I am sooo excited about the brand new Stephen Sprouse book! Only, it doesn’t come out till January 13th, 2009! So two more months of waiting, but I’ve already pre-ordered from Barnes and Noble online, it’s discounted from $65 to $48.75. If you don’t know who Steven Sprouse is, it’s okay, I didn’t either until 4 years ago when my fashion art professor at FIT told me about him. He said I would love Stephen Sprouse and he was right!

Stephen Sprouse was a fashion designer (he died 4 years ago from lung cancer) who was at his prime in the rockin’ NYC fashion and music scene of the 1980’s. He lived with the iconic Debbie Harry of Blondie in the Lower East Side in the early 1980s (before yuppies moved in and prices rose). Sprouse was a pioneer in the fashion world, known for his neon colors, pop imagery, and downtown rocker attitude he brought to his collection. Sprouse was a cult figure in the 1980’s with fans like Andy Warhol and Madonna. His work was featured in major department stores and prominent fashion magazines. He got his start working with legendary designer, Halston. Unfortunately, the business side burned Sprouse, as it does to so many creative geniuses. He insisted on hand painting graffiti on his clothes and in turn his clothes were too high prices for his customers, he acquired a large amount of debt, and was forced to close his business.

Luckily a few years later he was able to open a successful store in Soho, with a business partner. But then a short while later, his business was forced to close again. Then Sprouse focused on creating giant silk screens of rock stars, like Iggy Pop and Sid Vicious and making costumes for Mick Jagger and David Bowie.

Then in 2000 Sprouse created the coveted hand painted Louis Vuitton bags and in 2002 created the graffitti printed line for Target. What an amazingly talented designer! I admire him for always pushing the envelope and sticking to his instincts. Check out more of his story at http://nymag.com/nymetro/arts/features/n_10106/.
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Tags: books, Fashion, rock, stephen sprouse

I must confess - after the Harry Potter series ended, I never thought a literary phenomena as huge as it (or close to it) would happen (at least in my young adult lifetime). Surprise! Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably know about the Twilight series. The popular book saga (compromised of 4 novels) detail the love story between ordinary gal Bella Swan who has just moved to Forks (Washington) from Phoenix (Arizona) and Edward Cullen, the super handsome quiet guy at her high school. What’s the catch then? Edward is a vampire and Bella’s blood has the most sickeningly intoxicating scent he has ever encountered.

The movie adaptation is coming out on Nov. 21st - the hype surrounding it is huge (as evidenced by the countdown posts on the LA Times blog)

Fans of the series have been selling out Twilight merchandise as soon as its become available, visited the movie sets, etc.

Personally, I’ve enjoyed reading the books and seeing how the fan base has grown. Although not at Harry Potter proportions just quite yet (give it time), “Twilight” has swept the globe.

Tell me - have you read the books? What do you think of them? Excited for the movie?

Tags: books, movies, twilight

Yep! I’m going to introduce to you guys my favorite fictional people. I’ve always loved characters who are well written. Who doesn’t? I especially love when the author really gives thought into making the character(s) believable, no matter how unlikely their circumstances actually are. Because I’ve read several books that were definitely worth my time, but I can’t really recall any of the characters themselves. Ya’ know? However there’s those characters that you just SWEAR up and down you know as if they were real. HA! and so without too much rambling, here are my favorite fictional people:

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Tags: alex, books, favorite things, lestat, scarlett

Midterm season has forced me to spend insane amounts of time in the library and go through sweats and lattes like a fiend without a care for how crazed and unshowered I look. This is unacceptable since a library is still a public space, so with that I turn to the handy-dandy library fashion guide from the facebook group Sexy in the Library, courtesy of my dear friend Crystal (who’s actually taking a semester off to work in Shanghai and free of being sexy in the library… jealousy!):

RECENT TREND (The “BOHO EQUESTRIAN IN THE LIBRARY”): Girls with hair half-up, half-down, oversized cardigan paired with leggings and leather knee-length flat-heeled riding boots in muted colors. Just enough decolletage to scintillate. Bonus: if your cardigan has some random-ass embroidered royal/house “seal” on it and BRASS BUTTONS, you Old World tool.

The CLASSIC: Worn-in, butt-hugging sweatpants/shorts paired with the college hoodie/fitted trackjacket. What differentiates it from the old Library Schlup look: (1) Sex hair and (2) the fact that she tried on 14 different sweatpants in her room before going to The Library. Bonus if Juicy Couture velour is involved. Extra Bonus if there is something written across the butt.

The “YUPPIE”: Blazer jacket with skinny jeans, flats, and a (PASTEL) scarf precisely knotted around the neck. Hair done up and sealed with a jaw clip. The clincher: Longchamp bag + books held in the non-dominant hand. Starbucks in the other.
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Tags: books, facebook, Fashion, library, midterms, sexy, studying

A little different from Shoe Shopping and Networking. But I’ve determined that a great solution to my stress shopping problem and dreary rainy weather is… book shopping! The thrill of buying a beautiful book that I’ve been meaning to read is almost as great if not greater than a fabulous pair of shoes. Definitely the nerdy English major in me coming out and making a splash (pun intended) =P

Today I spent some time perusing the local Barnes and Nobles to stay out of the rain. There’s something remarkably comforting about the quiet of a bookstore, the smell of fresh books and crisp pages, the orderliness of labels and bindings categorized and lined up in alphabetical order. A mini-vacation for the OCD intellectual in the middle of a hectic life if you will. Plus I enjoy the chance to take a look at guilty pleasures like “The Daring Book for Girls” and “Skinny Bitch.” Did you know that there is a Daily Candy lexicon book out?

And the best part is your vacation is only beginning when you leave the bookstore. I promptly took my new purchases with me to the nearest Au Bon Pain, plopped down with a steaming white chocolate latte, and started indulging in the exquisitely written stories.

So with that idealistic vision in mind, here are the fruits of my book shopping:
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Tags: au bon pain, barnes and nobles, books, daily candy, daring book for girls, english, lolita, nabokov, nerd, rain, rushdie, school, shoes, shopping, skinny bitch, vacation, wikipedia, woolf

One thing I learned from looking at other girl’s rooms is that there really is no winner! That’s so cheesy, but really I think the best kinds of rooms are the ones that reflect the personality and needs of the inhabitant, so there is no way to determine which is the “best” (although I also suppose that goes for all kinds of design and yet the most popular reality shows are all about picking the “best”).

With that in mind, I decided against picking rooms that have amazing pillow arrangements or incredible artsy wall decorations in favor of someone who made the most out of a really interesting interior design problem - the rooms in her dorm don’t have right angles! It’s a modern building that poses tricky furniture layout situations for its inhabitants. As if that’s not bad enough, she’s not allowed to paint or leave any kind of markings on the bare white walls and sullen dark wood/stone. For anyone who goes to Yale, you know which dorm I’m talking about (not the one with the Lipstick if you’re wondering if it’s Stiles or Morse).
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Tags: books, bookshelf, decoration, dorm room, earthy, interior design, right angles