I heart stuff

People often assume that I started POP because of my love of fashion. It is true my heart palpitates at the changing of seasons with of the change of wardrobe. I get excited over tradeshows the way most people anticipate their birthday.  But I confess, it's not merely my love of clothes. It's my love of stuff. I know it's not very pc in this economy to admit, but I can't help it. As a kid, I would go to the bank with my mom just to collect deposit/withdrawal slips. I loved having a drawer full of colorful paper. And while I've long since stopped collecting paper and stickers, I still covet "stuff", beautiful, colorful, inspiring, stuff. I decorate and redecorate and love nothing more than pouring over shelter magazines (though in shrinking numbers) and thanks to this newfangled internets, tons of blogs and flkr sites....(read more)...

Baby it's cold outside

Even with a one block commute (I know, it's practically sinful), I was still frozen to the bone with a windchill to zero. Thawing my fingertips, the only thing I could think of were fur caps and snow suits. Instead of Inuits or retro Russians, I went searching for some Scandinavian style. I didn't have to look very hard at all. And not a parka in sight....

Happy New Year!

 

corbisimages

I am oh so ready to say good bye to the aughts.  Yes, it's been a decade of big changes for sure; Publicly (terrorism, war, GWB come and gone, Obama, recession, creative resurgence,) and personally, (good by legal eagles, hello fashion darlings, D.C. to NYC, Oscar, recession, surviving the recession). Thanks but I'll keep the memories and start planning for the 10s. The roaring 10s? The rebound 10s? The fantasticly happy, prosperous, and peaceful 10s. I like it.  So, celebrate. Big or small. Intimately or with complete strangers. All you can drink or champagne toast. 

bohememusings

Black tie or gorilla suit (yes, there's really a Williamsburg bar hosting a party with that theme), it's a  great excuse of a night for playing dress up. Would that I owned Carrie Bradshaw's dress below....though it may be a little too much dress for a house party....  Either way, I'll be wearing sparkle for sure.   Here's to 2010!  Cheers!

Insert Your 'Hood Here

Funk might not be the number one descriptive of your music taste but if you're like me, you just can't help tapping your foot, and if no one's looking, dancing all Rerun style. That's what happened when I first heard this new single by Sugar & Gold (who recently toured with Of Montreal).  This week the band released a new video for their funk jam Neighborhood. According to My Old Kentucky Blog (another fav XMU show of POP's), the band will release a new LP in March 2010 called Get Wet. The video was created and directed by Sam Young.  For your listening and viewing pleasure...

Neighborhood from Sam Young on Vimeo.

365 Days and Counting

Papersparrow

I can't remember the last watch I owned; definitely some time after the Swatch (the ones that had scented wrist straps. Remember those? Anyone?!).... Anyway, the cell phone made my watch obsolete.  Not so for the calendar.  Yes, my iphone shows the date. My computer screen has the old-school desk calendar prominently displayed. But paper calendars? Their just too pretty, too precious, too specially tactile for me to forgo. I usually get a pretty desktop one,  a large wall calendar, and sometimes, one for my cork board. (I'm not counting the "Grandma Moses" calendar my dad just bought me. Really, Dad?!)  Here are a few beauties I just found on etsy.

Cabin

Merry Xmas to you and yours...

Photos:   Makingitlovely, Poppytalk, Designspongeonline

Banksy is my facebook friend

Living/working in Williamsburg, you can't help but be aware of graffiti.  Murals, tags, throw ups, stencils.  (Point of admission, I am not a fan at all of taggers. And I swear if I ever meet you Curtis, I'm hauling you in for the $350 to replace my shop gate! I digress....).  Just walking around the shop hood feels like an open air gallery, (including the mural above by R.Robots on N. 3rd and Bedford). So it was in this new appreciation of the art that I friended Banksy.  But I'm getting ahead of myself...

May Your Xmas Be White

mmmm Vin Chaud

Anyone that knows me well, knows well that I do not cook (save for my specialty, scrambled eggs).  But drinks. Drinks I can make. Vin chaud, or hot wine, mulled wine, gluhwein. You get the idea.  I sipped it in Paris as I strolled along the Champs Elysee.  Sigh. To evoke the memory, I'm taking this usual outdoor winter drink indoors.  Mmmm Merry Merry.  The Recipe....

In defense of the stylista/hipster

It is no secret that Williamsburg has a reputation for harboring the ubiquitous hipster. Here, there, everywhere. And yes, many look alike and interchangeable, ironic this and that. But scratch a little deeper will you? It's often where fashion is formed, created, motivated and inspired, and yes, copied. Truly. When I first moved to the neighborhood 5 years ago (recognizably not cutting edge but still a little rough around the edges), my first visual assault by a hipster was a dude in a white, all white, track suit and head band riding a tricycle. Ridiculous. The tricycle certainly. But he was ahead of the headband trend. The girls with the headbands last summer, you're welcome. Well maybe not exactly but you get the idea.

Nomadic Wonderland

New York was a winter wonderland this weekend...at least for a few hours before all the cars rolled through and the sloped curbs became shallow pools of slush awaiting unsuspecting tourists and distracted locals.
Inspired by the real thing I found these beautiful images by Eunusk Hur, a textile designer who pushes the boundaries of fashion and interior design through innovative textile design. She uses a modular system of textile pieces that can be transformed by the user to suit fashion or furnishings. To me, simplistically, they seem like brilliant interpretations of paper snowflakes...made from New York City snow!

Paris en Decembre

Thanks to a wonderful friend who recently moved to Paris, and a group of displaced bff's converging in Paris, I found myself there in mid December spending a lovely week sightseeing, eating, drinking and window shopping (damn that euro!). Paris is a beautiful city any time of year but there's no doubt the City of Lights shines even brighter in December, with bulbs strung up on nearly every tree and across most intersections. But these aren't your trite lights of Christmas yore; they are glamorous and spectacular, befitting this fashion mecca. Lights in silver, white and blue, shaped like chandeliers and disco balls; trees dripping with lights that have the illusion of falling gems. And the trees! Not an ounce of throw tinsel in sight, these bedecked trees are sprayed in faux red snow, the perfect foil to the neutral grey of winter. Not that Paris was all that grey...Made the trip to store Colette because I had heard so much hype, but I have to say,

A little splash of color

As a New Yorker born and raised, I know the value of black; the sophisticated self confidence it conveys. The steadfastness of the light absorbing shade is incomparable. Agreed. But color. Oooh color. It whispers to me. I'll make your eyes greener. You'll sleep easier in a robin's egg blue bedroom. But I aspire to black. I admire the adherents. I had a friend in D.C. whose entire wardrobe, save the odd pair of designer denim, was black. Entirely black. I marveled at the ease she must have in dressing, let alone packing. But the pantonic seduction was too much. I cannot deny my childhood obsession with pink. POP is awash in a rainbow of colored dots, clothing color coordinated, and in summer, black is but a little punctuation.

Man Shops Globe

My favorite part of owning a boutique is definitely buying for the shop. I love researching new trends, sourcing new vendors, culling the best items and curating a collection each season. Still that’s only a fraction of my job and admittedly 99% of it takes place at home in New York and with media/online. So I was more than curious and even envious when I just learned of a new show, which started airing in October on the Sundance Channel, called “Man Shops Globe.”

I heart wallpaper

Check out my new bedroom wallpaper by Graham and Brown. Not my bedroom above...my bedroom below. A bit bold no doubt and the chatreuse walls are certainly not for the shy, but I love it (thanks Mom!) And to think this all started with this 1920s lamp I scooped up for a song (not pictured). I still love it a month later...even after I saw it used in the house on a "Bad Girls" preview. I'm sure no one watches that, right?!

A trend here there and everywhere...

I first saw the return of this trend at McCarren park this summer, and oh flashed back to the 90s. Hoped it would die a silent death. But one girl became two then five then the style was popping up on blogs globally, pictures of girls in Brooklyn were interchangeable with girls from Helsinki or Vancouver. The trend was back. The black panty hose, not tights, under cut-off rolled denim shorts. Once de riguer Doc Martens completed the style, the ladies are rocking it with boots, flats, ankle boots, or lace up oxfords. The shorter the shorts the longer the legs and paired with dolman sleeve drapey tops and boyfriend blazers, well, fon't tell anyone, but I think I'm a convert this time around!