I Stand Corrected.

Dear Ms. Lady Gaga,

I have to apologize to you. I didn't give you a chance. I saw you hanging from the ceiling at the VMA's like a used feminine hygiene product and I was revolted. I used my cringing discomfort to shut the door on you and what I thought was your manufactured kookiness. I figured that was it forever, and I told people I hated you. I said I couldn't stand your heart attack serious demeanor, your allegiance to Perez Hilton, or your lack of pants. And then, I heard the opening"Rah rah..." of Bad Romance on Alexander McQueen's Plato's Atlantis runway and something shifted. The song sounded scary, like a Manson refrain out of the mouth of a blond dripping in this cracked veneer of sexuality. I instantly realized that you weren't trying to be a Hilton, whether Perez or Paris, but that you were holding up a mirror to them and their universe of fame. You weren't pants-less because you wanted people to ogle your goodies, you were showing your legs and donning a disturbing headdress at the same time so people would feel turned on and confused, so they would question the boundaries of their own sexuality. There was something ugly about you and I'm not being mean. There was something intentionally ugly about you, because ugly is beautiful..."I want your ugly, I want your disease...I want your love," right?

Then the Bad Romance video hit and I was sold. Gaga, let's be truthful, you appeared kind of needlessly self-serious and bitchy in the beginning. But in that epic video you were beautiful and impassioned. You were rocking an impressive array of high fashion: a head-to-toe crowned, latex suit, a pair of McQueen's alien platforms, and then the clincher: you were joyous in that red lace get-up at the end. You cracked a smile and I saw your fulfillment, your enthusiasm, your energy. You weren't posturing, you were emitting light. You won me over-- not that you have any obligation to win me over, but you did nevertheless. And now? Every single performance you do outshines the last. The AMA's were yours. The show sucked overall, but you owned it and taught it to dance for your five minutes. That glowing, skeletal face mask worn with a nude bodysuit? Perfectly weird, new, different, scary, sexy, cool. Oh, and you can sing too. You can really belt it out. You even made a segment of the Jay Leno show worth watching. That's it...I'm passing on to you my Madonna fandom. May you accept it with knowledge that I loved her dearly in her day. I've held out so much hope that she would rise again, but you've changed the game and I don't think she can catch up to you now. I can only hope that you will age with more grace than our formerly dignified Queen of Pop. I have a feeling you will. Your support of the gays, weirdos, goth kids, and electrified trannies is awesome, and important. Your fashion is fresh and so strange and for all of that, I also salute you.

With love,
Anna

PS: This interview with John Norris helped me understand you a bit better. I loved it.

Little Girls Lost Together.

Lolita is a style of dress with roots in the Victorian era and Japan's notorious Harajuku District. With frilly dresses, pigtail ringlets, parasols, bows and underskirts, the girls of Lolita are enacting a femininity that many see as sexualized kids stuff, but they swear it's not a matter of kink. Rather it's their form of self expression. Learn more about this subculture in this excellent student documentary made and presented by four University of Chicago film students.

I'm so interested in how the internet has allowed all of these subcultures to have a level of connectivity that never would have been possible before. It's also exposing us to so much non-conformist style that you have to wonder what will really be out of the loop in the future. I foresee radical separatists living with no technology in small communities in hills and valleys. Hmmm, I wonder what they'll wear...

She's Done Every Do (And Dont').

Guanabee's round-up of Oprah's hairstory.

Oprah's life story (abused little girl born to unwed parents in Kosciusko, Mississippi grows up to become Queen Of The Modern World Who Gives Away Cars) is always inspiring to me, no matter what any of you haters say. You know what else is inspiring? Oprah's ability to become Queen Of The Modern World Who Gives Away Cars with all of the bad hairdos she's rocked over the years. It's really something. The good people over at Guanabee put together a retrospective of Her Majesty's hairstyles over her TV career, and I just had to share them with you. Click the pic above to see Oprah's hairdos and don'ts.

Zen Thread.

This picture made me exhale.

A box of sewing thread from Dapan's Flickr photostream.

Gift It: Buttons.

Buttons make everything better. Pinning something great to a great thing can only make the great thing great squared, right? Basic intermediate math laws don't lie. I have a couple of cute buttons that I make good use of. I pin them to my coats or I hook them onto a necklace, or I bobbypin them into my hair and I swear they always make things better. Therefore, I think they are the ideal gift to give; it's as if you are giving better to someone. Plus, besides for being useful as all heck they are not permanent. Sick of a buton? Just open the latch and set it free from your garment. A great place to find buttons is Etsy. There they are made by crafty mofos who love to make things and deserve to make a living as well. One of my favorite button makers? Caitlin Kuhwald. She's a talented illustrator who makes her big, beautiful works into bitesize buttons for you to not eat. Don't eat them...wear them.

The Queen big, The Queen lil.



Various creatures, cute as buttons.

Ira Glass big size, Ira Glass bitesize. You know you have someone in your life who lurves Ira.

Individual buttons will run you $1.50, pairs will cost you $3.00, and variety packs will be $5.00. Perfect stocking stuffers, right? While you are perusing the buttons from Ms. Kuhwald, please check out her amazing illustrations and paintings. She's good. Real good. Here, I'll show you some:

So talented. You can purchase prints of her work for about $30 each. Check out her full shop here.

We All Float On.

Stephane Sednaoui's film Acqua Natasa (2002)

He Works It, You Watch.

Gareth Pugh is constructing a garment live from Somerset House n-n-n-now, and you get to watch him work his couture-style magic via SHOWstudio. For anyone who ever wondered why high fashion costs the prices it does, watch the man work and tell me it's not the same exact process as an fine artist in his studio. There are rulers and x-acto knives, paper templates, pencil marks, all laid out on the work table. It's beautiful to watch. If you can't tune in today, you'll have another chance on Monday and Tuesday. Also, you can ask Gareth questions as he sews.

Click the image to go to the live feed of Gareth in his element.

Just for a second, my dear fashion fans, I want you to consider how lucky we are to be in the age of live feeds. We are literally watching over the shoulder of a top designer as he utilizes his hard-earned techniques in plain view. Forget about being a fashion fan, all of you design students out there, SHOWstudio's Somerset House is your new university. Watch carefully!

Musical Interlude: Rap Exegesis

Here's a little story that must be told, and it goes a little something like this: When I was in that sacred stage of human development known as adolescence, rap opened my eyes to just how words could be used. I was on the verge of tearing my everything out in fits of angsty, pre-teen rage, when I realized that what I really needed to do was write. I needed to get out the crazy build-up of everything and put it on paper, which I was actually decent at. That realization came to me when I walked into my older brother's room and heard his Wu-Tang tapes (yep, I said tapes--as in cassettes) blaring out of his speakers. It was the most amazing thing to me to sit and listen to these wordsmiths that just spun a story to a beat; quick and dirty. The rhythm, the rhyming, the references, the metaphors, the similes! I was a dorky, English-class-loving sixth grader and I was in mad, passionate love with this hardcore rap that spit rough lines about grabbing girls and smoking blunts. It was like some secret version of poetry that I wanted to know all about. But, that was easier said than done. Pre-Internet (Yes, I said pre-Internet--as in perhaps you had a dial-up connection on the family PC days) lyrics were hard-won information when you were sneaking listens in your big brother's room and had no idea where he kept anything, let alone cassette cases (and were afraid to look because one time you found pot and thought you could get arrested for simply knowing it was in the house). So, I never knew what anyone was talking about most of the time, and my initial interest gave way to the embarrassment of never feeling cool enough to like what the older bro liked.

The Wu.

Cut to many years later when songs are downloaded, the Internet is wireless, and I don't care about being cool: I love rap more and more all the time. Good story telling is such an admirable talent, and good rap songs are stories the way folk songs are stories. Jay-Z? Lil Wayne? Ghostface? They are amazing with words, and it's awe-inspiring. With the advent of lyric sites coming out the wahzoo, I'm now able to perform most good rap songs as Karaoke numbers (I said I wasn't worried about being cool), meaning that I know what the words are. But, as a white, suburban girl by birth, I still don't know what most of the words mean. Enter Rap Exegesis.

Click it.

This site breaks down the lyrics of a growing number of rap's greatest songs. It provides all of the background info you need on any mention of anything that isn't 100% straightforward. I kind of think I'm the target audience (white girl from the burbs with no refernece point for the myriad of urban insider secrets that she's fascinated by) and I'm honored. The site delivers the goods a la Pop Up Video, with floating blurb boxes explaining what it means to be "faded to brown" (drunk off of Hennessy or high on heroin!) or to have a "thick knot" (lots of cash!). The best part? You can listen to the songs as you read along! I have a feeling the hardcore rap fans won't like their lyrical secrets all spelled out to outsiders, but I think it's a perfect idea, executed hella well with mad humor, yo. Check it before you wreck it. (I'm kidding...kind of.)

Lick it like a lollipop like Lil Wayne, or spread your B.I.G. love (it's the Brooklyn way).

Once you "exegize" the lyrics, take your favorites and make them into t-shirts via any one of the custom tee design sites, like Cafe Press and wear your new words like the bottle poppin' baller that you now are. Word.

Gift It: Rub It On.

An old school Letraset transfer sheet of type.

Do you remember Letraset decals? Plastic sheets of "paper" printed with little graphics or text that you could rub onto other surfaces? Usually you used a coin or the back of a spoon to do the rubbings. I used to love them and I have a feeling anyone else who used to love them would still love them. The creative geniuses over at Third Drawer Down, which is an Australian company that is best known for having artists print fun things on tea towels, thinks you'll like them even if you don't remember them. Decalomania was a trend with the Surrealists back in the day. It's the process of printing, drawing, or painting images onto one surface that can eventually be applied through pressure, moisture, or heat (depending on the materials) onto another surface, usually paper or ceramics. It's kind of like rub-on tattoos for art purposes. In an attempt to reignite the craze, Three Drawers Down has a few versions on offer via their excellent web shop which are all done by artists with their own take on the tradition. At $12 a piece, I think the sheets of decals would make fine gifts for your crafty, artsy friends...or your friends who really like to rub things on other things. What? What? Don't you have friends like that?

These are sheets full of decals to rub on things. $12

If you'd like the gift to be a bit more substantial, you can purchase one of the rub-on books that's a coloring book of sorts with a sheet of decals all your own that you can go crazy rubbing on ($16). There's a really fun looking one where you get to but colorful undies on some scribbled dudes and dudettes.

It's like kidstuff for kids over the age of 18.

Get Me A Ticket.

A Single Man is fashion designer and all around hedonist Tom Ford's cinematic debut. I must say, if the trailer is any indication, his directorial vision is eye candy laced with arsenic and bourbon and I want some.



I don't know about you, but I could watch Julianne Moore eternally. Her face is like a million emotions under pounds of pretty pressure that you are sure is going to crack. She is utterly watchable. This is pure preview heaven. Tick-tock: I can't wait til it hits theaters.

Gone Too Soon.

The Korean Model Daul Kim was found dead in her Paris apartment this morning. Her striking work always made me think, wow maybe models can be superstars again. She's gone too soon for all of that. Sad. Here's a look at her legacy of images.

You can see a complete collection of Kim images here.

Gift It: Photo Booth.

My magnet board, showcasing some of my photo booth strips. I love them.

So, I'm a little obsessed with photo booths. I think they are 90% of the reason I ever go anywhere near the Jersey Shore, because they are there waiting for me and my friends on the boardwalk. I'm such a fan of piling into a tiny booth and the ensuing shock and awe scramble of the flash bulb, and then the pregnant pause of waiting for them to appear in the side tray. I even love the grabby-hands, giggle-filled passing of the strip after they come out. Photos from the booth are usually records of pure joy, fun, love, and faces you shouldn't make in polite society. It's all too good. If you also have a photo booth fan in your family or group of friends, I have the perfect (inexpensive!) gift for them:

It's a book entitled...wait for it...Photobooth by Babbette Hines (Princeton Architectural Press for $19.95.), and it's a visual collection of the most wonderful booth snaps from now and then. The book includes over 700 photos from the last 75 years and gives you just a few points of history about the booth. I'll summarize: It was invented by a Siberian immigrant named Anotol Josepho in 1925 as a way for people to take quick, anonymous photos. The booths boomed in America and Europe due largely to family and loved ones exchanging instant photos with soldiers stationed abroad during World War II. Now they are more of a Brooklyn bar novelty but, recently I've been to a few weddings where they are the new purveyor of takeaway memories. Whatever happens with booths in the future, this book really let's you see the magic of their past. Here are some of the book's best shots as seen on Google Books Preview:

As historical records of dress, photo booth pictures are the pre-streetstyle blog, aren't they? It's random shots of people just the way they were, wearing things just the way they wore them. Or, showing off their uniforms and their Sunday best. I'm certain any photography or fashion aficionado would love this book, but if you think the mini-tome won't be enough to satisfy your favorite photo booth fan, you can always get them one of their own:

Seriously, click the pic for a link. It'll only cost you around $8,000. No biggie...

PS: 'Tis the season where Cheap Thrill posts turn into Gift It posts to help you with your Holiday shopping. Got any tips for great gifts under $20? Hit me up!

I Could Watch You Paint All Day. Or, For Four Minutes.

Youtube user Mitsib paints. You can watch if you want.

Fashion's Been Bailed Out.

Beyonce and Gaga are fashion's emergency stimulus act. Their fierceness has revitalized the industry this year, I must say. Beyonce's heavy Gareth Pugh and Christopher Kane infatuation are bested only by Gaga's intense love of the avant whore look. It's all just the shot that the glossed over, styl-ed out world of celeb fashion needed. How much of this translates into clothes you will wear in your day? Slim to none. Instead, the risky energy of these ladies' choices permeates the air with freaky possibilities and stretches the limits for you. It's a legacy thing. You'll get it in a few years. For now, just watch them get it done.

Love this video. It's directed by the amazing Hype Williams. Click any still to watch the video. Yowza.

Sometimes a Banana Vase Is Just A Banana Vase.

These Jonathan Adler vases want your flower.

Perfect decor for a Freudian Psychologist's office? No? You must have at least one on your Holiday list.

One/One-Thousand: Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin

The Amazingly Dutch Duo: Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin

Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin are a team in business and life. Their collaborative fashion photography helped shape the modern definition of what that is in that it made early and good use of digital techniques to expand the field in the '90s. I remember seeing this photo of Madonna from Spin magazine around 1998 and getting hooked by the surreal style of it.

The rest of the Madonna photos from the Spin shoot were equally mysterious and led me into a headlong search for who was snapping such great shots of my Pop Music Queen. From there I saw Inez's iconic, digitally-aided ode to longing entitled Me Kissing Vinoodh Passionately from 1999, which I loved with as much passion as she did her husband. The shock of this photo, with it's early use of digital imaging, cannot be emphasized enough. It came to be at a time where you wondered "how'd they do that?" a lot more often.

Later, in the early '00s Inez and Vinoodh teamed up with Bjork to make the innovative "Hidden Place" video for a beautiful result. And then their fashion photography career took off with rocket speed and never looked back.



The Dutch duo got lush, prestigious assignments for W Magazine, Calvin Klein advertising, The Pirelli Calendar, and an impressive opportunity to snap The New York Times' annual portfolio of noteworthy acting performances in 2004 and a couple subsequent years. The work they turned out was consistently artistic and transformative to the field itself.

Their photos are as ghostly as they are glossy. They're high fashion, no doubt, but with a murky filter of incongruity. There's something amiss, the lithe women look too big and heavy-boned, the familiar cinema stars look more severe than you remember them, and the whole mis-en-scene seems to be inviting or documenting some crime or indiscretion that will or has taken place.

Inez and Vinoodh's celebrity portraits of (from top) Sophia Loren, Jodi Foster, Reese Witherspoon, Heath Ledger, and Charlize Theron.

Haunting? I suppose that's the right word. Their work is haunting--with Gucci bags and Calvin jeans.


All photos by Inez and Vinoodh, found across the interwebs via a google image search.

It's For The Pretty (trans)People.

Boys who love to look like girls and girls who love to look like boys and those with no particular gender divide now have their own magazine. Candy is a limited edition glossy mag with work from Bruce Weber, Terry Richardson, Rodarte, and so many more focused on the trans nation. Check out a video comp of the first issue featuring Kelly Osbourne's current beau Luke Worrall as cover boy/girl.

CANDY 1 from Luis Venegas on Vimeo.

How Do You Fold A Shirt?

Wanna fold a shirt shop-style? Click this:

See, just like that!
This made me laugh too hard.
Link courtesy of SomersetHouse's Tweet! Follow them.

Connie Lim Is A Player.

Illustrator Connie Lim is about to make your game of go-fish the prettiest darn thing that ever crossed a card table.

Her project for the site Trend.Land makes fashionable friends with that old deck of playing cards. Her illustrations for a full deck are gorgeous to say the least, and sexy with a capital S to say the most.

I'm not aware of any purveyor of a deck of these pretty things, but you could stay up to date on her postings via Trend.Land and print yourself a lovely set when she's all done.

Even if you don't actually get to play with these cards, they'll at least be fun to look at.

Vogue's HeART.

Annie Leibovitz, Grace Coddington, and Lady Gaga make fashion. Cate Blanchett shows up too. Who could ask for anything more?

This Explains Soooooo Much.

Kirsten, who I now want to hug. Hard. Bear style.

Full disclosure: #1) I cannot verify the authenticity of this video you are about to see, but based on the trademark blond mane and the dimples, I'm thinking this is actually for real. #2) This has nothing to do with fashion, but I couldn't help sharing it with you. #3) This explains everything about Kirsten Dunst.

Kiki's fashion moments: with Kaiser Karl and in a Prada ad.

So, in this supposedly real video you are about to see, a 12 year old Kirsten is pre-prepped for an interview by her parents and their crazy is on full display. There is no way to even explain the crazy, it's just turned up to full blast in the weirdest way. A particularly painful moment? When her mother says, "Don't screw this up!" and then says "Do you want to go back to print ads? I have a certain type of lifestyle to maintain...I am not going back to the way it was!" There's something scripted sounding about this, but half of me thinks it's real. What do you think?



If it is real, I have to say that I apologize deeply for judging Kiki so harshly in the past. If my parents were like that I'd be a rehabbed, slightly bitchy interview too. People should have to be approved for child rearing licenses. This is capital C crazy.

Virtual Garage Sale.

Shop Fashion Roadkill is an open call to raid the closet of founder Ashley of Canada. Her slightly used, just barely second-hand goods can be yours for some very reasonable (Canadian) prices. Also, the girl's got style. Check out those sick blue babies above, or the stick people blazer below. One girl's closet space issue is another girl's...well, closet space issue. Happy shopping.

Common Goods: Ruth St. Denis

Dancer Ruth St. Denis (b. 1879--d.1968), who was credited with bringing modern dance to America in the early 20th century, was a rebel with a mystical spirit. Her performances often centered around Eastern thought, dress, and concepts. Her theatrical accouterments were the embodiment of beautiful costuming. Whether St. Denis was portraying a Hindu Goddess or an Egyptian Queen, her costumes gleamed with gorgeous detailing. The New York Public Library's photostream on Flickr showcases quite a collection of portraits of Ruth in costume, and they are divine.

Before Ruth there were no dance programs at universities and no serious American dancers; and now? Ballerinas can get B.A.s thanks to her engendering of the first academic dance department at Aldelphi University. Also, without Ruth much of the evolution of dance here on American soil would have been stunted--she taught Martha Graham how to move.

So, besides for looking pretty on stage (as important as that is) we have much to thank St. Denis for. How shall we thank her? I say by dancing, in pretty costumes tonight. I know I don't need an excuse to do that, but if you do, you now have one. If you don't feel like dancing I'm sorry for your soul, but I'll let you off the hook if you watch a compilation of Denis photos accompanied by audio of her telling remarkable stories of her carreer in this documentary from 2006:


That's part 1 of 5. Click here to see part 2, 3, 4, and 5. It's wonderfully worth your time for sheer prettiness and wit alone.

I've Gone Gaga.

I'm only going to say this once, so listen up: In spite of previous misgivings about The One Who Bluffs with Her Muffin, I actually really like the new Lady Gaga track and video. Director Francis Lawrence did it up on "Bad Romance"! His slick music video skills (previously seen in such poppy stunners as Britney's "I'm a Slave For You", Janet's "Son of a Gun", and Gwen's "What You Waiting For?"--all of which are in my top ten videos of all time) match the mistress of mayhem's music and me-me-me-mantra magically. The super white light, blond-coiffed, make-up saturated, sex show is something I'm sure Madonna is so jealous she wasn't a part of. With this video, Gaga actually takes the Material Girl's torch and stomps away with it, wild-eyed, searching for a built guy in some wicked footwear. I also think Gaga is the perfect female embodiment of Marilyn Manson's legacy. She's offering the scary pop that people always have a little craving for, and she's running it into a very glam mainstream. I'm spitting words here, but there's no need. Just watch the video:



I can't deny it: The Gaga done good. And, Lady, nice McQueen shoes, Bitch! Loves them on you. This Gaga track actually premiered at Alexander McQueen's incredible Plato's Atlantis runway show last month, which was brilliant. What a great match. Speaking of matches, the Gaga burns the Haus down and gets crispy in the end, but her shoes survive. Thank God.