Self-Seclusion Thoughts...

Hell's Kitchen, NYC to the rest of the world.....Do you copy me?

What a weird yet fascinating time to be alive. In some years from now we will be able to go back and remember how most of the entire population of the planet went into forced isolation. We finally had an enemy in common that brought the human species together. The world stopped being an us-against-them and it became an us-against-the-virus. It was a sad yet beautiful period of time where we reconnected with love ones and became amateur bakers. Sigh...

If there is one big lesson Covid-19 has thought me so far is to cherish every moment of my life as the most precious thing ever, because it truly is. One day I was all dressed up enjoying a glass of wine & dancing surrounded by other humans at a crowded bar, the very next I was forced into self-seclusion, no cool outfit and no other humans to dance with. Ugh.

Who would have thought that the simplest things in life would soon to be consider dangerous, like hugging others. This is the stuff my nightmares are made of. Being the touchy-touchy person that I am, this lack of physical contact has proven to be extremely challenging. In times I wonder, how are we going to bring our guard down and start physical interaction again? How long until we feel comfortable shaking the hand of a stranger? Or how about kissing?! Or having sex? Are we doomed to become a touch-less society? Ugh again!

At the same time this can be such a powerful and trans-formative period of time. I kind of feel that we are living years in weeks and that we are witnessing in real time an evolution that would have normally taken much longer. This pandemic has given us the beautiful and rare opportunity to peel off all the unnecessary layers (literal and metaphorically) until we are left with the bare essence of what is really important to us. Things that once we thought to be critical soon were replaced by much simpler things that we had forgotten or that we took for granted (hello natural hair color!)

How about you? How has this period of time changed you? Are you so over this you can't wait to go out dancing with strangers? I hear you loud and clear! Count me in. Over.

Used MiuMiu shoes brought to you by Ebay years ago and still remain as one of my favorite pairs. #buylessbuysmarter

Chandas (Colombian slang for mutts or animals with doubtful pedigree) brought to you by my immense love for animals. Animals are my friends. Please don't eat your friends. 

Ceramic sculptures made with love in Hell's Kitchen, NYC by Colombian hands can be purchased here 

That One Day

This short post goes for the outcasts, the outsiders, the black sheep, the revels, the ones that refuse to walk the expected path, the glittered unicorns, the magnificent mermaids, the angels with invisible wings, the smilers, the unconditional lovers, the brutally honest, the brave enough to follow their hearts and their dreams, the ones that realized that the time to live is NOW, the doers, the veggie eaters, the animal lovers, the lions and lionesses, the wise enough to listen to their inner cat, the almond-butter-and-jelly-sandwich fans, the nude sun bathers, the weirdos that chose to stay that way, the ones that not settle for anything less than a soul-deep electrifying connection, the courageous who never force an outcome, because they know damn well that "Sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck" (thank you Dalai Lama) and the unexpected and unplanned for is where the flavor of life resides. The best is yet to come...

Miu Miu Women's Tales #12

Happy Monday!

I photo-bombed, you photo-bombed, she photo-bombed...:)

On Chastity Belts

Harness Belt should be a more exact term for the weird appurtenance that lays so peacefully over my body. Harness Belts are not designed to prevent sexual intercourse however, your mating possibilities might decrease exponentially with the continued use of the fashionable, anti-sexy, and beautiful version of a posture corrector brace collar, so I might as well call this wonderful device a Chastity Belt since the outcome will be the same: you will not get laid. 

-"What are you wearing tonight?"
-"You know, my chastity belt with my vintage dress and a pair of Miu Miu's"
-"Cool, enjoy"

In all seriousness...isn't this belt the coolest thing ever? Yes? No? Maybe? Am I weird? :)


Vintage dress rescued from a certain trip to my aunt's closets in Colombia. Remember this?
Miu Miu shoes, BCBG Chastity Belt :)
All pictures by someone who prefers to remain anonymous ;) CoCo should be back soon.


*Have you ever google'd chastity belts?
this has got to be a joke!

Vintage Heaven

My wonderful vacation in Ibagué, Colombia has come to an end. If you are one of the unoccupied few that read this blog you will know that I landed in vintage heaven when I decided to violate my aunt's closets last week. I supplied large amounts of wine to my aunts (shame, not really!) and countless jokes in order to score some of the items I'm wearing here. If only the weather in NYC was as nice as in Ibagué.....

Hope you enjoy the pictures. Once more my brother was forced into playing the part of the photographer. Not bad for a biologist that loathes fashion!

Everything was fine until I found this scandalous see thru dress. I can only imagine my aunts wearing these back in the days. I'm guessing this was used as a cover up for a bathing suit. Of course, I would never waste such a magnificent dress that way. 

Real Nice Thing in Life #16

Aside from thinking about why the Martians haven't approached us more openly and how to copy-and-paste text from model space into paper space without losing the scale (AutoCAD question, sorry), I've also been  wondering why we are the only species in the world that covers our bodies with a second layer of material known as clothing. What is it that we want to cover so compulsively? Is cellulite really that bad? Are hairy nipples the worst thing that can happen to a woman? (For the record, I DO NOT have hairy nipples! I might have hairy toes, and my arm pits are a bit out of control, but believe me, hairy nipples are something I did not inherit from my father). I'm not trying to promote a let's-go-naked-day, but I've always wondered why  humans are so fascinated by corporal ornaments. For all I know, my hats are the equivalent of a peacock's feathers, and when I wear a good pair of shoes I feel higher in the food pyramid than the Lion King. I find it amazing how clothing and accessories control our position in our herd. Wear a pair of killer high-heels and your pairing possibilities increase exponentially. 

I recently got my very first pair of formulated glasses. These medical aids are only to be worn when staring at non-moving objects like a book, a computer or my husband while watching the presidential debate. However, I've decided to use them as a bodily camouflage to attempt to deceive other primates into thinking I'm smarter than them hence raising my survival odds in the concrete jungle.

Real Nice Thing in Life #16: Having a beautiful blog and wonderful readers! (and a pair of glasses that elevated my intellectual status in the office from cute blonde to bad-ass Clark Kent ;))

All pictures by the one and only Alcibiades.

Donna Karan Blouse and Skirt, H&M bat sweater, Miu Miu shoes, 

Hat brought to you by Colombian peasants.

Monday's deep thoughts....

I've been on the lookout for a cool pair of "real life" shoes (i.e. shoes that I can wear without blistering my feet to the point of bleeding) for the past couple of weeks. I love high heels, but those are unrealistic, impractical shoes, at least for those of us with wide feet and without a chauffeur to drive us everywhere instead of having to move at a regular and fairly slow pace by lifting and setting down each foot in turn, never having both feet off the ground at once, also known as walking.

So in my quest for the perfect pair of shoes I came along these Marie Antoinette inspired Miu Miu shoes. I like these for three main reasons:

1. They remind me of Courtney Love. Allow me to explain; I was walking by the Miu Miu SoHo store during a lunch break, and since I get attracted to shiny objects just  like a seagull, I decided to take a look inside to see all the different items I can't afford (with the exception of certain on sale shoes that nobody but dorks like me like). All of a sudden the store manager closes the store (with me inside) and I find myself shopping next to Nirvana's first lady Courtney Love. Her bag was laying open next to mine. I thought about slipping one of my blog's card into her purse (shame), but I didn't have the balls (more shame).  

2. They are shiny. Read reason #1.

3. They are wide. As much as I like fashion and clothing, I'm a very basic human being. Along with loving skinny-dipping, honest smiles and laugh-until-your-belly-hurts moments, there's nothing I love more than being barefoot. This has caused my feet to widen up to the point where they look more like a square rather than a rectangle. So finding shoes that don't bother my always-growing bunion is always a challenge.  

I took my soon-to-be everyday shoes out for a test drive. No blisters or purple toe nails for five blocks of non-stop walking! Life is beautiful.

Miu Miu shoes, Dannijo necklace, Mossimo for Target Love sweater, Kirna Zabate for Target plastic skirt and bracelet.
All picture by Alcibiades.       

Striptease

Sexy...very sexy,

Dear MiuMiu shoes: I love you, you know I do. But why are you so difficult to take off? There have been multiple occasions where I've considered just going to bed wearing you. Trying to take you off while under the influence of a glass (or 2 or maybe 3) of wine is extremely frustrating. But then again, you are so beautiful that I don't care having to put up with your crap.

Husband's closet and husband's tie used as a head piece...remember this?

Serious Love Affair

Miu Miu's Fall/ Winter 2012 Campaign.

Tempted to replace Chloe Sevigny's face with mine.

The Genius I thought I was

I'm lucky enough to have an older brother. When we were little I inherited his clothing. Very often I was mistaken as his younger brother. I never felt upset for this gender confusion, but I developed a love for male clothing (as certain guayabagram suggested). My brother is super bright and smart. I just happen to have cute curly blonde hair. Curly blonde with crazy ideas, just keep reading....

Last Thursday during a pre-fall cleaning session of my husband's closet, I came across the nicest stripped shirts that he no longer considered good enough to share prime closet space with his other shirts. The fabric was just fantastic, a bit too big for moi, but something told me that I could give a better use to these beautiful body containers before making Salvation Army their next destination. So I did what any normal human being would do and I started using the shirt as a super hero cape, although it looked fantastic, I didn't think my office would approve of that look (remember this incident?), then I used it as a turban, look that I loved, but let's remember that we are in the middle of a very intense summer in NYC, maybe I'll try that look for fall. So, what else to do with a beautiful piece of material if it's not to wrap it around your waist and use it a s skirt? And that's exactly what I did. It was perfection. I pictured myself inventing the "shkirt" and selling it all around the world. Everything was beautiful until I went online and typed: "how to wear a men's shirt like a skirt" and suddenly my dreams broke into a million pieces. There are about fifty videos about what the hell to do with men's clothes! Who has the time to come up with this nonsense? My favorite however is this one, click click.

So just when I thought that I've discovered the ultimate fashion creation comes youtube and slaps me in the face. I was this close (fat and index finger almost touching) of proving to my brother and my entire family that there is more than blond fibers in mi skull. There is a video right before youtube came and threw cold water at me, a video that shows the genius I thought I was.

Ralph Lauren men's shirt, Chloe Sevigny for Opening Ceremony blouse, Miu Miu shoes, 

Vintage tie head piece. Dorky dance by myself.

SoHo-Ho

In latitudes where seasons are as intense as New York's, the weather becomes a daily topic of conversation. If you are forced to speak to someone in an elevator the first thing you say is: "How do you like this weather?" (assuming that day is one of the 30 really nice days out of the entire year), or "Isn't it miserable outside?" (and this applies to pretty much the 335 remaining days of the year). You don't ever leave your house without checking the weather (or without your cell phone, can someone remind me again how the heck did we function years ago without that extra limb called the cell phone?) because in this area of the globe Mr Temperature suffers a severe case of maniac depression. One minute you are freezing, and all of a sudden you feel like you are being cooked into a perfect medium rare term. When Mother Nature along with Mr. Temperature, God, Helios and probably the Planets are in a good mood, they reward us with the beautiful gift of a perfect day. These very few days cannot be wasted indoors under any circumstance, specially when one of your best friends calls you to meet in SoHo for a photo shoot for her website. 

"Taunt by passers with your camera? sure! I'll see you there!"

Have a great week everyone :) 

Must have accessory of the season: a gorgeous sweetie pie dressed in pink tutu and silver shoes. 

Extra points if her dress matches your hair highlights.

Customized I LoveNewYork Tshirt stolen from your friend (you don't want it back do you?) 

Vintage skirt, Miu Miu shoes that I'm planning to milk forever :)

On Bandeau Tops

Inspired by a super cool picture I saw in Nylon magazine I decided to post something about bandeau tops. New York Fashion week and Paris Fashion week were both inundated with beautiful "band aid tops". 

Too risque? hell yeah. Vulgar? nah, ok, maybe a bit. Controversial? Always, and that's why I'm loving this trend. 

Because a picture of me in a bathing suit is not embarrassing enough, I'm also sharing with you the youtube video of the photoshoot :)

Real life outfit I wore this weekend. I didn't have the balls to take the blazer off!

Zara Blazer, MiuMiu shoes, Zara pants, Agua bendita bathing suit (see? this is a very easy outfit, just dig into your old bathing suit tops drawer and you are good to go) 

Alcibiades, thanks again for your help, you can't never say that you job is boring!

Tops down!

The rooftop of my building has become my favorite photo shoot location. It can be the middle of the winter and I can get away wearing a jean jacket and bare legs (disregard purple-lish color on toes and fingers). Cold wind improves blood circulation therefore attacking cellulite and uneven skin (sudden thoughts of spending 3 hours butt naked on my roof top as a cellulite treatment rapidly control my brain. Thoughts quickly disappear as I start imagining upset neighbors and disturbed helicopter pilots and birds). 

this is my I'm-freezing-but-let's-play-it-cool look

Miu Miu shoes, Gap jacket, BCBG t-shirt, vintage skirt.

Note the pretty bracelets I'm wearing, they are hand made with love. Drop me a love note for more information (I might keep them all, my arm and the bracelets are pretty much in love right now, you know I love love notes. How many times did I write the word love?)