Fashion for everyone

Real vs. DIY Nicholas Kirkwood for Rodarte heels

You might have already seen this, but it's so great that I thought it was worth sharing. As you know, I've done my share of Rodarte DIYs (working on one as I write, as a matter of fact), and I always appreciate seeing when other people give it a shot, and how their results turn out. Christina and I have had vague ambitions to DIY the Nicholas Kirkwood for Rodarte heels, but frankly it got lost in the long to-do list. Not to mention the fact that I feel slightly uncomfortable doing any shoe DIY's without a hefty amount of help from my favorite shoe-repair man, Boris. That's why I was incredibly impressed when Carly from Chic Steals told me to check out the pair of heels she DIY'd entirely on her own, even though it required plenty of time, careful work, and most importantly, creative thinking and problem solving. After all, the greatest challenge is figuring out how to replicate the design yourself, and I think Carly did a pretty incredibly job. You can follow her step by step instructions here, if you feel so inspired. In the meantime, I'm going to go back to my knitting...I'll keep you posted...

Some of the tools you'll need

Carly wearing the finished results

All illustrations by Cate Parr

As much as I love looking at fashion illustrations in magazines and online, I would probably think twice about framing one and hanging it on my wall. The main reason is because I've already had multiple friends enter my apartment and say, "How does your husband feel about your apartment being so girly?" Lets just say he's not entirely pleased with the situation, but he's definitely tired of fighting about it. For my part, I've tried to curb my consumption of overtly femme objects, which would have otherwise overtaken my walls if I still lived alone. While I couldn't resist the United Bamboo Cat Calendar (which is pretty bad since I know Jimmy hates cats), I did have to deprive myself of Fifi Lapin wearing Margiela. Nonetheless, I'm seriously considering purchasing one of these gorgeous prints from Silver Ridge Studios, a recent Etsy find that features the ethereal watercolors of Los Angels based artist Cate Parr. The Meditation series (above) is my favorite, possessing both lustrous beauty, and a more contemplative quality than most fashion illustrations. Perfect for my wall, don't you think?