Fashion and Beauty

Ever wanted to make it in the fashion world by designing your own line of clothing? Here you go. With this book, co-written by Diane von Furstenberg, you will learn what you need to know to make it. Tim Gunn has called this book a "must-read".

This book isn't simply telling you how to create a nice line. This book tells you what to do with the line after it's created. I have spoken with designers before about getting their line noticed, and it's a tricky world. Just because you can create beautiful clothing doesn't mean that it's going to be noticed, sell, or get you any sort of attention. With the advice from this book, you have a much better shot.

These giraffe purses have been everywhere. I can't go to a single store anymore without seeing one. Personally, they aren't my favorite, but apparently someone likes them a lot. :)

If you're looking for a popular purse for a gift, but you don't know their style preferences, go for this one.

These Casadei pumps caught my eye a week ago. They have a ruffled sort of texture, and they are such a fun, peekaboo style pump. I love the top of the shoe, and how it opens it up and gives the entire shoe a playful look. And unlike most floral print shoes, this one isn't overly distracting or obnoxious.

I've long been a fan of Casadei since I saw some starfish sandals a few years ago. But it's strong, unique styles like this that keep me interested.

Beginning next week and running through Christmas Eve, I will be presenting a gift idea each day. These will give you some ideas on what to get various family members. I will try and make sure I've got something for everyone, and you'll have such a wide range of choices that it will be difficult to decide.

This is probably the ultimate batwing dress. Typically, I hate the whole idea of a batwing dress. I mean, I want to get rid of the flab on my arms, not accentuate it! But this folds so gracefully, and yet, there's also a very strong punkish sort of element to it. Very edgy, but a delicate edgy. And again, that's the very definition of innovation right there. Make people see things in a new way. Absolutely gorgeous!

By the way, I've got to call attention to the outfit in the background. At first glance, it appears to be a backless vest, with a halter type neck. If you look closer, there's some very transparent gauzy fabric in between the black bits. Quite interesting.

See, if you don't vote, then my vote counts more. And if you're going to trust me with your vote, then I may do something stupid with it. So just go vote for yourself. It's easier in the longrun.

This futuristic dress is interesting. It's got a very geometric sort of cut, especially at the bottom.

For the runway, it's really not my favorite. Kind of dull, somewhat weird... But commercially? I actually dig it. There's a favorite store of mine in London, called Cyberdog. This is totally something they would have (although theirs would probably be hot pink and have bright lights installed in it). And Cyberdog is a staple of that area, and they've done very well for themselves. Which tells me there is a market for it.

Now, that sounds like I'm ignoring the runway aspects. Not entirely. I mean, Gareth Pugh also hits on a few futuristic themes, and this is so much more wearable than ANYTHING of his. But overall, the fashion scene just doesn't feel like it's very futuristic right now. I think that when it gets there (and it will again someday), Wilmont will be leading the rest of the designers with some very fresh, interesting, and innovative looks. For now, let's put it back in the design book...

This makes my record 5 for 5!! Woot!

Like I said, I didn't have cable this time around, so I had to kind of catch bits and pieces here and there. And if you read my previous entry about it, I picked Leanne. Well, I just found out that she won. Great job, Leanne. It was a great collection!

I know you guys have heard about this on the news- Air New Zealand is holding a casting call in Los Angeles later this month to find 30 people who will agree to shave their heads and be a walking billboard, as part of a marketing campaign. After getting their heads shaved, they will get temporary henna tattoos that read, "Need a Change? Head Down to New Zealand. Airnewzealand.com" You can read more about it on their website at www.airnewzealand.com.

Now, naturally, you're not allowed to cheat and wear a hat the whole time it's on there. And frankly, they are giving the 30 people who agree to do this their choice of a cash prize or an economy ticket to New Zealand. I don't know how much the cash prize is, but I know that with the price of airplane tickets and having a friend in nearby Australia, I'd be more than happy to shave my head. And I'm a girl. In fact, I'm the kind of girl that wouldn't look good with a shaved head like Sigourney Weaver or Natalie Portman, and I'd STILL DO IT!! :D

But, seeing how I don't live in LA, and probably wouldn't be eligible, let me nominate someone. I found the pic below earlier this year when I was searching for tragic sideburns (apologies to the guy in the pic, but it's true). Now, tell me this guy couldn't use a haircut anyway. And he looks pretty fierce. That dude would have a REALLY cool adventure vacation! And he's probably not a stranger to tattoos. lol



You know, I envy the people who enter and win this contest, odd as it sounds. I know there are a lot of people out there giving them grief over it, as in, "Who would do such a thing just to win a contest?!" Well, these people are going to be having quite an adventure, and they have an incredible story to tell for the rest of their lives. I've actually had a life-changing vacation, strange as it sounds. My Project Runway trip led to me becoming a fashion writer, which led to me wanting to start a magazine, which led to my becoming acquainted with and working for a local artist. And that led to me showing my own artworks in a gallery. Who would have thought that something as simple as a vacation would lead to so many opportunities?

I really like this outfit, but I'll admit that it's just unusual enough that it's hard to decide if I LOVE it. Do away with the black loops, and it's just another boring outfit (well-made, but relatively bland). Leave them on, and no real person will ever wear it. Now, my long term readers know that I NEVER judge an outfit by how wearable it is. But that doesn't mean we should ignore it either.

What do you guys think?

How can you look at this outfit and not think of Samantha Ronson? It's got that same kind of harsh, masculine female look that she favors. Personally I hate it, but it definitely grabs your attention. The outfit might be bearable, except for the horrible waist. It's flopped over, and just ask nothing at all to the outfit.

I've been thinking a lot about this blog. Well, more accurately, I've been dreading it. Why? I used to come here and enjoy it. It used to be fun for me. But lately, I just cringe whenever I think about updating it.

I do know why that is. I've got some people that follow good netiquette. They come on and leave and insightful comment, or have a discussion. I LOVE getting those comments! It's the others that are bumming me out. Everyone hates getting spam, and most people wouldn't even think of sending it. But for some reason, there's a group of people that it doesn't seem to bother. Well, guess what? It should. They are soulless assholes.

Now, what has me in such a foul mood? What sort of comments have made me dread my own blog? These are all fluid, and many problem comments fit in more than one problem behavior:

1) Linkers- You're here only for the link. This is obvious by what you put in the anchor text of the link. "IntricateGirl" is okay. "ToastTheTrends.com" is not. Nobody cares what so-and-so.com has to say about anything.
2) Spammers- I realize where I can get medicine to help my erection. If I ever have that problem, I know how to use Google. But being a girl, I don't suspect I'll ever need your services.
3) Repeating the same thing over and over. I have literally come here some days and found 20 pages worth of comments across five blogs. When I banned them, they changed their IP address, and the next day, there were 20 more pages. Same again with a third day. It ended when I blocked the entire country of China from even accessing my blog. And by the way- I don't mean 20 pages as in 20 posts. I mean that my email was filled with 20 pages worth of comments from the same person, and there are 15 messages per page. And you wonder why I dread it.
4) Being creepy. Guys, don't tell me the model has "gorgeous, haunting eyes"- usually misspelled. The way it reads on a computer screen is that you want to cut them out and save them in a jar on your shelf. Besides, in the fashion pics I post, the eyes literally take up about 1/64th of an inch of space. You can't even see her eyes well enough to know whether you like them! Don't tell me about her legs. I'm a girl. I'm not likely to drool with you. Discuss the fashion. It's a fashion blog, not a "I want to sleep with a model, but really don't have a chance in hell" blog.
5) Pandering, kissing up, and being annoyingly suckupish. I am not ready to join the staff of the New Yorker. I could probably handle Vogue though. ;) The problem is, I really don't need someone to tell me. Nor do I need to know what a great, excellent, amazing, stupendous, superlative blog I have. I can put words together and make a sentence. I can share my feelings on various things. That doesn't make me Hemmingway. And I've done websites for nearly 13 years. God, I hope I can put together a blog (especially since it's a freakin' template) by now. I know, it seems weird to complain about a compliment. A true, heartfelt compliment will never get a complaint from me. But most of the fawning also comes with problems 1 and 3. They go from post to post, telling me how amazing I am. And it doesn't brighten my day, because they've cut and pasted that phrase across ten of my posts, and a hundred throughout the web.
6) Belligerent people. Dude, don't come up on my blog and tell me I know nothing about fashion. There's this wonderful invention called the back button. And a big, wide internet to explore. I may very well know nothing about fashion. Evidence suggests otherwise, but that's beside the point. The point is, if we were face to face, you wouldn't walk into my living room uninvited, pull down your pants, and leave a big steaming pile on my carpet. So why are you doing it behind a computer screen? Trust me on this- I eviscerate people like this. You may think you've got balls from picking a fight, but when I finish, I will be handing them back to you in a paper bag. Oh, and I sell your email address to the spammers, just to mess with you.

So, I've been thinking long and hard about the problem. I've spent nearly a year being upset about it, and trying to find a way to change the problem. Here are my solutions:

1) Turn off comments. A few spoil it for many.
2) Let it continue and burn out completely.
3) Make it list your email address. Would you spam if you knew you'd get much more in return?
4) Spend four hours deleting nonsense comments, or ones filled with spam, everytime a spammer gets on here.
5) Announce that I've gone no-follow on the comments. If they aren't getting the link, most of the spammers will go away.
6) Allow comments, but they all begin with "A ToastTheTrends Reader Says:" That way, you can still have a link to your site. But the anchor text is mine. Net benefit to me.

I've chosen a combination of 4, 5, and 6. Beginning today, I am deleting every comment, no matter how insightful and lovely, that has a product or a a site link. WorldofWarcraftOnlineGamers is not an appropriate handle. The sole discretion is up to me, and if I cannot tell whether it was a link placed solely for the link juice- I delete. The no-follow on comments is already complete. You are not getting link juice, so if that's the only reason you're here, kindly leave. Finally, and the one that kills me- I'm changing the text so that all comments are more or less anonymous.

Blame the idiots for ruining everything.

At the end of the day, this is my blog. I have to feel comfortable coming here, not dreadful. If you don't like it, I'm sorry. That probably means you were in one of the above listed categories of people who are making this a place I hate. My blog, my rules. And if you want to participate, you'll follow them.

LOVE IT! What a unique way to do a sheer top. It seems like every season, some designer sends a poor model out with only the thinnest layer of fabric on, to walk in front of hundreds of people. But this is a new, somewhat more mature, and yet also edgier way of doing it. It covers the naughty bits, but in the end, it seems much more revealing than the tops that actually show nipples.

I love this. It's a very simple cut, but it's been engineered to have a sort of harshness to it. And the way the pattern has been done, it really makes it look like a spider spun this dress, fully formed. lol Not the typical sort of compliment I would pay to a garment, but that's what innovation does to you. It makes you look at a standard thing in a new light.

Now, I have seen one, maybe two, episodes of Project Runway this season. I canceled cable, so I haven't really had an opportunity to catch the show. I'm going off the photos alone here, and I'll warn you that it's very different seeing it actually move than checking out a photo. That being said, I have absolutely no attachments to any of the designers. I'm not rooting for anyone or against anyone. It's just what I see in the photos. So, here we go.

First of all- 6 collections?! WTF?? Just let everyone show at Fashion Week already. I mean, you practically are anyway.

Jerrell- I see a lot of costumes, but not much fashion. There was one purple dress with an exquisite neckline. But there was a whole other dress that seemed to be hiding under the first, and it really didn't look right. There's shades of Comme des Garcon, and you know, they are quirky and strange, but also considered quite successful. So maybe I'm being too hard on Jerrell, but I personally don't get this at all.

Joe- I very nearly vomited when I saw the thumbnail. Cowgirl?? And such a cliche of a cowgirl look? But when I expanded the photo, I was very surprised. It looked a lot nicer than I expected. But sadly, that isn't enough of a compliment. Joe is an incredible commercial designer. If I was a buyer for a large clothing store chain, I'd buy any one of his outfits because I know I can sell a million of them. But are they really what Project Runway is looking for? Joe will probably make a ton of money in fashion, but I don't see him being one of the revered names like Chanel or Oscar de la Renta. Sorry. There's just NO innovation, and that's what sets apart the really good designers.

Kenley- Eek. This collection was a mess. So many different styles, some of them within the same outfit. Several copycat items that were from past Project Runway participants. No.

Leanne- THAT'S what I'm talkin' about! That's some innovation right there!! Good collection, the colors worked not only for spring, but as a collection. Then again, the judges may object to the colors being too "one-note", and tell her she needed more variation. If they do, I think it's a travesty, because most of them use the same fabric over and over within a collection. But then again, they also show more than ten pieces. One of the skirts was godawful, but everything else captivated me. It's the kind of clothing that you want to see and touch up close.

Korto- Again, a lot of innovation here. As a collection, it wasn't so great, and the colors tended to be more for late summer, straying into early autumn. Also, the hemlines were wacky. Are hemlines long this season, or are they short? Make up your mind. As a collection, not my favorite. As individual pieces, excellent job.

Suede- Oh god. All innovation, no beauty. I'm trying to think of how I would describe this, and the best I can come up with is that the fabric looks like the flag twirlers in a high school band. Now, if you've got a collection, is that really the phrase you want used about your clothing?? It's very brightly offensive, and looks like he made the collection out of fabric that costs $1.25 a yard. (Note to non-sewers, cheap cotton tends to run about $4 a yard.)

My pick? Leanne. Leanne was extremely solid. Korto was good, and I wouldn't be too surprised if they picked her, but Leanne really nailed it. If that color objection or the skirt doesn't get in her way, I'd say this is hers.