nineteen fashion tracks; musical Inspiration.

Sometimes I see something that was created and think "Hm. I wonder what they were listening to when they did that." It's like that when I see a designers new line. It's like, what were they inspired by? Who have they seen? What new album did they get? What movie did they watch? What is even better is that it's most likely a mix of all of that. Some lines you see have a certain theme, something repetitious found throughout and some lines are all over the board and seems to be a result of various inspiration. Music has such an impact on my life and it moves me in so many ways and is often present when I conjure up some of my best thoughts or ideas. Whenever I hear a song, I always create the storyboard for it in my head, something to bring to life while I listen. Depending on what song I'm listening to, it will determine the outcome of clothing or makeup.

I decided to gather together some of my favourite songs that inspire me to dress a very certain way. They either put a specific decade in my mind, or a mood, or a scene where people are dressed have a particular style. So get in your closet and listen to these tunes

http://8tracks.com/tessaabee/fashion-inspiration

Enjoy.

Spring Mix: The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly.

PLUS

PLUS

EQUALS

Some of the ingredients for an amazing past few days!

(my boyfriend played the biggest role in making it awesome!)

So many ideas have been bouncing around my head for quite awhile now. While being immersed in the Portland culture for the past four days & five nights I have had countless things I have been wanting to delve more into. Luckily, the new October issue was on stands for me to grab before I got on my flight.

My tweet deck had been sending countless reminders of new lines that have been making their way down runways in Milan during my stay. Needless to say, I've been busy in between seeing the wonderful, wonderful sights that Oregon & Washington had to offer us.

Before I start getting into designer lines, I'll speak my mind about the fashion vibes in Portland. Wow, what a great city! Not only when it comes to funky fashion, but the people are just down right awesome. One of the first stops I had to make was Goodwill. I LOVE thifting. I think it is the best ways to create your outfits and you can really make something your own with what you find. It's like going shopping in 1,000 closets of people of all decades with different styles. I lucked out immensely with this particular one. Almost everything on the hangers was designer. I ended up with a divine purple polyester BCBG top with a long tie-wrap around the waist (reminds me of something you would find in the Ralph Lauren 2010 fall line) I got another top as well. I will have to post a picture;

...but the real winner of the bunch was a beautiful Pendleton coat (made in Oregon) in a deep red. I was absent minded and forgot my coat for the voyage, but knew that I would get to buy one whilst we were there. When I tried it on in the store, three people came up to me and said "You need to buy that coat, it's simply gorgeous and in perfect condition." I snagged this little luxury for only fifty dollars! I couldn't believe my luck, especially since I did not have the desire to spend more than that since I have plenty of coats floating around the house. "They" say never buy a red coat, but "they" can go to hell, it's perfect, especially for holiday time.

I actually just chopped even more of my hair off.

Professional shears are dangerous for me to have.

It more so resembles a longer bob now.

With such fabulous thrifting, so many people are decked out in the coolest threads. I loved that about Portland. Sort of that "Let your freak flag fly" mentality. Which of course, is my favourite.

On to the designers.... I checked out a few collections this past week as the updates rolled in from all over via fashion tweets. heh (this all sounds quite lame to me. I never. ever. ever thought that I would have a twitter, but I do and I love it. dammit.) A few stand out to me; for reasons good and bad. Jil Sander is one of those. I normally like things by Jil Sander. But only through ads I've seen in Vogue over the years. I actually saw one of her dresses in the September issue and I loved it. When I saw the tweet about the latest Jil Sander line, I tapped the screen with a finger and wasn't exactly "in love" with what I saw. I saw big horizontal stripes across the body, unflattering, no shape, etc. But to be fair, I came back to the spring 2011 line multiple times to see if my mind would change the more I saw it. You know, like music, the more you hear it, the more you like it (sometimes.) So here we go; half of page three & page four is probably their only highlights and that is mostly in reference to colour. A lot of it is used here and I love that, I just disdain the shape of the clothes.

This is really the only thing I liked.

Some of the ones I did not like. At All.

see?! no shape!

These clothes are so expensive. They are supposed to make a woman feel wonderful about herself. I cannot see myself ever paying a lot for these garments. The female form should be celebrated and or at least silhouetted in some way. This line didn't do it for me.

On the other hand...we have some lines that I will be lusting over for a long, long time. Hats off to Aquilano.Rimondi & Versus! I love the patterns, the colours, the plaid, the line...really everything! It was hard to only pick six from each that I loved. They just make me gush!

.VERSUS.

mmm. mmm. mmm.

Excuse me, plaid just became extremely sexy.

I have admired the plaid look going around for the past few years, but I was never really into the grunge look so I always hesitate with plaid. I think sometimes it looks dashing and sometimes I hate the look so much. It's all about the rest of the outfit and the occasion. This looks like 'Little
House On The Prairie' all sexed up. I want this whole line.

.Aquilano.Rimondi.

Just PERFECT for spring. This line gives me such a good vibe. It looks like something Margot Tenenbaum would wear if she were 30 years old in the 60's hipster era. However they look like things I would wear now. I also love the one length long hair on these models. It goes perfectly with the clothes and the mood of it all.

But I cannot get too caught up in spring clothes just yet. For the time is coming for tons and tons of layers for me, simply because my body cannot handle these Chicago Winters. It's a season for me where my whole closet gets to jump in the mix. The Versus line holds more inspiration for me now because of the plaids. Plaids have always gotten me into fall, whether or not I wore them or not. They just remind me of the leaves changing colours and the crisp fall air. I am SO EXCITED.

Ah. My thoughts are finally put in their place for now.

This sunny day is making me chipper! Normally it's the opposite.

Hope you all tuned into Dexter on Sunday.

Ralph, The September Issue, and the whole gang!

Ah. The September issue of Vogue has been in my possession for seven days. (I know, I'm late on this one)

& it is time to delve in to the favourites.

I have always liked Vogue for its smart writing, and yes,

Vogue does have articles in between the countless number of ads. (although I love the ads)

A few articles really caught my eye this issue and a few trends definitely do not make my list of things I will try to replicate or, well, re-create.

So if you have an issue of Vogue, grab it, and lets crack this thing open!

"Suitably Understated" was maybe my favourite article of the issue (pg. 486)

It's short and sweet, but the idea makes me swoon.

Ralph Lauren himself worked with this woman to create the perfect work ensamble. Something masculine, but when on the feminine figure would transform into nothing but sex and class. At the same time you ask? Leave it to Ralph- and his team of perfectly picked Italian men who flew in directly to make a suit for the author of the article. This is the classic look I was talking about, and when incorporated in the work place can create just the right mindset for success.

Casual Fridays bring out the best in me because I can ditch the god awful (worst thing I have ever seen) polo that I am forced to wear (you have no idea what this does to my creativity and mood). Anywhoooo..this article was a hit with me. I love the idea of meeting with one of the best designers of our time, talking about the mundane but also about his work over the course of his life. Not only to meet with him, but to coordinate a suit with your opinions and his to create perfection. Ah, lucky you, Sally Singer.

While we are on the subject of Ralph Lauren, I guess we can talk about the fall line, which I am in love with just as much as the latest Oscar de la Renta fall collection. I'll post a few pictures that will speak for themselves, but before they do, I guess I'll put a word in (that's so like me). I love the use of velvet in some of these outfits. Velvet brings me back to the days where I was 8 and getting custom figure skating dresses made for competitions. I love how rich it makes the outfit look, literally and figuratively. It's just gorgeous and especially for the autumn months and when incorporated in a layered kind of look. Bonus points if the velvet is super dark in colour, deep reds, dark greens, black, dark greys, etc. I love how he takes classic fall colours and that that all american, equestrienne-esque kind of look, but makes it high fashion, yet approachable? Perhaps that's not the right wording, but it's all I've got. On to the pictures. For more, go here.

There are so many great elements here. Whimsical high fashion is the best way to describe it now that I have it all laid out here.

Stop your drooling.

Something that made me do the exact opposite of swoon ::insert own imagery here:: was featured on page 508. "A little slouch goes a long way". I will disagree. It actually goes nowhere with me. While I don't mind most of what Hessnatur creates, I can't say that I love this hat that makes you look like a mouse that went roaming under the bed who came out with a sock on your head... see here. (and note, the picture in the magazine makes it look less appealing than this even)

For now, this is not a trend I'm on board with. However, it might be one of those things like animal prints, some people make them look fantastic, while others make you want to donate your jacket to save them further embarrassment. Who knows, I may bite my tongue later.

I loved the article "Breaking Ground" on page 554 about a Woman that lives and struggles with MS. My Grandmother has MS and it was good to gain some other perspective, learn more about it, and read about the advancements they have made in regards to treating it. Good questions were also brought up in reference to women and why they seem to struggle with more autoimmune diseases than men. Overall, a good read, plus it gave me a reason to e-mail my Grandmother.

Anthony Vaccarello also gave a great interview/story to Mark Holgate on page 520 in "PARIS when it SIZZLES". I really enjoyed what he had to say. Especially "Every season I try to grow but I like...a wardrobe of the essential pieces a woman needs right at that moment." Perfect. He also keeps his passion to himself and his work associates, saying he "...doesn't talk about fashion" when he is around friends. I admire that, sometimes I think the most important things should be the things least likely to share with just anyone because this way you have no external influence on your personal decisions. I need to remember that.

And one more quick note appears on page 324; Blake Lively looks amazing here. This is the best picture of her that I've seen. I can see that picture being one that follows her throughout her life. You know, like one of those books that will come out in 2045 that features fashion from our era.

Kind of like this one that I have that is simply amazing...that features the biggest designers, models, etc. of the past 65 years.

Good work, Mario Testino! Another great shot captured. See here;

Of course there are other many other great highlights in the September issue. I just pointed out a few quick favourites.

I'll leave you with a last photo of my outfit from today. I dig it. I am loving the mismatched prints. I feel most comfortable the more outlandish my clothes are. I am so glad that colder weather is on its way! I can layer layer layer! I really utilize my closet in the winter because I love having all sorts of things on top of each other. Hope you enjoy!

Have a wonderful week! Mix some prints!

The tales of Oscar & the perfect fall line.

Music with no words gives me more time to think, but allows my thoughts to montage themselves perfectly in that movie preview sort of way. After getting bored of almost all the playlists on my iPod, I ended up opening up my music library and leaving it up to chance. Luckily, something perfect always pops up. Today, it was Yann Tiersen and his song La Noyee. This was the perfect thing for me to contemplate life to for awhile. So I did. Over and over. I thought about thousands of things. The best things come to me while I'm driving along. His music always inspires me. The songs make me want to walk along the streets of France with a baguette in hand, or they make me want to get on the ice and try out straight-line footwork, or they make me want to wear fabulous outfits and do fabulous things. With such great thoughts, I never wanted to stop driving.

Then a thought popped into my head. There should be a fashion line based upon the music of one artist or a group of artists, or a genre. Music drives about 86% of my inspiration, I'm sure many designers have music on while designing. I don't think it has ever been labeled as a piece of clothing being inspired by a song or an album. It gets me thinking... maybe I shall get something in the works.

After poking around vogue.com for awhile, the verdict is in!...

Oscar has got it this season.

I am officially in love with I'd say about 84% of the fall collection.

Oscar de la Renta has always been one of my favourite designers.

I still remember a Vogue from 2004 with Natalie Portman on the cover that featured an Oscar de la Renta dress that I just loved. His clothes are a tad flirty, but always with the times and almost timeless. I LOVE his use of colour. He has always incorporated colours extremely well. His direction with the gem tones mixed with black and white and earth tones makes the line look like optimistic high fashion. Something for everyone. There aren't enough words for me to sum it up. It just makes me giddy. Don't worry, I'll post a few pictures, that would just be cruel if I went without...

The hat is perfect.

I love how elaborate the coat is.

The skirt is just at the right length to go with the rest of the outfit.

People say that models are supposed to just be the clothes hanger, but in this picture, she makes this outfit look damn good.

The coat is too good.

mmm. mmm. mmm.

the colour is perfect!

Looks peacocks instilled the inspiration for these colours!

This coat makes such a good statement. I love it.

I have a feeling it's a 6ft tall kind of coat and not a 5'3 kind of coat. Damn.

You know what, no, I think I could pull that off. heh

Love the colour. Love the cut. I love how the material looks so old and so perfect.

This is my favourite piece of the collection.

I want to wear it every day the week of Halloween.

WOW! (just thought of how awesome that would be!)

Ha, I opened up this blog to post about fur. My thoughts and my favourites. But before actually typing anything, Oscar got to me. That's okay, there are really no regrets.

Oh god. What a tease. Check it all out here.

Speaking of Halloween, I have only slight ideas of a look I could go for this year.

Hopefully that works out...

Halloween puts such tasty things in my mind like Chili Dogs, Apple Cider, miniature size candies, and those little orange and black holiday edition hostess cupcakes! (hopefully they still make those!) I am more excited than I thought! Well, as long as I get all of those things, I will be a happy clam. I dig passing out candy to the little boppers in fun little costumes, but I enjoy eating it more. Hurrah!

And yes, there will be pumpkin carving this year!

Enjoy that collection!