Happy Friday!

Happy Friday!  We're into the last golden days of autumn here in Minnesota, and entering daylight savings time this weekend (thank god!).  Get out and enjoy those golden hues while you still can!

Or bring some gold inside like this beautiful table-scape!

Workwear Wednesday: Ugly Sweaters

Is it just me, or are sweaters getting uglier this year?  Blame it on the ironic hipsters rocking their father's discarded Bill Cosby sweaters.  But seriously, this 80's throw-back stuff has got to get under control!  I'm seeing sweaters the likes of Judith Light in store windows!  Eeek!

I'm not going to tell you what kind of sweaters to wear.  There are still too many great styles to chose from.  Instead I wanted to show some of the most ugly sweaters for sale right now so you can have a good laugh!

from urban outfitters

Cropped belly baring sweaters!?!  This is very alarming. From Charlotte Russe

Add some shoulder pads and recreate your own tribute episode of "Who's the Boss"!

Still don't believe me that the stores are full of ugly sweaters?  Anthropologie, normally a source of such beautiful clothes, disappoints by featuring several ugly sweaters. I had a hard time picking just three!

It's officially November kids.  That means fall is almost over and winter will be here before you know it (especially in MN!).  I don't know how you all feel about that... some people are ready to embrace winter and others are still mourning the loss of summer!   My thoughts on this Tuesday Shoesday are to bust out some fun tights this month before you need to bust out the snow boots.  I think anything a closed toed and a little strapped looks great with tights for these final days of fall.  

Canvas double strapped heels by Urban Outfitters, T-straps by Anthropologie

High Fashion Halloween Bridal by Laura Whitney Couture & Artist Built!

Happy Halloween everyone!  Remember when I said I was working on a big photo shoot?  Well in honor of the best holiday of the year, I collaborated with the leather sculptors of Artist Built, as well as an amazing team of models, hair stylists and make-up artists to create an ethereal yet dark Halloween spread using gowns from the new Laura Whitney Couture bridal line (launching spring 2012!).  I also created a few special pieces for the shoot including an Elizabethan inspired bolero, dramatic millinery, delicate paper wings, and I even got back to my corsetry roots and made an enticingly wicked "Kiss Me Deadly" corset with matching origami panniers!  I must admit, it was such a pleasure to take a brief departure from the light romantic beauty of bridal to take part in creating deep dark imagery.

Quite possibly my favorite photo!  She looks like she's up to something!

Our images followed five themes to show dark spirits of many realms : A wicked Queen of Hearts, the vengeful Corpse Bride, an Angel with a devilish side, the jilted Flapper, and a Fetish Femme Fatale. With an impeccable team of models, airbrush techniques and makeup artist, talented photographer Sasha Landskov captured the feel behind the the collaborative vision beautifully!   Thank you so much to Irma & Sienna of Mixx Salon, Soraya Hatfield of Pinup Stylings, and Dede Franks of Salon George for all their fabulous work on the hair and make-up!  City Pages has also published a slide show of the full set of images so to see more, click here.

All the killer jewelry was provided my Rewind Vintage of Minneapolis!

Our amazing make-up artists painstakingly applied real gold leaf flakes to our fallen angel!

Artist Built did all the custom leather accessories!  Contact them for custom fetish pieces!

I so enjoyed making this corset!  I'd love to do more custom pieces like this! (hint: e-mail me!)

Isn't this mask just amazing!?!  It's like Cyborg crossed with Fetish!