Cloud 9

(Zara top, Topshop skirt, Anthropologie necklace, Banana Republic ring + earrings, Burberry heels, Nine West clutch)

These Burberry heels were the first designer shoes I ever purchased. I certainly have my limitations on purchases + don't believe in spending outrageous amounts of money on clothes or shoes... BUT... these were such a great deal, no one would be able to resist! Not only were they on sale, I bought them at a Burberry store in Mexico City, so the taxes were excluded! I can dress these up, or dress them down. Don't you just love a versatile shoe?

My favorite outfits to wear are fitted tops with pouffy bottoms - primarily because I have a boxy shape with slim hips. I have to fake it 'til I make it to give me some shape! I absolutely love the volume of this skirt from all angles. It's delicate, light + airy and reminds me of a fluffy, white cloud.

If you have been following my Twitter, you know that this week I went to my brother's graduation in Boston and have been spending the rest of the Memorial Day weekend with my family in NYC. I hope everyone is having a FABULOUS weekend as well! Thanks for all the love + support! xx

Weardrobe Feature

Weardrobe.com

My weardrobe page

Pretty pumped about this feature as Weardrobe's spotlight of the day 5.25.10!

I'm still a new blog, so this means a lot to me! A big THANK YOU to Weardrobe!!

And a big thank you to all of you who read + visit!

kiss kiss kiss

Black + White

(Silence + Noise top + pants, French Connection necklace + bangles, Zara wedges)

I am in love with these shoes from Zara! I have been wanting a pair of Jeffery Campbell pixies but they make my feet look extra big + chunky. I'm not a super tall girl, 5'7ish, but even with that height comes long feet. These vertical stripes help shorten my foot visually.

My experiment: draw inspiration directly from a building first and then apply it to an outfit.

So for this post, I looked to a residential home in Nuevo Leon, Mexico, designed by GLR Architects. The project is an exploration of new materials, including black granite, white exposed concrete, and exposed steel elements - (hence my black + white ensemble with the chunky silver necklace). The building sits on a higher topography than it's neighbors + the stacking of linear volumes creates vistas out into the landscape. My attention was brought unique, striping feature stretched across the black window, and I tried to mimic that texture in my top. What do you guys think?

images: ArchDaily

Architectural Take on Balenciaga Shoes

Skimming through the internet, I came across this Balenciaga's shoe collection. It's from their latest fall/winter and I know.. "it's so last season".. but if you are like me, you don't get the opportunity to witness every detail of every fashion line every season...

I appreciate Balenciaga's architectural approach to the footwear - this stacking and collaging of various materials including leather, wood, plastic, metel and a few newer high tech materials. Designed by Pierre Hardy in efforts to match the high-tech aesthetic of Nicolas Ghesquiere, creative director for the house of Balenciaga, the line features a new take on classic forms, like the loafer and the brogue, while reinventing the square heel into collaged bits - reminiscent of The Memphis Group.

The Memphis Group was a movement in the 80's initiated by a group of Italian designers + architects, led by Ettore Sottsass. The group, named after the Bob Dylan song, Stuck inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again, was a reaction against the post-Bauhaus "black box" design of the 70's and challenged the idea that products had to follow certain shapes, textures, patterns, and color. As much as I am a fan of the sleek, modern style of the Bauhaus design, I find the Memphis Group charming + witty - where form takes a front seat and function is forgotten. Like fashion, however, it was perceived as a fad + dismantled quickly short after.

Ettore Sottsass (1917-2007)

Images: designboom, style, google

In my own Little Bubble

(Silence + Noise Jumper, Topshop necklace, Topshop bangles + random ones, BR cocktail ring, Aldo heels, UO umbrella)

I'm not sure what happened to the sunny, good-hair days in DC, but this week the weather took a turn for the worst - cloudy, wet + cold. But that shouldn't stop us from putting our heels on, right girls? lol Here I am on the way to the Kennedy Center to see the San Francisco Orchestra with my oldest brother, and I wasn't going to let the rain hold me down. This jumper is uber comfy though, made with the softest cotton, and I am just in LOVE with this umbrella-ella-eh! It feels like a bubble that only you can fit in - like your own private space. I love that.

Note that the SF Orchestra was phenomenal! I get to bum symphony tickets off my brother when his gf can't make it - he's a season ticket holder. I always joke that in my family, we don't have season tickets to the football games, we have season tickets to the symphonies! lol

(Banana Republic rain boots - What I will be walking in to the show lol)

Speaking of an inhabitable bubble, check out this incredible glass dome, designed by Sir Norman Foster. It sits atop the Reichstag building (German Parliament) in Berlin. The dome gives a 360 degree view to the Berlin cityscape. The main hall of Parliament sits below the mirrored cupola, which reflects natural light down onto the debating chamber's floor. Like all of Foster's buildings, careful attention is paid to sustainability. A sophisticated, enormous sun shield tracks the movement of the sun electronically, inhibiting direct sunlight from penetrating into the space.

How cool is that space? Don't you just wish you were there?

There is truly something about being within a dome that excites the human spirit.

Images: Foster + Partners, Wiki

Architect Spotlight: Daniel Libeskind

Daniel Libeskind, an international figure in the world of Architecture, has designed everything - including museums, universities, concert halls, housing, hotels, shopping areas + more. Born in post-war Poland to holocaust survivors, Libeskind is passionate for designing Jewish memorial museums - his most famous being The Jewish Museum Berlin. He seems to specialize in memorial architecture, in fact, he was the architect selected for rebuilding the World Trade Center site.

Like any other architecture student, I have studied Daniel Libeskind's work in school and keep many of his books in my private library. It is not until you hear him speak, however, that you really feel his radiating love + passion for the profession. Often he is criticized for his use of harsh lines + sharp geometries, a signature element found throughout all of his buildings, despite site or client. I admit, I too have questioned his motives for this aesthetic, but in his lecture, his defense for adopting such a vigorous language becomes apparent. At the National Building Museum Symposium, Libeskind gave a remarkable and inspiring speech! "I design, not just for my memory, or your memory, but for a communal memory - one not just from the past, but for the future memory... I am not a fan of neutrality. You must be brave within your design. It's okay if people criticize, because I believe the process to be a democratic one... The architecture should have a voice - sometimes you can't describe architecture through words, it must be experienced, like listening to Bach or Mozart... "

And even though I wasn't feeling well this morning, I was so glad I went. Meeting him was epic - it's like meeting a Rolling Stone in the architecture world. I was able to shake his hand, gush in his presence, and have him sign my (his) book.

Here is a sample of his work:

The Jewish Museum Berlin

Creative Media Center Hong Kong

London Metropolitan University Graduate Center

18:36:54, Connecticut residence formed by 18 planes, definied by 36 points, connected by 54 lines

San Francisco Contemporary Jewish Museum

Denver Art Museum

Memory Foundations, site of the World Trade Center

images: Studio Daniel Libeskind