JANUARY HEAT

It was super warm over the weekend - so I decided to take advantage.

Even though it was planned and packed with lists of things to do in my Moleskine, I had the urge to get out and be free and wild. I've always been a strong believer in doing things outside of work that spark your creativity. Even though currently, all of my work is exciting, fun and rewarding, it feels good to be inspired by even the smallest thing and to run with it. Even if just for an hour.



I find that when I do things that are just for me and a detour from the original plan that it fuels a fire. It builds a stronger sense of creativity and future goals - having an understanding for those things helps when I'm trying to convey a certain idea and execute it correctly. Even if the small inspiring activity I do is only for myself, it's practice for everything else I'm passionate about.



Anyway, hope you all had an inspiring moment over the weekend. The end.

AGENDA

Last Friday I spent the afternoon roaming the aisles of Agenda in Long Beach.

I was actually there way longer than expected - there were a bunch of people there that I ran into and it's fun to stop by a booth of a new brand that I've only heard of and meet the people behind it and hear a little about their story.



I think there is a bit of a misconception that Agenda is dominated by men's brands only, however women's brands play just as much and I think it's starting to level out. There were some great brands that attended showing their women's collection.

Insight not only had some cool apparel pieces, but also a few pretty rad candles as well.



Another brand, Shown To Scale, caught my eye showing some provocative yet wearable pieces. The owner, Silke, is from New York originally and after working at Marc Jacobs decided on a whim to take over a boutique space. From there she quickly learned how to design and sew and put together a collection that speaks to the girls out there who aren't afraid to stand apart from the rest.



And of course Roxy was there with a cool booth set-up and pieces that made me wish it was April already. Is it time to go to the beach yet?



A lot of you may know the girls behind Stone Cold Fox by now and I hope you've seen the collab they did with Wonderland Sun. I love seeing two equally amazing brands joining together in creativity. The sunglasses are super cute on too.



For a while now, I've been wanting to check out what Port is doing with their store in Long Beach. I finally met a couple of the guys behind that and also checked out one of the brands they carry, Broken Homme. Their boot line is 100% American made. I love the classic silhouettes and also the strong sense of branding - really well done.



These fashion trade shows never really feel redundant to me - not in a bad way any way. Because they happen twice a year there are of course traditions that are made, but they're special and memorable. It's that combined with the same faces and brands that I continue to see and new ones that I seek out that make me look forward to it each season.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Happy 2013! It's not too late, right?

I hope not because I just finished sending out my holiday cards. I typically send out a cute Christmas themed photo but this year I was inspired by a photo of a white porcelain reindeer that I came across online. After beginning to sketch it out, one thing lead to another and it became my holiday card.

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to this year. Like a lot. It's going to be a whirlwind - I'm already not even sure what day it is.

I truly wish all of you the best in the New Year and I'm thankful for you checking out the blog every once in a while. More to come...

QUICK OVERVIEW

I've been slightly absent - but don't panic.

This month has been absolutely insane and a lot of things are happening at once. My schedule has been packed with so many different projects, while my mind is filled with what's next. Anyway, here's the deal - this is a quick little recap of events and I'm sure I'll get into half of them in more detail soon.

Earlier this month, I met up with Robbie and Marlana from the band Milo Greene in San Diego. If you haven't heard their self titled album yet then you really should. Trust me on this.

They're super talented and also incredibly humble and down to earth. Their performance at the Casbah was the last of their recent tour and hearing their stories about that and their appearance on Jay Leno just days earlier was pretty interesting.



I headed up to Downtown to check out Unique LA. I missed out on the one in the summer and didn't want to this time around. It was pretty cool - I saw a lot of the same jewelry designers and artists from similar types of events but Unique LA is definitely bigger so I discovered some other stuff as well.



This handmade and painted pottery was one of the things that really caught my eye - definitely really different and I personally liked the style a lot.



The weekend after that I was determined to be in two places at once - LA and San Diego. Mr. Kate launched her Spring/Summer collection in Venice Beach at the Altered Space Gallery so I browsed through that and chatted with Kate quickly. The new designs look awesome - she always does a great job with creating such cohesive collections.

Right after that it was off to the Locale Magazine event at the Hard Rock in San Diego where the new SD edition was launched. I've been writing for Locale for a couple months now and it's cool to see the magazine grow and expand to the San Diego area.



On 12.12.12 I was up in the Central Coast - even though things are busy, it's nice to take at least a couple days away from the computer.



More and more I've been getting into shooting stills/vids for fashion brands. Obviously, designing and creating is such a dream, but I love expanding my realm of creativity and venturing out to new aspects of that. Here are a couple behind the scenes photos from a recent shoot I did for a fashion brand - they brought in 70 tons of snow and penguins. Anyway, I'm working on the video edit now so maybe someday I'll let you check it out.

Goofing off at the shoot



If you're a real stalker you may have noticed that I've been hinting at the idea of something pretty exciting happening and if you stay tuned then you'll see what I've been up to and a huge chunk as to why I've been behind on my blog game. Again, more sneak peeks. Soak it up.



For years, since I've started designing, I've carried around a notebook for any 'on the fly inspiration'. A few years ago, I made it a personal requirement to carry a moleskine and this year I stepped it up and got the Daily Planner edition. It's sort of a tangible item that acts as a reminder that so much of what I've been working toward in the last year is coming into to place. Plus, now I'll be able to (hopefully) keep track of my life/deadlines a little more - there are extra pages in the back for quick sketches too. Best of both worlds.

BRIANA RENE BOUTIQUE : OC MART MIX

Over the summer I profiled jewelry designer Briana Ellison.

I'm pretty sure I mentioned that she has a boutique located at the OC Mart Mix called Briana Rene. Anyway, I went to visit her there recently. We caught up and chatted and she also showed me a few of her favorite pieces that she currently has stocked for the Winter.



I was really excited to see that the Black Sheep Olivia dress was showcased - I think it's safe to say that Bri and I both share a love for that brand. I'm actually wearing the lacy Star Gazer here and love it - which makes me want to get my hands on the Olivia dress too - badly.



Briana's creativity definitely translates well from her jewelry designs to the store set up - there's not only super cute pieces, but it's also curated really nicely. Speaking of the products she stocks, she had a story behind almost all the pieces there. For instance, these Saako scraves are handmade in Barcelona, where Bri studied abroad for awhile. She loved them so much that when she decided to open her boutique years later, she knew she wanted to showcase the scarves - Briana was actually the first American retailer to start carrying these. Since then, this brand has trickled into other stores in the US as well, but I thought that Briana being the first was really cool.

Briana Rene Studded Wrap Bracelets- Genuine leather with 14k gold-fill chain



Anyway, thanks to Bri for letting me barge in and snap a ton of photos at her store. If you want to see more, along with 5 top holiday picks from the Briana Rene Store take a gander at Locale Magazine's site and check out the post I wrote.

Love this DIY ladder light fixture that Briana made herself.

NOVEMBER

November is a big month for me...

Of course, there's Thanksgiving and I always spend time back in Scottsdale with my family. My birthday rolls around in there mid-month and this year I ended up in Santa Barbara Wine Country. But also November marks a sort of sentimental anniversary - a year ago this month is when the idea of Hanger Shortage came about and the vision came to life. I was doing freelance fashion design work in Los Angeles and even though I was grateful, I also wanted more. I was designing 8 hours a day but I still came home with so much pent up creativity that needed to be let out.









I have a ton of long term goals that I want to accomplish, which I won't exactly get into right now, but the idea to meet with other creative entrepreneurial women and get inside their heads and closets sounded like the perfect start to it all. And I wanted everyone else who has an interest in these amazing influential designers and artists to see the depth of their creativity through fun personal videos. Last November I filmed the first two Hanger Shortage vids and in the midst of editing them both myself, I was simultaneously working on the Hanger Shortage branding/website and not to mention freelancing on top of it all. The schedule has been pretty hectic - I've got about 5 hours of sleep a night for the past year.



Looking back now, this has actually been the fastest year of my life, which is strange considering I was literally awake for most of it - you'd think that if you slept through it all, that's when it would go by quicker. But I actually don't mind that I didn't get my beauty rest - when you want something so bad and want to see your ideas come to life exactly how you've envisioned it, you need to be willing to put in the time - it's beyond rewarding.





I've had the opportunity to meet so many awesome people this year and I'm so thankful because they're what inspire me when it's 4am and I'm grumpy at my computer trying to do a million things at once. Thanks to everyone who takes a second to skim the blog and watch the vids. There's a lot coming up and I'm really excited to share it all.

BLACK SHEEP

Okay, so I'm definitely feelin' this outfit.

I wore this Black Sheep top when I was in Santa Barbara a few weekends ago for a shoot. It was hands down such a great pick because it's not only super cute, but also really easy to move around in while snapping photos. And when paired with leggings, even better. I love for my outfits to be comfortable while accessorizing them with something fun - i.e. this lovely braided wool hat.



On my way to my location, I came across this glorious vintage chair. Considering it was on the side of the road and I have no idea where it's been, I was probably a little too excited about it (I practically ran up to it). But it was free for the taking and I wanted it - badly. I mean it would be have been great in my studio. But apparently my car wasn't big enough - or so I was told. Oh well, at least I took advantage of it as a photo opp.

Anyway, thanks so much to Black Sheep Clothing - the top is seriously perfect.