Skirts & Skins

80sPurple's Belle Nguyen's birthday event at The Mountain Bar in China town.

Hosted by Skirts and Skin. Great memories. Amazing people. Delicious cupcakes!


Happy Birthday Belle!

Kut In A Different Cloth

Fashion event hosted by Hypebeast, Scion, 3 Steps Ahead Media and for 80sPurle.com: Kut In A Different Cloth at The Vibiana in Downtown Los Angeles.



I have to admit the attendees' fashion definitely outshined the looks on the runway


Featured lines: Fremont, Corpus, Kayelee Tankus, Orthdodox, & Velvet Leaf

Overall the event had a very mellow, relaxed cocktail hour feel. The venue was amazing; The Vibiana is always a dramatic statement all in its own--add some drapes, lighting, and a runway and you have a show!

Let's Talk Gareth

Gareth Pugh, that is. This young 27 year old designer has been getting much attention lately, and rightfully so. After opting out of showing his Men's collection this summer, Pugh did a brilliant job combining the world of men and women together to create an impactful Spring 2010 collection. To sum it up: androgynous appeal! Something we will certainly be seeing much of, even more so than before.

Oh, Phillip...

Men's 3.1 Phillip Lim Spring 2010 collection. In one word: perfection! Simple and classic, but with a much needed twist. I especially love the pleated black leather crop pant. Let's not forget that modernized camel waist coat; its sensational!

To add to this already great collection Phillip Lim's new shoe collection hit the sales floor of his Mercer Street boutique. Particularly amazing are these shiny gold brogues. Now, as my luck would have it, they are women's shoes.Which quite irks me, however I'd still wear them in a heart beat! Besides, a 5'7" guy like me could use a little extra height, right? I guess we know what will be on my Christmas list this year, without a question!

September Is The January In Fashion

With much buzz and speculation about the new documentary by R.J. Cutler chronicling Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour's preparations for the 2007 fall-fashion issue, I simply had to take a look. It all takes place within the framework of putting together the magazine's September publication, traditionally the largest of the year--hence rightfully titled "The September Issue."

I have to admit, much of my interest about this documentary came from my fascination with the film "The Devil Wears Prada" in which Wintour was fictionalized as Miranda Priestly-- the cold, cutthroat, and always decisive editor-in-chief of Runway Magazine. Whether or not the story line and characters were based on real life people has never quite been confirmed by the original mind that inspired the film, author Lauren Weisberger, it's hard to not notice the similarities; down to the uncanny resemblance Miranda Priestly's office has to that of Anna Wintour's real life Vogue office.

Taste in decor and bitchy demeanor aside, "The September Issue" is a more humanized look at life at a fashion magazine, and the work that goes into the creation of an issue--the biggest one of the year. It's safe to say that there are some "...am I the only one attending this run-through?" and "Where is my Starbucks?" moments, however the film goes well beyond that. We see a look into Wintour's huge extracurricular projects such as a fashion fund for up and coming American designers and a meetings with C.E.O.s of companies like Neiman Marcus to try and make the world of fashion and its people better. It shows the passion, dedication, and hard work that goes into the creation of fashion in as a whole.

Even more impressive is how vulnerable Wintour actually allows herself to be as she let cameras into her home life, and speaks openly about her father and siblings who she says are "...probably amused..." with her line of work. When producers asked her daughter if she would ever work for a magazine she responds with "...there are other things out there," and refers to fashion as "a weird industry..." Wintour instead of opting to comment further tilts her head, simply smiles, shrugs, and looks to the side.
　
It's safe to say that the look inside Vogue would not have been the same without Wintour's colleauge, Grace Coddington. Coddington is the magazine's creative director and is in charge of the majority of photo shoots. This former model—who worked at British Vogue and Calvin Klein before starting at American Vogue on the same day as Wintour—is often described as a "genius," including by Wintour herself. Despite the show of appreciation there is and undeniable tension between the two. At one point in the film, Coddington counsels a junior editor who just endured one of Wintour's infamous word lashings, "Don't be too nice, not even to me, because you'll lose. You have to beat your way through." Evidently that's just what Coddington has done. The feisty, flame-haired visionary admits that both she and Wintour are stubborn, adding, "I know when to stop pushing her...she doesn't know when to stop pushing me." One of the greatest scenes in the movie comes when the two share a long, awkward, silent elevator ride together on the way to visit Jean Paul Gaultier, saying only mere words to each other. One might think the only reason these two tolerate each other is for the magazine. However, there is a clear respect for one another.

From story boards, run-throughs, re-shoots, and edits its clear that fashion is never boring and hardly as dense as some might think it to be. There is much to be said about Anna Wintour and the fashion world. Some bash it others worship it. Despite all of that Wintour puts it best in saying, "Fashion is not about looking back, it's about looking forward."

An Introduction:

My name is Jesse Sandoval Gomez. I am a young, creative soul in the midst of self-exploration, in multiple respects. I've stumbled onto the idea of what is now this digital spec, after many failed attempts at having a journal, diary, or however you'd like to refer to it as. Now, whether or not this one will succeed is clearly not yet ascertainable. Before you start to think that this will merely be the place where all my emotional baggage and ramblings about my personal affairs will end up, please read further and you'll see otherwise.

I hope to explore much of me, yes. However, I've found that much of myself is already expressed through the views of others. So, it is my intention to merely take their thoughts, ideas, masterpieces, musings, and visions and assimilate them. My only hope is to make sense of myself along the way.

Basically, this is and will be a canvas of and for everything my incomparable mind conceptualizes.


Please, enjoy.