Fashion: Met Model Exhibit

As a follow up to the Costume Gala, the Metropolitan Museum is following up their theme of "Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion" and will run a special exhibit from May 6-August 9. It promises to "Explore the reciprocal relationship between high fashion and evolving ideals of beauty, The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion focuses on iconic models of the twentieth century and their roles in projecting, and sometimes inspiring, the fashion of their respective eras. The exhibition, organized by historical period from 1947 to 1997, will feature haute couture and ready-to-wear masterworks accompanied by fashion photography and video footage of models who epitomized their epochs."
http://www.metmuseum.org/special/model_muse/embodying_images.asp
http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/department.asp?dep=8

Travel: Hamptons

I stumbled across this article "The Hamptons in Flip-Flops" in today's NY Times, addressing the monetary aspects of surviving a summer in NY's famed beach escape amidst the the financial crisis. Mainly discussing fashion & lifestyle, the article points out the 'discounts' that local boutiques & restaurants are offering which turn out not to be a deal at all (“beach shacks” selling $200 slacks, expensive restaurants offering a free glass of wine? No deal here.) As journalist Allen Salkin notes: "Low-key is the Hamptons theme this year, no matter how much it costs."
www.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/fashion/17hamptons.html?_r=1&ref=fashion

Fashion: Kylie Minogue

Kylie Minogue is the newest ambassador for Barcelona based luxury jewelery & accessories brand Tous. Like Madonna, Kylie has continued to reinvent herself over the years and remains an icon for many, so it is only fitting that she continues to enter the fashion world too...these pics are too cute not to share! Go to the Tous website for more.
www.tous.es/TOUS_en.htm
www.kylie.com/home

Music: Lady Gaga

And now the video everyone is going "gaga" over. Always pushing the pop envelope, Lady Gaga is stronger than ever in projecting her image through performance with this new music video for 'Paparazzi'. Enjoy it for what it is!

Photo: Cool Kid

I saw this photo up on the Satorialist blog a few weeks back, snapped on the streets of Sydney, and felt compelled to share it because this kid obviously has it going on in terms of both style & confidence. Incidentally, he has "hipster" written all over him for his upcoming teenage years ;)

Music: Summer Songs

I recently came across a list of favorite summer tracks from a group of DJ's & Artists, just in time for the good weather. I don't see anything too original here but maybe that is how summer is supposed to feel: optimistic and nostalgic. Below is one from DJ AM, and one of our own from Stylegroove too. For more visit: http://goop.com/newsletter/34/en/

Stylegroove's picks: "Summertime"-DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, "The summer"-Coconut Records, "Paper Planes"-MIA, "Electric Feel"-MGMT, "Haiti"-Arcade Fire, "Love it all"-The Kooks, "Amber"-311, "Come over (remix)-Estelle ft. Sean Paul, "Love Generation"- Bob Sinclair, "Boogie on Reggae Woman"-Stevie Wonder, "Roc Boys"-Jay-Z, "Big Poppa"-Notorious B.I.G.

DJ AM's Picks: “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’”-Michael Jackson, “Into the Groove”-Madonna, “Lovefool”-The Cardigans, “Hypnotize”-The Notorious B.I.G., “Be Faithful”-Crooklyn Clan, “Crazy in Love”-Beyoncé, “One More Time”-Daft Punk, “I Wanna Be Your Lover” -Prince, “Jump Around”-House of Pain, “Sweet Child O’ Mine”-Guns N’ Roses

Fashion: Swapping is the new shopping

According to this recent article in the Wall Street Journal, "Sites Let You Swap Till You Drop ", trading clothes has become the new shopping in this current economic climate. (Last month alone I received a handful of invites to chic clothes swapping parties!) New websites have been popping up to meet the demand such as swapstyle.com, rehashclothes.com and dignswap.com, so give Ebay a rest and check out something new.
Read the article here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124225453424816967.html

Inspiration: Ellen

Well, it's that time of year again where college graduates are sent out into the world with conflicting feelings of optimism and trepidation. The last few weeks have seen a wave of commencement speeches given by distinguished individuals, sometimes interesting, sometimes not, but this great one by Ellen Degeneres is everything you need it to be: funny, positive and uplifting in its message.

Fashion: Dita Von Teese

The spectacular Dita Von Teese, often dubbed "the Queen of Burlesque", has launched a lingerie line for Wonderbra, now entering its second collection. Her impeccable style, influenced by classic retro fashion and 1940's cinema, is the obvious inspiration. Says Dita: "I am very proud of the lingerie that I’ve created for Wonderbra, because it has all the beautiful detail of sexy, sensual and glamorous lingerie, but the fit is perfect to wear under your everyday clothes."
www.sexysciencebydita.com
www.dita.net

Fashion: The Sartorialist

My friend and I were discussing the general fabulousness of "The Sartorialist" fashion blog, which if you have not had a chance to visit yet, I suggest you do right now. It is written by New Yorker Scott Schuman, formally a fashion sales exec, who photographs fashion on the streets of City's all over the world, and reports on what he sees. It has become largely influential and many designers & magazines have taken notice.

“I thought I could shoot people on the street the way designers looked at people, and get and give inspiration to lots of people in the process. My only strategy when I began The Sartorialist was to try and shoot style in a way that I knew most designers hunted for inspiration."
http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com/
**Update: This was suggested to me too: http://facehunter.blogspot.com/

Links: Ideal Bite

Billed as a "Sassier Shade of Green", www.idealbite.com is a website and email newsletter dedicated to keeping you in the loop on daily eco-living tips for "light green" consumers. It's fun, and manages to offer realistic tips for sustainable living without seeming preachy. For instance, today is all about makeup and it shared one of their daily 'cocktail facts' I was a bit disturbed to know: "The average woman consumes (as in eats) 4-6 pounds of lipstick during her lifetime." Gross. At least they suggested a heap of great tips that put it out of my mind! Go check it out today.

Fashion: The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute Gala

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute Gala is one of the biggest society events of the year, but it's also a time for the fashion elite to have some fun & out do one another. This can either have glamorous results (Heidi Klum,Jessica Biel) or disastrous ones (Madonna,Kate Moss). Either way, the photos of the event are pure entertainment, so drop by the links below and judge for yourselves:
www.style.com/peopleparties/parties/scoop/redcarpet-050409_Costume_Institute_Gala/
www.nytimes.com/2009/05/05/fashion/05gala.html?ref=fashion

Fashion/TV: Chanel No. 5

And speaking of commercials...behold the gorgeous new ad for Chanel No.5, starring Audrey Tatou, who has replaced Nicole Kidman as the spokesperson. This seems fitting since not only is she French, but she is starring in the upcoming bio pic "Coco Avant Chanel" slated for release this spring: www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXgadImjfRQ

TV: UK T-Mobile Commercials

Someone at T-Mobile is seriously stepping it up in terms of creative marketing. First they gave us the incredible dancing subway flash mob commercial, and a few days ago this one was released. Posted them both here for you to enjoy!