Zach will be very disappointed if you don't come. This is his mean face.

THE DETAILS //
Artists and Fleas in Williamsburg
Sunday, May 20th from 10am-7pm
70 North 7th Street (between Kent and Wythe, by the water)

The Brooklyn Flea will also be going down around the corner, so a trip to the waterfront is totally worth it!

Image originally from Creature Comforts

Ez raises a good point: there’s a “vast cavern between true reality and the presentation of ‘reality’ on blogs” (quote from her post). There’s the perception that the writer is living a charmed life: that they are capable of seeing only the beautiful things in this world, or that they go on the most incredible adventures, or that they have the deepest closets filled with nothing but great clothes.

I can admit that a certain amount of that distortion happens here—I like to talk about all the good things that are happening, but tend to crowd out the bad because there shouldn’t be any bad things and business should always be good, right? I consider myself an optimistic person, so it’s not that I’m cranking up all the positives in any sort of disingenuous way. And I’m incredibly lucky, after all, to be making things I love and finding others who appreciate them, too.

But I have certainly felt the expectation to not talk about the not-so-awesome stuff and ignore the fact that life has its ups AND downs. Yesterday Ez and those wonderful bloggers decided to say “no” to that expectation and were brutally honest about themselves with their readers.

So in order to honor that bittersweet thing called life, here’s my brutal honesty:

I WISH I WERE MYSTERIOUS //

I have, and always will, feel like a gangly 12 year old girl. I’m clumsy (the vertigo doesn’t help), accidentally say things that I think are compliments but come out as insults, and am horribly naive. People take my child-like wonder as permission to overlook me at work, to talk down to me, and to take advantage of me. It seems that with that sort of personality, going into fashion was the wrong choice. The expectation is that a truly great designer (like Yves Saint Laurent or Coco Chanel) must truly know their own mind, have and dispense strong opinions on everything, and be on top of their shit. None of that describes me: I constantly feel the pressure to look a certain way, have a clear aesthetic point of view, and most importantly cultivate an air of mystique. I mean, people wouldn’t love Andy Warhol (or have followed Hitler, as fucked up as that is) if he didn’t totally and completely embrace all those things he said. So instead I end up feeling even more immature and underdeveloped as a person, and sink into little depressions.

BEING CREATIVE IS FRIGHTENING //

I look at a blank slate and panic. I start watering the plants, or checking Pinterest, or painting my nails in order to avoid sitting down and getting to work. Creating things is the most gratifying feeling for me and once I’m in the zone I’m having a great time, but I’m so afraid of making a mistake or making something that won’t even be interesting that I don’t even start. It’s only in the last few years that I’ve started to understand that creativity is a process and it’s ok to not get it right on the first try. But I’m still afraid of doing it wrong, or not well enough, or (like in the previous point) without any unique point of view, that I end up freaking out about it and not getting anything done. That explains why I fuss with the website constantly, or keep reworking the logo (and always landing at the same place), or fidget with the Facebook page. I’m also afraid of putting something out there and having it be deemed “stupid” or “trite”. Thank God for Zach who is impressed with everything I make and pushes me to prioritize my tasks.

I AVOID DECISION-MAKING //

I’m so afraid of making the wrong decision that I will put off actually making any decision in the vain hope that someone will come along and make it for me. I generally consider myself a “go with the flow” kind of person, but I’ve noticed in the last few years that it might really be a front for being a “let other people decide for you” kind of person. My therapist call it being “accommodating,” but I think she’s just trying to be nice. And when I do have to decide one way or the other I take FOREVER because I’m constantly doubting myself and hoping I’ll have some flash of genius that’ll steer me in the right direction. I also assume that everyone else is right and I’m wrong, so I’m quick to let other people who seem like they know what they’re doing take control. I’m AWESOME at deciding on things like having brunch on the weekends or what to watch on Netflix, but more creative decisions give me trouble.

I AM DEATHLY AFRAID OF VOMIT //

Of me doing it, of you doing it, of hearing it, of watching it, etc. I know lots of other people are, too, but what I’m ashamed of is how I’ve let it affect my daily life. I get paranoid after almost every meal that it wasn’t prepared properly or that someone may have accidentally used expired ingredients. I’ve never drunk enough alcohol to get drunk because I’m afraid of throwing it up later, and I’ve avoided many social situations for the fear of other people getting inebriated and then sick. But mostly I’m ashamed of it because I’ve let it get in the way of helping when I’m needed: on more than one occasion I couldn’t help a very sick friend (or even my mother) when they were in a bad place. I just locked myself in the furthest room and tried to block out the noise.

This post may be a selfish excuse for some kind of catharsis (what up, 9th grade vocab!), but I hope it helps you understand me better. This project initiated by Ez, Jess Constable, Erin Loechner, and Nichole has been a great reminder that life is faceted and that the only way to be better people (and writers) is to embrace it all.

Between stocking up for markets, my upcoming collaboration with Allison Hourcade (of RockLove), and even daytime-job changes, the past few weeks have been a bit of a blur. So it helps to remind myself of all the little things that help keep me sane: weekend mornings with my bathrobe and vulgar coffee mug, our pup Oscar draped over Zach on the couch watching tv, and finding gold foil in my hair whenever I go to take a shower.

Here are some photos from the past week that make me smile.

Image credits, clockwise from top left: Lookbook photo for Luisa Beccaria Collection, shot by Paul de Luna via Coco + Kelley // Photo via Pinterest // Ring by Yves Saint Laurent via Pinterest // Photo via A Walk on the Wild Side // Sea glass photo via Pinterest // Magazine tear via Pinterest // Watercolor gemstone by Sha’an d’Anthes via A Place for Art

This season’s inspiration is Hans Christian Andersen’s original story of “The Little Mer-girl”, and any time I think of it I can’t help but think of rough, decaying beauty. The gold accents on these two pieces are imperfect but beautiful, and with each piece hand-assembled and treated, each necklace can never be exactly replicated.

The Low Tide Necklace // Shop for it here

The Urchin Necklace // Shop for it here

And keep an eye out for more fairy-tale inspired items to come.

This beautiful yet tragic tale is filled with vivid imagery and tragic love, and the overlap of the two inspired this season’s pieces.

In the original, the youngest mermaid lives in an underwater paradise with her father and sisters. The princesses each have fantastical gardens and adorn themselves in pearls and clamshells, and get 300-year long lives to explore and enjoy their vast undersea realm. When the youngest gets to go above sea on her 15th birthday, she falls in love with a prince AND manages to save him when his ship capsizes.

But the price she pays to find him again is heavy: for a pair of human legs, the mer-girl has her tongue cut out and must walk with excruciating pain on her new human feet. Failure means death by becoming sea foam. And after an unfortunate case of mistaken identity, the prince marries a different princess. But the mer-girl has one last chance: she can use the sea witch’s dagger to kill her love, or she must turn to sea foam and die. In the end she sees his face and can’t bear to kill him, and the mer-girl turns to sea foam.

Kinda different than how Disney pictures it, no?

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Image credits, clockwise from top left: Embrace in the waves, photo via Loose Tooth, Lost Youth // Jewelry, photo via Pinterest // Sunset, photo via Pinterest // Murky waters, photo via Fairytales by Nature // Underwater kiss, photo via Pinterest // Stars in her hair, photo via Pinterest // Black and white, photo by Hana Al Sayed via Nicework Ramble

So what are we looking at? Tangerine Tango, Pantone’s color of the year, leads the charge for some pretty saturated, umbrella-drink colors (and while umbrella drinks themselves are delicious, I’m not sure how I feel about all of them on my clothing). That gets contrasted with more pastel colors, like sweet lilac, bellflower, and cockatoo. And while pastels are pretty on-trend for the season (and will be next spring, as a matter of act), Pantone didn’t quite predict how light and sherbert-y those pastels would actually be.

You’ll find a little bit of each of these colors in various runway shows, but a few made multiple (and delightful) appearances:

Tangerine Tango, complemented by Starfish // Carven, Christian Siriano, Jill Stuart

Margarita, also paired with Cockatoo and Bellflower // Christian Dior, J. Mendel, Rodarte

Starfish and Driftwood, also seen with bits of Sodalite Blue and Tangerine Tango // Christian Dior, Doo.Ri, Rachel Zoe

Something Pantone didn’t predict was a heavy reliance on darker, more fall-like hues. But in terms of more spring-time colors, Pantone couldn’t predict the appearance of a light, cornflower blue.

Cornflower blue paired with whites and linen // Band of Outsiders, Charlotte Ronson, Erdem

There are some colors Pantone predicted that I’m glad to see a lot of (including Tangerine Tango and Margarita), though some were misses on the part of Pantone (Solar Power? Really?). But hey, forecasting isn’t an exact science, so I’ll cut them some slack ;)

Which colors are YOU excited about? Which do you think were a little off?

(P.S. All photos via style.com)

Starting today, March 29th, through next Saturday, April 7th, take 15% everything in the store on Etsy. Happy shopping!

The past few weeks (possibly months, I’m losing track), have been consumed by a few projects, but there’s one I’m particularly excited for: a collaboration with my old friend Allison of RockLove.

Allison and I met 6 years ago (oh man, 6 whole years?) in Florence: She was deep into a silver-smithing/jewelry apprenticeship, and I was studying silk painting and the art of gaining 15 pasta pounds. We both ended up in New York, and kept bumping into each other around the city. And now we’re FINALLY getting together to create a piece that fuses what each of us does: in April we’ll be premiering RockLove-ified Sailor Knot Bracelets.

I got a prototype this past week, and I’m abnormally excited about it! They’ll be available exclusively at RockLove.com, so expect to hear more from me when they’re up.