Annie Spandex

They Might Be Layers

Annie Spandex — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 02:25:12 +0000

I wore this outfit to see They Might Be Giants the other night.

Gray and black striped sweater - vogel10
Johnny Martin dress
Via Christa Chains necklace with antique heirloom locket
Beige fishnets layered over white tights
DIY painted 80%20 canvas boots - Click here to see how I made them!

This is actually a sleeveless dress worn layered over a sweater. It looks like a single dress, doesn't it? Their stripes stood out to me in the closet and I thought, "Hmm..."

(Do I look like a Tim Burton movie?) The layered leggings took a little more trial and error. I really love how they turned out with the boots. I want to wear the combination again sometime with a lavender tie-dye dress. Won't that be pretty?

The show was super fun. They Might Be Giants are incredibly entertaining not only with their music but with between-song joking around and a mid-concert puppet show. They played Flood in its entirety... backwards! What more do I have to say? Nashville got lucky. Only a select few of the tour dates are Flood shows. It was so damn stuffy from the sold out show that BB and I quickly split through a fire exit after the encore and went across the street for a beer, then regretted it when we realized no one was spilling out of the venue yet. We missed a double encore! With the cool air on our faces we sat there kicking ourselves and hoped we weren't missing Ana Ng. But that's all right, not even that could take away from our "blue canary" moment.

Ce Ce Chin Collection - Now At Karmaloop!

Annie Spandex — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:51:59 +0000

Ever since I first laid my eyes on the sneakpeek of these last fall, I've been wondering where and when they would be available. They have finally arrived and can be found at Karmaloop along with the 80%20 Spring 2010 collection! Ce Ce Chin is the designer and founder behind 80%20--which you all know is a shoe brand that I hold near and dear to the completely materialistic portion of my heart. With her namesake collection, once again Ce Ce brings it with a shoe that looks like it should cost at least three times as much as it does, which is one reason why I love 80%20 so much. Unlike 80%20, however, the Ce Ce Chin collection is completely feminine and ornate. The gorgeous heels were inspired by vintage crystal perfume bottles! Gaze lovingly with me:

I dare you to find an Oxford shoe with more romance! You can find the Ce Ce Chin Collection along with 80%20 shoes here at Karmaloop.

A Thing Of Beauty To Behold

Annie Spandex — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 12:14:56 +0000

Gram Parsons in his famous Nudie suit.

What I wouldn't give for a Nudie jacket. It would be a dream to have a custom-made one, like Gram's. Gram chose to place marijuana leaves and opium poppies on the front, pills and acid sugar cubes on the sleeves, naked busty women on the lapels, and (my favorite detail) the prison tattoo-esque cross featured on the back. The flames of hell creep up his legs. Everything is embroidered and surrounded by sequins. Glorious! Sadly, this suit (rather intentionally) foreshadows his young death by overdose. But back to the glory... I think if I were to have a Nudie jacket made, it would feature blue roses on the front, purple seven-pointed stars with lots of glitz on the sleeves, two large safety pins on the lapels (embroidered and sequined of course, not real safety pins), and a great big delicious strawberry pink ice cream cone on the back. Glamour!

What would your dream custom-made Nudie suit look like?

Blueberry Bubble Gum

Annie Spandex — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 03:26:25 +0000

I wore this outfit to see my friends' band, The Outlaw Lovers.

F21 tunic layered over Ocean Pacific dress
Black ball necklace by Via Christa Chains
Hot pink and navy fingerless fishnet gloves from eBay
See You Monday fluorescent pink mesh tights
80%20 Cody boots - REVOLVEclothing
I've been wanting to put together baby pink and bright blue in an outfit for a while now. This is an offshoot inspired by those colors; I'm wearing navy blue, baby blue, and hot pink instead. The total look is a bit more juvenile than I was going for (which happens easily with a babydoll dress), but it's a somewhat novel color combination that I find pleasant and interesting. I have both navy blue and hot pink fingerless fishnet gloves and couldn't decide which looked better, so I went with both. Why not? It was the right choice--looks better than one or the other alone. Wouldn't you agree?

Why do fashion bloggers point their toes inward?

I'll tell you why I do it, and it's not because I think being pigeon-toed is cute. I do it simply to show the shoe. That's the only reason.

Good Year For The Roses - Seneca Rising Fall 2010

Annie Spandex — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 00:35:52 +0000

The new collection from Seneca Rising once again brings the romance for ex-tomboys. Soft, modern florals (as opposed to 90's "Grandma's Couch" florals, which have their own appeal) and doodling swirls coincide peacefully with pieces that whisper a subtle military inspiration.

I absolutely love the pixelated embroidery-esque rose print with a gray background that was revealed on the Seneca Rising flickr account back in January with a preview hint of possible fabrics. It's very signature Seneca Rising--muted, rainy day florals.

When I saw that preview, the gray rose print immediately stood out to me as the best one. I'm definitely pleased it made it into the collection. It's a good year for the roses!

More photos from the Seneca Rising Fall 2010 lookbook can be found here on the Seneca Rising blog. While you go check it out, listen to this video of Elvis Costello covering the George Jones' classic, "Good Year For The Roses," because it's great.

What's your favorite piece from the collection?

Matchy Matchy Kwasa Kwasa // Surfer Blood

Annie Spandex — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 08:07:51 +0000

I wore this the other night to see the Turbo Fruits and Surfer Blood.

Iron Fist "Kwasa Kwasa" dress
Wet Seal vest
Via Christa Chains necklace
Hot pink fishnet fingerless gloves from eBay
Vintage multicolor sequin purse
Target leggings
Iron Fist "Kwasa Kwasa" platform shoes

The curtains match the drapes! Could not resist saying that. At the risk of being too matchy matchy I decided not to pass up a chance to wear shoes with the same exact print as my dress. I love the print, it's quasi-(kwasi?)tribal and brightly cartoonish. Both are made by Iron Fist, who sent me some goodies. I picked out the shoes but the dress was a great surprise. The fabric is less vivid than the shoes, like a favorite beach dress. It's from their Spring & Summer '10 Girls Collection. Watch out for it, because they have a lot of really cute things. I'll show you some more of what I mean later.

The shoes have detachable pom-poms. Aren't they wild?

In retrospect, I regret opting against the pom-poms. I see now that they would have amped the matchyness up to an obnoxious level. If you're going to go there, why not really go there, am I right? Yes, totally.

Here is a video from the show. (Email subscribers click here.) "The End" is the venue, "Swim" is the name of the song. There was a lot of hilarious crowd-surfing all night.

Nashville knows how to party! No surprise. I love this city so much.

More Than Meets The Eye - Althea Harper Fall 2010

Annie Spandex — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 10:11:40 +0000

All week I've been spitting jealous over everyone in NYC and consoling myself with gallons of ice cream and gin. I even combined the two! That strawberry ice cream ginger ale float I mentioned on Valentine's Day? It totally ended up with a little spike. Now I'm left with a bunch of empty calories and an empty place in my heart. :sniffle: One of the shows I regret missing was Althea Harper's. Like everyone else, I'm a huge fan of Project Runway. That last season was inarguably all kinds of fubar, am I right? So we won't go into that. By the finale, Althea was the favored to win. Well, that didn't happen, but it doesn't matter because her new Fall 2010 collection is pretty kicking.

This dress stands out as my favorite:

Photo by Thomas Kletecka. Enthusiastic editing by me.

First of all, the abstract cubism print: I go a little crazy over multicolor anything on black backgrounds, but this is like Picasso meets The Transformers! Something about it makes me think of robots in motion. There's a masculinity there in the primary colors and sharp shapes. After scattering around over the print, the eye is next drawn up to the shoulder, where we have a piece of Althea's signature knitwork in the form of an asymmetric shrug. I suddenly wish all my dresses could have a one-shouldered shrug. Is it possible to make a detachable one? My mind is a little blown right now.

You can find more from this show on Althea's Facebook.

Awesome Filler Post

Annie Spandex — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 02:06:33 +0000

Let's call it what it is.

Happy Valentine’s Day & Chinese New Year!

Annie Spandex — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 06:00:22 +0000

How 'bout a float made from strawberry ice cream and ginger ale? Sounds good, right?

What I Wore To See Girls

Annie Spandex — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 06:29:05 +0000

I saw Girls on Saturday night and they were so freaking good! I loved it.

Vest - Wet Seal
Tank & beret - Target
Skirt - Silence & Noise
Assorted jewelry
Black & white sequin leggings - New Amendment Clothing, Los Angeles
Shoes - vintage booties

BB bought me a t-shirt after the show and I was so happy.