This past Thursday marked the opening day of New York's first ever Sidewalk-Catwalk, an exciting opportunity for the Garment District to come together and promote the art of fashion. Aiming to point out the importance of keeping the heart of the Garment District beating, 32 designers created looks for the installation that is strutting down Broadway from Times Square to Herald Square until Labor Day. If you're in the city this summer, stop by and browse!

Catherine putting the finishing touches on the

Catherine Malandrino look for the installation. Naturally,

we used her iconic flag dress, but covered it in clear plastic

to allow for a sustainable look through out any rain or heat.

As expected, the Toledo's didn't disappoint.

Isabel's pattern making expertise took on a new medium in her white frock

made partly of plastic drinking straws and Ruben's captivating paintings poking

out of the mannequin's sponge-like headpiece kept me happy (I'm a huge Ruben Toledo fan

...even have his Nordstrom ad campaign from 3 years ago framed above my sofa).

Nanette Lepore's mannequin is cutsie with a touch of spunk.

The flowers look like the paper flower kits I used when I was a little girl

and I ooo'd and ahhh'd over the giant mesh bow with embroidered neon n's.

Mark Badgley and James Mischka (both Parsons grads) created a gown so

stunning it doesn't even appear to be made of sustainable materials (but is!)

The beautiful empire waist gown with metallic gold embroidery has a fitted under

layer of sequins and makes this stretch of Broadway look like a couture show room!

hugs & happy strutting!

xo em

Huffington Post credited for Toledo & Badgley MIschka photos

...the images I took on my blackberry didn't look so hot (what else is new?!)

duck & cover, everyone!

The garment district hysteria over the opening of the Times Square Forever 21 store Friday is quite comical ...take this article from NYMag for example...

"Tomorrow, the massive new Forever 21 store opens in Times Square. Just how massive? Massive enough to scare the living crap out of you just by reading about it! It will be four floors, over 90,000 square feet, and have 121 changing rooms. Just think of the crowds and the lines made up of that crowd. And how if the ravenous tweens getting their jeggings on in TEN Forever 21 changing rooms are scary, this will be more than ten times that level of horror."

-NYMag

Notice the headline ...so dramatic, it makes me want to stop by there on my lunch break tomorrow just to see what all the hype is about. Okay, so maybe they're right, jegging hair bows do sound completely terrifying!

Funny how...

there are simple things that seem so mundane one day and can completely rock your world the next. Windows, I have found, are one of them. The view from my New York window is a bustling scene that captures part sky / part skyline. An explosion of art, there are two studios across the happy tree-lined street. Look down and you can see pottery students spinning & glazing away, look right and you see clear into the window of the Dance Studio Workshop for a free recital any time of day.

The view from my kitchen window in North Carolina speaks for itself:

. . . h e a v e n o n e a r t h . . .

The red umbrella (because it would be a sin for a Wolfpack fan to have any other color umbrella), the tiny vase of flowers straight from the garden (fresh from that morning's bridal shower brunch), the 50-year-old window frame with a hidden rainbow of at least a dozen coats of paint and a little knob that still turns to let in the yummy air, the homemade (by a 9-year-old me) potholder hanging in Mom's kitchen because there are "just some things that she can't throw away".

Funny how I've been looking out of that kitchen window for almost 15 years and haven't realized until now that it's like looking at an illustrated autobiography of this house & our family. I now have two cities that I call mine (don't tell Mom&Dad), but one thing is for sure, as long as that potholder is hanging in that window, I know I have a place to come home to.

i go back

Exhausted from the runway that was my Tuesday, I hit another type of runway Thursday & flew home to Raleigh for the exxxtra long weekend. Found these fun books yesterday dated from 1931 through 1937 & reminiscent of Nana's college days at Winthrop University in SC (an all-girls school when she was there) ... apparently Mom's been shuffling through the storage unit again... I thought them fun to share:

the covers read 'autographs'

both books have this little ditty on the first page

notice Nana's stamp at the top:)

The remaining pages were filled with her friends 'autographs',

similar to what we would've written in high school

yearbooks, but with words like swell & dapper.

And apparently much more cleaver...

'I love you once

I love you twice

I love you better

than cats love mice'

-Anna on October 21, 1937

we would've been friends, I'm sure

'You know first impressions are the lasting ones.

From the very moment I saw you, I knew you were a sweet girl...'

-Margaret of Anderson, SC

I can only pray that if I had an autograph book, friends would sign mine this way:)

...& I would really like to know what was discussed during those

'bathroom chats' Margaret mentioned!

and I leave you with, admittedly, my favorite:

in 1933 Agnes writes:

'If at first you don't succeed (suck-seed) maybe it's a seedless orange.'

i love her.

miley j bieber

Seems like every time I see a celeb, I see another one the next day. First it was Chace Crawford one day & Ashley Olsen the next. Today was no exception. After spending hours with Mary J Blige last night, I ran into the most hilarious situation today...

A tall, dark, & handsome twenty-something guy standing on 14th st is always a nice thing to spot on my way home from errands. Today I happened to find just that standing with group of about 50 people blocking the sidewalk. Curious, I stopped and asked, "What are y'all waiting for out here?" "I'm too embarrassed to tell you," he responded, "apparently that's Miley Cyrus in there," he said pointing to the big window at Gemini 14, a salon I pass almost daily but never knew it was a celeb-worthy spot. I peeked at the window and, sure enough, there was Miley sitting there getting her extensions taken out. I should've used this opportunity to actually stand there and talk to the cute guy, but I totally flaked and said "hah, that's hilarious" and walked off, no doubt making him feel like a complete idiot.

________________________________________

thrilled that Mary J Blige decided to go public with the fact that she and Catherine had a glass of wine last night to "make all the nerves go away" & that WWD found it interesting enough to tweet about...

...hey, Women's Wear, tweet this:

How do Catherine Malandrino's interns calm thier pre-show jitters at MoMA? They run around in platform heels for 30 minutes searching for a bottle of Pinot Grigio

________________________________________

in other celebrity news, kim & reggie broke up again. look who she's dating now:

Oh, and hindsight I'm kinda bummed I blew it with the cutie, but who wants to hang out with a 27-year-old guy willing to stand & wait for Miley Cyrus to get her hair cut, right?!

i c e c r e a m

i've had the same tired phone for 2.5 years now & have never lost him. except for last Friday. i searched, drove the roommate crazy having her call it, and even looked through my laundry hamper ...whenever i lose anything, 9 times out of 10 it's in there. seriously. it wasn't.

PINKBERRY! i screamed. youscreamiscreamweallscreamforICECREAM I ran downstairs, out the door, & around the corner to our neighborhood pinkberry. 'oh yeah gurl, we gots yo phone' said the teenage fro-yo bartender. on the counter, somewhere between the massive line of people & the toppings counter, a kind soul had found my blackberry @ pinkberry & turned it in.

now, this story wouldn't warrant a blog post had the same thing not happened at the gelato place near Parsons a couple months ago when my Student ID went missing for a tragic 2 days

...lesson learned: when in doubt, check the ice cream shop!

fifi wears Malandrino!

this may be from a past season, but it's still fifi,

in malandrino, having the gumption to wear

a dowdy pair of black ankle socks & turn them cute!

just one question...

why does no one have this picture of fifi hanging in our office?!

so little time

well, it's June. I've officially omitted an entire month out of the blog calendar (major oops) but May is crazy for y'all too, right?!

in the past month I have completed (& passed, phew!) 6 more classes of design school (12 down, 6 to go), begun an internship, & decided to move to London (just for the summer). a lot has crossed my mind in the past month in the way of "oh, I should put that on the blog": inspiration, creative design, & cool people that I've been dying to share...

1.) Twitter = inspiration?

Since creative directors, designers, & celebs (guilty pleasure) are the real reasons I'm even on Twitter, I'm pretty sure I am following atleast 100 people, whereas my number of followers is more than likely just approaching double digits. Anyway, whoever is writing the tweets for FashionWeekNYC has gotten me through many an intern moment...

...no matter what industry you work in, I suggest you follow them for a simple, everyday pick-me-up.

2. The Selby

is in my place!

Alexander Wang hat at his studio in New York City

If you don't already know about The Selby, then read-on so you're not missing out! Todd Selby is just a cool guy. A fascinating photographer & an artist in his own right, he goes around tooting the horns of all the other artists (how modest!)

"Todd Selby is a portrait, interiors, and fashion photographer and illustrator. His project The Selby offers an insider’s view of creative individuals in their personal spaces with an artist's eye for detail. The Selby began in June 2008 as a website, www.theselby.com, where Todd posted photo shoots he did of his friends in their homes. Requests quickly began coming in daily from viewers all over the world who wanted their homes to be featured on the site. The Selby’s website became so popular—with up to 35,000 unique visitors daily—that within months, top companies from around the world began asking to collaborate."

-excerpt from theselby.com

...enough said. now look at some of the cool things he's shot in people's homes & studios:

Karl Lagerfeld at his studio in Paris

...& his AMAZING library of books

inspiration board at Lanvin studio in Paris

also, found this related story from the Sartorialist

(fashion is huge, but oh-so-small!)

the George Tavern in London

...going looking for this one in July no doubt!

k, I just got way excited about Mr. Selby ...will have to save the rest for later!

xoxo, e

...oh & I know it's been a while, but don't give up on me yet! i'm taking you from NYC to NC to the UK and back this summer if you stick around...