Tuesday, April 5, 2011

In the beginning...

It's a helluva start, being able to realize what makes you happy.  -Lucille Ball

Bonjour, mes cheries!  And welcome to the beginning of my little experiment.  What better way to forge a beginning than with the eternal words of the 1950's television star of I Love Lucy.  For many months now I've harbored the ambition of one day creating my own fashion blog, and now it's begun!  Hurrah!

Yes... that's me.  Photo credit to Stephen Dillon, Windborne Photographic

Let me tell you all a bit about myself:  my name is Kaleigh.  I am a girl who lives for fashion.  I am a lover of all things vintage, forgotten, and nostalgic.  I get a thrill when paging through a magazine, I am inspired by the colors on the paint chips I peruse while remodeling with my boyfriend, I love running my hand along racks of forgotten clothes at my neighborhood thrift stores and consignment shops.  Over the years, I've practiced painting, ceramics, studio dance, and musical theater.  Though I've learned from all these influences as they've shaped the young woman I am today, I've never considered myself a particularly adept artist.  But I do love to collect, catalog, and wax poetic, so I have decided to forge my own creative outlet: here is the result.

I was raised by an incredibly passionate and creative mother who left the job she went to school for and started her own photography business.  This was fantastic for my childhood, not only because it allowed her to be home with me and my younger sister most afternoons, but because early on it taught me to look carefully at art and be inspired by small things.  She is very fond of saying that Kelci and myself were her first models, so let us say that dressing up for these photo shoots was my first fashion assignment.  I've been hooked ever since.  I certainly feel that I owe a large portion of my creativity- not to mention my courage- to my wonderful mother.


My sister, Kelci (left) and myself (right)... mom's studio photos


This is me many years ago... mom's studio photos

At this point it might also be relevant to say that I much prefer black and white photography to color.  Other things about me that are sure to come up as this project evolves: I love to read, I live in a 100+ year old house that my boyfriend and I are constantly working on, my sister Kelci is renting our spare room so she's the constant comedic presence in my life, we have two dogs (Maggie and Caine) and two cats (Bella and Doonesbury), I am a chronic ModCloth and Etsy shopper, I study art history and am readying myself for graduate school in the fall, I lived in Paris (yes, France) for six months and loved it, I adore travel (my dad lives out west, I can't wait until I next get to visit him), I love Northern Michigan (born and raised here) because in the summer you are never more than 15 minutes from a beautiful beach, and... I suppose let's leave the rest to be discovered as it becomes relevant.

I am very excited to begin this project, and so I shall jump in and leave you with my latest purchase... super cute little denim shoes from Target (only $9!)




...in real life they look like they're made of denim (until my mother returns my camera I'm stuck with old pictures and Internet photos).  I'm not quite sure how to style them yet.  I would love to wear them with casual summer dresses, since I barely own pants, but I'm not sure what socks I could pull it off with.  Suggestions welcome!  Oh yes, now would be the ideal time to mention that I'm a self-proclaimed shoe addict.  But there are worse things... right?

'Til tomorrow!

1 comment:

  1. Loved the first post! Can't wait to read some more!

    ReplyDelete

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