fleet collection

Two things: this is not a fashion blog, and I am not a fashion blogger.  So when the opportunity presented itself for me to get my hands on some crazy cute dresses from Fleet Collection and take some pictures in them, I was like "whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat! me?!" and then I was like "GIMME THOSE DRESSES!"  

You see, I love clothes.  I really, really love clothes.  Especially dresses.  I have more dresses than pairs of socks, or t-shirts.  Dresses for days!  I love dresses!

Basically: I convinced my friend Janine Ker to hang out in Griffith Park here in Los Angeles for a day and take pictures of me.  It was so much fun!  Not just styling the dresses, but getting to collaborate on something with my friend, doing something creative outside the norm for both of us.  I mean, I'm no model, and the button on Janine's camera is held on with a bit of tape, and we did this all completely guerilla style!  (We almost got booted out of Travel Town for bringing 'props' in with us.) We got some weird looks, but that just added to the fun, I think.  

It also forced me to respect my favorite fashion bloggers that much more...it takes a lot of planning and creativity to get good shots!

Credits for this adventure:

Dresses by Fleet Collection

Photos by Janine Ker

Styled and modeled by this moi

We shot this blue dress in Travel Town in Griffith Park.  It's full of cool old trains.  It's probably one of the coolest places in LA.  And it's free!

As a person who owns a lotta dresses already, I have to say that these are really excellently crafted.  I'm not jus saying that!  The fabric is nice and thick, so you don't have to wear a slip underneath, and they fit like a glove.  They're not flimsy like dresses this cute tend to be.  

Also, they are made in downtown Los Angeles!!  How cool is that?

sweater: J.Crew

shoes: Kurt Geiger

little suitcases: that is just the kinda stuff that I keep around.

This is a good place to mention that Janine is also my hairdresser.  She is responsible for my pixie cut, which gets me an average of one compliment a day.  

For the photos with this black and red dress I had the silly idea of going to this giant bougainvillea bush in Atwater Village, right by a train overpass.  It was our least glamorous location for sure (garbage all over, old man with a shopping cart rolled through, a car honked at us) but those flowers matched the dress so well!

sunglasses: the $15 or less store in Santa Barbara.  They were $7!

hat: some vintage hole in the wall.

belt: a thrift store like seriously 8 years ago

shoes: Kurt Geiger again

necklace: The Getty Center gift shop

THIS dress may have been my favorite.  I love red.  

 hat: J.Crew

belt: a thrift store like seriously 9 years ago

sunglasses: Asos

hat: Topshop

cardigan: Crossroads

all my jewelry: vintage

I got that paper parasol at FYF Fest a couple months ago for the practical purpose of keeping the sun off and also the awesome purpose of being adorable.  It was a fun prop!

Both Janine and I agreed that this yellow dress looked best among the yellow leaves of the sycamore trees.  The sycamore is my favorite tree.  How could you not love a tree that grows little deedly-balls on it?!

cardigan: Crossroads

shoes, sunglasses: Urban Outfitters

lace socks: Forever21

I hope I get the opportunity to do something like this again.  Super fun times!

Don't worry, there will be an art update soon.  I sure as heck have a lot to share, I just have to wait until the time is right!

dresses which are not dresses + website

I forgot to mention this before, but I finally have a place you can find me in the internets with a name which is very easy to remember!  

It's brigetteb.com!

That's where my tumblr-based portfolio lives.  If you have a tumblr you can follow me and tumbl away! It feels very official and neat.  The only bummer is that you still have to remember to spell my name right (no D, two E's, two T's, yes I know it's a funny spelling, but I didn't choose it).

And here are some discarded ideas from a thing I'm working on, er, trying to be working on.  

I'm not going to explain too much because there isn't much to say.

Here's a birdcage dress lady!  Her hat is also a birdcage.  

I imagine that the weather girl is prone to mood swings.  

Pomegranates.

Yes I know they're very silly.  

this painting has no name

The finished painting!  I realized as I was writing this post that I haven't yet named it.  I've been trying to stay looser in my paintings, and let go of that holding-your-breath-trying-to-make-it-just-so feeling.  It's bunches more fun if you are not freaked out every time you pick your brush up.

Sorry about the quality of these images.  I don't have a real camera (these are iphone pics) and the painting is too big for my scanner.  Yes I know I could scan it in pieces and all that jazz, but who has time for that?! (I do not...as I type this I ought to be working on something else, but I get excited when I finish something!)

I know you guys like seeing the painting surrounded by the chaos of my table top...

That thing in the upper left corner is my color work book.  I had to paint what felt like a billion swatches of different color combinations, plus shades and tints for each combo, for a painting class I took at city college.  The class itself was pretty useless, but I've kept and used that color work book ever since.  It's a super helpful thing to have, if you  have the patience to make one.  

dress shoppe stationary

Hello to you out there in the blog-o-sphere! I know I've been neglecting my blog, and that's not fair. My little bloggy blog has
done a lot for me, and yet I ignore it. No more!! I'm going to start posting more regularly now, I promise. I've even got a few ideas for regular/weekly/feature type blog updates so that even if I have nothing of my own to show you I can at least post something. Keeping it fresh is important, dontcha know.

In the mean time, just to prove that I have not just been sitting around my apartment eating bon bons and painting my nails (although I do so in moderation when the mood strikes), I'd like to present one of the projects that has kept me away from bloggin' as I should: my Dress Shoppe stationary set! I know I mentioned it before, but I got the thumbs up to do a more in-depth post on it, so here goes...


I wanted all the gals to look different but like they are from the same universe, too. This first lady in the suit might be my favorite. She's like the ultimate chic housewife of the decade. I imagine that she wears this outfit to the supermarket to buy 50lbs of meat to store in her giant freezer in her turquoise and pink kitchen. "Off to buy some haaaaam!"




This gal might look familiar because she is a re-incarnation of my Librarian Paper Doll. She was the inspiration for this set. (I still really want to do a straight up paper doll book or magnetic paper doll, by the by.)


I love this color combo: red orange, pink, minty green.



And one last sunny yellow dress! Actually, this might be my favorite. She's more 60's looking than the rest, but I love her flats and pink gloves. I pretty much gave her an outfit that I'd like to wear.

I made the set for Chronicle Books and I have to say, they really do a bang-up job on the graphic design end. The style of the set is super girly and very 50's, and I had the pleasure of working with folks who totally understood what I was going for and had a lot to add to it. Look at the little photo shoot they did for the back of the the box:

So perfect!!

It comes with stickers so you can stick accessories on the gals, like little glasses and purses and flower brooches and hats. And pink envelopes! Did I mention that they stand up? They do. (PS, please excuse the general crappishness of these photos.)


Anyhoo-a, you can pre-order them on Amazon
OR on the Chronicle Books website, but you wont be able to play with 'em til March. :)

paper gal!

The actual "making" part is done! Now I have to print em out and test how everything fits. I have a feeling that they're going to be a pain in the butt to cut out...





Yay!