Beautiful Bride

Look how pretty this wedding is! Rebecca was kind enough to send me photos of her wedding where she wore my daisy headband ~ It's so great to see my little creations out in the world, made so much more special by the beautiful people wearing them!

"too edgy"

Main Entry: edgy
Pronunciation: \ˈe-jē\
Function: adjective
Inflected Form(s): edg·i·er; edg·i·est
Date: 1775
having a bold, provocative, or unconventional quality

Image fromWhat What

This past Friday I was awake and shivering on 5th Ave in Manhattan at 6am. It was still dark, and the weather was cool and uncomfortably windy. I was standing in line for Henri Bendal's 'Open See', along with lots of other designers, in hopes of having my line perused and picked up by the very hip, very trendy store. I had hours to wait still, they didn't open the doors till 9am, so I made friends with my fellow line-mates.

There were 2 really sweet older ladies from New Hampshire that had crystal infused cologne, meant to instill the stones New Age properties in the wearer. I could smell their wares before I even spoke to them.

There was Willy, a cute girl studying fashion design at Parson's, who was representing her mother who lives in Montana and makes intricately beaded necklaces and cuffs.

And there were two blond girls, tiny little things, that looked like it was 3 in the afternoon with how perky and put together they were, smoking like chimneys in front of us... it took all my very depleted energy (up since 4am) not to yell at them.

There were lots more people, but I was exhausted, that was all I could really let into my scope at the time... so we waited, and waited, and waited...

Finally we were let into the building, and after waiting some more (with only slight satisfaction that the perky smokers had to wait with me, and this time they couldn't smoke. HA.), it was FINALLY my turn.

I met with the jewelry buyer, Ariane Burckhard, all of about 30 seconds. She told me that my things were "too edgy".

Great. Thanks. So glad I woke up at an ungodly hour, waited in that long line, froze in the wind, inhaled many packs of second hand smoke, to be told something I already know.

Well, at least it's official. And I can use it as a 'book review' style quote....

"Mary Jane Hunter...too edgy" - Henri Bendal

Sheena is a Punk Rocker

If you are a fashion lover like I am, chances are that you've heard about The Uniform Project. And if not, here is a darling little video that introduces you to the girls, their project, and why they are doing it.

The Uniform Project Trailer

I donated a fringy necklace to Sheena for her to rock , and look how cute she looks!!! Love her funky styling using the fringe and tatters. Thanks so much gals!

Epic Fashion Fail

I hardly watch television. I actually don't even own one. What I do watch, I catch online. And The Rachel Zoe Project is one of my guilty pleasures. I really love her style, chunky jewels, lots of 60's and 70's vintage, stylish boho glam.

So I was pretty excited to hear she was coming out with a line. I was a bit surprised to hear it was through QVC , because Rachel's personal style is super high end and nowhere near the QVC / middle America market, but some really cute things have come out of the H&M and Target designer collaborations, so I was excited to see how this line turned out too.

In a word? Ugh. Awful. Disappointing.

Rachel really sold out. And this is her very FIRST line. You should kind of wait until you've established yourself as a designer before you sell out. She basically designed to the QVC audience, and not to her own fashion savvy audience. Unoriginal designs coupled with poor quality materials and terrible colors equals an epic design fail. I was wondering what all the designers she uses to dress her clients would think about the conflict of interests this would create, but they can breathe easy knowing that they have no competition at all from Rachel Zoe's boring, cheap, uninspired line.






all images via QVC

Fall Tie Dye

before

after



Yesterday I went shopping for some basic leggings, and discovered very little variety available. There was onyx or coal or ink (aka black), with a gray pair here and there. I wasn't looking for gold lame or fuchsia suede, but maybe some patterns or textures in neutral colors wouldn't kill people to stock!

Anyway we needed some,(my daughter and I) so I got a few pairs in..... black. On the ride home I got the idea that I would tie dye a pair with bleach to add some spice to at least one...

Of course when I got home, I had no rubber bands OR bleach, but these minor details did not stop me, once I have an idea in my head I have to do it right away. So I tied the sections up with some string and used Clorox Clean Up spray in a bottle. The spray bottle turned out to be a stroke of genius, so easy to handle and kept most of the bleach off my hands. And simultaneously cleaned my bathtub which is where I did the work.

The pants came out great! I love the brown on black! I left the bleach on a bit long, maybe 5 minutes, but if you did it for less time it would be more subtle~ It's a great palette for the cooler months, and it was much cleaner and easier to accomplish than tie dye with colors. I'm going to be doing this with lots of things now!

~ Ensure your personal charm ~

I'm not really wild about cosmetics. I'm a lip gloss and sunscreen gal, and have no interest in fancy moisturizers and shampoos. But there is a product that I really love and use all the time. Chandrika soap. Made in India, it comes in a simple green paper box, and has a great paper insert in both English and Hindi (such a gorgeous script!) and states it will "Ensure your personal charm"! Besides having a kitchy lost in translation feeling, it smells soooooo good. It reminds me of a mix between an incense filled head shop and an earthy health food store~ Its made with pure vegetable oils and has no animal products in it, made in the Ayurvedic method. It's really great for oily skin, but can dry you out a bit if you're not so oily. And it costs 79 cents!

Chandrika means blissful moonlight. Here is the site.

The ingredients are :

Coconut Oil : it nourishes, moisturises and lightens your skin tan.
Wild Ginger : soothes the skin and helps prevent infections and rashes.
Lime Peel Oil : for a refreshing cooling effect and rich, penetrating lather with an astringent action.
Hydnocarpus Oil : helps prevent skin problems, rashes and outbreaks.
Orange Oil : tightens pores, helps prevent pimples and blackheads.
Patchouli and Sandalwood Oil : to cool, refresh and gently perfume your skin.

Trend Alert

I tend to fall heavily for a look in my own work when an design really strikes a cord, but its nice to see when my thoughts also end up reflecting what other people are feeling too~ a fashion critical mass.

I love the hard and soft duality of arrowheads. Meant for hunting, these violent and rigid stone points are so graceful and organic in nature and show the imperfect touch of man attempting to make their own life easier with tools~ I also love how people have taken the shape and made it a geometric design element~

Here are some things I'm seeing right now~

1. arrowhead brooch

2. arrowhead dress

4. arrowhead ring

5. arrowhead tattoo flash

6. arrowhead necklace

7. arrowhead belt