THE ART OF VINTAGE LEATHER JACKETS

David Himel's blog The Art of Vintage Leather Jackets is one of my favorites for all things leather - history, hard to find jackets and boots, vintage details, and behind the scenes glimpses of tanneries and leather-working. Check it out if you're interested.
Amazing photo from his site of one of my favorite birds, Cate Blanchett, sporting some fine English gear. Check out her rings...and the fringe.

DEAR CHLOE

Dear Chloe,
I'm sorry I said your shoes and socks were ugly in my last post. I don't care if you wear ugly shoes and socks - why, I wear ugly things all the time too. Anyways, here is a picture of you with really nice shoes and no socks. Those shoes are really cool. And you look great in them! Okay. Well, that's all then.
Sincerely,
Liz
Image by Dazed Digital (I think?). Sorry I'm bad at giving photo credits. Please don't sue me anyone.

BIRKENSOCK

It must be nice to be able to get away with wearing really ugly things because you are famous for having "it girl" style. I like Chloe. I think she actually has on this Birken-sock look because she's giving a secret, big old F-U to the fashion world. I think she went and had some beers with her friends and had a good laugh over all the chicks getting their spike heels caught in the mud. Or not, whatever. I like your LL Bean tote, by the way. I have that one, too.
Flynet photo

OLD SCHOOL WINOS VS. SUPREME

Supreme has come out with their own version of this classic shoe and I gotta say, even though they are 3x as much as the originals but look exactly the same, I would consider paying the dough for the red ones.

Here's the real OG version if you want to compare.

SO GLAMOROUS

And let us remember...before Forever 21 even existed and before Burberry put tiny pyramid studs all over its handbags, these guys were dropping the F-bomb and boozing it up in the back alley, all while wearing studs of course.
Photo taken from the window of a hair salon I walk by everyday. Obvious hair inspiration, I guess. Also, this photo of you-know-who that I quite like.

F-TROUPE CUTIES

Of course I love these shoes, available at OAK. Description reads "white studded canvas shoe"...but I think the studs actually look more like snaps? That would be cool, too. Either way, if I had these, I would do my fancy high-kick dance move in them. Maybe I'll share that move with you at some point, if you're very, very lucky.

PURPLE MESSY BAG, PART 2

Sometimes, I actually follow through on my personal projects. I finished the "Purple Messy Bag" I had started in my post a while back. I got sick of looking at the fabric wadded up on my floor and figured I'd better do something about it. Here's the finished product:

Sketches for the bag. I often don't even sketch what I want to make before I sew it, I just go for it. It's just the way I work. Sometimes, I make myself draw it up first at least a little bit, like for this bag. I had a general idea and knew I wanted to make something just freestyle, no pattern, no precise cutting, fast sewing, just quick and sloppy.
Old jeans is how this bag started. They do not fit well and they take up space in my drawer. They are going to get a makeover.I bleached them first since that's what all the cool people do.Whoops, too much bleach. That's the thing with bleaching, it can easily go from good-looking to yellow-brown with holes in a matter of seconds. This bleach job went a little too far. Discolored and ugly denim. So now I have to dye it to correct the bad bleach job. It's just like when you dye your hair and then have to go to the 24-hr drugstore with a hat on to buy some cover-up dye. My cover-up is RIT.Going into the RIT bath along with some really awful looking old leather.After the dye bath, all the materials got a machine wash and dry. Here they are laying out on the patio getting a tan.Now I'm going in for the kill and cutting it all up. I'm precise and draft patterns when I am making things to sell to you. I like to be fast and waste no time when I'm making things for myself. Oh look, it's done. Just a good basic tote for everyday use. This is the kind of bag I like most.My lovely model Natalie. I will miss you and your little headbands greatly. Thank you for being such a gem. I hope you gchat with me all the time after you leave.
That's it!

CHIFFON BAG

I spotted and stalked this cute girl at the Rose Bowl flea market. She had a tote bag, made out of chiffon...I'm sure she made it herself. Tote bags are usually tough and you just cram all you stuff in there - they are a sturdy group of bags. So I liked the idea of making one out of chiffon - kind of impractical but stonger than you think and a very different fabrication than the norm...you go, cute girl! You get an A+ for originality. Sorry I was being creepy and taking secret photos of you. I liked your big velveet hair bow also, by the way. Very Sarah Crew.

DOE SKINS

For some new bags I'm making. They have a really interesting texture with lots of tiny holes and an almost waxy feeling. It's always makes me a little sad to see them like this...

BLEACHY

I'm beginning work on a bunch of wholesale orders. It's starting out something like this...

INSPIRED BY KITTENS. I MEAN SIDEWALKS.

What I really should do is just have a blog about taking pictures of the ground, because that's pretty much what I do. It's cool when people are staring at you because you are taking a photo of the ground with nothing on it, you know - some flat cement sidewalk, the street, nothing really noticeable going on.
This is my favorite sidewalk lately, right in downtown San Francisco on Market Street where the cable cars turn around. It's basically a disco ball sidewalk.
Here is Martin Margiela's killer disco mirror top. Seriously killer. I bet you could stab someone pretty good with that sleeve.
And his shoes to match.And his sparkle bag-thing.Gareth Pugh jacket. And the totally amazing human disco ball drag queens over at Screeming Queens. Their outfits are cooler than what you are wearing right now, for sure.Disco mirror tiled bathroom. Photo from Elle Decor.A Grain of Sand is a vintage bead supplier that has some really cool stuff that's disco ball looking.These aren't really disco, but I love them, so I had to show them too.Vintage something or other...I'm not really a fan of "art" cars, actually I really hate them. But this one is so amazing I will make an exception to my anti-art car stance. Disco mirrored Pinto. Yes, Pinto. I mean really, how can you not be blown away seeing this thing rolling down the street. But it might suck a little driving it on a very sunny day, you know? Mirrors + sun + eyeballs = bad combo.Skull disco ball from Halloween Effects with glowing red eye sockets. Whoooooooooo...spoooky.Found this one just googlin' around. It said "disco ball hairstyle". It looks more like a "woven hairstyle" to me, or "basket head."