Interiorgalactic Planetary

When you think of the Beastie Boys, you probably think of the rhymes, the evolving style over the years, the crowning sense of humor so often absent from hip hop.  Not real enough? Not enough solid beats as they wandered into different musical territory?  Just watch, learn, nod your head and try not to smile.  (The payoff at the end is so worth 5 minutes of your life): 

 Now we bring you a belated story of interest: multi-talented Mike D also dabbles in interior design.  Check out the New York Times feature on his redesign of a Brooklyn townhome. [Click Here].

Want to see all the photos not in a slideshow? Fear not, just [Click Here].

For my purposes, I vote for what appears to be a guest bedroom as taking the top prize.  In the cold New York winter, retire to a guest room resembling an upscale boutique beach hotel.  We love it, and in an age of MTV cribs where bigger is always better, cheers to Mike D. Now let's go to White Castle.

Palm Beach Swede Fest

Movie star and Director

Happy Hour Fashions

Do you ever go to happy hour?  Happy hours are occasionally planned and sometimes spontaneous. But whatever you wear, you usually have to wear it to work too.  That is unless you live close to work or your happy hour spot of choice.  

Well I've snapped some photo's of a couple of outfits I caught on my happy hour outing here in West Palm Beach. 

To the right it's me.  I had on a white shirt dress with a full nude slip underneath.  I also had my signature piece, the blue-green leopard scarf. I am a little frightened by the amount of leopard pieces that I have collected over the years. I also added a splash of color at my feet. I probably could have done without the belt, but I felt I needed a waistline.  I will also mention that it was jean day at work and I wore jeans to work.

Now for my friends.  These ladies added color to the picture.  Even the girls in black or black and white had color in their outfits.  

This was a birthday hour for my friend Emily in the bright red dress to the left. Can you tell we are in South Florida or what?  
Danielle,  in the black and white, had a red bow in her hair, red shoes, red necklace and rosy lips. Regina, in mostly black, splashed her color with a really cool yellow mini skirt.

Are they hot or what?  The guys behind them think so.  I know at least three of us who play soccer together have really toned legs, which is also part of the fashion here in South Florida.  Being in shape is part of your outfit.

Of Murals and Men

Murals, murals everywhere.  When you have the space, why not?  We have seen that public art can help us reimagine or see in a different light those ordinary spaces we may pass by every day.  Check out the Flint Public Art Project, for example.  So it is in that vein we draw your attention to just one building in Lake Worth, directly across the street from City Hall.  Too much? We say, paint the whole city.  Too little, in fact.

 

 

Of Classic Cinema's Fashion

Everything changes in 80 years.  Yet how much more does it say about the staying power of stars from the golden age that they still look gorgeous and distinctive in absurdly outdated fashions?

The double breasted pinstripe will probably never come back, unless one happens to join a crime family, or if one is being overtly ironic.  But Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. still looks dapper as ever out in 1938's "The Young in Heart":

Likewise, Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer's absurd outfits in the classic 1939 "A Love Affair" do not make us shake our heads.  They are both so magnetic and good-looking that we can ignore Dunne's football sized shoulder pads with some kind of bowtie, and Boyer's ridiculous plaid number.

I suppose this means that it is the star in the outfit - and not the label or the cut of the fabric - that makes an outfit work or not.  So get out the pomade and the upper-crust early 1900s Atlantic American accent and go to work.

Peace, Love & Wellness Fashion

Who doesn't love a good festival?  It gives you something to do on the weekend and drives business and consumerism.  This weekend, I went to the Peace Love & Wellness Festival in Palm Beach Gardens. 

The fest was peaceful, I found products and services that I loved, and I am certain the local business in the Midtown, Palm Beach Garden's area did well.  

As a Fashionista, I noticed the fashion. They had free yoga, so many showed up sporting their best yoga pants/ yoga outfits. I suspect it was a marketing technique. There was a retail story/yoga studio that sold bright, vibrant yoga fashions.  I ended up obsessed with yoga pants when I left.   Although, at the $75 price tag, I left without a pair.  One day.

The kids joining in on the yoga fun and  fashions!

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Caribbean Brutalism

In discussing all things brutalist in the architectural commentary on our blog, we have not yet examined any hybrids of our favorite type of building.  Now, then, we bring you the aesthetic delight of the Virgin Islands Superior Court complex, to which we give hearty cheers:

I hesitate to argue that this is 1993 building is a brutalist hybrid of sorts.  But I think a case can be made that this complex does represent a combination of both Caribbean and brutalist influences.  The red roof with its Caribbean shapeliness certainly reminds one of typical St. Thomas dwellings (see below), and the structure itself, with emphasis on the concrete, with its strange third floor overhang, and its minimalist window arrangements, does remind us of more typical brutalist pieces.  I heartily approve of this rather cheery take on brutalism, and give you this study as evidence that brutalism does, indeed, continue to live on and influence architects even in our day.

Kid Fashionistas

I was reading This 4-Year-Old And Her Mom Make Incredible Paper Versions Of Famous Dresses and I was blown away.  Fashionistas come in all ages. Little Mayhem is getting started early and I hope it's a hobby that she can turn into financial support one day. She is located in Ohio, it got me to thinking about kids and their fashions.  

What I like about FashionbyMayhem is that it encourages little Mayhem to be creative and recreate the latest Hollywood looks, but not necessarily to need buy them. It's more about her creative nature and that should be nurtured.  Little girls' interest in fashion can be a tough area to nurture.  You don't want to encourage bad behaviors such as bullying, or becoming label whores.  But you do want to encourage the creativity, and independence they can gain from fashion.  

Nia, my bestie's daughter, is a little fashionista in the making.  She will sit and watch entire episodes of project runway with me. We will discuss the show like two college aged girl friends. I encourage her to wear scarves; what six-year-old do you know is bold enough to dare to wear scarves?  She has her own sense of individuality and will on occasion fight with her parents about what she is wearing.  Totally acceptable for a junior fashionista.  

Who know's I could be hanging out with the next Coco Chanel or Carolina Herrera.  Point is it's important to give kids a healthy dose of encouragement when it comes to fashion. 

And here is Nia in one of her favorite outfits.

 

From Chapel by the Lake to Chapel by the Vomit | BlameGirl

From Chapel by the Lake to Chapel by the Vomit | BlameGirl

Rendition of the proposed project - Vomit

Issue:  They are trying to turn West Palm Beach into Miami.  Who's to Blame?

Blame:  Last week I attended yet another West Palm Beach City Council Meeting.  It was a packed one. There was a hot button issue; the Chapel by the Lake.  It's a love story between church, politicians and big business.  


Here's the backstory as I understand it, Chapel by the Lake was owned by First Baptist Church, a church where the wealthy prayed. Unfortunately, the wealthy either weren't attending or tithing so the church found itself in financial need.  In their time of financial need they voted to sell the property (tax free) adjacent from the church, known as Chapel by the Lake. Developers swooped in to build yet another condo tower where millionaires can purchase a place so that they have somewhere to crash after they pull up in their yachts. But first they had to turn to the city's politicians for permission to develop.


Which brings us to last week's meeting which consisted of developers consuming some eighty minutes answering questions from council members (for show), Mayor Jeri Muoio acting like she's still in the school house and citizens noisily expressing their anger with the project.   I will say it was interesting to see rich people get screwed over by other rich people. Inter coastal property ain't cheap in West Palm Beach. 


The developers demonstrated to the packed house how they plan to make this too large project, just small enough to receive countless waivers from the city so they can still build these extravagant condos. With 75 condos wearing a $5 million dollar price tag, it's gonna be worth the $23 million (tax free) they paid for it after selling to five people.  Oh and minus what the council members got paid.  But probably still worth it. 

And hey the church is happy. But you know who's not happy?  The citizens who already bought property in that area, the mom who loves to take a daily walk with the kids by the water, the commuter who on their daily drive gets a beautiful view of the coast.  The bike rider who rides on the coastline for exercise. The people who are already there.



West Palm Beach is like a beautiful woman, who keeps getting unnecessary plastic surgery.  It's a beautiful place why try to use cosmetics to make it into something it's not. That's what attracted me to live here.  It is it's own South Florida gem.  Not too flashy, like Miami, and not too dirty like Ft. Lauderdale. Authentic.  But unfortunately they are trying to fill the ENTIRE South Florida coastline with gaudy, luxury apartment complexes. Doesn't Florida already have enough?  Vomit.

Plaid, Plaid, Throwback Plaid

Normally I leave fashion commentary to my co-author. But as I'm sitting here thinking about my latest pickups at the mall, I have to ask Blame Girl and the rest of our audience, (which numbers at least in the low dozens!), what is up with the recent switch back to plaid and checked shirts for guys?

Maybe it took me longer than most people to realize this, but if we completed a study of guy's shirts on display right now at retail centers, I guarantee a large chunk would be checked, plaid, or otherwise similarly patterned.  After all, were I of the opposite gender, I might have read Elle magazine's prediction and been caught less unawares:

Whether checkered, tartan, or houndstooth, we'll all be marching straight into Fall 2013 with a wardrobe of plaid jackets, dresses, trousers, and more.

 But this leads me to the final point: whether it's the idiot 50's throwback seen above, or the more recent grunge era (see below, ouch),

I guess what I'm saying is I'm mad I threw out my plaid shirt from middle and early high school every time I go out to a bar full of people dressed like Scotsmen. And, at the rate men's trends are going in this country, (back to plaid, back to the 1960's style buddy holly glasses), I am just kicking myself for not keeping a few extra pairs of Tommy Hilfiger carpenter jeans, a trend that is sure to come back in the early 2020s.

 

Colorful Kicks

This weekend, I was at a kids' basketball game, and I was mesmerized by their feet.  It was like moving art as the boys rhythmically ran up and down the court.   Color really is powerful in all fashion, even sports.   In a group, from the feet up, the teams conformed with color; but from the feet down, beautiful, individual, colorful chaos.  A sight worth capturing. 

Youngsters usually sport the hottest new kicks. But only in South Florida do all the athletic shoes come in neon colors.  Now that I think about it, my soccer cleats are neon and yellow.