Take Me Upstate

Upstate's hand-dyed scarves and garments have a dreamy, escapist feel, and this spring's gorgeous lookbook has me fantasizing about a long weekend in the country.  Each piece is individually dyed by designers Astrid and Kalen using traditional shibori techniques, making them one of a kind, as well as infusing them with a certain wabi-sabi quality of imperfect perfection.  Structured grids and geometric patterns go fuzzy around the edges, and the cuts are simple, yet often convertible, and versatile.

-Tiffany

Factory People

As much as I've tried to organize my life via Google calendar, plotting appointments, meetings and events with obsessive compulsive attention to time/location/date, I inevitably wind up making a fair share of mistakes.  One such mishap involved arriving an hour late to the Factory by Erik Hart presentation during fashion week, only to see all the show-goers exit, and the models run off to their next shows dressed in their civilian attire.  I had no idea what I missed until I stopped by the showroom to take a look at the collection in person. Hart is both a designer and an artist, and his multidisciplinary approach is evident in his collection of elegant, minimalist designs, and his directional silhouettes.  His Spring 2012 collection echoes the 90's work of another artist/designer, Helmut Lang, and all of his clothes appear to be made for a gallery girl in Berlin.  Every piece is cool, elegant, and sophisticated, yet still completely wearable.  And, if you're living on a meager gallery assistant's salary, Hart's clothes are miraculously within reach: prices start just below $100.

-Tiffany

My Bloody Valentine

While there have been thousands of love songs written about heartache and heartbreak, there haven’t been quite as many jewelry lines that have broached the subject. After all, jewelry is more often associated with ground swellings of intense love: diamonds that say forever, lockets that are filled to burst with your lover’s hair, and, of course, wedding and engagement rings that are wrapped up in promises and vows. Nonetheless, Michelle Ng, designer of Young&ng, was up for broaching the challenge. While her Spring collection is about broken hearts, she approaches the subject with optimism, trying to look for the beauty in unrequited love, as well as finding comfort in the belief that you leave a soured relationship stronger than when you entered it. Rather than basing the resulting pieces on saccharine hearts, Ng instead was inspired by blood cells, and the fractal arrangement of cells serve as the basis for her latest series of necklaces, cuffs, and headpieces. The results are breathtaking, and I’m particularly obsessed with the laser-cut metal pieces, which become lace like lattices once the blood cell patterns are applied to them. I’m sure putting on any of these gems would take the sting out of any breakup.

-Tiffany

Natural Wonder

I first came across Serial Cultura a year ago, and was immediately taken in by the dynamic prints and fluid cuts. Each season, designer Jennifer Jennings creates a new batch of lovingly hand-painted patterns, which are then digital printed onto the fabrics.  I love the combination of old world craftsmanship with modern day technology, and both processes serve to infuse each print with wildly varied colors, which work perfectly with the flowing and organically draped silhouettes.  This season, Jennings was inspired by natural topography, aerial views of landscapes, and elements of the environment.  These subjects have been abstracted beyond recognition, but still can be felt in the rich hues, which echo minerals and rocks, as well as the sky at sunset.  As if the garments weren't hypnotizing enough, they're also made from organic and sustainable fabrics.

-Tiffany

Season of the Sea Witch

Last week, I stopped by the Langolier's showroom to view the new Spring collection, and of  course pre-order some jewelry for myself. Designed by my friends Zon and Pam, the collection started as a series of pieces based on knits, mixing knit chain, knit fabric, and metal castings of knit thread.  While the collection is still heavily based in these textile oriented roots, I'm awestruck by how much they've managed to develop this concept and expand their collection with other ideas that compliment their base collection.  This season's show-stopper is the Ursula the Sea Witch inspired breastplate necklace and matching earring set, which both look like slightly malevolent yet majestic gills, worthy of the wickedest sea witch.  The giant necklace is of course suspended from a net of knit chain. Another example of Pam and Zon's ingenuity comes in the form of intricately patterned metal mesh bracelets that were made from weaving gold and silver chain together.  The amount of anal-retentive labor required to produce such a piece is pretty much beyond my comprehension.  I naturally couldn't leave without ordering something, and I can't wait for my Ursula gill earrings to arrive this spring.  If you also feel like you cannot live without some Langoliers, you can find their pieces on their online shop.

-Tiffany

Six Six Sick Presents NOMIA!

After months of talk and planning, we're incredibly excited for our party this Thursday for NOMIA, a New York based women's wear collection designed by our talented (and drop-dead gorgeous!) friend Yara Flinn.  We'll be screening the new NOMIA Fall/Winter Collection Video, and toasting with complementary Asahi Beer and an open vodka bar from 10-11PM.  Just in case you're not familiar with NOMIA, here's a peek at the new Spring collection, which centers around an agate digital print applied to minimalist, body-conscious silhouettes.  I'm personally obsessed with the dresses with agate panels.  Hope to see you on Thursday at Anchor Bar!

-Tiffany

True Blood

What better way to celebrate Halloween than with a psychedelic romp through the graveyard?  Blood is  the New Black's new "Nocte Virginis" video and accompanying lookbook, directed by Jesus Rivera of Demonbabies, was inspired by the campy horror films of director Jean Rollin.  Long before True Blood, Rollin perfected the art of the silly, sexy vampire genre, producing a long repertoire of cult horror films.  It looks like blood suckers won't be going out of style anytime soon, and the trippy occultist theme seems to be the perfect match for the new Holiday collection.  As always, BITNB taps different artists to design their tees every season, and this new collection includes prints by Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Fumi Nakamura, and of course Demonbabies.  All of the tees featured in the lookbook will be arriving in stores on October 31st, right in time to get your sacrificial virgin look on.

-Tiffany