Chicago's Got Talent: Take 2

Remember a couple of months back when I went on and on about how Chicago, and how I believe a creative talent explosion is on the horizon? Yep, still standing by that.

I had the chance to meet and talk dreams and the grind with Andrew Davis II not too long before the shoot of his very first music video. We vibed well, and I ended up working with him to style the principal characters of the shoot.

It was a 2 day production, there was a huge team, and yesterday he dropped the video for the public. The result: fantastic.

He's a refreshing feel-good artist that has received a lot of love for the video in some pretty awesome places like World Star Hip Hop, This is 50, and an interview feature over at I'm Flashy. Not too shabby. Keep this guy on your radar!

Men's Style & Movies

In some more recent internet wandering, I came across the truly fantastic Moxy Creative Group with great projects that are both refreshing and innovative.

In their "Dress the Part" series, they created movie posters illustrations of popular films, all with an emphasis on menswear. I wish they would do one for The Great Gatsby! 

(Also very worth checking out, their "Ensenble" series.)

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*

Social Study: Guys, Girls, and Style

Background: People often ask about my experience as a woman working in and designing menswear. I get a good amount of questions from guys asking my opinion about style, and of course the standard "Um, can you take a look at my shirt? I think I (insert a variety of damaging behavior from daytime fails and nighttime blunders)."

But at the end of the day, I wonder if guys in general  feel open to or are even seeking the opinion or approval from women in their sartorial experience.

Method: In this so very scientific study, I tweeted to the masses (and some more pointed folks* to balance out the group among style guys, married/commited guys, proudly non-commited guys, manly man guys, etc.) asking if women were a major influencer in their style decisions. This is just part of some of what you taught me:

Personal favorite response: "the right girl"

Conclusions: As it turns out, responses were pretty split down the middle. Some guys do it all for the ladies, while others just lean on your own personal style and attention of the female variety is a nice bonus. But a lot of agreement came around the idea of confidence being what women recognize, more so than any article of clothing. So is there some confidence soap you guys are scrubbing up with in the morning?

What do you think? Is it women, guy friends, blogs, or just your taste that influences how you leave the house? 

*People with protected tweets have names withheld to protect the innocent

Mixed Media: Au Revoir Simone

I appreciate people who create. Writers, painters, musicians, designers, actors, you name it. If you've got talent and you share it with others, I appreciate you. What I appreciate even more is when creative types have a strong and unapologetic type of aesthetic. After all, I don't really care who is now dating John Mayer or who made the guest list at some celeb event. I just want to know who looked good doing it, even if it is the party planner's assistant. I digress.

So I've created a new kind of post named Mixed Media. It will cover creative types whose craft outside of fashion exudes extreme style and personal aesthetic. Today, we'll start with an all female, all keyboard band that is garnering some pretty big attention. They are Au Revoir Simone.

Originally hearing about them in a podcast, I was instantly drawn the moment I heard the band name is a reference to none other than Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. They also enjoy the unique pleasure of being dressed for shows from time to time by Samantha Pleet.

Their style is little funky, a little romantic, and reminiscent of the [city] girl next door.