check me out: attempting to upstage my bike

Sometimes it gets quite daunting, owning a bike as sweet as mine. How is anyone going to notice me when I have this sex to compete with?:

klein quantum road bike
klein quantum roadbike

Well, if you can’t beat em, join em.

Going for an updated Edie Sedgwick look, I matched my bike’s austere white and blue frame with this stripey number I scored when Diana and I did a closet/suitcase swap when I was visiting her in Tucson. In fact, I scored this entire outfit from her (bored with your wardrobe? see if you can’t convince your most stylish friend to do an impromptu closet swap)! She thrifted it all. I got the sunglasses (which, come to think of it, totally match my leather saddle) in Chicago. The gladiator booties are actually 90s pixie boots with the tongue folded inside. They’re not exactly like my covet of the week, but for something vintage, I never thought I’d come this close!


Yes, I actually went biking in this – I had some bike shorts bunched up under the dress… Pull them down, et voila, the perfect biking outfit.

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Painfully Him: The Mansie

A menswear post from the hilarious Rory of Awesome All Day.

Dudes are afraid of looking fancy. It’s not our fault, we just don’t have many options. We’ve been stuck in t shirt/button-up/polo prison since the jerks who ended the renaissance got rid of pantaloons.

Historically, ladies have caught all the breaks: dresses, the unitard, the jumpsuit and my personal favorite, the “onesie.” What’s easier than having a whole outfit in one simple piece of apparel?! Us guys haven’t had it that good since we were wee babies.

That’s why I think it’s time for a paradigm shift in men’s fashion and a restructuring of the way we ponder casual, formal, and work wear. A romper inspired by women’s fashion, but cut for the brawny heroic proportions of a man. A timeless garment that leaves the entire known stratosphere of the onesie behind. I give you: THE MANSIE.

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I picked up this couture revolution up at a little thrift store outside of Tucson AZ, and have warn it almost exclusively since. It’s made up of space age sweat-inducing polyester that really helps me feel the burn when I engage in manly endeavors.

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I’ve never owned an outfit that allows me such stress-free sartorial decision-making. I don’t have to spend hours trying to match my t shirts to my jeans anymore!

Note the accents: A built in belt for the snug form-fitting appeal, six different pockets to store my tools/candy/plastic gloves in, and nautically-inspired racing stripes! I’ve never felt so masculine, and yet so fashion-forward.

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In fact, much like the elegant dive of the North American Bald Eagle, I don’t think it can be truly understood unless seen in action.

Preen Anniversary Party in Tucson, AZ

Finally! The photos from the Preen Vintage party in Tucson (please do check out their blog).
Thank you to our brilliant photographer, Ryan Mihalyi. (Please be sure to check out his amazing flickr).

Amber, Diana, and co-owner Emily

Amber, Diana, and co-owner Emily

Singer/Songwriter/Ukulady, Michelle Blades

Singer/Songwriter/Ukulady, Michelle Blades

Steff Koeppen - Singer/Songwriter/Talent, Personified

Steff Koeppen - Singer/Songwriter/Talent, Personified

Diana and her brother, Asher Deaver - singer/songwriter/boy-shaped cuteness

Diana and her brother, Asher Deaver - singer/songwriter/boy-shaped cuteness

Asher Deaver

Asher Deaver

Lovely Diana in her thrifted backless frock

Lovely Diana in her thrifted backless frock

Roadtrip friends forever!

Roadtrip friends forever!

Me in my new Preen dress constructed by Emily

Me in my new Preen dress constructed by Emily

And some extremely fashionable guests:

I will always remember this lovely girl as the spitting image of PJ Harvey

I will always remember this lovely girl as the spitting image of PJ Harvey

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See more from this event on Ryan’s site!

Painfully Trite Twitter Tweets for 2009-07-19

  • I'm giddy! my favorite blog, hands down, just randomly asked me to be a contributor! http://www.fashion156.com/blog/ Teehee! #
  • One Hundred and Fourteen Degrees. Tucson, why are you in the desert? #
  • check engine light?! just when I was craving some more roadtripping action. to be continued… #
  • Saw Dog Bounty Hunter at Disneyland today. That just upped the surrealist quotient of this road trip by at least 40%. #

Painfully Hip Roadtrip: a synopsis of our recent frolics / reassuring readers we are not dead.

It is truly devastating the amount of content and photos that are piling up to present to you, but at the moment some technical difficulties are preventing such things. But in case you are curiouser and curiouser, here is a synopsis and a few links to tide you over until we clear our hard drives / find camera cords / recieve edited photos from talented photographers.

—> We had superior party times in Austin! It was our hottest stop yet, so we had a swim in beautiful Barton Springs which was about 500 feet from our gorgeous digs, courtesy of our generous host, Cary. Then we went vintage shopping, checked out a pile of junk cleverly shaped into a wicked 3 story cathedral, ate a crate full of oak smoked meat at Rudy’s Country Store & BBQ, drank the most delicious mojitos in the history of alcohol at a Cuban bar with a huge automatic velvet curtain “door,” and then proceeded to get beaten brutally and squarely at every bar game that ever existed by Cary, who totally sharked us by telling us that it was her first time playing shuffleboard.

—> After a shockingly hypnotic 4 hour drive to Corpus Christi, TX we were met by the most adorable couple: our hosts Krystal and Christopher and their tiny menagerie a wee terrier/chihuahua mix named Lily and the most cuddly lil lovebird, Dino. That night they treated us to an insanely decadent 5 course meal (6 for Rory- two desserts!) with wine pairings at their lovely restaurant CafeAeby, where Chris is the chef and Krystal manages. And yes, they’re as precious as they sound!
krystal and chris

Krystal then introduced us to the Produce boys – a talented and driven collective of young hipsters pretty much shaping the Corpus Christi scene exactly to their liking. They lent us their brilliant photographer, Sharat, for an intense photo shoot at their soon-to-be-opened gallery space and then treated us to a jaw-dropping 6 course sushi dinner at their hip-as-shit restaurant SushiBar. Corpus Christi made Rory and I feel like we’d died and gone to heaven (while alas, our poor dear, unlucky Diana suffered through an awful bout of food poisoning acquired at a dodgy roadside TexMex joint in Oklahoma for the entire two nights we were there).

They also lent us the gorgeous blonde Chelsea for our shoot.

They also lent us the gorgeous blonde Chelsea for our shoot.

—> Upon recovery from unrelenting nausea, Diana was chipper and ready for some driving, approximately 14 hours of driving from Corpus Christi to Tucson in one day (with only a single stop in El Paso for some swoon-worthy thin crust pizza – I know its not the regional cuisine, but we were sick of, and in Diana’s case sick from texmex). She decided beyond all reason to tackle it all by her lonesome. Who knew we were dealing with a badass 98 lb trucker??

—> Diana and I went thrifting at a Savers just outside Tucson…. and spent at total of $400. ‘Nuff said?

—> The party at Preen? WAS AWESOME. The people were so sweet, the vintage was to-die-for and the music was supernal. We had met an unusually talented photographer named Ryan Mihalyi at a Tucson bar the night before when Emily (the beautiful and multitalented owner of Preen) and Diana showed us their hometown. To our amazement, Ryan agreed to document the event for us! I am already giddy over the teaser photos.

Erin, co-owner of Preen

Erin, co-owner of Preen

Beautiful Emily, co-owner of Preen made this dress and now it is mine!

Me in a dress made by Emily, co-owner of Preen! Now it is mine!!

—>After a short delay from a false “check engine” light alarm, we are off to Southern California today! We plan to do some more vintage shopping (as we scrape the dregs of our bank accounts) and perhaps have a frolic about Disneyland.

Thanks so much for reading! Our roadtrip is, ever-so-sadly almost at an end, but the posts will still be coming in full force. Not only have we been overwhelmed by the sweet vistas and sweeter people we have encountered, we have become more sartorially inspired by this trip, and our wardrobes will never be the same again. We can’t wait to show you more outfit posts, thrifting tips and photo shoots in the coming weeks!