Coat-vert Affairs

Excuse the cheesy title, but I can't help but share my love for the new series Covert Affairs.

What I love most about the series are the characters.The two main ones being Annie Walker (played by Piper Perabo) and August "Auggie" Anderson (played by Christopher Gorham).
Annie Walker ( maybe a distant cousin of our favorite female Chuck agent Sarah Walker?) is a shove-in CIA agent who wears casual and classy business attire and kicks butt in Louboutin heels. While I appreciate her style with nice slacks and classy blouses, my main costume love resides in the character of Auggie Anderson.
Auggie is the CIA tech guy who used to be a special ops officer until he was blinded during a mission. Now he resides in his super sweet office that is filled with special audio systems and a pretty amazing computer that uses audio and braille to tell Auggie what's up with the mish.
I always have an instant soft spot for the techies on spy shows, and Auggie's style is the ultimate comfy buisness look. I always find myself envious of his amazing sweaters and vests.
Well, see for yourself.

Might I add that he has several different color variations of THE sweater that I've been searching for. Just a basic color with a contrasting band around the edges. like the one seen above. You have no idea how many web and store searches I've done to find this beauty.

And can I just say, I love the nickname Auggie for August. I need to stop loving guy names more than girl names, or maybe I should start hoping for a future filled with many sons.

I also took a crack at making my own style representation. I would totally recreate his look for myself if I coul d.

Auggie by snowwhiteofsd featuring Converse shoes

All the episodes of Covert Affairs are now listed on hulu. Check it out. There's good humor, good characters, good stories, and a good intro that is very Chuck-esque. This is a show that I will have to try to keep up on while I balance my college student duties.

-Brenna Kathleen

I've gone down the rabbit hole, and don't plan on climbing back out

Well, I finally saw it. Alice in Wonderland in 3D!

Let me say. BEAUTIFUL!

Alice has always been one of my tippy-top favorite characters of all time. Ever since I was little. And when I was old enough to read the books I fell in love all over again. The poetry in Through The Looking Glass! It's inspired my love of poofy dresses, bottles, cakes, and poetry ( I can even recite the Jabberwocky poem by heart)

Here she is. Alice Liddell. The girl Carroll based the book off of. 

 A sketch of Tim Burton's Alice.

 The costumes (by the amazing Colleen Atwood) are like no other Alice before. I love that the clothes don't grow and shrink with Alice, so she gets dressed in all types of things from fabric scraps to curtains!

Needless to say, when I came out of that movie theater my love for the story, world, and language was again raised from the ashes. I instantly came back and started researching everything I could, mostly dresses I'll admit. I found myself eating up every whimsical blue and white dress I could find

 -an old vintage dress, I forgot where I found it - dress from dELiA's that looks so amazingly similar to Alice's dress in the movies ( I am so tempted to buy this one)- I forgot where I found this one too. poo.

These are amazing dresses I found at Victorian Maiden. Aren't they lovely?

The renewed imagination-ness of Alice has actually come at a good time for me. I've been thinking about my art and where I want to take it. I've found myself holding back in terms of the art I produce for class. I want to come up with a product, so I'm afraid to take chances that may result in a non-product failure. But now I'm going to unleash my imagination. I'm going to let the madness of Alice influence me in the best possible way. 

I may even start to believe 6 impossible things before breakfast as an exercise. 

Send word with the white rabbit if you need to get a message to me,  in the mean time I'll be having tea with the Hatter. 

-Brenna Kathleen

Beautifulness

Everyone. Stop what you're doing and watch THIS.



NOW

-Brenna


P.S.
If you want to watch some of the best music videos ever made also watch
this
this
and
this

How To Steal A Million

I just watched the movie How To Steal A Million with Audry Hepburn and Peter O'Toole made in 1966 on Netflix a few minutes ago, and I LOVED it!


First of all. The House!!!

It's a wonderful mansion in Paris, it's decorated so lavishly, it almost makes you sick (but in a good way!)
Part of the plot is that the father, played by Hugh Griffith, is a third generation master forger, or something like that. And that's how the Bonnet family is so rich. So he had this amazing hidden studio that you get to by.... wait for it.... WARDROBE!!! I know! It's amazing!
So, here is how the dresser looks normally....

Then you can open the door, and after you close the wardrobe door behind you, you slide over the rack on the inside of the door (see Hepburn's hand on it?) to close it from the inside! Then you slide the back panel to go up the tower by spiral staircase...

Once you get to the top, you have a wonderful studio space to forge... I mean, uhm, create your own artwork..

Then!.. you can also kick out one of the false bottom drawers, to reveal a small step for climbing back out again!

It really is the perfect idea for a hidden studio space. And as a person who loves going through wardrobes, secret passages, spiral staircases, and studio spaces... I think this idea might be a must-have in my future.

On to the cars!!!
Hepburn's character, Nicole, drove this adorable classic convertible mini!!

And O'Toole's persona, Simon Dermott, drove what I think might be a classic jaguar convertable, but I'm no car expert...


Now, costumes and makeup!!
It's made in '66, so of course it has all the wonderful Euro-Mod fashions of that time. Hepburn looks simply amazing in every scene!


My favorite had to be her black outfit. The scene opened up with a shot of her shoes...

Then it panned up her legs to her head, where she was wearing this great veil type thing, that covered her eyes, and I think either tied around her head or was pinned straight into her hair.

But it was so cool how you could still see her brilliant silver eyeshadow sparkle through it when it hit the light just-so

Her makeup was so classic Mod and so stream-lined that I think I spent most of the movie pausing like crazy on close-ups snapping pics of different angles, so I can have it on hand in case I want to re-create the look myself.



And now it is late, and I have church in the morning, so I bid you all sweet dreams, and leave you with yet another picture of maybe the best character in the movie...

Mustache Man


Goodnight!
-Brenna Kathleen

Cats, Decor, and Up-turned Noses

I LOVE the movie Penelope. It's just a movie I can watch over and over again. It's funny, quirky, and has lots of eye candy!



No! not that kind! (although, James McAvoy does happen to be one of my favorite actors to uhm.... watch on screen)
I mean real eye candy!
The Costumes!!!





And the sets!


I really, truly wish I had Penelope's room. Look at the amazing terrariums..

And her swing!

My goodness. It hits the extra cushy spot in my little heart and makes it pitter-patter more than watching Hugh Jackman in a period film.

I recently wrote on my changes in style, and I very much plan to have that carry into every part of my life, the main part being home decor.

Oh, yes. I love decorating a home. I love little bits and knick-knacks and amazing cushy couches with embroidered pillows.
You all now think of me as a grandma or a crazy cat lady, don't you?
Well, if I do grow to be a crazy cat lady, I hope to end up like this:

At least you couldn't deny that I have style.

But what I really mean is that I love the feeling of a comfortable and aesthetically pleasing living space. I love looking at the furnishings on sites such as Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters more than I like looking at the clothes (mostly because the high prices of things as simple as tee shirts makes my cry a little inside).

Right now I am in a dorm room living situation, and as much as I love my roommates sometimes I get sick of having them there simply because it means I have to compromise on decor. But all is well, soon I will have my very own apartment/home to decorate and being the woman, I think it's safe to assume that I will be the leader in that endeavor.

Although I look forward to the creativity my other will bring to the table. You see, if I'm married to him then it means he's my true love, and that means we're perfect for each other, and that means that we will probably have similar life styles, and therefore I'm sure we will agree on how we furnish our home.

Whew! That was a mouthful. If you're still hanging on. I'd like to quickly congratulate you and close this little ramble with a lovely picture that I found of a wonderful room that's full of vintage goodness and whimsical touches.
Enjoy!


-Brenna Kathleen

Teaser Trailer!!!!!

So just a bit ago I was gushing about how amazing the new Alice in Wonderland looks. and today the teaser trailer came out!!!

None of them can be embedded, so here's the link

The odd part is that it looks like Burton made Johnny Depp the main character. He is the Narrator, and maybe it's just the trailer. I know that just by having his voice on it instantly sells the movie to thousands of people. Just the title sells it to me and Burton makes it an instant classic. And Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Anne Hathaway, Stephen Fry, and Christopher Lee (as the Jabberwock!!) just make me want to pee my pants from excitement.

I just found new pics on IMDB of some of the main characters!
The White Queen

The Red Queen (I love that she looks so butch in this pic, not at all a Queen stance!)

The Mad Hatter

and Alice

She's in her amazing victorian dress. If you pay close attention at the trailer she looses her dress when she drinks the "drink me" bottle, and has to create some sort of makeshift gown that was in this picture...

... that I had on my original AIW post.
then I believe any other dress she has is made for her by the Mad Hatter, as you can see him trowing bolts of fabric in the trailer.

Ahhhhhh!!!! I'm so excited. I'm going to have to start doing some Alice DIY to blow off the steam until March.
That seems so far away.
This weekend is Comic Con too..... I'm broke and couldn't afford a pass. But Burton's going to be there promoting his new film 9, and will have some Alice talk in the mix.
David Tennant will be there too..... *sigh*

Next year I will be there.
until then, don't mind my drool
-Brenna