Real Books
Loving this random act of creativity.
Last year, husband and wife design duo Lisa Blonder Ohlenkamp and Sean Ohlenkamp undertook a project to reorganize their bookshelves by color (something I myself do at home) and make a stop-motion video about it.
Using bookshelf color-coordination as just the seed of an idea, they recently took the idea up a (very large) notch and brought a bookstore in Toronto to life a fantastical, whimsical stop-motion animation video. I hope this is really what books do while we’re sleeping.
It’s one of the most impressive stop-motion videos I’ve seen in terms of the sheer hours I imagine it took to make it — I worked on a stop-motion video myself (the one on the home page of Cultivate Wines), and it took 14 hours of shooting, plus editing.
According to the writeup on the video, the team of Type bookstore in Toronto, along with the Ohlenkamps and many volunteers, spent many sleepless nights to make this happen. Yeah, I bet!
The score, which is so absolutely perfectly suited to the video, is by Grayson +Matthews.
A Murmuration of Starlings
Remember this post about posters of collective nouns? At the time, the phrase “a murmuration of starlings,” was one of my favorites, and I liked the accompanying poster as well.
And then today, I discovered this video! Of a murmuration of starlings!
And it’s amazing. Have you ever seen a murmuration of starlings? I hadn’t, and I am awe-struck. It’s one of those things you can’t believe really exists in nature. I had to watch it twice just to take it in.
via Swiss Miss
Fall Style & Wardrobe Lustlist
Ah I love fashion week season. So much street style inspiration floating around!! Above were some of my favorite shots from the last week, including, of course, perennial favorites Emmanuelle Alt and Olivia Palermo, as well as Elin Kling, whose blog and style I love, and I think that adorable thing in the white dress is probably Miraslava Duma, though the photo wasn’t captioned.
Have you been noticing little Miraslava around, cropping on The Sartorialist and Garance? I fell in love with her for this image, and then back when she had bangs it lead to a serious consideration of re-cutting bangs for myself.
Anyway… NYFW and these shots above have been inspiring me to think about my wishlist for my fall wardrobe, which, as you will notice by most of the designers listed in the captions, is purely a wishlist– I will most likely have a budget that would allow me to obtain about 3.5% of this list, or, in other terms, the bottom half of one shirt sleeve.
But, I think it’s very useful to set out at the beginning of a season what your dream items are, so that you can then be conscientious about deciding which items are worth splurging on (instead of impulse buying), and also be able to spot a great knockoff that fits the bill when you find it.
Let’s start with the basics. As you’ll notice, I like basic basics that can be easily mixed and matched, and go day to night just by switching out jewelry, shoes, and jacket. And I like to stick with what works. For me, it’s skinny jeans with a solid t-shirt, tank, or button-up in a classic color. All I really like to switch up is the cut and material. This year, I am crazy for washed silk button-ups (I could buy all my blouses from Equipment, which incidentally is owned by Carine Roitfeld’s husband).
With the jeans, my staple is always a super dark blue wash, no distressing, with mustard stitching (J. Brand) (I don’t know why but for me it changes everything if the stitching is blue, it doesn’t work for me), but for this season I’m also after a pair of dark cherry red and maybe a lighter wash, and would kill for a pair of black waxed ones– they kind of look like leather due to the shine and have a rock and roll vibe.
And finally, I like shoes that go with a variety of stuff and set a mood. I have learned I don’t really need many shoes at all because I wear the same types over and over– for me, it’s a neutral ballet flat, a sassy black heel, a neutral boot, a driving loafer (not pictured) and something leopard.
I’m also a fan of basic accessories that go with everything. I don’t like switching my purse everyday (inevitably will get to the park with no sunglasses, the library without my library card, etc.), or even every week– I like an everyday bag that I can use all the time and matches everything. For me, the color of that DvF bag above goes with all my basics. Add a great scarf for texture (seriously, it needs to have texture or it will fall flat– I’ve learned from experience!), some classic earrings and sunglasses, and one more item for a little flair– right now it’s thin hammered gold bangles I’m after.
Here’s where I’d like to add a little flair this season. Usually my go-tos are a dark green Barbour, a putty-ish brown simple leather motorcycle jacket, or a classic navy blazer. But my-oh-my, that navy velvet blazer from Miu Miu (please someone knock it off fast) is calling my name, and the black Barbour has a little added edge that I’m digging. Plus, a fur vest makes any outfit more fun, and how adorable is that red duffel cape?!
And finally, layers. I love any combination of feminine and masculine, so the layering pieces I’m lusting after are these lady-like silk pieces and the simple, but oh-so-cozy looking sweaters from See by Chloe (I love this line!).
Also for your fashion entertainment– this cute video about how to layer, from Because I’m Addicted. I love this!
So tell me, what are your favorite go-to basics and brands? What’s on your fall wishlist? What are your favorite blogs for following fashion week?
Atlantic-Pacific
I’d been seeing images of this chic lady flying around on tumblrs and such, and I finally figured out who it is! Her name is Blair, she blogs her outfits at Atlantic-Pacific, and, she lives in San Francisco! I’m going to be keeping my eyes peeled around town for this new girl crush… Doesn’t she have loads of style??
PS – Today’s post is a double feature! My friend Leo sent me these videos and I had to share with you. Filmmaker Tyler Cullen went around NYC asking people what song they were listening to and made a video out of it, and it inspired a whole series of these throughout the world! It’s such a fun peak into these cities, both for the street life you see and for the musical choices of its residents!
And, sometimes the answers are really surprising… don’t you always wonder what people are listening to on the street and kind of try to guess based on their outfit or mood or whatever? Well, many of these I never would have guessed! And I wonder if some of these folks would have ever admitted that they listen to some of this stuff otherwise. I’ve watched a bunch of them, and let me tell you, Lady Gaga truly is everywhere.
Morocco & Spain from Mike Matas on Vimeo.
Street Art + 3D + Band Poster
To promote their new single, “Horses,” British band Dry the River teamed up with FOAM and Xavier Barade to make these 3D paper posters. Yes, paper.
In addition to being a brilliant promotional move and twist on the traditional poster, I also love that once “in the wild,” these function like 3D street art… something I haven’t seen too much of!
I loved these at first site, but three things made me love them more:
1) They are made of paper. 2) They were created using Google Sketchup. #1 + #2 means an awesome intersection of handmade, crafty, tangible, and cool tech tools. 3) They went one step further after creating them (they took 35 hours each) and installing them and made this video below showing them in their habitats and the reactions of passersby. #ilovevideocontent
With so much to love, the music was sort of an afterthought for me, but I do like the song!
Finally, how do I get my hands on one of these??
Via/more info here.
Arcade Fire + Chris Milk
I so wish I had been at Coachella for this.
Director Chris Milk, as part of The Creator’s Project, along with Moment Factory, created this interactive visual experience during Arcade Fire’s last song at Coachella by releasing big “balloons” embedded with LEDs and IR transmitters that they used to make them change colors with the music.
Check out the video to hear/see more!
If you haven’t seen The Wilderness Downtown video/project by Chris Milk for Arcade Fire, definitely check that out too!
Photo at left above by flickr user Critical Thought, others are stills.
The Phoenix Dust Storm
I can’t believe this hasn’t gotten more press, this is CRAZY looking. 30 second time lapse of the Phoenix Dust Storm.
(Thanks Monica! You and Seth have been key to WL this week 
)
Recently on Editor’s Chair
For random reasons I won’t go into, I had to change the name of Editor’s Chair, so it is currently just titled with my name at the top of the page. I’ve also been rather slack about posting to it recently, but I just added a ton of new images, so wanted to alert you that there’s lots of new eye candy to check out, and even a page from one of my favorite books– The History of Love– if you’re looking for some summer reading. Happy browsing…
Also, a few favorite videos and songs from this week:
Current favorite song off the new Bon Iver album (with an unofficial stop-motion animation video):
An adorable mother-daughter video from Kate Spade’s youtube channel:
It’s like time-lapse/stop-motion week around here… I was just in Chicago last week (for the first time!) so I loved coming across this time-lapse of a boat journey through the city! Particularly love it as the sun starts to set… and the fireworks!
Chicago by boat: A timelapse journey from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.
An absolutely random but delightful video:
And a cover by Billy Simons (a friend of mine) of “Run” by George Strait. Billy isn’t actually a country singer but I love this cover! His album (which I also love, it’s been on repeat all week) is available for free here.
