fleet collection

Two things: this is not a fashion blog, and I am not a fashion blogger.  So when the opportunity presented itself for me to get my hands on some crazy cute dresses from Fleet Collection and take some pictures in them, I was like "whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat! me?!" and then I was like "GIMME THOSE DRESSES!"  

You see, I love clothes.  I really, really love clothes.  Especially dresses.  I have more dresses than pairs of socks, or t-shirts.  Dresses for days!  I love dresses!

Basically: I convinced my friend Janine Ker to hang out in Griffith Park here in Los Angeles for a day and take pictures of me.  It was so much fun!  Not just styling the dresses, but getting to collaborate on something with my friend, doing something creative outside the norm for both of us.  I mean, I'm no model, and the button on Janine's camera is held on with a bit of tape, and we did this all completely guerilla style!  (We almost got booted out of Travel Town for bringing 'props' in with us.) We got some weird looks, but that just added to the fun, I think.  

It also forced me to respect my favorite fashion bloggers that much more...it takes a lot of planning and creativity to get good shots!

Credits for this adventure:

Dresses by Fleet Collection

Photos by Janine Ker

Styled and modeled by this moi

We shot this blue dress in Travel Town in Griffith Park.  It's full of cool old trains.  It's probably one of the coolest places in LA.  And it's free!

As a person who owns a lotta dresses already, I have to say that these are really excellently crafted.  I'm not jus saying that!  The fabric is nice and thick, so you don't have to wear a slip underneath, and they fit like a glove.  They're not flimsy like dresses this cute tend to be.  

Also, they are made in downtown Los Angeles!!  How cool is that?

sweater: J.Crew

shoes: Kurt Geiger

little suitcases: that is just the kinda stuff that I keep around.

This is a good place to mention that Janine is also my hairdresser.  She is responsible for my pixie cut, which gets me an average of one compliment a day.  

For the photos with this black and red dress I had the silly idea of going to this giant bougainvillea bush in Atwater Village, right by a train overpass.  It was our least glamorous location for sure (garbage all over, old man with a shopping cart rolled through, a car honked at us) but those flowers matched the dress so well!

sunglasses: the $15 or less store in Santa Barbara.  They were $7!

hat: some vintage hole in the wall.

belt: a thrift store like seriously 8 years ago

shoes: Kurt Geiger again

necklace: The Getty Center gift shop

THIS dress may have been my favorite.  I love red.  

 hat: J.Crew

belt: a thrift store like seriously 9 years ago

sunglasses: Asos

hat: Topshop

cardigan: Crossroads

all my jewelry: vintage

I got that paper parasol at FYF Fest a couple months ago for the practical purpose of keeping the sun off and also the awesome purpose of being adorable.  It was a fun prop!

Both Janine and I agreed that this yellow dress looked best among the yellow leaves of the sycamore trees.  The sycamore is my favorite tree.  How could you not love a tree that grows little deedly-balls on it?!

cardigan: Crossroads

shoes, sunglasses: Urban Outfitters

lace socks: Forever21

I hope I get the opportunity to do something like this again.  Super fun times!

Don't worry, there will be an art update soon.  I sure as heck have a lot to share, I just have to wait until the time is right!

faith and lola

12x12, photoshop!

Here's a little illustration I did for Australian clothing label Faith and Lola.  Best part of this deal: they paid me in clothes.  That is like...a dream.

My inspirations for this piece were: actual faith and lola dresses, 1960's fashion illustrations, and cornflowers.  Cornflowers are beautiful and you should google image search them immediately.

insta-life

Hey guys, I have a new painting to show you REAL SOON!  

In the mean time, did you know I'm on Instagram, making stylish photos appear in my iphone that I could never manage to produce with an actual camera and film?  My username is missbrigette, if you are of the Insta-persuasion yourself. 

Most pertinent to this blog, I often Instagram my works-in-progress, like so!

That one is almost done!  Just about a bazillion flowers left to paint, is all.

Ooooh yeah, there's a Beatles thing on its way, too.

 There's a lot of kitty-doggy pictures...

I can't help it.  I hang out with these two ding dongs all day and they are stinking cute.  

She was chasing a rainbow, you guys.

It's kind of handy, actually, because having all those neat filters reminds you to take pictures of places you go and things you see, with the incentive that you can make whatever it is appear up to 900% cooler than it actually was.  

But also I kind of think I go to a lot of cool places, too.  The Hollywood sign almost always looks fantastic.

Even freeways look cool through a vintage filter!!

Sometimes I just take pictures of stuff around my dusty old apartment.

Just kidding.  I take pictures of this apartment because I love this apartment. 

Also...I love my dog.  

My cat is not too bad, either.  

And sometimes I take pictures of my own fashionable choices, so I can remember them foreverrrrrr!

That horseshoe necklace broke!  Sad! 

See, it's working.  I'm remembering stuff.

It's hard to take a picture of the top of your own head.

An occasional picture of food.  Not too big on food pictures.  If food pictures is what you want, you've come to the wrong place.

Next time more art!

flower heads and cake ladies

I did these sketches for what was maybe going to be a stationary set, but it didn't pan out.  What a bummer.  I hate it when that happens.  

The idea was that they would be black line art on white paper, and they would come with a little watercolor set and you could color them yourself.  

As far as the designs go, I was just having fun, really.  They are marker and pencil,sketches and they're not the best drawings, but they give you a pretty good idea.  I probably would have fancied them up with a brush pen if they it had been a go.  Brush pens are fun things. 

Things I like: flowers, fancy ladies, beautiful desserts, and the 18th century fashion.  If you couldn't tell.  

And then there was this weirdo one withe the octopus hair thrown in.  

I like markers a lot, even though my marker technique (if there is such a thing in the case of markers) is pretty 'whatever'.  

Frustrating days lately, you guys.  Really stupidly tough!!  I can't seem to get any projects off the ground, for reasons that are utterly mystifying (to me at least).  I don't wanna bitch out on my blog, because that's sort of yucky, but then again why not?  It's part of the deal when you're an artist that depends on other folks/institutions to put your work out there.  Your s#*% gets rejected sometimes!  

Anyway.  On to the next!

my fun fun fashion blog

I started a style/fashion/clothing/I'm obsessed with shoes blog with my good former classmate/hilarious friend/fellow artist ED Juan!

We really just started it for fun, and because we are both constantly and consistently preoccupied with clothes. It's been getting a pretty positive response from our friends and the like, so I thought I'd share it on my 'real' blog.

What's on it, you ask? Stuff like this:

Drawings of my outfits...

Cute pictures of my mom from the 60's...

Very poorly taken iphone photos of my clothes...

It's located right HERE!

It's been a ton of fun to update. Good times.

paper gal!

The actual "making" part is done! Now I have to print em out and test how everything fits. I have a feeling that they're going to be a pain in the butt to cut out...





Yay!