I post links: Midwest Fashion Week 2011 agenda is UP!

Hooray! It's that time again!

Agenda for Midwest Fashion Week: October 19-22, 2011!

October 19th, 2011
Event title: Home and Fashion Fusion-The Kick-Off for Midwest Fashion Week Location:SkyLine Club,
One America Square,
Indianapolis, IN 46282
Time: 5:30pm
Invitation only


October 20th, 2011
Event title: Empowerment Revealed: An ImageCube Naturally You Makeover Reveal presented by Midwest Fashion Week & MePower Events
Location: The Fashion Mall at Keystone,
8702 Keystone Crossing,
Indianapolis, IN 46240
Time: 5:30pm
Free to the Public
VIP Reception: $25


October 21st, 2011
Event title: “Taste of Fashion at Sensu”
Location: Sensu Restaurant and Nightclub
225 South Meridian Street,
Indianapolis, Indiana 46225
Time: 8:00pm
Price: $65


October 22nd, 2011
Event title: “Fashion is Empowerment”
Location: Corinthian Hall at Old National Centre
502 North New Jersey Street
Indianapolis, IN 46204
Time: 6:00pm
Price VIP: $65
Price regular: $35.00

More details at the MFW official Web site! Please take the time to support and check out this part of the Midwest scene! Talented designers from Indiana all the way to the Ukraine are represented in this year's line-up.

I do like this year's event title: Fashion Is Empowerment. I just may or may not have hatched an E-book idea over the weekend on a similar premise, so darned if that isn't a pleasant coincidence.

YES! YES! YES!

I'm going totally Herbal-Essences commercial over this post by Jeremiah Williams over at the Indianapolis Fashion Collective Blog.

A Fashion Revolution for the Men of Indianapolis? Yes, Please!

My good man, I could NOT agree with you more!

Excerpty goodness:

Unlike the ladies, most men often underestimate what style can do for them. There is a clear difference from just putting on a suit, and styling the suit to you. That difference could be getting the job or promotion, over someone else. Putting together your look before you go out, to a social event, could affect your networking connections or making that romantic connection. I went to my twitter followers, to see what they thought of style over just getting dressed, for men. One response, kind of summed it up perfectly. Grey Granite (@greygranite), a local music artist said, “ In 2011 you can judge a book by its cover – we have graphic designers and stylists and TV to ensure that you customize your look so that it will only take a split second for your audience to find you – and love you”.

So men of Indianapolis, let’s give people a reason to fall in love with you. The city has too much talent and passion, to let it get underestimated; JUST BECAUSE IT IS LOCATED IN THE MIDWEST.

*pumps fist* Let the revolution begin!

Ode to hats (a.k.a. Things Indy needs more of)

 OK, I started working on this post, and then the big hoop-dee-lah royal wedding happened today, so now I have even MORE fodder for my point: Click, die of sartorial glee.

Does Prince William's new mum-in-law know how to ROCK a hat, or what?

I've been on a massive hat kick lately. Buying, making, and decorating hats and fascinators has become my new pastime. I now have a gigantic wicker box and an oversized tote bag full of the things. You'd expect the wearing of these confections to be looked at somewhat strangely in Vincennes.

But in Indy? We're on the up-tick toward becoming quite the fashion-zone. And yet I barely even see enough fedoras! And besides, fedoras are EVERYWHERE now. Innovate, y'all! I hereby propose that we need to wear a lot more hats along the way.

My current passion is the bowler. Think of Sally Bowles, maybe Alex from A Clockwork Orange (one creepy fellow, but his sartorial wits were the ONE thing he had in the right place), oh, and this guy:

Oh, yes.

A fine affair, indeed. Rawr.

Give me one good reason why not. It's flattering, versatile for a range of ensembles from professional to flamboyant, and it can be decorated with a variety of colored bands, feathers, and such. Must HAVE one.\

I've already extolled the joys of a nice, big floppy straw hat in a previous post.

I also really like this new, steampunk-esque take on the classic tophat.

via Tom Banwell, available on Etsy. (this statement not endorsed by the hatmaker)

The tophat is such a classic. I've become enamored with the thought of creating all kinds of hatbands out of things not designed to be hatbands, ever since I saw this delightful picture:

Found via Antique_Dolly

I can't wait to get my own decorated hats, miniature-hats, and flower, feather, and lace fascinators onto people's heads. If you think you're not a hat-person, you probably just haven't found the right one(s) yet. Take care; it can become an addiction.

Kicking Ass with Kristen K.

It's another post from Jared! Hey everybody! So I sort've do this thing where I walk around Indianapolis looking for people that look cool or have a strong and apparent personal style to take pictures of for this very site! For about the past month, every person I've passed had a style that said "I am cold. I do not want pneumonia or hyperthermia." Which meant a serious lack of cool looking clothes, as most people were willing to wear anything so long as it was warm. Fortunately it's finally warmer out now and Indy's looking fashionable again.


On a recent walk around downtown I crossed paths with Kristen K, and boy was she just a bundle of surprises. She's totally someone I can point to in defense of myself never making assumptions. For example, I never would have guessed that she works for the Indiana State Health Department, specifically for the anti-smoking people. But, in her own words "I'm not a cigarette nazi or anything". Since we were on the circle and the Indiana State Health Department was nearby I'm guessing she was on her way to the office when we met. However, that's just her boring job; her cool job is teaching group kickboxing at Life Time Fitness in Castleton. See! I had a reason behind the naming of this post (besides alliteration).

Oh! and another thing I never would have guessed, is that she was listening to Black Sabbath when I stopped to talk to her. Yeah, that's right. Sabbath. This chick is METAL; and officially the most bad ass government official I know of (sorry former-governor Jesse Ventura). Seriously, check out that awesome barbed wire ring, how cool is that.

If you didn't notice, her sunglasses are a fantastic color. What color is that you ask? Well, it's the same sea foam green as a Fender Stratocaster guitar (seen here being played by guitar hero Harold Crick). Even her sunglasses are rock & roll! This chick kicks serious ass, and I mean that both figuratively and literally.

She showed me what I refer to as Booty Bling. However, having just met someone it is quite a curious procession of thoughts that occur when someone says "OH! Let me show you my butt necklace!", and then proceeds to dig around in their coat. I may have gotten a bit carried away with editing that one and making it all Victorian looking. You'd better click on that thumbnail to see the big version. I spent too much time editing that for you to not look at it. Plus it's cool looking! You know what, just click on all the pics, they all link to bigger versions.

Kristen's mom got her this bracelet as a present. She told me it had been beaten up over the years. I think it just makes it look more punk rock.

I finally got a shot of somebody for the site with the monument in the background. I like how you can see the curvature of the building and the monument from the lense of the camera. Pretty cool effect, like an unintentional fish-eyed lense.

Author, Photographer, Photo Editing: The Jared Wilcurt

Upcoming: Kiss of Fashion! This weekend!

The Fab Fashion Meetup 2.0! Get ready! (plus pics from the last one)

Family portrait, by David Van Deman

Well, I was still in the midst of some moving madness when the first Indiana Fashionista Meetup Luncheon went down. Now that it's sorted, it's already high time to be planning the next one!

Given that the costume-construction major at VU is a very time-intensive one, plus the fact I have TWO jobs right now, I'm gonna need help pulling off the next one. It's no sweat -- I will put together the brochure/flyer/promotional reading material decided upon, just like I did for the January 10 meetup. I will call for the reservation, unless things get RIDICULOUS. Basically, I'm still doing all the heavy lifting. I just need a pinch-hitter. And you'll get free publicity out of it, if you help out!

I just need basic help, like the MOST IMPORTANT question getting answered: Where should we all meet up? Indianapolis is a bit of a sizable place. I'd like to have a place with better parking than the cafe' in Bloomington, as I got a few complaints on parking. Taking this into consideration, what sounds good? Tentative ideas include Scotty's Brewhouse, Bella Vita, PF Changs (downtown or northside location), or a sushi/hibachi place. It's VERY important that I get your feedback early on, Indiana fashion-freaks!

Now for tentative date. A February meetup is nearly impossible given how busy-as-heck I'm going to be. The last weekend in February may work; I also have spring break starting March 5 and going through that week. I assume a Saturday meetup is preferable. So. February 26, March 5, and March 12 are the dates presently on the table. Please give me feedback here in a comment, on the Circle City Style Facebook page, or via Twitter. I will be putting up an EventBrite page as soon as I have an idea of which of these 3 dates is best.

As a digression, The play I'm doing costumes for, "Days Without End," opens at the Red Skelton Center at VU on February 17, and my attendance is mandatory. SO, if you'd like to see me on that weekend, you know where I'll be. It's a good play, albeit depressing, and we're working some FANTASTIC 1930's period costuming, so you may deem it worth the trip to come see.

I will also need someone to act as co-host/hostess, which basically just means you help by acting as greeter if I end up running late on the drive to Indy. And, your site's address (and logo, if applicable) gets featured on the front of this event's brochure. Not too shabby!

The first Meetup went off better than I could have ever imagined, and I'm way thankful for everyone who made that possible. Hope you can come out to this next one. The best chance for that is to have advance notice and a hand in the final date chosen.

At this time, I'd like to thank all the attendees at the January 10 meeting:

• Julia Rutland, Aesthetic Design Style
• Janelle Cissel, Ruby Leonne
• Jessica Quirk, What I Wore
• Michael Trace, Michael Trace Photography
• Kaitlin Elyse, T. Party Clothing and Fashion Wrap Up
• Crystal Hammond, Dressed Her Days Vintage
• Emily Lytle-Painter, Dressed Her Days Vintage and Indianapolis Museum of Art
• Freelance fashion writer Erica Sagon
• Christy Pastore, Fashion Wrap Up
• Truen James, House of Fifth and Indianapolis Fashion Collective
• Chelsea Kouns, model for Fashion Wrap Up
• Photographer David Van Deman

Christy, Kaitlin, Jessica

Me with Jessica

Julia, Jessica, Erica

Kaitlin and Christy

An artsy shot of Truen

Janelle

Emily and David. Um, Emily, you're posing the wrong way :p

Table-shot by the very talented David Van Deman

Further writeups at: Ruby Leonne, The IMA official blog, DHD Vintage, and Aesthetic Design Style.

You are all so beautiful! Here's hoping for a bigger, better next Meetup!

What a NICE writeup on the IMA blog!

Emily from the Indianapolis Museum of Art  has done a nice little writeup on the growing Indiana fashion scene, and its respective stylists, bloggers, and such. She made it out to the first Indiana Fashionista Meetup, and Circle City Style TOTALLY gets a mention in this story. Check it out for nearby fashion resources and community members you might not have known before!

Viva Indianapolis Fashion!

Quickie: Elegy

Courtesy of http://indydarkbeat.com/

I'm excited about this, because usually goth/industrial events in Indianapolis are 21 and up. Rejoice, my dear younguns! Now you get to join in on the fun!

Cover is only $3, plus a $1 membership fee if you've never been to the Dojo before. Xitng the Systm ALONE is worth twice that. I'm going to make an appearance, and then I might head to the Melody for Neon Love Life.

The 2011 Celebration!

So, I've been playing catch-up a bit since the move. The outfall of that is, I didn't actually get this happy little New Year's photoset together until... erm... halfway into January. *blush* I had to post it anyway, because it was just the best New Year's celebration in a long time. Hope was palpable in the air again, for the first time in a long time. 2010 was NOT a fabulous year for a lot of people, and neither was 2009. But for some reason, it seemed like everyone in the room, no matter what the party I showed up at, felt like we've finally turned the corner, and that 2011 is going to ROCK.

So, go ahead and re-enjoy the festivities in the collage below. As always, clickety to embiggety. (And yes, that IS a guy in a leopard loincloth. Best not to ask.)

Happy New Year from Circle City Style!

To The Fairest

This is Megan. She is so intimidatingly pretty, it took me months to even say hello to her. We have hung out at Revenge and other goth-type gatherings in the Indianapolis area for pretty much the whole time I've lived there. Yeah, I'm a wimp. But she's just got this older-than-her-years stare that goes right through you. And her hair is perfect. And she's built like a model, and she always dresses impeccably. I finally mustered the guts to say hi and ask for some pictures. She's nice as can be! Now, I feel a little silly for waiting so long.

She got the dress at Forever 21. Also, Tru is either very dusty or haunted, because I ALWAYS get orbs when I shoot there. It's ridiculous. Yeah, I'm leaning toward dusty. Stupid dust-orbs and their clamoring to get onto my blog!

Purse = the BOMB.

 Here she is a few weeks ago, with DJ Jin-XS. Why this woman is not a famous alt model, I will never know.

ATTENTION: Indiana Fashionista Meetup Luncheon is on!

It's Circle City Style's first major event!

Hide yo' kids, hide yo' wives... Just kidding! Dress your best and come on out, the lot of you! I decided it would be a great idea to bring some of the brightest fashion-minds in the state together for an afternoon of tasty food, decent music, shop-talk, and whatever else y'all come up with!

Date: Saturday, January 8
Time: 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Place: Cafe Django, Bloomington IN
Facebook Invite here.
EventBright invite here. (With ever-so-helpful Mapquest action!)

You can print out your ticket and keep it for your scrapbook, if you want. The EventBrite page is just the best way I've found to track RSVP's. Nobody's going to kick you out if you don't present a ticket; just let the Cafe Django host/hostess know you're here with the Circle City Style group!

Psst! Check out the menu at http://cafedjango.us. Everyone who attends gets a tea or coffee -- free for you, because it's getting put on Leah's tab!

PLZ RSVP!

Bring yo' camera! Bring yo' cards! Sure, we're going to socialize and have a great time -- but do please recognize a networking opportunity when you see one!

Can't wait to meet y'all! Please pass on the word to your fellow fashion-fanatics. All who have an interest in the southern Indiana/central Indiana/Midwest fashion scene are welcome!

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