bryce dallas howard...

bryce dallas howard is such a delightful celebrity pick for kate spade. she's graceful, humble, introspective and downright lovely. and she looks like a porcelain doll! thank you wwd, for the teaser and i can't wait to see the rest of the advert campaign!

india hicks and her kraft paper books...

{pics via design*sponge and apartment therapy}

i fell for india hicks back when i flipped through the pages of domino magazine and fell upon her kraft paper-wrapped hardback books. now, years later, it is such a pleasure to have interviewed her for my design*sponge column. pop on over here to read more about her creative process...

guess who's coming to dinner...

oh my goodness. i am so excited, there is no way i'm getting a decent night's sleep. the lovely ladies of rue are coming to dinner at my boss lady's apartment. my head might combust with all the darling peeps attending tomorrow... miss crystal g, anne sage, bri emery, the adorable southern flourish gal pal lesley graham, milk and honey julie holloway and annette's dream team (brent gipson and natalie kriss{this cutie pie hasn't gotten on the blog train...yet}). guaranteed i will be super blush-y and really overwhelmed with so many creative peeps in one room!

also, i can't wait to meet new faces and hug familiar ones at lavish this weekend. i'm speaking at a couple sessions, one with my design*sponge peeps, so if you're attending please please please come up and introduce yourself. it would honestly make me so stinkin' happy!

overalls...

just as i was about to tuck my overalls away for the winter, maya posted this picture of emily. i adore how she paired them with a soft, fuzzy sweater. throw on a pair of long johns underneath and you'd be good to go! i love unexpected ways of layering, it makes me so happy.

i first found emily via jak and jil, when i saw her denim & stripe collection, which is pretty yummy if you ask me. stripes and polka dots are the only patterns i can get down with, and frankly, never go out of style!

alexa chung, that's my jam...

alexa chung... i totally get it. she's adorable, and honestly she could put on a big ole burlap sack and i think gals would want to buy the look. she's the whole package... desheveled, girly but tomboyish enough to cut the saccharine, and she uses the phrase "that's my jam". love. clearly she has a sense of humor, and doesn't take herself too seriously. i will definitely watch her new television show as she thrifts across america...but i hope she leaves some good stuff for the rest of us gals ;)

fall into the gap...

{lindsey wixson, lara stone, lauren hutton, georgia may jagger}

my father fondly referred to my pre-braces gap as a "cute space". these gals for sure have me semi-regretting my teenage dental work. and let's celebrate the OG gap-toothed beauty, the divine miss lauren hutton. she is my favorite classic beauty, hands down. i hope all you dollies out there with your cute spaces never get them fixed. beauty quirks are the best!

girl crush: shae acopian detar

{scout magazine, a thought is the blossom, all photos and quotes by shae acopian detar}

alexandra grecco

ooh la la! alexandra grecco's latest lookbook featuring the luscious boticellian beauty hannah metz (and the designer herself). don't you just want the whole collection? i do, i do, i definitely do.

Alexandra Grecco Fall 2010 from Karina Cifuentes on Vimeo.

{jewelry shown: doyle and doyle}

maira kalman part I...




DID YOU BUY THE NEWEST GEM FROM MAIRA KALMAN?

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"stolen roses"...

today i am grateful for...

last fangirl post, i swear!!! miss jamie jean freed, the coolest boss lady ever, wrangled up some passes to see this lovely flame-haired ingenue tonight. between lavender, gin-spiked lemonade and grace coddington sightings, it was an all-round perfect evening. karen wore a peachy, frothy floor-length dress trimmed with black lace. and this amazing feather headpiece that sort of resembled a "where the wild things are crown". her voice is so pure, and twangy and old-school. so good it'll bring tears to your eyes!

and one of my favorite citizens band mates, rachelle garniez sang back up and played the accordion. i see a nashville road trip in my near future. i'll drop ed off at billy reid to do the manly flannel thang, while i scour venus and mars for delicious, vintage party dresses. and maybe we'll meet up at the grand ole opry.

yeah. anyway. karen elson rocks my world.

girl crushes...

today i had a delightful start to my morning with the lovely hannah metz. we exchanged musings on illustration and drawings, old cameras, the vancouver olympics, keats and shakespeare, healthcare, and even our mutual appreciation for lil' wayne. but my favorite topic broached, and one of my favorite topics of all time... girl crushes.

olivia hussey. the original juliet. that hair! those eyes! that skin! those...ta tas! she is everything i've ever wanted to look like as a woman. alas...

claire danes. my new school juliet and forever angela chase to me. no one can cry like claire danes. when her chin starts to wobble and her lips shake, i just sob. so beautiful and so dang smart too.

liv tyler. corey mason. lucy harmon. faye dolan. pamela abbott. every girl i know wanted to be liv tyler when they grew up. my husband and i are watching that thing you do as we speak.

"I have wasted thousands and thousands of kisses on you - kisses that I thought were special because of your lips and your smile and all your color and life. I used to think that was the real you, when you smiled. But now I know you don't mean any of it. You just save it for all your songs. Shame on me for kissing you with my eyes closed so tight."

who doesn't tear up when liv delivers these lines in that thing you do?

so, who are your girl crushes? which gals did you want to be when you grew up? tell me tell me tell me!

picnic at hanging rock...

netflix watch instantly is rocking my world lately. room with a view. the last picture show. and just in time for valentine's day...

picnic at hanging rock. a 1960s-pretending-to-be-victorian mystery film, chock full of gals with waist-length hair prancing around in frilly white dresses, black stockings, hairbows, and straw hats. this one is definitely a chart-topper for my illustration-inspiration archives.

the opening scenes are my favorite. corsets are tied. flowers are pressed. faces are washed in real rose water. valentines are exchanged. all sorts of unabashed girlish things that make my husband, and my sweet pete, cringe and roll their eyes.

the story takes place on st. valentine's day, where a group of school girls and a professor mysteriously vanish during a picnic at hanging rock. this movie is pretty dang creepy, which i love. the delicate balance between saccharine and spooky is my driving aesthetic, and this movie smacks you over the head with it!

a sunny blonde, wildly carving a cleaver into a supermarket-esque, heart-shaped cake. surreal layers of organ music. girls drifting in-and-out of a poppy-like slumber, as they climb hanging rock. peculiar, voyeuristic men in the distance, spying on the girls' ascent. shrill screams and almost paranormal disappearances. and plot-thickening mystery and misfortune at every turn.

an unsettling movie, to say the least, that leaves the viewer with a whole lot of unanswered questions and some serious head-scratching. personally, i prefer to watch the movie up until the girls disappear and the whole school falls apart at the seams. clue-gathering and crime-solving can be saved for a whole 'nuther day.

besides, i like to keep my valentine's chipper and cheerful, don't you?

there must be rain to have a rainbow...

today i am grateful for...

the citizens band. tonight chelsea cook, mandy, and i schlepped in the rain to the henry street settlement to see this traveling troupe of vaudevillian, bawdy, naughty, flappery, gypsy, victorian, glittery, magical, ethereal jewels. i'm not just using my favorite adjectives liberally and sensationally... they really are all those wonderful things. us girls kept bouncing in our seats and nudging eachother throughout the entire show. i had goosebumps. i giggled. i teared up. i swooned a thousand times over. the show, "debt rattle" was set in a 1930s post-depression dance contest reminiscent of the film "they shoot the horses, don't they?"( and alexander mcqueen's spring 2004 runway collection) with a touch of the "red shoes". the costumes alone set my world on fire... glittery headpieces, 30s frizzy bobs, dark eyes and sparkly eyeliner, and lots and lots of sequins, silk and chiffon, and loads of frilly lingerie.

and the pipes on the actors... holy smokes. karen elson and zoe kravitz made me cry. sirens. every. last. one. karen's song was this somber, bewitching ballad and zoe sang this bittersweet, gentle lullaby. i wasn't even expecting it. their voices blew me away.

and miss sarah sophie flicker... sigh. she is my muse. i think she and karen elson always manifest in some way or another in my girlie drawings.

and not to be too fangirly, but the audience happened to be an all-star cast as well. kate lanphear. erin fetherston. heather marks. agyness deyn. pretty much all my girl crushes minus claire danes and lara stone. if i wasn't so dang old, too old to be still this excited, i would have pulled a vintage ginnybranch stelling move and been really awkward and chatted them up, blushing the whole time. thankfully, at 25, i have some self-restraint. some.

so, if anyone has the chance to see the citizens band perform, go. i might just have to quit my day job and be a citizens band-aid... just kidding. maybe.

happy birthday haylie bird...

today i am grateful for...

a sketchbook page from our screen-printing class, many moons ago at scad.

a gratitude list from this summer.

my friend haylie b. waring. i am so glad she moved to new york, even though we live in opposite parts of brooklyn. reasons to love haylie...

1. she has the ability to make you feel like you are already old friends, even if you are just meeting her for the first time.

2. she pronounces, "orange" like "or-inge", and it makes me smile every time.

3. she is incredibly clever and a renaissance woman when it comes to anything textiles. she can turn straw into gold.

4. she is incredibly humble, so if she happens to be reading this i know she will hem and haw and exclaim, "oh ginnybranch!" with a roll of her eyes. and probably claim i am exaggerating.

p.s i'm not.

5. she is 1/3 mainer, 1/3 floridian, and 1/3 land where characters like mary poppins hail from.

6. she creates the loveliest statuettes (amongst many other things). i want to buy everything she makes. no joke.

7. she has naturally silver streaks at the age of 25 and i could not be more jealous. there is nothing more beautiful to me than silver hair, baby skin, and pink cheeks. she has the golden trifecta.

8. here are a few of my favorite things i think of when i think of haylie bird...

pegboards. peach, baby blue, chocolate brown, pink, and red. moustaches and beards. liberty print. banjos and bluegrass. camping and girl scouts. canoes and fishing chenille. good-natured gossip. doughnuts not cupcakes. all-night art projects. honey bees. lunch sacks. alphabet flash cards. silhouettes. fast dancing. donkey spirit animal. old-school office supplies. stacks of books and magazines.

everyone loves haylie. she is the kind of friend everyone wants to have. she makes you feel funnier when you are with her. adventurous and naughty. kind-hearted and loyal. talented and inspiring.

haylie, i am so glad you were born.

girl of my dreams...

today i am grateful for...

lying in bed watching i put a spell on you, the new film short collaboration between the belles of the black diamond field, topshop, and lula magazine.

oh holy smokes. maximilla lukacs and my ulimate girl crush, sarah sophie flicker, create the most intensely beautiful and bewitching films. this particular ethereal piece of goodness feels like a mixture of some my favorite films- picnic at hanging rock, valerie and her week of wonders, the virgin suicides, and daisies.

i love how the film decays from a languid and sweet picnic scene to a dark and sinister stormy mystery. the lighting and colors are so eerie and delicious. i loves it.

now all i want to do is hang out in prospect park in fabric tents, blowing bubbles and making flower crowns. and can i steal miss flicker's polka dotted legwear and that beribboned hula hoop? oh summer, you were short and sweet and i can't believe fall has already come to take you away.