Alexander Wang x Balenciaga

One month ago today, I woke up with a dead phone. I hadn't plugged it in before I went to bed, and it died during the night. I plugged it in and waited for it to charge. After it turned on, I got on my Tumblr account and was browsing my dash. And there it was.

I was heartbroken. Ever since I started really getting into fashion, Balenciaga has been one of my favorite fashion houses. Ghesquiere did a really good job putting the brand back on the map in haute couture. I've seen a lot of great Balenciaga collections, but his farewell Spring Summer 2013 show in Paris was his best. Some will disagree, some will agree, but everyone can all agree that Nicolas Ghesquiere was the best thing that ever happened to Balenciaga. It  is sad to see him go, after 15 long, hard years of work. I cried a lot on November 1st, 2012. Even running out to my mother, who first thought something happened to my cat. But then she remembered my tears when Alexander McQueen killed himself. When Valentino retired. When John Galliano was fired from Christian Dior. 

So imagine my happiness when first thing I saw this morning on Instagram was a post by Vogue Australia, stating that Alexander Wang was taking up Balenciaga. I'm so excited to see what he'll do. A lot of people think that he's not right for it, because his collections are too simple and Balenciaga is more of a haute couture brand. But if you compare recent Alexander Wang shows to the older Balenciaga shows (circa 2000 onwards), you can pick out out lots of similarities. I personally think that Alexander Wang is perfect, but what's going to happen to Alexander Wang the brand? Will someone else take over? Will Alex do his own brand AND Balenciaga?

Read more:
Reactions to Alexander Wang at Balenciaga: Surprise, Concern -NY Mag

Alexander Wang to Take Reins at Balenciaga -WWD

Trend: glitz

The holiday season is the one time of year where you can get away with wearing way too many sequins, metallics, gems, and glitter. If you aren't really big into dressing up, just throw on an LBD and accessorize with these fun and bright shoes, bags, and jewelry! 

Adelisa Jeweled Velvet Flat in Black, $98

www.ralphlauren.com

Hair Elastic, $6.95

www.hm.com/us

Michael Kors Mid-Size Golden Stainless Steel Camille Tee-Hand Glitz Watch, $550

www.neimanmarcus.com

Kimichi Blue Art Deco Jeweled Clutch, $49

www.urbanoutfitters.com

Bailarina Piedras Tachas, $89.90

www.zara.com

Glam Rock Ring, $65

www.nastygal.com

Abigail's Vision Crystal  Necklace, $34

www.urbanoutfitters.com

Dolce Vita Nita Studded Heel, $219

www.dolcevita.com

Alexander McQueen Snowflake Knucklebox Clutch, $3,195

www.alexandermcqueen.com

Trend: glow in the dark

 At Alexander Wang Spring Summer 2013, the finale consisted of a group of models wearing bold white cut out attire. They found each of their position on the runway, posed and held still, the lights went down around the audience, spotlights on the models. Then the spotlights went off and the dresses started to glow. 

American Apparel Glow in the Dark Nail Polish, only available in Jupiter (orange) and Moon (green), $6 www.americanapparel.net

Bex Rox London Glow Ring Gold, ring plated with 24 carat gold and features glow in the dark white powder which when activated glows green, blue, or purple. Currently sold out. Pre-ordering available. Width: 1.25", Length .25". £189. ($302) 

Glow in the Dark iPhone Decal, available on Etsy.com, $2

http://www.etsy.com/shop/VinylNation

UO Glow in the Dark Sunglasses, available at Urban Outfitters, $14

www.urbanoutfitters.com

Mac Miller's music video for "Loud"

www.macmillerofficial.com

"Pinpricks of light on the shore seem to mirror stars above in an undated picture taken on Vaadhoo Island in the Maldives. The biological light, or bioluminescence, in the waves is the product of marine microbes called phytoplankton—and now scientists think they know how some of these life-forms create their brilliant blue glow." - Sea of Stars, National Geographic

You need three things. Paint brush, glow in the dark paint, and a mason jar. Paint dots on the inside. Place near bed. Wait until it gets dark. You have captured stars in a jar. Really fun to look at when stoned. 

Trend: chevron stripes

One pattern I think that is going to be very popular for swimwear in summer 2013 is the chevron stripe. You might have seen glimpses of the cute and bright print popping up in nail art, Victoria's Secret PINK lingerie, throw pillows, and dresses or skirts at Forever 21 lately. The print itself was made popular by Ottavio Missoni and his wife Rosita. The two met at the 1948 Olympics for which Ottavio had designed the tracksuits for the Italian national team. Rosita was a knitter, working at her family's knitwear factory. They married in 1953 and came together to fuse knitwear and crazy colors, patterns, and prints together. The two gained attention in 1967 when they were invited to show their collection at the Pitti Palace in Florence. Rosita told all the models to remove their bras right before they walked out, because they showed through the thin fabrics. Needless to say, they were not invited back the next year. But it didn't matter. They had put themselves on the map. What I love about Missoni is that everything they make looks so comfortable. All their knitwear is so dreamy looking and so beautifully made. If you can ever afford to get your hands on an authentic Missoni knit, I fully urge you to. The Missoni knit will never go out of style. Ever. That is a promise.

Vintage Missoni

Kate Moss in an ad campaign for Missoni. Doesn't that sweater just look oh so cozy?

On September 13th, 2011 Missoni unveiled a 400+ piece collection for Target. It included women's and children's clothing, housewares, stationary, and even a custom Missoni bike. The collection sold out at Targets everywhere within 36 hours, and even crashed the Target site for awhile. I told you, this brand will NEVER go out of style. 

Ruched Bikini Thong at Victoria's Secret PINK, $9.50

High-Waisted Chevron Shorts at Forever 21, $19.80

Missoni inspired manicure courtesy of fabfatale.com

Doesn't this just make you so excited for spring/summer?!

Hello there.

Ever since I can remember, I can only think of wanting to do one thing with my life. Fashion. I had no specific career in mind, I just knew that I wanted to be around people who were interested in beauty, the beauty of what you can make into clothing, jewelry, accessories, shoes, art, packaging, architecture, even furniture. I wanted to learn how to manipulate hair, makeup, and clothing to become a working, living, breathing work of art. I want to surround myself with all things extravagant and gorgeous. I've fought with myself a lot. "Is this really what you want to do, Laurel? Dive headfirst into a $900 billion industry that survives on the unhealthy body mass index of models, pin pricked finger tips, quad shot lattes, and all around snootiness?" The answer is simple. Of course. What else am I going to do? I can't imagine doing anything else. When you find something you love, you want to hold onto it forever. That's how I feel about fashion. Although, I still am very young. There are other things I would love to get to experience.

Over the past couple of years, and especially in high school, I've realized that I am very much a visual learner. I learn better by seeing something done, rather than reading instructions in a book or being droned at for 80 minutes. I am a very visual person. I like everything to be perfect, in school, in life, in outfits, everything. Maybe that's just my OCD coming through (love you Mom!), but I've developed a very strict sense of style. I know whether or not I like something within seconds of seeing it. Whether it be a collection of clothing, a hairstyle, a way of doing eye makeup, the way a room was designed to line up, etc. I wouldn't say that I have a photographic memory, but I've been asked a lot if I do, up to the point of testing myself for it. I don't. I just have a very keen sense of what makes sense and looks good to me. I plan on using that sense to my advantage. 

When I was 9 years old, my parents got divorced. I'll spare you the gory details. My mom ended up moving about a half mile away from my dad's house so that I could keep the same friends, go to the same school, and even ride the same school bus. Now, if you know one thing about me it's that my mom and I have a very close relationship. Much more than my dad, I still love him, and will forever, but I put my foot down when I was 16 and moved out of his house and started living with my mom full time. My parents had very different parenting styles, and not even parenting styles, just different opinions about everything in general. So, from the time I was 10 years old, up until I was the tender age of 16, I lived out of a backpack. Trudging all my stuff back and forth from my mom's to my dad's house. My mother, for lack of a better word, was very relaxed in raising me. I was allowed to do things other kids weren't allowed to do. Go to shows downtown. Hang out with people older than me. Dye my hair crazy colors. Pierce my own ears. Listen to music with the parental advisory sticker on it. I won't get into the bad stuff that I did, and the amount of trouble I would've been in if I had been caught. My parents split up the week, I would spend half the week at my dad's house, the other half at my mom's house, all depending on when my mom had to work and couldn't be home to "supervise" me, not that she didn't really care what I did. My dad was a different story. No cell phone. No using the house phone to call people. No having friends over. No going over to friends. No cable television. "You do what you want at your mothers." So here I am, a teenager, going back and forth between absolute freedom and complete lock down. I think that years and years of this, really impacted the way I look at things. Most people have one view of things, their own. They can really get down on a beautiful Carolina Herrera gown. But show them a leather Alexander Wang bra or a Mulberry fur coat. Nope. That's ugly. There are two sides to every story. My goal is to be as open as possible. Embrace everything, give everything and everyone a chance. Find the beauty in something that someone might not be able to. Butterflies can't see their wings, they can't see how beautiful they are. 

This blog is a dedication to all things I find beautiful. Everything that I love. Everything that I'm interested in. This blog will be a combination of fashion, beauty, culture, art, design, music, whatever the fuck I feel like. I make lists, I'm constantly writing things down as they come to mind. One day you might see a beautiful Balmain collection, another day a make your own cosmetics tutorial. A lot of this will be trends that I love, current and past collections, Polyvores made by yours truly, OOTD's, etc. Please feel free to message me with anything you'd like to know more about, I will gladly write up a little report on beauty products, restaurants, anything you'd like within reason. I'll try and keep everyone updated with the latest news in fashion, which is to say if anyone retires/drops dead, you'll hear it here first. Some weeks I work 6 days, other weeks 3 days. I got lucky this week, and I don't have to go back to work until Wednesday so I have a little bit of time to work on this. I hope that you all enjoy this. I will try and make it as quality as possible. Thank you so much.

The writer of this blog is named Laurel Titus, a born and raised Washingtonian, born November 16th, 1993. I'm 5'11'', have blonde hair and big ocean blue eyes. I graduated from Ferndale High School in June of 2012. My current plan is to go to Whatcom Community College for a year or two, take core classes and study art. I plan on attending the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles, California and get my AA in Visual Communications and my BA in Business. From then on, who knows? It's going to be an adventure. 

Favorite Brands: Acne, Adidas, Alexander McQueen, Alexander Wang, American Apparel, Anna Sui,  Asos, Balenciaga, Balmain, Benefit, Betsey Johnson, BDG, Bliss, Blumarine, The Body Shop, Boscia, Brandy Melville, Burberry Prorsum, butter LONDON, Cacharel, Calvin Klein, Céline, Chanel, Cheap Monday, Chloé, Christian Dior, Clarins, Clinique, COACH, Comme des Garçons, Coco de Couer, Cooperative, Deena & Ozzy, Derek Lam, Deux Lux, Dimepiece Designs, Dolce & Gabbana, Dries Van Noten, DuWop,  Ecote, Elizabeth & James, Evian, First Aid Beauty, GAP, Givenchy, Gucci, Hallelu, H&M, Helmut Lang, House of Harlow, Isabel Marant, Jack Wills, Jil Sander, Josie Maran, Karen Walker, Kate Somerville, Kate Spade, Kimichi Blue, Lanvin, L'Occitane, Louis Vuitton, lululemon, LUSH, Maison Martin Margiela, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Marc Jacobs, Marchesa, Marni, Mary Katrantzou,  Maya Brenner, Michael Kors, MINKPINK, Missoni, Miu Miu, Monserat de Lucca, Obey, OPI, Origins, Oscar de la Renta, Paul & Joe, People's Revolution, Perricone MD, Philosophy, PINK by Victoria's Secret, Prabal Gurung, Prada, Preen, Proenza Schouler, Pucci, Rag & Bone, Ralph Lauren, Ray Ban, Rodarte, Sam Edelman, Silence & Noise, Sonia Kashuk, Sparkle & Fade, Stampd, Staring at Stars, Stella McCartney, Supreme, Thakoon, Theyskens' Theory, Tiffany & Co., Truly Madly Deeply, Tweezerman, Urban Renewal, Valentino, Versace, Victoria's Secret, Wildfox Couture, Zac Posen, Zimmermann .