10NE, THE MOST FASHIONABLE INERT GAS (AKA NEON)

Har har, now that I've gotten the dorky science joke out of the way...

For curvy ladies like me, the perfect jean shorts are hard to come by.  The ones you find in stores are either too short or too long, or too tight around the thigh.

A few years ago I discovered how to make the perfect jean shorts: buy a pair of cheap jeans that are about 4 sizes too large for you!  They will sit perfectly at your hips and you can cut them to any length you want:

(Sunnies, YSL; blouse, Akira; shorts, Old Navy; pumps, Style&Co.; earring, Icing; bracelets, Alex+Ani, F21)

I made these shorts years ago and I've never found shorts that fit better!

Speaking of jean shorts, who else is super excited for the new season of Arrested Development?!

Have a great week, Knuckles!

PINTEREST DIY: RIBBON-SHOULDER SWEATER

Hello Knuckles!

Good gravy I've been busy with work!  However, I found a little time this weekend to get crafty and try this Pinterest DIY ribbon-shoulder sweater (how-to below).  The sweater was a gift from my cousin from a few years back.  It's an awesome cut but unfortunately it was getting all pilly and needed a refresh.  After removing the pills with a fine-toothed comb and adding the ribbon, I love it all over again: 

(Sweater, Banana Republic; pants, H&M; boots, Miu Miu; bag, Elliott Lucca; watch, Casio; name necklaces, PersonalizedBoutique.com and MyNameNecklace.com.  There are no good images from this shoot because Mr. Brass Knuckles kept cracking me up by saying things like, "YOUR LEGS NEED MORE ATTITUDE."  He was being totally serious.)

I used a pink ribbon because that's all I had, but I might swap it out for neon yellow grosgrain -- how cool would that look?!  

Anyhow, it's now back to the grind.  

Have fun, Knuckles!

DIY SCHOOL SPIRIT

Hello Knuckles!

I'm a sucker for all things preppy.  As I've mentioned before, I love the Rugby aesthetic.

So while I was rummaging through my childhood bedroom a few months ago I found my old junior varsity letter, which I stitched onto an old sweater:

(Sunnies, Chanel; sweater, F21; skirt, once a strapless bandeau dress that I MORPHED INTO A SKIRT MYSELF, I still can't believe it, I'm not a crafty person by any means!, H&M; boots, Miss Sixty; scarf, Hermes; bag, LV; jewelry, Asos, Banana Republic, Alex+Ani, Target; FCFT pin, DIY.  Please excuse my grossly dry, under-moisturized hands).

The "S" stands for the name of my old junior high school.  More relevantly, it also stands for my Twitter handle, Slintbee (follow me, if you are so inclined).  Someone pointed out that these are also Michigan colors to which I stared at them blankly (the only collegiate color I acknowledge is Cardinal red.  Go Card!).

Have a WONDERFUL holiday week, Knuckles!  I hope you are spending Thanksgiving with the people you love the most!

DIY FLORAL CROWN, AND I DIDN'T EVEN NEED A GLUE GUN

This weekend Mr. Brass Knuckles and I celebrated our friend's birthday downtown.  I have been totally inspired by floral crowns:

(Lana Del Rey, Bona Drag Ceremonial Collection lookbook; take a second to peruse, it is gorgeous)

so I decided to cobble one together at the last minute to complement my outfit and celebrate the freakishly warm and windy weather:

(Wink wink!)

(Blouse, H&M; tank top, Target; pants, American Apparel; belt, Banana Republic; jewelry, Asos, Target, vintage gold cuff; clutch, Elliott Lucca; shoes, 9 West)

  

 Luckily, I have a huge stash of flower hairpins already, so I just put on a skinny plastic headband and clipped on some purple and black flowers (if you want something more permanent, you'll need a wider headband, some fake flowers, and a hot glue gun.  Cut the flower stems, leaving about 3/4".  Glue the stems onto the headband and voila).

Have a great week, Knuckles!

THOSE FREEWHEELIN' FALL DAYS

A year after I graduated from college I was working at an internet start-up in Manhattan.  My co-workers and I hung out every night after work at this bar called Billy Marks 2, where Darren would feed the jukebox quarters to play "Electric Barbarella" by Duran Duran and I drank endless gin and tonics.  On warm Fall nights when we left the bar I didn't want the evening to end so I'd walk 82 blocks up Broadway to my apartment in Morningside Heights.  I'd pass through Times Square and the Upper West Side before stopping at Koronet for an enormous slice of greasy, flavorless pizza.  Then the next morning, slightly hungover, I'd put on this skirt, a ridiculously itchy Abercrombie & Fitch wool sweater and a pair of black loafers, and then buy a Venti coffee from Starbucks and head into the subway.

(Holy guacamole I look tired!)

(Skirt, vintage, quite frankly I can't believe it still fits; sweater, H&M; shirt, F21 (studding mine); purse, Oryany, a gift from Mr. Brass Knuckles; shoes, Jeffrey Campbell; bracelets, Pandora, Alex+Ani, Target, Louis Vuitton; ring, Icing.  The LV ID bracelet was a generous gift from an old boss, this woman also gave me La Perla lingerie sets and Prada shoes and my first design job).

Have a great weekend, Knuckles!

PLUS, YARDWORK

When you come home from work, you have to water your imaginary plants:

(Blazer, Zara; Peplum top, vintage; pants and necklace, H&M; shoes, Aldo; sunglasses, YSL; watch, Casio; bracelets, Pandora, Alex+Ani)

The peplum top is one of my faves.  It was originally an 80's dress with a voluminous bubble skirt that I bought it at the Park Slope Beacon's Closet years ago.  I never wore it because it was simultaneously too tight yet also made me look like a marshmellow.  Then one day I cut the skirt off and woila. 

The watering can is from Ikea and was a gift from my friend and first NYC roommate, L.  She tied the festive yellow ribbon around it and for some reason it holds a tremendous amount of sentimental value to me.  L. is one of the most fashionable and mysterious women I know and she actually got me into the MET's Costume Institute Ball one year.  At the time I was completely broke so I doctored up my high school prom dress and wore it with a pair of Gucci shoes that I emptied out my bank account to buy at the Bergdorf shoe sale.

These sparkly shoes are borderline FLOs (For Limo Only) but they are just comfortable enough to make it through the day.

Have a great weekend, Knuckles!

DIY REDUX: SHOES FOR LEVITATING LIKE LUIGI

UPDATE: The shoes that I DIY'ed last week may be too cheap to walk in, but they're perfect for hovering on overcast afternoons:

Back down to earth:

(Dress, Topshop, part of the first Kate Moss for Topshop line years ago.  I bought the dress from the capsule collection at Barney's, and the first time I wore it was to my husband's b-school band's first show at The Keg of Evanston, widely considered one of the top college bars in the country.  Let's just say I was incredibly overdressed.  Watch, Casio; Shoes, DIY, this is probably the only time I will ever wear these things; bracelets, Alex & Ani, Pandora; necklace, So Good jewelry store, Lolita-style sunglasses, Times Square).

By the way, these photos depict exactly how I fly in my dreams, by pedaling my feet back and forth in the air as I rise up like a helicopter, much like Luigi in Super Mario Brothers 2:

(BTW #2, I am in love with my new remote switch for my camera!  I'm not at all a photographer, so thanks for indulging me as I geek out on it).

Have a great week, Little Knuckles!

DIY CAPTOE BOOTIES (APOLOGIES IN ADVANCE TO MY FEET)

WHAT'S UP Knuckles!

Ever since the Louis Vuitton cap toe pump came out last S/S 2012, I have really been loving this look.  What a gorgeous way to update pumps:

(LV pre-fall 2012)

Pointy cap toe pumps are pretty much everywhere now, which is not a bad thing.  But I am especially excited that the trend is extending into more bad-ass territory.  Check out these amazing new Jeffrey Campbell boots:

(Zorro Combat Boot, Jeffrey Campbell, Nastygal.com)

I was feeling inspired by this LV-meets-Daria look, and decided to update an ancient pair of faux-suede wedges that had been sitting in my closet:

I bought these out thrifting a few years ago.  They were unworn and I paid less than $4 for them.  Truth be told, it was $4 poorly spent because I've ever worn them.  They are a) incredibly cheap and b) make my feet look like a couple of concrete blocks.  In sum, these were the perfect shoes to go DIY on.

For this project, I used fabric paint in black and silver metallic:

The process is so simple you don't need photos, but whatevs.  Step 1: Mask off the uppers:

Step 2: Paint.  Apply a couple of coats, letting the paint dry in-between.

Step 3: Let dry.  Patience, girl.

Here they are with black wedges, looking a million times better.  

I probably should've left them like this, but my vision forged on.

Step 4: Mask off the cap toe.  Paint and dry.

Step 5: Remove the masking tape, add black laces, step back and....

Step 6: Go buy the Jeffrey Campbell boots.  While I'm surprised by how well the actual cap toes turned out (it looks much more metallic in real life), the shoes are just so cheap that I'm not sure I can wear them without completely insulting my feet.  They may never speak to me again. 

I also think that one shoe is a half-size too large.

The lesson here is: never buy super cheap shoes.  Don't do it!

Have a great day, Knuckles!

TGIFRIDAY BAGUETTE FLAIR

Happy weekend, little Knuckles!  It's HOT in Chicago; I hope I stay as cool as my martini:

So I was sitting here thinking about Fridays, which made me think of TGIFriday's and Jennifer Aniston in Office Space and her suspenders full of flair, which totally sidetracked me into the Etsy rabbithole for fun buttons and pins ("Hmm, what would I buy for my flair?" -- this thought actually ran through my head),

Jennifer Aniston and her 37 pieces of flair, Office Space, 1999

 and that led me to remembering this amazing Teen Vogue interview with accessory designer extraordinaire Katie Hillier that I read ages ago, in which they showed her decorated Fendi baguette,

  This crappy picture is the only one I could find of Katie and her decorated baguette.  She's recently launched her own collection, Hillier London, and blogs for Vogue UK.

 which was re-launched this year for its 15th anniversary with 6 re-issued styles and a new book.

Fendi baguettes (photo from TheBagHagDiaries.com)

Back when baguettes were all the rage I bought a bag at the Fendi store on 5th avenue that was slightly different because I felt everyone and her dog had a baguette and of course I had to stand out of the crowd buahahah!  What was I thinking?  What an idiot.  Anyhow, I've barely worn this bag ever because it's so dang boring and looks like it's from a Fendi store next to the Bath & Bodyworks at the local outlet mall:

However, I'm feeling inspired by the baguette's re-issue and TGIFriday's and Jennifer Aniston's suspenders and all those punk rock pins I used to collect back in the day, including FCFT pins that we made and sold for a dollar each at our shows.

(Our crafty friend Luisa showed us how to recycle old 1" pins into our own new pins: 1) color the pin with a black Sharpie to completely obscure the old graphics, 2) use a white-out pen to write whatever you want on the pin, 3) coat with clear nail polish, 4) let dry.  This method is surprisingly effective, and we spent hours in our poorly-ventilated tour van making these things).

So I want to do something fun with this bag but can't decide what.  There are so many pretty embellishments this fall to be inspired by:

(All photos Style.com)

Even just quickly throwing on some of my mismatched flowered hairpins gives it some character, and could look pretty with a well-curated group of flowers properly sewn on:

Or, having had success with my jacket, maybe I try to stud it up (though this would require an extraordinary amount of patience, plus the very real possibility of completely destroying a triple digit purse):

Or do I just throw on a Twilly and accept the fact that it's a boring classic and look back ten years from now and say "See aren't you glad you didn't ruin it, I told you so!" (Apparently future me is a real jerk!)?

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Have a wonderful weekend, little Knuckles!