bewitching 'Beautiful Creatures'

all comic geeks, sci-fi lovers, & toy nerds alike attended the New York Comic Con over the weekend, the biggest pop culutre convention in the east coast. I was lucky enough to go on Saturday to experience the spectacle of everyone, young and old, dressed in their favorite comic/anime/cartoon/fiction characters, parading through the aisles of video game & fantasy film glory. (if you need halloween costume inspiration, I suggest checking out the comic con steez from the weekend here or here)

the upcoming fantasy film, Beautiful Creatures held a press conference that I got to attend. the film is based on the young adult novel, which is in fact part of a series (may this be the next "Twilight"?) written by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. in short, the plot centers on this supernatural love story between Ethan & Lena, a mysterious new girl who happens to be some type of witch. they uncover dark, hidden secrets about her family & future as a "caster" while also trying to survive this "Romeo & Juliet" type relationship in their small, southern town.

the conference featured the director, Richard LaGravenese (an Oscar nom) and some cast members: Emmy Rossum who plays Ridley, a badass (as she described) "dark caster", Alden Ehrenreich who is the film's leading male protagonist (Ethan Asher), his best friend played by Thomas Mann, and Zoey Deutch who plays Ethan's angry ex-girlfriend - quite the 'spell' for a love triangle!

Thomas Mann, Richard LaGravenese, Alden Ehrenreich, Zoey Deutch, Emmy Rossum

during the intimate gathering, the cast talked about how they prepared for their roles (developing the southern twang & such), the process of adapting a mythological novel to the big screen, etc. (the entire panel can be seen & heard via youtube, part 1 & 2)

what I found interesting was Emmy's character, Ridley which she calls a "vicious goddess" but in the best way possible - Rossum described her character as a "badass, dark, heroin, witch," who also embodies elegance, class, and chicness. the film took this character to a whole new level with the costumes.

with LaGravenese's inspiration from 1930s-70s films and culture, Ridley was given multiple personas that reflect each time period just by her wardrobe; from Rita Hayworth to Doris Day, Ridley can embody practically any look of a film icon (perhaps even becoming one herself?)

below are some screenshots I took of the Beautiful Creatures "casters," all dressed intricately and seemingly from a completely different era:

 

My Fair Lady meets The Fifth Element? kind of loving it.

to see more bewitching costumes and learn more about "Beautiful Creatures," watch the featurette here and the official trailer here

'beautiful creatures' opens february 13, 2013

eye for an eye

today is World Sight Day and TOMS created a new eyewear line that gives sight to those that need it; same idea as the "one for one" shoes, but this new program gives in exchange either a pair of prescription glasses, sight-saving surgery, or medical treatment with the purchase of TOMS sunglasses.

each of the sunnies have a unique TOMS feel to them, with markings of stripes along the stems (each represent something about giving - one stripe represents you, the middle TOMS, and the edge is the person in need), and not to mention are very chic. here are some of my favorite pairs from their collection:

the Maverick in gold . the Marisol in tortoise . the Lobama (can't help but think of Barack and Michelle with this pair haha!) . the Deoria in crystal sea foam

the TOMS website for World Sight Day is educational and interactive, giving us a 'look' at what it's like to see through different sight illnesses & the chance to print out and design our own eye charts. below is a chart made by DJ SoSuperSam, via her tumblr:

to design your own, click here and share your work of art with the hashtag #GIVEsight
to learn more about TOMS eyewear and World Sight day, visit this website

heeeeeyyy, sexy lady!

this morning I found a funny little teaser vid (above) in my inbox of the supposed collaboration between designer Jill Stuart & South Korean rapper, Psy (who if you don't know, flooded the internet and dance floors of the world with his 'Gangnam Style' hit)
"what's the big deal?" you ask? for starters, the song is #1 in basically 20 countries. this is huge for an international pop star that raps in a language that isn't english. and now he's got everyone singing along with him. to add, 'gangnam style' is the most watched youtube video EVER, wrangling over 200 million views in 3 months. ridiculous. Psy is the cherry on top of this delicious recipe for success. he has his own wicked sense of style and is the antithesis of a "hot" male music artist...well, a hot male. which is what makes Psy even more lovable - not to mention his impeccable dance moves, which are very uncommon to find in a man these days (am I right, ladies?)

Psy performing live on the Today Show

that said, he definitely caught the attention of Jill Stuart. seemingly an unlikely match made in fashion heaven, I think the duo fits perfectly & here's why: it's all in the definition of gangnam style
loosely translated, the song is about guy trying to find a girl that epitomizes the upscale, trendy Gangnam district in Seoul (think NY's meatpacking district but way cooler). there's a verse in the song that goes like this: "A lady who looks conservative, but knows when to play hard, a lady who knows when to let her hair down, a lady who seems fragile, but sexy at the same time." THAT'S a Gangnam style chick. & coincidentally, also a Jill Stuart kind of chick.
Jill's designs are ultra sophisticated & extremely sexy at the same time. she has the essence of the girl next door & the life of the party. I mean, picture Cher Horowitz in 'Clueless' (Stuart did design for the film after all). she embodies all the qualities of Psy's ideal Gangnam style girl.
I'm so looking forward to what the iconic designer & soon-to-be legendary korean rapper come up with.
sources: la times, mbfashionweek

get in line, and settle down

{belated} music monday: no doubt

this may be is old news but FINALLY, No Doubt is back!

ever since they had a reunion tour in 2009 (that I sadly missed) I didn't think the opportunity to see them live would come again. but now with the release of their new single "settle down," and the anticipation of a new album...I am so ecstatic to get another chance to see them in concert!

Tragic Kingdom was my first cd album ever so the band holds a very close spot in my heart. it was my introduction to ska and rock music, and I was hooked. my life in high school was surrounded by alt rock and it was thanks to No Doubt. (I had a major crush on Tony Kanal...still kind of do) plus, having Gwen Stefani as a lead singer is just the cherry on top of having a perfect band. her unprecedented style and quirky cool persona is so addicting. she is definitely one of my ultimate style icons, influencing me so much in my teenage years til now.

here's a look at some of Gwen's and the rest of No Doubt's fashcapades (fashion escapades...lame, I know) because she's not the only important person in creating the band's image/style.

images via google

here's the music video for their latest single

$ so tall that my barbie's gotta climb it

it's no surprise that finally, an ... eccentric Barbie doll has been born. 

with the development of a new tween generation - you know, the ones that text, play on their iPads and tumblr post non-stop, in addition to incessantly watching those horrible MTV shows like Skins, Teen Mom, Teen Wolf? I don't even know anymore...but kids today are different than those of the '90s and prior. their interests are different, trend-based. and this is where Barbie steps up her game, tattoos and all. 

wow. she's more bad ass than me.

Tokidoki always puts out the most vibrant, off-the-wall fashion accessories & toys which make the brand a perfect partnership for Mattel/Barbie, in my opinion. though this doll comes off a bit Jerseylicious meets Courtney Love circa 1990whatever, the fact of the matter is that kids these days aren't dressing a far cry from this. I'm almost positive you can find a similar outfit (minus the glitter platforms) worn by Disney channel actors.

the tattoos and pink hair make this Barbie a product of her time. the fact that children are idolizing Nicki Minaj nowadays (hello, Sophia Grace!) who contributes greatly to our culture shift in style, fashion & music, I don't understand the assaults poor tokidoki Barbie is getting.

ultimately, this is a collector's and limited edition doll, so most of these are probably in the hands of people over the age of 18, who could give 2 shits about her punk style. plus if you're going to name Barbie's cactus-dog pet "Bastardino," even more of a reason to release this as a doll for adults.

due to so much controversy with parents whining about the possibilities of their precious daughters wanting to get tatted up after playing with tokidoki Barbie, Mattel was forced to issue a statement which follows:

“Barbie has been dressed by more than 70 fashion designers over the years.  From Versace to Vera Wang, Tarina Tarantino to Christian Louboutin, Barbie has sported an endless array of styles.  Many of Barbie’s most pop-culture couture outfits have been designed for the adult doll collector.”

knowing myself years ago as a pre-teen, if I were growing up today no doubt this doll would 100% be on my xmas wish list. but in hindsight, if you're a parent, would you really spend $50 on a collector's edition doll just so your bratty tyke can play with it? (I've had experience with my prized Spice Girls dolls being abused by little cousins...I learned my lesson)

child/teen actors that take rides on the crazy train should be more of a concern to parents rather than a plastic toy doll. I'm no psychologist, but I can bet the actions of real life people that your kids love & watch everyday on tv & film have a greater impact on ruining their future in comparison to a pink-haired Barbie doll.

see more tokidoki Barbie greatness here

c.o.a.c.h.e.l.l.a.

best weekend of my life.
in sum: walking miles in the blazing sun and dirty desert ground for hours, blisters, sunburns, and extreme weather changes from 100 degrees to 60. no sleep, lots of calorie consumption, people watching (i.e. fanny pak, rob kardashian, whitney port, lo bosworth..), discovering new and amazing music, dancing like no one was watching. 5 minute showers, wearing the same outfit twice (do not judge me!), taking zero pictures - literally, dying cell phones, and getting lost in the sea of crowds. jamming to the best live music and seeing some of my favorite artists which I've loved since my childhood, and experiencing all of this with my friends (in addition to making new ones) was priceless.




day one: cold cave, skrillex, a-trak, afrojack, kele, marina and the diamonds, the black keys, kings of leon, robyn, boys noize





day two: erykah badu, glasser, yelle, chuckie, laidback luke, mumford & sons, animal collective, empire of the sun, arcade fire





day three: wiz khalifa, nas & damien marley, jimmy eat world, death from above 1979, duck sauce, the strokes, kanye west



images via pitchfork media

eyes of violet

R.I.P. Elizabeth Taylor
the essence of beauty, character and talent




photo via bonnie leigh

rationalizing the Oscar's

The 83rd Academy Awards were held Sunday night, Feb. 27. Millions watched but ratings were incomparable to previous Oscar shows. There was a reported 10 percent decrease in ratings to 2010's (viewership was at 41.7 million, while this year's was 37.6 million), despite the show's efforts in ringing in a younger viewer pool by having James Franco and Anne Hathaway host. "Producers have developed the idea of making this year’s Oscars a ‘visual journey through movie history’ and should be hosted by ‘young and energetic actors,'" the IBTimes reported.

While their efforts fell short, and both received harsh criticism for their highly awkward hosting skills, it is still unknown why the response to the show was so bleak. Is the answer in capitalism? In sociological studies, Max Weber argues that capitalism is a rational system in the sense of being calculating, efficient, reducing uncertainty, and increasing predictability. Using capitalism to describe the Academy Awards is a loaded term but the underlying factors in creating a show that has a specific target audience far from what is normally expected is intrinsic of good marketing and PR, both consumer capitalist industries.

Weber developed four types of rationality, but the one I am interested in is formal rationality, under which "we are not left to our own devices, but rather we use existing rules, regulations, and structures that either predetermine the optimum methods or help us discover them." Formal rationality paved the way for institutionalized structures like bureaucracy, whose systems are intended to make an individual's life easier, more efficient. However, they have become so entrenched and so immovable and inflexible that the individual is trapped and controlled by them.

At the Oscar's last week, young adults were presuppositioned to watch because its hosts would be the youngest in history. Is the their method for vying a younger audience a rational tactic? If so, it worked because according to Reuters, the night kept 95% of their young audiences, ages 18-34, tuned in.

Fusing the young with the old actors is touching, and taps into the background of each actor's craft - young actors are here because the old have paved the way for them. Halle Berry acknowledged this in her presentation of Lena Horne, for instance. However, I don't recall Franco or Hathaway introduce each film category in its historic context. The presenters did. If young Hollywood isn't able to embrace and present the classics, then what was the point?

This ploy for 20-somethings to watch an awards show they normally wouldn't is similar to one form of formal rationality, calculability. It involves means that are "calculated, counted, and quantified." At the Oscar's, the primary concern was to draw in the quantity of viewers, not the quality. Perhaps producers rationed the calculability of young viewers in casting Franco and Hathaway, since 80% of the nominated actors and actresses are over the age of 30. The youngest nominated actress was 14 year old Hailee Steinfeld, while the youngest male actor Jesse Eisenberg is 27. So long as a younger host can keep viewers entertained, it doesn't matter who is or who isn't nominated. Quantity over quality.

90s looks

sources: google, tumblr

cute kids modeling. 'nuff said.

When I was 6 years old, I can clearly remember the feeling of having a mother that is obsessed with fashion dressing up her one and only daughter (me) in the poofiest of poofy dresses, play clothes with a hat to match every color and pattern of the ensemble. It was a treacherous ride for the, nearly 8 years it took me to learn how to dress myself and develop my own sense of style, which you can imagine went the extreme opposite of the Gymboree or Nordstrom get ups my mom would force me to wear. Though I hated it at the time, I look back on old photos and think, "hey, I looked pretty cute in that polka dot jumper"...and sometimes I even wish my mom continued to dress me throughout middle school where my style got progressively Nike oriented (my tomboy phase). That is why, when I saw this article about the kid models for the Australian line Witchery, I couldn't keep silent.






Circling the world wide web is this photo controversy of the child models posed in Witchery's lookbook for kids. As you can see, the tots are not stanced like Gap Kids models, who are cheery and bubbly - just as kids should be...right?

When I first saw these pictures, I couldn't get over how cute the kids looked in their cargos and booties. My thought process went a little like this: "OMG! ... I would probably wear that ... how cute! ... this is a little weird, though ... I wish I was that cool looking when I was 5 ... I wish I looked that cool now.."

Nowadays, I get the feeling that kids are growing up way too fast. The availability of cell phones, the ridiculous television shows they watch (in comparison, my '90s generation shows had it made), their increased curiosity/experimentation of sex now begins as young as kindergarten, from what I've heard. Knowing this, I was not surprised to see these "disturbing" images from Witchery.

Personally, I love the photos. If anything, it shows how good these kids can model and how chic they look in these clothes. On the other hand, I do see the arguments being made from neurotic parents and children's charity spokespeople that hate the photos. One said, "The whole point of early childhood is to be joyous and free." So true in this case where the child models keep straight faces and hold high-fashion inspired model stances. In all honesty though, do the photographers expect children to act this way naturally? I'm sure a great amount of direction was made to achieve these vogue-esqe images, being that kids run on sugar constantly. Still, it surprises me how good the children are at posing this way, maybe they've been interpellated to believing this is how a model should look like - even at age 5.


>


Witchery says "the next generation is here," and it really is. Think of how many child actors we have today.. there barely are any that are at least relevant to me. Still the only person I can think of is Dakota Fanning and to my dismay, she has grown up. Maybe the problem here is not with Witchery, but with society in general - it is moving fast, the economy may not be, but I'm sure as hell that the population is and their obsession with media and technology is along for the ride.

Also, how often was it before (aka 1999) to see kids in gossip magazines for adults? Every other second we see Suri Cruise or the Jolie-Pitt clan on the glossy pages. Do kids even read Bop or TigerBeat anymore? Do those magazines even exist still?

My whole point here is that the images are far from disturbing because they are highlighting the type of grown-ups that kids look up to these days. Models, bikers, hipsters...whatever you see posed in this spread is a reflection of the "coolness" society is heaving on its jovial offspring.

images via The Cut, Witchery

japan meets paris

this is what happens when you mix the modern and cartoonish art of Takashi Murakami with 17th century artwork at the Château de Versailles in France

while I love the juxtaposition of the two elements, japanese and parisian art, do you think Marie Antoinette would approve?

via apartment therapy