Analogue Chic

Archive for the ‘Design’ Category

It's not just an expression or a song lyric– the Easter Parade is real!

I've been talking about the NYC Easter Parade for years– witness this post from 2009 which did not survive the trip to my new web honst intact, and this post from 2011 in which I attempt to foment Easter bonnet rebellion.

Well, thanks to that mini obsession and the grace of the internet gods, a German TV producer contacted me to appear on their New York Easter segment and do a hat decorating how-to, and accompany them to the Easter Parade. Heck yes, I said!

I don't think I can mention the show until it airs in Germany, but it's directed to tweens and teens, and has a very energetic and cute host that I want to go shopping with. M&J Trimmings in Manhattan was kind enough to lend us space to film the glue gun fest last week. And I met up with crew again on 5th Avenue Sunday to run around looking at everyone's hats, and presiding over an impromptu hat contest.

And this is what I saw:

And if Flash isn't working for you, you can see the photos right here.

One of the highlights for me was seeing Tziporah Salamon, who is often featured on Advanced Style.

I love that the "parade" is a totally organic, unorganized, people's festival that just happens every year, same time, same place – it's pure New York tradition. And it's incredibly fun. I highly recommend it.

I mentioned in my school-related blog the annual fashion face-off that is Fusion.

Take a peek at my photos from the show!

Ugh, sorry that is a Flash slideshow. If it doesn't work for you, you can view the album here.

Golly, is fashion having an Iris Apfel moment, or what? (You can read my tribute to her style verve here. And more background here.)

She launched her jewelry line on the Home Shopping Network last year, and currently has a collaboration with MAC cosmetics.

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Totally inspiring decor in the waiting room at Rapid Lube on South Street in Danbury.

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*As in, sour/tangy, not the euphemism for a promiscuous woman…

Acid yellow-green with deep plummy purple.

This color combo was being rocked hard by South Asian girls this week.

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I went into Office Max the other day, looking for a very specific kind of binder clip. Of course they didn’t have what I was looking for, nor did they have a couple of other things I was looking for, thus confirming my opinion that Office Max is completely useless.

That did not, however, stop me from picking up some things I did not know I wanted or needed. Exhibit A: Blue and white fleur-de-lis and brocade patterned stationery from their trendy “DiVoga” line.

Images via Office Max

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Or, how to be a museum ninja.

NOTE: This article was also picked up by The Mercurial. Thanks Amanda!

1. Plan your visit for a weekday, preferably early in the week.

Weekends are definitely a bad idea – in addition to regular tourists from far-off regions of the US and the world, you will be competing for line space with local and regional visitors who are in town just for the weekend.

2. Buy your ticket online ahead of time.

You’ll still have to wait in line, but you can print it out and take it to any information desk or ticket counter to check in. And it will save you about a minute of cash- or credit card-processing at the counter.

While you’re at it, print out a map, and note the bathrooms, and the location of the exhibit, so you don’t waste time looking for the floorplan and asking where the exhibit is.

Of course, if you are a museum member, you can skip the line entirely.

And if you’d like to contribute 2x the usual suggested admission, you can see the exhibit on a Monday, when the museum is usually closed.

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Ch. 1

This building greeted me and Hubz as we pulled off the highway into Philadelphia last weekend. It’s located on Vine Street, just north of Chinatown.

I can’t tell if it’s actually very well-preserved wall paper from the adjacent building (now a parking lot) or a more recent addition of very creative street art. I have my spies working to find out more about it.

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*Not at all exhaustive.

Thanks to my husband’s employer, my vacation this year was a  long weekend in Philadelphia. That is not a complaint, in any way, except that he was working most of the time. So it was a weird solo-trip-together… But a much-needed change of scenery.

I was able to revisit some of my favorite spots from my first trip to PHL with my sister about 4 years ago?? (That seems like a long time, but it’s probably accurate.)

I also got to visit some parts of town that were new to me (which was easy, because Sis and I didn’t venture too far on our mini-trip back then).

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Oh my! This almost turned out to be the first week in a good long while where I didn't post at all! (Help a sister out, y'all.)

Wednesday night, I stayed out way past my bedtime to participate in Project Walkway, the upcycled fashion, family-friendly challenge at Ideat Village, the homegrown alternative to New Haven's International Festival of Arts and Ideas.

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