Bublitschki

Lately I've had gypsies on my mind,
which isn't totally out of the norm for me considering:

a) I'm a big Gogol Bordello fan (COACHELLA '11 WAHOO!!!)

and  

b)I love me some longs skirts, big earrings and dark florals

But today I was feeling a little bit more in love with the mysterious free-spritited, wanderers of yesteryear

 
Some inspiration...

 
You can see why I couldn't help but get all Esmeralda-ed out and head for the road

Some daily outfit pictures...

Scarf: Mom's closet (possibly thrifted)
Skirt: Sister's old clothes
Shirt: hand knitted Vinatge (from Mars in Berkeley, CA)
Earrings: Vintage (see above)
Purse: Mom's old stuff
Hair Color: OH you noticed??? (Loreal hair color) My lovely sister dyed it for me :]












*notice the new earrings; 1/2 of the only goodies I came back with from the vintage expo last week.

they have a lot of versitility to them, surprisingly enough. Gypsy one day, Twiggy the next.











Click to find out what Bublitschki means!

"Naturally Whimsical"

Welp, the photo shoot I was tossing and turning over finally happened and I'm soo happy with the outcome.

These photo's were shot by Photographer Richard James
He shot them all with film only, no digital

I must admit, I was a bit nervous at first (seeing as I've only ever had close friends, family and past/current boyfriends ever take pictures of me) but after just a short while I got more comfortable. I found myself feeling more natural with a camera focused on me at all times, and it didn't hurt that Richard was so sweet and supportive, he even called me "naturally whimsical" and said I have a striking face which was quite flattering. I've never thought of myself as necessarily striking before so I was beyond flattered.

Photographer: Richard James
Stylist: (me!) Ellen Howes
Location: San Francisco, California (near/around the Union Square area)

 

Richard's compliments and reassurance that I was doing a good job + a killer pair of heels I never got to wear to Senior Ball = total and complete confidence.

Big thanks again to Richard James, you were so great to finally meet and your talent and charisma made me feel comfortable and confident. I'm lucky to have met such a great new friend and I am very excited to work with you more in the future!

Can't Sleep

(sleeping mask from dollar section in Target)

Well its almost 4:00 in the mornin' and I'm wide awake dreaming of whimsical San Francisco pictures of myself. Not to be vain...It's just that this photographer Richard James asked to do a photoshoot with me this Friday (I guess at this point it's today) at 12:00 in downtown San Francisco.
So like I'm a pretty big deal now.
You can't really blame me for tossing and turning and striking poses in my sleep.
I'm going to actually try to get some rest now, sweet dreams

-Ellen

Strawberry Blondes Forever

Spring is approaching quickly and I felt needed a change in the hair department. I love the length and shape (very long, layered, with bangs) which is why I decided to dye my hair (which I haven't done since I got blonde streaks in 7th grade, yuck!) But instead of chunky blonde streaks, I decided on strawberry blonde...

                                                                  

BEFORE

AFTER

The actual outcome was quite darker and a little less strawberry, but I love it. Its a nice subtle change 
Strawberry Fields (click)

Vintage Fairytale

Yesterday I went to the Vintage Expo at the San Francisco Concourse

...and OF COURSE both of my cameras stopped working so I had to use my phone
(so I apologize for the quality)

These are just some highlights...

The first semi-transparent light blue dress was by far my favorite piece at the expo. It was just so delicate and fun.
There was one boothe with quite a large selection of really fun and vibrant vintage Lacoste pieces that I wanted to run away with.
The deep turquoise dress I actually tried on (only $25!) but it was a tad too big and it didnt look right on me. Even still, back bows are (almost) always to die for.

Aside from the one dress and some jewelry, most of the stuff at the Expo was pretty far out of a starving college student's price range, but I managed to come out with a couple sweet little finds (COMING SOON)

Every Day is Halloween

Well I've blogged before
and I've tumbled before
But my old blog wasn't serious (it was more of a secret online sophomore year of high school diary)
and my tumblr is just a jumbled mess of inspiration (that I will try my best to continue to keep up)
but now it's time for the real deal, the "big bang" of my style blog...if you will.

Now, when it comes to the fashion world, I love, respect, drool over and genuinely enjoy so much of it, however I've never particularly tried to follow current trends.Naturally sometimes aspects of the clothes I wear match up one way or another to those walking down the runway and photographed in popular fashion magazines,
but the moral of the story is; I really just like to have fun with my clothes.

I like to treat each day like I'm playing dress up or putting on a costume for Halloween.
Halloween is the one day out of the year that everyone feels comfortable wearing whatever they want and being whomever they want to be. But why not wear whatever and be whomever you want every day?
Personally, I like to challenge myself to never ever play it safe, not even for one day.
Sometimes I even enjoy the strange looks I get from people while I'm on the bus or shopping in Trader Joes because it just reaffirms that I'm dressed in my own unique (and apparently sometimes shocking) style.

Of course every now and then I feel self conscious just as any other human might,
but as long as I dig my outfit then I don't care if there not a single other soul out there who does.

Just some initial thoughts.

Yours truly,
Ellen