have developed an almost free-associative view of authenticity.

This just means you can’t get into peoples’ heads so easily, or, for that matter, dazzle them with a few loaded words, as a number of big companies have recently tried to do with advertisements. The Gap’s current ads, with “peace” and “love” in gold, really resemble the style of her hand-printed graphics.

But for something to be perceived as authentic, that value has to be communicated cleanly through every detail — from the quality of the wash, if it’s a T-shirt, to the integrity of the physical environment. This is the almost visceral sense you get when you enter Free City. Not to sound crunchy, but you feel the love."

The article poses an exciting perspective about the idea of shopping and fashion that I thought we could apply to the Communal Closet Online as well as to the future Communal Closet! Essentially, Garduna reveals that

"It’s about the experience. I’m interested in having someone walk out of Free City and having had an experience. That’s what matters. They could buy a cheaper bicycle or T-shirt anywhere.”

So ladies, in regard to the present and future of the Communal Closet (both in cyberland and in real time) what kind of experience is it that we are looking to encounter ourselves and to convey to (potential readers/shoppers)?

GENETIKZ RULEZ

genetics totally rules. here is an inspirational genetics pic.



btdubbs i just fained

wooster is opening this building up

So, I have noticed that more and more stuff has been being stuck to that building too. I like the grocery boxes that say FRESH. It's on my way to work from Alex's house. I want him to put something up of his own but he is too busy for his art these days. Did anyone read the New York magazine article about burn out? They compare public school teachers and ibankers. Anyway, Wooster wont say what days its going to open the building because it's afraid of the hype but I'll post the info if they give it up. I think it's tours and DJs and art.. should be cool. The whole glorious place is being converted into condos soon, likely for rich, boring people who will never fully appreciate the neighborhood. It's sad. I agree that New York needs more quality street art. Have you seen the pieces by Banksy?

street art

A few weeks back during some of our regular Thursday night debauchery in town, I asked a couple of you to pose in front of this vivid display of street art right down the block from my apartment.

Well, turns out there is actually some sort of mission behind the madness.
Check out the Wooster Collective for more incredible displays of street art from across the world:

Wooster Collective



The very idea of a collective seems to me like both a glamorous (1960's hello!) and practical way for a bunch of individuals to make an impact.
With regard to graffiti or street art, New York City seems to have the most stringent opposition to this type of self expression compared to other urban destinations across the globe. In Barcelona, I was blown away by the long stretchs of graffiti murals as in Berlin where there were also periodical street exhibitions consisting of junk sculptures- an old mattress, or a broken rennaisance-esque sculpture with weeds growing out of it, artfully arranged in a large alleyway. Well, for my photo 1 class last semester, I took several black and white shots of this display which were pretty well received...my creativity or the original artists?
Which brings me to my final topic of appropriation be it art or public space, but i'll leave it at that as i've written one too many reading responses about the topic on courseworks. The cool thing about this avenue is that you can post pics!!

S&M at our Alma Mater?

...and no I ain't talking about the original roomie situation.
This just in from papermagazine.com:


TONIGHT, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMEMBER 29th

AWESOME COLOR + O'DEATH + BIRTHDAY BOYZ AT COLUMBIA Given the recent S&M hubbub at Columbia, there's no time like the present for a trip uptown. Get your boogie and your bang on with the Bushwick-bred, Thurstom Moore-approved Awesome Color. Expend your primitivist libidinal energies with O'Death, whom the Voice called the " sexiest Appalachian hardcore." Lastly, hit the books with local math rockers the Birthday Boyz. Jerome Green Annex, W. 116th St. between Amsterdam

Soul Sisters

So I saw this in NY Magazine and then again on someone's facebook profile.
I love it. I think it was on exhibit somewhere in NYC but where? Who made it? I'd really like to know so I can commission him/her for a mural in my future home...

In hindsight, the theme is Eastern Europe

I'm so tired of hearing people speculate over celebrities' eating habits and twig-like extremities and affinity for trailer-park drugs. I feel like they're children almost: you can't pay attention to them when they act out. It's totally the way I deal with the kids I babysit for; if they freak out and cry I tell them they can just go to their room and do it. Although I gotta say, I did like Sienna's Marchesa dress. I don't hate Marchesa clothes, but they definitely don't deserve the hype they get. Does anything? Let's see. Here are some interesting cultural events I am dying to go to, and if anyone else is interested, then COME ON, let's GO!

1. Spring Awakening: This is some play from Eastern Europe in the 19th century about kids and their reckless sex lives at the turn of the century in Prague (I think). Anyway, Duncan Sheik (oh yes, you remember the 90s pop hit, "Barely Breathing") revamped the score and now it's (off? on?) a Broadway play. There's S and M involved, in case you needed that extra incentive.

2. Neue Gallery/Sabarsky Cafe: Ridiculous I've never been to this considering I swoon at the sight of a Schiele. It's on 86th and 5th and currently has on display the highest selling painting of all tell (Klimt's Adele Bauer-Blcoheriojpaosidjfwhatever). We should go and look at paintings and eat pastries afterwards.

3. Met: The Met has German Portraits from the 20s now, which all have this creepy darkness to them. Totally up my alley.

Speaking of Eastern Europe, I applied to teach English Kindergarten in Vienna. How dope?

With regards to the six month slump, I do think it's a pretty regular thing, but if it persists I'd revisit the subject. Unfortunately Andy Warhol's Montauk estate was just purchased so my plan of buying it and turning it into our own little fashion/art/lifestyle commune (with our resident doctors in case one of us gets injured collaging) is thwarted. Alas, not sure I had the 30 mill anyway.

Morning Ladies

Sorry to turn the blog into a negative rant space so quickly after it was created with love but I have to say, going home for break gave me some time and perspective to think about what I am doing and where I am working and I don't know if I can keep doing it. In many ways, this is an ideal job. The place is prestigious, the pay is good, dinner and car rides home, no crazy weekend hours, interesting cases, the lawyers are nice, I am getting lots of praise and encouragement from my teammates and learning what it's like to be a lawyer... but I can't seem to get over the fact that my office has no window, that I leave for work when it's cold and barely light out and return when it dark and everything is closed. Some days, I don't get outside for 12 hours. For what? I am a legal assistant-- I can't even explain to people what I do all day. I will probably get good recommendations for law school and be on my way after 2 years and forget I ever felt like this. The problem is not that the job sucks or I'm not learning anything. I am, but sitting on a plane for 6 hours and talking to all my sister's friends who are about to graduate and travel made me wonder if there is something else I could be doing with fewer drawbacks-- something that is both a good job and fun! I heard about one job where you go around the world to different cities for 3 months at a time and sell advertising space in the Tokyo Times. You work in small teams, make salary and commission and live in nice prepaid apartments and dress stylish and professional to attract clients. Everyone is under 26 and the guy I know who is doing it said they have gone to Cairo, Berlin, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and next Rio and Latin America. It sounds so exciting. But I'm sure I will run into the same 6th month slump if I took that job. No friends, no boyfriend, no home... the grass is always greener. I think I felt the 6th month slump when I started at Columbia, when I went abroad and in every long term relationship I've had. There is something about wanting to jump ship before committing to things. So far I have stuck everything out and been happy for it. But I wonder if I would be even happier going for a change.