Farewell!

Hello faithful followers!

You may have noticed that I fell off the blogging radar for a hot second. Well, rest assured I'm back and ready to share my fashion favorites. The reason of my prolonged absence came for a number of reasons:

1) After graduation in September, I took a trip with my alma mater to New York City for a week in October.

2) Upon my arrival in New York City, I went to an interview I had previously set up with Macy's and got a permanent job in Men's Collections, on the spot.

3) After the New York trip, I spent the following two weeks buying suitcases, one-way plane tickets, and black clothing because:

I NOW LIVE IN NEW YORK CITY. 

Well actually, New Jersey for the time being but close enough for the purposes of working in New York.

Just a few highlights from the trip: I met Anna Sui and Robert Savage (Nanette Lepore's husband) and was in a photo in Women's Wear Daily for an article about the rally to Save the Garment Center.

And because I'm so behind on my Spring 2011 coverage, here are my final two favorites that got left behind in the whole picking-up-my-life-and-moving-across-the-country thing.

Betsey Johnson took my favorite theme of all time and went faux luxury with the gold accents and gaudy jewelry.

Christian Dior's John Galliano took that same favorite theme of mine and took it 1940's South Pacific goddess.

Enjoy!

Sevilla Squared

During spring break this year I took a really quick trip (like 6 full days quick!) to Spain and Morocco to visit my friend Sarah who was studying abroad in Cadiz. The first and last days of my trip were spent wandering about Sevilla and more specifically at Plaza de España. While flipping through this month's Harper's Bazaar I turned a page and there was Jessica Stam posing at the very same Plaza de España I had been at a few months earlier!

Above (from left to right): Jessica Stam just looking natural and me striking a fantastic model pose!

Just had to share and say "I'VE BEEN THERE!"

Boy by Band of Outsiders Goodness!

Dear Readers,
My apologies for not writing sooner, things like moving, finals and traveling overseas for the first time got in the way! I am writing to you from the Madrid Barajas airport (but I won’t be posting this until I’m back in Seattle because 5 euros is far too much to pay for half an hour of internet). I decided to take this time to write about one of my favorite collections from the Fall 2010 Fashion Week(s) and one of my favorite lines in general, Boy by Band of Outsiders. It seems to be that anything Band of Outsiders puts out be that Boy or otherwise, is always the most whimsical, wearable clothing. I also appreciate the fact that men and women’s outfits are oftentimes designed together and included in the same collection and that everything is very cohesive. In my opinion, cohesiveness in a line is one of the harder things for a designer to achieve. Two hours into an eight-hour layover would make you think about these things too!

The Fall 2010 line is very campy... As in this line seems to be inspired by the great outdoors and things you’d wear if you were at a very glamorous and fashion-conscious campsite. The skinny cut jeans have kneepads, the vests have cargo pockets and hoods and the fingerless gloves have tufts of fur on the knuckles. And while the designs are semi-utilitarian there is clearly an über-feminine feel. The heels and the colorful piece-dyed fur vest alone illustrate that well. The long sleeve tops resemble thermal underwear and the slacks remind me of men’s khakis and skinny hammer pants (a trend I now know the Spaniards love).

Anyway, here are the photos of my favorites, via Style.com as usual:

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!

My Trip to New York

A few months ago, my Grandma Merrell called me and left a voicemail saying "Hey Chelsea's voicemail, it's Grandma, I just wanted to know if you wanted to come to New York with me for your Uncle Louie's wedding and I'll pay for everything. Gimme a call back and let me know." I got this message just a few minutes later and was screaming with excitement, as you can imagine. And I, of course, called back immediately accepting this once in a lifetime offer.

So August 5th through the 8th I went to mecca, a.k.a. New York, New York. The purpose of the trip was to go to the wedding but how can anyone expect a fashion design student to be focused solely on family activities when in the Big Apple for four days?

Grandma and I flew into JFK around 5PM EST. We took two different subways into Manhattan and got to our hotel and checked in around 7PM. Fast forward an hour or two and I was on a subway uptown to hang out with my cousin Geena. We decided to catch another subway back downtown and ended up chain smoking throughout Times Square, just taking in the sights.

Above: Outside the Virgin Records store in Time Square.
Dress: Mac & Jac (Macy's)
Shoes: Vans (Urban Outfitters)

The next day we caught a cab to St. Patrick's Cathedral. The wedding was very intimate and very beautiful. How could it not be in a place like that?! Anyway, it followed 8AM Mass, so after the reception we took our tired selves back to our respective hotels for a cat nap and met up again that afternoon to walk around Central Park. The rest of our family got preoccupied with some guy and his collection of hula hoops, so while they were busy, Geena and I headed over to one of the park's many large rocks for a smoke or two. There we met some guys and one of them, Justin, had five passes his Mom scored from work and took us to the Museum of Modern Art. The art was amazing, to say the very least, and hanging out with three cute guys didn't suck either. On our way back to Geena's hotel, we walked through Central Park again and found a charming little bridge.

Above: Somewhere in Central Park.
Dress: Pinkerton (Anthropologie)
Shoes: Rainbow Sandals

The next day, Geena, Carly (her sister and my cousin), my Grandma and I went shopping all across town including Mood Fabrics, Canal Street, and Century 21 (a discount designer department store). I bought some amazing fabrics for my upcoming line, Valentino and Balenciaga knock-off bags and a little white dress. The last day we were there, Geena, my Grandma and I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art because I wanted to see the Costume Institute. Let me tell you now, that if you plan on going to the Costume Institute in the next two years, don't, because it's closed for the next two years. However I did get to the see the Model as Muse exhibit which was just as well.

Above: Outside the Model as Muse exhibit at the Met.

The wedding was amazing, Grandma had a ton of fun being shown around the sites (she hadn't been to New York in fifty or so years), we shopped 'til we dropped, and got to see all the art I had could have ever dreamed of. I'd have to say it was a very successful trip!