Springtime at Gypsy Camp

On our way to the Decatur Arts Festival last weekend, we made a quick stop at Gypsy Camp. It's only open a few times out of the year and located in an old stone building behind what use to be The Angel pub in Decatur.


Hat: Target, tank: H&M, dress: F21, bangles: Fred Flare, bag: Urban Outfitters.



Top: Old Navy, shorts: AA, Shoes: Psycho Sisters, Bag: Urban Outfitters.

CL

Decatur Arts Festival

As mentioned in an earlier post, we attended the Decatur Arts Festival (20th annual!) last weekend and it did not disappoint. The 150 tents were chock-a-block with fantastic artwork, the funnel cake was delicious, and the live music gets better and better every year.

In the photo below, Lauren is checking out Liz Williams' abstracts. A number of her works are also available at the local Boswell Gallery.


A view of the tents on the west side of the bandstand.


Artist Maurice Cook always paints next to his booth at the festival. He was the poster artist for the 2006 festival and is a local favorite.


I love Signe Grushovenko's paintings. If I didn't spend all my hard-earned cash on clothes I would have plunked down the $15o for a small painting. Click here to see some more of his artwork.


This stilt walker is at the festival every year and she's got skills! She'll spend all day up on those stilts without tiring and has a number of costume changes (she's a very fashion forward stilt walker, which I highly approve of).


Below is a close-up of Felix Berroa's tent. I think he's one of the best artists in the show. For those of you local Atlantans that missed him last weekend, you can visit his tent at the upcoming VA Highland Summerfest.


Lauren purchased some great earrings from jeweler Dolores Fawkes. She hadn't put on earrings that day and these matched her outfit, so we decided her buying them was meant to be.


So there you have it. The 2008 Decatur Arts Festival in a nutshell.

I can't wait until next year's festival. Luckily the Decatur Book Festival is only three months away - it's just like the arts festival, but instead of art there's books, and most importantly, there will be funnel cake!

CL

The June Shin Ring

I lifted my self-imposed, temporary (i-haven't-bought-anything-since-sunday, yes-i-have-a-problem!) shopping ban because I completely fell in love with this ring by local jeweler extraordinaire June Shin. You guys must, must, must visit her etsy site before everything is snatched up. I will no longer be sucked in by Tarjay's tawdry, cheap baubles. I will only shop etsy – at least that's how I appeased the consumer guilt when I clicked "Buy Guns & Roses Ring." Oh, and did I mention how much I'm in looooove with it?



I've had a thing for cameo since I was 10, but I've never known how to incorporate it into an outfit without looking too Edwardian or Goth. But give me cameo + classic rock and I can envision about 16 new outfits!
Now, dear readers, go forth and shop local/independents. It's practically guilt free!

ps- Let me know if you guys get anything from June or other etsy sellers!

LL

Where We'll Be This Saturday

Lauren and I are looking forward to the grand opening of Rock It, Decatur's newest clothing boutique, this Saturday evening. If you're in the Decatur/Atlanta area come on by!

Rock It Official Launch Party
Saturday, May 31, 6-10 pm
115B Sycamore St., Decatur, GA 30030 (on the Square)
404.373.5099
Visit RockIt's Facebook page here

CL

Inspiration: The Stylist

Dream AsianCajun stylist: Camille Bidault Waddington.

Photos courtesy of untitled.uk.com

More Kate Moss at TopShop

The latest Kate Moss collection for Topshop is now available online. I don't own anything from this collaboration, but that's mostly because of the ridiculously weak dollar and not my indifference towards the clothes. In fact, I like how the clothes really do look like they've come directly from Kate's closet.

The same can't be said for other celebrity lines out there. Sarah Jessica Parker's Bitten line is wonderfully cheap, but doesn't represent her daring fashion sense. With $350 leggings Mary Kate and Ashley's line seems to reflect their wallets more than their homeless-chic look. And Mandy Moore's Mblem line is not memorable since the singer/actor isn't known for her personal style.

Cocaine snorting videos aside, Kate Moss can hold her head up high. Her Topshop collaboration achieves its goal of capturing that special Kate Mossiness. Below are a few examples.

Button-up tank

On Kate:


Topshop's Strappy Vest (about $12):
Hot Pants

On Kate:

Topshop's Denim Hotpant (about $50)
Little Black Dress (with embellishments)

On Kate:


Topshop's Lace Dress (about $240):
Sequins

On Kate:


Topshop's Metallic Beaded Top (about $130):

Fitted Jacket

On Kate:

Topshop's Embroidered Pinstripe Jacket (about $130):
Ethnic Patterns

On Kate:

Topshop's Mirror Hotpants (about $120):
Hopefully Kate Moss will still be designing for Topshop in 50-100 years when the US will no longer have a $9 trillion deficit and super low interests rates that make the dollar weaker than Zach Braff's chin!

Photos from www.people.com and www.topshop.com

CL

Gallery Exhibition Opening Wear

Tuesday night was the opening of the Decatur Arts Festival Fine Arts Exhibition. I always love going to the opening every year because the show never disappoints (great, affordable, local works of art) and it provides the perfect excuse to get a little dressed up.

Our outfits in the photos below are what we deemed to be gallery-exhibition-opening appropriate. Some might find our style too dressy for a relatively laid-back event, but until we get invited to the annual Costume Institute Gala, we'll take advantage of every chance we get to dress up.

Lauren is wearing a J.Crew dress, H&M jewelry and Nine West heels (not shown).

I'm wearing a dress from H&M, Anne Klein watch and shoes by Vera Wang from Kohls.

You can purchase these shoes here.

CL

Art Fest Outfits

So who is excited about The Decatur Arts Festival this weekend?! Ooo, me, me, me! Check out the pics from last year to get a glimpse of the gloriousness that is to come, especially to those of you in the Atlanta Metro Area.
A few weeks ago we went to the Inman Park festival. Another awesome ATL event not-to-be-missed, but as true Decaturites we see it as a warm-up for the DAF. This is how one warms up: ice-cold beverage intake, check; funnel-cake consumption, check; oogling arts and crafts, check; live music and parades, check. Oh, we are so ready.


For those of you outside of the ATL area, Inman Park is one of the gorgeous, historic, still-artist-friendly, hippie-happy neighborhoods that make me tremendously happy to live in this wonderful part of the country. So Cath and I spent the day wandering the artists' tents, while savoring the smell of festival foods (corn-dog with a little/lotta funnel cake on the side? Yum).

Lar (at Candler Park Marta station): hat, walgreens; aviators, years old, can't remember; necklace, River Island (UK); top, The Limited; shorts, H&M; shoes, Cinti (Florence); bag, U.O.; bangles, Dresscodes.

Roughly 5 years ago, Cath and I got on a tote making kick. This particular tote is made with fabric we found at Ikea way-back-when.

Okay, I know you've seen the hat before, and the winking owl ring, but I felt they deserved a little more face time.

Happy Festivaling, Everyone. Let us know if any of you will be in town!

LL

Gap Modern

It really should be Lauren blogging about this (she graduated with a major in Art History), but she's out of town and I think this is the best thing since sliced bread.

In conjunction with the Whitney Biennial, Gap is selling limited edition t-shirts designed by well-known and soon-to-be-well-known artists featured in the Whitney Museum's famous exhibition.

The list of artists:
My absolute favorite design is by Barbara Kruger. I've been a huge fan of Kruger since learning about her in my one and only modern art history class (I unfortunately majored in business and economics).

I love this shirt. I want to buy this shirt. There are two reasons why I haven't already punched in my credit card number at gap.com. First, it only comes in mens sizes, which means it might just look incredibly boxy and ridiculous on me. Secondly, the message of the shirt is anti-consumerism, so I'd feel like a big fat hypocrite if I bought it.

Any thoughts? Should I overcome my shame of being a hypocrite and not worry about the size? Or should I just buy a poster of Kruger's artwork and be done with it?
CL

AsianCajuns in Action

Always check BroadcastAtlanta.com for the latest in Atlanta Video news.


We understand, it's weird for us to; AsianCajuns on video. I'm not even that comfortable with photography just yet so this is a bit of a leap, but our friend Jonathan at decaturnow.com suggested that AsianCajuns talk-up our blog and Decatur (our adopted hometown). We love sharing AsianCajuns with you guys and we love Decatur, so we thought we would give it a shot. There should be more videos to follow that are more fashion and food-focused (more loves- yippee!). We'll keep you posted.

In the meantime, let us know what you think!

LL

Ideal Summer Dress

My ideal summer would be spent wearing this dress, frolicking in the hills of Tuscany with Emma Thompson and Denzel Washington a la Kenneth Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing. I usually end up in fairly uninspired halters and shorts, but in that outfit you can't sit in the shade of a Cyprus tree and have grape juice dribble down your chin whilst saying things like "Sigh no more, ladies/ Sigh no more..." It's not possible- I've tried. Now in this dress, scavenged from a tent at the Inman Park festival a few weeks ago, you can say just about anything you want to and no one will care. Now, that's my kind of summer uniform! Hmmm... if only I could convince my boyfriend how dashing he would look in navy blue leather pants (see Denzel in bottom photo).
Photos: Top three: A little photoshop magic and I'm twirling in the Tuscan countryside. All photos in Inman Park dress with vintage winking owl ring (my favorite piece of jewelry! And this bird sits on my middle finger harhar), necklace from River Island, and bangles from Dresscodes.
Bottom two photos: stills from Much Ado About Nothing, courtesy of screenrush.co.uk.

5 Things Tag

5 favorite things in my room:


5 things found in my purse:

Related links: The Duck and Herring Co. Warm Weather 2008 Pocket Field Guide, MARTA Breeze card

5 things I've always wanted to do:

Related links: Stockholm poster from allposters.com, Mark Morris

5 things I'm currently into:

Related links: Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, Dwell, The Office, Toms Shoes, Trader Joe's

Thanks to Juliam of Over the Undies for the tag!
Our 5 impressions of her:
1. She finds the best affordable, stylish shoes around.
2. She makes Forever 21 clothes look expensive.
3. She has a keen eye for knock-offs (i.e. Express copies Prada!)
4. She loves H&M as much as we do!
5. She lives in the midwest, but looks like she's from New York.

Tagging: Breaking Curfew, Dance With Me Forever, Ediot, My 20 Something Cents, Tam's Thoughts

CL

Costume Party

The annual Costume Institute gala brings out every movie star, fashion designer and model at the top of his/her game that year. The 2008 gala this past weekend was no different. Julia Roberts, Anna Wintour, Amber Valletta, and company took a turn on the red carpet before checking out the Costume Institute at the Met's Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy.

Style.com considers the Costume Institute gala the Oscars of the East. This is somewhat true, but whereas most Oscar attendees play it safe with classic gowns, those that attend the gala take more chances when it comes to their look for the evening.

Below are my biased opinions on the evenings best and worst dressed.

Badly Done:

Victoria Beckham's Giorgio Armani gown looks dated on her Barbi-figure body type. Elettra Rossellini's Chris Benz dress just doesn't work - the color blocks look awkward on a flowing gown. I like how the designer dressed himself in something a little off-kilter, but those shoulder pads!


I know it's sacrilegious in the fashion world to say anything bad about Mr. Lagerfeld, but I just don't get his genius. Why are his pants all bunched awkwardly? John Mayer should have chosen a less shiny tie and the converse-with-suit look is overdone. No good.


Of course I had to include Anna Wintour's Chanel Haute Couture gown. Apparently she's going for the superhero theme with a futuristic look, but those embellishments just look like giant silver slugs to me. Usually Katie Holmes looks great in Armani, but her red dress paired with a long gold chain and blue shoes just ruins it.

Well done:

Naomi Watts did a great job playing up the theme of the evening without being too literal. Andre Benjamin wore his signature look - he can do no wrong fashion-wise in my book. I love Piper Perabo's graphic black and white dress with her 1940s-ish hairdo.

The high waist and drape of these dresses makes the wearer look elegant but not stuffy. L to R: Liv Tyler in Calvin Klein Collection, Christy Turlington Burns in Escada, Kristin Davis in Michael Kors, and Kate Moss in Stella McCartney.

Sophia Coppola in Marc Jacobs with Marc Jacobs. I'm not crazy about Rachel Bilson's Calvin Klein Collection dress, but I love the overall look with her fringe and wavy hair.


I like the combination of Kate Bosworth's vintage Chanel Haute Couture dress and Pierre Hardy shoes. Michelle Trachtenberg's stylist did a great job with her vintage skirt and tassle belt combo.

Huh?

Annelise took the superhero/fantasy theme too seriously with a bow and arrow, but I love her Alberta Ferretti dress. I admire the Olsen twins for trying out different looks, but they both missed the mark at this year's gala. Ashley's black DVF dress and straight hair comes off as trite and Mary-Kate's messy hair and minimal make-up don't work with her gold DVF dress. I always like Charlotte Gainsbourg in Balenciaga, but I don't understand her shoe choice - they don't work well with the dress.

Check out all the looks at style.com.

CL