Happy New Year! Many of us rang in the new decade with century old fashion. Yours truly was no exception. Not only did I don myself like a 1920s Jazz Age starlet, but I had a dapper musician on my arm as well. I visited Featherweight, a speakeasy style bar in Brooklyn complete with a hidden entrance and Prohibition-era spirits like absinthe; then I headed uptown for a roaring 20s party with friends in Harlem. (I'll skip past the part where my beau and I changed into police costumes and handed out prohibition tickets with dares for penalties--I don't have the photo evidence but believe me it was a riot!) But this is a fashion blog, and I'm here to talk about the outfit that made this night complete. Let's rewind a bit-- In the 1974 film adaptation of The Great Gatsby, Mia Farrow wore a splendid glittering headpiece. I knew that my 1920s New Year's Eve ensemble wouldn't be complete without such a piece. I found my version of a glittering 1920s crown--a tulle scarf with a hand sewn rhinestone design--on Amazon. It was cheap and had no previous ratings but I took a chance on it and it delivered! To get the full effect, I wore a low bun and covered my hair from the front. The rest of the outfit came together after the headpiece. I steered clear of fringe and art deco patterned drop waist flapper dresses. Everyone would be doing that. A scroll through numerous photographs of women in the 1920s showed that satin dresses, although often disguised by some fancy overlay, were common. It took several days to find the right satin dress. I had to make a few compromises to my original vision: taupe instead of white, backless and high-neck instead of traditional midi slip dress, and white and "coffee" faux fur instead of snow white. The design evolved in the creation process, as it often does. During this evolution I found style inspo while looking at 1920s themed bridal wear, Chris Jenner’s 2015 birthday party photos, and Rihanna's 2014 CFDA Fashion Awards show stopper. For added decadence I wore my elbow length white gloves and paid homage to my century's Gatsby movie with dupes of Daisy's bracelet-rings from the 2013 remake. Special thanks and credit to my boyfriend-photographer and the Google Images search engine. For more outfit details visit the links below.
Outfit: Headpiece Dress Fur Bracelet-rings
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My dear artist friend lives in a museum-- seriously. You can take a trip around the world in his apartment w/ all the fascinating artwork and artifacts he's collected (and some he made). Respectfully, I did not video his home. More appropriately, I chose a unique dress to become a work of art myself.
Dress from Asos -traditional holiday evergreen with electric orange prints, old fashion silhouette w/ plunging neckline, floor sweeping dress I crave a good creative project so I decided the best gift for my birthday would be just that. Glamorous birthday photoshoots have been done before, but I took things up a notch by producing a curated event, replete with art and design, family and friends, music, and cuisine. See more images below! Wakanda-Classic
The overall theme and dress code was inspired by my personal style, a vintage decorated venue I'd been saving for the right occasion (pinned to an online vision board), and a dress that I dubbed my birthday outfit eight months prior to the actual date. Friends were given a dress code description and advised to dive into their own wardrobes first before spending any money. Everyone freaked their style without busting a sweat. The venue, the bold colors and patterns, the structured natural hair--all of this resulted in an unforgettable statement of effortless cool and regality. The Dress, the Fascinator, and the Boyfriend What I like most about my dress is that the designers use drawings by children as prints for fabric. Seriously! Check out Asos x Made in Kenya to learn about their ethical clothing manufacturing and the difference it's making for Kenyan locals! I had the smock dress altered into a bodycon, added a zipper, and then purchased a second dress a month before the shoot (and not a day too soon because the dress is now out of stock!) to use as matching fabric for my hat and my boyfriend's ensemble. I handcrafted my large disc-shaped fascinator hat with the help of a YouTube tutorial. The remaining fabric was used to make a coordinating outfit for my boyfriend. We sat down with a measuring tape, pencil, and paper and co-designed how to accent his longline grandad collar shirt. Then we took our sketch and materials to a local seamstress who brought our vision to life in just a few days (God bless her hands!). I also have to shout out one of my besties who sewed her own skirt and then used the remaining material to create her necklace. We so crafty! A Masterpiece Collection Here's a list of all the talented people and the vendors that made the final product a masterpiece:
Dress (Original Shape) Fascinator Hat Tutorial Longline Men's Shirt Sunglasses Necklace (Serenity Prayer Medallion) Necklace (Philippians 4:13) Earrings (Clip-ons) Clutch Sandals Fabric Loc Accessories Gold Loc Jewelry The ways in which I identify as an artist continue to expand. I've added stylist and creative director to my repertoire. To me, people are canvases, adorning is art-making, and the final ensemble--a masterpiece. My favorite looks are carefully curated to tell stories that reflect my creative spirit and desire for fantasy. Sometimes the rich history of an item's origin speaks for itself. I need only to put it on "display".
Please enjoy this gallery and learn more about the products, locations, photographers, and my process through my blog. Photos taken by @MsPaparazzi and @vagabond_vbs |
The Fine Art
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