I'll be brave tonight: either live or die.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE KING OF ALL RACCOONS, MAT DEVINE of KILL HANNAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't ever grow up...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"The incredible Amanda Palmer is my guest-host on the Raccoon Society- Go on, ask us ANYTHING! " - M. Devine

(And he really does mean ANYTHING... not even joking there).



<3

Let's get down in Barcelona - where we'll be dancing like no tomorrow.

Trying out a semi-new layout here. Bear with me while I test drive it. I think it might work... now everyone will be less distracted by my side bar racket if this part is nice and stretched out, no? I can't help it if I love my sidebar so much. Sue me.

But anyways...

I'm sure everyone caught the latest episode of Gossip Girl on Monday, right? (hahaha). If you DID, you might have spied this super cool, (new?), all girl band playing during the party/cotillion/whatever scenes. And if you're a Nylon magazine reader, you might have recognized this band as The Plasticines, seeing as how they get featured in nearly every single issue. (Or so it seems).

I SPY: STYLISH ROCKSTARS OF THE WEEK - WEEK TWELVE - THE PLASTICINES
on Gossip Girl... ooh la la.

I must admit that their music is uber catchy and fun to sing along to. (Don't you think?)

And of course they also happen to be uber fashionable ladies. But that's a given, of course, since they happen to be FRENCH. French women are just naturally BORN fashionable, in case you didn't know.


But, yes, their onstage look is quite glamorous, pretty, and put together. These girls are NOT into the grungy, rocker-chick look. And that's kind of why they rule.

Let's all emulate the looks they wore on the show!!

I found an almost identical version of the dress singer Katty was wearing:

It's all about the strong shoulders! (haha so 80's! eek!)

from Urban Outfitters: $58

but if you feel like you're not into the whole shoulder-pad trend, try one like this:

T by Alexander Wang on shopbop.com: $90

There's lots of different kinds of sequin dresses out there this season, but here's one I liked that sort of looks like Louise's (bass).

from Velvet on shopbop.com: $209

Rachel Pally on shopbop.com: $97 for this comfy looking stripey getup a la guitar player's:

And, finally, the drummer was wearing a cute leather jacket, (also easily found nearly everywhere this season).

This particular one I liked is from Urban Outfitters: $128

I think I will be downloading the rest of these chicks' album now.



Oh, and before I forget: my favourite band, Kill Hannah, was in an unfortunate event earlier this week in which their tour van and over $120,000 worth of gear and merch was STOLEN. They were able to get the van and trailer back, but no sign anywhere of their instruments and everything else.

It broke my heart to hear, seeing as how barely one year has passed since a similar incident befell them of getting all their gear burned in a bus fire.

But some of the fans have started up a donation fund to help them out, and if you happen to have any extra cash lying around and if you want GOOD KARMA...

please go here: http://killhannah.net/donate/






my rotten, black little heart thanks you.
<3

I wanna sleep DEEP tonight.

currently listening to: the LIVE Kill Hannah songs still in my head


I should be in bed right now. But I'm not sleeping tonight.

I have a very special edition of "I SPY' for everyone tonight... and I do hope you'll let me know what you think.

*SPECIAL EDITION*

I SPY: STYLISH ROCKSTAR OF THE WEEK - WEEK FOUR - MAT DEVINE of Kill Hannah


Just a few hours ago, I happened to spy my favourite singer, (one of my favourite people in the world), at their kickoff show for the She Wants Revenge U.S. tour.

He was wearing what appeared to be a two tone army green military jacket with really interesting medals and belt detail... kind of like this one:






Or should I say... EXACTLY like that one.

(And just to reiterate: he just posted this on his Twitpic not two seconds ago):



I'll have you know that making that jacket almost killed me. (It's that sort of "secret" project that I had been hinting at for some time). It took half a lifetime to finish... and I STILL wasn't satisfied with the results. I wish I could have taken it way further. But I ran out of time. Deadline should have been LAST night, but I found myself working on it until the very last minute, right before leaving for their show. It was my obsession. Right now I feel like it's a huge weight off my shoulders. The past few weeks, all I could think was "MUST. FINISH. JACKET."

But I managed to get it into his hands... and on his lanky frame ;) I stood there adjusting everything as if he were getting ready to walk out on the catwalk, while everyone around us stared. I kept blathering on some mindless things about how I knew he's into old school military style and how I happen to be obsessed with it at the moment, and all this other stuff.

I don't know how many of you guys have ever met anyone even remotely famous... someone that you admire so much. You know how you sit there trying to memorize and nail down EXACTLY what you know you want to say to them? And then in the actual moment it all flies out the window?

This was my second time getting to meet him and I didn't get to say what I really, truly wanted to say.

I was SUPPOSED to tell him that I got the idea for this jacket when he mentioned how much he wanted the jacket that Chester Bennington wore in JulienK's video for "Kick the Bass".

I was SUPPOSED to show him the lining and tell him how it made me think of him when I first saw it at the fabric store.

I was SUPPOSED to look into his eyes and beg him to take care of himself on the road, and to not get too crazy...



But I don't even remember what it is that I DID say.

I think I told him he needs to stop getting his jackets from Newport News. And he replied with "Newport News is the shiz." And he laughed.

And as he walked off... he was still rocking my jacket.

This is probably the last you'll hear of it from me. I'm sure he's never ganna wear it again after tonight. But it'd be nice if he did.

If anything, this was all a learning experience. In trying to remain positive, I have to say that I'm at least *somewwhat* proud of what I accomplished. I set out to do a huge project with a special meaning on my own, and I did it. I am *that* much closer to reaching my goals of being a 'designer to the rockstars' (of sorts).

I mean this was a baby step, really. But a valuable learning experience nonetheless. I want to learn if my construction skills stand up to the test of touring. I kind of hope he puts this jacket to the test. So I can know how to improve on it for next time.

Oh yes, there *will* be a next time.









<3

All the things that you set aside.. all the friends that you leave behind (just so the curtain will rise). And it feels like the first time.

currently listening to: Kill Hannah - Mouth to Mouth (live version of the brand new track), New York City Speed (new version), Until There's Nothing Left of Us.

Presenting... Lazy Sunday: Pictures from my Crackberry Edition.

(yes, an idea taken from the Raccoon Society blogs...sue me.)

This has been the temperature reading inside my car for the past couple of weeks. (105F in case you can't see).

This shit is BANANAS!!!

"QUACK!"

I found the Goth section at the fabric store. For all my "dark visions". Yes.

Is it Taco Bell? or is it Pizza Hut?... it's both!! (can you believe I eat this garbage?)

Browsed this book at Half Price books the other day. It showed off the interior decorating choices of the world's most infamous maniacs, including everyone's favourites: Hitler and Hussein. Seriously. Not even joking here.

Received a postcard from my friend from when she visited the Cayman Islands last week. Apparantly the Devil goes to Stingray City.

The End... for this week. Hopefully I'll have more for next sunday!!



In other news:

-Today was exactly one year ago that I met one of my heroes.

-a coworker told me I'm "cute" when I sneeze. Should I be trying to sneeze more often??

-Shrimp tempura sweet rolls, warm and salted edamame, tempura veggies, and sweet milk tea with tapioca = best dinner ever.

-Shaved ice topped with sliced mango, ice cream and condensed milk = best dessert ever.

-September will be the best month of the year.


<3

EDIT: I just realized I used a line from the exact same song that I used to title my last post for this post. I've been listening to that album nonstop since then!! Whoo!!

Dying just to Survive: It feels like the first time.

Currently listening to: Kill Hannah - Until There's Nothing Left of Us





SO.

Lately I've been seeing a lot of these kinds of dresses everywhere: they're part tank top (on top) and then have a simple little skirt in a contrasting fabric attached at the bottom.

from Wet Seal:




From Urban Outfitters:




I thought to myself, "hey, those look pretty comfy and breezy and cute. But they're kinda boring... and not to mention pricey. (That first one from Urban is $88!!). Wait a second... all it is is a tank top with a cotton skirt attached... I bet I can make one!"

And so I did.

(Actually, I made two).







Total price: $0. I just used stuff I already had :)


I'm proud of them. I'm thankful that I'm at least somewhat able to be thrifty and crafty when I can't have the real thing.

IN YOUR FACE, OVERPRICED OUTFITTERS.

Eighty eight dollars. Don't make me laugh.






Thoughts and Opinions please!!!! Do you like the ones I made? Are they cuter than the store ones?? Shall I embellish them further?? What do you think?!?!?


<3

I want everything. I want to be perfect.

currently listening to: Innerpartysystem - self titled.


"For someone with grandiose dreams of shredding it onstage - but no real musical talent to speak of- the return of the band jacket is a godsend. Be it bright red, sequined, or DayGlo, the topper can make you look like a rock star... the jacket itself is reminiscent of military garb- no surprise, since early marching bands were associated with city-state armies, directing troops across the battlefield with various toots and honks. While modern incarnations of these bands still make use of martial traditions... the jacket has true rock'n'roll roots.

This is in large part thanks to the Beatles. It was 1967, and the Fab Four had commissioned famous theater costumiers Bermans & Nathans to make the coats featured on the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover. Withing days of that record's release, it seemed everyone on London's King's Road was covered in epaulets.



From there, the braided and buttoned combo went psychedelic (thanks, Jimi Hendrix)...



New Wave (here's to you, Adam Ant),



and pop (hello, Michael Jackson) **Ella's note: M.J. scares the crap out of me and I refuse to post a picture of him** :)

...before returning to it's rock core recently with appearances on the backs of Coldplay's Chris Martin and the Killers' Brandon Flowers (both courtesy of Dolce & Gabbana)".

ARTICLE: "FOLLOW THE LEADER" WRITTEN BY REBECCA WILLA DAVIS - NYLON MAGAZINE, JULY 2009 - THE MUSIC ISSUE.





OF COURSE... leave it to Nylon to leave out the most famous of these recent band jackets, yet:

Remember The Black Parade...???



Brandon Flowers and Chris Martin (or anyone else in the present day for that matter) didn't start wearing these kinds of jackets until AFTER Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance, appearing as The Black Parade, came onto the scene in 2006. He hired Colleen Atwood (the legendary costume designer behind Tim Burton movies including Sleepy Hollow and Sweeney Todd), to make him and his band black and gold marching band uniforms. Shortly thereafter, TrippNYC ripped off the look in a cheap way (like they always seem to do) and hawked it in Hot Topic.

And even more recently, Mat Devine of Kill Hannah wore a white military style jacket during the entire Hope for the Hopeless tour last year.





So where does Ella Anarchy come into all this? The other day, I realized I like layering vests over my tank dresses, and I saw a picture of a cool black denim vest, so seeing as how I don't own a black denim jacket (to cut the sleeves off of), I went thrifting for one. That's when the universe sent me this:



I mean SERIOUSLY. How Black Parade is this?!? The only problem however... was that even as cool as it is, it looked HELLA TACKY on me. Like, it had these gigantic shoulder pads, it weighed about ten pounds, and as much as I WANTED to like the fringe on the shoulders, I couldn't get past how "rodeo" it makes it look. So after careful deliberation and inner debating with myself, (and since I was unable to find another black denim jacket), I decided to attack it with my scissors.

I cut off the sleeves, removed the bulky shoulder pads... thought about leaving the fringe, but decided against it, and then suddenly got the idea to braid the strands into several little braids and turn them upwards. (Unfortunately, you can't see them very well in the picture unless you strain your eyes really closely at the shoulders). I took in the sides a little to give it shape, added my handmade medals, and VOILA.

Ella Anarchy's version of the band jacket for hot summer days:



Militaristic vests are just as cool as jackets. See??




What do YOU think? do you think I butchered an awesome jacket or is the vest cooler? Thoughts and opinions, pleaaaase :)

Find me never, never far gone. So get your leather leather leather on.

currently downloading/listening to: Recent Kill Hannah radio interview, Yeah Yeah Yeah's song "Zero", Nylon summer music playlist (lots of random stuffies I've never heard of so I'm excited).

I hadn't come across a good music video in a while until today. I saw the latest Yeah Yeah Yeah's video (how late am I on this?) for their song "Zero" and I couldn't tear my eyes away. It was adorable and fun and made me want to step into my television and dance on top of cars in Chinatown next to Karen O in that GORGEOUS studded leather jacket. I want that jacket very badly.



I tried to capture a good still of her from head to toe to show off the awesome turquoise vinyl dress and tights/leggings she's wearing but the best I could do was this:


Why is she so freaking cool?! And if you haven't seen the video yet, please do so. There's a cute part in which all three of them push each other around in shopping carts like little kids. So fun.

In other music news...

-I am still so elated about Gerard and Lindsey's new baby girl! (I made the mistake of thinking it was a boy at first, but then I was corrected... that NAME just threw me the hell off, though!) The latest in weird celeb names: "Hi my name is BANDIT." Haha. Whatever. It's kinda cool sounding when you get right down to it. Like a secret agent/superhero name. Rock it out, little lady, rock it out.

-I am very sad to report that it's officially official that Jonny Radtke will no longer play in Kill Hannah :( But he's moving on to different things and I know he's ganna rock it out no matter what he does because he has a tremendous amount of talent. I can't wait to see what he does. I wish him all the best and I will miss those gorgoeus blue eyes next time I see KH live!! I never got to meet him. But we'll see what happens. I still plan on getting him to model my clothes for me in the future... hear that, Radtke?!







I think he heard.

<3

Days.. I haven't seen days. Just solid water run down my face. Days. I've missed so many days in a world that has become an unfamiliar place...

Forgive me world, for I have missed too many days without posting. Wanna know what I've been busy with? Well, even if you don't, I'm about to tell you.

For my final project in class, I designed an eight piece collection of men and women's futuristic outfits that are a cross between Star Wars and Terminator... (or at least it seems that way to me).




I was a huuuuge Terminator 2 fan, back in the day. My family used to watch it all the time. It's really a brilliant piece of work. Very realistic and not at all corny or dumb. I don't remember the first Terminator as much, though, and I never saw the third one. But I'm thinking I kind of want to see the latest and final installment that opens later this month. Although I did read an article talking about how Christian Bale basically demanded an entire change of the script and stuff. Don't know if it's true, but if it is, and if he ruined it he's ganna pay. (I mean, jeez, a guy plays Batman ONE time and he gets a huge head).

Anyways, back to my project: all semester I had to concentrate and do various facets of the project on one fabric of my choice. I, being that I was/am obsessed with all things Marie Antoinette and since somebody had already chosen lace, I chose brocade. First part of the project was the history and 5 designers that are known for using it. Brocade originated in ancient China, is woven on a loom from both the top and the bottom, it's designs consist of metallic fibers, traveled to Europe via the silk road, and from Europe to the middle east through the crusades. Five designers that are known for using it from time to time (or at least once) are James Galanos, Christian Lacroix, Oscar de La Renta, John Galliano, and Azrael's Accomplice - (I had to throw that one in since it's more "me").

Second part: the one I found the hardest. Find and obtain at least 40 swatches of said fabric. Honestly, I screwed up big time on this part, and therefore stressed the hell out over it and had to turn it in late because I originally went about it all wrong. I went to a fabric store in chinatown, thinking I'd have the most success seeing as how they sold pretty much nothing BUT brocade, but the guy I dealt with was very mean and I was feeling very meek that day. Ugh. Lesson I learned? I have to be more aggressive if I'm going to be a successful business person. But I'll work on that...

Third part: Find pictures of 30 fashion uses of brocade, 30 interior uses of brocade, (both those parts so easy it hurts), and 30 INDUSTRIAL uses of brocade. This was kinda easy too if you just "relax your brain" as my teacher likes to say. I found pictures of fancy silverware, antique sword handles and pistols, kaleidoscope images.. all things that are made of metal, and engraved/embossed/etched with flowers and other designs typically seen in brocade fabrics.

Fourth and final part: The Industrial uses led up to this. I had to think of how brocade will possibly be used in the future. It didn't have to necassarily be a fashion use, but mine ended up being that, for the most part. In thinking of the engraved silverware and also of advancements in technology, I predict that in the future technology and "plastic" surgery will become so advanced, that humans will have finally perfected the construction of robots. And since human vanity and the endless pursuit of perfection will always exist in society, who's to say that instead of botox injections to stave off the ravages of age, humans simply won't just replace entire limbs with better functioning robotic ones??

And of course, they'll still wanna look fashionable. So why not make robotic limbs and body parts engraved with brocade designs? (Hey, I was instructed to think "outside the box"... if this isn't "outside the box", then I don't know WHAT is!!).






Whenever I hear the word "future" I immediately always think Star Wars, for some reason. And I'm not even that much of a star wars junkie/fan/nerd. But I do admire the costuming and whatnot. Very creative indeed. Anything goes in the future... because we haven't lived it yet, so who's to say that we WON'T all be wearing Princess Leia buns and long robes in the future??

I can totally picture Shiny Toy Guns wearing my designs:



Well, maybe with a few tweaks. Oh yeah, and this is an old picture of them. They have a new female singer. Speaking of which, it's taken my up till NOW to finally begin to like the latest Shinys album, Season of Poison, and now I can't stop listening to it. The title for this post today comes from the song "Blown Away". It's kind of sung in a sad way, but I felt it was kind of fitting seeing as how it HAS been days since I've posted a good entry here, haha. I also accidentally clicked on the song "Poison" when I was downloading these off iTunes, and I ended up liking my accidental download a lot more than my intentional ones. I kept listening to it all last night, while finishing up my robot fashion project. It has a very futuristic, interplanetary feel that only served to inspire my designing further. That's why I love music. It's how I manage to design my best creations.

On a ROBOT related note, after turning all this in and getting a grade today, I came home to find that my favourite goth/alternative model, Ulorin Vex, posted a blog entry about this recent photoshoot, in which she was styled as a half human/half robot:



Coincidence??

I think NOT.

It's kinda funny when I think about it: robots seem to always creep their way into my life in some way or another. I mean, LOOK AT THE HEADER AND NAME OF MY BLOG!! The picture is a still of Bjork's "All is full of Love" music video, and the name is from a Kill Hannah song: "Everyone is Robots with their heads Held on by Wires".

Another good futuristic robot movie: Artificial Intelligence, starring Haley Joel Osment and Jude Law. That is one SAD movie. But excellent. Watch if you already haven't.

Domo Aregato, Mister Roboto.

Congratulations to you if you made it through this entire entry! You get a cupcake!

:)