Parenting an Artist
October 7, 2012 § 3 Comments
While lying in bed between my girls last night I took the opportunity to read three pages of The Style Rookie, a blog created by sixteen year old Tavi Gevinson who has taken the fashion world by storm.
To say that I was blown away by her work is an understatement.
A collection of her thoughts (both typed and beautifully hand written), artistic imagery (collages, others and her own), music (others and her own) and photographs of her sweet bang trimmed self styled in real fashion (as opposed to an overabundance of labels), her voice is crystal clear.
Her current tilt seems to be toward a fifties and sixties aesthetic, but the photos with her friends are timeless. I love the freedom of expression; her cat lined eyes, her mix of print and pattern and form and silhouette and color.
What is there not to love, and with 50,000 hits a day to the blog (an incredible number not attained by people two, three, four times her age), it appears I am not the only one enamoured.
As I scanned the blog I got to wondering.
Clearly Tavi is an old soul; one of those people who functions outside of age. Watching her Ted presentation (below) you can see how bright she is yet the admittance that she still hasn’t, “figured it all out,” combined with her strong yet sensitive presentation, make her real as opposed to super-hero. What a great model for girls everywhere (teenager and not)!
What became more curious to me were my questions about her parents.
Who are the Gevinsons? Who are the people who created and are raising this bright and creative soul?
I was once a teenage girl who took fashion risks and cut baby bangs and wore my hair in Heidi braids crisscrossed over the top of my head, too. But beginning a fashion empire was just a dream for me. Tavi is doing it for real and her parents are allowing her to flourish and bloom.
In her adorable interview with Jimmy Kimmel she skimmed over his questions about her parents by saying something about them being “nice people,” but I discovered later in her posted Vimeo video that her father is an English teacher and her mother is an artist who weaves tapestries. She goes on to mention that her parents encouraged her (and her sister) to be creative and to read.
Sometimes I wonder if I’m doing all I can to raise children who will develop into well-adjusted, secure and strong girls. It’s not easy in this world of Barbie and princesses (whom my girls love) or as Tavi describes, “two-dimensional super-women…with one quality that’s played up a lot.”
I think Tavi’s parents are the example of how to do it right (whether or not a child is meant to be a prodigy). Fostering creativity, encouraging reading and allowing freedom of expression is the key.
Now if only she’d interview them. Or maybe I should try. I bet they are equally as interesting as their delightfully dynamic daughter.
Had you ever heard of Tavi’s blog or her magazine for teenage girls, Rookiemag.com? Are you as interested in learning about her parents as I am? Can you believe she’s been blogging for four years? That’s a lifetime in blogland!
XOM
Hipiti for Fashion
September 13, 2012 § Leave a Comment
Paying full price is silly these days, unless of course you are rolling in dollar bills and buying the most high-end fashion straight from the runway (even then, I’m not sure those girls are paying full price).
For the rest of us who only dream of sitting in tents at fashion week, our hearts pine, but our pocketbooks do not. The creation of flash sale websites like Gilt Groupe (my favorite), Haute Look, and Rue La La have up to this point helped make us fashionable, while not breaking the bank.
This morning I received an early invite to a soon to be launched site called Hipiti created by co-founders Rama Katkar and Kristin Flink (friends from Stanford business school whose love for Internet shopping and finding great deals spurred the idea). Their website was built to simplify the shopping experience by collecting information about your favorite retailers and compiling a dashboard of recent sales (Gilt Groupe included) making the need to filter through mass promotional emails a thing of the past.
Even Lululemon is listed as a choice to add to your dashboard! Those of us always following the We Made to Much section recognize how fast LLL’s sales pieces are scooped up lightning fast only to be gone forever.
Even better (according to their Twitter feed), new companies and lines will be added as the demand grows.
Hipiti hop….hip fashion calls!
How about you? Will it be a site that will help you in your busy life?
XOM
Hipiti
Marchesa Spring 2013 RTW photo by Marcus Tondo. Vogue.com Fancy.
Band of Outsiders Spring 2013 RTW photo by Fillipo Fior. Vogue.com LOVE… almost practical… LOVE!
Creatures of the Wind Spring 2013 RTW photo by Monica Feudi. Vogue.com. A wearable collection, but I’m unsure of price point. I imagine that top is more than my monthly fixed expenses, though, since even their collection for J. Crew was pricey.
Marc by Marc Jacobs RTW Spring 2013 photo by Marcus Tondo. Vogue.com. Could be sweet, not so layered.
Rag and Bone Spring 2013 RTW photo by Fillipo Fior. Vogue.com. I love this line!
Tory Burch Spring 2013 RTW photo by Fillipo Fior. Vogue.com Terrific Tory. Her line is always wearable, but I don’t know if I always agree with her price point.
Maxi-Million
May 17, 2012 § 7 Comments
A few years back I decided I’d try a maxi dress. I found a great one at Forever 21 that cost next to nothing. It was stretchy and comfortable and cool (in both style and temperature), slim to the knee and finished with a two foot gathered hem, which spoke loudly to my inner Mother Earth.
But as happens when I take fashion risks, I got it home, tried it on, and lost my nerve. The rules for an apple-shaped girl with boobs and skinny legs screamed, “NO!”
Fitted is what works. Tent like is tough, so back it went (and fast).
With the resurgence of warm weather the maxi dressed mammas have re-appeared. They are at pre-school and the grocery store, walking down the street and playing in the park. I eye them with a mix of envy for their ability to pull of the fashion risk and hope that I might find one (one day) for my frame that would allow me to play in the game.
There’s a bunch that I like that I’ve seen and so I’ll dip my toe into maxi-million territory by posting some of my favorites.
Who knows, though? With all of the evolving that’s been going on lately, a maxi dress just might act as the finishing piece to not only round out the warm weathered wardrobe, but be the catalyst for a summer of self acceptance (I will like myself in this tent, I will like myself in this tent).
The more I think about it, the better it sounds.
Monochrome Maxi from Cheap Monday at Asos.
Anthropologie Maxi. This is way chic, but sadly, I don’t do strappy.
This I would do. Sleeves, yes. Color, yes. Still a bit sack like, yes. But I like it.
Holy Maxi Dress AllSaints Spitalfields. I doubt I’d have a place to go where this would be appropriate and I’m note sure that it would work on my shape, but in my dreams I am wearing it with a pair of flat golden sandals and hair that’s been coiffed and set with flowers. I love it that much!
Splendid. Could easily be a part of the mommy clothes board on Pinterest.
Ella Moss. A little ikat, a little space dye, a little tribal. Love it!
Nettie Silk Lace Up dress at Calypso.
Re-pinning Pinterest
March 31, 2012 § 6 Comments
Oh, Pinterest!
How I’ve fallen in love with you.
I was hesitant to try you, which is silly, but you reminded me of those old record stores with too much to weed through. I always had I anxiety attacks in those stores. I’d have to wait outside.
I was wrong about you.
Who knew that such inspiration would appear when I gave you a click? Certainly the genius who made you.
Pin, re-pin, like, like, like.
I want to follow people I don’t even know and innocently stalk the ones whose visions increase my heart rate.
I can pin something that I find as I search the grand expanse of the web and never ever lose it again.
If only everyone was pinning, we could all be connected on that cool and clever plane.
http://pinterest.com/merrillmartha/
Share the love. It’s fun. Really fun!