Enjoy the Silence

Enjoy the Silence was the last look from our play date with Sam Friedman. Our inspiration came from rock and new wave bands of the 80s.
For this look we started with Lani's leopard print dress, a plus size shirt. Then to give the oversized garment some shape, we tied a long leather strap around the shoulders and waist to create a harness on top and belt on bottom. And finally to give the look a touch of color, we added the crimson red belt in the middle and dual colored feather headband on top.

With Erin, we started with a dual textured skirt and solid tank and carefully wrapped her in black cotton ribbon to toughen up the look. And to give it the balance of sophistication and polish, we added the gold and black chain belt.
We were pleased with the photos from this shoot; we just wish we got a close up of our shoes! We both had on very architectural footwear. The heels were pretty killer. Oh, and the leggings and tights! Erin wore a pair of DIY shredded tights, and Lani wore a pair of faux leather leggings. Next time we'll be sure to snap some detail shots.

We hope you enjoyed our look back on the 80s, and we'd like to thank our friend Sam Friedman again for spending the day with us!

Notes of Neon

Notes of Neon part two of our photo shoot with Sam Friedman was inspired by 80s iconography and neon love. To create this look, we each pulled the brightest pieces in our wardrobe and added a few key accessories - lime green headphones, bombox handbag, and piano key skirt (courtesy of Erin's roommate, Nicole). Accessories and the little details can really make a look.
On Lani, we layered three shirts to add color and pulled each of the two undershirts to the side instead of letting them lay flat to avoid creating more horizontal lines. Then to break up the top and make it more playful, we added the pink corsage and a chain necklace, which was actually a belt. And at the bottom, we added pink socks to balance the color on top.

On Erin, the neon lanyard necklaces were all handcrafted using a variety of knotting techniques. To make the piano key skirt really pop, we layered black lace ballet tights over bright yellow ones, and we finished the look with equally playful black and white drip paint flats.
It was really warm out that day, making it the perfect time for ice cream! We hit up the famous Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory for a scoop of peach and strawberry. Mmm...! Ice cream, good weather and play time in fun outfits, we live for moments like these.
A special thank you to the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory and Jay & J Nail in Dumbo for giving us a place to change throughout the day.

Ladies of the Eighties

A few weeks ago we did a shoot with our good friend and photographer, Sam Friedman. We prepared three outfits, all inspired by the 80s, each with a different take on looks and trends from those years. For this look, we played with 80s colors and patterns.

Putting together cohesive looks for the two of us was quite the creative challenge since we have pretty different closets. We're proud to say that instead of purchasing new clothes we bought crafting supplies.

Hair, makeup, nails, most of that was Erin. We painted our nails leopard, as seen in a previous DIY post, and our makeup was inspired by Marc Jacobs FW09 show. For our hair, we wanted it to be bold and crazy a la Flock of Seagulls. Erin's hair was pretty quick and easy; Lani's hair on the other hand took forever to style because it's ridiculously straight and likes to stay that way. We fought long and hard, literally worked out our arms trying to tease it. Finally, KMS hair holding paste came in and saved the day!
It was a bit hot out that weekend, but overall it was the perfect Saturday. We pranced around Brooklyn in whimsical outfits, got snapped by a few tourists and met some nice people including another photographer, Duane E. Harris.

Sam was really great to work with. He made us feel so comfortable and relaxed, and we had a lot of fun too. All of those smiles were real. Friedman is a real renaissance man. He's a photographer, film maker, writer and musician. You can check out his work at his website, smfriedman.com.