My continuing fascination with technology, fashion and art makes me really really want to design (and wear!) my own digital printed pencil skirt. The Wall Street Journal recently wrote an article on Spring’s current wardrobe staple, title “Pencil In Some Fun!” You can read it here.

From the article: “The pencil skirt has the perfect shape to highlight a print because it’s a really clean surface,” said designer Joseph Altuzarra of the high-waisted, nipped-in style to which he returns season after season. The skirt below by Zero Maria Cornejo was based on an iPhone photo of the metal fence at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco!

Here are just a few others… search the web and you will definitely find one for you.

And below is a mock-up of a digital printed pencil skirt made from one of my altered photographs. I can wear my own sexy version of the Eiffel Tower!

Imagined Eiffel Tower Pencil Skirt

And just to round it all out, a palette of “happy color” coffee cups in my favorite brights. Just in case you’d rather drink your bold color than wear it!

I’ve been seeing some very interesting new fashion for Fall 2013, among those are the voluminous and luxurious styles from Rochas. The looks are both retro and modern at the same time, recalling the shapes of the 1950s yet looking very new. Delicious! And who could not love the mosaic bejewelled treasures from Dolce and Gabbana? Early Christian byzantine art brought to life to be seen anew. I LOVE the colors and the complexity and I find them inspiring and very creative. There is so much inspiration in the fashion world.

Rochas Fall 2013

Doclce and Gabbana fall 2013

I particularly like the Patchwork dresses I’ve been seeing.. they remind me of collage and layering in art forms. It is something tricky to achieve in both fashion and art. What clashes… and what is harmonious together?

I think the use of black and white makes it much easier to pattern clash. It is something I should try as I usually use a lot of color.

Preen Patchwork Dress

raoul patchwork dress

Below is one of my newer more “earthy” patchwork pieces. For now it is only available in my Etsy store (click on the image to visit my store!) as I have too many industrious activities going on and keeping up with them is exhausting (my life functions as a patchwork as well!) I think it is most beautiful as a canvas.
But please take your time to peruse my website, where I have many images not on etsy:
http://shop/trolleyla.com

JuliE Christie

And as Autumn is near, of course I think of Paris, and this seems to represent a piece of a patchwork memory of Paris… It is time to go again. YAY!

Paris

Today Helen Gurley-Brown, THE woman… the woman behind Cosmo magazine, the woman who told many many generations of other women that it was ok to enjoy being single…that it was ok for women to have sex without guilt, has died. All I could think about today though, was the luminous Natalie Wood, who starred in the movie based on Helen’s famous book, “Sex and the Single Woman.” The book was written in 1962, and if you are a fan of Mad Men, then you already know how it was for women in that pre- feminism era.

In retrospect, maybe the movie doesn’t have the impact or importance of the book. The incredibly beautiful Natalie is a “Sex Therapist”; she is a working woman- an educated woman.  In the end of course, the inevitable happens and she falls for Tony Curtis.  I haven’t seen it in a long time, so I can only reflect on these two thoughts… the death of a important cultural icon and feminist Helen Gurley-Brown, and the incandescent and unforgetable Natalie Wood. (Tony Curtis – meh!)

Rest in Peace, and thank you Helen!

Helen Gurley-Brown

Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood

All the pastel dyed jeans this season are affecting my color preferences. I quite like them… but what to wear with them? Batik-dyed skinny jeans also sound fab. For sure, the big platform wood shoes are a must for either!

I did buy this eyelet top from Banana Republic, I think it could work…

In any and ALL cases, though, the pastel clothing extravaganza will certainly work in the colorful city of Positano Italy, where I want to be wearing them SOON!

It’s been a long time between blog posts for me. I’ve had a bit of computer burn-out.  Time always runs short, and I need to replenish  by thinking and making things.  Sometimes making things that have no use at all. There is a beauty in that, like the beauty of Bjork. I am so thrilled and grateful each and everytime I sell something, but getting it out there in cyberland takes many hours sitting in front of the computer.  In fact, right now, instead of working, I read this fascinating article on what inspires Bjork; everything from music to the rain forests. I think it is well worth the time to find out about what inspires Bjork, because she is a true original creative force.  I don’t always love all of her music, but I always love her and her strange beauty. She inspires me!

Bjork from her latest album, "Biophilia"

Click on this image to read and listen to some of the many things that inspire Bjork from this fabulous article on the guardian.uk website, written by Rebecca Nicholson.

Photo of Bjork on the Guardian UK article

You can also find images of her best fashion choices! Of course, the famous “Swan Dress” is there!

Quoted from Wikipedia’s entry on Coco Chanel:

In 1926 Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel published a picture of a short, simple black dress in American Vogue. It was calf-length, straight, and decorated only by a few diagonal lines. Vogue called it “Chanel’s Ford.” Like the Model T, the little black dress was simple and accessible for women of all social classes. Vogue also said that the LBD would become “a sort of uniform for all women of taste.”

Classic Coco, the creator of it all

In homage to the classic and iconic dress (like it’s creator!) I recently added a canvas art print of my own rendition of “Little Black Dresses.” You can buy it in my etsy shop now (I will soon be adding it to my website.) It is a lovely 8 X 10 X .75″ canvas print, ready to hang on the wall or place anywhere you want color (and black!) Of course, it is based on older fashion image and all gussied up.  Click on the image to see more views.

"Little Black Dress" print on canvas, by trolleyla

Here are more images, just food for thought on the classic and immortal “Little Black Dress.” I actually own the last image, the book based entirely on the theme. Available on Amazon.com, of course!

"Little Black Dress" to infinity and beyond

Little Black Dress ca. 1964

"The Litle Black Dress" available on Amazoncom

I always thought it would be great fun to be a costume designer, since it combines art, fashion and geekery (all that research!) and I love all of those things. Fashion has quicky turned out some very cool retro styles base on the recent popular movies “The Help,” “My Week With Marilyn” and “The Artist.” These photos are from the Wall Sreet Journal’s article “Costume Drama.” I particularly love the very girly and colorful combo shown first below; “Mississippi Marvelous!”

Recently, I watched “The Prince and the Showgirl” on Turner Movie classics, which “My Week With Marilyn” was based on. I found Marilyn to be so much more alive and electric on screen than the storied Sir Laurence Olivier. I remember reading that was a very tough shoot for her, as Mr. Olivier was very bothered by her current interest in Method Acting. In spite of the troubles on set, she far outshines him. And, she is at her most gorgeous. Rent it!

Marilyn Monroe and Laurence Olivier

I’m really loving the Spring 2012 fashion shows. In this day of gloomy economic news and stagnant growth, it is wonderful to see such happy happy color lighting up the runways! I particularly am in love with the Preen line, with it’s pop-art color palette and pixelated looking prints. I love how intertwined art and fashion have become, and I plan to make my next image with this pink and black modish-lacey look. I love it! And Rodarte’s prints that are inspired by Van Gogh’s paintings are just beautiful. Spring is in the air! (Let’s just skip winter altogether!)

Preen, Spring 2012 Blouse and Skirt

Preen Dress, Spring 2012

Rodarte, Spring 2012 Dress

Rodarte,Spring 2012 Dress

Today I read about an interesting shopping event that is organized by Jill Alexander in Orange County, Southern California. Women who have downsized their lifestyle due to divorce, are downsizing their wardrobes as a means to provide themselves with extra cash! If you are looking for that perfect Chanel bag or Jimmy Choo shoes at a incredible discount, this would be the place to go. The ex-wives who provide the clothes and shoes for the event are looking forward to breaking with the past and freeing themselves from “too much (designer) stuff.” Sounds like a win-win all around! Sip some champagne as you peruse the goods!

Below is a photo of recently divorced Julie Spira. She is not selling the polka dot Badgley Mischka gown in the photo; she says she is wearing it at her next wedding!

See more photos and read the article here!