Oct 20, 2012

Fashion Friday: Lost + Found

Madeline Beard Fashion colorado, costume, gelato, shopping, thrifting, z-man 4 Comments

I am a self-proclaimed thrift store junkie. I would say that a good 85% of my wardrobe I have picked up secondhand — I love walking into a thrift store and getting that instant rush, the thrill of the chase. It’s easy to go into any popular retailer (H&M, Forever21, J. Crew, etc) and put together an outfit that is on trend and visually striking. When you thrift, you have to sift through the worn, the stained, the polyester blends. Finally, if you’re lucky, you can walk away with treasure. I like that every piece of clothing I’ve picked up at a thrift store comes with its own untold story. That brings me to the main point of tonight’s post: Z-Man.

I picked up this shirt at a Goodwill in Boulder, Colorado the summer before my freshman year of college. It instantly became my favorite tank top because I would end up throwing it on most weekends when I was going out — there was something about wearing a “Party Animal” tank that made any experience a little more fun. When people would ask about Z-Man, I would shrug — he was and still is a mystery to me. I have a wild dream of teaming up with one of my film friends and making a short documentary called “Finding Z-Man” where I embark on an epic quest to find the former owner of this shirt. Until then, I will continue to carry on Z-Man’s legacy through his well-loved tank. Today it was cold and wet outside, so in the true spirit of fall I went with layers on layers on layers.

Today ended up being pretty wonderful. I went to Buffalo Exchange (my all time favorite thrift store) with two sweet friends, Tessa and Caroline, in search of a good Halloween costume. Here is a sneak peek at what I ended up finding… any guesses as to what I’m supposed to be?

After shopping we stopped and grabbed some gelato — honestly, there is nothing better than spending a free Friday afternoon thrifting and eating sweet things with friends. Definitely a pick me up from yesterday, and now I can feel myself gliding right into another fantastic weekend.

Tonight I made a whole wheat chicken pot pie from scratch for dinner, but more on that adventure tomorrow. For now I am going to curl up, enjoy a night in and let life slow down for a bit.

♥

Oct 16, 2012

That Fall Feelin’

Madeline Beard Fashion fall, fashion, seasons, transitions, vacation 5 Comments

Coming home after a vacation is never easy; make that a vacation to the sunny, crystal clear beaches of Mexico and it is near impossible to snap back to reality. I woke up yesterday to a cloudy, grey DC morning and realized that I needed to do something to make this transition feel a little less painful. I began to unpack from my trip, which soon led to me reorganizing my entire closet, finally packing away my shorts, breezy tops and lightweight dresses I had lived in this summer. In place of these pieces, I hung up some of my coziest sweaters and laid out all of the boots that had been sitting in the back of my closet. The act of rediscovering these seasonal favorites had a hugely positive effect. At the end of my hour-long organizing session, I threw on “the best of fall” : black leather riding boots, patterned tights, a sweater dress, faux fur vest, dark lip and a beanie for good measure. The dress gave me comfort, the vest gave me structure and some polish, the beanie gave me a bit of grungy edge in contrast to the vest, and the whole look gave me a new attitude.

As it turns out, the temperature climbed to 75 degrees and sunny yesterday afternoon, so I had to strip off the vest and forgo the beanie. The clouds cleared and the change in weather accurately matched my change in outlook. Today as I still struggle to smoothly transition from vacation back to my daily grind, I decided to start making a list of all the things that excite me about fall. Here are a few things that I came up with so far:

Pumpkin Spice Lattes at my neighborhood Starbucks

All of the seasonal pies I will bake

Lighting candles that smell like cinnamon on cold nights

HALLOWEEN (one of my very favorite holidays)

Jumping into a pile of fallen leaves

Flannels, knee socks, riding boots and blazers

The list is ongoing, but those are what immediately came to mind. What are you guys most excited about for fall? Tweet me or write a comment below.

♥

Oct 10, 2012

Capital Food Fight

Madeline Beard Fashion, Food capital food fight, culinary, fashion, food, Mexico 1 Comment

The last 48 hours has been pretty nuts — between design work, a midterm and packing for Mexico, I feel like I have barely been able to catch my breath. Last night I had the chance to take a break from all the madness to attend Capital Food Fight, a huge culinary event to benefit DC Central Kitchen. I started working as the graphic design intern for DCCK this summer and a huge part of the internship has been doing all of the design work for the event (everything from the program to posters to promo cards to invites). It was pretty surreal to walk into the Ronald Reagan Building and see hundreds of people holding the program I designed — definitely one of the most rewarding experiences I have had as a graphic designer so far.

The event in itself was amazing. I now know the true meaning of having eyes bigger than my stomach — over 60 restaurants made tasting plates for the event and I think I attempted to try a good 30 dishes. As a college student in her first semester without a meal plan, this change in my consistent “soup, salad and occasional Chinese takeout” diet was like foodie heaven. Below are a few photos I snapped from the event, but first here’s what I decided to wear:

I chose to go with a feminine/masculine pairing. For some reason, I was really inspired by both Carrie’s tuxedo for Stanford and Anthony’s wedding in Sex and the City 2 and Anne Hathaway’s tuxedo look when she hosted the Oscars. No idea where that inspiration came from, it just sort of popped into my brain as I was digging through my closet and I just thought I’d go with it.

And the perfect way to end the evening:

I leave for Mexico in T-5 hours. Maybe I will finish packing? Maybe I will sleep? Both seem pretty ambitious at this point in the night. Looking forward to sharing all of my travels with you guys, for now I need to figure out where I buried all my sandals and stashed my sunscreen…

♥