Confessions of a F-List Blogger

If Sean Santiago is a D-List Blogger, than inadverently I'm an F-List Blogger ---the one who doesn't get invited to NYFW. To even call himself D-List is completely humbling when this guy has great quality and consistency. But that does not the defer how bloggers calculate success, front row during Fashion Week.

Whatever, Fashion Week and A-List Bloggers. Being F-List is way better

1. You invite yourself to events.
You don't even have to check your mailbox for invites. There won't be any.

2. You can write whatever you want without public scorn.
Because you have no traffic

3. And the best for last! No expectations.
That for the most part explains itself

I'm a moderate F-List blogger in a way because I do get invited places and I do get good seating when I go.

So almost 2-months ago I was semi-invited to Uptown Fashion Week Closing Night Fashion Week. Based in Harlem, the closing night show took place in famous gay club, El Morroco. 

So me and my plus one went to our third ever red-carpet event.

Posing on the red carpet. There were proffessional photos but I can't seem to recover them. 

The show featured celebrity supermodel Diva Davana's collection. 

I found the collection surprisingly mature since the creator is only 12 years old.

Since I, myself, am not a designer it would be almost rude of me to call this collection bland (which it was) but since I am me, I will say it anyway. 

 The outfit Diva Davana wore herself was better than anything she put on the runway and she slayed all her models with her catwalk.  I have a video that I'll post later.

Next Echo Chic

I believe the focus was suppose to be on their jewelry.

I did like the choosing of fabrics. Light, fluttery, sensual.

The kimono aspired asethic was really nice. It worked well.

I swear I was more partial to the clothes than the actual jewelry. It just didnt strike me interesting enough. 

My 2nd most favorite line was an Eyewear line, sadly I didn't catch the name. 

It was so creative and out there! 

I appologize that my photos couldn't really capture the magnificence of the line.

They were soon followed by my favorite line of the night "Versailles". This line was the effort of Charles Dejuste. Hes a Haitian-American designer who has really inspired me artistically over the years. 

My favorite dress!! Its so beautiful in composition!!

How it looks from the back!

This segment was absolutely breathtaking!!

The show closed with a not-so-great segment. The clothes were okay but excessiveness of having the designer sing a crappy opera-pop song was less than amusing. 

I mean it was a good line.... I just was distracted... 

Overall it was a good night... Until we missed our train and ended up taking a train to another town and getting home at like 3am.  

Welp, remember to follow my instagram, twitter and tumblr for daily updates!!

Press Tea Bloggers in Wonderland Event

So you know I am expert of draining my youth away. You know 2 jobs, school, and full time blogger. I had a professor who once told me "Well I had 3 jobs in College, no excuse for you." Bitch, I'm a Visual Merchandiser and a Blogger, your college years ain't got shit on my life. Albeit you can imagine that I dropped that class.

Surprisingly, I do manage to have to have a social life. I mean when my manager is not blowing up my phone and I'm not working open to close in a damn mall, I do get out! Have a drink or two with a few friends, catch up and hang out once every other week. 

But believe it or not, I never managed to hang out with other bloggers. I mean, I do live in Small Town America, but I'm not far from the city and I do occasionally get invites to events (SHOCKERS!). 

Well a friend of mine is an active reader of  Lace and Combat Boots who with partnership with Press Tea, was hosting a blogger's event. 

Press Tea is a little tea shop which is like the tea version of Starbucks. Like omg their menu is amazing with so many drinks and deserts made from tea. 

I was a little hesitate about going because I'm not quite a fashion blogger (I failed at that soo long ago), I consider myself a lifestyle blogger who has a flare for fashion (like who niche blogs anymore anyway). But luckily, I had enough courage to go. 

You can see my nappy head standing in the back. I was probably the youngest and the tallest. I kind of felt awkward speaking at times because my shyness I got the better of me but I can't help but feel I met some really interesting people who had interesting stories (way more interesting than mines) 

I felt so under prepared too. I lost most of my makeup that day, my outfit was slightly ill fitted, and I decided not to wear a bra and just flaunt a bandeau (worst idea ever). 

While we mingled and talked about ranging topic such as travels, love life ans of course tea! 

We were extremely lucky to able to drink samples of their menu. My mother kinda ruined tea for me early on but I still some polite sips of the Caramel Teacuchinno. It amazed me how good it tasted. 

Our amazing barista, Allison just kept the drinks coming! 

The funny thing was when multiple bloggers shouted "Wait don't drink yet, we gotta snap pictures" 

Inception! 

And of course we ended the event with the classic shoe photo.  

Such a good event and Melanie made promises to do more events soon so that'll be cool to look forward to. 

My schedule is kinda full with Sakura Matsuri, A makeup launch event, a fashion show, and a dance show so please forgive me but my blog posts will be backlogged.

A Dream in Paris

                           

 

Call me stupid, silly, underachieving, flunky and unapologetic but all I really wanna do is drop out of college and start leading an exciting life.

 

                                

As I've said before, I was suppose to go to Japan. I was supposed to be smacked dabbed for Tokyo Fashion Week, #100Tokyo, #CoolJapan and be on a week long crazy adventure. 12 hours away, working through my entire spring break, only to take a few hours away to enjoy the pre-bloom of Japanese Cherry Blossoms.

 

                          

 

Welp, if you follow me on Instagram, you obviously know that didn't happen. 4 days before take off, my plans got canceled and hastily re-arranged. I got 2 working efforts that paid off somehow someway. I may not be a famous blogger but hell I know how to get places.

 

                       

One of the locations I went to was Paris, France. I went with lexss than a hundred bucks in pocket, a carry-on full of clothes, a hotel reservation, and a bit of crappy French and Creole.

 

 

                        

 

I can read French fluently but I can't really speak it. I kinda assumed that there would be a big Haitian population concentrated in one area. I found out from a random Haitian-French man on the train that no such things exist and unlike in New York, the Haitian population is spread out and their customs are often churned out. Luckily my creole is somewhat similar to the French of Cote-de-Ivory so I managed to get around only speaking Creole.

 

My mission was to attend a few shows, style-spot what Parisians wear, and overall get inspired by Parisans as a whole. I had only 3 days to make this opportunity into a grand scheme. I took a lot of inspiration from my favorite bloggers who had also made the trip. Primarily Yutaki and Michelle Phan.

                            

 

I had to make the best of what little money I had. No food could cost more than 3 euros and I avoided buying drinks in excess. Most meals costed around 10 euros. I tried to refrain from spending more than 4. Subways, Mcdonalds, and Crepe stands were the wave. Who cares if I missed out on authentic French cuisine, I wasn't on a pleasure trip  anyway.

 

I often had to think twice about eating.

Just note that their porta-potties are way better than ours.

                         

 

I honestly don't know why but I have a tendency to stick out everywhere I go. I got stopped everywhere I went. 

 

                                            

I got photographed several times.



People automatically assumed I was French too, in highly populated tourist areas. I don't know if that was common or not but I could sense a bit of annoyance accompanied by my broken French.

 

 

But one things was for certain, things did change after this trip. For one I can't stand people strolling in the city. Unlike in Manhattan, where people do take their time walking, Parisians walk extremely fast and their bags will hit you if you are in their way. A brief "pardon" and the zoom off. 

 

But more importantly, inspiration was drawn upon. For some reason I didn't find France very romantic like I did for Washington, DC. I found it ambitious and aesthetic. Fashion is different from the states and I was lucky to pack clothes that stood in a bit more. The French are proud in their oxfords, bright scarfs and simple silhouettes. Their silhouettes are flowy and portray a bit of fleeting freedom and yet personify their emotions. I was expecting them to wear a lot more black but instead they wore rustic colors and pastels.

 

And love was a matter of identity. Love was unspoken but can be seen. I saw a lot of different couples. I was in awe at the amount of bi-racial couple I saw and the amount of nannys stringing along a fleet of children. Love was personified in their art. Romance was found in their food. Everything showed the romance of the creation and their creator. 

                           

Still, Paris was not a romantic place  per say. Maybe if I was on a pleasure trip I would be saying something different but I didn't feel it. I felt more artistically inspired.

                   

 

What inspired me the most was the Jardin du Luxemburg. We skipped out on Versailles and took on this free alternative. 

                        

 

In France, spring had only just entered with some temps in the low 60s but Jardin du Luxemburg would make you think we were well into April. Flowers in full bloom everywhere, Kids running and playing meanwhile adults enjoyed their jog or conversation and a picnic. 

      

 

 This was the most romantic place I visited in all honestly. It was pure in unusual ways. It was obviously well taken care of.

                    

Now you must be asking. What will I do with this unkept creativity and what was the final product of my trip to France? Welp, you'll find out soon and I can basically totes that you will love it.

Adieu mes amis. S'il vous plaît aller me suivre sur  instagram, twitter, et tumblr pour mises à jour quotidiennes <3