I don't know if it is because I am a graphic designer by trade or because I was raised in a family of stylish women, but I am constantly on the search for the next great thing that will fit in with my personal style be it the latest font, color scheme or clothes. {my, that was a long sentence!} You can imagine my excitement finding this blurb of blurbs on http://design-your-life.org/ {my latest addition on my design research list} I say find something you love, make it classic and design/walk with confidence. {By the way, this applies very much to my work as a print designer so here you go} Read on.
In the classic 1938 book on the emergence of American fashion design, Fashion is Spinach, designer Elizabeth Hawes offers an interesting typology for those interested in clothes. For her there are three groups—the chic, the fashionable, and the stylish. Writing when French style still predominated over American dress, she defined the “chic” as those who understood and wore the most inventive Parisian haute couture. To be chic was to be wealthy, to live a life of leisure, or to be extremely well connected to the world of avant-garde design. This puts “chic” out of the range of most ordinary people. To be fashionable, on the other hand, is fairly easy. All you have to do is follow the fashion magazines, gossip columns, and advice dished out at trendy stores. The fashionable are people who change their look often, only wear the latest colors, and sneer and those who can’t (or won’t) keep up. Obviously, Hawes does not consider “fashionable” a compliment. Finally, there are the stylish. These are people who have figured out for themselves what looks good on their bodies and what makes them comfortable. They don’t have to change their look with the current fashion, because they have developed their own look. Their self confidence and self knowledge makes their clothes look good.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
At long last, here is the San Francisco set of photos with a bit of explanation for all the friends and family who have been dying to see the day. I felt like a queen... relatives came from all over the world and all helped put on this amazing event: from Australia, Washington, Toronto, Virginia, Chicago... we appreciated all of it! Naturally, there are so many more photos, but here are some of the highlights.
My post "su kwan" smile of relief. {read on for what that is exactly}
These are a bit out of order, but here's a little dance practice to get ready. {Note the horribly swollen ankles from the overnight flight from Honolulu!}
Had the ballet studio to get ready in. John sneaked in for a minute to say hi before the rapid-fire Lao-speaking women helped me into my getup. Quite the altercation about my corset. Long story. Not consequential enough for the blog.
Here is the "su kwan." Brother Boonthong Karnsouvong, the high priest group leader for the Lao ward gave us a blessing on our families. One tree represented my family, the other, John's. We all held separate strings from each tree while the blessing was going symbolizing the unifying of both families together. I love being a part of this great new Lao family! It is such a beautiful extension of the family I have.
Receiving the blessing strings from relatives. I loved this symbolic ceremony and how unifying the Lao culture is to the entire families and not just the couple. The egg, rice and cracker that I have in my hand was given as a sign of prosperity and good luck. He tied string to my wrist to secure his verbal well wishes to my soul. {Correct me if I'm wrong Brent... I'm new at this & John didn't know either. :)}
Awww. Dad looking on at his blissfully happy daughter. I know... cheese. Great photo though Gavin. I'm thinking of getting this one enlarged! Ever thought of photography as a profession?
I told a lot of you that we were going to have my big fat Lao luau... here's the proof! Presenting the swine. Tous les deux.
Me and my big mouth at the feast of feasts. Such great food. Spring rolls, sticky rice, eggrolls, sticky rice, pad thai... love the sticky rice! I made my first successful solo batch a couple of weeks ago. John was so proud.
Here's my attempt at the Lao "lahm vhomg" wedding dance. One of our cousins, Nicki, was so good to give me, my mom and my sister a personal Lao dance lesson a couple of weeks before the wedding. Thank goodness! I don't know what I would have done without the extra help. Thanks again Nicki! And thanks Brooklyn (her daughter) for not laughing at me... well, not too much anyway. :) Notice my dad (the tall one with white hair) and John's dad (the short one with black hair) dancing in the background. We have some video of my dad's attempt at the dance for us and the parents. We're still trying to figure out whether it is a wax-on wax-off rendition or just the straight up twist. Bonus points for getting out there Dad! We loved it!
Out extensions!
It might not look like much, but all this stuff was in my hair... pins, elastics, netting and the beadery made for quite the heavy headdress. I have a new respect for the those who wear the tightly-wound beehive on a more regular basis.
Vicki {another cousin} was absolutely amazing with my hair. She got me out of the Lao hairstyle and into this gorgeous updo in a matter of minutes!
Rushing in again after the quick change for presentation to the family #2.
Here's our "no-mess" feeding of the cake. You should have seen the mess we made in SLC!
The last dance.
My post "su kwan" smile of relief. {read on for what that is exactly}
These are a bit out of order, but here's a little dance practice to get ready. {Note the horribly swollen ankles from the overnight flight from Honolulu!}
Had the ballet studio to get ready in. John sneaked in for a minute to say hi before the rapid-fire Lao-speaking women helped me into my getup. Quite the altercation about my corset. Long story. Not consequential enough for the blog.
Here is the "su kwan." Brother Boonthong Karnsouvong, the high priest group leader for the Lao ward gave us a blessing on our families. One tree represented my family, the other, John's. We all held separate strings from each tree while the blessing was going symbolizing the unifying of both families together. I love being a part of this great new Lao family! It is such a beautiful extension of the family I have.
Receiving the blessing strings from relatives. I loved this symbolic ceremony and how unifying the Lao culture is to the entire families and not just the couple. The egg, rice and cracker that I have in my hand was given as a sign of prosperity and good luck. He tied string to my wrist to secure his verbal well wishes to my soul. {Correct me if I'm wrong Brent... I'm new at this & John didn't know either. :)}
Awww. Dad looking on at his blissfully happy daughter. I know... cheese. Great photo though Gavin. I'm thinking of getting this one enlarged! Ever thought of photography as a profession?
I told a lot of you that we were going to have my big fat Lao luau... here's the proof! Presenting the swine. Tous les deux.
Me and my big mouth at the feast of feasts. Such great food. Spring rolls, sticky rice, eggrolls, sticky rice, pad thai... love the sticky rice! I made my first successful solo batch a couple of weeks ago. John was so proud.
Here's my attempt at the Lao "lahm vhomg" wedding dance. One of our cousins, Nicki, was so good to give me, my mom and my sister a personal Lao dance lesson a couple of weeks before the wedding. Thank goodness! I don't know what I would have done without the extra help. Thanks again Nicki! And thanks Brooklyn (her daughter) for not laughing at me... well, not too much anyway. :) Notice my dad (the tall one with white hair) and John's dad (the short one with black hair) dancing in the background. We have some video of my dad's attempt at the dance for us and the parents. We're still trying to figure out whether it is a wax-on wax-off rendition or just the straight up twist. Bonus points for getting out there Dad! We loved it!
Out extensions!
It might not look like much, but all this stuff was in my hair... pins, elastics, netting and the beadery made for quite the heavy headdress. I have a new respect for the those who wear the tightly-wound beehive on a more regular basis.
Vicki {another cousin} was absolutely amazing with my hair. She got me out of the Lao hairstyle and into this gorgeous updo in a matter of minutes!
Rushing in again after the quick change for presentation to the family #2.
Here's our "no-mess" feeding of the cake. You should have seen the mess we made in SLC!
The last dance.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Honeymoon in Hawaii
As promised, here are some photos of our adventure on that beautiful rock in the ocean. There were so many things that we loved about the place, it was tough to come back!
Yep. That is in the airport. Can't you tell through the gardens?
We decided that if we didn't get married in SLC, we would have had a destination wedding here. The grounds are just amazing.
Doing the wedding dance at the Polynesian Cultural Center luau live with Cousin Benny. Highly recommend it!
Our waiter, coming back for our plates, was completely shocked at the nigh unto complete disappearance of John's Hawaiian whole-fish. "Man, you whacked it!" So here is John's "whacked" fish. Good thing I'm not a vegetarian! {notice most of our photos have some theme revolving around food}
Trying to coerce the pineapple shrubs to come home with me. The Dole pineapple plantation smelled absolutely divine.
And here's John finding his inner warrior. Bless him.
Again with the inner Samoan. I love it. The PCC did him good! :)
We hiked around Pali Cliffs looking over the entire windward side of the island. Thank heaven for our knockoff-Keen watershoes! Isn't this gorgeous?!?
In effort to become the temporary kama aina (local), John even learned the Hawaiian Haka. You can see his favorite place to do it was in the car. :)
We are quite the suckers for local dives. 12 huge peel & eat garlic shrimp on rice. Never had better!
Yes, that's me doing the coconut dance... I'm sure I look completely coordinated up there in this still photo. :)
Best dessert I've ever had: macademia nut ice cream, berries, pineapple... only thing missing was chocolate. There's a reason we've put on a few since then.
It really is that blue! I swear! Absolutely no photoshop work here whatsoever.
Us.
Yep. That is in the airport. Can't you tell through the gardens?
We decided that if we didn't get married in SLC, we would have had a destination wedding here. The grounds are just amazing.
Doing the wedding dance at the Polynesian Cultural Center luau live with Cousin Benny. Highly recommend it!
Our waiter, coming back for our plates, was completely shocked at the nigh unto complete disappearance of John's Hawaiian whole-fish. "Man, you whacked it!" So here is John's "whacked" fish. Good thing I'm not a vegetarian! {notice most of our photos have some theme revolving around food}
Trying to coerce the pineapple shrubs to come home with me. The Dole pineapple plantation smelled absolutely divine.
And here's John finding his inner warrior. Bless him.
Again with the inner Samoan. I love it. The PCC did him good! :)
We hiked around Pali Cliffs looking over the entire windward side of the island. Thank heaven for our knockoff-Keen watershoes! Isn't this gorgeous?!?
In effort to become the temporary kama aina (local), John even learned the Hawaiian Haka. You can see his favorite place to do it was in the car. :)
We are quite the suckers for local dives. 12 huge peel & eat garlic shrimp on rice. Never had better!
Yes, that's me doing the coconut dance... I'm sure I look completely coordinated up there in this still photo. :)
Best dessert I've ever had: macademia nut ice cream, berries, pineapple... only thing missing was chocolate. There's a reason we've put on a few since then.
It really is that blue! I swear! Absolutely no photoshop work here whatsoever.
Us.
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