noel vallens: turned my world to black

i’ve always been one, when in doubt to wear as much black as possible.  not a surprising idea, since everyone in my immediate vicinity seems to have the same inclination.  new yorkers are known for dressing in dark colors, but sometimes you need a little something to make sure you don’t get lost in a complete black hole.

generally i gravitate to a bit of sparkle, usually with either my jewelry, tights or shoes.  this necklace was a little something i put together using some old vintage items i found around the house and at some thrift stores.  it dresses up an otherwise little black dress.

this was the dress/outfit that i wore to the shipley & halmos show back during fashion week.  the dress (shirt?) is pretty basic…but livens up a bit with some sparkly jewels and shoes.

the dress was found tucked away in the corner downstairs of uniqlo, from the shipley and halmos collection.  the cut of the dress is really cute and swingy, and it has pockets!

…but by far the most interesting thing about it is the half-way zipped exposed zipper on the back…making it pretty much a summer dress.  but with layers, and some jewelry it works in the fall/winter too.

outfit 1: shipley & halmos dress from uniqlo, dkny coat, self-designed necklace, enzo angiolini shoes, h&m cardigan

outfit 2: n. fem dress, self made chain necklace, seychelles gold platform heels, vintage ferragamo purse, vintage gold bracelet cuff

noel vallens: steady as the rain

so, joelle and i had a bit of a blog-vacation during the thanksgiving break, hanging out with the family-family, the friend-family, and consuming lots and lots of food.  but now we’re back, today, taking photos in the dreary rain-sodden streets of downtown manhattan.

this big blousy shirt was something i came across at a thrift store, and although it has a wonderful stripe to it…it’s about 20 sizes too big for me.  so big that “tailoring” would mean just using the fabric to create a brand new shirt.  dreading that, it sat in the to-tailor pile until i decided that maybe the hugeness could be reigned in with a high-waisted skirt and a belt.

still gigantic, i like the puffiness in contrast to the super fitted skirt.  and i think i’ve done a pretty good job of concealing just how huge this thing is.

the other good thing about this shirt is that it’s surprisingly multi-seasonal.  new yorkers are always in search of those perfect items that work in both winter and summer to take up the least amount of space possible.  this one works perfectly as a big beach shirt that i wear over navy shorts.

and coats for some reason are really, really tough for me to find (and like).  this one was a somewhat recent find and it is pretty adorable AND useful with it’s little hood.  i’m still holding out for that perfect coat though.

also, some exciting things have been happening at weardrobe.  apparently, when you upload your picture, little elves scour in the internet and find similar items to what you’re wearing.

like this one.  however, those elves are never going to find an identical version to this skirt unless they are prepared to get dirty.

thrifted shirt, skirt and belt, self-designed pyrite necklace, seychelles heels

noel vallens: winged glamour

inspired by the vintage glamour in the sky, i sometimes walk into work more suited to take beverage orders and help out with heavy luggage than my actual work.  sometimes, i even get the occassional (frequent?) question, are you purposely dressed like a flight attendant??

this is actually an outfit i wore to death over the past year, and i’m surprised it’s never made an official visit to the blog.  one part parisian scarf, one part vintage stewardess.

the dress was a little something rick picked up for me in ohio long ago, and paired with a vintage scarf.  of course, everything is thrifted except the new boots.

vintage dress, vintage jacket, frye lace up boots, vintage scarf

{img via}

noel vallens: say something pretty

a few weeks ago, the neighbors were having a moving sale, and i found a skirt made out of beautiful fabric that looked like it belonged on the wall of a victorian mansion.  unfortunately, the shape was long, unflattering, dowdy and just too big.

you can see, in this completely normal standing-on-my-couch pose, just how unflattering this skirt was.  finally - i remembered to take a ‘before’ photo.

so, last night i set to work putting in two gigantic darts into the back of the skirt.  since the zipper was in the side seam, those couldn’t be taken in.  and i wanted to maintain a flat, straight front, so no action there either.  so, those two darts in the back had to bear the weight of 1) making the skirt my size and 2) bringing the waist-line from hip to waist level.

i think it’s now a much better fit…

next, i chopped off several inches, gave the bottom a new baby hem, then used the extra fabric and lining to make an extra long tie-belt that wraps around twice.  i had envisioned more of a really thick tie-belt with a big knot tie, but i didn’t really have too much extra fabric to really make the one i wanted.  but, this will do.  but i’m now becoming worried that my entire closet is going to be made up of my neighbor’s clothes.

the fabric is a cream and yellow, and my general habit is pair everything with black.  but i decided to go with the grays and creams.

joelle and i had a fun fall photoshoot in battery park.  while we were hanging out, throwing leaves up in the air, we had some bystander-photographers actually make a photo request.  apparently the first 3 times of me throwing leaves wasn’t enough for them to get their shot.

reworked thrifted banana republic skirt, f21 shirt, h&m cardigan, seychelles heels, etsy lion necklace

noel vallens: electric youth

yes, so i’ve been slacking a little this week, as joelle pointed out, but after traveling to the lovely state of new jersey for the week (and hardly doing any ‘partying’) i’m back just in time to wander around downtown newyork to find fake green astroturf to lay around on.  it looks real though, right?

this dress was collected during my electric blue phase.  joelle said she would only support my electric blue habit as long as i didn’t have a tan.  seeing as how that would never happen, i somehow managed to find a million electric blue items without even really trying.

and even though it is really cold around these parts, i refuse to actually wear a proper coat yet.   i will not give in to winter in november.

oh!  and i was inspired by the lovely erin from calivintage…

…to give my bangs a little trim.  erin is so completely adorable, and has the most amazing vintage style.

vintage electric blue dress, thrifted boots, h&m belt

noel vallens: new york was his town

last night, rick and i had a very woody-allen-manhattan style date.  roaming the streets of new york, we escaped the rain by ducking into the planetarium.  we heard a lecture about the stars, moon and galileo’s discovery of four of jupiter’s moons.

photo via Alfred Gracombe

the hayden planetarium itself is a magical and beautiful place.  afterwards, we were pretty much the only people in the natural history museum, and we got to explore some of the dinosaurs and elephants unattended.  (only we forgot to take photos! eek!)

my only regret (besides no dinosaur photos) was not being dressed a little more annie-hall-style for the outing.  but then again, i loved it so much that i’m already planning my next trip back to the lecture.

it was pretty amazing, except the lecturer kept referring to this summer triangle of stars as a slice of pizza, and one of the moons of jupiter as having a cheese pizza-like quality, with little bits of anchovies.  all of the pizza talk made me very hungry, so rick and i had to immediately find the first pizza place after the lecture.

this dress was an attempt to add a little color to a very rainy, dull day.  it used to be a below-the-knee frumpy dress that i took the scissors to and give it a new baby hem.  i’m learning that i really need to start taking some “before” pictures.

and then i rode off on my motorcycle. that i found on the street.

vintage dress - reshaped and redone, evan picone thrifted blazer, f21 belt pulled from a different skirt

noel vallens: brainy brainy

in nyc all of a sudden it went from winding-down summer days, to what felt like full on winter.  but then we finally got a few days of pleasant fall weather.  it’s my favorite weather for clothes, where it’s chilly enough to wear fun tights and little jackets and blazers, but not full on winter coats and snow boots.

i love this tweed wool skirt, but the length was making me feel a bit school-marm-ish, so i decided to let my legs throw a little lace-tights-party.

this little pyrite necklace was a recent creation of mine.  i love pyrite so much!  i think it all goes back to my childhood when i was obsessed with all gems, and…all rocks pretty much.  but pyrite was always my absolute favorite.  i think it was because i always thought the rock people had to slip up and let some real gold through sometime.

so, i’ve gotten a few comments on my recent daily wear of my glasses.  my eyes are recovering from a little scratch, so i’m on glasses for a bit…so it’s a good thing that earlier this year i completely stocked up on a million pairs of new glasses.  i found out that you can buy glasses (frames + lenses) online for something crazy like $8 to $40 a pair.  so, i went a little crazy and could now wear a different pair of glasses every day of the week.

these are some of my favorites, but you definitely have to dig through the sites to find the good ones, because there are some horrible ones on there, AND you can’t really try them before you buy….but when you can get a whole wardrobe of glasses for $15 each, it’s worth the risk. this is pair that i’m wearing above, and this website has all of the sites, and has a ton of information.

thrifted wool skirt, pyrite cluster necklace, thrifted sweater, seychelles heels, tights (i can’t remember), freeway glasses, thrifted evan picone jacket

pattern: moss stitch bow headband

so, first things first this  morning.  congratulations to Clare from Between Laundry Days for winning the crochet bib necklace!  yay!

and today, i have a simple little knit pattern.  this photo was actually taken a while back, but i’m thinking of making everything out of these bows.  necklaces? bow ties?  bracelets?

this bow headband is so simple to make, it doesn’t really warrant the creation of a pattern, but here it is anyway.  i just used the brightest yarn that was laying about the apartment, but pretty much any substitution would work.  and the variations are endless.  for my next one, i’m thinking BIG.  and floppy.

the idea for this knit bow came about after seeing this crochet version and thinking i want to knit it.  and i want it to have texture (i.e. the moss stitch).

Materials
- Worsted weight yarn (I used Lion Brand Wool-Ease Solids and Heathers) Less than 1 skein
- US #8 knitting needles
- size G crochet hook

Gauge
18sts and 24 rows = 4”

Notes
Gauge, nor yarn weight is critical for this project.  For a larger or smaller bow, add or decrease cast-on stitches, making sure to keep the total number an odd number.

Seed stitch pattern: K1, *P1, K1.  Repeat from * across.
Repeat for all rows.

PATTERN

Main bow:
Cast on 13 stitches. 
Work in seed stitch until work measures 5.5 inches.
Bind off in pattern. 

Loop:
cast on 5 stitches.
Work in seed stitch until work measures 3 inches.
Bind off in pattern. 

Headband:
Using crochet hook, chain stitch 3 ropes about 20 inches long (or size to fit around your head).

Piecing it together:
To make the bow, wrap the loop around the center of the main bow and stitch it together on the backside.  Run the 3 crochet chains through the back of the loop and join to the beginning of the chains.

noel vallens: a skirt only a mother could love

this is the story of my trash treasure skirt. one day a week or month or so ago, i spotted a sign for a stoop sale not far from my apartment. since it was getting late in the afternoon, i was scurrying as fast as i could to get there before everything was gone. unfortunately, the location was unclear and no stoop sale in sight. however, in my frantic searching, i saw a mysterious bag of items near (okay, in) a big trash bin.

never one to pass up some treasures, i took a little peak. i’m sure this was just leftovers from the recently ended stoop sale. right?

just when i was about to give up, i noticed a little gold glimmer shining out in a bin full of grime and grit.

i pulled it out to get a good look. someone had given it a lot of love and wear, and it had definitely seen better days. the fit was all baggy and length too long, so i decided to take it home and give it a makeover.

after chopping a bit off, taking it in, and giving it a better shape…it’s finally ready.  tonight, i was walking around my neighborhood wondering which one of my neighbors threw out this little treasure, and what they’d do if they saw me wearing it around.

trash skirt is worn with the weardrobe dress, courtesy of modcloth, who was nice enough to send the dress out to all of us conference-goers to see how each us styled it up.  i thought the pleated neckline was a perfect compliment to the gold glitziness of the skirt. paired with a vintage faux fur collar and some handmade jewels.

this is a double animal outfit. double predator animals. the lion was a great find at a neighborhood stoop sale for something crazy like $1.

and the snake was a little something i picked up this weekend at a yard sale near beacon, ny. i also got his black snake twin, but he’s missing a tail and needs a little work.

this little guy, barkley, wanted to be a part of the photoshoot. apparently, he loves having his photo taken (he was very excited).

i pretty much put on as much gold as i could find in my closet. these earrings are little something i made over the weekend. they are chunks of pyrite on a chain… and they’re my favorite earrings at the moment.

and finally, everything wouldn’t be complete without gold, shiny heels.

skirt found in the trash, modcloth weardrobe dress, stoop saled lion belt, yard saled snake bangle, self-designed pyrite earrings, seychelles gold platforms, vintage faux fur collar, gap jacket (thrifted), self-designed necklace, oliver peoples glasses

giveaway: crochet bib necklace + pattern!

this week, we’re hosting a little giveaway, of the ruffled crochet bib necklace.  this is a little handmade number was recently featured on our blog, and…now it can be yours!

to enter you have two options. for one entry, just leave a comment.  for two entries, post about the giveaway to your blog or site (or tweet it!), and then leave us a link to your post in our comments section. the last day to enter is sunday, oct 18.

or…if you’d rather make your own (and you know how to crochet), here’s the pattern:

**pattern updated 10/19/09: updated Row 3 of  pattern**

Materials: I used Peaches & Creme cotton solids and a size G hook, but you could pretty much use yarn/hook size to get whichever size you prefer.

C= chain
SC= single crochet
DC= double crochet
TC= triple crochet

Chain 33 sts
row 1: DC into third stitch from hook, DC across row.
row 2: C3, turn, DC into first st, *chain 3, DC into next st, repeat from * across the row.
row 3: C3, turn, DC into first st, then in loop created from previous row (TC, C1, TC, TC, C1, TC), * C3 skip 1 loop, SC into next loop, C3, skip 1 loop, in next loop (TC, C1, TC, TC, C1, TC). Continue from * to the end of the row. DC into remaining st. Bind off.

Repeat for next layer only chaining 29 stitches for the foundation row.

Repeat for next later only chaining 25 stitches for the foundation row.

Stitch all three together and attach to a chain.  you’re done!