Day 30...

Three good things that have happened in the last 30 days ( it's been 30 days already?!), and my favorite song this time last year. 

1) I fell in love... with a cow... a beautiful cow... then I cut him up... 

2) I got out of this city even if only for two days. 

3) I meet new people, always a good thing.  

Lady Gaga - Bad Romance

This song has a play count up in the 400's on my iTunes, more than double my next top song.  The song itself is amazing, but this music video is beyond belief. I was in shock when it came out, all Alexander McQueen's Plato's Atlantis collection just one week after it showed on the Paris runway. When I saw the collection I said it would be a matter of time before Gaga got in it, little did I know it would be so quickly. 

Day 29...

Something I will never get tired of doing and a song that reminds me of my childhood. 

SHOPPING! It never gets old for me. I can do it for myself, for others, or for no one. It is something I can do for hours on end and never get tired of it. I made a list of my favorite boutiques so incase you are in Paris or New York you can stop by and check them out... and pick me up something... What? It was worth a try.  

l'Eclaireur, by far the best boutique I have ever been to. This is the men's boutique (The women's one is a two blocks away, and just as impressive) which is actually a ten minute walk from my apartment in the Marais, so I stop by all the time. Their clothing selection is second to none. Not only do they carry all the big brands like Comme des Garçons, Balenciaga, Ann Demeulemeester, and Rick Owens,  but they have the small guys like Gareth Pugh, Haider Ackermann and Boris Bidjan Saberi as well. It is all very well thought out and the space is just amazing. 

Colette. I don't stop by as much as I used to just because it is a fashion mecca and as such is crowded like a can of sardines, as opposed to l'Eclaireur which you frequently are the only customer in the store. They carry everyone who is anyone so it is nice to be able to see the trendy clothes up close before you see them anywhere else (Haakan [not worth the money], Alexander Wang, and Céline are the current window display brands). Also a 10 minute walk from my apartment, which is nice during fashion week because so many parties are held here, I can just walk down my street and be there. 

Oak. Carries a great mix of designers from all price ranges. Their Oak brand is amazing; the style you want for a price you can afford... assuming your style is very urban and dark. I still laugh because I sent my mom here last time she was in New York and she brought me back a  cobalt blue marino wool sweater. "It was the only colorful thing in there" was her response. I was shocked because I knew she couldn't go wrong in a boutique full of black... yet somehow she found something not only in a color, but a very bright color at that. I do love that sweater though and get my use out of it; it's that perfect splash of color in my dark winter attire. 

Seven. A great place to look for the best up and coming designers. 

Spice Girls - Stop

Just another reason the 90's were an amazing decade - pop groups. Sorry NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, Hanson, and S Club 7, but the Spice Girls get my vote as the best group. I can't believe how many hours I sat around with friends listening to this cd over and over again until we knew every word to every song. Posh Spice (Victoria Beckham) was always my favorite, and I still love her to this day. She is one of the few celebrities that is actually better as a fashion designer than whatever they were doing before hand. The Olsen Twins are the only other people in that group. 

Day 28...

My favorite movie and a song that makes me feel guilty makes me nostalgic.

Pulp Fiction; Quentin Tarantino, A knockout cast, amazing dialog, and the clothes (A nice tailored jacket and crisp white button down are two things I hold close to my designing heart). There isn't a Tarantino film that I don't love, but Pulp Fiction is by far my favorite, and his best in my opinion.

Destiny's Child - Say My Name

I can't think of a song that makes me feel guilty, and that's probably because I would never listen to a song that makes me feel that way, not my favorite emotion. So, one of my favorite songs from the 90's. I've been really getting into the 90's again. I guess when you distance yourself from a decade you can look back at it and find all the good. One thing I can't get enough of is the fashion, and this music video showcase some of it perfectly. A little nostalgia and a little inspiration, what more could you want? 

Day 27...

A picture of me last year and now, and how I have changed since then. Also, a song I wish I could play.

Then and now. 

Well I'm still dramatic in front of the camera, that certainly hasn't changed... the sparkling lycra leggings have been retired though. I don't want to go too in depth about how I have changed in the past year, because it is safe to say that a lot has happened in my life.  I will say though that I'm actively pursing my dreams and loving every minute of it.

Rachmaninoff - Six Moment Musicaux Op. 16 No. 4

It should come as no surprise by now that I love Romantic period piano music. It is the only type that I play. Even my piano teacher used to complain that I wouldn't branch out into other periods of music, and she slowly started to introduce me to early 20th century classical like Bartók and Prokofiev, which I now have quite the liking for.  Anyways, Rachmaninoff is the composer I admire the most, and his Six Moment Musicaux is a set of music that I would love to learn someday.

 I usually keep my copy of Six Moment Musicaux out on my piano to taunt me into learning it... Also, it looks impressive to visitors because of all the notes. "That's a lot of black" is what most people say, which is quite true. This is just the first page, and the first 20 seconds of the recording, it has the most white space of the entire song. I have No. 4 down, just not nearly to the tempo that it needs to be at. When I play this one, it is more of an adagio than presto. One day. 

Day 26...

A picture of someone I admire and a song I can play on an instrument. 

I think I have said it before on here, but I really admire Andre Leon Talley. I read his memoir a while back and was very much moved by it. He has such a interesting story, growing up in the south, in a humble financial situation with his grandmother. He moved out on his own to New York and worked extremely hard for everything that he has every accomplished. He may now seem like a larger than life character, but it is his working class savoir faire that makes him someone that I admire. I could have learned a lot from him growing up, that it's not about the fashionable things you don't own, but making the most from what you have. The way he re-tells stories about how his grandma took care of her church gloves, or the Christian Dior pajamas that she worked overtime to get him, is very moving. It's good to hear from someone how they have always followed their passion in life, and that with a lot of hard work you can really make something out of it. 

Beethoven - Moonlight Sonata 1st Movement. 

Although I have played every classical song that I have posted here so far, this is one that I especially enjoy. While so many songs can be filled with emotion when you play them - especially Chopin - Moonlight Sonata can really take all that you have. Even listening to it, you can hear the fingers struggling to hit each key as all of the performers sorrow flows into the piano. It's not the most technically challenging of songs, but the act of preforming it is what makes this song really special. 

Chopin - Nocturne in C Sharp Minor - My favorite Chopin piece to pour my heart into. 

Springspiration 2011...

Clockwise from upper left: Rick Owens, John Varvatos, Maison Martin Margiela, Dries Van Noten.

Kris Van Assche, Ann Demeulemeester, Alexander McQueen, Neil Barrett.

Favorite Looks - Boris Bidjan Saberi, Damir Doma, Siki Im.

It's time to step up my personal style a bit more, since this time of year it gets a little bit bi-polar. Winter everything is heavily layered with loose draped pieces and tailored elements, all in black. This is quite the contrast to summer which is full of color and basically a walking J.Crew catalog. So my goal for this spring is to make my winter wardrobe summer appropriate, sans couleur bien sur. That why I'm feeling beige, paste, and slate for summer; a neutral pallet to mix in some of my darker pieces with for both seasons. So, things we are looking for... 

1) Light tailored pieces - Linen and cotton blazers, casual trousers, well fitted dress shirts... 

2) Draped layering pieces - Thin t-shirts and tanks, slouchy paper cardigans, loose cotton leggings (to wear under shorts, which I might consider, but only with leggings underneath. The good lord knows I don't like shorts. That image from Neil Barrett makes a tempting proposition though).

3) That pair of perfect summer sandals which I could never find in the states, but is the only thing they have here in France. Oh how nice to be in the land of fashion, where all your wildest fashion dreams come true, and all your fashion nightmares don't exist. 

Day 25...

My favorite color, and a song that makes me laugh.

Emilio Pucci F/W 2010

My favorite color is chartreuse, but you would never be able to tell my looking at me since almost everything I wear is black, white, or some grey tone in between. 

Antoine Dodson interview that was turned into a song by some teenagers. I literally fall over laughing almost every time I hear this.