I'm so not letting this no-fear, showing myself, ensemble photo series slide! Oh no. I just have delays. And laziness (I even have bangs since I took these, sorry!). And major major lack-of-photographer issues /frustrations. But it'll come more and more often. I now have plans to take pictures of clothes sans moi, so that I may do it a lot more frequently. (I'll try to include more of myself though, too.) This was my second fairly successful attempt at a personal photo shoot. Part 1 has photos so different from part 2, that well that's why there will be two parts. If I do have time to keep practicing, I may be able to actually have more photos of myself eventually. Sigh. On shoot day, it was a very frustrating afternoon! On to the photos, credits below.

OK, first of all, yeah I accidentally cropped my feet out of all these photos. Timer photography needs major work. Also I look fatter in a belt-looped / under shirt belt. *whine* Not sure what I can do while I'm not perfectly a full lower pants size.

I'm almost shocked I could get a lot of pictures of my face. Goodbye Ella in shades? Nah, course not. ;-)

OK, goofy giggle. Whatcha gonna do? It's still fun & cute. And here they are, it's the piece de resistance...

My new(ish) Bandolino pumps. Hello?! Don't they look like they cost $1,402 and not on sale for $42??? More photos to come of these (they're not online).

Credits:

Cropped jacket: Perameter (Bluefly.com find)
T-shirt: Really old Delia's??? *update* Old Navy???
(Getting less) Skinny jeans: Mossimo for Target
Bag: Hollywood Intuition @ Target w/ crafty strap
Jewelry: Indie/handcraft designer, local to South Florida. Don't shoot me if I'm wrong, but I think it's GMS Jewelry Co. I need to take close photos; great stuff!
And of course the shoes: Bandolino

A friend of mine, the Evil Fashionisto, used to make a joke about my comments on "IT" bags. He said the opposites were s... bags.

Later on I decided to use our inside joke on this site as our own Fab vs. Fug, etc. wording.

But now one company has actually made a $h!t bag, not by ugliness necessarily, but by name.

It's actually called "Schitbag".

Would we classify the looks as $h!t? Not really. I like the straps OK, but I hate the pockets on the actual bag. Well the bag IS just pockets, like it's turned inside out.

So it's more like vomit. The vomit bag.

Excellent job!

Via The Cut, from Fashionista.

... And I don't know what to do ...

After I read two articles by Ashe Mischief on Dramatis Personae and Independent Fashion Bloggers, I eventually started to worry and ponder about myself.

The articles hold truth about pressures, but for me it's about living the window shopping life and if I see it, I want it, I more likely buy it.

[caption id="attachment_3305" align="alignnone" width="341" caption="Clothes out of sight, out of mind."][/caption]

Then I got sick (I still am) and couldn't muster the energy to blog. I've been absent for a while because of this. It's like the "do I have mono?! groan" variety -- or really bad PMS fatigue. I can't write if I have no brain power (nor did I have cleaning muscle power most of this time).

Also, I didn't want to buy clothes. Or even shoes. Well I did but not enough to overpower the strict itemized budget I set for next month. I'm also happy waiting out the rest of this month not shopping. Yes, I spent the very beginning of May buying too much, but I think I can change.

I do want to spend money, but I want to focus more on things for the home. We're in desperate need to put everything in a proper place in our new apartment (and we've been here since December). I will contribute to "us" and the money is better spent.

Then there's still the blogging looming ... I even have this new shoe blog that could pose some nasty problems... Since yesterday (Monday), I've been depressed and wondering what I should do. This used to be quite the opposite case, but my blogging money is less than my other income. More than what I make from fashion (blogging) I've been spending on fashion.

What am I thinking is my initial plan?

Streamline, focus, trim the subjects. No more product browsing for product features? Probably. I love writing about interesting design news, and I've come up with a better-for-me way to photograph my clothes (to be seen later). I've been thinking about focusing the blog to be fashion design and personal style(styling). It works for me and it may not entice me so much.

Out of sight, out of mind. (Out of closet, in my wallet.)

Hoping for the best, I'll still be seeing you 'round the blogosphere.

Photo from Sliding Door Company via Jen's Organizing Blog

Lady GaGa, with her plainer hair that makes her look more like Sarah Michelle Gellar than artsy performer or freakshow, graffitied some more Japanese (and perhaps other scribbles) on her infamous Hermès Birkin bag.

Message coming in loud and clear? No. More fuzzy and more "eff" you than "love you". And we don't like to receive that!

Were there any taste in her original "artwork" - a simplistic message, it's all trash now and it has us needing to stuff our mouths with cookies to get the poor taste out of our mouths. What will save our eyes? We're almost angry, but it's just GaGa. What she does to fashion is harmless, for although she has amazing influence over die-hard fans, she doesn't hold much crossover power to normal fashion or accessorizing. Will Posh follow suit? Over her deathly-thin body, we think! By the way, is it difficult to read, like we imagine it might be? Does anyone have a new translation? Photo: The Superficial [NSFW site]

A new and official fashion design caucus was recently formed on Capitol Hill. Of its inevitable success, co-chair Carolyn B. Maloney said,

"We are working on a bill now for copyright protection and we are going to pass it this session."

All of the flickr fashion sketches claiming copyright, currently it's partly-erroneous. Click to view owners.

“Counterfeits with pirated designs and fake labels are absolutely prohibited by law, but it doesn’t provide any protection for the same fashion design when the pirates omit the label. ... We’ve got to stop that and we will stop that.”

There has been a movement from very small fashion designers and crafters to stop such a bill, in the thoughts that it would be cost-prohibitive to very small business. Even though I'm attempting to become one of those designers/businesses, I absolutely am for this protection. Despite the cost, depending on exactly how high it could rise, it has potential to stop huge, famous companies from creating and selling indie designs almost completely under the radar to unwitting customers. Since most people don't know this theft exists, these unscrupulous business people are absolutely the ones who get away with this crime more often. Don't you want to protect your fellow crafters and Internet peers from the big bullies with power? We can help take their power away. Sure, putting out a collection will mean saving more money first, and we'll have to be super-secretive about our designs and sketches until we have our protection (there is a debut time limit to even get things copyrighted) - but I see it as a long-term saver. Of course, stores like Forever 21 could either suffer or suddenly need to get creative, namely cheap clothesmakers will have to ... design. Dun dun dunnn. Perhaps we won't be able to wear runway style, but I hope companies will still make fabulous but more unique pieces. Who wants to look like a fashion victim in an unoriginal, anyway? Besides, we can still wear things like Zac Posen for Target. Also, it would be nice to prohibit celebrities like Paris Hilton from making blatant shoe knockoffs. Plus with those companies requiring more-in-number and more-creative design, there should be a larger number of design job openings, and ones for more talented people. That could also benefit the community of smaller designers. Do you agree/disagree? Comment! If you want this to pass, and especially if you have requests for stipulations (like a maximum fee amount), please write to your local legislature! Via The Cut

I was mentally fatigued today and physically so as well until I did a bunch of cleaning. I ended up spending the day organizing clothes and closet type things in our bedroom. Yes, I took the day off from writing, but many I know expect half my role to be homemaker anyway, so it's a job, and one that needs to get done - and now!

When I took breaks from the house work I read RealSimple.com and I saved a ton of inspiring photos. After categorizing them I decided to, for now, just blog a few photos in a theme I really like: ordering clothing by height. I feel it's one of the best ways to prettify an otherwise messy closet, but more importantly it means we can fit other things into the closet through other means like shelving, boxes, etc. (See some methods of storage below.)

For now, enjoy!

By the way, if you have a home organizing blog, category or favorite post, please link me up in the comments!!

*Update*: In reading some blog posts on home design, I realize I would prefer to fancy and pretty up this sort of post. This is my first like this of any kind. By the way, I don't feel comfortable showing photos of our home yet, because I need something, anything, to look truly presentable first. This should happen soon on a small scale. And we've lived in this apartment since December. It's that bad. I'm that bad, we're that bad.

But we're working on it.

Is Jessica S.! She has been contacted and her mailing address has been given to the business.

She won this giveaway. Have fun seeing the sights in N.Y.C.!

An interesting tidbit is that her +1 of additionally answering an optional question is the entry that won.

I will fine tune some rules and things for the next contest, please stay tuned, as it's coming soon!

*Update: Now with a poll!*

Louis Vuitton has produced a case for the new iPad

Want or Waste?

GQ.com got the exclusive preview of Louis Vuitton's to-be-released iPad cover, and we're unhappy it wasn't shipped to women! (Hence our photoshopping.) But that's not the real story, it's all about the LV! (Although you can see our vanity here, it's always about moimoimoi, natch.)

Despite the typical Apple buzz and obvious profitability, the upscale design hauses are increasingly showing their tardiness in producing iPad accessories, and even though Louis Vuitton is the first gal-beloved big brand to showcase a case, the actual product won't be available until 2011 (no word on month). Perhaps they can blame it on the time it takes time to craft high quality luxury - just think Hermès and the ladies will understand.

Even though it is Louis Vuitton and well-crafted, you may not care for the "exclusivity" pricetag of $366 when the most cost-effective version of the device itself runs little more than $100 more ($499).

A luxurious and secure home for your precious gadget

I do make this argument to you though, depending on how you treat your iPad (examples of use below), it may be the next important gadget down from your laptop. It might hold important or private files, photos, perhaps even your work. If you would not spend this kind of money on the look of LV alone, think of the durability of the materials and workmanship and how much those things mean it can protect this Comp Lite.

If you're not sold, that's great, and you can say you're not a fashion victim. However I do ask you not to knock it ... with all that knocking over you or your clumsy friend will inevitably do with the pad.

Buying it? May we suggest the Damier - subtle is classy.

[caption id="attachment_3230" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="We photoshopped a woman's hand onto the image to make it more girl-friendly than the GQ article/photos. ;-) Should we say you're welcome or just commit ourselves? ;-)"][/caption]

Or perhaps it's protection-schmotection, if your iPad has cat scratches anyway...

If you're wondering whether I would buy a luxury case from Louis Vuitton, or wait for a lower designer like Coach, or just go with something else that's nice and suits me but is likely more affordable ...

The answer is no, but partially because I don't even have any near-future plans to get the iPad, so that would surely be a waste of money.

You see, I see the iPad as really great for two things, one: a nice point-of-sale device, useful for craft shows (and I don't have real plans to do craft shows in the future). Two: an awesome but expensive cat toy, and I'm allergic to cats. Another waste.

Wait, a double waste. Darn my dweebish, allergic body. I'd love a cat and she'd love this cat toy - I mean iPad. Not a waste of $500 plus app costs at all, right?

Bonus! Poll!

The iPad itself, is it...

[polldaddy poll=3145809]

[caption id="attachment_3222" align="alignright" width="175" caption="Spring 2010 Vera Wang gown in the $3000 - $4000 range"][/caption]

Vera Wang is coming to David's Bridal! I know all of we gals who are unmarried are so excited (right??) that I should just rush & skip right to the important details:

• When the line debuts: Spring 2011
• What the price points are: $600 to $1500, most dresses costing under $1200!

Read more at The Cut.

By the way, Vera Wang's NYC flagship store has an annual sample sale, so if you choose to camp out for that, you could actually score a high-end Wang for under $1000!

When I was 10 and I got my first sewing machine, I scrounged up some drapes. ... I think it ended up falling apart.

-Jason Wu on the first thing he sewed on his first machine; a dress for his mother.

The first thing I sewed with my first machine didn't fall apart, however it was just some ugly embroidery on a tote bag. ;-) What about you?