Halloween 2012

"Pop Art Girl" from Roy Lichtenstein painting. Lots of Q-Tips, lots of face paint, lots of patience, one weird plastic wig.

Rick Genest and Amy Winehouse

HALLOWMcQuEEN!

Sweeeeet HallowMcQuEEEN!

Cuff-It-Up

Maybe it's all the Wonder Woman halloween costumes I saw last weekend, or it could be this picture I saw of Victoria Beckham that I can't seem to find, but I'm suddenly in love with cuffs. Not just one big bangle cuff, but two - one on each wrist. I know, it could potentially look like a scene straight out of Gladiator, but I think that when done correctly, they look classy with an edge. Wonder Woman's cuffs are très cool, but I did some looking around and I think I've got a nice little collection of potential wrist awesomeness.

I can't seem to find who created these leafy cuffs, but I love the twisty snake look around the wrist - I wish I could see the entire model's outfit because I would love to know what the stylists paired twin serpent leaves with.

I found this sparkly, studded cuff at ALICE+OLIVIA, on 41st between 5th and 6th, if I'm not mistaken. It has just the right amount of girly sparkles and punky spikes which I think looks great with a girly, frilly layered mini-dress and could definitely work with the simple jeans-and-a-t-shirt look.

These two are similar albeit the slight indent in the first one, but I think that the simple silver would be perfect over the wrists - shiny yet understated.

I must admit that this one's a little Gladiator-esque, but I love it anyway - it might also be hard to pull off and probably dangerous in some cases (WARNING: if you are the type of person who talks with your hands, do NOT wear this cuff, ESPECIALLY not on both wrists - double the pleasure is NOT double the fun here).

I think these are absolutely stunning - they have a North-Africa feel to them (like much of the jewelry I have from Morocco) and I love that the silver isn't finished - they're long and would probably cover about half of the forearm, I bet you could even wear them over a long-sleeved shirt or jacket.

Now. Let's talk about cuffs that are already on the jackets, or at the end of the sleeves:

This is Jessie. She's my brother's girlfriend from Australia and has the most amazing style. You can check out her blog: wideawakethoughts.wordpress.com. She also has the most amazing shoe collection, but that's for another day. Today, we're talking about the amazingness that is at the end of her sleeves. It looks heavy and fabulous and is exactly what I'm going to figure out how to DIY on one of my blazers.

Not the picture I was looking for (of the bracelets), but I think Victoria Beckham's style in this look is... other-worldly. Not to sound cliché or anything of course. I'm not 100% I would wear it, but it's interesting and certainly eye catching (almost as eye catching as those SHOES), and therefore deserves to be mentioned.

Once again - and I'm sorry I'm so bad at this - I forget what show this is from, but I love the collection of bracelets here - there's so many of them and they're so sparkly and shiny and delicious and I think they look great with all those geometrically shaped colors in the garment.

The military cuff is commonplace. But for Balmain, they are astonishing accompaniments to amazing shoulder pads and tiny waistlines. What I love about these "cuffs" are the color. They're almost industrial and raw. The silver is an almost grey, which I think is complimentary with the light color jean because it doesn't over power as a shiny, finished silver would.

Halloweekend

Ah, all hallow's eve. Also known as Halloween or The One Night A Year Girls Can Dress Like Not-So Classy Ladies And Get Away With It. I'm not a huge fan of chicks wearing a bra and panties and some fabric ears, deeming themselves bunnies. I find that the best way to celebrate this secular tradition is either to go all out or, if you don't have the time, go safe or funny. Never go skanky. It's not cute and being a drunken mess clad in a short skirt, glasses and tie because you are a "Naughty Teacher" doesn't scream "treat me like a lady!" My friend Numa, above, went for all-out AND funny. I think he looked absolutely phenomenal as Karl Lagerfeld - he even had cut-off leather gloves and plenty of sparkly rings to boot. I think, more importantly, what really made his costume a hit was the fact that he was in character all evening. I recall someone bumping into him by accident, to which he responded calmly and simply: "That was NOT Chanel". I, on the other hand, decided this year to go for a cute and feminine - but NOT skankoween-y - look: Aphrodite. She is the Goddess of Love and was born when Cronus cut off Ouranos' genitals and threw them into the sea (thanks, Wikipedia). Therefore, not only is she beautiful, but she is also bad-ass. I DIY-ed the toga-look with the help of an old sheet, some gold ribbon and my mother's sewing skillz. They're so good they get a "z". Draped across one shoulder and criss-crossed around the waist with the ribbon, plus more glitter than I've worn since the sixth grade school dances, I thought I was pretty convincing.

In NYC, people are creative and I mean it. I was in the subway with the ENTIRE Sesame Street gang - Bert, Ernie, Cookie Monster (with a box of cookies of course) and Oscar amongst others - and saw about four thousand Michael Jackson reincarnations. I absolutely loved each Kate Gosselin imitation (check out the fastest selling wig this year here) and saw several hot messes clad in Lady Gaga's signature blonde and leather.

Halloween was overall amazing and I was lucky enough to not have been somewhere where the majority of young, respectable, educated and beautiful women are dressed as hookers. My ONLY disappointment was that I didn't see even one Green Man (see him dance here!) from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.