Rules of a Creator's Life

 

via Will Yan, et al.

A million times, yes.

This Week: Visuals

 

This Week: Visuals [all vintage everything]

This Week: Visuals

More after the jump

Life really is as cool as it looks

Ozwald Boateng, A Man's Story

Can't wait until the full length version is released. Simply brilliant.

Getting Started

I don't buy Moleskines anymore. Or any cool, trendy, pricey, or generally beautiful note/sketch book for that matter. 

I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts the other day for creative people, where they challenge you to start. A lot of us get hung up on the method of doing things, or why we can't do things, or ideas not being perfected before they are even started.

A few more recent notebooks that I'm known to juggle and flip between.
The one with the broken binding has earned its stripes.

It has a lot to do with being afraid that it's not amazing. But when it comes to fancy notebooks and crazy ideas, sometimes it feels like the idea has to be well presented and packaged in your mind before it makes it onto a fresh page of that beautiful sketch book. Things have to look great, and you can't have garbage populating and poisoning your creative space right? So the idea needs to be amazing, the very pen strokes you make need to be calculated, and if a color looks off- it's there for. ev. er.

Right?

Well, no.

As I've learned, a lot of creative folks who experience success actually fail. A lot. They've just become comfortable with starting on things over and over, even if they don't know where the project is going to end up, or if it'll even be presentable for that matter. The important thing is to just start. Every single time. Even just for a little.

Yes, that's actually back-of-napkin notes. My studio can be so fancy.

So I challenge you, for whatever it is that you're working on, don't wait until you get your next a really cool  pen with that special ink comes in the mail tomorrow. Don't wait to find the perfectly spaced grid notebook. Don't make your game plan of how you will later tag it. Don't first write the most epic tweet of all time to later announce it. Don't make lunch.


Just start. *steps down from soapbox*

Homegrown Inspiration

Royal Oak, MI 1939

Family kitchen. Birmingham, MI 1942

Sugar Beet worker. Saginaw, MI 1941

National Guard @ Chevrolet Plant. Flint, MI 1937

Strikers resting. Flint, MI 1937

I'm a small town girl, into the big city life. And this is where I came from. Generations later, and not much has changed but the clothes.

Musing: Dorothea Lange Pt. 2

Musing: Dorothea Lange Pt. 1

Introducing: Cameron Forbes

One of my favorite qualities that people can have is sheer confidence in themselves and their own futures.  I've known Cameron Forbes for a handful of years now, and he has always been the one there to go on my adventures through New York when we were both the broke interns with cool jobs, living in Brooklyn.

It's been a while since then, we've both come a long way, and I'm so proud to share with my readers that this week he has released his first EP "Masterpiece", as a solo artist, now available on iTunes, Amazon, and all the other lovely places you procure music. My personal favorite track is "When You Leave"; it's actually breathtaking.

Cameron Forbes pictured in a custom scarf by The Style Cooperative

The Style Cooperative has a special soft spot for stylish folks chasing dreams. There's even an upcoming project we have going on with both Cameron Forbes and Culture of Creativity (also insanely talented), so stay tuned and go check out the music.  You'll be hearing his name more soon, and then seeing it in lights.

Style Like U

Lately people have been asking me pretty often where I get inspiration for some the projects that I work on.  Whether it's styling for shoots, designing for events, or whatever the case may be.  I think that's tough to say because for me, inspiration comes from everything around me, but especially things that aren't.

Ying Chu from Stylelikeu on Vimeo.

And then there are those times when I stumble upon people, places, online content, etc. that just surprise me into feeling a certain way. Inspired.  Watching the Style Like U video interviews make sense to me and kind of feel like I'm watching an interview with an old friend.  They are people who speak the same language of creativity, and possess this energy... that's inspiring.

Back to the Future: Governor's Island

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Every year in New York on Governor's Island, there exists a great spectacle and time known as the Jazz Age Lawn Party.

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The great part about it is that it's just beautiful, nostalgic fun that brings out the romance of a time past.

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Some people get really into dressing for the day.

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Which makes the whole day seem even more electrifying.

I can't think of a better combination than summertime, live music, great style, and friends.

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Do What You Love. Today.

When I first decided to work on The Style Cooperative full time and really try to build something that I believe in, I got a handful of mixed reactions.  Some people sent me little notes saying because of that move, I am their hero (I'm still insanely humbled) and others just thought it was reckless of me.

It has been 3 1/2 months since I decided to make the move, and sometimes I have my moments where I really just can't wrap my head around what I've done or why I'm putting myself through all of the stress of trying to build something like this.  But then I see videos like this by Gary Vaynerchuk that remind me that I was once in a place where I knew what I was passionate about, and also knew that I'd never be satisfied until it was a reality.

And while there are some days where it won't seem like it, I love what I do. I feel extremely privileged to be able to say something like that, and I hope you can too.

Do what you love. Today.

Refined Inspiration

 I don't typically post runway images, but there is something so right about what you are about to see.

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Burberry's SS 2010 has been spinning through my mind to the point where I actually spend a little too much time thinking about how absolutely spot on it is.  The drape meets structure, and the structure has this incredible drape.  It almost is too much for me to think about, really.

Almost.

What I Learned from Alexander McQueen

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I learned late this morning that Alexander McQueen was found dead this morning in London. His life and work remains every bit imaginative and beautiful. With his mix of art and engineering, showmanship and craft; it all blows my mind.

So with that, what I've learned from his work.

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Impossible is nothing.

At 40 years, he was able to accomplish what some can't in a lifetime. Starting with learning the fundamentals with the best, once in a lifetime opportunities happen pretty often, and he was ready. With a fearless work ethic and a real understanding of textiles as art, he dreamed it, then did it.

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Trust your gut & hold on.

Fans and critics alike began to expect the unexpected from his collections. They were strange, exciting, different, and show-stopping. He had a visions and the intense courage to run with it, and the faith that it would all work out in the end. That fearlessness of artful innovation is something that positively inspires me.