Went to the A-Line Great Getaway party/fundraiser last night…

Vintage dress and heels; UO purse; earrings from High Street, F21 ring

I was looking forward to wearing this vintage dress–it always makes me feel sort of like a ’60s dolly-bird. I picked it up on one of my thrifting adventures and had it shortened, but I haven’t worn it since last year. I always feel a little guilty hoarding clothes I don’t wear, you know?

The event was held at Eden floral boutique, which is housed in a gorgeous historical building on Walnut Street. Their space is light and airy with super high ceilings.

The crowd looked FAHbulous and I saw several pairs of shoes I need to commandeer. I chatted with a few friends…

…then headed straight for the food!

Cake Rack tartlet and Madisono’s gelato…YUM

Check out the new issue of A-Line online here or pick up a copy at one of these locations. You can also stop by The City Flea this Saturday (remember to Cute Up!) for a chance to be featured on A-Line‘s City Flea street style page!

Have a great weekend!

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A few of my favorite online indie magazines:

Fashion Journal

Fashion Journal is a free Australian magazine for women and men, and prides itself on fea­tur­ing local and inter­na­tional design­ers and street fash­ion trends.
fashionjournal.com.au

Coco Eco

Coco Eco is a digital magazine with a focus on sustainable fashion, beauty, celebrity, and cause. Subscriptions are paid, but you can view the current issue on the site.
www.cocoecomag.com

Matchbook

Launched in January, Matchbook is feminine, cute, and neat, covering cover past and present fashion, decor, the arts, travel and culture.
matchbookmag.com

Tangent

Based in Australia and started by a photographer and a stylist, Tangent is “a playground for people who appreciate fashion as art. It targets people who indulge in their identity and want to discover every secret corner of fashion first.”
tangentmag.com

Noted

I have to say, when I was going through my bookmarks for all of my favorite indie magazines, I noticed that many of them hadn’t published new issues in quite some time, others were offline altogether. I guess my experience is true for others as well–publishing a small magazine is hard, not-very-profitable work.

I also noticed that much of what’s out there is heavily whitewashed. Is diversity really that difficult? Seems like there’s an opportunity there somewhere…

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I’m a big fan of independent publications, so when I come across magazines I enjoy, I like to share! Right now, I’m reading Pure and Papercut.

Pure is created in Portugal and available online (free, baby!) as a downloadable PDF. Fine, I don’t actually read it since my knowledge of Portuguese is limited to Teena Marie songs (RIP Lady Tee), but it’s fun to look at the pictures and see what they’re up to on their blog.

Papercut is dedicated to the emerging fashion community, and focuses on art, culture, and current events. Also: pretty pictures!

The Editor

Even if you don’t run an indie magazine, you can run your blog like an editor! I have a weird, lifelong love for forms–when I was little, I used to take stacks of deposit slips and mailing forms from the bank and post office and fill them out for fun. Yes, that IS as sad as it sounds. Go ahead and laugh. I’ll wait.

Luckily, Terra Black developed The Editor, a blogging planner that helps satiate my slightly OCD organizational tendencies by providing plenty of boxes and lines and note-taking space to scribble ideas and strategery.

Have I ever mentioned the time I spent, like, two hours picking out the perfect planner and portfolio at Staples ON MY BIRTHDAY? No? Let’s forget I mentioned that, then…

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I love reading and supporting other independent magazines, and while I usually focus on fashion and style publications, I enjoy pretty much anything with creative, pretty content.

So, when I came across Rue magazine last night, I spent at least an hour (an hour I was supposed to spend working) flipping through page after page of beautiful imagery and taking inspiration from the clean, colorful layout.

The magazine very adeptly combines fashion and home decor, and I’m only slightly (very) jealous that they have a team–a team!–of photographers and designers and writers who travel around the country snapping photos and hobnobbing with The Beautiful People. Sigh. Someday…

If you like interior decorating (and if you don’t, you should), have a look!

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Y’all know how much I love magazines, especially my fellow indie publications. I was having an exceptionally unproductive morning (you know how sometimes it’s impossible to focus?), when I came across WWIT–short for We’re Worth It, Too.

I got about three quarters of the way through the magazine before I even realized it’s primarily a men’s publication–the entire thing is so well done, and I’d totally wear at least 80% of the clothing and accessories featured. I emailed the editor and it turns out he’s an absolute sweetheart as well.

What I know about men’s fashion could fit on the head of a pin, but WWIT makes me want to learn more…and possibly, dress like a boy.

Happy now, Kyle?

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From the May 7, 2010 issue of Women’s Wear Daily:

“A free digital magazine focused on and written by fashion bloggers, Style Sample just released it’s sixth issue [actually, it's the seventh issue]. While the base site is more of a boon for bloggers (it provides plenty of how-to info and technology tips), it also allows readers to click through to the issues. And that’s where an overload of creativity lives. Although it’s a bit meta for anyone who isn’t personally in the blogging trenches, it’s an excellent venue for scouting talent for possible corporate sponsorship. Beyond that, it’s just a fascinating place to hang out for anyone whose job description includes style.”

OH. EM. GEE.

For those not completely obsessed with fashion, WWD is basically the bible of the style industry. And Style Sample magazine is in it! Now, if you will excuse me, I’m ’bout to go do my happy dance…

WHOOOO!

Thanks to Ann of Holier Than Now for pointing it out, and to The Glamourai for posting the scans.

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I’ve always loved magazines.

I remember one summer at day camp, maybe between 4th and 5th grade, my friend Nicole and I thought it would be cool if we made our own fashion magazine.

Inspired by the stacks of old Teen and Vogue and Mademoiselle magazines the college-aged counselors would bring in for us to cut up during craft time, we decided to publish a collection of our favorite images of fluorescent biker shorts and push-down socks, with some hair and makeup tips (turquoise eyeshadow and puff-painted scrunchies, woo hoo!) for good measure.

Now remember, this was before the interwebs took over MY LIFE, and desktop publishing was just a glimmer in the eye of some ambitious geek who is probably counting their millions as I type. I’m pretty sure I still had my Commodore 64 at this point.

Our job as magazine “editors” basically consisted of cutting pictures out of the old magazines and gluing them onto pages of lined notebook paper before stapling everything together in a glossy, sticky, slightly crumpled bundle. We weren’t all that worried about presentation, so we were thrilled with the results! Our ideas about what was cool and important were right there in a collection for all to see! The magazine I publish now is slightly more sophisticated than that, but the thrill is the same.

My point is, you usually know what you like to do at a young age, even if you don’t realize it or haven’t yet figured out a way to make it work for you as an adult. I tend to be a little slow on the uptake when it comes to things like this, but I think I get it now.

What do you enjoy doing? Have you figured out how to make it work?

PS. Nicole showed our magazine to her mom, who suggested that we forego frivolous topics like fashion and create something geared towards helping young girls increase their self-esteem. We entertained the thought for approximately 47 seconds before promptly abandoning the whole magazine idea altogether. Don’t squash your kids’ dreams.

PPS: The title of this post always reminds me of Vanessa Bell Calloway’s turn as Prince Akeem’s Stepford-esque Queen to Be, so here’s the scene from Coming to America. Just for giggles.

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For reasons I probably don’t (or maybe I do) need to explain, I’ve developed an obsession with independently published magazines, especially the artsy-fartsy/fashion-y ones run by a small group of passionate people.

I understand the commitment, the dedication, the long hours, and the attention that goes into even the tiniest detail. I’ve experienced the frustration when contributors don’t follow through, the elation when the final product is finished, the nervous jitters that invade your stomach (can someone explain why this happens?) when an issue is released into the wild of the general public, where everyone can see and judge and criticize.

I read this interview at Stack.com (if you haven’t checked out this service yet, do it now. I’ll wait.) and absolutely had to get in touch with Bec at Blanket magazine to find out if she was spending time camped out in my head. It’s so reassuring to know there’s someone out there experiencing the same things and struggling with the same issues.

Blanket magazine’s current issue and website

I have a tremendous amount of heartfelt admiration for indie magazine publishers–really, independent creatives in general, because I know how much energy and dedication goes into producing something so deeply rooted in personal aspirations. There’s a really interesting (to me, anyway) section in Blanket called Soul Publishers, where the editors speak to a selection of independent magazine publishers about what they do and why they do it.

Bec was really lovely and responsive, and even invited me to meet with her group of indie publishers in Manchester–which would be great, save the cost of flying to England. Though, come to think of it, I haven’t been to the UK in a while…

I’ll likely start reaching out to other independent publishers more often. I’d like to offer the kind of encouragement and positive feedback that’s gotten me through many a difficult time. Might as well spread the love, right?

Do you know of any other indie magazines I should check out? I’m practically obsessed.

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Interesting reads I’ve come across on the web:

Though not really surprised, I was FLOORED by the H&M Clothes Trashing report. Seriously? I know they’re not exactly high priced items, but even if they were, is it really more cost-effective, and more importantly, environmentally ethical to destroy and dump bags of unused clothing?

Social Media Business Strategy Great article about implementing a social media business strategy on Mashable. Remember, set your objectives and listen first!

Startup therapy:  Ten questions to ask yourself every month Thought-provoking questions for current and wannabe entrepreneurs & freelancers. They get harder as you go.

Independent Magazine Publisher Magazine launches. Yesss! Can we form a club or a support group or something?

Updating the Babysitter’s Club The Babysitter’s Club is making a comeback with a prequel and “updated” versions of the first two books, but can we please leave the outfit descriptions (especially Claudia’s) the same? Pretty please? In the meantime, this graphic novel version of the BSC has win all over it.

Writer Lauren Sherman at The Fashion Beat recounts the Ten Moments in Fashion that Changed the Business (this decade). Anyone else remember pre-Rachel Zoe, when you had to explain what a stylist was because people had never heard of such a thing?

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Hope everyone had a great holiday! I had fun spending time with the fam and giving and receiving gifts, including this lovely new Nikon D3000 that I have no idea how to operate (but thanks for the surprise, Dad!), a new TV and a TV cabinet from IKEA (thanks Mom!), which FriendBoy and I put together in record time. I’m telling you, trying to make 378 pieces of compressed wood and a smattering of screws into something resembling furniture is the true test of a relationship.

Setting up the new stuff made me want to clean out the old, and in the process of clearing out (some of) the darn near ceiling-high stacks of magazines I’ve accumulated over the years, I came across my prize publication: The September 1993 issue of American Vogue. Can you believe I still have this? A testament to my pack-rat tendencies.

There are some…”interesting” early 9o’s throwbacks in the issue, including Drew Barrymore’s Guess ad, an article about the revival of punk (I guess some things never change), and page after page of “New Romantic” looks–think Linda, Kate, and Christy sporting layers of velvet and paisley and Seinfeld-esque puffy shirts! It’s just too good not to share, so once I get my scanner situation figured out, I’ll post some images.

How was your holiday? Did you do anything exciting?

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