[trendscending lookbook.nu]

Hi all,

After a long hiatus from fashion and writing, I'm back! I managed to weasel myself onto the very fashionable lookbook full of young girls with an inordinate amount of cash to spend on vintage brands and time to spend photographing themselves in interesting locations on the daily.

This was a personal favor for a friend at Santa Clara University, Natalie Lemas, who will soon be starting up her non-profit, selling Chullo hats. The goal is to create a business structure for Peruvian weavers to sell hats and the proceeds will be donated to Peruvian education. We want to start spreading around the popularity of the hats to get the ball rolling. :)

Thanks to Lawrence Ha (http://www.lthphotography.com) who generously donated his time to a great photoshoot out in glamorous Livermoore.

This is the kind of fashion I've been most interested in. Meaningful fashion. But this is not the case for many fashionistas, as I learned from the Cruella Deville of the Academy of Art, San Francisco. (aka the director of the masters program in fashion and marketing.)

Up to that point, I'd been doing intense searching to try and find a balance between my desire to create change and impact in this world and also my love for fashion. My happy medium was some semblance of bringing fashion, couture, art to the masses. I sat, sweating bullets into her black leather chair, as she proceeded to turn each of my questions around on me.

"Well what does it take to be successful in ANY job?....What makes fashion right for anyone?" and finally she got down to it...

"Why are you here?"

I muttered some uneloquent response about how fashion is art. How couture designers and their elite clientelle appreciate it but others are often slaves to trends. There is not a sense of creativity and ownership over their style. I'd like to create a movement which brings a culture of couture and art to the masses.

"You think a lot."

A compliment...?

"If I thought half as much as you did, I would get nowhere. You are not a designer. In fashion merchandising it's always go go go. Not think. Not stop. If something doesn't work out, another opportunity will come along! You are always moving. You can never get sick. You never slow down and you never stop to think. "

So there it was. I slid my sticky self off her leather chair and left her, and fashion forever.

- - -

A few years later, Target started selling clothing from up and coming couture designers at their store, H&M started selling Cavalli and Jimmy Choo. Toms came out with a buy one, give one program. Vera Wang sold a line at Kohl's. All to bring couture and meaning to the masses.

So eat that, Cruella.