Macalester College

Her mom said she needed a blazer for college so she did it right red Rag and Bone. Right on mom. 80s faded black jeans skirt, cool shiny boots and a vintage Coach bucket bag (she could fit a puppy in there, i wonder if she knows that). I blame myself the wind for the blink. That's it, the freakin straight from the North Pole that shows no sign of warming wind. Damn that wind. 

 A pattern is emerging with tights. Get it? Pattern? Tights? It's a fashion pun. I crack myself up.  OK scroll down and count how many patterned tights I've stalked captured recently.  The answer is, a lot. Hers are Cynthia Rowland but they were discounted so doesn't count as bragging. Jacket is Obey which i like to look at on 80s Purple but not buy because it usually costs more than $2.49. Also the stuff is new and doesn't have pit stains or bodily fluids that aren't my own, which is another requirement for my stinkyawesome wardrobe.

Oh how fucking timely. Product placement! It really is insidious and ubiquitous. I'm talking about my card in her other hand. Shameless self promotion. The knucklebusting ring? That's from Asos and it's comfortable as long as she doesn't have to make a fist.

Lake Street Savers, the Queen of Pattern

Hard to pinpoint a single element that drew me in, although if pressed, i'd say it was the My-Little-Pony-blue trainers.  Maybe in juxtaposition with the mini-floral leggings.  The only positive about this Scotland-on-a-bad-day weather is that one can wear a pink faux herringbone hoodie, a dude 100% acrylic cardigan and a fuzzy bear coat without passing out from body heat trapped by a rumpus roomful of man-made fibers.  This woman's thoughtful ensemble made my rods and cones jump around in a happy way, in a way that kind of flips off 40 degrees and sleeting.  Thanks woman.

Menards, by the grass seed

Drawn in by the Target tights again.  I officially have a problem, a syndrome -- ATTA Girl (Attracted to Target Tights Anonymous for girls).  One of the hallmarks of the disorder is that i don't shop at Target nor do i own any patterned tights, i merely stalk people wearing them. eeuw.  but enough about me.

beyond the tights, i dug her boots and add-on braids and just the fact that she was raising the bar at Menards where sweatpants and 20 extra pounds are the norm. i imagined i could go unirrigated from a sweaty trail run to mulling the benefits of fast-growing grass seed for bare spots.  judging from her expression, my attempt to play off the smell as fertilizer may not have been effective. sorry.

Lake Street Savers

So much going on here, i may have to add on to the photo's thousand words with a few of my own. Yes, she is wearing a denim vest, beautiful scarf, sparkly stretch mini skirt and DIY legwarmers with a patch of drawings a friend made on fabric. Like a signature on a japanese print, right? What is not as readily apparent but you will appreciate once i tell you to look for it, is the faux fur bonnet with kittie ears. A friend (lucky lucky woman has a lot of talented crafty friends) made it, lining the ears with the requisite contrasting fabric, as you would. This many awesome elements coming together does not just happen and i for one, appreciate the effort.

Note the mess i was making of the dress rack at Savers. I was hunting. See the violet number reeking of experimentalism hanging on the left side of the photo? I'm wearing that as we speak, minus the aluminum pop top that was sewn on the collar. I draw the line at wearing packaging, and particularly representations of sugary soft drinks, so i cut it off. But since the dress is sheer (maybe rayon jersey), i'm wearing a red ruffled bustier on the outside for the sake of modesty. Ha. See the thick white stitching at the hem? Guess what? You can pull the white strings and gather the hem, but only in sections. Or not. You can wear foundations. Or not. Tunic, pajamas, dress, scandalous, hideous adorable -- for $4.49 this thing has more options than you can shake a stick at.

Minneapolis Film Festival

 Ackghhhuu, why don't i just check the photo to see if the fucking unseasonably cold weather froze her eyeballs the tiniest bit and she blinked to melt them back to usefulness? I didn't and when i got home, was faced (pun intended) with a nasty editorial decision. Yes it's a little creepy to cut off her face in the middle but everything below the blink was great. Eyes -- who needs em? Especially when you're rocking these giddyup green and stirruped pups. The snaps are functional which makes me like them even more. Can't take any more because the wonderfulness/green envy is eating you up?

 She got them in Paris. 

Walk it off.

Six kinds of dapper.  And the tights? Two bits, zwei scheckels, at Target. Do things like this make Karl Lagerfeld want to just hang up the powdered wig and not wear sunglasses inside any more? Does it just drain his will to live to suck up to Daphne Guinness and Anna Wintour to sell a couple $15,000 frocks when Ralph Peterson or whoever is getting mad rich selling a trillion tights at two clams a pop? Personally, cheap fun stuff completely kills any DIY creativity i may have had. Did i mention, the reason i had time to meander around by the mighty Mississipp was because the Bill Cunningham documentary was sold out. So i used my time to document street style. Cute huh? I was not on my bike.

Minnesota Design Diaries

 

Never...ok, rarely, have i felt such lust for an article of clothing as i have for these boots. Part of it is that i could pull them off because they're neither too yeehaw western nor too tribal to make a mockery of my profoundly German-Irish mashed potato look.

 I realize this event was about empowering girls and it did that to the point where i was at risk of hugging and crying and hollering out Right On Sisters with accompanying hand gesture (which the women's movement has been remiss in officially declaring so i just use the black power fist from the 60s).  Dammit, we can do anything we put our minds to! (Except taxes, but i just don't want to). Anyway, i don't want to diminish in any way the awesome power of the girl-designer in the middle and her two BFFs, but darn it if they aren't the cutest things ever. And they are kickin A and taking names in their free time.

 Ok i did spontaneously hug the woman above and it was not because i loved her boots, which i did. We just both agreed that this Old Arizona program is hugely inspirational and wonderful and the weirdest mashup of ideas. Look it up sistas....oldarizona.com.

This is Rachel deLange who reminded me mid-babble that i had stalked her last year during fashion week. Now you'd think that my using some pervy pickup line like Aren't you a model? would encourage her to out with the mace and be done with it, but she did suffer this fool. Thanks man. Woman. Just to set the record straight, Rachel is a designer whose spring line will appear at her website, jfifashion.com, and is available at Cliche in south Minneapolis.  The blue lace tank is her very own design. The blue, the tights, the stripes...there is just every chance in the world i will not recognize her and take her photo again next year.  Being senile makes my world very fresh and exciting.

one historic orgasmic event at Goodwill University Ave

 

So what if I'm a label whore. The Burberry skirt suit above and those gems below are only the highlights from a single trip to the Goodwill, one that will go down in history for me. 

 That's right my friends, Chanel, with those shiny shiny buttons.

 

This is Nipon Boutique going all Coco for ladies who are not quite in the Chanel income bracket.

 Kookai. Don't ask me to pronounce this. Wool and alpaca.

 Look brand new! It's cheapy but inventive with these fun cutouts on the back.

 This is just fantastic -- the top made completely of soutache and the bottom embroidered. The label says Zehar Vale or something like that. Can't be too haughty about that.

Watters and Watters. This is what I forgot to wear as mother-of-the-bride. Oops.

Envision more events like this, coming up

 Wow huh? Plaid tights! Oh, and the dress is made by a St. Paul-ite who designs under the name Injured Aesthetic.

I hope I'm not pulling a big fat stupid here by saying the chick on the left is about the sassiest knocked up woman I ever saw.  Give me a solid here -- she is pregnant, right? Naturally the showstopper was on the right. When I found out this cutout-back, trained and insane outrage was Zac Posen FOR TARGET, well, strangely I'm angered.  Where the hell was I? Why didn't I get my sorry self over to Target and nab one of these puppies for myself? The woman in the middle is wearing a dress from Cliche, one of the Envision featured shops.

Envision: still

 How tempted am I to say Babies got back? Done and done. These two are rocking the gamin short 'do to wonderful effect.

She started taking off the sweater for the picture -- wrong.  If it isn't broken... I can't make myself write or say the word "ain't." She admits she's not afraid of pattern. 

Envisioning a time when I'll run out of Envision shots

 Talk about tribal, and we were not, but maybe we will now.  These are quite the conversation piece but before you get all riled up about bizarre piercings and plugs and so forth, know that this is not a canine from a sabertooth tiger but rather a tame earring that comes apart and goes through a normal-sized hole in her ear. Probably this is what neandrathal girls wore.

I'll take my pinot shaken not stirred daaaarling.  Say what you will about affected elegance, I'm here to say, she dug around in her closet and, bless her Grey Poupon, came up with something that wasn't short, tight, bespangled and tarted up with hooker shoes.  She swung way individual and plays it off damn well too. Miss, we are in your debt.

Envision just keeps going

 Notable in that he's cute as the dickens and not wearing a sports jacket and jeans like nearly every other guy there.

This just became the post with all the cute people -- am I right? Rosy cheeked and tall with tiny and adorable, oh for J Crew.  But these two show a lot more individuality, really slinging style around like,  I don't know...people don't sling as much as they used to when their ears hung low. Now I'm going to point out the obvious -- he's wearing a lavender sweater under an H&M trench, inside! Lavender looks good on him! She's got on lacy tights!  And really long feather earrings that the boyfriend there got on Etsy for her birthday! And she jazzed up a tan sweater and black skirt with a sequined jacket! They're both wearing well-made practical footwear! I'm obnoxious, full of self-loathing, must go.

Envision

 This is Alina, a high school exchange student from Russia. She's crazy about fashion -- this is the second time we've volunteered for the same MNFashion event.  Not sure if this is the way they do it in Russia, but interesting that she chose a ballet-inspired palette of pale pink and black. So....that proves she's Russian? No idea where I was going with that. Sorry.

Hello neckline! She is working this tall and narrow story and could school Mobama with those pipes. I like the way her glasses look an artful accessory rather than a mundane tool.

Envision show, Graves 601

 First off, I'd like to confirm my commitment to cutting off heads and sometimes heads and feet. Here's my first go at it, and I blame my favorite model here for having cool boots and being very very tall. What could I do?  I have never felt so leg-challenged.

Oh look, models off duty, getting coffee at Starbucks just like the rest of us. Don't you often wear a blazer, shorty shorts and shouting shoes to order your latte?