My Gay Husband

            As I'm sure some of my loyal followers know I'm quite the adamant fan of a well dressed man. However, the more I keep on my track of these, lets call them pants saggers, a new wave of well dressed men have been catching my eye and making me stare in appreciation. The gay man. Being a student of art school, a fashion major, and also just because its become exceedingly more acceptable in this 21st century, I am constantly surrounded by gay men. Among other aspects what I've noticed most is that in general their way of dress is unlike the straight an narrow members of their species.

           Their way of dressing has such a range for from polished and preppy to outlandish and exotic. Its bold and experimental and just as cocky as their personalities to match. Coming from a girl who at one point felt bad for men because I thought they couldn't accessorize like women; I'm outright taken aback at the depth of detail and  artistic expression these individuals put into the attire. Some of these men I would down right marry based on their dress and swagger alone even if it meant a constant struggle to 'turn them back straight'. Yes my gay husband is definitely a force to be reckoned with here are a couple of examples:

Brad, Rachel Zoes former assistant

Glamo from Glam Factory

My friend Manny



another friend Dennis



my hubbie mike

         

Losing My Vintage Virginity

            I know what you're thinking. And no this isnt one of those 30 year old virgin stories; its merely the beginning of a beautiful friendship between me and none other than vintage shopping! I've always been weary of vintage shopping just because "vintage" to me translated as "old" "dusty" and most importanly  "out of style". My best friend has been trying since her first excursion this summer to turn me on to the idea and although I admitted her findings were promising I still wrinkeled my nose up at the idea. However, fastforward to me being in the middle of nowhere of DeKalb and truly understanding what it means to be on a broke college student budget for the first time; when another friend of mine walked in with her $2 firey red blazer that was nothing short of amazing, I caved.
            This past Sunday me and one of my dearest fashion frenzies (shoutout to Whitney) went on a mission to this local vintage store I had been hearing so much about. I was weary at first, as I browsed the racks and dodged the annoyed looks of the employees because it was 15mins to close. I was starting to think my prejudgements had been right as I reached the end of the first color coordinated aisle with no luck until I saw her. Yes her. A 3/4 quarter sleeve teal v-neck shirt with bronze buttons down the shoulder of one sleeve. It was my size and made of possibly the softest cotton I've ever touched. I raced to the register and pulled out my plastic who cares if Id only had $5 to my name? I had to have her. With the help of my NIU student discount I walked out of there with what is now my newest obssession that only cost me $1.70 and a whole new outlook on life and on fashion. It was a small first step towards becoming a vintage connoisseur but it certainly opened the gates to a whole new world. The moral of the story is to never judge a book by its cover and in this case the cover is the Salvation Army on Sycamore =).


there she is




the beauty is in the details



Add my styling and voila!

 



Life of an Assistant

              As I eagerly await the premiere of Its A Brad Brad World, it makes me reflect on my past semester and my own personal first run at being an assistant. I am still undecided whether to refer to my experience as an internship or a short lived assistant position but either way it was a learning experience nonetheless. I feel that a lot of people tend to think that an internship or assistant position is glamorous and fun and dream fulfilling. This is rarely the case. My job was nothing close to what The City & The Hills try to make it out to be and more closely parallel to the hectic and pandemic reality that I would tune into on The Rachel Zoe Project.
             I came into this position much like most people, because of who I know. In this case the person I knew was my mother, whom happened to be the lawyer for who would soon be my future employer. My always child boasting mother mentioned to my new employer that I was in school for fashion and one phone conference and spring of emails later I found myself being the assistant for a very credible fashion stylist who had just relocated to Chicago. For discretionary purposes we will refer to her as Boss Lady. Being still in school and only 20 and already having gained the position of my dreams put me right on cloud 9. But my #WINNING moment was quickly brought back down to the reality of the real world when the work actually started.
             My position was a very unstructured schedule. I was in school full time and working at WalMart part time as well so time spent with boss lady had to be squeezed into any other spare time. I quickly found that this was quite the challenge. My main tasks were to handle the social media aspect for my bosses new business venture. Making a facebook, twitter, page and extensive blog to bring awareness to her company. It seemed like the perfect job description being that fashion is my first true love and social media is my forte. Although the work its self wasn't extremely hard, my boss was very detail oriented and specific. She was a perfectionist in so many words and expected the same from me. If I didn't do something right she would make me start all over and again and again until it was up to her standards. Coupled with that was the fact that she was a long distance boss because of me being in school. So all of our transactions were made via phone or email.
              Sometimes I would have to do personal secretary work as well including typing up mock invites and emails and doing research for her. And she also expected me to stay up on my fashion knowledge. She required me to research designers and collections of colleagues and clients of hers as well as stay up on what fashion and business trends were happening in our world. It definitely wasn't a job made for the weak. It consumed all of my free time. And being that I've never held a job while in school and now had an internship as well, it was a huge adjustment to say the least. I had to become Little Ms Balancing Act. Being organized and punctual; 2 things I had never been good at. Boss Lady was very demanding and there were many times when I missed the days I could just come from class and sleep or lounge around with my friends or actually attend campus events. Those were numerous days when I wanted to quit. It was even more frustrating because none of my immediate friends were in fashion so I had no one who truly understood to sympathize with me.

              I came to the realization that this is the reality of the fashion world. Being constantly busy and having to have stupendous work effort, having to start from the bottom and work your way up, having the courage to go after what you want and be willing to pay the price to succeed. With a year and a half left in my college career; my short semester being an assistant gave me the most credible insight and wake up call to what my life would be like in the near future, and how close I am to being ready for it. My semester as an intern taught me a lot about myself, and almost saved my career in an ironic twist of fate.
             Right before I was offered the position I was feeling really uninterested and disconnected to the fashion world. I just didn't love it like i used to and was seriously question whether or not I was cut out for it or even wanted to be in it anymore. It was also very easy to loose interest, being that I'm now away from the city of Chicago and the creativity of Columbia. But Boss Lady saved me by bringing back my passion and reminding my why I love this industry. I ended my first semester at NIU and my first internship gig with new found drive and dedication to my craft. I'm married to this game called fashion and I'm in it for life. To prove my dedication I got permanently inked up to prove it.

           My tattoo says "LOVE LIVE FASHION" in french. Its a reminder to myself and to anyone who sees it that fashion is what I live and breathe. I went into my position thinking I would just gain some experience for my resume out of it, but but in actuality, I regained myself.

Fall Lust List

         As temperatures drop and my dressing habits switch between trying and not giving a fuck; my attention turns to the part of my closet that I've been waiting to premiere. Theres a reason why Autumn rhymes with awesome! Falls the best season and time to break out the boots, cardigans, light jackets, and dresses and skirts with tights and stockings. I can even still wear my leggings without having to layer or just plain freeze. There are some pieces I must just have like the following 5 and then there are trends that are necessary to incorporate in my shopping to keep on trend I listed those for you too.
Trends:
1. Black and white - I'm having a total black and white moment. Literally the last 4 things apparel and accessories i purchased were black and white its always a classic so it only make sense that it be a staple this fall as well.
2. Leopard print - animal print is big right now in general but other than my blushing zebra print comforter at home I really cant fade the Zebra. And I stopped watching cheetah girls awhile ago and left that print there as well. So naturally i took to the only one left. I have leopard shoes, leopard hat, leopard belt...u get the point...
3. Feathers - I was wary of this trend at first but the feathers are definitely back albeit the rest of the 70's classics. And even tho I'm more prepster than boho, I fux with the feathers; they're best worn with accessories but you can incorporate them into you wardrobe too.
4. Stripes - Forever21 has definitely taken this trend to epidemic proportions. The first week I was on campus, I must have seen over 50 "bitch stole my look" violations of the mass produced bodycon mini in every color and stripe length you can think of. I think the trend can be translated into different mediums.
5. Fur - a hard thing to pull off. Its the Rachel Zoe inside me and my love of challenges that makes me wanna pull it off. Still on the hunt for my perfect fur vest. But I WILL find one.

Trends embodied; here's a couple of #scores i scoured for:

• B & W: Stripped Body Suit, A'Gaci

• Leopard Print: Benne Hat, Forever21

• Feathers: Feather Earrings, Rue 21

• Stripes: Mini Skirt, Charlotte Russe

• Fur: Faux Fur Vest, JCPennys