THE WANDERLUSTERS

hard to be a saint in the city

2012-01-17T14:26:00.000-08:00

shot in the summer heat of manhattan in july:

models: Chantal Jones + Brita Kleingartner (LA Models)
mua: Stephanie Perez
stylist: Karen Perez
wardrobe: Rock Paper Vintage

Last Minute Gifts: Turbans!

2011-12-21T14:04:00.000-08:00

Currently Listening: Best Coast- Crazy For You

Hello all,

Remember me? Co-blogger? That other girl in the sidebar? It's me Sati! I was on a hiatus of sorts due to trying to juggle NINE medical school interviews (in EIGHT different cities across Texas...do you guys know how big Texas is?!) along with school and doing research--so in short, I've been crazy busy! BUT--all of that is over now and I am finally on winter break! So now, it is time to blog.

This will be a short one seeing as how Christmas/Hanukkah are upon us! If you're like me, you leave all of your gift shopping up to the very last minute...like...December 23rd at 8pm. So if you're still on the lookout for gifts and completely stumped as to what to give your trendy friends, look no more! Turbans! I've been obsessed with them lately because of my obsession with Sophia Loren (flawless) and 1940s fashion, and it seems as if my obsession is genetic.

Yes, these are made by my cousin, Trisha Kay Patel (Freelance fashion designer, hire her!), and can be customized to your liking--who else is going to get a custom-made designer turban for your friend this season? Yeah that's right, be original, and support my nepotism! But really, this budding new designer is talented and quick, so place your orders now!

Till Next Time,

Sati

wanderlusters // shop update

2011-12-11T00:08:00.000-08:00

For quite some time now, I've been collecting vintage pieces for my photographs, for my own closet and for sale in my shop (which can be found by clicking the images below or here). Though every now and then I've put up a thing or two, I've finally got around to curating the collection, including many things I wore and loved for quite a while, and documenting it in preparation to finally part with it. This time around, I've selected about 80 clothing items and 40 pairs of shoes from the collection which I'll be listing in my shop starting later today. Here's a peak at some of the clothing that will be available in the store soon.

In addition, I'm putting in a large print order this weekend so that I can start listing some of my more popular images in the store. I will also be taking custom orders, so if you have one or are interested in the pricing, please send me an email at rockie at rockienolan dot com !!

a bit of a tomboy

2011-12-10T03:38:00.000-08:00

Something you might not know about me is that when I was growing up, I was a pretty big tomboy. Of course, I still did some stereotypically girly things like playing dress up or house... yet still most of my time was spent climbing trees and dreaming of becoming a professional basketball player. Many stylists or people in the industry will tell you that their childhoods were spent dreaming up designs, learning to sew, etc. but I cannot say the same. Don't get me wrong, my childhood involved a lot of imaginary friends and making up games to play by myself - I once crafted a pretend bus out of two pairs of rollerskates, a chair, an old wagon and some jump-ropes - And I think it is that imagination that fueled my desire to continue being creative and never have to do a "regular job" as I grew older.

I digress, this outfit is obviously a little cooler than anything I'd probably have worn in my tomboy phase - which generally involved flipflops, a ponytail, and some cheesy t-shirt. Still though, it does make me feel less feminine as many of my vintage dresses tend to do and brought to mind memories from my more casual youth.

draped in my grandmother's quilt

2011-11-22T23:25:00.000-08:00

click here to hype on lookbook

yellow ombre dress: vintage, thrifted
detachable collar: c/o pink bullet
boots: vintage, thrifted
belt: vintage, thrifted

streetlamp lulls

2011-11-21T23:51:00.000-08:00

I'm back in Texas until January on my winter break. I'm going to be updating my etsy shop with new vintage, planning photoshoots for school and maybe arranging to have one or two here in my hometown. For now, here are two self-portraits I just took in the evening fog that's currently hovering over my street.

(sheer dress c/o american apparel)

secret flowers

2011-10-17T12:44:00.000-07:00

model // nanette m
all clothing (except white dress) // courtesy of American Apparel

summer away from home

2011-10-10T15:30:00.001-07:00

more from boston + nyc, this past summer

we had a picnic in a cemetary in boston

aaron and ghost prisms

beautiful grass where we picnicked that appeared to be covered in fairy wings or magic dust

aaron and kymbre

kymbre in a tomb area

kymbre and windowlight

aaron on my brooklyn roof

kymbre in a beautifully eclectic home we visited that was owned by two kind souls

aaron in shadows

lights that never go out

man admiring encased flowers

exhale

alix reading by a sundrenched window

our neighborhood in brooklyn at night

inside the subway looking out

a portable home office

little old woman with very little old woman legs

sheer luck

2011-09-26T16:59:00.000-07:00

The past few months have been non-stop moving for me. From Savannah, Ga to my hometown in Texas, to NYC, back to Texas and now in Atlanta. I'll be living here for the next couple of months. I'm finally getting settled in which means time to get work together!

For now, today's outfit:

sweater: h&m, shorts: thrifted then DIY cut offs, blouse: h&m, bow-tie: borrowed from boyfriend, boots: thrifted in nyc (one of my favorite finds ever)

click here to view on lookbook

the last flower in the greenhouse

2011-09-16T11:46:00.000-07:00

kymbre and I found this greenhouse while exploring the vast land that lies around the skirts of my hometown in Texas. I quickly put together clothes the night before so we could photograph here the day after. I was leaving town days after (to come to Atlanta where I'm living for a bit) and I knew it would likely be demolished by the time I return.

recent sartorial endeavors

2011-09-03T08:32:00.000-07:00

click through to view each on lookbook

all secondhand vintage

pants c/o gap, everything else thrifted

boots c/o nine west, h&m shorts, thrifted top

boots c/o nine west, everything else thrifted

Lanvin FW 2011-2012 Ad Campaign

2011-09-01T17:36:00.001-07:00

Don't mind me guys, I'm just lollin up a storm, thought you guys would enjoy this too. Video stars Raquel Zimmermann, Karen Elson, Lowell Tautchin and Milo Spijkers.

Till Next Time,

Sati

natalie + emily

2011-08-21T18:01:00.000-07:00

from a warm afternoon of adventuring around nyc with two beautiful + talented girls (who you may recognize) natalie kucken + emily tebbetts.

ps. the winner, as generated here, of the action giveaway was comment number six, Goda.

actions for sale / giveaway

2011-08-08T11:39:00.001-07:00

For those who don't know, I've been creating and selling photoshop actions for a while now! I sell them usually on etsy but I have a tumblr for my most recent set now as well.

Photoshop actions are great and simple ways to apply color quickly to images to speed along the process of retouching. Mine tend to make images look more vintage, foggy, and warm but there are an array of options for different moods. I take the steps of color retouching and record it, then all you have to do is press play to get the same effect! (Though, I prefer to change the opacity and add different ones together to get dramatic effects.)

If you're interested, you can view all of my actions, past and current on my etsy or go to pigmentations to view and order only the newest set! You buy separate actions or for a better value, in sets.

Here are some before and after previews:

before + with "blue fog" (pigmentations action)

before + with "lilac fields" (pigmentations action)

before + after with "camp fire" (pigmentations action)

Let me know what you think! I'll probably make another set for the pigmentations site in the next month as I've been tinkering around with more colors lately.

Leave a comment below and link me (either from etsy or pigmentations) to your favorite single action, no sets! I'll randomly generate a comment number and select one person to receive the one of their choice.

_______________________________________________________

the giveaway is closed! the winner, as generated here, of the action giveaway was comment number six, Goda. thanks for entering!

madeline in the city

2011-08-04T15:00:00.000-07:00

a small shoot I did with madeline a couple weeks ago. I plan to work with her more in the fall on a new series I'm planning now.

model: madeline @ factor
mua: stephanie perez
styling: karen perez
clothing: rock paper vintage

Summer Listening

2011-08-02T14:30:00.001-07:00

Summer time is the best time for a playlist, so here goes! Here are some of my favorite tracks this summer, hope they inspire your summer style and adventures.

1. Washed Out ft. Caroline Polachek- “You and I”

I think what we all noticed first was the suggestive album art and title, however despite the not so conspicuous inuendo, Ernest Greene's first album is full of beachy tracks that are made for easy listening and therefore screams "Summer".

2. Young the Giant- Strings

It's not hard to like this band and their music. Sure, it's not the most sophisticated, but it's catchy.

3. Arctic Monkeys- Hellcat Spangle Shalalala

I've loved the boys from Sheffield for a long time now and in their latest album, Suck it and See (get your head out of the gutter, it basically means give it a try), the Arctic Monkeys have really shown their development from their earlier work into a mature band. Mr. Turner's observations of the workings of young-love paired with his ability to tell a story and the band's ability to play a song combine harmoniously (lame pun intended) throughout the entire album.

4. Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros- 40 Day Dream

Awwwwww so good! Seriously, you need this song.

9. Beatles- In My Life

Every summer playlist needs a Beatles song after all, and this one is just lovely. (Super cool fan-video, I know).

Thus concludes my top 5 summer songs (for now), let me know if you think I missed any essentials!

Till Next Time,

Sati

more moments in passing

2011-07-26T23:14:00.000-07:00

I've had the pleasure of meeting a lot of people lately. Some of them are photographers as well & may even be a familiar face to you. Others I didn't get to meet & they remained strangers - but had at least the pleasure of photographing them in the moments before losing them in a crowd. Here are more from the streets of new york, some from days with friends & others I spent wandering alone.

Sorry to those who are thirsty to see a revival of fashion photographs on this blog again! I've shot & will be submitting images to magazines but they'll end up on here eventually if nowhere else. I'm also planning more tests which won't be for submissions & I'll post here straight away.

old friends in new york

2011-06-20T23:11:00.000-07:00

I'm living in new york city until august 15th. Here to shoot, test with agencies, and to do a little two-day thing in july for being one of the winners for h&m's "your art here" contest. I'm living with one of my best friends from back home in Texas, Kymbre. One of our best friends named Aaron (from our hometown but currently lives in Boston) made a quick trip to visit. Here are some candid photos.

expect many more photo updates from nyc.

flora

2011-06-07T14:56:00.000-07:00

my most recent editorial

models: cassandra poulson + estefy lopez
photography, styling, etc: rockie nolan

sleepwalking

2011-06-06T23:29:00.000-07:00

my second film, shot over two days, now online.

sleepwalking from Rockie Nolan on Vimeo.

model: evelyn rowell
music: goldmund/keith kenniff
clothing: a mixture of vintage + UO

filmed with a canon 7d + 50mm f/1.8

Flat City Designs

2011-05-27T16:12:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,

I am finally done with school, finals, and the MCAT and am enjoying my last weekend of summer vacation before I start my month-long internship in Dallas at UT Southwestern!

A few of my friends and I have finally started up a non-profity jewelry company, Flat City Designs: we design and sell jewelry and all profits go towards a selected charity! We'll be working towards a certain goal amount (For example, $500) to donate to a certain charity and then we'll switch to support another. Designs can also be customized and we welcome original design requests (we DO NOT copy other designer's work)!

We still haven't completely gotten on our feet on the floor, but here's a glimpse of what we have so far!

If you like what you see, comment or (preferably) email us at FlatCityDesigns@gmail.com! Our etsy will be up and running soon! Visit our Tumblr at, www.flatcitydesigns.tumblr.com, for more updates!

'Till Next Time,

Sati

mirror images

2011-05-14T20:22:00.000-07:00

I just like the transition from gold to pink in both my hair (bow+tips) and my outfit (sweater+shorts)

bow: thrifted
pink high waisted shorts: vintage, elizabeth arden@ARC vintage, $15 - sav, ga
gold sweater: thrifted@goodwill, ralph lauren
socks: UO
shoes: thrifted@goodwill

I finally found one of the tripod adapters to my old tripod. still no sign from my newest one. hopefully it will turn up when I clean my room.

I was originally taking the last photo to show my pink hair. I can't believe it's been so long since I've updated that I didn't even have a photo of my ombre-esque hair up. Did this a while ago. I was just adding it into my hair for a while without bleaching but I wanted it to pop more so finally took the plunge and bleached it. Before you ask: the pink is raw color: candy pink, and the bleach was with the lightning kit by manic panic.

Anyway, ended up making the last picture black and white because I'm testing out new actions to sell and this is one of them. The coloring in the first two photos will also be for sale. They came out pretty desaturated on the web though. I'll tweak it some more before putting new ones up.

I'm planning on making a trip to NYC for agency tests + assisting jobs from roughly june 15-august 15. If you are in the area, we should meet up :)

I've been working on making short films for one of my classes and I'll put some of them up. I wish I had a mk II now so I could work on more over the summer. Oh well, hopefully it will give me time to do some still work anyway.

peachy keen

2011-03-08T16:30:00.000-08:00

I should have left my hair down in these photos like it was all day. Also I should have worn the shoes I wore this morning but they kept sliding off my feet because my tights were so slick against them.

click here to view these on lookbook

vintage silk top: $4, thrifted
vintage sheer floral cape: $1, thrifted
vintage velvet shorts: $1 (thrifted on my trip to NYC!)
shoes: thrifted (originally from K-mart in the 90s, I'm pretty sure...)

I'm currently working on a self portrait project. I'm still retouching the rest but I'll have them done by the weekend. I tend to put work up on my facebook page before any other place now, so look there if you are interested!

Spring 2011 Inspiration: Chloe & Celine

2011-02-08T21:25:00.000-08:00

Currently Listening to: "Is This Love? (Cover)"- Corinne Bailey Rae

Just the latest Chloe ad campaign (below) was enough to suck me in--seems like both Celine and Chloe are sampling each other's styles this season. Chloe seems to be drawing from a mix of Phoebe Philo's minimalism with Sofia Coppola's ease, while still sticking to beige, brown and taupe--there's a difference, when it comes to Chloe, you know.

Many, myself included, were eager to see Phoebe Philo's creations for Spring 2011 after her ridiculously influential 2010 Resort Collection for Celine that I keep blabbering on an on about. The 2011 Spring RTW seems to keep with the clean lines from the summer, but it also includes some pieces that pay homage to '70s tennis gear. Nevertheless, the denim trend executed by Lanvin this season as well made a cameo in the show and screamed nothing less than "minimalism takes denim to a new level".

Hoping these five looks left you feeling as inspired as I was when I first saw them--let us know what your sources of Spring 2011 personal style are too!

Till Next Time,

Sati

What REALLY Happened

2011-01-22T23:43:00.001-08:00

Currently Listening to: Blue Beard- Band of Horses, from Infinite Arms.

Currently Reading: Half Broke Horses- Jeanette Walls

I'm really tired of all the "BEST DRESSEDGOLDEN GLOBES" lists...mostly because of Olivia Wilde's position in the best dressed (...ugh). So I've come up with my own list of best, worst and mediocre.

Getting over the bad stuff first,

1. OLIVIA WILDE IN MARCHESA. As you may well know, I like Marchesa, a lot, and this ruined it. I'm not sure if this is Olivia Wilde or a 15 year old going to the prom who forgot to get her hair done. I really hate ball gowns to begin with so this didn't really start out well for me. To me, ball gowns are only acceptable for royalty/going to royal events...so this was a fail. Plus, why the gold heels? Thirteen, you could do better.

2. An Alien dresed as Tilda Swinton in Jil Sander. I mean. Um....whatever.

The Mediocre

1. Oh look...Emma Stone came to the Golden Globes in Calvin Klein

She tried out the minimalist movement. Oh Emma, didn't you learn anything from the Celine 2011 Resort Collection? You needed a cuff/bangle of some sort, girl.

2. Blair Waldorf in Burberry Prorsum. A lot of people put her on the worst dressed list, but I don't think it's terrible. It's just monochromatic, Leighton knows better.

3. Claire Danes does minimalism RIGHT in Calvin Klein--see how far a bangle goes Emma?

I picked three Best Dressed because one wasn't enough (they're not in order)

1. Jackie Burkhart knows Vera Wang is what's up.

2.Rachel Zoe...er, Anne Hathaway, Marc Jacobs. Let's give credit where credit is due.

3. January Jones in Valentino. She wore red and managed not to blend in with the carpet.

I know this list came late, but whatever. I'm just gearing up for the Academy Awards. Let us know what your worst, mediocre, and best were!

Till Next Time,

Sati

Image Sources: 1, 2

city sidewalks

2011-01-17T15:18:00.000-08:00

From mid November to mid December, I had the pleasure of living in NYC. I visited with my boyfriend Christopher. We both interned at the wonderful agency, Jed Root! Everything about the trip was great. I wish I would have been able to book a shoot or two with some models, but between interning and trying to see the city for the first time, it did not happen. I'm certain that NY is where I will move when I graduate from college (in a year and a half !!), so there will be plenty of time for NYC model shoots then.

For two afternoons I got to meet up with Micaela (who is in the first side by side images below) of The Drifter and the Gypsy. We roamed the streets as wanderlusters and gypsys often do ;). Some of these photos are from those days and some are days I spent alone.

I also had the pleasure of meeting some other beautiful people like Tiffany from Rock Paper Vintage. I have a handful of instax picture which I'll post as soon as I get around to scanning them in.

I lost a handful of images from central park because they were overwritten by other images when I wasn't paying attention. Oh well, at least a few survived and made it in.

I can't wait to be back.

xo,
Rockie

happy new year!

2010-12-30T15:54:00.000-08:00

hey guys,

we made a little video for you. sorry that we couldn't be like normal people and just cut out all the mistakes. instead we added some of them in so you can bask in our awkwardness. take note of the TOTALLY AWESOME (ridiculously corny) film strip feature. seriously, I'm not sure why it took us over ten tries to make what should have been a fifteen second clip... but here you are:

I promise that sati and I don't normally sound like we are news casters reading off a script or something.

Here's to the new year! Thanks for keeping up with our blog even when we haven't.

xoxo,
the wanderlusters

christmas eve

2010-12-24T16:58:00.000-08:00

Supposedly it is Christmas Eve. I don't think Texas got that memo yet because it was sunny and 50 today. Last year we had a white Christmas but it's not looking good this year. Honestly, I don't mind. I hate wearing pants and if I can wear shorts a week before January, I'm certainly not complaining.

sunglasses: some vintage boutique in sav

vintage bib blouse: thrifted
vintage velvet shorts: thrifted
socks: urban outfitters
wedges: h&m

I realized I didn't take any detail shots, so here is a shady webcam picture of the bib on the blouse:

and here I am. As rudolph?

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas! Build a snowman and sled down a hill for me. (I've actually never gotten to sled since it's so flat here, that even when it does snow, there is no slope D:)

xoxo,
rockie

keeping it simple

2010-12-06T18:19:00.000-08:00

pink wrap scarf: h&m, $12
vintage tan blouse: thrifted, $2
faux leather jacket: t.j.maxx? $10 I don't actually recall... hah.
vintage brown roper boots: thrifted, $2

Just a quick update from here in Queens. This afternoon the sky began to flurry but no snow stuck. I don't imagine that any will before Christopher and I leave in two weeks, but who knows! This is just a simple outfit, nothing too fancy going on. Today I ventured out to another part of Queens for some thrifting and got a bag of goodies for under $8! I'll have to share those and some of my other finds (like an amazing pair of pants I got from Zara) soon. I've got a ton of photographs from the streets of NY to edit and share, as well!

OH. PS. If you missed it, I did a restyling of one dress 4 different ways last week for the drifter and the gypsy blog Go take a peek at that in case you missed it!

xoxo,
Rockie

CRISIS: A PLEA FOR YOUR HELP!

2010-10-28T07:53:00.000-07:00

"For me, an area of moral clarity is: you're in front of someone who's suffering and you have tools at your disposal to alleviate that suffering, or even eradicate it, and you act"- Paul Farmer, M.D

Some of you may have heard of the recent Cholera outbreak in Haiti, as of today (a few minutes ago, to be precise) according to the BBC, death tolls have hit 300. THREE HUNDRED PEOPLE HAVE DIED. Cholera is easily exacerbated in a nation like Haiti where water resources are not regulated as tightly as they are in more developed nations.

To help fight the spread of this disease (By the way, a Cholera infection is a miserable way to die--essentially death by dehydration, which of course includes dysentery), DONATE NOW to a RELIABLE, truly NON-profit organization, Partners in Health. CLICK HERE TO HELP!!!!

Some Info on PIH

PIH was founded notably by Dr. Paul Farmer, Dr. Jim Yong Kim and Ophelia Dahl (you know, author Roald Dahl's daughter) in 1987 and their efforts have been TIRELESS in helping the nation. They've been in Haiti since the'80s and have worked for NO INCOME-- purely for the sake of helping this desolate nation. For more on PIH, you can visit their website, www.pih.org, or I would highly recommend reading Tracy Kidder's biopic piece on Paul Farmer, Mountains Beyond Mountains.

I am in no way being endorsed by Partners in Health--this is purely a cry for help from YOU for someone who has no voice right now. Think of if this was happening to your family, or your nation, or even to you. As someone in the position to reach a large number of people, I'm PLEADING for your help. You've stood by our blog from the days when we were still just a little Tumblr, and we thank you for your loyalty. Global health care is something I'm passionate about, and I hope that I can relate to even just ONE reader the impact that YOU can have, sitting at your laptop right now, on someone's life just by donating some cash! Even a $1 donation will help. PLEASE DONATE NOW!!

Thanks for reading,

Sati

MARCHESA

2010-09-16T00:20:00.000-07:00

MARCHESAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yours Truly,

Sati <3

Fallspiration

2010-08-13T00:14:00.000-07:00

Currently Listening: "My Boy Builds Coffins"- Florence and the Machine. I feel like I'm the last person to have heard of this band. For lovers of Imogen Heap & Feist, I highly recommend the lovely tunes of Florence Welch, make sure you check out the link! Also, here's an alternate version of the song, it's more morose/bluesy.

Currently Reading: Eat, Pray, Love- Elizabeth Gilbert. Yes, I jumped on the bandwagon and am racing time to finish the book before I go see the movie.

Since about the beginning of my sophomore year of college, I've floated towards a new ism--keep it realism (I think it's a facebook group too?). School is hard enough along with whatever other curve-balls get sent our way, be it that annoying bro dude who keeps telling me about his awesome weekend where he and his friends got so drunk and stole all the street signs in their neighborhood--like I really care to listen, or trying to become a modern day Renaissance woman while balancing my personal and academic career. So, in short, I've become rather laid back, as reflected by my wardrobe.

Somewhere in the midst of flicking through the Fall 2010 Ready to Wear (RTW) collections I realized my style is rather conservative. I don't like furry, shiny, neon-y things. I like classic cuts, linens, silk, chunky sweaters, black--in short, anything I can throw on. Like Coco Chanel once said, "Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and remove one accessory"--I wear the same accessories daily, a bracelet and ring from my aunt and grandmother, respectively. Occasioanlly I'll throw on a watch but otherwise, I keep it simple, and that's probably why my Fall 2010 favorites were also simple.

As we take a look back to '90s inspired style and clogs, crop tops and oversized everything infiltrate the runways and Forever 21s near you (although, I'm still not sure how I feel about the clogs), remember, keep it clean, simple and to the point.

First stop on the Fallspiration train: Dries Van Noten. YESSSSSSSSSSSS!

Second stop, Marc Jacobs resurrects the '50s, one of the best sources for simplicity and flattering cuts. Should be an easy trend to thrift too.

Note- I included the shiny gown because although it's shiny, the simple cinched waist and flattering cut have made it too pretty that it'd be a shame NOT to mention it!

BUT WAIT! I'm not a complete plain Jane. Although my wardrobe may not, in its entirety, be glam rock in nature, I think it's always important to have a few key pieces to pair with simple things, you know, like an embellished sweater or vest or maybe a ridiculous necklace? Anyways, here's my salute to the outrageously glamorous as manifested by Givenchy Couture 2010: Baroque inspired from head to toe, or as a my European History teacher called the movement, "Looks like gold threw up on it, but in a good way!"

The cool thing about couture, is although it's usually extremely avant garde, too much for the Average Joe like you or me to pull off, you can't help but admire it. The meticulous effort and beauty resulting from the precision is something we can't afford to ever ignore. So even though I like to dress simple, I do adore complexity too.

Till Next Time,

Sati

1, 2

mama told me not to talk to strangers

2010-08-12T22:54:00.000-07:00

amazing sequin jacket: borrowed from rock paper vintage
lace top: dkny, thrifted
black skirt: thrifted, salvation army
platform shoes: no boundaries, thrifted

straight hair: what?!? yeah. decided to put my straightener to use for the first time in... forever.

I am currently in possession of a whole bunch of amazing RPV goodies to shoot for them. Couldn't resist wearing this amazing sequin jacket today! I have big plans for all the great things they sent. Can't wait to shoot some girls decked out in them! The good news for you is that I'm not keeping them, just playing dress up with them for a while, so you will be able to get your hands on everything from them I post!

xoxo,
Rockie

cats and sequins and oh my god floral doc martens

2010-08-10T20:18:00.000-07:00

everything that is good in the world.

my cat was not pleased at all about being a model. I had to put her on this chair and brush her inbetween shots to calm her down. such a prissy thing

outfit deets:
shirt: ann taylor button up
sequin/beaded jacket: vintage, thrifted
black skirt: target
and...

FLORAL DOC MARTENS ZOMG: nordstrom

today all my hopes and dreams came true and these floral doc martens came in the mail.
I've also been wanting to take pictures with my cat for a while now. her name is elizabeth (or lizzie) and I've had her for about 13 years.

one month left of summer and I'm doing some collaborations (one with the wonderful Rock Paper Vintage again) and lots of shoots which I'll be posting here first!

xoxo,

Rockie

creative rut

2010-07-28T08:06:00.000-07:00

Probably the worst feeling as an artist is the feeling of being unable to create. Lately I've felt held back. I have pages and page full of ideas to shoot, yet I can't for the life of me find either the props I need or the locations I want to make these happen. Location seems to be what is really holding me back at this point. (this being the reason my 365 failed yet again after a few days)

I'm very tired of shooting in fields/forests/etc. It is what I tend to fall into because living in a small town in Texas, that's what is available. Savannah is similar in this except there I have a few more indoor options with access to college buildings etc.

Another thing holding me back is a lack of models. I spent most of last summer shooting self-portraits daily but I don't find them satisfying anymore. They are convenient when lacking models and it's always nice that when acting as photographer and model as you know exactly what you want the pose/emotion to be. Now they just feel redundant and make me unhappy with how I look. This is part of why I haven't been shooting as many daily lookbook shots as last summer. Even though I don't consider those to be as serious as my portfolio work, it's equally as frustrating to be unhappy with yourself in photographs.

Sometimes it feels unfair that so many people are so fortunate to grow up in cities that are completely filled with art. To live in a place where there are multiple modeling agencies to test with, stylists to collaborate with, creative people to work with. In my town, we have ONE agency that only shoots one extreme to the other - bikini lad girls covered in oil or really awful photographs you'd find in a high school yearbook. I am very envious of everyone in better situations but I'm trying not to let it bring me down and I'm trying to make the best of what I have been given.

I'm trying to work on finding new locations in a small town I've lived in nearly my whole life, trying to be inspired by the things I've owned for years, and trying to enjoy shooting the face I see everyday.

I'm going to drive and walk around and take notes of things and try to look at everything in a new light and hope things start to click soon. What do you do to get out of creative ruts? Any tips?

xoxo,
rockie

under construction

2010-07-26T21:59:00.000-07:00

working on a new design for the blog! please excuse any messy design elements until everything is finished!

xoxo wanderlusters

one pieces

2010-07-25T23:42:00.000-07:00

Sati and I got together this sunday to shoot together (something we intend to do more often before summer is up!). We only ended up shooting for about ten minutes because there were a million mosquitos and ants, though. Usually when shooting self-portraits I take about 30 minutes, so it was a bit of a stretch getting it done. We managed though! (even though sati got 500 bites and probably west nile)

Sati is wearing:
1. SPLASH COLOR TANK LEOTARD // c/o we love colors, www.welovecolors.com
2. SUNGLASSES // borrowed from me, t'was way too bright out.
3. MINI SKIRT // oxford and regent, jcp
4. PONCHO/CAPE // UO
5. STUDDED BELT // heirloom

(check out her look and follow Sati here on lookbook)

I like the way the black calms down the bright colors of the leotard. I think it could also work with lots of colors, just a complete color overload, too. I might have to borrow it from her soon.

and I am wearing:
1. VINTAGE SWIMSUIT // thrifted
2. VINTAGE HIGHWAISTED SHORTS // yard sale -(paid $8 for them and it included a little light blazer that has a full lace back. I'll definitely be wearing it soon)
3. WOVEN HAT // thrifted

(see also on loobook here)

I've been playing around with taming my bangs to stay down. They naturally wave to the side so it's been a challenge. I don't know that I really prefer them this way but for now it is sufficing my desire to dramatically change my hair and chop it alll off.

We also saw this little horny toad hanging out by a cactus while we were leaving. I've lived in Texas all my life and hadn't seen one til then.

Burberry Brothers

2010-07-21T15:09:00.001-07:00

Current Jams: Jolene by Dolly Parton
Don't even judge, I'm re-discovering Dolly's greatness--she's a feminist in her own right with a pretty little southern voice :}

Seriously, WHERE HAVE I BEEN???? You must think this is Rockie's blog with an occasional snippit from me every now and then, but I'm trying!! I've finished my internship and am now fully immersed in summer school--don't you just LOVE trying to graduate on time?

Anyways, with all the recent releases in Menswear, I've become quite inspired by the men and not so much the ladies, as far as my casual wear goes. I've been especially inspired by Burberry Prorsum's Spring 2011 Menswear collection:

In the first look (left), Burberry sets off the slacks with man-glads (gladiators for males) and tops off the plain T with an embellished jacket, giving us their representation of the hip, casual male. The second look is more of a kickback, in my opinion, to the 1950s male upgraded via leather chain belt. BOTH looks which you can easily achieve (can we talk about how much I love those man-glads, b-t-dubs???).

The third look updates the '50s male further updating the sweater vest, making instead, a leather-vest, :D. And finally, look #4 ties in all elements--casual, hip male, 1950s, modern interpretation--to give us the guy whose trousers you want to steal and whose jacket Karen O would wear (see!).

Overall, I think it's safe to say that I would wear any of these outfits. Literally. I don't care if it's meanswear, in fact I think there's a lot to gain from the designer men's lines. For fall then, to shake up your wardrobe, I'd suggest mixing crisp with grunge like Cristopher Bailey did here for Burberry. So go ahead, mix fine linen trousers (tapered of course!), a silk/flowy blouse, and a black leather belt/vest/wristband, and maybe even something studded to go all the way to interpret this look.

Email us (thewanderlusters@gmail.com) your best interpretation of this look and we'll feature our favorite in an upcoming entry!

Till Next Time,

Sati

people always look better in the sun

2010-07-10T22:09:00.000-07:00

my 365 (day four now!) for the day doubled as a style shot, rather convenient.

RIDICULOUS VINTAGE FLORAL HAT, GIFT FROM MUMSY
FLORAL SWEETHEART TOP, $1, THRIFTED, BLESSINGDALES
RODARTE FOR TARGET, $9, THRIFTED, FOUND AT SAVERS! WOO :D
VINTAGE CLOGS - VINTAGE QUALICRAFT CIRCA THE 70s, BUY THEM HERE: ETSY.COM/SHOP/MILKPLUSHONEY

the title is a reference to a SOKO song. She is an adorable and silly French singer with an equally adorable French accent. Have a listen to her by clicking here. It's a link to the song "I will never love you more" featuring such great lyrics as these:

"I will never love you more than singing in the shower

I will never love you more than my Mac computer
I will never love you more than having a daughter
I will never love you more than peanut butter"

have truer words ever been spoken? I think not.

pitter-pattern

2010-07-08T19:04:00.000-07:00

get it? like pitter patter? cause it's been raining here so much that it's actually flooding a little bit in texas thanks to all the great rain. and cause I'm wearing different patterns. okay? okay.

metallic splash print tights: c/o we love colors

vintage ann taylor sweet heart belly shirt: thrifted

vintage floral print shirt: thrifted

black skirt: thrifted

I have heard many great things about We Love Colors from lots of great bloggers I follow and I finally got a chance to slip some on myself. They are really thick and I love them so far! So many of my other tights are too thin and tear. This is probably the second pair of tights I've ever owned that felt like they could withstand the fury of my dog's paws upon me walking in the door to my home.

Also, patterned tights are a good way of mixing patterns without seeming quite so overwhelming, I feel.

Sati got an awesome tye dye leotard from WLC that we'll show you soon. It's pretty perfect for summer, I might be just a little jealous (I might just steal it from her)

birfday suit

2010-07-02T06:30:00.000-07:00

1. VINTAGE SHADES, $2, THRIFTED
2. SEQUIN JACKET
3. BLACK ZIPPER POCKETED SKIRT, $2, THRIFTED, SALVATION ARMY
4. DOC MARTENS, $8, THRIFTED, GOODWILL

Scored those docs yesterday at goodwill. Pretty much every day of my life that I go to a thrift store I pray that I will somehow find floral dr martens. I'm pretty sure if that ever happens, I will give up thrifting as I will no longer have a purpose.

Anyway, this outfit is a little different than usual for me. Trying to get away from wearing the same vintage dress paired with some vintage belt combination that I've fallen into. This outfit kinda reminds me of a crazier Daria (I was her for halloween, ha)

Yesterday was my birthday and now I'm twenty. That sounds way too old for my taste. I'm halfway to fourty, no longer a teenager, and basically an old hag on the way to the grave, woo.

xoxo,

Rockie

Introducing: Milk + Honey

2010-06-24T21:17:00.000-07:00

Well well well, it is finally time I opened up my vintage shop to the public: I have titled it Milk + Honey

The name was inspired by the wonderful Gracie who is a fellow photographer and the blogger behind "Things to smile about". She suggested a few names including Honey and jam and Milky moon vintage. I kind of just combined these to be "Milk + Honey". As it so happens, Gracie has her own etsy that you should all check out at: goosie gander. Right now she has a few letter sets that are precious! As her thank you prize for helping me with the naming, I'm giving her $25 to my shop (redeemable for as long at the shop is open, so no rush). Thanks for all the great suggestions from everyone else though. If you were hoping for a discount of some sort, don't be too bummed yet. I'm going to have more offers soon (especially some that are specifically for my twitter followers in the near future, hint hint)

Now, I originally had every intention of creating a website on my own that was not through Etsy. However, that was going to take way way way longer. I probably wouldn't have gotten anything together until mid-July. If everything goes well with this etsy shop, I will definitely work on opening up an actual website, though.

There are only about 12 listings so far (my favorite item being this pair of boots, I'm obsessed with roper boots!) not a huge variety in sizes yet, but I promise there will be more soon! I have a big box full of shoes I need to go through and plenty of clothes that I've not yet listed. I plan on updating each week so this is just a small portion of the summer. It also just so happens that the items I picked to put up first happened to be some of the more expensive things I have. There will be many more listings for under $20 coming soon!

If you have any size/item/etc requests, then let me know and I will happily keep my eyes out. Then if I find what you've wanted I can reserve it for you in my shop.

Also, feel free to ignore that my face looks less than thrilled. I wasn't too happy about modeling the clothes and photographing at the same time, but it works... Anyway, I've been going to sleep before midnight the past few days, so I'll go do that now. I'll probably add a few more things to the shop tomorrow.

Thanks again, Gracie! I couldn't find your email, so drop me one and I'll give you the information about how the etsy transaction will work!

xoxo,

Rockie

generic VS. vintage VS. thrifted VS. sale rack

2010-06-24T10:00:00.000-07:00

today I'm wearing:

click here to view on lookbook

denim jacket: vintage DKNY

baby blue button up: gift from my mother, anne taylor

black spandex pants: thrifted years ago

scarf turned into a bow: vintage, thrifted

brown chunky sandals: thrifted (originally from walmart)

teeny purse: vintage (only $1.50! YES!)

My dog Macy kept running into the frame so I picked her up and made her take pictures with me. She then left me alone :P

chunkyyy

I've been wanting to wear this scarf like this for a while now and finally had an outfit that it went with, I'm pretty excited.

So something that has been on my mind for a while now is the great vintage debate. A while ago I received an anonymous comment from someone on my tumblr that was something like this:

"how do you/we REALLY know what you are buying is vintage? I bet it is all from walmart and you are just lying! LOLOL vintage is NOT CHEAP"

I basically replied by reminding them that there is this great little invention called "clothing tags" which inform a shopper who made the item. It's pretty obvious the difference between a modern label from a big company and a vintage tag. Not to mention the way clothes look is a pretty good sign in most cases. Also, if you say vintage is not cheap, then you must live only around antique/vintage shops and not thriftier places because there is plenty of cheap vintage clothing.

Regardless, I really do not care if something I wear is exclusively vintage or not. Now, that's not to say that I would ever list something as "vintage" if I did not have plenty of reason to believe (almost always meaning the tag is vintage or it was owned by someone in my family decades ago) but if there was something at walmart that I really liked, I would just buy it and say I purchased it there. If it matches my style, then why not? For instance, these shoes that I'm wearing are tagged "no boundaries". I'm pretty certain that is one of walmart's apparel brands. I'm not going to go off tagging them as vintage just because I found them at a thrift store - but I am not going to turn them down just because they are from walmart and not 30 years old.

This brings me to something that irks me lately: when people tag items that they've bought on a sale rack firsthand as "thrifted". THIS IS NOT THRIFTING. Yes, it is very "thrifty" of you to purchase these items, but generally thrifting refers to buying secondhand items. It's quite often that I'll see a girl wearing something that I KNOW just came out in Urban Outfitters sale section tagged as "thrifted". I'm not sure if this phenomenon has started because people don't realize what thrifting means or if it is because they think it will seem "cooler" if it was purchased at a thrift shop. Now, this obviously doesn't really affect me in any way, so I'm not going to go screaming at people and calling them out when it happens because I'm sure there are times when someone has actually thrifted something from a salvation army type store while urban outfitters was still selling it, but I know some repeat offenders who do this multiple times and I just don't see the point.

I don't think everyone needs to go off showing their receipts and tags and what not for all of their purchases; I just think everyone should be honest about what you wear because if you wear it well then who cares whether it's from Chanel or Goodwill or Walmart or the dumpster behind your house. If you really don't want to let people know where you get things, then I'd say it's probably better to just not say anything than to sway people to believe it was from somewhere else.

/end rant

xoxox,

rockie

dejalo

2010-06-23T10:54:00.000-07:00

dress: vintage, purchased at a goodwill that sells by the pound.

shades: thrifted, savers $3

belt: thrifted, blessingdales, $1

I've been pretty absent for the past few weeks, sorry for that! I'm working on the shop and getting it ready to open up. I've picked out a name, have been photographing the clothes, and sizing everything. I technically could have it open now, but it would just be shoes and I don't really want that... eh. I'm guessing that by Friday I'll release the link and name (including a winner who inspired the name and will get a discount!)

Found this dress last summer but never wore it. It was down to my feet and looked like a paper sack but I loved the print on it. Today I chopped off the bottom and I love it now. I'll probably hem it up properly soon but I like how it looks for now.

I'm going to go work more on the shop and plan out a shoot that I'm hoping to do soon! Hope everyone is having a good summer so far.

xoxo,

Rockie

Mom Jeans & Celine

2010-06-12T11:18:00.000-07:00

Currently Listening to: Grapevine Fires- Death Cab for Cutie; It's hard for me to imagine that I'll ever get tired of listening to this song. Check out the link, hopefully you'll like it as much as I do!

Running along with the whole business professional theme, I have to dress business casual for most of this week and I'm guessing at least a few more times in the weeks that follow.

This is what I wore today,

Sorry for the great photo quality and amazing scenery. I'm using my friend's macbook's photobooth and the setting is my apartment style dorm room. Specs on the outfit are that the pants were my mother's in her glory days: fine tan linen with a slight tapering at the bottoms (yes!). The blouse is a sheer navy with a leaf print on it-- I know it's hard to see, but you'll probably see it again sometime later. To top off the look, I borrowed one of my roommate's brown leather heels.

As I'm a moderately tall person (5'7.5"), the only shortcoming of these trousers are that they're my mother's length, a woman who is 3 inches shorter than me. Personally, it didn't bother me at all, but apparently one of the guys here thought it was necessary to point out that I looked like I was wearing mom jeans. Thanks for that? First of all--they're trousers, not denim. Second, I felt comfortable in what I was wearing, so it really doesn't matter. Moral of the story: never feel discouraged when a guy wearing black from head to toe and a violently purple tie tells you you look outdated. Or anyone for that matter, I know sometimes you can get funny looks at the grocery store (depending on where you live), but I hope none of you get discouraged from taking a risk when a tact-less peer or concerned grandma buying a bag of Famous Amos decides to voice their opinion.

Anyways, my internship (It's a pre-medical internship btw, not biology) from here on out should become a lot less stressful now that we've completed our first taste of medical school level anatomy, so I've decided to start blogging about my style ventures into the business professional world alongside what I wish I was wearing instead.

So today I wish I was wearing this lovely piece by Celine from their 2011 Resort Collection. Sleek and simple and well put together. This entire collection pretty much follows those guidelines with lots of color blocking, brights, and subtle accessories. I strongly recommend you check out the collection here.

Well I really must be going now to study some more, but I will sincerely try to update this more and more and not leave Rockie all to her lonesome!

'Till Next Time,

Sati

IMAGE THEFT by a popular store, wanna help?

2010-06-07T16:17:00.001-07:00

I was informed over the weekend that one of my photographs (an image uploaded to flickr, deviantART and lookbook) was recently stolen by a big clothing company and is now being sold on shirts in Europe.

This is the shirt

The company in question is RESERVED. You can click the link and go to their website. They have many shirts listed there but mysteriously enough, the shirt that has the ripped photograph on it is not listed. Perhaps on purpose? Quite possible.

If you live in Europe or anywhere that there is a reserved store near you (you can find a store locator on the site) I would love it if you could go in and see if they are selling the shirt. I cannot find out for myself since I am located in the United States. If you spot this shirt, I'd love if you could take a camera phone/other picture and email it to me at the email address listed on the sidebar! If you can, I'd love to know the shops location and how much they are selling it for, too.

I do not intend on suing them yet as I hope they will resolve this by giving me credit and compensation before we have to take it there, but the company that owns the store has not yet responded to my email inquiring about the image theft. I will be sure to keep you updated on what happens!

Everyone should be on the lookout as your own image posted to the blogosphere/lookbook/ANYWHERE can easily be victim of this type of theft. I'm guessing they hired a designer who didn't think I'd ever see the image being in the United States and all... but who really knows. I'm just hoping this can all be settled in a civil manner!

xoxo,
Rockie

Business Cats

2010-06-02T17:24:00.000-07:00

listen to: business cats by mika miko

vintage sequin jacket: thrifted, ON SALE SOON!
shoes: vintage, little boys dress shoes
shirt: (not visible but a cat graphic) h&m
skirt: charlotte ronson
headband: thrifted (though it was actually meant for home decor, not a head, hah)

So I've been doing a lot of shopping for new vintage items and going through my closet because within the next couple of weeks I will be opening a vintage shop online. I probably will only be able to manage doing it through summer (until september) since school takes up so much time, but I figure it would be a good way to ease up some of the closet clutter as well as make some money so I can make it to NY for an internship this coming fall.

My main problem right now is coming up with a name! I am totally stuck! Everything I can think of already has a shop on ebay or etsy (though mine will not be tied to either, still wouldn't do that!) So I'm asking for suggestions when it comes to names! If you suggest a name that I decide to pick (or use a variation of), then I'll give you $25 credit to the shop when it's open as well as a little feature on this blog!

I'm partial to names that are "adjective noun vintage" or "noun & noun vintage" or maybe just dropping the word vintage all together? ahhh. just so braindead! All I know is that I don't want my name to be in the title. Any suggestions you have would be wonderful!

I'll show you guys a preview of some of the other things I have to sell in the shop in another post this week!

Definitely going to sell this jacket but it will probably be one of the pricier things I list since it's in really good condition still, we'll see though. Plenty to do in terms of setting the site up online before I get there!

xoxo,
Rockie

sunshine lady

2010-06-01T19:40:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the drive by blogging last night! I was all ready to sit down and blog when I remembered I was supposed to meet friends for coffee!

Top: thrifted from blessingdales charity shop
Shorts: thrifted from goodwill
Shoes: thrifted from savers (HALF OFF SALE THIS WEEKEND!)

Seriously in love with these ankle wrap shoes. I spent an embarrassing amount of time trying to find something to wear with them since my closet is lacking in the yellow department. I'm definitely keeping my eyes out for golden items to pair these with so I can wear them more often!

So, while shooting for this entry yesterday this creeper was walking towards me in the park. When I see creepers while I’m shooting self-portraits, I immediately begin to pretend like I’m just shooting the park/birds/whatever and not myself since that’s super awkward. But really instead of shooting I am clicking the button while watching the person in the camera screen so I can see if they are going to come up behind me, so I can be prepared to rack them or.. something… painful…

Anyway, so I’m watching this guy’s reflection from my camera screen and as I am watching him walk, he suddenly goes behind a tree and stays there. Yeah. he thinks I didn’t see him go there and hide since my back was turned on him, but he was just watching me from behind a tree….

Yeah, pretty awkward. Has anyone else experienced major creeps when shooting for their blogs/anything else? or are they all too busy in Texas creepin on me? Surely some of you readers have other entertaining stories pertaining to creepin, tell us!

I'll have another post later tonight with my look from today + information about my shop that I'm opening up online soon, so keep an eye out for that!

xoxo,
Rockie

Georgia Peaches

2010-05-31T18:10:00.000-07:00

the past month has been CHAOS!

photoshoots and finals and art projects and 7 page papers about how digital manipulation is ruining the world and and and uhhhh.

SATI CAME TO VISIT ME!

Some people were under the impression that Sati and I had never met before she came to visit me recently in Georgia, but it's quite the opposite. We have been close friends ever since we were hollister shoppin fools back in 8th grade at the same school. We're both from Lubbock Texas and we are both living here for the summer. (except she will be living in dorms doing this intense bio internship for a month!) She decided to come visit since it was a good get away before she started her internship. It was really exciting to show her around and introduce her to my Georgia friends since none of my other Texas friends have been to where I've been living the past 2 years before.

Here are finally some pictures from her visit, nothing too crazy with the outfits:

Sati!

Moi

us on the river! (a bunch of old people kept offering to take the picture for us since we were doing self-timer... but I didn't trust their shaky little hands with my massive camera, so this works)

best Gyro ever at Olympia Express

and we obviously bought 8 of these awesomely relevant shirts

I wish we had more time to hang out there, but I was loaded with finals to do!

Luckily we are back in Texas now and will have plenty of time to hang/post!

My goal is to update once each day all summer long (I start my junior year of college mid-september) so we'll see how that goes. I think Sati has some photographs from the beach and stuff, so we'll probably have some others to add to this entry soon. We'll definitely be doing some joint posts, photoshoots together, and video blogs this summer. Stay tuned! Coming this week I'll post some of my unreleased photo work from this past semester.

XOXO,

Rockie

Business Clothes?

2010-05-30T00:15:00.000-07:00

Currently Listening: "Everlasting Light"- The Black Keys from their new album Brothers. It's epic. I love The Black Keys and am so stoked (yeah, so much that I just used the word "stoked") to see them in October!!! Check them out, or at least the link I've posted!

My inspiration for this post is the month-long internship I'll be starting tomorrow. For the past year I've struggled desperately with finding business formal wear for interviews, internships, and the like, that are still stylish without being over the top (science majors freak out if you wear something edgy). I always used to see business majors running in and out of the McCombs School of Business building (UT Austin reference, holla!) wearing black patent leather stilletto heels (ew), flare bottom black slacks, and some variation of a white button down, and I would think to myself, is that seriously my only option?

On my long journey to find the middle between these two extremes (fashionable and well...hm...bland?) I've compiled some inspirations to help jazz up this style genre in need of serious revamping! Hopefully this will help you on your search to find professional wear without having to succumb to New York and Co. flare bottom slacks and a pastel colored button down shirt that sticks out like a box around your body.

1. Naeem Khan Fall 2010 Ready to Wear

Velvet is your friend, just this once.

I've always held a certain stigma towards velvet, usually I just think of gymnastics leotards and those black dresses your mom would make you wear to her office Christmas party (you know the one). But I think with embellishment as seen by Mr. Khan in the form of even a simple brooch you could easily liven up a simple outfit. I recently found a black velvet blazer of my mom's that I plan on pairing with tan (tapered!) slacks, an off-white embellished silk tank and black heels to pull off this look.

2. Chloé Fall 2010 RTW

Flares done right.

Still feel uncomfortable without those NY & Co flares? Or can't find a good, cost effective, tapered pair of slacks (aka the bane of my existence)? Get influenced by the '70s! After all, that's what Chloé did for this season, from the big, blown out hair to the bell bottoms. Go for tweeds and turtlenecks and try to match your pants and top. I would probably add a belt to that mix too. Make it truly disco inspired and wear it around your hips. So go ahead, make your mother proud!

At worst, someone (that guy who thinks he's the funniest thing since those quirky egg shaped eggbeaters) will ask you if you're dressed up for decade day, ignore the fool.

3. I-have-a-huge-crush-on-Joseph-Gordon-Levitt: Vests!
(image source)
Okay. Okay. Okay. For the record, this was not an excuse to put up a picture of JGL.

But down to business, why can't we wear sweater vests?! I think a sweater vest on top of that hideous shape defying button down blouse paired with gray slacks would be adorable on men and women alike (as seen in 500 Days of Summer)! Maybe add a brooch to the mix too (what, I like brooches). Many secondhand stores are full of vests, so this would be both cost effective and chic.

4. Rachel Roy Spring 2010 RTW

Rachel Roy wants you to know, TWICE, that it's okay to be matchy matchy. I prefer the solid black look on Lakshmi (right) to keep from stirring up too much attention. I would also encourage any solid neutral look, like solid beige, gray, tan (yeah, beige and tan are totally different), and maybe even white...maybe.

Well I hope this helps inspire you if you're on a quest for business formal wear and how to jazz it up if you've already got some!

Are there any major inspirations I've missed? Let me know!

Till Next Time,

Sati

All image sources are the same source unless otherwise indicated.

ZOMG

2010-05-14T18:48:00.000-07:00

UPDATE
I, Sati, am now in Georgia. Get ready for the obnoxious shenanigans.
(end update)

countdown til summer and no more classes for me and tons of time to spend loving up this neglected blog:
THIRTEEN DAAAAYYSSS

countdown til sati gets to savannah and we go on adventure + blogging madness
LESS THAN A WEEK, YOU GUYS. LESS THAN A WEEK.

MUMSY LOVE!

2010-05-09T12:17:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's day to my mumsy and to all of the mothers out there!
If you can, go give the woman who loves you more than anything a big hug today. I wish I could be spending it with her today, but it's only two more weeks until she will be here in Savannah to drive my car and all my stuff back to Texas for the summer! :)

xoxo,
Rockie

grey and pink

2010-05-05T19:31:00.000-07:00

currently loving: chris garneau "fireflies"

currently wearing:

(click image to view on lookbook)

1. WHITE TOP, LUELLA FOR TARGET, GOODWILL
2. VINTAGE GREY BELT, $1, THRIFTED, GOODWILL
3. RUFFLE SKIRT, $10, TARGET
4. DOUBLED UP RUFFLE KNEE HIGH SOCKS , $2, URBAN OUTFITTERS, ON SALE !
5. VINTAGE FLORAL WEDGES, $3, SEYCHELLES, GOODWILL

Scored these floral wedges over the weekend and I was so stoked. Wedges are getting more and more popular and I'm loving them. Really, I'd like nothing more than to wear nothing but wedges.

I doubled up the socks because the grey was kind of sheer on their own, but it worked out because they were on sale for $2 at urban outfitters today, so I was able to get a few pairs!

As for what I've been doing with my life for the past month, here are some black and whites I've been shooting for my studio lighting class. (I'll be doing some color projects starting this weekend!)

Not sure why I've been so into black and white lately but I'm ready for some color now! Hopefully I can get some things shot this weekend and post.

xoxo,

Rockie

it's been toooo long

2010-05-04T22:51:00.000-07:00

latest look, click to view on lookbook:

outfit details ///

chain headband: actually a necklace, vintage, $1

black tank + skirt: old items I've had for a while

lace cardigan: vintage, $2

beige boots: vintage, $5

I know, I know, we are so bad about updating this blog you are probably wondering if we're just going to completely abandon it or not. Rest assured that we are just busy with school for a few more weeks until summer and then we will be blogging like crazy.

Sati is coming to visit me in Savannah around the 15th of this month, so we'll be doing lots of shooting and updating!

I get a lot of questions about how I shoot self-portraits. I used a remote for a very long time, but it stopped working for 5 or 6 months, so most of the photos I've posted have been taken with good old fashioned self-timer. I caved and decided to buy a new remote recently (I got the first from a local camera shop and this one is from www.adorama.com you can look up remotes on there and see if they have one compatible with your camera model!) since it's so much easier than running back and forth. Here are some tips for hiding a remote successfully. Ignore the awkward first poses in all of them, I was thinking about making these into animated .gif files so you could see exactly what I mean, but decided against it.

Against the body:

This is probably one of the easiest ways to hide a remote and offers a lot of different pose variations such as: hands in your hair, hands behind your back, hands crossed over, etc! Of course, it helps that my outfit is black on this one, since it doesn't make it as obvious. If you are wearing a light colored outfit you might try something else such as....

Incorporated into your outfit:

With this technique I usually use the fabric of my outfit to make a little "case" for my remote to hide it by grabbing a piece of something I'm wearing and making sure my remote is covered behind it. Possible poses using this technique: curtseying (holding skirt as shown), hands in pocket, hands holding jacket or overcoat with remote hiding on the inside.

Hidden in your surroundings:

This placement is probably the most limiting pose wise since it pretty much forces you to have your hands placed somewhere off your body and you have to actually have something around you to put your hands against.

For those of you who don't have a remote, a good technique for focusing quickly is by using something as a place marker in the frame while you are behind the camera on the tripod. Sometimes I'll put a prop that I've brought along with me where I plan on standing, then move it when I'm ready to shoot and focused. Other times, I will focus on someplace in the scene. For instance, if I were shooting the last remote picture manually I would focus on the area of the tree I'd be standing against.

Also, as you can tell from the remote sample pictures, I took off the cardigan and the outfit looks a million times more bland. This is one reason I love great vintage pieces that can add a lot to boring outfits.

I'll share some photographs I've recently taken (aka what has been consuming my time lately for college courses) in a post very soon and I'm going be updating more than once every two weeks again. My goal is 3 times a week, gotta get better and I pinky promise that we will!

Let me know if you can think of other ideas for mini tutorials, either photography related or anything else that I might be able to help with, and I'll work on them for sure!

xoxo,

Rockie

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SATI!

2010-04-21T22:44:00.000-07:00

Today (April 22nd) is Sati's birthday! :)
She is all grown up and 20 now!

Hope today is great!

I promise more blog updates soon!

We just found out that Sati gets to come visit me in Georgia sometime early next month, so we will most definitely be shopping and posting a ton. Then this summer (five more weeks!) I'll be back in Texas and can shoot more then, too!

Stay with us, guys! I promise we are trying to update as often as possible.

xoxo,

Rockie

Featured!

2010-04-14T21:21:00.001-07:00

Hello fellow bloggers,

I know this is an incomplete entry, but Rockie and I have been featured in DISfunkshion magazine's online site in a short, fun interview we recently gave them. Here's the link, hope you like it!

ps, new post soon, I swear I'm not ignoring you blogspot, it's just that school has taken over my life!

Till Next Time,

Sati

one of those days

2010-04-13T17:36:00.000-07:00

currently wearing:

(click here to view on lookbook)

outfit details:

floral dress (little girls): vintage: blessingdales / $1
black skirt: charlotte ronson / $15 on sale

mustard blazer: vintage: goodwill / $5
black wedges: urban outfitters / $38

today was one of those days where nothing seems to go right!

It all started last night when I went to go sew and realized my bobbin and bobbin case ($15 worth of sewing stuff) had been taken. Naturally, all the stores were closed that carried the professional industrial one that I needed, so I didn't get anything done homework wise. Then today I went to open a bank account (since my current one is only based in Texas, so I can't deposit checks from commissioned shoots) and the bank closed at 4pm... really... FOUR PM? I realized maybe it was because it was the historic district one, so I tried one that was out further into town and it closed at 2pm... jeeze louise. How do they expect people with jobs to get banking done? Oh... why must everything be so inconvenient in the southern states?

I decided I'd try to make up for the day by taking photographs but it was one of those days where focus wasn't working out, I kept missing the self - timer, I felt like I looked awful in every photograph, bugs were eating my arms (and they ate up poor christopher who now has arms that resemble chicken pox)

I finally ended up with some salvageable pictures, thankfully. I'm still very anxious to start working on some good series with models, though. sooon soon soon.

I've released a hi-res wallpaper which you may use for a desktop background if you'd like.

click the image or here to view it on deviantART, then click download and save as. The resolution is 1800 x 1200! let me know if you like it and I might release more images like this one as high res wallpapers in the future. (I have a surplus since I usually take a few at every shoot)

also, I got an email today from a girl named Blair who explained why she felt I should continue with my formspring responses. I used to do it a while ago but stopped mostly because it ate up so much of my free time. She did make a good argument for keeping it though, so I think I will go back to answering them. You can find the question/comment boxhere and I post all responses on my personal tumblr at theconsofbeingawallflower

We'll see how long I keep up with it again. More post soon, I prrrromise!

xoxo,
Rockie

honey in the sun

2010-04-06T19:08:00.000-07:00

click the above picture or right here to view the lookbook version

outfit deetz:

romper: free people / gabriel brothers / $10 (YEAH! THAT'S RIGHT)

boots: vintage / goodwill / don't recall the price

belt: vintage / goodwill / $2

POP QUIZ TIME:

What am I really doing in this photograph?

A. crying in a field

B. working on my tan (freckle collection)

C. setting myself up to be kidnapped

D. all of the above.

If you chose D, you get an A+

As I was photographing this, some large men in a City of Savannah truck yelled at me from the street "You're gonna get raped!" Thank you, Savannah city workers, for reminding me of how delightfully unsafe I am at all times in this town.

I've had my eye on this field for the past few days, keeping my fingers crossed that they wouldn't mow it all down. Luckily I got to shoot here before they did. I assume it's only a matter of days before it's back to being a normal boring grass plot since it's the lawn of an elementary school.

Anywaaaay, about the outfit. I managed to score this Free People romper at a store called Gabe's. If you don't live in one of the few select Northern states that house this gem of a store, you probably don't know of it's glory. I had never heard of it but I visited PA over spring break and I made a pit stop here. It basically is just a giant room full of name brand stuff that never sold in store, so this store sells it for freaking ridiculously cheap. FREAKING AMAZING. It's basically like Ross, except instead of having really crappy things from brands no one has ever heard of, they carry nice things (like free people and urban and AA, etc).

Forecast for this week is all 72-82 degrees (Fahrenheit of course) aka warm with a high chance of sundresses and outfit posts!

xoxo,

Rockie

The Sea & Louis Vuitton

2010-04-04T16:04:00.000-07:00

Currently Listening: Superfast Jellyfish- Gorillaz feat De La Soul & Gruff Rhys

‘Sup Blogspot? I think we’re going to be great friends, and don’t worry—I won’t cheat on you with Tumblr (that often?). Okay, okay, I’ll leave the anthropomorphism of the internet to Rockie—now let’s get down to blogging.

So my latest obsession has been Corinne Bailey Rae—just look at my last.fm as evidence. Not only is she a great musician, but she’s also a great style icon.

Corinne Bailey Rae’s (CBR) latest album, The Sea, is a big leap from her debut album, which was mostly feel-good, almost poppy music. The Sea, however, is a little more melancholy; it was written in response to her husband’s death after all. In The Sea we see CBR go back to jazz and soul in a beautiful attempt to embrace hardship. I’m impressed that she keeps her signature smile on through tracks like Are You Here and The Sea. According to the New York Times, when she performed The Sea at a show, the crowd gave a murmur of “we’ve got your back”. But then there’s tracks like Paris Nights/ New York Mornings and Closer that are so lighthearted (and feminine, let’s be real) that you can’t help but feel happy that she’s coping well.

Like I said earlier, CBR’s also becoming one of my favorite style icons. Pictured above, is CBR before the Luis Vuitton show during Paris Fashion Week. Whether she’s wearing a cotton sundress or a slinkly Alexander McQueen strapless jumper, she always looks impeccable. Since the second album, her style has become, I don’t want to say older, but more refined with an edge. And the new grown out locks are nothing short of badass. I’m excited to see what she wears on her tour along with what she wears for swankier performances—hopefully she’ll get to play the Grammys again (remember her amazing performance with John Mayer and John Legend a few years ago???). I really hope she’ll be playing Austin City Limits this year so I can personally report on her style.

Speaking of ACL fest, I’ll also be doing a special on festival style that weekend, so keep your eyes pealed for it!

Till Next Time,

Sati

Image Sources: 1, 2

we're all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars

2010-04-04T03:25:00.000-07:00

(click above image to view on lookbook)

channeling a little bit peter pan and a little bit lumberjack today, I think.

outfit details:

oversized shirt dress: vintage ralph lauren, goodwill, $4

cream vest: charlotte ronson, dillards, $10 on sale

vintage boots: eddie bauer, civvies, $15

green tights: easter gift from mother

Here's a close up of the boots:

and here was the set up to one of the shots that Christopher took of me (the shot on the right for lookbook)

Today me and Christopher spent our entire Saturday evening (from like, 11pm - 2am) taking photographs of each other in a big empty parking lot! (so much cooler than going to parties like normal college kids) My lookbook pictures were taken by him this time!

Here are a few I shot of him that are a bit different than my usual style (since I always use natural light)

gotta admit that I did enjoy using the strobe (only had a single bare strobe behind him for the lighting of this) and I'm quite excited to start doing portraiture for my studio lighting class that I'm currently in.

big big big thanks to Christopher for modeling and letting me borrow his super nice Nikon d3 and doing the set up and standing there for 30 minutes while I freaked out over the strobe and shot a million of the same shots, heheh.

and here is his lookbook shot from the night:

I think we are going to try to go out and shoot more for each other more often since it's far more convenient than shooting alone. I'm sure once me and Sati are reunited this summer (in like, 8 weeks!) we'll shoot a lot of our looks together as well and be posting like crazy. She should have some new stuff up soon, too!

Gonna go sleep now that it's 7 AM, uhhhhhhhhh.

xoxox,

Rockie

we're all stuck in our ways

2010-03-31T10:41:00.000-07:00

outfit details:
navy floral blouse: f21, old
grey cardigan: f21, $10
black high waisted shorts: h&m, $25
pale thigh high tights: UO, $4 sale
black and gold link flats: old

click here or on the image to view on lookbook

Yesterday I spent the day biking around Savannah with my boyfriend, Christopher. It was the most perfect 75 degree weather (this weekend is supposed to be all 75 - 85 degree days, OMG!) and this outfit was very comfy for a bike ride. I got these shorts in an H&M in Atlanta on a trip I took over the weekend to go see Joanna Newsom live, who was amazing and I got to meet her after the show and I got her setlist and autograph and she said she liked my hair, so that was cool.

But back to the bike ride. I took a bunch of pictures while biking around, here are some:

one of my favorite parts of riding bikes is focusing on the handle bars and watching the road and leaves pass by, it's mildly hypnotic.

our first stop on our Tour De Savannah was Forsyth park. it's a big lovely park that all the SCAD students sit at with friends and guitars and sketchbooks looking trendy, and all the tourists go there to gawk at the SCAD students and a big fountain, and all the Savannah locals go there to lurk and be creepy. (except for a few awesome homeless men who perform music there on occasion and are pretty awesome)

OH. and while we were biking around, we stopped at the gas station and found these AMAZING drinks I'd never seen before called "Aloe Vera King". Christopher got the kiwi flavor and I got the pomegranate. SO SO DELICIOUS.

The drinks even have little bits of fruit in them, so it's kind of like drinking pulpy orange juice (which is my favorite). I strongly suggest getting these if you ever see them while shopping. (ps. I promise they aren't paying me to write about their delish beverage. If I had to pick a beverage sponsor to write a whole blog about though, I would totally do it for them, jussss sayin)

next stop was this awesome park we found that was neat because it was really small and everything was really cream colored and somehow visually appealing, so this is the place where I shot the outfit picture above.

The only complaint about my outfit / the entire day that I can really make is that my shoes were not very bike friendly.

They kept slipping off at really inconvenient times (like when a whole bunch of traffic is behind me and headed straight towards my shoe, awesome.) So I let Christopher retrieve my shoe while I took pictures of my bare foot because I'm obviously really considerate. (I swear I really am, he is just really nice and sped after it each time)

Speaking of Christopher, here are some pictures I took of him at the end of our bike ride, isn't he such a qt?

You can click on it and view/hype it on lookbook, which I'm trying to force him to use more. Especially since he shoots outfit shots for it all the time and then doesn't post them, pfff.

I'm off now to do some homework, hopefully take a picture of todays outfit (meaning more blogging soon!), and then go do some sewing exercises for my fashion tech intro class (which is going super well and I thoroughly enjoy so far! I'll be sure to show you my progress soon!)

xoxo,
Rockie

what would we be without wishful thinking?

2010-03-25T20:19:00.000-07:00

outfit details:
mini vintage jumper (actually meant for a child): thrifted / $1
navy and gold vintage bow shoes: thrifted / $3
navy and gold vintage belt: thrifted / $1
red oversized cardigan: thrifted / $1
grey undershirt: old & from old navy

click here to view this look on lookbook.nu

Titled this look/blog post after a Wilco song because I saw them perform tonight! I wanted to take pictures so I could share them with this entry, but they did not allow any photography in the venue, bummer!

Here is the set up for the shots I took today, which is pretty much how it always is set up (only this time, I got to use my boyfriends fancy manfrotto tripod instead of my lame $20 one)

Tomorrow morning I am going with my boyfriend Christopher and best friend Michael to Atlanta. It's about 4 hours away from Savannah, so we're going to spend the day thrifting and then at night we're going to see Joanna Newsom, one of my favorite artists! eeee! So excited.

Hopefully I will be able to take some pictures of our trip and adventures in Atlanta. I have to figure out my first assignment for studio lighting that is due Monday, so sometime soon I'll have some fashion photography to share. This whole week I have been aching to shoot, but it's been disaster after disaster (car was hit by a deer, car might take a month to repair leaving me with nothing, car also might be totaled meaning I might have to try to search for a new car while balancing school work, ahhhh!) No excuses though! I must force myself to find a way to blog and shoot, which I will most definitely do.

xoxo,
Rockie

A FRESH START!

2010-03-21T21:51:00.000-07:00

Hello new and old followers!

Sati and I have decided to switch to blogspot. We were previously on tumblr, but we found it to be too impersonal and is generally used as what I will call "drive-by blogging", where no one really takes the time to read long posts but is just looking for a quick fix. (kinda like drugs but probably a worse addiction for some) (by some I mean me and by probably I mean definitely)

ANYWAY, this is our new home and we plan to keep it that way! If you don't have blogspot, you can still follow us if you sign up for bloglovin! It's a great site to keep track of things if you like blogs from all over the webosphere. There is a convenient little button you can click on the side bar to follow us with it.

I know before we moved there was some serious lack of activity! We both got really busy with school, but we just had spring break and hopefully now that we have a shiny new place to blog, we will feel more inclined to keep this thing jam packed with pretty things to peek at.

My main reason (pathetic excuse) for a lack of blogging was FINALZZZZ. My school (SCAD) is on a trimester system instead of quarters, so we go for 10 weeks, 3 times a year instead of 2 quarters for 15 weeks. It actually works out pretty swell since you get to do a lot of different things in a school year and even though the classes seem overwhelming at times due to being so condensed, I really enjoy it. The main project that took up my time was my Project Seminar Photo class. It's basically a course built into the curriculum designed to give students a chance to build their portfolios and do whatever they want.

I chose to do what I usually do and shoot some backlit portraits with fashion undertones and a vintage mood. Here are some of the photographs that I've not yet posted ANYWHERE ELSE (SO EXCLUSIVE Y'ALL)

The styling, shooting, and post processing was all done by me. Both models are friends of mine - have I mentioned how I wouldn't be anywhere if it weren't for the fact that I have a lot of pretty friends? Seriously though, super convenient.

Megan:

Alysha:

Hopefully some new photographs can be enough to win you over and make you forget all about our nasty break up with tumblr. I plan on using this blog to post unreleased and behind the scenes shots more often, as well.

Tomorrow (7 hours from now, at 8 AM, uuuhhhh) I will be starting my new quarter which includes a Studio Lighting photography course. Previously I've only worked with natural light in environmental settings, so expect a ton of fresh, new work coming to this space as soon as I get started shooting for the class! I should probably go to sleep now so I don't sleep through my first day of classes!

Hope you all enjoy the new blog and decide to continue to follow us!

xoxox,
Rockie