The Spring Shoot

Food: Spring Cleaning!

Photo courtesy of: Vogue UK

Photo courtesy of: RiflePaperCo

Photo courtesy of: NoPerfectDay on Tumblr

Photo courtesy of: Bon Appétit

Photo courtesy of: Our Seasonal Table

Spring has officially sprung which always means (at least to me) new everything. New wardrobe, new habits, new eating. By "Spring Cleaning" I mean cleansing; should have put that, but I think "Spring Cleaning" is more catchy. Spring dietary cleansing means shoving aside all the winter comfort foods and the very poor variety of fruits and veggies that the cold had to offer. Now that it's about that time when the local farmer's market would be opening, try to collect most of your items like fruit, vegetables, cheeses, meats, etc. there, but if thats just not working for you, here's a grocery list of in-season produce that you should consider adding to your pallet this month:





Carrots

Artichoke

Radish

Nettles

Dandelion Greens

Blood Oranges

Asparagus

Fava Beans

Rhubarb

Peas

Ramps

Morels

Avocado

Papayas

Peas

Ramps

Rhubarb

Shallots

Strawberries

Sweet Onions



Actually using the ingredients above to make something would probably, maybe be a good idea- just saying. I've found some exceptional websites and recipes that incorporate some of the seasonal ingredients above; perfectly refreshing for the start of a new season. I choose the recipes I did not only based off of the ingredients and quality, but off of the excellence of the blog. These are great sites that I advise to further survey. Follow the links to get to these delicious and season-appropiate recipes and make sure to check out the rest of the blog while you're at it!

Lemon Poppy Seed Scones with Strawberries and Lemon Cream: Our Seasonal Table

Spring Cleanse Smoothie: Freepeople Blog

Wild Herb Ravioli: Garden Therapy

Chia Rhubarb Apricot Muffins: My New Roots

Also check out Bon Appétit's Farmer's Market Cheat Sheet

Beauty: Dewy Fresh

The Vogue way:

The "I can't afford Nars and Tom Ford makeup" way (aka my way):

Burt's Bees Peony Lip Shimmer: $5.00

Maybelline's Expert Wear Eye Shadow Chic Naturals in Champagne Fizz: $3.00

Use as a duo in replacement for the lipstick and highlighter shown in the video above. I chose Burt's Bees lip shimmer instead of an average lipstick because it is light, glossy, and all natural; when trying actual lipstick I found that it was hard to gage how much to put on and that it was harder to apply. You can buy both Burt's Bees Peony Lip Shimmer and Maybelline's Expert Wear Eye Shadow Chic Naturals in Champagne Fizz in your local drugstore. 

Note: I have a very fair complexion so the shade Peony works for me, if you have a darker complexion, consider looking at the Burt's Bees website to decide which of their twenty-four shades would work best for your skin.



This is a great look whether you are going for a casual or more formal look, and I love how versatile it is. Dress it up with a chic cat-eye or just leave-it-be for a fresh-looking face.

A Blog Love

I thought it was about time to recognize and highlight some fantastic blogs that I've found and am following. Inspirations come from the posts and have joined ideas for my own blog. With that, here is a list of unprecedented- creative blogs that I've loved and influenced me.

Natalie off Duty:

After discovering this blog (I can't even remember how), I was completely overtaken by the simplicity of the idea but the beautiful execution. The blogger, Natalie Suez, records her chic photographed outfits and where she wore them. The pictures give you an incite to what she's doing, and has been doing, while looking stylish. If the title doesn't already hint it, Natalie is a model, taking photos of herself when off duty to job. Overall, the playing parts of the innovative outfits, modeling, and quality as well as completely original  content, adds up to an ultimately powerful blog.

 dustjacket attic:

I haven't completely wrapped my head around the entire concept of dustjacket attic except for the photography. Beautiful pictures, beautiful arrangements. The collections of photographs range from anything from architecture to interiors, fashion to color schemes- any visually appealing entity's the limit. I love the idea of color patterns, especially monochrome photo shoots, and this blog does plenty; I visit frequently for inspiration and ideas.

Alice Point:

A blog about fashion and pure personal style, the blogger, Alice, displays photos of her street-style original outfits. With an sharp edge feel to all that she wears, Alice Point acts as a sort of guiding light to my own style and blog. She's gotten loads of recognition for her amazing blog and even attended Fashion Week! Check out her blog and I'm sure you'll be as swung by it as I was.

conundrum:

This is a fantastic blog incorporating food, design, fashion, art, and illustration. Posts range from recipes to paintings and always introduces something new. The author, Maia McDonald, creates various collages of all that inspire her whether it be color or clothes. This is a great blog to visit any day. 

StyleLikeU:

When I first visited this blog, I was a little turned off by the name; "StyleLikeU" sounded especially ordinary, nothing special- a little too mainstream. In fact, this blog is the direct opposite. It shows individuals with a directional sense of style and a great deal of daring. StyleLikeU also adds music and occasions into their blog feed. Completely independent interviews and event coverings make for a completely unique blog with loads of personality.  

Style Icon: Miroslava Duma

Source

A highlight from all the weeks of the antecedent Fashion Week and spotlighted for her upmost urban style, Miroslava Duma has been more recently taken in by the U.S. as our (and my) newest fashion muse. The Russian beauty and former editor of Harper's Bazaar Russia, has been photographed for her innovative looks by regular street-goers to Vogue magazine. She incorporates trendy aspects to a whole nether level, going all out with traits of modern trends while adding much of her own personality. Currently a freelance writer for many publications as well as her own blog, Büro 24/7, Miroslava has internationally influenced the world of fashion. Her style so avant-garde: chic and new, embodying all the best features in fashion.

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Miroslava Duma's blog is full of the arising style icons, events, street looks, and just about anything you can think of regarding fashion. As it started out as such a small blog, it's inspirational to see the large production it has grown to today. Duma earns her front row spots she gets reserved for just about every major fashion show as well as the publicity she gets for her daring outfits. Seeing her bold sense motivates others in a sort of movement, ultimately adding up to an immense effect on how people dress. Her other iconic figures before had the same sort of sense that allowed them to bring a sort of aura into practically any room they went into.

Photo courtesy: Harpers Bazaar (1 and 4), Elle (5), Vogue, Neiman Marcus Blog (3),

Beauty: Vogue's Cat Eye

Music Muse: Wild Belle

BACKSLIDER from Wild Belle on Vimeo.

Keep You - Wild Belle from ItsGutz on Vimeo.

The first impression I had on the music video was that I loved the song but wasn't completely sure about the little boy and all the seemingly metaphorical aspects like the airplanes. After reading the director's words, the music video made more sense: "It's a story about unrequited love and how with age, we don't necessarily mature. As a child, all we want is love and attention and that story never grows old, it just takes a different form as we age. So it's not so much about 'all men are boys,' but just [that] all of us are forever young. Old habits never die."

With a newly-released, first-time album and bookings to play at the Cochella music festival this year, Wild Belle is a band to keep your eye on. Singing alongside her brother Elliot, Natalie Bergman has put herself out into not only the music, but the fashion world. Her cool, breezy, 60's-inspired dressing goes perfectly with the band's psychedelic, indie rock feel in their music. Elliot, a multi-instrumental collage graduate, plays the saxophone, piano, and really most all of the instrumentals in the songs. Not since a couple days ago, March 12, had they released more but three singles- all phenomenal, but making you wish there was more to listen too. Their first and most successful single so far, Keep You, was featured in Pitch Perfect, which I'm sure you have most all watched, but have not heard the whole song (featured above). Also feature is Wild Belle's song Backslider, an equally good song with a reggae beat and sound. Both are featured in the new album, Isles, which you can find on iTunes. Also check out their song It's Too Late, featured on a previous post called 'Music: A Playlist'.

Luck of the Irish

Through taking pictures recently, I've been capturing a generous amount of green, and suddenly noticed how fit it was for the time of year. St. Pattie's day is on the 17th of March- just a couple days, and with that, happy St. Patrick's day/ Leprechaun's day (whatever you like to call it)! Here's my collection of green-baseline photos with an appearing range of hues like asparagus, forest-green, and emerald (aka the color of the year).

The End of PFW and Fashion Week!

Photo courtesy of Vogue

Sadly it's the end of Paris Fashion Week, as well the entire Fashion Week, although there are good notes to go along with the finale. It's been an awesome four weeks with so many great points and aspects it's hard to capture it all. Through New York, Paris, and Milan, I tried to collect images that encapsulated the specific feel from that location. Sifting through hundreds of images, I could only choose a few that I felt spoke as a whole to the city. I have to admit, Paris Fashion Week may just be my favorite of all four, making this post even harder than the last three. Honestly, it seems like there would be no better location for the final seven days of Fashion Week. With a grandiose collection of most all of my favorite designers like Dior, Chanel, and Valentino, it was difficult to soak along with the phenomenal street and 'front row' style.


I would love to explain and show my favorite aspects of each fashion show in these weeks, I would. But, there's only so much space I should be taking up, and only so much of an attention span to scroll through the entire Fashion Week archive. So instead, I've collected numerous pictures from FW and turned them into conglomerate murals of such (seen down below). To wrap up the fashion shows together to a consensus, I observed the upmost attention paid on shape: a geometric take on fashion to make the clothes come into something of their own. Very much unlike the 2013 spring lines with the exaggerated embroidery, bright colors, and cascading dresses made off of organic shape, the 2013 fall lines brought together block colors, heavy layers, and stiff garments that kept their geometric, almost square shape.

The street style throughout the entire four weeks, was constantly outstanding. There was no city- no day where there weren't numerous unique and original statement outfits that brought out the personality of the location. Some of the best looks came from off-duty models in between shows. With their heavy statement makeup and stylist done hair, their off-runway street clothes contrasted perfectly to make some of the most innovated styles. Most all of the crazed looks incorporated an overload of pattern. There a plethora of scene examples of contrasting patterns using things like a tartan plain with a japanese-esque floral print, bringing out a whole different feel to spring. Colors were bright and vibrant, although with an unorthodox infusion of black into the spring-seasoned clothing. Within the wide use of black, was created modern OP. looks when put into geometric patterns alongside white. There was the excessive use of colored and fluffy fur jackets on the streets as well as the overindulgent use of turquoise, cobalt, sea foam, and other derivatives of blue and green; emerald being a top trend.

I at last conclude with a list of my ten favorites from Paris Fashion Week alone:

1. Christian Dior's Fall 2013 line:

2. This Cholé skirt:

3. The detailing on these shoes at Dries Van Noten:

4. This Kenzo sweater spotted on the streets of Paris:

5. Miroslava Duma (P.S. I'm going to do a post about her soon!)

6. The patterns on this street-style outfit:

7. These awesome shoes on the street:

8. The lip-color at the Lanvin Fall 2013 show:

9. Mary-Jane pumps:

10. Valentino's Fall 2013 line: