Zulu, Queen of the Dwarf People

Also known as Sophia Petrillo, Dorothy's "Ma". She's a feisty old world Sicilian with a distinct style: classic old lady. Picture it, Miami, the late eighties. Sack dresses (just like her daughter), flashy cardigans and her basket purse make up her trademark look. I think we all know she was the hottest lady at Shady Pines.

"Back in St. Olaf..."

Just when Rose is about to start her St. Olaf story, this is about the time where Dorothy would take a newspaper and hit Rose over the head with it. Rose Nylund is the naïve Golden Girl with a heart of gold. She's very laid back in her clothing favoring flats, Keds and crew neck sweatshirts. But she also knows when to dress up, like when competing in a dance competition. I bet everyone's happy she doesn't dress like the rest of the people in the farmland she calls home.

"Toto, I Don't Think We're in Miami Anymore..."

Dot, Dot, what a girl I've got. Dorothy Zbornak is the one who tells it like it is; she is the sarcastic Golden Girl. Her style can be described as hobo chic with the oversized cardigans and sack dresses she is so clearly fond of. If you look closely, throughout the show she wears Chanel earrings very similar to this Chanel necklace. Dorothy would fit in perfectly today with her classic eighties style.

What Would Blanche Wear?

I have been feeling particularly inspired by the Golden Girls lately and decided to make a Polyvore for each one. I started with Miss Blanche Devereaux and picked out some outrageous eighties styles from today she would probably be wearing. Yes, I know my obsession with the Golden Girls SEEMS weird but I really think they were style icons from that time... Can't you just see Blanche going to the Rusty Anchor in that green dress? Or hanging down by the beach in those sunglasses and that "Hello Sailor" knit dress? I certainly can.

She Must Like Kissing Boys Better

Yes. This post is related to Katy Perry. Yesterday as I moseyed my way around the magazine racks of a local Rite Aid, I noticed Katy Perry was on the cover of Glamour in THEMOSTADORABLEDRESSEVER. I'm actually pretty fond of her music and pretty much everything she wears because I appreciate that she wears clothing that can also be considered art.

ANYWAY, upon more research this morning I found out the dress is by Blugirl, one of Blumarine's sub-divisions. Which is probably why I loved the dress Katy Perry wore on the cover, because I love all things Blumarine. In addition to being a big fan of Blumarine, I'm also a big fan of enlarged leopard prints as well as bold colors. I also really like the Juicy Couture belt in the cover picture. Here's the cover:

And here's the picture from the Spring 2010 Blugirl runway show:

Trendy for Spring?

I have this extra time here that I'm spending on my Mom's couch watching Golden Girls so I will be posting as many times as I possibly can today. Last night I rifled through almost every designer's accessories collection last night on Style.com and I noticed a few interesting trends.


These raffia shoes are Dolce & Gabbana, Dries van Noten, Proenza Schouler and Bottega Veneta.


Then these sweet clogs and/or mules are from Ralph Lauren, Christian Louboutin, Miu Miu, Chanel and Louis Vuitton.
And last but not least, my favorite trend, the black and white bag by Marc Jacobs, Versace and Givenchy.

"How Do You Spell Gabbana?"

Over the last few days I FINALLY finished cataloging my trend book we started in Trends & Forecasting earlier last year. It took me what felt like a freaking week to put my year's worth of magazine tear outs into those plastic page protectors. But what I discovered after looking through my finished trend book(s) was that I am a bigger fan of Dolce & Gabbana then I origianlly thought I was. I think I tore out each of their ad campaigns from the past year because each of them were so amazing. Their mens fall collection was just released on GQ and the suit jackets were GORGEOUS. THIS is how I wish boys would dress on a daily basis; just some hot jeans and a sweet jacket.


The cuts on these suits are bomb and the knits paired with the distressed denim is a match made in heaven. That vest is pretty dang sweet too. The tailoring on every piece is impeccable, which is just a little surprising because this show had 94 looks! If I could pump out just ONE suit jacket for my school's fashion show that even remotely looks like one of these, I would be so excited.

More Pre-Fall 2010 Coverage from Yours Truly

More photos were released today on Style.com for Pre-Fall collections and here's some more of my favorites:

I had to look at this collection because I heard mixed review from different people. I myself am not the biggest fan of Balenciaga in general. Jennifer Connelley as spokesmodel in those hard balloon tops seemed a little tragic to me... ANYWAY, this preview was freaking adorable. Love the tights as well as those jodhpurs in the picture second from the bottom on the right.

I have never seen a collection from Pringle of Scotland but I had definitely heard of them before, especially this season. When I saw these pictures this morning I had no idea that the designer had such a knack for knits (heh).

Oh Proenza. I remember when I first saw you on that documentary about the CFDA competition a few years back. And this is probably the first time I've ever looked at a whole collection of yours. Proenza Schouler put out some very Blair (from Gossip Girl DUH) goes bad type clothing, which was AWESOME.

Pre-Fall 2010 is Out!

After making a stop to Style.com, I saw pre-Fall 2010 is out and here are some of my favorites:

Above: Temperley London

This collection, at least these pieces, were really striking because of the black designs on the white fabric. It's a really refreshing use of those colors.

Above: Louis Vuitton

What can I say? Awesome silhouettes with a bit of gawdy and we have my taste in a nutshell.

Above: Zac Posen

Again, beautiful fifties silhouettes with lots of red, which I ADORE.

Breeding like Bunnies!

Well what I mean is, designer Peter Jensen uses lots of bunnies in his Spring/ Summer 2010 collection. Some of the readers of this blog have seen his work before (you know who you are), probably in the latest issue of Lula in this spread:

Doesn't the girl on the right look like Dakota Fanning? ANYWAY, what I thought was so cute about this picture was the bunny glasses. I just recently found this picture in my to-be-blogged file and decided to cruise over to Peter Jensen's website. What I found was more of the same for both womens:


AND mens:


If you look closely at the red cardigan it is a bunny print... I think it's real intarsia too. Very lovable.

A Love for Tim Burton Colleen Atwood

Yesterday, my Tim Burton obsession manifested itself. Today I figured out why exactly all the costumes were so, I don't know, enchanting? It's because each of his movies, the ones that I really like anyway, have the same costume designer behind them, Colleen Atwood.

I basically just spent the entirety of Edward Scissorhands looking for pictures of costumes from all my favorite Tim Burton movies (Beetlejuice not included because of today's previous post). For the sake of my OCD I'm going to put the pictures in chronological order. Because I know you needed to know my thought process. Heh.

First off we have Edward Scissorhands:

The color palette in this movie was particularly stellar, in my opinion. I love all the bright colors pulled right out of the sixties. It was an awesome contrast to Edward Scissorhand's dark leather suit. But in terms of silhouette, it's very eighties which is probably why I love this movie.

Next up is Sleepy Hollow:

What I really liked about these costumes was that their silhouette was very nineteenth century, but the colors and prints were otherwise. Very Tim Burton sort of colors and prints, if yaknowhaddamean.

Then we have Big Fish:

Almost all the costumes are pure magic, but according to the styles I love most, Sandra Templeton's are my favorite. Fifties silhouettes and two of my favorite color combinations: red, white, and blue and blue and yellow. Also, the small details are very apparent (more so on the film than in the above pictures) like the dots on the Ping and Jing's costume and general choices in trims and embellishments.

And lastly, Sweeney Todd:

Not one of my favorite Tim Burton plot lines BUT the casting and the costumes were impeccable. I think the time period for this movie is the same as Sleepy Hollow because some of the costume choices are very similar. This movie's costumes are very neutral, lots of browns and greys but when there is any amount of a real color, it stands out. I think that right there shows how powerful a strong color palette can be.

Say it Once... Say it Twice... But We Dare You to Say it THREE TIMES

Today, I woke up at 12:53 PM. Well, I guess, make that yesterday. As I write this, it is 1:37 AM and I can hear Daft Punk's Face to Face playing on the other side of my apartment. It's in this bout of insomnia that I felt compelled to write an inspiration post.

Right when I woke up, ya know, this afternoon, a few friends came over and it was decided that we should watch Beetlejuice. It had at least been since Halloween since I had a little Tim Burton magic in my life, so I agreed. Just as it started, I realized how much I loved this movie. Lydia Deetz is like the OG emo kid with lines like: "I myself, am strange and unusual."

As a kid, I was first introduced to Beetlejuice in cartoon form on Nickelodeon. It wasn't until later that my Mom introduced me to the Tim Burton original.


Besides a plot line I find fascinating with the whole only-some-people-can-see-ghosts thing I, of course, love Lydia and Delia's clothes. They're all very dark and pretty, a concept I am really loving, dahling.

The house used in the movie with the weird add-ons and Delia's sculptures deserves an honorable mention too:


UPDATE: Did anyone notice I only typed out that name twice in this post?

Dear Blog, You Haven't Been Forgotten, Love Chelsea

Well, this must seem like an epic fail to my peers in the blogging community. I have been on Winter break for the past seventeen days and haven't written a single post. But it's a new year so here's a new post with a short recap of the last month and my plans for the next month.

Fall quarter finally ended much to the relief of my sanity. I finished out finals with a respectable 3.0 and finished my internship at Alchemy Goods as well. I've been gone from Alchemy for less than a month but I miss being there! It's like I have this extra chunk of time that I haven't had available to me for the past five months and I don't even know what to do with it. Sleep in? Do the dishes? WHAT?! The possibilities were and are truly endless.

Once finals passed by, I skipped town less than 24 hours later and went to New Mexico where I relaxed with my grandparents and ate and made some of the most fantastic Mexican food along with massive amounts of baked goods (which will be elaborated on the othah blog). The awesome thing about this trip was that I had time to detox from various things such as school and other things (heh), but my Grandma Geno also nursed my fashion needs with a simple task: shopping. I bought some awesome pieces including, but not limited to, some Rodarte from Target.

After eight glorious days in New Mexico, I got home to Seattle just in time to celebrate Christmas with my fam. I got a little Betsey, TONS of bath products, and Martha's Craft Encyclopedia (ya know, because we're on first name basis). And any money I got basically went to buying shoes and clothes, DUH.

Now that 2009 is over and 2010 (the year a I graduate college!) is upon us, here are the things in store for this blog. Many, MANY more outfit picture posts and more posts related to trends and inspiration I like. I was also presented with a spectacular opportunity maybe designing something for someone of a famous (!!!) nature, which will be elaborated upon later. Also, I've decided to write my blog in a way that more represents my real voice and attitude: my sarcasm and complete annoyance with most things around me, in my own unique, funny sense of detachment.

Something small, yet oddly enough FASHION related, I have to offer my readers who are perhaps bored enough have even read through this entire post is In Style's List of the 100 Best Dresses of the Decade. Here's one of my favorites:

Kate Hudson in Valentino in 2003

Anyone who knows me, knows that I'm a BIG fan of Valentino. This dress is a little off the beaten path of what he normally designed, as I had no idea he even designed anything without beading, feathers and/or sequins.

Happy New Decade!