February Fashion
Tag Archives: BCBG Max Azria
Strike a Pose
I love fashion! I have enlisted pinch hit photographers for my outfit of the day pictures when Katy is unavailable. The result is a bunch of different poses. I am going all out Zoolander silly with the wispy look away thing – so funny!
Tashionista on Fashion
Here are the #ootd Instagram pics that I hadn’t posted (have I?). Oh well, I can’t remember. I haven’t done a fashion blog post in a while. It seems that I may be running out of new combinations and so, we are talking a lot of re-runs.
I just received all the March issues of all my fashion magazine subscriptions. They are so thick with the Spring collections! Makes me desire new stuff. I am loving what Marc Jacobs is doing. Just saw the fashion show on-line. It was cute mini dresses with oversized jackets and mid-calf boots (and funny bowler hats). Loved the proportions. I feel the urge to on-line shop…. Someone should really try to stop me.
Dressing the Part
I am back to work and school! It is fun getting dressed up, not so fun going into a building with no air conditioning, but I adjusted to it within days. And today – it actually felt cold in here!
I spent the summer in exercise clothes, bikinis and shorts. I hiked seven miles a day and did pilates twice a week or so. Working on fitting teaching into my exercise schedule, lol.
As for artwork, I took down my art show at the Sullivan Library in Chittenango, New York, and I plan to exhibit the Talisman paintings in October at the Half Moon Bakery and Bistro in Jamesville, New York. Eight paintings are still on display in the Lawrence Pavilion at Summit Medical Group in New Jersey. They will be there until January, I think, unless the show gets extended.
Penny Santy is showing her paintings in the Chittenango Middle School library! She will give a presentation about them on November 15, 2016. I am planning to do some projects based on her work. Four classes will be doing oil pastels or paintings of cows and bulls as part of my SLO tests.
In addition, I’m planning lessons on George Rodrigue, Jasper Johns, Keith Haring, Wolf Kahn, Japanese wood block prints and Greek mythology. So fun!
Last Licks
Here I am, officially home from the last day of school. I will be heading over to the Sullivan Library in Chittenango, New York in a bit to install my annual summer art show. It will hang through August 2016!
I have many plans for my summer – travel, parties and lots of art shows. I thought last summer was my best ever, so I am really looking forward to all the fun and surprises in store for me in the next two months. I don’t know why I am certain it will be even better, lol, but I get the feeling that my life is getting better and better every minute…because it is!
Here are my final outfits of the day (#ootd) from the past couple of weeks. No more outfit pics for a while since I will be living in Champion sports gear and Trina Turk bikinis, although I just received my new Trina Turk top and am dying to wear it. Lord & Taylor had a CRAZY sale on-line – 30% off almost everything plus an additional 15% off on top!
I love fashion!
Happy, happy summer!
Classroom Tashionista
Here are my most recent #ootd pictures. I am grateful for Katy Conden, my fellow art teacher, work colleague and all around bestie who has been taking such good pictures with my Samsung Galaxy 6. She makes it so fun to vogue it up every morning.
I am getting my hair done more frequently these days. Amanda LaDue at Miracles in Fayetteville, NY is a true miracle worker. She has single-handedly transformed my look. The other day one of my work colleagues told me that I look younger now than I did ten years ago when we first started working at the middle school together! That is so sweet!
It is such a thrill to get such positive responses on Facebook and on Instagram as well, where a lot of other fashion bloggers are giving me kudos, most notably the local fashion sylist, Jackie Terribile (@thesmalltownstylist) She is a friend of my little sister. Jackie blogs about the Syracuse fashion scene and does some guest hosting on a local morning show.
I am a lot older than the typical fashion blogger so, yes, it is all so flattering and wonderful. I am empowered by Madonna’s statement about her Met Gala outfit and the idea that age should not even be relevant when it comes to fashion, beauty and all that.
The above picture was taken by Roberta Mou, the Home & Careers teacher (when Katy was absent one day). Note the kitchen background. I am never normally in a kitchen, lol. I never cook except to make cupcakes once and a while for the art talks we have at school.
I wore this white dress on a day I was demonstrating an India Ink lesson! I wore two smocks. In my defense, I love this dress and I can’t just stare at it in my closet and not wear it once and a while. I am going to an event at the end of the month that has a dress code – resort casual – and this dress is perfect except for the color. It is literally never appropriate to wear white to anything wedding-related unless you are the bride.
Nine West asked to repost the above picture on their website and on their Instagram account. Those sandals are my most recent purchase. They are so comfortable. They come in two other colors – emerald green is one of them. They have a zipper in back and a gladiator style lace-up in front. I love the support this style offers!
The beaded cross necklace – my mother got it from the Indian Village at the New York State Fair in the 1940s. I am in love with it! I built many of my outfits in the past two weeks around this blue, gray, beige and gold color scheme.
Now that the school fair is over, it is pretty much smooth sailing until the end of the school year. Hopefully, the backgrounds in my #ootd pictures will improve, meaning I will start cleaning the room and putting away unnecessary supplies. (Sure I will.) And then before we know it, it will be summer vacation!
Yeah, I guess I am not a typical fifty-something, lol. No cooking or cleaning, but a big yes to a stress-free aesthetic in four-inch heels.
Neutrality is a Cool Cat
I guess I feel most comfortable wearing neutral colors – black, white, gray, beige, navy blue….
People keep making comments to me about my wardrobe – that it seems unlimited, that my closet must be colossal, et cetera.
It is an illusion, I think, because I have repeated a lot of separates, although I try to mix things up enough in order to create new looks. And I have to admit, this is a lot easier when you stick with neutrals.
One of my friends wants me to be her stylist and while I love fashion, I cannot see myself as someone else’s personal shopper. Fashion reflects one’s personality, of course, but as well as I know her, I can’t be limited by a budget. If I desire something, I don’t stop until I get it. I know that other people, my friend included, do not generally live by that creed.
Case in point – I just bought two evening dresses – a gown and a cocktail dress – for upcoming events (a BCBG Max Azria and a Jill Jill Stuart!).
They were in the $300 price point range. So…I will be driving to work on fumes for three more days. I have also lost three pounds, lol, no food in the house. No biggie. Everything always ends up working out for the best.
Hey – if I sell every “cat” painting I brought to the Summit Medical Group art exhibit (in the Lawrence Pavilion Lower Lobby Gallery) in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, I will make $11,800 less a 10% donation to that local animal care charity.
That’s enough to buy at least a few more clothes. That show starts April 25, 2016. It is open to the public – my favorite type of art show – a captive audience, people who may not seek out art venues but are at the offices for other reasons. It’s my bread and butter (ha ha – figuratively. You know I don’t eat bread or dairy).
The opening reception is scheduled for Thursday, May 5th, 2016 from 5:00-8:00 pm. Summit Medical Group is located at 1 Diamond Hill Road, Lawrence Pavilion, Berkeley Heights, New Jersey 07922. Call (908) 277-8806 for more information.
#ootd on Time
Here are the outfits I wore to work from the past couple of weeks. I donned my orange Trina Turk dress on Friday in support of Syracuse University sports (my alma mater). The men’s and women’s basketball teams did well this year. They both made it to the Final Four! There was so much excitement in this town. I watched the last three games at different venues and it has been a blast. Last night, the crowd was disappointed with the outcome, but that energy turned into an amazing night of dancing to the live band that took the stage at Shifty’s once the game ended.
Of course, Mother Nature took the loss a bit harder and decided to give us back our snow!
How crazy is this? It is the view from my back porch taken a minute ago. Yes, just this morning! Funny, because yesterday I was contemplating whether or not I would mow the lawn today….
My 5th graders finally finished their wood sculptures. They are currently on display in the school library. Next we will tackle a slab/hand built clay sculpture. I haven’t done the lesson in ten years, which was the last time I taught 5th grade art, so that should be fun!
My Studio in Art class is working on a mixed-media still life drawing and the rest of my 8th graders are painting their clay projects. They have a choice of metallic paint or fluorescents. The glow-in-the-dark element is soooo fun! One of my students donated his black light to the classroom. We can now check the projects in progress to see if the paint is covering well. Thanks, Joe S.!
The end of the marking period is fast approaching, leaving only ten weeks of school for the year! Wow. It was about this time last year that I got my first cell phone. Yeah, I know! I was living under a rock for the first fifteen years of the new millennium.
Stephanie G., one of my Studio in Art students from last year, was the one who told me about #ootd (outfit of the day). I guess you can blame her for turning me into a fashion monster, lol.
But, of course, I was already coo-coo ca-ca for fashion. It seems as though time has flown by this school year but at the same time… it seems to be standing still. I don’t feel as though I am aging. I actually really love the way I have finally caught up to myself. To my dreams for myself, I mean. Because suddenly, I’m achieving everything the real me has ever wanted.
And in the process, I have found my life’s purpose. Giving visual voice to local artists. Assisting them in any way I can to help them achieve their goals and dreams. Offering positive energy to students – not to persuade them to have art careers necessarily, but to help them fall in love with art, with the arts. And to believe in themselves in the way that they know they can achieve anything they want. That they should not stop working towards a goal until either they achieve it or stop desiring it.
It’s taken me a while to learn this stuff, but time hasn’t actually mattered, if that makes any sense. This journey has been the true gift.
Okay, time to throw on the giant parka and venture out into the April sprinter (winter in spring?) wonderland on my way to a brunch date with one of my besties. But first I need to decide what to wear….
Freedom of Choice
Just got home from an amazing business/fun trip to Jersey City, NJ. Now I am in my PJs with my cat on my heart thinking about what I will wear to work tomorrow.
Here are my looks from the past couple of weeks.
The weather is getting warmer here but for a while it will be darker and probably colder in the mornings because of Daylight Savings Time.
My new Michelle DaRin choker is currently in heavy rotation, lol. I have been wearing a lot of pink because of it.
All of my clay projects are drying and the 5th grade wood sculptures are glued (will need to put all the boxes away!). Am going to be doing some painting in some classes starting tomorrow, so I will need to compensate by wearing short sleeves.
Hmm…what to wear…what to wear??????
Techno Fashion Glitch
One of the main reasons I haven’t been blogging – I was having technical difficulties with my Instagram account. The pictures were not saving to the camera’s gallery. I tried uninstalling the program and reinstalling it and it didn’t work until tonight. Yeah, tonight it worked. Weird.
I must be more relaxed or something – I am on vacation. Or maybe it’s just an example of perseverence, although I had been on the verge of giving up, lol, over something so simple.
A former student asked me how he could get his creativity back. He thinks he’s lost it, I guess. And the truth is, no one can find it for you. You just have to take the time to quiet your mind of all the bugs that are attacking you.
No more I’m not good enough…I can’t do this and all that junk. Believe you can do it. Know you can. Then think about how you will do it and just do it.
I know that some of my friends did not like hearing me say that I did not want to make new artwork until I started selling the art I have already made. It is not that I lack creativity. I just desired a sign from the universe that my art is leading to other great things. It is very important to me to achieve financial success as an artist because I want to show my students that it is possible. I mean, that is one reason. I mean, I didn’t make over a thousand works of art for them to just be stored away forever. That doesn’t make a lick of sense.
And then, I haven’t been doing anything to make any of it happen. I haven’t been actively seeking venues or peddling my wares anywhere since the Natur-Tyme exhibit where I sold a handful of $5.00 cards. So, I kind of sound like a person who does not take my own advice.
The truth is I wanted to manifest getting an art show in a passive way. I was already doing everything I could to get myself out into the stratosphere. I am here. Right here. And on Instagram and Linkedin and Facebook. I have over 20,000 views on this blog. I wanted someone to find me. Someone who was looking for me and my art because they know it will sell.
Well, it finally happened. I will give you more details as it gets closer to show time. I was asked to be part of an art show at a medical facility in New Jersey. The show starts some time in April with a reception on May 5th, 2016. I will be exhibiting and selling my Dreamtime and Echolalia series paintings (it is an animal-themed show). The curator saw my work on Linkedin.com.
Trina Turk recently replied to my comment on her picture on Instagram. She said, Love you, too and something about wanting to be an art teacher one day! I have the dream of meeting her one day, becoming friends and maybe even working with her – designing clothing with silk dyed to match my watercolors.
Two years ago, I wouldn’t have dreamed I would actually be interacting with her on social media. Things can happen. You can mold your life consciously even if you dream big.
This blog is about my community, my artwork and fashion because I have all of these other dreams. And I think it is perfectly okay to slide your creativity around to wherever it takes you. Who knows where it will stick? There are bound to be more glitches along the way. That is kind of the fun of it. To never lose faith even when junk makes you feel like quitting.
I have a few more goals to achieve with the remainder of this February break. I am buying a car, so I guess these fashion posts are going to seem redundant for a while. While preparing the stuff for my taxes I tallied how much money I spent on clothes this past year and it was kind of a lot. (No, I don’t deduct any of it, lol) It would be nice if clothes were free, wouldn’t it? Just thought I’d throw it out there if anyone is listening. Would love to make that one stick….