My name is Amber Mortensen, the creator of PainfullyHip.com. I totally love you. I am a wardrobe stylist, graphic designer, writer and lover.
I started this blog in March of 2007 whilst working at a Vancouver, BC sound studio for film and television, getting coffee for the likes of Jean Claude Van Damme and Evangeline Lilly. I loved Vancouver, but unfortunately 8 months of rain a year did not agree with me. So in September 2007 after 7 years in Canada, I took a blind leap, packed up my car and moved to gorgeous midtown Sacramento.
I spent a year being self-employed for the first time and could be found wandering about town with my laptop and/or ukulele on my bicycle, gleefully soaking up my 7 year deficit of vitamin D. I modeled in several local fashion shows, was featured in Sacramento Magazine and multiple times in the News and Review, who hired me as their freelance fashion writer.
In Summer of 2008, I decided to take this show on the road. I’m taking advantage of my portability, and fulfilling my dream of traveling everywhere and anywhere my meager bank account will allow.
So far I’ve gone on tour with an ensemble rock band called Role Mach, playing ukulele and singing all down the west coast. After that I took off to Chicago for a couple months, threw a Painfully Hip dinner party, attended Chicago Fashion Week, rode motorcycles all over the city, and took photos of locals in the VIP box at a Girl Talk show. I attended Lykke Li’s show at a dive bar and Dan Deacon in a gothic cathedral. I took a roadtrip through Indiana and got dressed up in a dirndl and attended Oktoberfest in Michigan. I even attended the speech in Grant Park when President Obama was elected.
Ever since, I’ve had the incurable wanderlust, including but not limited to The Painfully Hip Roadtrip – a 3 week thrifting adventure across the southwest US. A week after that, another roadtrip to Vancouver, BC, a mini photo tour of the SF Bay Area and Northern California. Soon after that, an interstate move to Tucson, AZ where I currently reside with my blogging partner and roomie, Diana of Well Worn Road. My next goal is to cross the proverbial pond… indefinitely.
I hope to make Painfully Hip not just about fashion, but about inspiring you to take life by the reigns and rock your personal style.
> How did you get into blogging?
I was working at a sound studio in Vancouver attending to B list movie actors and was bored out of my mind 70% of the day. Blogging was something productive to do while I waited to get coffee for Jean Claude Van Damme. No joke.
> How would you describe your style of fashion?
Layers, mixed up proportions and lots of patterns. I have a tendency toward sixties and twenties styling with a quirky but modern edge
> Inspirations?
Louise Brooks, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Leslie Hall, MIA
> Current favorite outfit?
My newest one. I have a short attention span.
> Your favorite vintage find?
A tooled leather corset belt. Its completely amazing. Discovered on foxhuntvintage.com
> What is your favorite season to dress?
Summertime! Who loves short shorts? Guilty as charged.
> What do you think will be big for spring?
tapered, high-waisted trousers in bright colors.
> What recent trend have you been totally turned off by?
Fringe on everything. Fringe is cool, but only when used responsibly.
> What is in your purse?
I’m constantly carrying around a dizzying array of travel-sized products which I never use. Except for my Tide stain pen – I eat like a starving person at a casino buffet. Its a curse which makes wearing white very risky business.
> Things you can’t live without?
My Benetint blush.
> What do you like to do in your spare time?
Anything I’ve never done.
things i like:
burritos, music, curry, accessories, movies, photography, fashion (obviously), playing ukulele, dancing, travelling, camping, hiking, cutting my friends’ hair, wandering aimlessly, the sun, cold ones, crunchy pickles, hockey, frogs, sexy old motorcycles, old psych art posters, complaining/raving about the weather, blaming things on the breakdown of society…
music:
jim o’rourke, bob dylan, woody guthrie, odetta, townes van zandt, grizzly bear, beirut, the dodos, band of horses, otis redding, feist, deerhoof, deer tick, pink mountaintops, the monks, decemberists, malkmus, the cave singers, lykke li, devendra banhart, django reinhardt, elliott smith, nina simone, joanna newsom, sondre lerche, nico, hot chip, portishead, lykke li, radiohead, serge gainsbourg, silver apples, chad vangaalen, solex, tom waits, television personalities, vetiver…
movies:
anything by p.t. anderson (esp magnolia), wes anderson, pedro amaldovar, jean-pierre jeunet, spike jonze, christopher guest, werner herzog, or michel gondry.also: jesus’s son, i heart huckabees, blood simple, fargo, palindromes, rope, buffalo 66, brazil, frida, american movie, chun king express, the goonies, the last unicorn, almost famous, running with scissors, fubar, the jerk
television:
project runway, project catwalk, the wire, big love, arrested development, lost, hockey night in canada
books:
bound for glory by woody guthrie, still life with woodpecker by tom robbins, a heartbreaking work of staggering genius by dave eggers, burn collector by al burian, the count of monte cristo by alexandre dumas. vonnegut. neruda. pynchon.
heroes:
louise brooks, charlotte gainsbourg, bob dylan, mark borschardt, aubrey beardsley, p.t. anderson, leslie hall, and bill murray
Portrait by Kristin Cofer, Makeup by Padi Arvin
painfullyhip @ gmail.com
please email me with any questions! i like you!
Painful or Hip? Discuss...