Hair How-To: THE TRIPLE TUCK PONY

If you can recall a previous post from a couple of months ago (a diy, in and of itself) you may remember me promising a little something....

I didn't think it would take so long to get to, however, but I am here to stick by my word--

Here's a how-to for a fancy little hair-do that only takes a few minutes!

1. Section your hair into three parts horizontally.  Keep the top layer a little on the heavy side and tie with an elastic as far back on your head as possible (it'll look weird when you "flip" it if it's on the top of your head!)

2. Once your parts are in order, we are going to take the flip!  Loosen your top section with your fingers, creating a gap right in front of your hair tie big enough for your ponytail to fit through.  This step is a little hard to explain but once you do it it's easy...you kinda just take your ponytail through the top of the hole you just created, and pull through.

You'll be rocking something like this!

 

3.  Move on to your next layer of hair, and created a gap like you did when you prepared for your first flip. 

4.  Instead of jumping on in with the second flip, take the ends of your first pony, give them a little twirl and slide then through the gap in your second section of hair.

5. Add your second flip!

6.  As imagined, repeat steps 4 & 5 with your third section of hair

And you're done!

* Of course,  you may want to consider small clear hair ties for your look, but heyyyy I'm lucky to have found 3 hair ties at all :)

* Try loosening your twists to hide the obviousness of the parts

* From my bracelet DIY post, you can see that the same idea works well with curled or wavy hair...this allows you to be even more messy when parting your hair...so I'm all about it

<3

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<3

FASHION: AN EXPERIMENT

As I’ve defined my idea of what “style” is many-a-time, the most encompassing and poignant way to identify style is to merely deem it as... AN EXPERIMENT.

Today we experiment with how to wear a sweater. Sounds really uneventful, right?

Sometimes experiments can go wrong, but sometimes you can cure your cold with a mixture of strange elixirs and home remedies that don't make sense.  Does fashion make sense? More often than not, no. So let's get to experimenting:

Today's blog post is inspired by a look (above) from Christophe Lemaire's Fall RTW collection seen in Paris just a couple of weeks ago.  I know there's huff-and-puff about the change of seasons in fashion-that the shows are merely projections of what will be happening come Fall (in this case).  Is it wrong to draw inspiration immediately?  I don't know, but I also do not care...today it is 40 degrees and I can wear fall-like things if I want.

One of my favorite ways to change up my wardrobe is figuring out new ways of wearing things I already have.  
A good example of such an idea that immediately comes to mind is the Alexander Wang Spring 14 RTW collection where regularly structured button-downs are only buttoned at the very top...creating a whole new thing--

I have a dress that I only ever wear backwards now.  And doing weird things like that excite me.

So, although my wardrobe is highly limited (as I still find my clothes living in three places) I couldn't get that look by Christophe Lemaire out of my mind.  I had to try it.  

Wanna see the results of my experiment

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A sweater as a scarf?

I CAN VIBE

There are many people out there that are "Scarf People"while I find myself in a mess of knots when I attempt to "rock a scarf."  The sweater-scarf may look a little silly when people figure out what you are doing....but they also know that you know that you just did that--you are wearing a damn sweater as a scarf...THEY BETTER RESPECT U

Most importantly, in the whole scheme of things is...you have a sweater with you if it gets too cold out :)

You bet I looked a mad fool when I was trying out different sweaters to "wear" but if you want to try the look yourself, it is going to take some trial and error.  This sweater is cropped and very bulky so it didn't look much like the inspiration, but I think it still worked.  The cool thing too is you can use the sleeves in different ways, leaving them loose to hang over your shoulders in front (v. preppy!) or tie them up for a more finished look.

...and maybe scarf people must just be hat people, too.  It makes sense now.

For kicks and giggles and the sake of experimenting, I decided to try out the sweater-scarf idea with a basic crewneck.  It doesn't look too stupid, ~~~only maybe just a little ~~~

What's the conclusion? That I'm here for your entertainment, per usual

--Alex

GETTIN' HANDSY (A DIY)

It's been a good while but I come to you today with something special....

A DIY

*claps* *hoots* *hollers*

A long long time ago (maybe a few months) I came across the most beautiful and simple and perfect hand accessory.  Sterling-silver plated and topping $250, I knew I would have to keep dreaming...but I also knew that I could probably make something quite similar.

HELLO, CAN YOU SAY, "BEAUTIFUL"?

So, of course, it took me that long long time to get to making my own version but at least I actually did!

Although I'm a city girl at the moment, I'm a country girl through and through (surprising to some, I know!)  My dad operates our small family farm and I grew up following him around everywhere...being his "go-fer" going to get him different tools around his shop while he worked on things.  (I loved this job and it took me a stupid amount of time before deciphering the fact he was not just calling me a cute little gopher :)  One thing my dad always had in the back of his pick-up truck, the front on his truck, in the shop, in the house---EVERYWHERE-- was something called baling wire.  I've referred to this type of wire around some people and in return received odd looks and suddenly reminded that, oh man, I am a farm girl.  Baling wire is something my dad always used around the farm to fix fence---to fix anything really--and is also used for electrical fencing in rotational grazing.  It's a very thick gage wire that my little tomboy hands could barely twist..and still have trouble bending today.  I knew this great little material would be perfect for replicating my dream accessory and lucky for me my dad packed me a small bundle of this magic wire in my toolkit...probably for more practical uses than this.

**for anyone looking to purchase baling wire I would look for something similar to this: 14G Galvanized Steel Wire (I think this is about the right thickness).  I don't imagine craft stores sell anything this thick so search for it at places like home improvement or farm supply stores.  It is sometimes called soft wire or you could ask for electrical fencing wire**

----ON TO THE HOW-TO ISH---

Materials:

- Baling wire (alot 1-1.5 ft of 14g wire)

- Needle-nose pliers

- Wire cutters (many needle-nose pliers will cut through wire, but baling wire is thick so it may be a little struggle)

- A hand (yours) (mine if you are making me a gift)

- Steel wool

- Jewelry File

1. Find the middle of your strip of wire and give it a slight bend into a "U," a little bigger than your middle finger.  This will be the part that will slide underneath your middle finger.

2. Take 1/2" of so of the tip of the "U" shape in your pliers and bend it so that it will lay more comfortably under your finger and across the back of your hand.

3.  Continue to try on the brace, do not move onto the next part of the bracelet until it feels even and right.

4. Run the two sides of your wire towards your wrist until you get near the wrist bone.  Straighten out your wire one last time then begin to form a bend outward on both sides to create the "bracelet" part of the hand brace.

5.  Form form form until your wires meet (or excess overlaps) in the middle of the inside wrist.

6. Cut off excess (maybe you should be wearing safety googles...idk)

7.  Run over the whole piece with steel wool, being careful to not change the shape you've worked so hard on!

8.  File the ends of the wire and finish with steel wool

9. GASP IN AWE

10. TRY THAT BAD BOY ON

11. WEAR IT EVERYWHERE

12. GRACIOUSLY ACCEPT THE SEA OF COMPLIMENTS W/ BIG SMILES

My next post will feature a tutorial on this hair-do (and a less messy version).

Until we meet again, xx