guest post: Chelsea of Zipped

Today's guest blogger is the super-sweet Chelsea of zipped. Chelsea's expertly-paired online shopping finds are always a treat for the eyes. I love that Chelsea focuses on ready-to-wear and makes great style un-intimidating and accessible. And, oh, did I mention she's got a flair for great thrifted pieces? I'm dying over that babydoll top!

Hola and nice to meet you! I'm Chelsea from zipped. I'm not exactly a style blogger in the sense that I take pictures of my outfit every day; I call myself a stylist blogger, because I don't own most of the clothes I post. I love shopping online and making outfits out of everything I find. No surprise that I want to be a stylist professionally, right? When Sophi asked me to guest post, I was so honored + excited because her blog is a regular read for me. So thank youuu, Sophi! We're pretty much even now, since she guest posted for me as well.

I hope you all are basking in the unadulterated glow of love that comes the week before Valentine's Day.  I have always enjoyed Valentine's Day, even as a single gal, just for all the cute colors, sweet sayings, and pretty hearts and lace. Even if you aren't into dressing in full red and pink attire on February 14, I've compiled some of my favorite accessories for the perfect nod to the holiday of hearts.

Nancy Gonzalez floral clutch, L.A.M.B. wedges, Modcloth chain strap bag, Barton Perreira readers, Topshop belt, Marc by Marc Jacobs watch, Lucky Brand ring, Kate Spade bow bracelet

Browse thrift stores (or choose overnight shipping) for some fun pink pieces to add a splash of loooove to your Valentine's Day ensemble! Myself? I might just go all out and wear my pink chiffon 1960's tank. I can't think of a better day to wear it.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Photo Sunday, Monday Edition: Alejandro Chaskielberg

There are few photographers whose work has ever had quite as strong an immediate impact on me as that of Alejandro Chaskielberg.



All of these images are taken from his series The High Tide, which focuses on the indigenous Guarani people in the Panara River Delta of Argentina.





I particularly enjoy Chaskielberg's work because he cleverly manipulates analog methods to create the effects you see here. Using a 4x5 view camera, Chaskielberg manipulates the focus and angles of his picture to create a surreal sense of scale. He supplements dramatic night-time lights with flashes. The only post-camera aspect is the increased color saturation.





Oh, and did I mention that he's only 33?



I'm not usually much of one for photojournalistic photography, but Chaskielberg's work is something special because it transcends simple documentary-style images. He creates art that stands on its own away from its socio-political context and implications.



I accidentally closed the browser window that had all of the tabs for the sources! Oops. All of these images are the property of Alejandro Chaskielberg, and I probably shouldn't be posting them at all.

Photo Sunday: Todd Hido

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Todd Hido is one of the photographers whose work I always come back to. In his series of houses and apartments at night, Todd Hido manages to capture that uneasy calm that settles over suburbia after the sun goes down. Even his shots taken in the daytime seem to somehow convey that same unease.


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Photography literally means "light writing," and Todd Hido exemplifies the possibilities of that meaning. He doesn't use lights or flashes. He works with the light already in a space. The light itself is essentially the subject of the photograph in many of his images.


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Movies and literature have embedded within us the notion that a lone light in a dark landscape promises something. Alien landings, clandestine affairs, and other nocturnal goings-on. That tension and suspense colors all of Hido's work even as it fails to offer up any sort of strange happening. That is why I love it. It isn't about dramatic incidents. To me, it's about the strangeness of the mundane.


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We hardly ever notice light until there is an absence of it.


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P.S. Don't forget to enter the giveaway if you haven't yet! Extra entries if you tweet or re-blog :)

under the iron bridge we kissed

I've been coming down with something since Thursday that's become a full-on upper-respiratory Thing in the last couple of days. I decided, after a lot of hemming and hawing, to stay in bed today and get some rest so that I get better. I see way too many friends stay sick for weeks (and months! my roommate last year was sick for a whole quarter) because they never just take a day off to let their body do its immune thing. Anyway, I'm nicely Mucinex D'd and all tucked up in my bed with a thermos full of decaf green tea.

Considering that I'm wearing Soffee shorts and a t-shirt, I'll take a rain check on outfits for today and share some inspiration instead! Today's theme: stylish couples!


Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe (source)



Harold and Maude (Screen capture I took)


Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin (had this on my hard drive forever, don't remember the source)


Rudi Gernreich Models (source)


Iggy Pop and Esther Friedmann (source)


Mr. and Mrs. Fox (source)

Now for a little meta-blogging! The lovely Annebeth responded to my blog-addiction comments in the last post and brought up how blogging is something she could include on her resumé since she hopes to eventually go into fashion journalism. (Although I know she also just enjoys it!) I spend an embarrassing amount of time thinking about this blog--I had my first blogging dream the other night--and it's a question I ask myself a lot. Given how busy I am, why do I spend hours on blogging every day?

I've discovered that it's a real creative outlet for me. It's inspiring, challenging, stimulating, and, above all, fun. I'm not sure that I'm going to end up with a career in fashion, but I do know that when I go look for a job out of college, I'm absolutely going to apply at all of the San Francisco-based or officed online boutiques. I definitely also have elaborate daydreams about opening up a bricks-and-mortar vintage store with Alex that sells high-quality but affordable pieces.

Or I could be an academic. Oh geez. Only time will tell.

What would you like to see more of on the blog? I'm thinking about adding another feature since Photo Friday went over so very well!

Today's title comes from The Smiths -- Still Ill. Terribly clever, aren't I?

P.S. I've made a Facebook page for my blog so that I can stop spamming my entire network and instead target my spam at interested parties :)

Photo Friday: William Eggleston

I've spent the last few days waffling over who to do for my first-ever Photo Friday. I wanted to do someone just a little under-the-radar just to be unexpected, but my soft spot for Eggleston got in the way.

William Eggleston's work pretty much single-handedly legitimized color photography as a valid art medium. Okay, legendary curator John Szarkowski helped, but Eggleston took the photos.

Born in Memphis in 1939, Eggleston took up photography as a hobby in the late 1950s. In the years that followed, he began experimenting with color photography. His real artistic breakthrough was his discovery of the dye-transfer process in 1972, which allowed him to create prints with hyperreal vibrancy and saturation. I don't mean to say that he invented it; he just discovered the capacity it held for his work.




I've always thought this photo by Juergen Teller from the Marc Jacobs Daisy campaign was a pretty blatant rip off of the photo above.



I love Eggleston for a few reasons. One is the immediacy of his work. The vibrant colors, shallow depth of field, and perfectly crisp focus isolate the subject in such a way that you see it not as an image on a page or a wall but as something physically before you. I also love the banal subjects he chooses. You could call it a postmodern statement, but I take it more as a reminder of how striking our everyday world really is.







Eggleston also has a place in my heart for his involvement with one of my all-time favorite bands, Big Star, who also hailed from Memphis. Eggleston did a lot of shooting in Memphis in the early 1970s, and the late Alex Chilton (Big Star's frontman) dated Eggleston's second cousin, Lesa. Big Star used Eggleston's famous "Red Ceiling" on the cover of their second album, Radio City.





Lesa, a beautiful young woman who had just graduated from high school, inspired many of the songs on Big Star's tragic nervous breakdown of a third album, Third / Sister Lovers. (So titled because another member of Big Star was dating Lesa's sister.)


The girl in red is Lesa. You can read more about this stunning photograph here and the Big Star implosion saga as it pertains to Lesa and Eggleston here. (These are really interesting reads, I highly recommend them!)


I think this is also Lesa.

Eggleston is still alive and working. In 2005, he was the subject of a documentary called William Eggleston in the Real World.

And, on another note, if you enjoy this blog, I would love for you to follow me on Google Friend Connect (link to the right) or via Bloglovin'! Let me know, and I'll be sure to follow you back.



All of these photos are copyright the Eggleston Trust. I pulled them from the following websites:
http://www.egglestontrust.com/

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/11/07/arts/1107-EGGL_index.html

http://thelarkeyexperiments.com/2009/12/22/advice-from-william-eggleston/

http://www.ntimm.ca/_/category/music/

open another bottle of inspiration

I've been feeling a little blah about my outfits and clothing in general this week. I've got other things on my mind, I guess. We're over half way through our quarter--almost two-thirds through, actually--and I'm feeling a little weary. Since I'm feeling kind of uninspired, I thought I'd try a little inspiration post here.

I love inspiration posts on other blogs, because I'm terrible at keeping up with trends and designers. Well, I suppose it's not that I'm terrible at it; it's more that I don't care enough to seek that information out. Nevertheless, I'm as inspired by a great collection as the next fashion blogger.

What does give me a lot of ideas is images I come across in my everyday movie-watching and internet-surfing. Here's a smattering of inspiration that I've come across in recent months--it's all quite disparate, but hey, as long as the individual outfit is cohesive...


Anna Karina in Godard's A Woman Is a Woman


Sylvie Vartan, a 60s ye-ye singer.
(Picture found here)


Bridget Fonda, my doppelganger to the extreme with that hairdo, in Single White Female


Agnetha and Frida of ABBA sporting some CRAZY tunics in the "Thank You for the Music" promo.

It goes without saying, though, that the thing I find most inspiring are the outfits of other style bloggers.

I promise some real content tomorrow. You have my word!