Well Done T Swift

I've been critical of Taylor Swift's look before. Not because I thought it was unbecoming of her, I simply felt that no 18 year old needed to be so married to a signature style. How much liquid liner and ringlets can one girl take?
Youth is the time to experiment...
...with different looks.

I'm glad to see that the "wisdom" that has come with older age, has taught Taylor to branch out a bit. Maybe she'll keep the bangs and flat iron around.

A Quick Stop on the Grammy Train

After taking the week off and bypassing the SAGs, it's time once again to review the red carpet. Unfortunately there's really not much critique I can offer in regards to the Grammys. It's sort of like playing fashion police on Halloween (which incidentally I did once). While I would really love to tell everyone "job well done! A for effort" and give them a piece of candy, I just can't ignore that little voice inside me just itching to get a word in.

Here are some of the looks I just can't keep quiet about:

Leading the Halloween parade is, of course, Lady Gaga. I don't care how overexposed she's become, I'm obsessed. Aside from the fact that she really is talented and a breath of fresh air for mainstream pop, you just never know what to expect. Similar to a fashion show where the clothes are meant to inspire trends, Lady Gaga is far from ready to wear.

If I had to guess her costume, I'd say she came as a 6th grade solar system project. (the foam planets must have fallen off their orbits on the way to the Staples Center)

All joking aside, I give LG a huge nod for her style. It may be out there, but she owns it and is influencing fashion for the rest of the industry. She has also said she would never be caught dead in running shoes at the grocery store. Amen sister!

Jennifer Hudson, Britney Spears, and Ciara all wore outfits reminiscent of looks previously worn by Lady Gaga.

I'm actually quite a fan of Jennifer Hudson's suit. It's futuristic and flattering. The bangs are a little much for my taste, but overall this is a great look for her.

Britney and Ciara decided to join in on the "no pants dance." After all, it's brought Lady Gaga so much success, she must be onto something.

I don't really know who Shaila Durcal is. To be honest, I didn't know who half the artists at the Grammys were. I'm officially old and not cool.

It's just a shame that such a petite body is wasted on such a large collection of fabric. This looks like something one might purchase at the Princess store in a Disneyland gift shop or left over from the Small World ride.

Katie Perry wore a gown by Zac Posen. I'm making note of this because I usually love his couture. I was not aware that he had stepped into the figure skating market, signing Katie on as his spokesmodel. I bet it's going to be huge at the Olympics.

I'm indifferent with Beyonce's dress. Notice that it is nude colored (as is Katie Perry's) a trend we continue to see this year. If I could simply offer Mrs. Jay Z some advice from a personal experience: Beware of dresses that zip up in the front. It perplexes passers-by and they feel the urge to test whether it's decor or functional.



Taylor Swift looks rather lovely. And normal. It might be because I jumped on her bandwagon late in the game, but I'm actually not tired of TSwift just yet.

I am, however, a little tired of her cascading curls and black liquid liner. There is something to be said for finding what works for you and sticking with it. Though at 20 she should still be experimenting. I would love to see her in a tall faux hawk up do with intense smoky eyes. Or bronzed with her hair flat ironed. She has a long career ahead of her. Now is the time to play with her look... wear short skirts AND t shirts... high heels and sneakers. You get the idea.

For those who say that men's fashion is limited and there is just not much creative room in a suit, observe; plaid paired with polka dots, limited color palette that's complimentary not matching, and light piping on this grey suit

Well done Usher! You make this work!

Pink's performance was my favorite highlight of the night. It was authentic, artistic, obviously required a lot of skill.

I also love the gown she wore. The graduated color reminds me a bit of Gwen Stefani's wedding dress, which I am also very fond of. It takes careful work to balance edginess and femininity, but Pink wore this look very well.

Last but not least, Lea Michele lands my favorite look of the evening. This is what a Grammy "outfit" should be: fun, flirty, unique, and ever so slightly daring. Bravo!

American Idol 2009

It's the first time the public gets to vote on this years contestants. You know what that means, here are my two faves so far:

Casey Carlson. Is she Erin McCarley's little sister? I seriously have a girl crush on this one! How gorgeous is she? Let's hope she makes top 12 and shows the pipes to back her looks up. If nothing else, I'm sure she'll have a future as a Disney star.

Danny Gokey. Despite the unfortunate last name, he is very talented. I would vote he was the best one on stage tonight. His story has been well publicized and definitely tugs on the heart strings (his wife passed away just weeks before his AI audition). Early polls show that he is a fan favorite, which leads me to hope we'll be seeing much more of him :)

Is it wrong...

That I still love the song "Hey There Delilah" by the Plain White T's? I don't think a song has ever been more over played, and yet, I found myself cranking the tune when it came on the radio this morning.
How is it I live in the "live music capitol" of the US and am not falling in love with any new up and coming artists?

Here's to Austin City Limits, which is around the corner. Maybe the music fest will enlighten me.

Grammy Dos and Don'ts

First, I'll start off with my favorites:

Kate Benkinsale. The train is my favorite feature of her gown, however her entire look is sleek, well thought out and elegant. Come to think of it, since she's technically and actress and presenter, she should probably be exempt from receiving props for being well dressed, as this seems to be less of a challenge for the non-musical sort.


Carrie Underwood receives my vote for Best Dressed. The gown is gorgeous. Well Done.

And Now... those less fortunate. I feel as though there are no words

And yet, I cannot hold my tongue, and so, I'll begin:

Paula, I'm not surprised. Only you would think wearing Roman soldier armor qualifies as vintage. Can't wait to see what you'll be wearing these next few months on AI...

M.I.A., soooo, you fly like paper and get high like planes. Is this "dress" (a term I use very lightly in this instance) a nod to your efforts in growing wings? p.s. peacocks don't hit the air too often.

Katy Perry, surprisingly, I'm impressed. Quite a classy look. I half expected you to be donning the getup next to you, minus the 9 month old bump.

If the red carpet look wasn't enough for the viewing audiences, this not so teenie weenie polka dot bikini was forced upon us all during M.I.A.'s performance. Do you think she commissioned Liz Lange to create this special number? And who says maternity wear is old fashioned and ultra conservative.

The jumpsuit comeback: currently featured at Target, H&M, and store windows across the country.

This:

just set my campaign back five years. I think I'll narrow my efforts back to overalls. They have to be on the brink of being cool sometime soon.

And finally, the most shocking thing to happen at the Grammys last night was a non-appearance. http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20257828,00.html

Isn't Chris Brown supposed to be a super nice guy? Guess actions speak louder than words on this one.

Who Let the Musicians Out in Public?

Is anyone else watching the Grammys?

Wait, let me back up and explain the effort it took for me to be able to watch them myself. Since only one TV is hooked up to cable, I had to let Nick watch soccer and college basketball all weekend, as well as let him choose tonight's cuisine choice for dinner, just to bargain my way into a few hours of channel choosing to catch the red carpet and awards show. Not that my hard earned time hasn't been without interruption. Nick is watching his own shows on my laptop, making loud comments in an effort to distract me from my viewing pleasure. Oh the joys.

Anyway, back to the original point. WHAT ARE THEY WEARING?!?! It's like musicians don't believe in hiring stylists. Some ensembles are an expected horror (Paula Abdul, Bai Ling, you know who you are), others, especially the newbies on the block, are simply a disappointment. The very preggers M.I.A. in a clown puff was my favorite.

Don't get me wrong, some celebs looked great, and I LIVE for award season. This just happens to be part of the fun. Do's and Don't's to follow once the pics are available.

Sometimes I Sound Like I'm 90

I seem to have a little old lady living inside me. This would explain my affinity for wanting many cats, knitting, baking, and referring to memories by identifying them first by the decade they occured in.

I may also love to use scarves as a headcovering, wear pants with elastic waists, and talk about the shocking things kids these days do.

Which brings me to my next point. I have a love/ hate relationship with musician Katy Perry. Her non-mainstream stuff is actually really good. Her summer hit, however is not. Unless you have lived under a rock for the past 5 months, you've heard I Kissed a Girl. I almost hate to admit that after seeing her perform it on various night shows and Mtv programs, it grew on me. At least I can tolerate listening to it for the next month or so until it finally fades out of radio rotation.

Here's what REALLY bothers me though... She was recently on the Today show, something we unemployed people enjoy watching from time to time. Their concerts series takes place outside allowing more NYC tourists to crowd themselves together and watch. As Katy was performing her big song, the camera panned into the audience revealing a front row of girls no older than 10 singing along to every lyric.

I'm sorry.... WHAT???? Not that I have much (or any) parenting experience, but I'm fairly certain that my pre pre-teen daughter won't be learning the words to a song about two girls making out. Just a thought.

Yes, back in my day music was much cleaner and only revolved around grunge wearing depressed Seattle-ites who sang about illegal substances and suicide.

Sidenote: I do have to give KP the fashion thumbs up for her cute onesie outfits she wears. Maybe not suitable for the 4th grade, but they look great on her.

Hollywood Bowl

If someone had asked for my thoughts on the Hollywood Bowl this time last year, my immediate response would have been, "Ugh, the concert hall that makes my life miserable?" Hollywood Bowl is right off the 101 at the Highland exit. In order to get to West Hollywood or Mid Wilshire (i.e. my apartment at the time), sitting in an hour of summer concert traffic was unavoidable.

Thanks to Amanda and her adventurous ways, I now have a different opinion and can see why so many people flock to the home of the LA Philharmonic. The Bowl sits among the hills and canyons with views of the Hollywood sign, larger than life homes, and something especially rare... stars! (not the people kind)

We caught TWO concerts last weekend: Eric Idle/ Monty Python, and Reggae Night. Each was obviously very different but equally enjoyable!

Spotted:

Dulé Hill from Psych and The West Wing a few rows away at Reggae night with his BEAUTIFUL wife Nicole Lyn.

4 Minutes

Does it bother anyone else that Madonna and Justin Timberlake's new song "Four Minutes to Save the World" isn't actually four minutes? I downloaded the radio edition of the song which rings in at 3:20. iTunes has a version for 4:48.

Maybe "Three Minutes and Twenty Seconds to Save the World" just didn't have the same ring to it.

And the newest addition to catch the epidemic....

This just in... Ashlee Simpson is allegedly preggers. Stories broke this morning from US Weekly, Comcast, TMZ, and others. Although this has yet to be confirmed by Ashlee's party, fiancee Pete Wentz issued a statement that the story is untrue. I suppose only time and a growing baby bump will tell.

Ashlee is potentially joining peer Jamie Lynn Spears as the younger, less successful sister who has found catching the epidemic a great way to steal the spotlight (as if last week's engagement announcement wasn't enough).

I wonder what overly involved papa Joe has to say about this. Clearly, Ashlee didn't follow in bigger sis' virginity footsteps.

Amanda said it best: Unwed mothers must be the new pink.

(at least in Hollywood)

I want to be the next American Idol!

OK, not really... but that's what Simon and Randy always ask everyone auditioning. If I could sing (and I WISH I could!) then maybe it would be a different story.
Until that day, here are my two favorite contestants/ fave performances of theirs this season:

Jason Castro - I love his guitar playing singer songwriter air, the blue eyes aren't bad either ;) I'm sure Miss Amanda Grant is a fan of his dreads





Brooke White - Move over Carrie Underwood, America has a new sweetheart. I can't decid if I love her wholesome niceness or if it really annoys me. It's most likely the former as she's classy, genuine and aside from some of her competitors, knows how to use proper grammar in interviews (SUCH a pet peeve of mine)

I'm also jonesing the Australian Michael Johns... it must be the accent, or the fact that he sang my favorite Wayne's World song Bohemian Rhapsody during Hollywood week tryouts.

On another note (get it? "note"... ok bad joke) I was less than impressed with the performance last week of my fave from the 2007 season, Blake Lewis. There was nothing specifically wrong with it, just underwhelming.

Password security questions

I have a growing pet peeve. I hate the secondary password retrieval questions offered to me when I am setting up any sort of online account. Unfortunately, I am always forgetting what password belongs to which account, so I am always using this security step.

The problem is that most of the questions offered are subjective, not concrete. Instead of “What is your mother’s maiden name?” or “What is your father’s birthday?” (both of which hold answers that won’t change), I’m seeing questions such as “What was your first pet’s name?” “What park did you like to play in as a child?” “Who is your favorite musician?” or “How does your ex-boyfriend’s mother prefer to take her coffee on the weekends?” All questions I will never remember the answers to. What’s worse, many companies now make me choose more than one question to set up! How am I supposed to remember if I chose the first pet I can recall or the first pet I owned as an adult? What if I have more than one favorite musical artist and can’t remember which one I chose for this particular question? Which ex-boyfriend did I choose for the coffee question?

Ahhhhh! It’s all too much. Can’t I just be allowed to create my OWN questions and answers?

Speaking of favorite musicians though, I can't stop listening to Cary Brothers right now. I've had his CD for almost a year and it still remains one of my most played. Ironically, it took me a long time to initially hop on the fan train with him. It wasn't until I saw him live that I was onboard.

I'm completely crushed that I'll be missing him AGAIN this year at Austin's SXSW music festival! I'll be leaving town just two days before :(

He happen to reshoot the video for his song Ride. I wonder if Zach Braff is mad at Cary for not using his version anymore... (personally, I like Zach's version better than this new one) According to Cary, this video is supposed to be more artistic and allow the viewer to interpret the content. I say he saw the opportunity to cast bigger actors for a song and took it. Oh Hollywood.

God Bless America!

I mentioned in a previous post that Amanda and I had come upon some lovely American flag sweaters on our way to Venice Beach. Last night she and I hit up Hotel Cafe, our favorite singer/ songwriter hotspot. Priscilla Ahn and Josh Kelley were scheduled to perform. What is so great about Hotel is not only their gift to discover some of the greatest (ok my favorite) musicians, but the place is so intimate it's actually possible to hang out with them after their shows.

Here is a shot at home right before we left for the concert. Please note that in addition to my intense patriotism, I am also quite the Disneyphile...
I was "proud" to claim my FIDM fashion education to anyone who asked, "uh... what's with the sweaters?" Our stories ranged from a lost bet, celebrating Independence Day, and being Canadian.

Spotted:

Despite our high hopes to see the new Mrs. Kelley, aka Katherine Heigl, it seems neither she nor any of her Grey's entourage were present at the concert. Joshua Radin, however made an appearance. He not only loved our awesome outfits, but seemed to have picked up a new girlfriend since the last time we saw him. Amanda was just about devastated that he is no longer with Schuyler Fisk.

We also ran into former Mtv VJ Brian McFadden at Qs for the second time (I love repeat celeb run-ins, especially when it is at the EXACT same place. This just further proves that Hollywood really is a small town!)