Coquette

Headband into Spring

I'm not a huge fan at all of Jessica Simpson but I really love her choice for this pretty brown stripe headband from Shopintuition. In fact, I'm actually obsessed at finding some trendy new headbands for spring. My hair has been getting longer and I need more creative ways to get my hair out of my face without just resorting to a boring ponytail. It seems to be all about the thick headband these days but if you have to go thin, its skinny, skinny, skinny! Not sure how my hair will look with a little tease and poof in the back which seems to be the dressy trend.

UPDATE 4/3: All around fashion and crafts blogger Andrea just posted this: DIY: Hair bands - Full instructions on how you can save $40-50 bucks and make your own! Thanks Andrea!

Here's Jessica sporting the same headband.

I love Reese's headband looks for movie premieres. Thick and classic headband for "Walk the Line" (left), and super thin, fun black headband for "Just like Heaven" (right).

Natalie Portman in her diamond headband at the Oscars last year.

Hilary Duff at her 18th birthday party.

More celebs and headbands...

Ma Grand-mère, Mon Inspiration

This is a picture of my grandmother, my inspiration, Amy Wang. Taken in Shanghai in the late 1930's, my grandmother was a Shanghai society girl as well a as fashion designer. In this photo above she used the photographer's cigarette for effect (she didn't smoke). She was beautiful and I would like to think that I got my artistic/design sense from her. Weirdly enough, I have her hands. All the clothes she wore, she designed and made herself. She also made matching clothes for her sisters. They were the talk of the town in Shanghai back then. I love the whole era of the 30's and 40's and she really epitomized the time with her life and these pictures. My grandmother died of tuberculosis at 33 (my age now) so I never got to know her. But I feel like I do from all her photographs and stories from my dad. To me, she is my inspiration. (So I have added a new category here for that.) I hope these photos can inspire you from an era and time long gone by but magical nonetheless.

I love this photo of her. There's a signature on the back that says "This is the girl I will always remember. Pat"
I always wondered who Pat was. My dad has no idea either. We figured probably one of her photographer friends.

I love the wide suit lapel.

My grandmother was a trendsetter and like Katherine Hepburn started wearing pants all around Shanghai.

Here's a photo of my grandma (left) with her sister in one of their matching outfits.

My grandma and her brother, Reginald who went by "Reggie". Gotta love that.

My grandma here with my dad!! Le petit marin! Anchors away!

 

Related:

Shanghai 1930 (More Grandmother pictures)

ACME Bags - Modern Tech Style

I love the new line of tech bags from ACME Made. Its stylish and classy without being soooo techy or soooo girly either way. Classic modern colors in chocolate brown, green, grey and pale blue seem to most of the ones that called out to me. This one with the green dots ("Plural Olive / $149 for a small case) is one of my favorites.

This larger version, the "slim cargo" in stripe peacock is cool because you have room for accessories, your cell phone, etc.

Hey! They make totes too! Totes that also fit a laptop and your other goods. I love chocolate brown. Mmmm....

Carnivale of Couture

Style Tribe is hosting this week's Carnivale of Couture:

"I want to celebrate our role as bloggers. What distinguishes us from fashion press is our lack of limits: we can express as we please, and our unique personalities make us more interesting rather than less professional. To that end, I want to invite everyone to write about their most significant fashion purchase. Not the most expensive or most exciting, but the one that was somehow pivotal, or meaningful to you personally."

My most significant fashion purchase are these Prada ballet flats. This is not my most expensive pair of shoes or fashion purchase. I got these shoes to just make me happy. (Sure that can be said for all of my purchases.) So why was this significant?

This was back in 2002, in the days after the whole dot com crash of 2001. I was one of the survivors (whether I liked it or not) of a bankrupt agency from which the remains were sold to a new one. A few thousand people in different offices around the Bay Area were whittled down and consolidated to a mere 150 all in San Francisco. Things were hard and I didn't shop much in case I lost my job as well as the fact we were working so hard in scaled down teams I didn't have time. There was just a dark mood all around San Francisco.

Around that spring, we all got a bonus of $500 because a minor profit was made. Not a lot of money, but it signified a turning point. Things were better. I wanted to celebrate. I needed to feel fashion, feel like a girl, feel like myself again. Sometimes after a really depressing week at work my friend and co-worker Olivia and I would just walk through the shoe department at Neiman Marcus to feel better. (Another key "feel good" place was Sephora.) I had been eyeing these beautiful Prada flats with a unique bow/buckle detail. A couple weeks later when we got our bonus, I headed straight back to Neimans and bought the $220 Prada flats.

Four years later I still have them. Not only do I wear them practically all the time, they are my most comfortable pair of shoes. Sure they may be a tiny bit scuffed, but these shoes will always make me feel happy and safe.

UPDATE 3/29: Merci beaucoup Angela Gunn of USA Today's Tech_Space for doing a write up on this!

Spring Totes at Bungalow 360

I just ordered this Lola tote (called Miami Fish) last night from Bungalow 360. Isn't it cute? I love the pink, green, and brown fish - all my favorite colors together. Plus it was only 40 bucks! I love that this bag has tons of cargo pockets, perfect to take around town and perfect for toting around my craft projects. The canvas is really strong so you can put more stuff in the bag without worrying about it breaking. I actually saw the bag last month at a knitting convention but passed on buying it. Thank God I found it online.

The Judy messenger bag is also a great buy and it can fit a lot! I was deciding between these 2 bags but opted for the Lola tote because of the pockets. The hearts print is really cute too. I love that they say this is great for diapers as well as books.

Hurry up and get the ones you like as a few styles are already sold out. Yay for Spring!

MOD TV - Fashion TV online

I think the web is exploding with tons of new fashion sites everyday. Here's a cool new one: MOD-TV a online video site that is fashion television for your computer. Brought to you by one of the creators of E!'s Fashion File (remember that show?), it's no wonder the fashion coverage is so great. Speaking of which, how come there are no longer any of these kinds of fashion TV news shows on TV anymore? E!, Style or even VH-1? They are all reality shows, specials, or talk show types. Nothing with real coverage. I really miss those fashion designer 30 min. profiles they used to have on the Style channel. Hey, MOD-TV can you bring those fashion designer profiles back?! I loved the episodes with Kate Spade in the Hamptons and Michael Kors visiting his childhood home on Long Island.

Well, who cares about TV nowadays anyway. MOD-TV is way better. The site covers fashion, beauty, models, and the latest fashion news. I love the video of Kate Moss at the Burberry show. Gosh, I just love Kate. What's great with all the video content on the site, you can also subscribe to their video podcasts! Just go to the news page and click on the lower left iPod icon. It's a great site to get a quick video fix of all the latest greatest fashion news!

Marc Made Me Love This

I don't need it at all but I love it. Damn you Marc Jacobs! I think this is just one of the cutest new interpretations of Louis Vuitton. $540 at eLuxury if you are curious or have extra cash.

Levi's Refashioning Revolution in France

Levi's in France has hit the online blog world and the refashioning DIY trend (some say "fashion hacking") by creating a new blog targeted to teen girls called jeandefilles.fr (via Loic Le Meur's Blog), which translates to mean "girls' jeans". If you can't read French, don't worry, you can read the translated version through google translation which works kinda ok. At least enough for you to get the general idea.

I love that a large brand is embracing the DIY nation. It will only get bigger and we will start to see more people wanting to express their creativity and individuality through their own fashion.

25% off FLY for Coquette Readers

I can't seem to get enough of FLY, the pure digital fashion magazine a la DVD and video podcast which I reviewed back in Feb. I just received the current issue, Zero, in the mail and I was so blown away with its superb high quality and fashion content. Just amazing stuff!

Now you'll get the same chance to experience it all. Coquette readers will get a special deal if they subscribe to FLY, which I highly recommend! Get a 4 issue subscription of FLY at 25% off. That's only $135 + S&H ( instead of the cover price of $180 + S&H).

Subscribe Here:
www.insidefly.com
type the code "coquette" in the code area at the end of the check-out page and the discount will automatically be registered.

Kris Nations Jewels at Bloomingdales in NY!

As you may all know, I am one of the biggest fans of Kris Nations Jewels. Not only have Kris and her sister Kim been great friends of mine for years and years, I just love to see smart, creative women pursue their dreams to do what they love. Her new Spring 2006 line just debuted and its filled with amazing fun pieces. I love her layered chain necklace (pictured above left) and the owl earrings.

That's why if you live in the NY area, please come and visit Kris and Kim at their first NY Trunk Show at Bloomingdale’s @59th Street on Saturday, March 18 from 2-4 p.m. Plus, they are super cool ladies who are hilarious so tell them I sent you to say Hi!

If you can't make it in person, no worries. You can check out the Spring 2006 Collection and shop online at www.krisnations.com.