Backyard Bill

Only the best things can be said about photographer William Gentle and his website Backyard Bill. The site is described as “stylish folks in their own clothes,” and features striking portraiture of good looking people with excellent personal style.

via A Continuous Lean

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Who What Wear

I’ll have to thank Heather from Vintage Connection for introducing me to Who What Wear, a new favorite style site of mine. The posts are assembled like a column you might find in ELLE (the site is maintained by two former employees), focusing solely on what trendsetters are wearing, minus all the dating and rehab gossip.

And as a sidenote, I’m definitely on the lookout for some floral tights. (reference image above)

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Fashion meets Quicksilver

The brand Quicksilver and high fashion have never been synonymous, so I was surprised to hear that to introduce their new spring collection, they were going to showcase fashion bloggers who typically commentate on Milan runnways as opposed to Laguna Beach.

The result is surprising and I thought each did a nice job expressing their unique fashion point of view with the line. As well, it’s a smart and cost efficient marketing effort by the brand, since each of these sites maintain a large and devout readership. The clothes itself are surprisingly nice and have evolved from the teen surf girl, to grown up basics, for stylish California chic. From top left counterclockwise, Hannah (Hannah and Landon), Taghrid (Taghrid: A Lookbook), Rachel (That’s Chic), Krystal (What is Reality Anyway), Beth (The Vintage Society), and Karla (Karla’s Closet).

If you are in NYC, check out the Quicksilver concept store that opened at the end of last month in SoHo. The space has a cozy boutique feel with a lounge area where champagne and water is served to customers as they shop, and a Quiksilver women’s personal shopping assistant is on hand to advise on fits, styles and outfit ideas.

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Preen Magazine

I was just mailed a copy of Preen Magazine. Never heard of it, but it’s designed nice and I’m digging the 7th edition’s cover, with rockstar offspring Zoe Kravitz.

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The way we work

A recent interest of mine is viewing creative people’s spaces in which they work and live. This stems from my love of process and curiosity in all the different ways an end product is realized.

I first started reading Daily Routines, which chronicles how writers, artists and other notable people organize their days. The daily routines are culled from books, newspapers and magazines with many of the best entries being those who are no longer living. Ben Franklin started out his day always asking, “What good shall I do today?” and ended it reflecting, “What good have I done today?”. Talk about pressure.

Emily Post would spend the better part of her day in bed, eating her meals and writing. Truman Capote’s process was similar, stating, “I am a completely horizontal author. I can’t think unless I’m lying down, either in bed or stretched on a couch.” It can be a bit reassuring to find that even Kafka, had just as hard a time sitting down and being productive.

A friend then passed me a link to The Selby, which displays photographs, paintings and videos by Todd Selby of creative types and their respective places. Selby is a great photographer and captures each space really well, in an edgy, cool vibe. Each section is divided by city, with some of my personal favorites being in Paris, like the effortlessly romantic and charming home of Parisian couple Sofía Achával & Thibault de Montaigu.
Also great, Philadelphia resident Adam Wallacavage’s townhouse filled with a crazy mix of taxidermy, skate decks and vintage accent pieces. Selby shoots studios as well, like that of fashion designer Alexander Wang, and his hip minimal black and white work space.

Finally, Michael Williams of A Continuous Lean, began a series called “From the Desk of…” which showcases office spaces of his stylish friends. I love looking at the album and book collections, as well as notepads and inspiration boards.

These sites definitely appease the voyeurist, but they also lend some insight into the way these talented people are able to consistently create such amazing work.

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Real clothes

One of my favorite collections for fall 2009 is by Proenza Schouler. I’ve been a fan of the duo since I first heard rumblings of them as they were graduating from Parson’s School of Design, not so long ago. This line is what many in the industry are touting as Lazaro Hernadez and Jack McCollough’s attempt to give consumers “real clothes”. The t-shirts, short skirts and jersey blazers are completely wearable, which is fitting, given the current economic times. I love the mixed textures and fabrics in the monochromatic color scheme. I only wish their venture to Target’s GO collection could have been more like this.

I also recently heard they are collaborating with Italian shoemaker Giuseppi Zanotti for a line of shoes which will expand to 100 styles by Spring. I can’t wait to see what they collectively create.

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