Pink Rock Candy

My room is a disaster. I have a bit of an obsessive nature leading to a small case of hoarding, but fortunately, or unfortunately, that hoarding only entails clothes and magazines. However, I’m ready to turn a new leaf and get rid of all the unnecessary stuff.

Generally, people decide to have a major overhaul in right before the new year or sometime during early-Spring. I, on the other hand, chose mid-February for one reason and one reason only, FASHION WEEK.

While trying to figure out what I’ll be wearing the next couple of weeks, I realized I had no clothes, or more precisely, I had too many clothes and am completely overwhelmed by that fact. I’m not sure how many pieces an average person has in their wardrobe, but I’m pretty sure I have at least two times that number. My closet is packed and my drawers are full. I also have two large Tupperware containers stuffed with clothes, and that doesn’t account for the constant stream of clothes I have in the laundry.

The worst part is, the only clothes I really wear are the ones I regularly wash, meaning all the clothes in my drawers, closet, and Tupperware containers are just pieces of stitch fabric taking up space.

So today, I’m starting a clothing cleanse and getting rid of (aka donating) the clothes I know I’ll never wear. Also, to prevent the inevitable re-cluttering after accumulating more trendy clothes I’ll never wear, I’m going to come up with a list of things I should have in my wardrobe. Unfortunately, I have no idea what that list should look like.

That’s why I’m bringing this topic to you. In your opinion, what are the essentials every 20-something girl needs? I’m looking for types of clothes, numbers and fabrics. Let’s hear it!

Blake Lively and Elettra Wiedemann front row at DVF’s S/S 2010 show.

Celebrities are like evil step-children to the fashion industry. You deal with them for the sake of your spouse— the public, in fashion’s case—but you generally wish they would simply go away. I’ve met and been around my fair share of “listed” people, from A-list to D-list, but seeing and meeting them is very underwhelming to me, and compared to meeting designers or editors, the excitement is negligible. So, when I read “How Much Fashion Brands Pay For Celebrities to Sit in Their Front Rows” on Fashionista.com, the outrage at the rates paid to celebs for sitting front row almost outweighed the bemusement of the post.

Here, on Pink Rock Candy, my celeb name dropping is few and far between. There are a few starlets whom I believe actually love and appreciate fashion the way industry insiders and even us bloggers do, and I respect them for that. The males of the celeb-world are a different story complete, but suffice it to say, they are generally chalked up to eye candy.

Being informed that some celebs are getting paid almost six figures to sit their meticulously toned tushes in a front row seat many people, fashion lovers and socialites alike, would give anything to fill, kills me.

I know public relations enough to know celebrities are a necessary evil, but charging a fashion brand to enjoy it’s latest work in one of the best seats in the house is a bit excessive. To me, that process is almost as ignorant as it would have been to charge Michelangelo to create a sculpture for you, as if it was an honor for him.

This may come as a surprise to many celebrities, but their presence at fashion events though often, and unfortunately, is a necessity to gain public notoriety, is anything but an honor.

As my little brother once said of homework, “It’s a have to do, not a want to do.”

What do you think of celebrities charging fashion brands to grace the front rows with their presence?

Photo Credit: Style.com

One of my favorite parts of the pre-fashion week prep is receiving preview sketches of the upcoming collections. This insight is only trumped by actually receiving a show invite and actually being able to make it to the show. Rebecca Taylor has officially been the first designer of the season to make me doublely excited by providing me with both a sneak peek sketch of the collection and an invite to their Valentine’s Day show.

It’s amazing how palpable the fashion week excitement is on the Internet. Aside from a few friends in my life, and co-workers of course, to most of my friends and family, fashion (read clothes) just happens like eating or breathing. So, when speaking to them of fashion week and any other thing having to do with the industry, I receive blank stares and humoring nods. However, when I open my inbox or read my favorite blogs, the buzz is everywhere this time of year, along with a bit of the romantic spirit sprinkled throughout, of course.

Luckily for those Valentine’s Day naysayers, the hearts and KISS MEs haven’t seemed to blur into the fashion week hysteria, as evindent in the neutral colors and slight hippie aesthetic seen in the sketch— Also, simply seeing the phrases Parisian and New York City girl in the same sentence makes me love this collection already.

p.s. Taylor Swift wore a Rebecca Taylor tunic, which I loved, during her performance at the Grammy’s, and I can’t wait to see, first hand, the new beauties Rebecca will send down the runway for Fall 2010.

Me in my 11-year-old L.e.i. jeans.

I have a pair of jeans from sixth grade. The wash may be a little bluer than I would buy today, and the bottom a little more flared, but I wear them regularly, none the less. This isn’t a testament to my minimal weight gain since I was 10, but more of a tribute to the durability of said jeans. They aren’t designer and didn’t cost me an arm and a leg. Actually, they were, at most, $15 from T.J.Maxx and are by L.e.i. So, when asked, a couple of weeks ago, to help launch the L.e.i. Model Citizen contest, I jumped at the opportunity.

L.e.i. Jeans and Teen Vogue, are holding a contest to find the next L.e.i Model Citizen; a girl between the ages of 15-21 who best exemplify the values of L.e.i— life, energy and intelligence.

The contest whose grand prize winner receives a $100,000 college scholarship, a feature in L.e.i.’s Fall 2010 national advertising campaign, a Teen Vogue internship and more, is judged by some of fashion’s most influential women including Teen Vogue’s editor-in-Chief Amy Astley, designer Rachel Roy, and models Chanel Iman and Ali Michael.

To enter the contest which begins today and ends on Mar. 23, 2010, you must create an original video, no more than two minutes, showing how you best exhibit life, energy and intelligence. Tell about your success, how you give back to your community, or even show a talent. What you do, is completely up to you.

I highly encourage you lovelies to enter, not only because a two minute video is super easy to make, but also because a $100,000 college scholarship is major not to mention you get an automatic, no questions asked internship with Teen Vogue.

In the insurmountable words of RuPaul, “You betta’ work!”

Keep up to date with L.e.i. Model Citizen contest on Twitter and Facebook where judge and rising supermodel Chanel Iman will be chatting live with fans on February 4.

If you need an example of what to do for your video, on the right is the completely low budget video I made using my cruddy webcam that makes everything look dark and the Windows Movie Maker skills I obtained during a journalism class I took a little over a year ago— I guess you will use the things you learn in class.

p.s. It’s so strange hearing my own voice, it sort of grates on my ears. So, tell yours I’m very sorry.