Realistic Chic

Recently I posted a look at decor trends for 2011. Erin, a lovely and stylish reader, messaged me asking where she could find one of the extremely cozy looking cable-knit throws to build on her monochromatic bed scheme. So here is a roundup of some of the more reasonably priced throws (since a cashmere one can get up to $600). The inspiration:




Be sure to take note of the fabric type. Acrylic means it will pill (just in case: pilling happens mainly in man-made fibers and looks like loose ends balling up on the fabric surface) and show stains profusely. 100% Cotton is best. Wool Cashmere is obviously very luxe, but at several hundred dollars on average, cotton is still your best bet. Also, depending on your comfort level with online shopping, most of these places have stores locally (except for Horchow and Amazon which are online only, and West Elm, which is in Toronto and all over the states) so you're bound to find something just by taking a drive. I would peek into Winners as well. Great deals there.

Haystack Rock.


I realized I never did post my pictures from our late-summer trip to Cannon Beach, Oregon, last year. I was thinking about the trip today because it was the last time I had to worry about sunburn, and the temperature here in Vancouver lately has been a balmy -2 celsius (plus windchill). Well, those photos will be up by Tuesday I promise, complete with a mini-tour of the most stunning little confection shoppe I've ever seen! Have a great weekend!

I'd like to take today's Fashion Friday - if you can call it 'fashion' - to address something that's been offending my eyes as of late. I'm looking at you, shoulder pads. Didn't you walk out circa 1988 when my mom finally retired that hot red polyester wrap-dress number - complete with the sequin appliqué along the bust and 3-inch thick patent-leather belt - to the back of the closet? Why, oh why are you venturing out into the world again? And on the neck-sides of some people I really thought knew better, no less.

These bleeping things are invading the award season this year at an alarming rate. This one is especially terrifying because you can actually SEE the pads. Looks like her tacky lace top is on its time of the month:
 Now, I'll admit this one isn't so bad. The flowy chiffon just gives the impression of shoulder pads, instead of Leighton actually being puffed up with them. Still though, I'd be weary of anything even remotely resembling SP's at this point:

Pads, you and I have never gotten along. I find you almost as detestable as bras under see-through tops or copious amounts of zippers used as a design embellishment. However, I advise you to heed this warning: keep up this rate of infection and you'll easily top my kill-list.

...all the Gatsbyness going on these days!

First, there's all the hype about the recently "discovered" NES game based on the book that you can play online here. In the game - which is more addictive than finger bowls of champagne - you play as Nick Carraway, the narrator of the novel, traversing New York from the Valley of Ashes to the West Egg. You must follow Gatsby, who's mesmerized by that annoying green light in the distance. The goombas and turtle-duck-things have been replaced with flappers, hobos, and pompous waiters who are so caught up in their hobo flapper waiting ways that they'll mow you down unless you fling your hat at them, Oddjob-style.
Loving that stunning 8-bit damask wallpaper.

But that's not all the Gatsby the entertainment world is bestowing upon us: there is a new film adaptation on the horizon (the old one was released almost 40 years ago and was only alright), directed by Baz Luhrman no less. Obviously that means the movie will be spectacular, especially since it stars Leo DiCaprio as the debonair Jay Gatsby and Tobey Maguire as an unassuming Carraway (he usually irritates me but I must admit he does fit this role). The only thing that seems a little off is that they're apparently shooting it in 3D. It's not Terminator or Avatar, or any Cameron-esque film that would benefit from such a format, so this makes me a little apprehensive.

Also, my Fitsgerald Penguin classics collection recently came in the mail. No one does cover art like Penguin. I should really say "no one does cover art like Coralie Bickford-Smith," but as of late, tomato-tomahto. They are simple black and white covers with a foil finish in gold, silver, and copper. My shelf now oozes nouveau riche (click the images to see bigger sizes):

LOVE.

Want gratuitously more Gatsby? Then click to go past the cut, ol' sport.

Delicate.

Hooray for extreme bouts of procrastination with school work! Doddling on the completion of yet another essay may seem loaferish and unproductive, but for me, it always results in the accomplishment of something else (such is the life of an eternal project person...so many started, so few finished). Case in point: my blog got a face-lift! I realized that I hadn't addressed the shoddy structure and overly-busy look of my blog since its debut over a year ago. Since I was procrastinating on posting here for so long (of course, that was when I was incredibly productive with essays), I missed Realistic Chic's one-year birthday by a long shot, and thus am just now making up for it.

After about 13 hours of nit-picking over script - because using a basic and therefore non-optimized template will inevitably result in aspects my OCD requires me to tweak - the look is complete. I've made my own social networking icons, category images, title header, and favicon (that little chair icon that shows up to the left of my blog address in the top bar). I got rid of a lot of the clutter I had piled up on the sides; although if you still wish to access links to the free online decor/lifestyle magazines I had previously listed on the left, you can now find them all by clicking the lovely little button that will take you to a page dedicated solely to them. Admittedly, the most challenging aspect was fiddling with the fonts to ensure they appear the same in all the major browsers (BIGGEST pain in the tuchas) and editing for proper link functionality after tinkering with all the script for said fonts and embedded images. I'm sure there are still some browsers out there that will see the page links just under my blog title as some horrid bolded out mutation of a sans-serif, but for the most part, it should be alright. Anyhow, if you want to know anything more about how to use the programs I've used, or info about fonts, tricks, or tweaks, just ask! I am more than happy to share my experience. Please let me know what you think of the new design in a comment below. Feedback is always highly appreciated!

One thing I learned:I am not cut out to write script more often than the very rare blogging instance. My mind is still thinking only in trues and falses. Beep.

Template generator used: Artisteer
Favicon generator: iconj
Image alterations and creations done in Adobe Photoshop CS4
Amount spent on new look: $0.00

She & Him - Don't Look Back from Merge Records on Vimeo.

One word: Gingham.

I know I did a whole spot on what colours and fashions to watch out for, but I figure trends for 2011 are so much more than mere colour. Here is what I think will hit the mark in interior decor and living for the year...


Let's start with a look at what's out:

- "Keep Calm and Carry On" or "For Like Ever" posters. In all their should-have-never-been-trendy-in-the-first-place varying colours and/or sayings. Of course, this falling out happens right when the phenom bursts at the seams, showing up as pencils, mugs, mini-books, notepads, and whatever other paraphernalia Chapters Indigo can get their hands on. Burn them. They were never cool anyways.
Also, particularly disturbing, I found a virtual Keep Calm t-shirt you can buy for real money on Second Life. The look of the model wearing said virtual shirt should be even more incentive to keep far away from this sad little fad:

- CFLs. They don't last nearly as long as promised (some of my 7-year guarantee bulbs have died after less than one year). And they can take forever to "warm up" when you first turn them on; this is especially annoying if you are only in the bathroom for a minute or so to do your business. Get LEDs instead. They're a bit pricey, but we're going to switch every bulb in our house once they come down a bit more in cost.

- Owning certain books just because they are well-known decor icons. I'm looking at you, Cabinet of Natural Curiosities and I Married Adventure (follow link for ungodly amount of photos featuring this book; yes, it's a good read, but that doesn't mean you need to shove a feather or flower in its pages and snap 940924967 pictures of it). God forbid you decorated your whole room around one of these books:

- Foo Dogs. I think I read this on an e-mag recently, so I know I'm not the only one. Everyone seems to have these little teal lion-dog-things. Retire them, along with whatever other design cliché you had squished in the middle:

What's in for 2011 and beyond:

- Nature inspired furniture. No longer will bringing the outside in be limited to nic-nacs and what you stuff into clear vases; from lamps to chairs to rugs to tables, having materials in their most raw form will be hugely popular. Ergonomic chair shapes popular in the early 2000's, but now made entirely out of sustainable materials like bamboo. Sheepskin rugs. Driftwood accents. Clay and leather too. This trend even has a name: Neo-primitive. Yeah. You heard me.

- Monochrome interiors. This one is not my thing, but layering varying shades of white/ivory/nude is getting big. This also plays into the nature vibe nicely. To pull this off, make sure your focus is on texture. Different looking fabrics and materials piled on top of or next to each other so that the contrast is most visible will be key to making this look work for home or fashion:

- Skeletal design. Looks like bare shelves in the kitchen instead of cupboard doors, chairs with carved wood backs instead of upholstery, and acrylic accessories. Anything that lends a light and airy feel to a space is welcomed. This is probably due in part to how our homes are, on average, much smaller than they were in any other decade. Clogged up looking tiny rooms are just not attractive:

- Books. Believe it or not, books are actually becoming a trend to decorate with. I mean, while this has always been the case, it is much more prevalent and even growing to be political in a way. Methinks the culprit is those ridiculous Kobos and other electronic readers. Those loyal to tangible literature in all its dust-jacket page-creased glory seem to have taken a moral stand against these new-fangled gadgets (my completely biased self included). It could be because us paperform-aficionados prefer to show off just how many books we've collected (albeit likely not all read). It could be because reading a glowing screen for five hours on a rainy day strains more on the eyes. But most likely, it is because we believe these e-readers are an insult to an art-form that deserves better. Books are art, whether some agree or not. Antiques must be treated delicately, and can even have hand-tipped drawings. They have texture. They look beautiful in photographs or in paintings. People treasure them and pass them along to younger generations as keep-sakes. Most of all, books, depending on the author and edition, appreciate in value. The only fate that awaits the digital imposter is the garbage dump. As I recently saw on a fellow English-undergrad's Twitter: "BOOKS DON'T DIE." Indeed.

- Tea. This pairs nicely with the book trend. Gourmet and specialty tea shops are opening up everywhere. The trendier parts of Vancouver (i.e. West End, Kitsilano, etc) have one every 10 blocks now. It's no Starbucks hysteria, but it's a start. Tea will be the new thing for the next 10 or so years as people realize the health benefits of green and herbal teas with much less of the milky fattiness of the espresso-based bevs at coffee shops (See? Told ya espresso is out). In every major mall there is now a loose-leaf tea store where you can choose from several dozen different types of teas and buy them by the gram. Gift shops have all but moved away from selling cutesy coffee mugs and are now promoting infusers, ceramic and glass teapots, funny shaped leaf strainers and lovely china sets. My two favourites right now is the classic masala chai (although no one makes this better than my fiancee's sister) and vanilla earl grey. Mmm.

- Vintage china. This is such a cute by-product of the tea fad. You simply can't even look at blogs that focus on pretty things nowadays without being bombarded with swirled handles, intricately painted cup basins, and coordinating but not matchy-matchy saucers. So. Friggin. Cute.

What design or fashion trends have you noticed? Which ones do you wish would just go away? C'mon you can tell me. This is a safe place.

One word: Home. I'll be going back to the island (to Victoria) for a brief time this weekend. It's my best friend's daughter's 4th birthday! Happy Bday Claire-bear!

Brace yourself... Anthropologie has started its own wedding website. Oh, if only I had another two to three large to blow on gorgeous party dresses, crystal headbands, and satin peep-toes. If only. What I love most:

How long till Christmas?