Collective Halloween Consciousness

Happy Halloween! Now that it's the actual day of, I am too pooped to do much of anything but read and snuggle with my cat Justin. What a wild weekend! Here are a couple spooky takes submitted to Lookbook.nu (Spookbook today)--the self-titled Collective Fashion Conciousness. Knives and mask is Nadia from the Netherlands and the lovely bones is Macella from new Zealand.

 

My friends had some pretty sweet costumes too--a transformer (really transformed too), an completely silver horned creature, a mermaid, Cleopatra, Lucky the Leprechaun (his cereal is magically delicious!), a circus ring leader, a green dino, Fantasia wizard, Mickey Mouse and much more. Pretty classic, but very inventive (and homemade) interpretations on the subjects. I was Charolette...you know, from the web. Maybe I'll get some pictures up here. The best part is that Friday's Portland party spot (Howl) was full of people who would have dressed up like the bunch of
crazy weirdos we are no matter the day!

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Stay safe tonight. Don't let those damn kids take all your candy!

As Within, So Without

 Photographer Darrien Utt had a really cool concept for this shoot... a dirty yoga concept, kind of antithesis to the clean bright Yoga Journal style. I did makeup, Jillian Rae Jewel styled, Katie Kiehl assisted Darren (top photo by Katie) and Rachel Gregg modeled. Rachel was in town covering Portland Fashion Week and on that trip decided to move here to Portland! So good to be getting another soul in the fashion scene here who's outward beauty is a total reflection of the beauty and talent of her inner self. Before hiking a mile into Forest Park to this amazing little roofless, door less stone house (how amazing is that that we have one of the largest urban forests in the country to work and play in!!), we crashed a friend's sunny apartment near 23rd and got to work on makeup.

After I perfected Rachel's striking face with Arbonne mineral powder, tons of mascara, and glossy nude (M.A.C. lipstick in Myth touched with a little clear/pink gloss), I prepped myself to smear her with "dirt." As I hovered over Rachel with M.A.C. Dipdown smeared all over my fingers, my heart pounded as if I was about to cliff jump (yes we do that kind of thing here in the Northwest), and I fretted about messing up the perfection we had created when she looked up at me and said softly, "Just trust yourself." Woom! That was all I needed. I dragged my brown, makeupy fingers across her face and...voila! It looked so good! Then it just flowed, Dipdown on her ears and her chest and some in her hair and big cat claw marks on her right cheek. I practically had to be dragged away to get us on location on time.

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Once there I smeared real dirt (fresh from the previous day's monsoon) all over my hands and went over the "dirt" to create real texture and...well I don't want to give away anymore dirty secrets. The moment with Rachel was just so cool I wanted to share. Here we really are all students and teachers.

You Can Only Love Someone Who Sets You Free

This morning I said goodbye to my baby sister and the windy city, watched the sunrise from the plane, flew into Kansas City and found my beautiful long-time best friend Jessica waiting for me in the terminal. She said it felt like Christmas morning!  (I agreed.) She goes to school here at Rockhurst (studying to become a physical therapist) and I miss her terribly when we're away from each other. In 6th grade I spotted her from across the cafeteria (I was suuuuper awkward 6th grade... I remember thinking: "Dang, how do those girls find jeans that aren't high waters*!?") and she spotted me back and we were fast friends. (*Jessica reminded me that she had high waters too.)

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We spent today kind of exploring Kansas City, getting a little taste of the mid-Western flair I've been missing for so long. She took me to Dean & Deluca for lunch (throwing back to the days we loved Felicity and all her glorious chunky sweaters) and through the campuses of the local universities and art museums. Then back to her cozy Audrey-esque apartment for some major studying (okay fine, me writing, and a little bit of studying) and eventually some wine. No wine or beer in Kansas Whole Foods, so at the liquor store we picked out Bohemian Highway wine. The selling point: "for people who prefer a back road to a freeway." Hmmmm....
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So as Jessica works on her take-home test, I'm checking up on Urban Weeds to see what Lisa Warninger has been shooting around Portland. I love that Lisa gives some love to Portland street style! On a recent post, I spot Francis (top pic), wearing a Molten Moon necklace and Gypsy Hoops (both by Sahlia) vintage shrug and Lincoln Park After Dark polish. Love the breezy shots. An Urban Weeds post on me from the spring never made it on here, but here's one of the shots below. I'm also wearing Sahlia necklaces, an Anthropologie scarf (23rd birthday present from Jessica) and my favorite little booties.

New Stars In The Sky

I've been surfing around the Urban Outfitters blog a little after stumbling upon Chicago stylist Justin White, and under the Portland section I found a still from a campaign I worked on for Shwood sunglasses. Pretty cool to have some work on Urban Outfitters! As you can see, Shwoods are pretty great in the rain and shine (they also held up well on the playa). Here are some more from another recent Shwood shoot, shot on the coast by Shaun.

Life Begins At The End Of Your Comfort Zone

It's been a long day sitting in on the life of a teacher. Like I mentioned, I'm in Chicago visiting my sister Jackie, a first-year teacher through Teach for America at the all-male Urban Prep charter school. These especially high risk kids are accepted on a lottery basis and receive extra structure and support to get them on track toward college instead of incarceration. We sat outside and enjoyed the perfect fall day and graded the ominous stack of papers and tests. What a long, tedious process! Both of my parents have been teachers for their whole career and still work in education, so I am familiar with the incredible amount of work that goes into teaching... but still! Jackie's staggering work load, in combination with the family, social and economic challenges her students face, still blows my mind. In a city with more than 500 homicides so far this year and where your 3rd grade reading level determines if you have a jail bed waiting for you, young lives sit in precarious balance.

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Saturday we went to her kids' cross country meet, where I met a few of her fellow teachers and a handful of her hilarious students. Her students simply adore her, and watching her interact with them... such a treat! "Ms. Hamm! Ms. Hamm!!! I got a A in your class huh! Did you see me run? I'm running JV this week so I'll win!" Most of them were stoked to meet me, and were shocked how similar we look: (gasp) "You really DO look all the same!" (Hmmmmm... ;) My sister Katie visited a couple weeks ago and the boys haven't stopped asking about her. It is sweet to see how much Jackie lets them into her life, and see how connected they are already.

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To kind of decompress from the teacher day (again, don't know how she does it) I was looking around online for some Chicago fashion blogs. I came across the stylist Justin White, who writes for the Urban Outfitters blog on cool fashy happenings around the windy city. 

Russian Lovely

Here's Ekaterina Prekrasnaya looking smoking in classic cat eye. Used my favorite M.A.C. gel liner and M.A.C. Russian Red for her lips. Ekaterina was such a sweetheart to work with! She has such nice delicate features, and told her so, adding: "Well, not that you had any say in it! We should compliment your mom and dad instead." She giggled her contagious Russian giggle over that one.
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Play Time

I'm in Chicago, hanging with my sister in her beautiful apartment up in the Andersonville neighborhood after a long adventure day, finally getting to the long overdue post about the last Bus Family trip. Here's what's up:

Jillian Rabe Bus Family. Blue Moon Diner for some grub and a photo shoot. Queen of Hearts tavern, thank you bartender Johnny Harris. Pictures from Shaun.  PBR sponsor. Some pretty peeps, very fun night. Photo shoot from Darren Utt to come (far below with cigarette and Shwoods).

Chrome-Plated Guys & Dolls In Fat City

No cubes allowed--Bus Family Rockabilly night was a tickle. Photos from Shaun Mendiola. That guy has an 18 karat camera. Save me before I continue writing '50's slang.