Fashionation: Part 1

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about fashion; my particular participation in the industry, my love/hate relationship with it and why after all these conflicting feelings, I still feel compelled to follow clothing design as if it were a competitive sport.

I'm writing this 3 Part Series partially for myself, and partially to open up a discussion with you all on just what exactly defines fashion, who gets to play and why it matters at all. If you're familiar with this blog, it's pretty clear that fashion design is a distant 2nd in my heart to interiors and through this series, you'll see how my love of fashion is burdened with a self-deprecation that can only come from feeling like perhaps I'll never truly belong. After all, the closest I've ever gotten to the Fashion Week tents was the season finale of Project Runway on TV and I don't even own a single statement bag or red-soled shoe. The fact that I'm OK with that only further proves my point.

So this is where my mental landscape was when I came across this article from New York Times Magazine on Zara's success as a "fast fashion" retailer. I highly recommend reading it- if for nothing else than the quintessentially snooty reader comments that could only come from fashion-critical NYT readers. But also so you'll know what the hell I'm talking about.

Beth's Misfit Christmas Wish List

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Now that it's officially holiday season, I'm sure you all need to see another wishlist like you need another cold sore (remember my Christmas in July wishlist?!). But mine's way better because no one wants any of these things. Except me. AND I SERIOUSLY WANT THEM (would I ever lie to you?). This list is from the Island of Misfit Gifts and I love it and I'll be really really jealous if I know you and I see you with any of these things.

Here's what I want for Christmas:

1. An iPhone cover that precedes me with an impossibly high bar
2. A dinosaur eating fried chicken ring
3. A bowtie so I can continue to dress like a man with boobs
4. A 26 lb. gummy bear that is meant for parties but would be just for me
5. A convertible shrug/scarf thingy that's cool, except I would wear it in some form every single day
6. A gold resin shark
7. Screw you slippers- for all the Screw University alums out there
8. Champagne... in a CARRYING CASE. Like a boozy superhero who is desperate for friends
9. The perfect combo of two things I love: French crap and Notorious BIG

AND finally,

10. MORE RfD FOLLOWERS! But not in a culty sort of way... well sort of in a culty sort of way. Like a cult of people who like design and humor and fried chicken and dinosaurs but who don't necessarily shave their heads or commit mass suicide. That sounds like a cult I'd be happy to lead. So follow me by subscribing to my RSS feed or by clicking Join this Site (you can sign up with one of your pre-existing gmail/facebook/twitter accounts). It's a gift that is FREE- probably the last time I'll ask you for a free gift so you're welcome.

Merry December!  Riot on.

Tuesday Trend: I Love Lucite

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Every home needs a little lucite.  Especially if you share the common predicament of limited space- lucite feels substantial yet the transparency allows the eye to travel through it so it creates an illusion of space.  Works every time.  (Lucite is pricey, but check out this post on lucite alternatives that give the same effect for less!)

If there was a TV show starring lucite, I would totally watch it.  And so would Lucy.

Here are some of my favorite lucite pieces in their natural habitats:

Affordable Art Sources

This post is dedicated to a friend/coworker who has timeless fashion taste but confessed she isn't as home-interiorly blessed.  No sweat!  It happens to everyone, my friend (wink, wink).

We've spent, ahem, decades dressing ourselves and almost as long waxing, spinning, buffing and primping said temples. It's no wonder many of us may have a better handle on how to pull off the drop crotch than the dropcloth. Or how I just know that halter tops make my arms look Mobama hot, but babydoll dresses, no matter how cute, always make me look like Courtney Love post-overdose. We just inherently know our own proportions, how to emphasize the assets and minimize the flaws.

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The same goes for homes, it's just not quite as intuitive. Homes have flaws and features and proportions. Said friend/coworker felt particularly clueless about art.  If furnishings are the pants and tops of your home outfit, art is the accessories.

T.hanks

Thanks for following Riot for Design and being my internet friends.  I am luckier than a 12 year-old in a 30 year-old's body jumping on a trampoline in my 3,000 ft. Manhattan loft.

Buy This Now

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Quick!  Buy this adorable leather two-tone clutch from the Gap RIGHT NOW.  They're offering 30% off with the coupon code GETSTARTED, which makes this bad boy $28!

Fuh leathuh, dahling.

But don't eff around, this deal ends tonight!!! After that, you'll have to pay the totally reasonable but still unnecessarily full price amount of $40.

Riot on.

Tuesday Trend

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I see extra-long couches everywhere these days.  Either furniture designers are accommodating for the ever-increasing obesity epidemic, or this is just another appealing play on proportion in design. As you may have learned from me here, I love an oversized object and these sofas are no exception.  The added length reads luxe yet comfortable.  And sofas are basically failures at existence if they're not comfortable. Take a look at these stylish stretch armstrongs- do you dig?

Buy This Now

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This Crystal Boudoir Chandelier is for sale on One Kings Lane for $649.  It's part of a Tastemaker Tag Sale curated by The Paris Apartment, and one of the best items in the collection.

$650 is no chump change, but I dare you to find a crystal chandelier like this for a better price. Plus, you could put it in a room with nothing but cardboard box furniture and cat hair balls and it would be design mag ready.

Or just buy it for me.  Cause I'd make it mine if I could.

Riot on.

Hukk Yes!

Have you heard of Hukkster?  It will soon be your new best friend, trust me.  It's a website that keeps track of all your shopping crushes and notifies you when they go on sale.

It's got one of those nifty bookmark buttons, so when you discover something amazing like this dress:

from Free People, you "hukk it" because you're not about to spend $600 on it, even if it will solve all your life's problems, straighten your teeth and grant you total consciousness on your deathbed.  

SO, when this dress goes on sale (and it will, I tell myself), Hukkster will send you an email immediately.  No wrist slitting because this dress DID go on sale, but you didn't find out until your size SOLD OUT.

So check out Hukkster if you like life.  It's just that simple.

Riot on!

Office Space UPDATE

It's time. After talking about it for ages, Jon and I have finally decided to stop the eye stabbing that is his office area. 

I am so excited to re-design the space and finally make it functional and attractive! Plus, the new area will be for BOTH of us, so I'll be gaining a workspace. The area has to work for both of us- not too masculine or feminine and I'll shoot myself if it looks like a traditional office space. I quit corporate America because of cubicles, people.

Here's some befores.  You'll notice we've already got the new desks in place but everything else is going:

Out with the old, on with the new...

Bipartisan Interiors

So the dust has settled, America has voted and now it's time for me to make some laughably loose connections between American politics and Interior Design.

Traditional design and contemporary design are as far apart on the design spectrum as Repubs & Dems are in the political arena.  However, there's a place for both aesthetics and we all fall somewhere in between in our own personal preferences.  Assuming our ultimate goal is righteous design, there's really no right or wrong way to go about it.

The best design reflects aspects of both design aesthetics- alternately working with and against one another to create drama and harmony.  In the below images, notice the artful combination of flat tax wainscoting with marriage equality light fixtures. One might not be able to imagine such contrasts co-existing in one room, but it works.  See what we can accomplish if we all work together people?!!!  Traditional spaces + contemporary furnishings = balanced design.

Feel free to forward this to your local Congressman or woman.

Hurricane Update

Maybe this is why no one can find a cab

What a week.

Flood damage, fire damage, debris, pitch darkness, gas shortages, no subways, 3-person carpool rules... New York City has never felt so vast and untamed.  Just getting to and from work has been a daily adventure of Cloverfield fashion.  Not to mention the added complication that I have been on jury duty, so I had the unique opportunity of trying to travel to Manhattan AND downtown Brooklyn in the same day.  That's some bullshit.

On Wednesday, after realizing I would never find a car to drive me home, I ran home from Manhattan to Brooklyn.   The Queensboro was a clusterfuck of walkers and bikers, many of whom likely have never traveled by such means. After almost getting run over by three bikers who refused to slow down despite the crowds, I found myself screaming at them in an endorphin-fueled rage.  I think that makes me an official New Yorker.

But then the next night a cab driver who already had a passenger stopped to allow me and two other strangers into the cab because as he put it "we all gotta help each other out right now."  I sent karma and big tips their their way to make it to the airport in time.

And that's New York for you.  Just when you think you're out, it pulls you back in.  Disaster brings out the best and worst in all of us- and New York just has a shit ton of "us."  It's times like these that remind me that the millions of faceless auras and collective heartbeats that inhabit this city are all human beings with families and struggles and emotion and a surprising capacity for kindness. This, after serving two weeks of grand jury duty where I've heard hundreds of indictment cases of crimes- many of them violent and despicable.  Maybe I needed this storm to re-instill my faith and good humor in good and diverse neighbors.  Even when I'm calling them assholes on the Queensboro Bridge.

Over the next few weeks most of us will fall back into the well-worn grooves of our daily lives.  With time we may forget that some will never be the same and some have suffered immeasurable loss.  But we'll never forget this week and though I'm not grateful for the storm, I'm grateful for the people of New York who share with me this little water-logged sliver of landfill as home.