Photoshoot!

At the beginning of this quarter, I decided that I wanted some cool pictures taken of me for this blog and I am just now getting around to putting them up... two months later. Better late than never is my new motto!

Modeling turned out to be a lot harder than I anticipated! I had watched America's Next Top Model for years (before getting sick of Tyra Banks' ego) and wondered why some of those girls just couldn't take a good picture. But it is not about smiling and looking pretty. You have to get the perfect angle so it doesn't make you look like you're missing a limb or something.

Above: In the Art Institute's Photography Studio.

Dress: Betsey Johnson's Vintage Re-issue
Leggings: Target
Shoes: Delicious

Hair and Make-up: Jake Treat

These three pictures were pretty much the only three that came out but that was enough for me! Standing in heels on a concrete floor for an hour or so is not my gig. But not only do I now have a cool profile picture, I can upload them to Lookbook.nu, and use them as outfit pictures on here!

The Dress of My Dreams!!

Recently, I've been getting better and better about discovering and following blogs that I think are really awesome and Keiko Lynn's is one example. In addition to being the outfit queen of Brooklyn, she also sells clothing on her website Postlapsaria, which is how I found this lovely piece of clothing.

Most of my readers already know how obsessed I am with pin-up girls because they a) know me and have seen my tattoo (Native American pin-up girl, Pond Skipping Moon Flower) and b) have been in my apartment to see that my walls are pretty much plastered with pin-up girl posters. Anyway, as mentioned in a previous post, red, white and blue is my favorite color combination and I love anything slightly resembling sailor uniforms, explaining why it was love at first sight in regards to this dress.

Above: Keiko in her Reconstructed Nautical Dress design!

This dress easily qualifies as one of my favorites as it encompasses an amazing color palette, a classic silhouette, and a little sailor girl spirit. Even though this dress has already been sold, a girl can certainly dream...

Keep it up, Keiko!

R.I.P. Laptop

My laptop has (almost) officially kicked the bucket. For the past four months or so, probably longer, it has been freezing for no reason apparent to me. Has it been dropped a few times? Of course, I've had it for three years, but that doesn't make this any less upsetting.

I dragged my friend Anthony with me to University Village on Friday night to take my baby to the Apple Store and see if I could get it fixed. I knew the warranty was going to be up soon if it wasn't already, but this problem had to be solved regardless. So I take it in and the guy who helped me, Steve, has helped me at the Lynnwood store before so I just had a good feeling about this. The conclusion we come to is that we have no idea why it's freezing so it got sent out to be repaired because the equipment at this other place is more comprehensive. I also find out that my warranty had expired four days earlier, but Steve got a manager to override the expired warranty since I had brought my laptop in for the same problem before and since it was so close to the expiration date.

Now you may be wondering "why the hell is Chelsea explaining all this?" Well, me, without a laptop equals no for real blogging for a while. And once I get it back, I'll be making up for lost time, catching up on all the homework I couldn't do this weekend. Also, finals are coming up fast so blogging time will be taking a back seat. But I do think that finishing up this quarter and not totally failing is a legit reason.

More updates and posts as soon as possibláy!

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!

How I Spend my Breaks

Last night while lab monitoring and today on my break at Alchemy Goods I did another Polyvore set. This time around I chose stripes, but only those that were blue, red, black and white; typical Chelsea. I had to post it on here because my sets keep getting better and I have to share my excitement with my readers, all five of you, haha.

Target's Go International!

It wasn't until I was in my last semester of high school that I even heard about Target's Go International line and up until recently I wasn't ever very excited about it. I first got excited about it because Alexander McQueen's McQ label was launching a line for them and I squealed with delight a few weeks ago when I found out that both Anna Sui and Rodarte (due for release sometime in December) were doing lines for Target too. Anna Sui's line is launching September 13th and it's inspired by the female characters of Gossip Girl. Look for advertisements for it in the September issue of Vogue as well as a spread in Nylon.

From left: The Blair, Serena, Vanessa, and Jenny.

Each of the designs encapsulates each character perfectly. Blair's dresses are very girly, Serena's are cute and sexy, Vanessa's are urban bohemian and Jenny's mix punk and schoolgirl.

Vicious Studs

My friend Jake recently told me about a website, Polyvore, where you can make a page with a collage of your favorite items with the idea of representing a certain trend or theme. While lab monitoring I decided to toy around with it and this is what I came up. Studs are looking like a major fall trend and that's what I chose.