cat lady

good morning! yesterday i left work and walked a few blocks to the mondrian hotel where, appropriately enough, phillip colbert presented the spring & summer '12 collection of his label, the rodnik band. truthfully, when i got my invite, i'd never heard of him; but a quick google search revealed that his designs are RIGHT up my alley - he describes them as 'having a strong sense of fun'; i'd say that's putting it mildly. a bit of research into past collections revealed, on the safer end of things, playful, childlike prints and dresses designed to look like old rotary telephones and warhol prints; on the crazier end, a very literal interpretation of a ducamp urinal dress. for me, it was love.




(all above photos come directly from the rodnik band website.)

the presentation took place in a dark bar in the back of the hotel; a dj blasted dance hits from LCD soundsystem, bartenders handed out prosecco, and the models danced all over the floor. it was a high-energy good time, and suited the clothes well - somewhat a departure from his more literal copies of duchamp and other great modern artists, the theme of the collection was "save our seas," and featured a fantastic 'submarine' rainjacket, a few variations on long, fishy fish-tailed dresses, and one really fantastic sparkly hooded shark dress. i graciously accepted the free bubbly (don't mind if i doo-zy) and snapped off as many shots as i could (my camera doesn't perform incredibly well when it's dark - this NEVER happens to me, i swear!)


lots of scaly prints. (and giving 'fishtail braids' a whole new level of meaning)

this girl, as far as i could tell, was dressed as a heady pint of beer; i'm not sure how it fits in, but she was having fun, and i dug it.

submarine jacket with crab dress.

the fantastic hooded shark! she never stopped dancing. it was awesome.

a beautiful cod.



the bags were really fantastic, and some of the girls were carrying what i'm pretty sure were lobster muffs.



this model had the greatest hair.

having previewed his collections before attending the show, i decided to don my best fun-with-fashion ensemble, including a certain kitten skirt. . .





(i tried it two different ways; i couldn't decide if the pink top and knee socks was too over-the-top precious, so i switched to the brown button up and mustard stockings. thankfully, the wrinkles in the top faded throughout the day. the bedhead did not.)

top: [first pictures] thrifted
top: [bottom pictures] j crew (on sale!)
skirt: vivetta
knee socks: [top] american apparel
stockings: [bottom] american apparel
shoes: devotte
necklace: [top] from my mom

had i known the theme of the show, i might have picked a different outfit; after all, i was basically stalking around the show dressed as a predator. everyone was friendly, and i really think a great time was had by all; it was nice to see models smiling and dancing as awkwardly as everyone else. bravo, mr. colbert! the collection was fun, quirky, and didn't take itself to seriously. . . and i'll be dreaming of a submarine jacket of my own for the months to come.

xo audrey

glowering flower

good morning! how was everyone's weekend? i'd planned on going into the city to see a couple of shows - fashion! - but instead i stayed home and cleaned my room, because THAT'S how cool i am. this is kind of a repeat, i guess, of what happened in september - delighted to be invited to shows, for the first time ever, i rsvp'd to almost all of them and then ended up only going to the one - rachel comey - that i was most excited to see. there are a few reasons for this - i'm incredibly flattered to be invited, to be sure, but i don't really think of myself as a "fashion person." i am really just a girl who likes dressing up. and this weekend, the craziness of lincoln center - the jumble of photographers, the legions of stick-thin models, the waves and waves of beautiful, confident women walking swiftly past me in several-thousand-dollar shoes as i wait in line, staring at my $12-on-ebay-miu miu's - just didn't sound like a good time. i'm definitely not judging - lots of close blogger friends attended many a show over the past week, and have some really gorgeous photos to show for it. but they know what they're talking about; i don't.

all that to say, i am going to a presentation tonight and i am VERY excited about it. my camera is fully charged and i'm dressed in an outfit that is the most show-appropriate i could put together; i'll post photos from both the show and of my outfit tomorrow, so you can (hopefully) see what i mean. in the meantime, here's an outfit from last week that i somehow never got around to posting.





top: quail
skirt: thrifted, vintage
shoes: a few seasons old pour la victoire
brooch: thrifted vintage clip-on earring

this shirt is one of my all-time favorites, but i don't wear it much anymore because i accidentally ran it through the wash about a year and a half ago, and it's shrunk up to be less of a crop top. . . well, yeah, less than a crop top. i saw a girl rocking this color combo on the F train a couple weeks ago and made mental note of it, and this green skirt is just high enough to make this not-totally-unreasonable for work. all together, the colors & shapes felt very floral to me; a nice little last-hurrah for summer.

oh! i've recently gotten a lot of questions about how i learned to cook. i did go to french culinary school, and graduated about 2 years ago; my concentration was pastry, though, so all of my classes focused on pies, tarts, brulees, napoleons, macarons, chocolate, etc. as far as cooking - rather than baking - is concerned, i really got into cooking a few years ago, when i moved to chicago; i love good food but couldn't afford to go out to eat, so i started slowly, cooking recipes from the cookbooks my mom had given me, and just kept on going from there. i was lucky enough to grow up with a mother and two sisters who knew their way around the kitchen, so i learned some simply by observing them. within a few years i'd cooked enough to know how to make the basics, and started experimenting more; in the year before i left chicago, i started an underground restaurant of sorts, selling tickets to a four- or five-course meal to be cooked in my apartment. it was not only a success, but the most fun i'd ever had - that's when i decided to move to new york to attend culinary school. i decided to focus on baking instead of cooking for a couple of reasons - one being that cooking is something much more easily experimented with. once you know the basics, you can pretty much throw whatever you like into a dish and it will work, so long as you've thought the flavors through - baking, though, is an exact science, and i wanted to be able to play with recipes the way i can when i cook.

i hope this answers some questions, and wasn't too long winded! thank you all so much for reading - you make this a lot of fun for me.

i hope you all had a lovely weekend! until tomorrow,

xo audrey

nyfw

hello hello! the last couple of weeks have been kind of a blur - i keep doing the thing where i half-write a blog post in my head, but then never find the time to actually sit down and type it out. i've filled my camera's memory card entirely at this point, so it's definitely time to play a little blogger catch-up.

almost two weeks ago now i took a day off work to attend the lucky fashion blogger conference. i rarely get to do this kind of thing, what with my full-time, non-fashion job, so it was pretty fun to get dressed up and hang out with my bloggy friends all day. highlights would have to be getting hugged by joan rivers and listening to jenna lyons from j crew, who just seemed like such an awesome, honest, down-to-earth woman. i decked myself out in my best man-repelling outfit for the day, as you can see.





pants: actually a onesie, from h&m
shirt: j crew
belt: anthropologie
shoes: madewell
necklace: laura lombardi
sweater: madewell

the first runway show i've ever attended was a couple nights later: rachel comey, thursday evening at chelsea piers. being completely inexperienced in this sort of thing (i still think of myself as more of a pastry chef/crafter/nerd than a fashion blogger,) i got there super early and waited in line, thinking i'd miss the show if i came too late (not knowing that the show was never going to start on time.) i managed a pretty good spot in line, though, and snagged claire as she walked in, so we watched the show together. i loved it - it was so cool to see all the fashion photographers grouped at the end of the runway (and occasionally yelling things like "slow down!" at the models) and the clothes were gorgeous - simple, bold patterns in bright colors, which i'm really into at the moment, and great chunky boots and awesome hair - pinned up at the top and then super straight underneath - something i'll definitely try as soon as i get a badly-needed haircut. my camera couldn't seem to understand what to focus on when they moved so quickly, so what i managed was mostly some semi-blurry, washed out shots - but here are a few anyway.




and then - i had a bunch of other shows i was going to attend: the lake and the stars friday morning, a couple others that evening, two on saturday, tory burch and lela rose on sunday. . . but after freezing my butt off for rachel comey thursday (which was followed by a fun, delicious, and incredibly chatty sushi dinner in st. marks with a bunch of bloggers and a kate spade designer, whom i happened to sit across from and badger with questions all evening long) i slept in friday and opted for a brunch with my guy instead of a trip into the city, then for dinner with friends instead of althea harper, and. . . well, basically hung out in warm, cosy brooklyn all weekend rather than hoof it to more shows. i love fashion, and it was thrilling to be invited - but i'm a girl who enjoys simple pleasures, too, like a warm bowl of soup in my pajamas at 3 pm on a saturday, and sometimes that just sounds better than hustling to stand in line in four inch heels and 30 degree weather.

so that's all on the fashion front for the moment. lots of food updates, new acquisitions, and life changes to share in the coming days.

thanks for sticking with me -

xo audrey