back from break

I just returned from a beautiful and relaxing week in Sayulita, Mexico, a tiny fishing village on the Pacific with great surfing, friendly people, beautiful little art galleries, and (of course) delicious food.

It looks like Spring arrived while I was away! I will be posting about my excitement about spring 2010 fashions soon... I'm already thinking about my next vacation...

gaga and beyonce together at last

{Image: LadyGaga.com}

Finally the much delayed Gaga and Beyonce video Telephone premiered tonight!

You can watch it at E!Online:

Lady Gaga & Beyonce "Telephone"

I'm excited to hear what the world thinks of this melding of the two hottest ladies in pop culture...there are bound to be many lovers and haters because we know these women do nothing but total extremes. Highlights from the video include seeing Gaga's real costumeless body in a black bikini, smoking cigarette sunglasses, a telephone-shaped hairpiece, and Beyonce releasing her seriously psycho Gaga side.

NY Magazine already has an article about "The Ten Best Things About Lady Gaga and Beyonce's Video."

{Image: LadyGaga.com}

Although I love everything with Gaga and everything Beyonce so the combination is overhwelmingly awesome, I have to admit that I still like the Bad Romance video better. I think it's because of the creepy hand movements, full head-to-toe Alexander McQueen ensemble complete with armadillo shoes, longer choreography segments (I really just want to see more dancing always), and disturbing oversized anime eyes. Perhaps I will do a Ten Best Things About Bad Romance...

I love being one of Gaga's little monsters...

Related Articles...

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• admitting my love for lady gaga
  

good night mcqueen

{Image: Style.com}

A beautiful article about Alexander McQueen's last show by The New Yorker's Judith Thurman:

"Like the ingenious castaway he resembled, McQueen could fashion a masterpiece of couture from the skins of creatures who had died or moulted on his beach; from the the leaves, plumage, reeds, fungus, and fur that he scavenged in his jungle; and from dreams of a lost world. His senses were attuned both to the beauty and the menace around him. A dress, he proved, can be a talisman of sex and death; a paradox of confinement and escape; a hybrid of nature and artifice; or the sheath for the body of a mutant species." (Judith Thurman, The New Yorker, 3/10/10)

You can read the entire short article online at McQueen's Final Show on NewYorker.com.

A slideshow of the 16 final looks:

Fall 2010 Ready-To-Wear Alexander McQueen

Beauty and darkness.

jean paul gaultier for target

{Jean Paul Gaultier for Target Halter Dress $59.99}

Did anyone else check out the Jean Paul Gaultier for Target collection yet?

I was probably the only person in Menlo Park who was so excited about this capsule collection release that I rushed to the nearest Target in Atherton on opening day. I remember living in New York and rushing to the Flatbush Target only to find that everything had been picked over only hours after the release...not surprisingly Atherton Target did not have any JPG fans knocking down their doors.

{Jean Paul Gaultier Organza Lapel Stretch Crepe Jacket $2,150}

The collection was fully stocked, but also fully disappointing (sad face). I'm never really sure what I'm even expecting when I rush to these releases, but just the idea of hanging an item in my closet that had a Jean Paul Gaultier tag on it got me thoroughly excited.

Although I prefer the designer's high-end funky jackets and wool crepe dresses to the colorful Jean Paul Gaultier Fuzzi line, I was secretly hoping that these Target pieces would be affordably priced reproductions of the mesh tanks and dresses that he produces for Fuzzi every year. Come on...none of us really think that anyone should pay $385 for a Fuzzi mesh tank...it seems like something we should get for $9.99 at Target! But alas, these secret dreams did not become realities.

{Jean Paul Gaultier Fuzzi Ruffle Neck Top $565}

The Jean Paul Gaultier for Target collection had lots of strange slip dresses in colorful polyester polka dot patterns that just didn't look like they would be flattering to any figure (think a tight lingerie top with a flared skirt...strange). The collection did not seem cohesive at all with a mixture of nautical stripes, Ed Hardy-esque prints, and bright wallpaper-inspired florals. There was a fun mustard yellow nylon halter dress, but I just couldn't figure out where I would ever wear it.

After trying on everything in the collection I did come home with my attempt at the Fuzzi piece that I had been searching for...a colorful tattoo print mesh long sleeve tee that I figure I can layer under a long blazer (it's the one worn under the mustard dress in the photo...a combination I would never suggest).

Liberty of London in 4 days...perhaps I will be more pleased this time...I don't want to drive all the way to Atherton for disappointment!

UPDATE: In response to questions about the tattoo print mesh top, it's $26.99 and only available at Target stores.

my oscars best dressed pick

{Image: Just Jared}

Rachel McAdams...really there are just no other competitors right now. If you have read and seen The Time Traveler's Wife (and cried your eyes out through both) then you will know exactly what I'm talking about.

Rachel's Elie Saab Haute Couture gown was absolutely over-the-top gorgeous!! I love the grayish watercolored pattern of the fabric and the woven fitted bodice. This was easily my Best Dressed pick for Oscars 2010.

I don't even need to do a Best Dressed List because for me this dress just topped them all.

an end and a new beginning

{no more stalking the internet for new sunglasses trends}

What a strange coincidence....

One week after I submitted my resignation letter to my editor at Splendicity and Blisstree I received a form letter from the CEO of b5media informing me that I had been laid off. I thought it was just a formality related to my resignation, but now I have found that the entire writing staff of Splendicity received the exact same letter. The CEO fired all of the writers, closed Splendicity.com completely, and started a new website with new writers. Wow. Heartless.

Now that I'm no longer obligated to write 2-3 posts daily on specific topics, I find that I have re-gained excitement towards fashion blogging and will be starting to post on Hello Kelli again!

I realize that Hello Kelli floundered a bit after I left New York because I no longer had the access to the fashion forward models prancing in front of my office and the lunch hour trips to Nolita boutiques...but now after living in Northern California for six months I'm adjusting to new ways to fit fashion and shopping into my life. And they are probably much more similar to the way that the rest of the world experiences fashion and shopping!

So Hello Kelli is back because I still have so many thoughts and observations about fashion and shopping that I really must share (not a coincidence that this occurred directly after the Oscars red carpet!). I will continue my focus on affordable shopping mixed with high fashion inspirations and will probably include more "top picks" and personal thoughts than before. Maybe I will even get a fancy camera and include photos....or re-design my home page...or feature guest blog posts from my former Splendicity sisters...endless possibilities!

I'm excited to start sharing my fashion ideas again! Oh yes...and now I Tweet !