Big hair and the subway.

So I just wanted to say that I would have thought NY had seen it all. However, apparently they have not seen hair as big as mine, until now. If I got a dime, or even a nickel, for every time someone commented on my big hair I would have quite the hefty allowance by now. It's funny!

The subway is the best, because, see, when you're just sitting there riding to your stop, with the seats awkwardly facing each other you really don't have many options of where to stare. And if other people are anything like me, you sometimes find yourself actually concentrating on where you can stare without being awkward. Then again, there are other times when I get so involved in my own thoughts that I end up zoning out and staring basically at someone which is really awkward when you un-zone and realize what you've been doing....anyway...that's not my point.

On the subway, while you're looking for a place to look, you often look around at the people on the subway with you and while I'm trying to find a place to not awkwardly stare I tend to notice people looking at me. And I know that it's for no other reason than my big hair.

Today, this one girl who was probably about 14 kept looking over at me!! She was sitting in a not convenient place to do so too, since she was sitting directly to the right of where I was standing next to her seat so it was totally obvious what she was doing every time she would turn in her chair and look up! She must have turned to look at least 5 times in the course of three stops.

I take it as a compliment though. I like my big hair and have no intention of changing it, no matter how many awkward stares it may bring me on my subway commute. :)

Guess which one's me? :p

Love and Style,

L.M.

Kate, the Dutchess of Cambridge's, dress.

Though overall Queen Elizabeth might not be too happy about it, Kate Middleton's gorgeous wedding gown is now on display at Buckingham Palace! :) The dress, designed by Sarah Burton, creative designer for Alexander McQueen, is now an exhibit entitled "The Royal Wedding Dress: A Story of Great British Design," and can be seen, as well as many other rooms, another exhibit and a garden for a total tour cost of $28.50.

Check out the Queen's reactions to Kate's dress' exhibit here!

Alexander McQueen and the Met.

I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to see a true legend's work on display at the Met recently. My floormates and I took a trip down to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on the Upper East Side and had the chance to experience the Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty exhibit. Now, I'm not a very big "museum person," in that I usually get bored and want to move on after about an hour, however, we spent an hour and a half looking at the exhibit alone, not including the additional hour we waited in line just to get in.

This was one of the most breathtaking experiences I have ever had. There's something about this legend's work that inspires such awe and deep thought about what's behind it. His pieces show such emotion and each one truly tells a story. Never have I had such a profound respect for a designer. Not only did he create beautiful masterpiece works of art in the form of clothing, he translated the emotions and even political statements through his craft.

I have always been a Coco Chanel fan at my core, but I have to say, she now shares that place with Alexander McQueen. I would wear any dress or headpiece at that exhibit and there was just something about his works that I felt so instantly connected to. I truly admire him.

And aesthetically, the exhibit itself was so beautifully laid out. On the ledge of each section were plaques that had quotes from McQueen about his thought process behind his creations or just about life in general. Then there was a description of each item placed in front of it on the ledge while the whole time haunting and beautifully eerie music played in surround sound.

What was more, is that it wasn't even just walking through and looking at all the dresses (some of which were worn by the likes of Lady Gaga, etc.). Rather, it was interactive. There were video screens everywhere playing scenes from the spectacular McQueen fashion shows of the past, there was a section where you watched three-dimensional prisms and light beams take shape into an actual human adorned in a white McQueen gown and there was a true political statement made when you went up to one wall in the exhibit and saw the dresses on display, only to see the lights inside the huge glass box dim to show a movie on the back wall. In the movie, the steel walls surrounding a model slowly fell to the floor, cuing the glass box to then change lighting once again and become a mirror that reflects your own self-image. The description explained how McQueen wanted to express his desire for one to look at one's own reflection and image in the mirror, and what better way for the exhibit to do that than to lure us in with a video and then switch what we're watching to be ourselves. So artistic, so brilliant and so frankly clever.

I could have spent another two hours in that exhibit and would wait in line all over again to go back. If you're in NYC I would more than highly recommend taking a trip to the Met to see it before it leaves on August 7th.

If you can't make it to see it in person, check out the official blog and while you're at it, check out this awesome article from Vogue on the Three Must-See Fashion Exhibitions of the summer!

Love and Style,
L.M.

Changing Styles, From LA to NY.

I love the phases we all go through throughout our lives in regards to fashion. All of my friends laugh every time I tell them about my punker phase during 6th and 7th grade. And as much as I'd like to think I've gotten over that sort of flip-flopping between styles and actually picked what's most me, I'm realizing more and more that I'm kinda still that way. Maybe I always will be. :)

I adapt my style to whatever mood I'm in. If I'm going through a period of listening to Muse all of the time I might dress differently than if I'm in, say, a Bon Iver music phase. Right now I'm really into the classy, elegant type of look - long flowy skirts in nude colors, black with stunning and simple gold jewelry - all with a touch of young, trendiness still there though.

I love my cute new Oxford shoes and my straw hat with a black ribbon. It looks like it came straight from France (actually from the Upper East Side). I'm just really into trying to channel the look and feeling of elegant chicness, without having the designer brand budget to go get a lot of new things.

I feel like chic elegance is very fundamental in New York style. LA's style is so different than NY's. LA is much more about expressing your individuality boldly and about the whole "I just woke up from a crazy night yesterday and have bed hair and a worn-in T-shirt on" kind of bohemian, already broken-in type of look. (Odd description, I know, but I couldn't think of a better way to depict that thought. :D) Not all of LA's style is like that of course, but that's what I feel the general trend of Cali style is.

New York is much more chic and put together. It's bohemian too, but with a cleaner, girlier edge - less rockish and wild. And a lot of it I feel is based around simplicity. A cute girly dress with statement shoes and a bracelet looks well put together and ready to take on the big city. Now, of course, there are tonsssss of different styles, not all of them like that at all, but just in general I've noticed that NY is much more about the chicness and bold simplicity, even in casual looks like you'd find in Urban Outfitters.

So now I'm on to that phase. And in a way I kinda change a little every day. My closet is a hodgepodge of pieces that reflect a pretty wide range of styles. I'm definitely not one of those people that always buys clothing items that fit into the same general style. I'm all over the place.

I love the NY influence I'm getting and who knows what's next? We'll have to see what influences Europe brings to me. Oh boy! :p My ultimate goal is to end up having a world-rounded style, with little flares and accents coming out that reflect all the places I've lived and experienced.

For more on the differences between LA and NY style, check out this photo article from TeenVogue!

Love and Style,
L.M.

Picture from the fashion shoot.

I found a picture from the Nordstrom photo shoot in SoHo the weekend of the 4th! So cool. :) My friend Nicole and I may have been in the background during some shots as we were crossing the street. haha :)

Rant of the day: the price of shoes.

So I have this pair of shoes that I absolutely adore. I wear them all the time because they just seem to make any outfit look cuter! They're Oxfords with this small, multi-colored flower print everywhere and they lace up with ivory laces. Adorable!!

I have worn these shoes so much that I can no longer wear them anymore. I was in Rite Aid the other day and was looking at which hairspray to get, as this particular store didn't cary my usual kind. I was mindlessly shifting my foot on the floor while deciding which brand to get and I felt an unusual feeling. 

This Rite Aid store has carpet as their flooring, and while I was dragging my foot back and forth on the floor while trying to make my hairspray decision, I realized that I was feeling the carpet against my skin. Confused, I lifted up my foot to see the sole of my beloved shoe and made a sad discovery. I have worn these shoes so much that I now had a huge hole underneath my right foot big toe. Thus, everywhere I went, my big toe was actually stepping on the ground. This is NYC -- that's gross.

So, with much sadness, I realized that I needed to replace my Oxfords. :( It's understandable, since I only paid $20 for them at Forever 21 at the beginning of Spring, but my heart still fell when I placed them in the trash can.  

On the bright side though? This gives me a perfectly legitimate reason to shop! :D

I've been keeping a look out wherever I go, checking all the shoe departments in the stores I pass by and what not but I just wasn't finding anything. So I decided to go back down to my beloved SoHo to this one shoe store I fell in love with before. Low and beholdddd I found a lovely pair that would be more perfect than any others I had seen throughout my course of looking. 

The price: $85.00!! >:[

Now, grant it, these are nice shoes by a designer I like a lot, Jeffrey Campbell. But $85.00?!

Looking around at the other shoes and boots too, everything was at least $50, and things in that price range seemed to be the sandals! For shoe-shoes and, heaven forbid, a pair of boots, we're talking anywhere from $65.00 to upwards of $100! [Sigh.]

Shoes are expensive. This is a realization that I had. This is also a bummer, because I really like shoes. :) Then again, I like everything having to do with style, so what's new. :p

Love and Style,

L.M.

Random objects make great hair accessories.

Happy 4th of July! Well, now it's the 5th of July but oh well!

My first 4th in New York was phenomenal. The floormates and I headed down to the incredibly amazing and uuber hip Meatpacking District on the Lower West Side and watched the fireworks shoot above the Hudson.

It's always interesting to see what people wear for the 4th of July. Many times you would never be able to tell that it was even a holiday, however, I always dress for the occasion. I sported denim jeans and a denim shirt with red and white tanks, though my favorite piece for today was my hair accessory.

My train of thought recently has been, "who says that an object not originally intended to be worn can't become an awesome accessory?" And so far, my answer to this question is no one!

Today for the 4th I sported a mini top hat that's blue glitter all over with a tiny red ribbon around the base. I got it at Hobby Lobby for .99 cents and it was technically supposed to be an adornment for a present, or something to stick in a plant. I, however, stuck it in my pouffy hair.

I love how Lady Gaga always puts the most random and awesome things in her hair (i.e. a teacup). I've started venturing down this road in a slightly more wearable way, now having a collection of my top hat, a couple bumble bees and a bird to perch in my hair. I have to thank my Mum for giving me the idea. She's always so creative like that. :) I without a doubt get all of my creativity from her.

Now when I go into stores I look for random objects that I can stick in my pouf. It makes life a little more exciting and a little more spontaneous - both of which are never a bad thing to create. :)

Love and Style,
L.M.

I heart NY.

Hi!

I'm Lacie. Thanks for reading my blog. :)

If you didn't know already, I have the amazing opportunity of spending this summer in the fabulous New York City. Ever since I came to this city to go on college tours my senior year of high school I knew that I loved it. It was then that I made up my mind that I'm going to live here after college.

This feeling has been nothing but confirmed during my stay here so far. It's been almost a month and I'm madly in love.

This evening was especially phenomenal. My friend and I ventured down to do some shopping (of course :p)  in SoHo but we headed out a bit later than planned and the stores closed after only an hour and a half or so of shopping. However, this did not dampen our night. Being the adventuresome duo that we are, we decided to explore the area while we were there with nothing else better to do.

Conclusion: I am living in SoHo when I move to New York. There's nothing else to it.

I love how an area can just emit this energy of style and chicness. And it's New York, so anything can happen. Just in the course of our walking around about a mile radius, we ran into a fashion shoot for a Nordstrom ad (the clothes were FABulous...a silver sequin dress, a jumper with a jacket and a classic all-black ensemble for the guy), we came across an adorable Italian coffee shop, restaurants to die for, a cupcake shop with the best rocky road brownie I have ever tasted and of course, boutiques you wouldn't be able to find anywhere else in the world. One had the most amazing men's shoes - lace up dress shoes in all different colors, from pink to baby blue.

I got so excited about my future in SoHo I could barely stand it. I began referring to things in me and Nicole's conversation as "my future _____," be it church, coffee house, apartment, anything! SoHo is one amazing place and I can guarantee that I WILL be making every imaginable excuse to go down there as much as possible for the rest of the summer. <3

Love and Style,
L.M.