My Summer Style Inspiration

NOTE: I actually wrote this a couple years ago and never posted it. It's been sitting as a draft. I thought it would be cool to post it since the 70's/biker look came through in full swing. 

We all know that I have many sides to my fashion style. I'm rocker, 1940s, a little 1989 and then there's the side that reminds me of my parents. This is the side of me that is coming through and inspiring my wardrobe for the summer.

My mom grew up in Southern California during the late 60s and early 70s. She met my long haired biker father at a local bar on Hwy 33, he had just moved out from Chicago. Together they looked like a beautiful version of a David Mann painting. My father built and rode motorcycles, my mom was a model and aspiring nurse. They were the perfect image of bell bottoms, cotton dresses, leather jackets, turquoise jewelry, straw hats and bandannas. Hahaha!

This summer it's a 70's summer for me. Short and long peasant dresses, bell bottom jeans, tank tops, leather jackets, platforms, long straight hair, false lashes.

Thinking about the 70's it always reminds me of my parents and the stories my mom told of trips to the mountains, Bike runs, bbq's and lots of Creedence and Fleetwood Mac.

Anyway...now that you've been down MY memory lane, here are a few pics that have inspired my summer look.

Sorry No Updates

So sorry for giving up on this blog. Since I started my magazine, all my writing time has gone toward that, but never say never...I may be back to update once in awhile.

See you soon!

PISTOL Magazine

Well, after many months of working on my first issue of PISTOL Magazine, it's finally here! It's long over due and was so much more work than I thought it was going to be. Despite all the very long hours, it was well worth it. Fortunately I had the help of some great friends and the support of soooo many others. I'm so very proud of how it came out and I can't wait for everyone to see the next issue because it's only going to get better.

I'd like to introduce our Spring issue! Our cover feature is on photographer Dangerously Dolly. I have LOVED her work since I first saw it and knew I had to have her in my magazine. I pretty much stalked her by email and Facebook until I finally was able to contact her. I was ecstatic when she said she would be interested in a feature with us. We so look forward to having more of her work in future issues.

For our fashion department we have the clothing line Deadly Dames by Micheline Pitt, a small division of Pinup Girl Clothing. Unfortunately I really haven't the money right now to spend over a hundred dollars on a dress, but if I DID, I would have to grab a few from Deadly Dames! I love is her use of bright pink and black & white stripes and her skull brooches are super cute and removable. The best part about Deadly Dames is that they are great for girls with big boobs and a curvy ass. Everyone knows how difficult it is to find vintage clothing that fits anyone over a size 4, so there ya go!

I have included a separate fashion spread, being a fashion stylist, I wanted to publish clothing and photos that I love! I'm a huge Marie Antoinette fan and I loved having the opportunity to direct a modern take on that era. My long time friend and fabulous fashion photographer, Stephanie Farr collaborated with me and we put together a brilliant team for this shoot. I was super happy to have the opportunity to work with Jessica Lee (model), not only is she beautiful, but she's a fucking doll!

Our artist feature is (in my opinion) one of the most brilliant contemporary artists of her time, Sylvia Ji. She has started such a rage with her beautiful women representing ethnic folklore. If you see a t-shirt or a tattoo of a woman with a Dia de los Muertos face painting, it was most likely inspired be Sylvia's work.

Tattoo artist Manuel Valenzuela is a friend that I felt would be perfect for our feature because not only is he a great artist, but he is currently expanding his shop (in Port Huemene, CA) and adding on an art gallery. He was also asked to design the poster art for this years London Tattoo Convention. It's a pleasure to hear that people I know are being recognized for their hard work and it's paying off!

My friend and now Managing Editor is the former singer for the Formaldabrides and Trailer Queen. She is also the music department head. She chose to do two articles this issue. One is on Charley Horse and the other is Swamp Angel. I think you all will appreciate the articles, because they are fucking awesome! Enough said! ha ha!

Initially the magazine was focused on women, but I decided if it was going to be a custom culture lifestyle magazine, part of that is men and how could men enjoy the magazine with out hot rods and motorcycles? My bf and photo editor, Matt Rascoe, chose an unbelievable car to shoot, one that came with a fabulous story attached. Not knowing Ian Berky, I figured he was going to be just another gear head that would talk shop with Matt the whole time and I would be left glaring at my notepad. Totally not like that at all. We had a blast hanging out with him and his wife and are glad to now call them friends.

Finally, Alisha landed an interview with the guys from Rescue Ink. I have to mention that I am an animal rights advocate and a vegetarian, but not one that feels they need to force their beliefs on others. I do openly share my beliefs if asked and if given the forum. With this magazine I find it's the perfect opportunity to remind people about animal advocacy, the environment, and so forth (in small doses). So needless to say we were beside ourselves to interview these guys that are doing such wonderful things to help animals and people as well.

So to sum it up, I hope you like it, buy it, collect it, pass it on, or recycle it! Thanks!!

Visit our website at http://www.pistol-magazine.com/ and click the BUY button and it will direct you to where you can see and buy.

Professional Hair Color at Sephora

Since a Sephora opened in my town, I have become addicted! I have actually stopped buying M.A.C and moved onto Nars and Makeup Forever. I love them so much!!! I also noticed that they are carrying, the hard to find, Bumble & Bumble line. I love their colored dry shampoo, it's a fabulous root lifter (you don't have to blow dry) and the color covers roots!

So today I noticed that they are now carrying a professional hair color line called Couture Colour! I don't do anything spectacular with my color, I'm either medium brown, dark brown, or black. I don't feel the need to spend excessive amounts of money on coloring my hair, unless I plan on doing something technical. Sorry pro's, but it's true, I'm on a very tight budget. I also do my own mani/pedi's.

We all know drugstore color is crappy, but as of late, it is super crappy! I have dyed my hair black and even blue black and within 3 months or so, my hair is back to brown. This permanent color just washes out! It really bums me out! So maybe I'll give Couture Colour a try.

Here is what Sephora has to say about the product:

"With innovative formulas, professional-grade tools, and the guiding expertise of renowned colorist Johnathan Gale, COUTURE COLOUR gives you everything you need to achieve healthy, beautifully colored hair on your own. Known for his work in films, on editorial photo shoots, and with celebrity clients, Gale knows the importance of coloring hair without causing damage. Therefore, the brilliant brand created gentle, ammonia-free formulas that allow color to penetrate without leaving strands dry or brittle. Rich in antioxidants from Brazilian-found Pequi oil, the collection ensures your hair maintains its healthy color and radiance, while enriching it with unbeatable shine and luster between colorings. COUTURE COLOUR works to make your hair look and feel professionally done—from your own home. "

The line is 9 colors that individually contain: 2.5 oz Luminous Colour Crème, 0.3 oz Pequi Glossing Serum , 2.5 oz Luminous Developer Crème, 0.5 oz (1-month supply) Couture Colour Pequi Oil Treatment, Salon Brush, Gloves and Expert Instructions and Tips ($30). They also offer a Professional Colourist Tools 6 Piece Accessory Kit ($20) and a Water Purification System with Handheld Massage Wand ($120)!

I think I'll give it a try and let you know what I think. If YOU try it, please let us know what your opinion is and maybe even send before and after photos!!!

Until next time!

M.I.A.

Yes, I have been Missing In Action, but I have a really good reason...I'm in the very early stages of starting my magazine.

I knew this was going to be a lot of work, for one person to get off the ground, and it totally has been. I know though that it will be worth every minute of it. All of my years doing fashion styling for editorial has been very fulfilling, but extremely difficult due to life and money. I loved every minute of it, but alas, there is only ONE Rachel Zoe.

My life has always revolved around magazines since as far back as I can remember. As a little girl believing I was going to live as a forest ranger in Yellowstone National Park, I had a subscription to Ranger Rick and Highlights. As I got older I became very involved in fashion and in my mothers Vogue, Elle and Harper's Bazaar subscriptions. The rocker girl hit me with puberty and after receiving my own subscriptions to my favorite fashion magazines, I also received Metal Edge, Rip, and Circus.

In a nut shell, I am one of those people out there that has ink running through my veins. Logically the next step in my life is to start my very own magazine that just oozes everything I am about.

Below is the link to the early stages of my website, but I hope you will follow and eventually add my magazine to the list of the others you look forward to receiving each month (or in this case 4 times a year). I will keep you posted, and try my damnedest not to let my blog fall into the shadows. Until next time!

www.pistol-magazine.com

The Girl Code

HELLO! No, I didn’t fall off the face of the earth. Life has bent me over and sodomized me repeatedly, not fabulous when you are an unwilling participant, if you catch my drift. So I haven’t exactly found myself in much of a writing mood lately, my apologies!

I’m here to tell you about a silly book I heard about, and just ordered. It’s not directly about fashion, but it does contain a little fashion bit in there. The book is called, The Girl Code: The Secret Language of Single Women (On Dating, Sex, Shopping, and Honor Among Girlfriends) by Diane Farr. I have recently found myself single again, and after all these years, “The Girl Code” is emblazoned on my brain. There are so many women out there that don’t have a conscious and are out for themselves. They don’t have any appreciation for the real friendship one should have with girlfriends. I’m positive you have run across a few and know exactly what I’m talking about.

Some women think they know the girl code; some simply don’t give a shit. If you are a female and you find that you have at least a handful of girlfriends that have been around since high school/college and you have never had a fight over a man or even a dress…you all know The Girl Code and you live by it. If a majority of your friends are guys (with the exception of the girl you met at work a year ago that never hangs out) you need to run out and buy the book, download it, Kindle the damn thing and learn it inside and out!

It really baffles me how some women can be “fine” without really deep female friendships. There is no way in hell that I would be the woman I am today without the support and advice I have gotten from my dearest friends.

So here is about the book, I think I’ll do a Part 2 with the "Girl Code" my friends and I live by. Anyway…the Table of Contents and an excerpt from the book.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

How Do You Know a Single Girl's Home When You See One? 9

Introduction: Get On Your Broom and Go 11

I. Speaking in Code
Titles 20
Types of Dates 29
Stages 38
Long-Distance Operators 47
Seasonal Lovers 56
Before, During, and After 65
Hairy Situations 72
Fighting 78
Gifts 86
When the Fat Lady Sings 95
II. The Code of Behavior and Ethics
Girls' Night Out 106
Making Your Move 114
First Date Forget-Me-Nots 121
Rules of the Wild 128
Shopping at the Mall 133
Wedding Party Politics 139
Lines to Never Cross 145
Tests 153
Kinds of Love 158
Chick Tricks 164
III. The Boy Code
What They Say 170
What They Do 178
IV. The Mother Code
The Top Five Laws of The Girl Code 188

In Closing: One Sentence of Advice 192

AN EXCERPT

I. Speaking In Code

You know those little disclaimers on the sides of cigarettes and alcohol? Well, if your next date came with a warning label, it would contain the following information down the side of his leg. This is the common language of girlfriends who've been there.

Titles: "We don't see things as they are,we see them as we are."- Anaïs Nin

THE BOY: If you change suitors so fast that they rarely achieve name status, a man must be around for at least six weeks before you make your friends bother to learn his first name. Until such time, he should be referred to by this generic title.

For Women Who: Need to explain to numerous people what's going on in their love life, are between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one or over twenty-seven, have overbearing mothers and aunts in their life, have called off more than one engagement.

As a Modifier: "It's been two months now; I think the boy has reached name status: his name is Dick, and I'm pretty sure he isn't one."

MR. RIGHT NOW: This is the guy friend of yours who doesn't have a real job, and is always ready and available when you want to party till dawn, and do things you wish you didn't remember in the morning. He's not "Mr. Right," but he may be good enough to be "Mr. Right Now."

When to Retire Him: Immediately after college,when you're not so afraid of a real man,When he asks you for cab fare home, after a particularly lonely holiday season.

As an Excuse: "It's not that I'm afraid of a committed relationship; at the moment all I need is to find a new keg and to pull Mr. Right Now out from underneath the empty one."

THE [fill in the blank] GUY: When you've just met a man and know little to nothing about him but you need to identify him during girl talk, so you use one example of who he is, something he has, or what he does, and he becomes... that guy.

Best Types of References: The kind of car he drives (The Camaro Guy), his occupation (The Personal Trainer Guy),where you met him (The Four a.m. in the Taxi Guy),the way in which he behaved in the morning if you've already woken up with him (The Cuddle Guy, The Bad Breath Guy, The Up and Run Guy, etc.).

As an Object: "He's the guy that slipped the maître d' twenty dollars for the table, spoke to the waitress like a human, and never had to use his napkin through all of dinner-you know, the Good Manners Guy."

THE TAKE-HOME PROJECT: When you feel like ignoring some larger issues in your own life, so you invest in a fixer-upper guy-who will cost you nothing but time, money, energy, and happiness. Inevitably, you learn that someone else has recouped his resale value. Hello!

You Will Never: Fix him to your liking, change anything but the window dressing, turn him into the guy who got away, build the bionic man (...Farrah tried and she couldn't do it, even with all that hair).

As a Reminder: "Forget him, he can't even dress himself and you don't have the patience for a take-home project."

A BENEFACTOR: This is a polite title for that 35-45-year-old man who dates 19-25-year-old women. Having one always seems so original (and economical) at first, because he takes you to many more exciting places than guys your own age do and, of course, he pays for everything. (But don't think you invented this: In the old days they just called him a Sugar Daddy.)

Things to Look Out for: A wife, some kids,the fact that you're a grown man's Barbie doll, that anyone who can hang out with someone who's fifteen years younger than him is a loser.

As a Reprimand: "No, he's not my father... he's my benefactor; and who cares if he's bald, he pays!"

P.D.A. BOY: The guy you go out in public with and agree to hold hands with, kiss, hug, sit on the same side of the booth with, or show any other Public Display of Affection, before determining boyfriend status.

Usually Causing: Your friends to abuse you, your feelings for him to escalate unrealistically, one person to suspect the other likes him or her too much too soon, an inappropriate use of the boyfriend title or "I love you" phrase.

As an Error: "So there's me and P.D.A. boy making out in the pizza place, and in walks my boss: Kill me now."

A WELCOME MATT: his is what your friends call you when you keep taking back the guy who only comes a-knockin' on your door for one thing: sex, drugs, or rock 'n' roll. (We could have just called you a doormat, but you're always so damn friendly when he shows up.)

When Did You Decide: To act like AstroTurf? That he's so much better than you are? That you didn't need therapy anymore? That the girl who tortured you in grammar school was right? As a Wake-Up Call: "Yeah, I'm sure he meant to call you, because everyone wants to check in on a welcome mat after they tread on it."

LUGGAGE: After you or your man has told the other to get lost and you keep finding each other at events of mutual interest. If you tossed him, he's the luggage, and what's required is a game of ditch. If he tossed you, then you're the luggage, and this is a game of looking as though you're having a good time without him.

Necessary Requirements: At least one ally to help you ditch or save face, A mineral water because alcohol will kill you here, A good seat for viewing or hiding, a ladies' room to escape to if the game gets too intense.

As a Plea to God: "I must have 'Samsonite Customer Service' stamped right on my forehead, because I cannot lose this luggage for the life of me."

Copyright (c) 2001 by Diane Farr

Please email or comment YOUR "girl codes", I'd love to add them to my list.

Thee Mascara To Have

A whole blog about one mascara? YES! I have always loved to experiment with different brands of makeup, but have held true to M.A.C for so long. They have had the best mascara I could find for my specific lashes and I have always loved it.

When I was a young gal, I had gorgeous long black lashes, the kind people ask if they're real. At the time it wasn't a big deal, but now that I'm older and they just aren't the same, I wish I still had them.

Anyway, when I'm not wearing falsies, M.A.C. Zoom and Pro Lash have been my tried and true. Yes, both of them. I have had to layer my mascara with different types to achieve these lashes. I need lengthening and thickening and curl and the blackest black ever! There have been times when I have worn 4 different brands at once. Which was complete HELL when I got Conjunctivitis, that was a lot of cash to throw in the trash! At any rate...you can see what I go through for my lashes from my adolescence.

Just recently I went into Sephora to pick out some birthday gifts for myself (someone else was footing the bill), so it was my opportunity to try new shit. I have always heard of Make Up For Ever, but it always just seemed so Pro/Special FX to me (I don't know why...silliness). Not long ago I picked up the perfect red lipstick by Make Up For Ever and I adorrrrred it! Granted it was a little pricey, but really, for the right color, it's worth it. So on this shopping trip I wanted to grab a new mascara and thought I'd try their new Smokey Lash. For some reason my expectations were low. They only had one kind of mascara, only one color, and it was only sold at Sephora. When I got it home and opened it I wasn't to impressed with the brush, but it was worth trying.

When I put on that mascara the heavens opened and the angels sang!!! Thee most magnificent mascara I have EVER used!!! I am so hooked!!! It gives the lash volume, length, curl, and super black pigment. I only had to use ONE mascara to achieve my 16 year old lashes! Now I will say, it does get a little flaky at the end of the day, but I have a nervous habit of playing with my lashes, so if you don't you're golden!!!

If you are interested in trying this fantastic product, like I said it's a bit pricey, but worth it! It is Smokey Lash and its $22 and you can find it at www.sephora.com exclusively. Happy lashing!!!