what’s HocoFest? oh, you know… i had no idea either. until there was a fashion show involved (and that right there sums up the extent of the brain-space i devote to anything non textile-related…).
so turns out, it’s a pretty freakin’ awesome 3-day festival that “a celebration of all things music, solar & sustainable during labor day weekend in sunny tucson, AZ- home to one of the best indie music scenes in the states.”
(aw! thanks hocofest website! i think tucson has one of the best “indie music scenes in the states” as well!)
emilie, half of the preen-ownership duo. um, was this dress MADE for her, or are you going to be
stubborn and argue with the obvious?
so everyone’s favorite vintage shop in tucson, preen, would be getting involved, obviously.
how so? by combining with the also-fabulous buffalo exchange to create a ”sustainable fashion show.”
um, hi world! did you say that the show involved all things thrifted and vintage?
huh… i suppose we could work within those parameters.
pre-show. we (and by “we” i mean emilie,) did a fantastic job with the theme, no?
so the theme was “glam rock,” something which i personally have never embraced as a style choice. it turned out to be a lot of fun to work with though, actually.
amber and i spent way too many hours combing through photos of david bowie, lamenting over our lack of one armed/one legged psychedelic jumpsuits, and listening to all things sparkly and amazing in our itunes. we styled some really amazing catwalk outfits, which were immediately tossed out the door the minute we set foot in preen and realized we had some serious options to work with.
me, amber and evee, wearing more makeup, leopard print and hairspray than we will for
the entire rest of the year combined.
so preen had eight models total, and buffalo exchange had somewhere around 30, but we totally managed to kill it anyway. the missing 8th model from the group picture at the top? this handsome looking fellow, abraham:
 abraham, one of the only men i know who can totally rock pleather pants and a sequined bomber.
something else amazing? tuani’s vintage gold fringe skirt, docs, and one glove:
seriously emilie, how do you pull this off?!?!
 ok, so she’s glove-less here, but i promise one came on for the show…
so enough “behind the scenes” already, right?!?! you’re ready for some actual show-action!!
well, that’s “behind the scenes” too. (hey, best spot in the house. and a change of scenery…)
so… some of us had never actually walked the the runway before and were actually a wee bit terrified. i won’t say who this “someone” is, because i’d be embarrassed. (hey! i’m not a model, i’m a designer and a stylist! being stared at is terrifying!)
this photo does the situation no justice – we’re all on the runway at this point – which i’m cool with. but how does a girl with absolutely no catwalk experience pull it off when it’s her turn alone down the runway? well, if you’re ever in the same situation, i’ll give you a little hint: do your most ridiculous dance and pretend everyone is eating it up.
 there’s no terror in large groups…
and not to save the best for last, but the show-stopper of the evening? i don’t think anyone can argue with this:
 evee, in her cage-dress/vintage lingerie/black velvet little-boy blazer number, with the most amazing hair ever…
AND
 um, yeah. an amazing trash can ball gown erin bradley, the other half of the preen
magnificence created by hand.
yeah, i said it. BY HAND.
and in case all that wasn’t enough, the Meat Puppets played immediately after our part of the show. the meat puppets! stop and think about that for a minute or two. seriously, how awesome are the 90s?!?!
in case you haven’t noticed, amber and i have been strangely absent. (from here, as well as the other inter-web haunts we frequent.)
this is not because we don’t like you any more. it’s just because you’re kind of pushy and self-centered, and honestly, we’re tired of the incessant stories about all the boys who are “so in loooove” with you, and the way you always borrow our clothes and never return them. (that was a joke. a really horrible one. in fact, i should erase it. but i’m not going to!) have i mentioned that i’m severely sleep deprived? that’s probably worth mentioning…
why the sudden lack of posts and extreme exhaustion?
well, ladies and gentleman, in 6 (7? i can’t do complicated mathematical things like count the number of days between now and next thursday!!) we will be performing a holy union between painfully hip and the painfully hip design collective, and wellwornroad and the non-existent wellwornroad design collective, and combine our love forevermore beneath one roof in tucson. i will be taking her name, because no one knows what the hell mine is.
(don’t act like you didn’t see this coming. we’ve only been together for what, like two years now?! at what point did you think biological clocks started ticking?)
so obviously we’ve been partying it up like the bachelorettes we will soon no longer be. i didn’t wash my hair for four days this week, and amber started a fresh batch of kombucha. we have sort of this “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, where if we don’t say, “hey, what did you do today?” we don’t tell. but we keep forgetting not to ask…
yeah, ok, it’s not funny. when are you going to get to the point, diana? this is stupid.
well that was mean. fine.
without further ado, i present a couple behind-the-scenes photos from the painfully hip road trip/design collective photo shoot in corpus christi:
 krystal aeby – our gracious hostess and the “without you, this never
would have been possible” of the shoot. plus she gorgeous too, huh?
do you want to hate her? i did. but you can’t. she’s too freakin nice!
 the (equally beautiful) boys of produce culture, fame, who not only let
us use their phenomenal gallery/studio, but also did the shooting and editing.
are you guys single? all of you? i’ve got one week of freedom left…
 behind the scenes, take one.
ps. i totally made that dress… that’s why amber is marrying me.
 “behind the scenes” take-2.
what’s better than pretty girls and a picturesque window?
amber!!
(although i guess that doesn’t count, because she is a pretty girl.)
ok, i’m in desperate need of some sustenance and a rest break if i’m going to continue on with this day.
in the meantime, i guess i lied – i have to show you one more picture – and it really is the final one. i made this dress too:
 it’d been pointed out to me that i have a “thing” for green dresses… whatevs!
i’m going to go take that much-needed nap, but while i’m asleep, work her down! get some pictures and stories out of her! we know she’s got ‘em!
and in the meantime, if amber wont share, i’ve posted a few more pictures over at wellwornroad. don’t let her get off that easy though! we will harass it out of her!
xo
after depositing amber and rory in their sacramento homeland, i embarked on the pilgrimage back towards my own home. (there we’re a few stops at humble shelters along the way. a pilgrim’s gotta rest up, you know?! and besides, have you ever known a pilgrim to say “no thanks” to a booze-cruise?)
you’re starting to make me think you know nothing about pilgrims…
i arrived at the casa de los diana late friday night, and after spending a month (um, please go back and re-read that. a full month!) on the road, i’m feeling a bit lost in the immenseness that is my home. what’s a pilgrim to do? well, this pilgrim has confined herself to her bed (which is only slightly larger than the car the three of us were living out of,) where i’ve been fervently clicking through the 5000-something road trip photos i’ve clogged iphoto to an almost entirely inoperative level with. (portable external hard-drives be damned! my macbook is the Master of Disaster, and the Master of Disaster – much like a pilgrim – never says no to accepting 327 new 15-megapixel photos from it’s best friend, the G10.)
a pilgrim-suitable beach-front humble abode
unlike amber, who shows grace and restraint with a minimalistic writing style that always leaves you itching for more, i have absolutely no verbal self-control. my name is diana, and i’m a text addict. (is that an over-share?)
so i will continue:
tucson being my homeland, i would have considered that stop along the trip to be a grade-a success even if it had been 115 degrees outside and my car broke down, leaving us stranded within it’s city walls for an extra day and a half longer than scheduled. (oh wait. that did happen.)
however, the real tucson highlight for me (and i’m pretty sure for amber too,) was the preen party, (thank you emilie and erin!!!) and getting to meet this stunning beauty:
(no, not amber. we already KNOW she’s hot. i’m talking about wendy, on the left.)
so who is that beautiful bronzed goddess?
that’s wendy. she lives in tucson, works for the arizona opera, has impeccable taste – and i’ll stop before i divulge too much of her personal information. (sorry wendy!)
she arrived at preen and graciously told us that she’s a huge fan of painfully hip.
i’m not sure i’ve ever had a fan before. it’s pretty awesome. if you don’t have one, i highly suggest getting yourself one as soon as possible.
(and for the record, the fan-ness is totally reciprocal. amber and i are both officially fans of wendy.)
ps. – if you’re reading this wendy, i can’t wait to go thrifting together!!
pps. i’m still in the process of updating the other road trip blog with trip shenanigans, so if you like reading posts that go into way more detail than necessary and looking at a lot of (hopefully) tastefully-clothed painfully hip road-trippers doing ridiculous things, feel free to stop by. but don’t say i didn’t warn you about the word-count…
sorry guys! diana’s been busy with food poisoning, and amber and rory have been busy having all the fun, so there hasn’t been a lot of posting round these parts lately…
this is a fashion and road-trip related true story that was lifted directly from wellwornroad. sorry to those of you who have read it already – we still think it’s funny!
xo
amber and i found something we thought was hilarious at Cheap Thrills the other day. and those hilarious things are called “Inappropriately Tiny Vintage Hooter’s Tank Tops.”
not that this is something that the entire internet needs to know, but amber and i are not very well… padded, in the upper rib-cage area. this was a source of huge distress when i was in my mid teens, but at this point in life i honestly think it’s one of the best things that has ever happened to me. bra-less in the summer time? heck yes!
back to the story though. sorry.
we tried on said tank tops (which actually hung in a really flattering and not-exactly Whorish Thing In The World kind of way, due to the fact that we weren’t trying to squeeze small watermelons into them.) we giggled uncontrollably, purchased them, and snuck them back to the house for “surprise attack.”
last night while packing up to leave fayetteville, we picked out the most hussy-esque matching shorts and white shoes we could find in our luggage.
this morning we wore loose dresses over the Secret (Awesome) Outfits and said our goodbyes to jeannette and will. the three of us – me, amber and rory – stopped at a thrift store on the way out of town to drop off the last of the clothes that were left behind at the swap yesterday. rory sat unsuspecting in the car.
unsuspecting, until amber announced loudly on the sidewalk, “wow diana, it’s pretty muggy out today. maybe we should take off a few layers” and we tore our jumpers off in unison.
see, it’s totally anti-climactic when i tell the story in words. that’s why it’s so awesome that cameras were invented:
 see, now THAT’S pretty darn funny.
rory’s reaction was great. pretty much exactly what we’d anticipated, right down to this:
 i think this is what Spring Break looks like
but yeah, it’s all fun and games and we feel victoriously hilarious, until we fall asleep in the car on the long ride to austin, rory pulls over at a gas and home-made-candy (?!?!) station/shop in the middle of absolute nowhere, oklahoma, and amber and i run inside for a desperately-needed pee break – completely forgetting what we’re still wearing until it was way – way – too late.
rory took a picture of that too. note the less-than-enthusiastic smiles?
do you have any idea how hard it is to pay for your snacks with your arms crossed over your chest, the cashier sending you straight to hell with her eyeballs, and the full attention of every trucker at the gas station? how about i share this with you: don’t try it.
(that’s to be read in the same tone as you would read “spring break!! wooo!!“)
a little while ago i wrote a post about self-imposed fashion “rules,” and how to go about getting over/past them. i mentioned that my main rule was the “you just don’t wear black and brown together. ever.” i believe that i forgot to mention my second biggest rule, which is “diana never wears strappy/peep/toe-showing shoes.” (this goes way back to early childhood, when i convinced myself i had the ugliest feet in the world. it’s funny how i’m still letting a 6-year-old tell me how to dress.)
my third self-imposed rule is, “i wash my hair every day.” maybe not with shampoo, but at least rinse it off in the shower.
well, apparently this road trip is all about looking my stupid rules in the eye, saying “eff-you!” and reclaiming my fashion freedom.
i’ve procured many a peep-toe pump at thrift stores along the way so far, and even went so far as to purchase a pair of vintage perforated tan strappy wedge sandals that i’ve been – get this – wearing on an almost daily basis. this may sound trite to some, but to anyone who’s suffered the debilitating effects of a self-imposed fashion rule knows just how big of a deal it is to finally overcome it. i’m thinking of throwing a party in honor of my newfound freedom.
i’m going to bombard you with photographic evidence now, because i’m so excited about overcoming these life-long “issues.” you may all pat me on the back. one at a time, please.
exhibit one – the strappy sandals:
i’m rockin those bad boys and i didn’t even give myself a pedi! not bad, huh? i give full credit to the shoes.
exhibit two – combining black and brown in one outfit:
i’m coming to the realization that (at least as far as my personal taste is concerned,) it’s all about the shades of the brown and black being mixed, as well as doing it in small doses – shoes and belt in brown, dress in black? doesn’t look too bad…
(also, i wore this combo for “hiking day.” i would just like to say that black might not be the best choice for hiking under the sweltering desert sun. in case you were wondering.)
exhibit three – brown and black again:
this time i think the dominating white in the dress made it possible to mix in the brown shoes and belt without too much “eye ouch.”
and lastly? this has nothing to do with the outfit, and everything to do with me and amber choreographing our new broadway musical:
oh, and in case you’re wondering, road trips are totally not conducive to daily hair-doin. i’m embracing hair powder into my life with open arms, and i feel like a changed girl. i like it!
(side note: in the vein of some totally shameless self-promotion, i believe amber mentioned it already, but i’ve been documenting the road-trip in a not-quite-so-fashion-focused way over here. i’m trying to update on a daily basis, so if the nitty-gritty interests you, come visit! i like you!)
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All images were either created by the Painfully Hip Design Collective, used with permission, or found on the web and believed to be in the public domain. If any images that appear are in violation of copyright law, please let me know and i will remove them immediately.
Thanks for reading,
Amber
painfullyhip at gmail.com
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