WCW: Kristen Lil Bambii // Fashion Blogger and Stylist

So if this post gets really wordy and ranty about how amazing this girl is, I'm apologizing ahead of time. 

Kristen aka Lil Bambii is a 21 year old fashion blogger of LIL BAMI ,stylist, and visual communications major student at  FIDM (Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising)  based out of Los Angeles, California! I met Kristen a few years ago through Tumblr, back in the days when I was really into Tumblr, and had a ton of internet  friends! We were mutuals, and as time went on, we developed similar styles, and interests! She's always looked like a bad ass Baby Spice babe to me! I remember when I found out she went to FIDM, I was so jealous because it's seriously my dream school. I'm one of those people just does not like school at all, but if I lived in California, I would 100% go to FIDM. I've always wanted to be a stylist myself, so seeing a friend of mine get to do it, and do amazing with it as well, makes me so happy! 

She's been able to work with some really great companies and people like Nicki LIpstick and Gitsie Wood, ShopTunnelVision, and TiltedSole , and she has been featured on my UNIF's Instagram page, which is pretty major in my opinion! She's doing some amazing things, at just 21. She's very inspiring, stylist, and gorgeous. If we lived closer, I know we'd probably be the best of friends! Kristen is my WCW every day, let just be honest. 

Here are some photos from Kristen's blog, Lil Bambi, and a few pictures from shoots that she's styled!

Follow Kristen on Instagram: @_lilbambi

XO
MELANIE

Music Festival Looks: What to Wear?!

Festival season is at it's absolute peak right now, and I can't get enough of all of the cute looks I see my favorite bloggers rocking at them all! Nothing cool happens where I live, so I just admire from afar and imagine what I would wear...  A GIRL CAN DREAM OKAY!!!! 

When dressing for a festival, you want to be in a comfortable, lightweight, and cute outfit! Being in a desert, sharing space with hundreds to thousands of people, in 100+ degree weather, you really want to make sure your outfit is not only fashionable, but also functional! I put together three outfits that I would wear to a festival if I ever got the chance to go to one! 

This first look is a pretty simple one, but I feel like the appeal of it would be the contrast of the simple outfit, with the colorful accessories! The second look is pretty similar to this first one, and I did that on purpose, just to show that accessories really make the outfit for these looks! Since the weather is so warm out, most people (including myself) want to wear as little as possible, and when your outfit is minimal, it's just accessories that are really making the outfit come all together! The sneakers for comfort, since you're probably going to be doing a lot of walking, and dancing around!

Sunglasses, and a hat are essential for the hot and sunny desert days at a music festival! If you're not into sun hats, I would even do a visor of some sort with this look! I love this cardigan/knitted kimono with this look so much and I don't think it'll be too hot to wear it, since it isn't a solid knit, and it has all the holes in it! 

Who needs pants? A dress is always a good choice for hot weather of course, and with this tie dye dress being as flowy as it is, you'll catch every much needed breeze as they come! I paired this dress with a pair of lilac jelly heeled sandals to give it more of a 90's girl vibe! The cross body bag will be great for carrying the necessities for a festival like your phone, your lipstick, some cash for snacks and water, and maybe even a polaroid camera to get snaps of all the fun you'll be having! 

This last look is another fairly simple outfit, paired with some cute accessories that pull it all together! 

Here's a video all about festival essentials, what to wear, and what to pack!

If you're going to be going to any kind of festival this Summer, please be safe, drink lots of water, eat plenty, try not to stray from your group too much, and most importantly, HAVE FUN!

XO
MELANIE

TEALE COCO

"Teale Coco draws influences from what lies within us: sexuality, human anatomy, occultism, spirituality – combined with the beauty beyond our bodies: high fashion, subculture, fetish, to promote unique beauty in every form, creating powerful statement pieces that EMPOWER the wearer."

Meet Teale Coco herself, the self titled brand owner of Teale Coco the Brand! Brand owner, photographer, international model, designer, and entrepreneur all by the very young age of 23! Teale completed her bachelors degree in Photography, only to move onto modeling internationally. She's now represented by several agencies worldwide! Teale Coco the brand launched at the end of 2013! Teale shoots and edits all of the Teale Coco Brand lookbooks and editorials herself! She's an Inspirational, and powerful figure for sure.

Teale Coco the Brand is a clothing, accessory and harness lingerie company based out of Melbourne, Australia, who is made up of a team of of very gifted fashion students who specialize in everything from pattern making, design, and manufacturing! Teale Coco believes in providing the highest quality manufacturing for every piece they hand-make. Not only is Teale Coco passionate about providing quality assurance, they work with young and upcoming artists to support and promote the underground Australian and international art scenes! TC aims to make pieces that make the wearer feel powerful, while taking inspiration from sexuality, the human anatomy, occultism, and spirituality and combines it all with elements seen on high fashion runways, fetish, and subculture to promote beauty in all forms for all shapes and sizes! Custom orders are 100% encouraged, and it's a specialty of theirs! 

The video above is a collab video that Teale Coco did with Deandri, a company with similar inspiration that I've done a post on for #WCW a few months back!

XO
MELANIE

Gypsy Warrior

Meet Nicla DiCosmo and Michel Bezoza, the two New Jersey raised Co-Founders of the lifestyle, clothing and accessory company called Gypsy Warrior! First launching the first edition of Gypsy Warrior's website back in 2010, the brand is heavily inspired by tattoo culture, rock n roll, high fashion, NYC, and vintage! In no time at all, the brand exploded overnight and rocketed straight to the top of shops and brands similar in style! By 2011, they opened their doors to the first GW store in Ridgewood New Jersey! On my recent trip to New Jersey last week, I was able to visit the Ridgewood store! Gypsy Warrior carries everything from clothes, accessories, shoes, pillow cases, tarot cards, candles, flasks, tapestry, and tons more!

Now, you may be asking yourself, well Melanie, what the hell does Gypsy Warrior mean?

These girls have made a complete image and a character for their brand, and I think that is so brilliant! The girl I see in my head is the kind of girl you see at music festivals, running around barefoot, and dancing her nights away, lost in the music. She's bold, careless, and just wants to have fun! I feel we've all met girls like this, and Gypsy Warrior is the perfect brand for her! Not only does GW have their own designs, and styles, but they also carry a lot of other brands in store, and online as well, such as Disturbia, YRU, MINKPINK, REVERSE and so much more!

So admittedly I went to New Jersey for this store. I was born in New Jersey, but the town I'm from is gross now, so Gypsy Warrior is what I was looking forward to seeing the most! It was so great to finally get there, after wishing that one day I'd be able to! It was almost surreal. I'm a huge nerd I know. But when we went in, we were greeted by the girl who was working there, and she was very helpful the whole time, and it felt like I was being taken care of while I was shopping! Also, I'm almost positive that Michel was actually at the store when I was shopping, which was pretty cool! 

I didn't buy too much, because a lot everything I wanted, they didn't have in my size (What a relief.... My bank account would have hated me..) However, I did end up getting this cute "Girl Gang" ringer top, a Gypsy Warrior Jack Daniels inspired sleeveless top, a cleaver necklace, and an ADORABLE Ouji Board embroidered iron-on patch!

I was so in love with the general set up of the store, and the merchandising of it. I have this huge obsession with pink neon signs, and there were these two gorgeous ones that say, "Wanderland" and "She loves adventure" If you live close by Ridgewood New Jersey, and have time to stop by the store, you absolutely should!! Also, there's a delicious donut shop right next door, so double reason to go! 

Gypsy Warrior is the perfect representation of a Vile Girl, 100%!! 

SHOP GYPSY WARRIOR!
Follow Gypsy Warrior on Instagram: @GypsyWarrior
Follow Co-Founders Nicla and Michel on Instagram: @MagicalNicla & @MichelGypsyWarrior 

XO
MELANIE

"I'm having a no hair day" // Bold Bald Babes

I think most of us can remember where we were when we heard/ saw all over social media that Miley Cyrus cut off all of her hair, and went platinum blonde back in August of 2012.... Oh that's just me? Awkward.

I remember being confused at first as to why she would do that, because I remember I loved her shoulder length hair/ top knot bun she always sported and it suited her so well! As more pictures surfaced of her new hair, the more in LOVE I fell with her new look. At the time, I was on a several year streak without a haircut, and clutched onto my hair at the thought of even cutting a couple of inches off! And now that I look back at the dates of the pictures I posted, almost exactly two years later, I ended up cutting a good chunk of my hair off, and got an undercut shaved off of the bottom of my hair! Here's a picture of my hair evolution in just under a year!

WARNING: IF YOU SHAVE PART OF YOUR HAIR, YOU MAY END UP GETTING CLIPPER HAPPY, AND SHAVING MORE AND MORE AND MORE. You've been warned!!!

It all started with a small undercut....... And here I am almost an entire year later with the shortest hair I've ever had in my life, since I was a little baby child. The first time I had my head shaved, I remembered loving the way it felt getting my hair buzzed. Eventually I asked my friend to bring the shaved part a little higher. By then, I knew eventually my hair would end up short, or even bald (Which isn't not an option at this point...) because I was so addicted to how it felt to get my head shaved! On a bored, curious snowed in day at my friend's mom's house, we got the idea to shave my hair even further up, and cut the length shorter to leave what would be just a top knot, then I eventually got layers cut, made it pink, and here I am today!

I remember reading how liberated and happy Miley said she was after she cut her hair off, and thought I'd be nothing without my hair. I can say the complete opposite now that my hair is this short! I've never felt more myself! I don't have hair to hide behind. I have nothing to hide and it truly does feel amazing. 

Have really thick, heavy hair, and migraines from ponytails? UNDERCUT!
Summer time, and the heat sucks on the back of your neck? UNDERCUT!
Hair takes lots of time/product to wash/style? UNDERCUT!
Wanna look like a bad ass babe?!! UNDERCUTORSHAVEMOST/ALLOFITOFF!!!

DISCLAIMER: By no means am I saying, just go for it and do it on a whim, and shave your head! You're literally shaving a chunk of your hair off. You should probably think about it quite a bit before you just chop it all off! But if you're considering it, my advice would be to find a reputable hair stylist in your area, and bring lots of pictures for reference! 

So, this Wednesday is dedicated to all the bald babes of the world who were fearless, and said fuck it to the societal norm of long hair! CHEERS TO YOU ALL. YOU'RE ALL QUEENS IN MY EYES.

MEL XO

Amme B's Handmade Clothing & Accessories

Amme B's is a clothing, accessories, and lingerie shop run through Storenvy and Etsy, based out of Southern California/Denver, and owned by Miss Amme B herself! A good portion of her products are handmade, and you can even do custom orders to Amme B's! They have a ton of the strappy, harness looking pieces, that are huge right now, in lingerie design.

The dainty florals, crossed with the strappy harness silhouette really make Amme B's stand out for sure. I know personally, whenever I wear any kind of lingerie that is even remotely similar to this, I feel like I can take over the entire world. 

Amme B's has been seen on people such as Youtube blogger Leda Muir (Instagram: @TheLedaBunny), countless Suicide Girls such as Peggy Sue Suicide (@peggysue_suicide), and Arwen Suicide (@dametualma) and tons more!  

Use code: FEELPRETTY to get 15% off your purchase!

 

MEL XO

"Dancing with Lights All Through The Night"

I feel like I could walk on stars in these babies.

So, as well ALL know, festival season is upon us! Honestly, how could you not know when all you see on your feeds everywhere is #COACHELLA2K15. I myself don't have any plans to go to any festivals, because nothing exciting happens where I live, but I can dream, right?

Every time I wear LED Light Up Sneakers, I have these nostalgic flashbacks to my childhood years wearing light up flashy shoes, jumping and stomping around everywhere to show off my cool kicks! Who knew, as an almost 20 year old, I'd be doing the exact same thing! Shameless... All I want to do in these shoes, is dance around to 90's music, and run around for hours in the night!

The first shoes I'd seen that were like these, were the ASHISH Light-Up Platforms (shown above) back in February of 2014 for TopShop! But as you may know, ASHISH/Topshop can be a bit pricey, and I'm all about finding a better deal if I can!

I'm a big follower of TiltedSole, and they recently got these babies from Starry Eyed by BESTFIT! The very simple silhouette of the shoe, and the contrast of the light up soles, are the perfect blend of minimal, and flashy! They're extremely wearable, comfortable, and of course, flashy!

These shoes are available in high top, low top, slip-on, and a variety of colors! The way they work, is there's a button on the inner side of the shoe, so you can just click the sides of your feet together, and launch into galaxy shoe heaven! Your LED color options are RED, GREEN, BLUE, YELLOW, TEAL, PURPLE, and WHITE! Everyone asks if they run on battery, but they are actually come with a USB charger than you can just plug in, and let charge for 1-1.5 hours for a full charge, that should last a total of 4-5 straight of light-up dance party greatness! 

I know everyone NEEDS a pair of these shoes for this Spring/Summer, because I already know these babes are going to be my go to shoe for every night out! Expect to see them a TON if you follow me on Instagram! 

Use code: MELREY15 for 15% off of your purchase at TiltedSole

MEL XO