Lana

Low Rise, Ribcage, and Asymmetrical Jeans Oh My

Low Rise, Ribcage, and Asymmetrical Jeans Oh My - Levi's Ribcage Jeans - Livestyle Shot

Image: Levi’s. Ribcage Jean

I’m not sure how much people really pay attention to bizarre fashion trend reports (or trend reports in general), but I’m sure while perusing Facebook many of you have seen the crazy new denim “fads” over the years involving styles that you’d be pretty sure nobody would be caught dead in (but I bet you also realize lately that humans continue to blow our minds, so you react negatively to it despite your doubt). Denim has been one of those simple, basic wardrobe staples that I fell in love with due to the wide variety of artistic takes that different brands came up with, and for a heck of a long time, it was great, right? It was all about lifting the butt, elongating the legs or lengthening the torso—no woman was without at least one or two pairs of favorite jeans in her closet, and we were always looking for the next flattering pair. No matter what though, whether you like any of the other later trends such as frayed hems, mom jeans, cropped flares, jeggings or printed styles, everything always came back to the traditional, classic blue jean. Every successful denim brand knows this, and the emergence of favorable cult favorite vintage cuts and fabrics further perpetuated this truth. However…we still constantly see these attention-grabbing headlines featuring completely out-there denim styles that are being touted as a new “trend” somehow. If you know what I’m talking about, I’m talking about the inside-out jeans, Topshop’s mom jeans with clear plastic knee cutouts, Natasha Zinko High Waist Double Waistband Jeans, Carmar Denim’s “Invisible Jeans,” Y/Project’s garter belt jeans and Opening Ceremony’s number with detachable legs that morphs into a pair of high cut shorts. Clearly, these somehow sell, but is it all hype, and are people really willing to spend $400 on something that is? It’s easy to conclude that in such a saturated market, these brands are simply taking the clickbait route to another level to garner attention and don’t expect any of these creations to become “the next big trend.” However, I’d say that it’s a trend in itself that these far out designs continue to be manufactured and blasted out all over the media. Does this foreshadow a new turn for the denim industry, where it’s gotten increasingly more difficult to come up with original ideas? Is denim finally beginning to see a lackluster market presence as everyone opts for their best, most comfiest and flattering pair of yoga leggings?

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Lana

A Much Needed Break and a Full Solar Eclipse

A Much Needed Break and a Full Solar Eclipse

Hey all! Life has been fairly crazy lately, as I’m sure you’ve been able to tell…since I’ve lately had to change my post schedule from three days a week to once a week. A 9-5 can take a lot out of you, and this time every year is the busiest for me. This year seemed particularly more busy and stressful, which caused my poor blog to take a backseat! I’ve been working hard to keep up with my own ventures. Once I start and work as hard on something as I have on this blog, there’s no way I’m quitting that easily! Anyway, things have calmed down a bit and I feel fairly burnt out…it’s not often I get a legit vacation. However, now is the time! I’ll be heading up to Oregon to see the full solar eclipse at the Global Eclipse Gathering, put on by the Symbiosis festival out of California and other major festivals from around the world.

This is the first time a full eclipse has traversed across the United States in 99 years, so it’s a pretty significant deal! Just about every artist that has graced flyers across the global festival circuit will be there, most of which will take care of my entire artist wish list. Over 30,000 people are expected to pour into Big Summit Prairie in Oregon, and I have never been to any event of that size. My husband and I are driving all the way up, and I’m way too excited…this is such a much needed break! I hope more of you get the chance to experience the eclipse, or at least the partial eclipse from wherever you are. You can find more information about traffic, weather, and where it is expected to be visible, here.

Style wise, I’ll be wearing all of my favorite sustainable, organic and/or independently-designed festival apparel. I may or may not take photos, as sometimes with awesome events like this you forget you even have a camera! I will return on the 28th, and depending on how much catch-up I have to do after that, I’ll hopefully be back to my regular posting schedule of three days a week again. Either way, I’ll see you all again soon.

Lana

Birthday Recap of my Shiniest Moments in Blogging

Birthday Recap of my Shiniest Moments in Blogging

Birthday Recap of my Shiniest Moments in Blogging

Well it’s that time again, when I stop and think in disbelief how fast the time has gone…and how the hell I’m already one year (or two or three or…heck, 10) years older. It’s definitely scary how our relative perception of time gets shorter as we get older compared to how many years we’ve lived, making it feel like time is speeding up. At least, that’s the theory I’ve read and tend to believe. What’s hard to believe though, is that I even got into this blogging business to begin with. Only a few years ago it was just a fleeting thought with no plans to even bring it into fruition—the last time I had even attempted to start a blog was on Blogger in 2009 when I thought I would document the planning of my wedding. I did squeeze a few denim-related posts in here and there but only had one follower (my fiancé’s sister) and I just didn’t feel a drive, passion or motivation in general to continue beyond only a handful of posts. That probably lasted about three or four months. Perhaps I wasn’t as well rehearsed on how to promote a blog—social media was already a strong point of mine, as was networking and web development, but I definitely didn’t know as much about marketing or how to properly promote posts cross-platform as I do now.

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Lana

The Prayer Song World Choir Project

The Prayer Song World Choir Project - Logo

The Prayer Song World Choir Project

So this is kind of a different blog post…but my original intention of my blog was to showcase a myriad of things that I feel benefit the world, and everyone in it! If you haven’t noticed yet, my passions lie in several different avenues…some that mesh together and some that don’t seem to hold any common ground. But one thing is for sure, fashion and music form a special bond as art forms that are universal and have the power to make great change.

When I first started DJing in 2008, one of my greatest inspirations was producer J. Scott G. of Deepsky, an influential electronic group that rocked dance floors and dreams in the late 90s and early-to-mid 2000s. I consider myself to be a bit of a networking queen, which began when all I wanted to do was tell musicians that changed my life, face to face, how much I appreciated them, as I know being a music artist in this world is not an easy one. As my networks grew, that sprouted into a genuine love of playing the matchmaker of similar minds, introducing people and helping others continue their networks to advance their dreams! Recently, and thanks to Facebook (see, some good comes out of that cluster of a social media platform), I was able to get in touch with J. Scott G. and had a chance to meet him and his fiancé Naomi for drinks and dinner in Ventura, CA. It was then that I learned of his next venture in life. No longer a regular of the nightlife scene, his passions now lie in creating music for change. Prayer Song is the duo’s new life, which is a collaborative music project put together by people like you—thousands of voices from around the world are being collected to create a wholesome world choir to represent the need for world peace, the end of suffering, and overcoming our own obstacles and boundaries. Launched on January 22nd, 2016, the project is gaining traction and even earned a non-profit status thanks to HOPE!

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Lana

The Etsy Shops of My Fellow Creatives

The Etsy Shops of My Fellow Creatives

The Etsy Shops of My Fellow Creatives

I can spend forever and a day perusing Etsy and filling up my various favorite lists…denim is fun and it’s fascinating to me how much can be done with the simple concept of a pair of jeans, but I think I find the individual talents of independent creatives even more wildly interesting! I find it sad that there are so many amazing artists out there who are completely underrated and underexposed, being lost in the flood of online (and offline) entrepreneurs, both budding and successful alike. It’s gotten harder and harder to market yourself over the years and finally catch a break!

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Lana

Tailor Free Options for Jeans with Short Inseams

Tailor Free Options for Jeans with Short Inseams

Tailor Free Options for Jeans with Short Inseams

Ever since my obsession with denim went viral within my network of acquaintances and friends and their friends, I’m constantly asked for suggestions for the perfect jeans for certain body shapes, heights, fabric content preferences…you name it. And I love it! As silly as it might sound for me to say I’m happy to be some sort of denim guru, I am. Either way, I love to be of help with something I’m passionate about! The most common question is in regards to the best jeans for curvier body types. Fortunately, the denim industry has listened over the years, and my go-tos when asked this question are the Lovestory flare by J Brand, The Honey Bootcut from Joe’s Jeans, just about anything from American Eagle Outfitters, Parker Smith, and the Kimmie (Bootcut and Straight) from 7 For All Mankind. Other brands continue to add more to their already-amazing rosters. However, there’s still one issue that has yet to be widely addressed: shorter inseams! Fortunately American Eagle offers length options, as does Bluer and AYR (in their skinny and slim cuts), but what about those who require inseams under 30″? I’m fortunately a 32-33″ but that seems to be the baseline…even 7 For All Mankind’s much-welcomed Tailorless line stops there. I still see a market lacking for the shorter peeps! Even more so, for the shorter and curvier souls who are constantly frustrated in the never ending hunt for the perfect pair of jeans.

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Lana

Decadent Dissonance on Facebook

Decadent Dissonance on Facebook

Decadent Dissonance on Facebook

So I’m keeping today’s post short because I’ll be out for the weekend with the hubby (going to LA for a concert and to celebrate our four-year wedding anniversary yay!) and I still need to prep, which is perfect because I was trying to find a way to sneak in a notice that…I’m finally on Facebook! It just didn’t seem appropriate for a post topic initially. I already have a personal Facebook page, but I didn’t want to link it to this because I keep it closed off for only those I know. I figured it was about time, even though Instagram is where it’s at nowadays…but at least now my blog’s social media presence is pretty much complete.

It was pretty odd getting it started up after I’ve been running this blog for two years, because the first obvious question is…where do I start? There was no way I was going to try to catch up for two years time, so I just uploaded images from Denimology reviews and personal outfit posts and figured I’d work from there. So don’t mind any messes you might see…it’s still being perfected, and like this blog did when I first began, everything falls together with time.

So if you’re on Facebook and have been looking for me or would like to follow my posts, “Like” me right here!

While we’re at it, if you don’t yet follow me on Instagram, you can do that here…and Twitter, here!

Lana

Moving On Up and Trying Something New

Moving on Up and Trying Something New

Moving On Up and Trying Something New

It’s kind of hard to believe that it’s been just over a year that I started blogging with Denimology. Blogging was just something that sat on the back of my mind for so long, as a venture I might like to try as I love to write and share ideas with others, whether it’s to inspire or relate with like-minded people. I sat around and mulled over the idea for a long time because I wasn’t sure I could constantly produce enough content. The denim obsession was already a given, so when I saw the ad for new denim reviewers on a regular Denimology newsletter over a year ago, I didn’t even have to think twice in responding to it! And now, here I am, with no prior blogging experience just a year or so ago, with a full-blown blog that I’ve consistently posted daily content on and a brand new opportunity that’s just landed on my lap…I am now the Brand Relationship Manager at Denimology! Of course, I’m a little nervous, but it’s definitely one of those things that just feels right. Going into anything new is always a little scary, but when you just get into that uninterrupted flow that proves you’ve found a true passion, the fear just seems to melt away and there’s hardly a second thought. I am so excited to be a solid part of the Denimology team and be an influencer in all of this popular denim blog’s future ventures! I have had so much fun corresponding with brands and doing my best to represent them in the best way possible.

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Lana

Just a Chill Saturday with DL1961

Casual Saturday with DL1961

Jeans: DL1961 Florence InstaSculpt in Warner, Bag: vintage Coach, Jacket: American Eagle Outfitters, Top: Gypsy05

Just a casual Saturday shooting some Denimology photos for Bluer Denim, Freddy and one of my all-time favorites (the other probably being AG…with some Level 99 and Agave mixed in there), DL1961. With my and my hubby’s busy schedules (he’s my photog, as apparently is the deal with most bloggers), most of our photoshoots are done en-route to somewhere else. He’s a budding photographer, so he has no problem carting around his camera bag wherever we go! With it being nice and light out after work thanks to the time change, sometimes we’ll run somewhere later in the afternoon, or just carry the camera around on our weekend jaunts around town. You never know when a photo opportunity comes up, which is another reason why I carry my work-issued iPhone around in my purse (really, I can’t stand the things, but if I got one from work, I might as well take advantage of the fairly good camera they have!) for times when I actually wasn’t in too much of a rush out the door for work and feel my outfit is decent enough to document (which is one of the reasons I thought about starting a blog a long time ago, to help organize my closet by seeing how many outfits I could make out of it, and the Denimology came along and gave me the push I needed)!

Really, I have a lot of fun doing this (I have a bit of a passion for writing and sharing ideas), and it’s been a fun journey in gaining self confidence, self awareness and learning to frikken relax…it’s hard to be completely comfortable in front of a camera…what you feel you look like isn’t always what you look like (helloooo resting bitch face?)! Thanks everyone for taking the time to read my work thus far 🙂

Shop my look here, if you feel so inclined! The DL1961 jeans are the only item current, but I found similar items for your perusal.

Lana

Finding Your Own Gold Box

Gold Box

Finding Your Own Gold Box

A beggar had been sitting by the side of the road for thirty years. One day a stranger walked by. “Spare some change?” mumbled the beggar. “I have nothing to give you,” said the stranger. Then he asked: “What’s that you’re sitting on?” “Nothing,” replied the beggar. “Just an old box. I’ve been sitting on it for as long as I can remember. “Ever look inside?,” asked the stranger. “No,” said the beggar. “What’s the point, there’s nothing in there.” “Have a look inside,” insisted the stranger. The beggar, reluctantly, managed to pry open the lid. With astonishment, disbelief, and elation, he saw that the box was filled with gold. I am that stranger who has nothing to give you and who is telling you to look inside. Not inside any box, as in the parable, but somewhere even closer: inside yourself. – From The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle (found on Peaceful Daily)

This great little quote popped up in one of my daily newsletters (source above) and resonates with me in more than one way — I am a true believer in finding your own strength in life and paving your own path, but in terms of applying this to more of a personal style/fashion standpoint (so as not to completely yank this blog into too spiritual of a direction), it reminds me of when I never was truly happy with my own way of dressing until I stopped desperately looking for too many cues elsewhere. I, like most, went through many stages in high school — think goth, then grunge, then punk, then glam, then experimental, then a little more preppy with the beginning of my American Eagle obsession in college, to…now. I’m just me, which might or might not be a mesh of all of those past tastes. I remember having a few personal tastes, but I worried too much if they’d be “accepted” or “good enough” so I never listened to them (actually the goth one I did truly enjoy for awhile). With the myriad of fashion blogs, commercials, e-newsletters and all the awesome Fashion Week coverage out there, we are bombarded with so many ideas on what’s “cute” or “hot,” but I think it’s important to not take any of them to literally. Let them be great ideas, give them the ohh la las and double takes, let them inspire you, make your magazine cutout collages to your heart’s content but stop trying so hard to be something you aren’t, dangit. I think we’re all sitting on a gold box, but we’re too afraid of what society will think if we open it. I’ve never really been one for trends. I don’t beg for style advice (although I LOOooooOOVE ideas and inspiration), but it did take me some time to discover that gold box I was really sitting on for so long.

Either way, life is too short to go through life not realizing that you are awesome, so go flaunt it.