The Looms In Our Bones

There is a special sort of magic that is created when fashion and art collide. Whether it's a clothing collection inspired by an artistic movement or an illustration influenced by a high fashion look, the results are always incredibly unique. That notion holds truth in the works of artist, Izziyana Suhaimi. Her distinct artistic take on popular culture involves a beautiful marriage between colorful embroidery and detailed illustration. That interesting collaboration can be seen in carefully embroidered accents, clearly drawn figures, and familiar subject matters that many can appreciate; and they do. Suhaimi's pleasantly original art work has garnered her the attention of galleries and publications across Asia in addition to an immense amount of love within the tumblr community.  I was so happy to stumble across it and I hope that I can eventually see some of her work live, here in New York. View more of Suhaimi's work and learn more about the artist on her Tumblr.

Photography by Ken Cheong

The Innovative Denim Experience, Introducing RPMWEST

Online shopping has always proven itself to be a very difficult task. Even in this digital age, as consumers we are promised a more effortless, enjoyable, and immediate experience. In most cases, it is far easier to make purchases online rather than at a brick and mortar store with regards to merchandise like footwear. Yet, with more varied wardrobe pieces like denim, the list of qualms is nearly endless. As consumers, our constant desire to secure products of high quality continues to exceed our expectations. Despite this, perhaps the real issue lies in the brands that we choose to admire. We commend ingenuity, classic conception, and overall something that will last us a lifetime. Somehow it’s taken until 2013 for a clothing company to create a concrete denim shopping experience. Fortunately, this new brand can and will assist you in effectively finding your ideal pair. Introducing RPMWEST, the innovative and progressive way to find your best fitting jeans.

RPMWEST is the brainchild of Manuel Rappard and the product of a San Francisco based group of designers and technologists devoted to supplying the perfect pair of jeans, excellent customer service, and the most conducive shopping experience possible. It starts with the core of their product, RPMWEST provides raw selvedge denim at an uncommonly reasonable rate, while exclusively utilizing the finest Japanese selvedge denim and fine American-made trimmings. Their dedication to satisfying their customers goes even further than most other brands. RPMWEST has set plans to deliver three pairs of your selected jean to try on in the accommodation of your own home, ensuring you get the absolute best fit possible. You would then only keep the one pair that you’ve chosen to purchase and send the rest back. Yes, it really is as easy as it sounds. This innovative shopping experience, most popularly established by eyeglass brand, Warby Parker, allows customers to have the same opportunity to try on multiple pairs of an item. This is exactly like an in store experience, only at any opportune time in the comfort of your own home. This method saves the customer both time and money and ultimately provides the best outcome.

With the brand’s recent launch, there are many anticipating the arrival of their first pair. In less than two days, RPMWEST has already surpassed it’s initial pledged Kickstarter goal of $20,000, which will assist the brand’s initial production. Before closing in on their first week, they had reached $40,000, which secured the introduction of their immaculate black denim collection. Now at the end of their first week on Kickstarter, RPMWEST has surpassed their final goal of $50,000; enough financial backing to implement the aforementioned ingenious home try on program. They have garnered the dedicated enthusiasm and support of the fashion industry and denim aficionados alike. Did we forget to mention that there are still 32 days remaining in their Kickstarter funding? To become a part this unique movement and be one of the first to preorder your own pair of RMPWEST Japanese selvedge denim, join us in contributing to RPMWEST’s Kickstarter pledge. It’s a development that completely revolutionizes the denim shopping experience in price, quality, and above all – convenience. 

Originally Published on HY.GEN.IC

Persona Jewelry Spring Tea Party

With the weather finally warming up in New York, it's fun to celebrate springtime in the most feminine of ways. Last week I had the pleasure of attending Persona jewelry's tea party at Lady Mendl's in Manhattan's Grammercy neighborhood. The event was everything your seven year old self would've dreamed of in adult form- an assortment of fresh fruit and delicious pastries, a variety of flavored mimosas, pretty floral crowns by Headmistress, manicures and nail art by Manicube, and of course the main event; personalized necklace making utilizing Persona's adorable and unique charms.

The event served as a celebration for Persona's new spring collections. All had incredibly different inspirations, yet each group was unique, adorable and executed to perfection. My favorite of the new collections was inspired by 60's retro. Charms included pink milkshakes, sparkling red cherries, and a sweet vintage corvette. Another of the new collections was inspired by the Canadian designer's trip to Spain. You can see the influence of Spain's characteristic stained glass in the beads influenced by the beautiful country.

Overall, I had an amazing time at the event and can absolutely not wait to get my hands on some of these new beautiful beads! You too can create your own persona piece, right on their website. If you're feeling inspired maybe you can even throw your own Persona springtime tea party.

High, Love

It is with great pleasure that I share with you all A Hit of Sarah's second exclusive editorial! This one was done with a much smaller team: Photography by Brian McGuffog and Stan Evans of Annie Leibovitz Studios, Modeled by real life couple, Megan Parkhurst and Cameron Bailey of Click Models, Make-up by Te$$ Money, and styling by yours truly. We shot this beautiful couple on location in Manhattan's Washington Heights neighborhood and the results were amazing. I had a great time and absolutely loved working with both Brian and Tess again! What do you think of A Hit of Sarah's latest shoot?

Look Information:

Look 1- On Cameron: Smile now Cry Later pullover, Avelon denim, shoes by Swear. On Megan: Avelon top & denim, Deena and Ozzy heels 

Look 2- On Cameron: Avelon pullover & denim, shoes by Swear. On Megan: Kai-aakmann dress, Deena and Ozzy heels 

Look 3- On Cameron: Smile now Cry later pullover, Avelon denim, shoes by Swear. On Megan: Sretsis dress, Deena and Ozzy heels 

Look 4- On Cameron: Avelon t-shirt & denim, shoes by Swear. On Megan: Sretsis top, Avelon denim, Deena and Ozzy heels

Precision is my Inspiration

Oscar Wilde once said that "Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing." In fashion, a label can easily dictate the price of a piece regardless of what it's made of or how much work went into it's creation. With that notion in mind, Raymond Weil's elegant watches are not only very attractive, but also are made with incredible precision and a dedication to perfection. To our delight, he proves that to his customers in the most creative of ways. In "Precision is my Inspiration", Weil visually illustrates just how much effort goes into the craft of putting together one of his beautiful wrist watches. The process is matched with graceful tunes of a lovely string orchestra, which also works in comparing the conception of a handsome wrist watch to the creation of an extravagant string symphony composition. As a huge fan of the fashion film concept I think that this specific piece is an absolute delight to watch and makes you really appreciate Weil's strive for good design and excellent functionality. In addition to the great film, I highly encourage you to discover Raymond Weil's website and collection of incredibly elegant and attractive wrist watches. You definitely will not be dissapointed.

Kate & Johnny

"They were [seemingly] perfect together."

This post serves as a quick note on love, not to be confused with a love note, but rather more of an informative message on the emotional state of being heavily enamored. As I write this it's nearing midnight. My late night epiphany writing developed from the aftermath of catching myself in the act of procrastination; scrolling through old photographs of a young Kate Moss on tumblr. I suddenly stopped scrolling as I saw an image of Moss and former boyfriend, actor, Johnny Depp, and ostensibly felt compelled to further inspect. Wow, I thought to myself, they were really an incredible looking pair. This sudden recognition lead me to spend a shameful amount of time further researching the couple. Hours passed as I looked through more photographs, viewed youtube videos, and read numerous articles and interviews. To me, Kate and Johnny seemed so perfect together. Although, seemed, is really the key word here.

It's hard not to adore the images of the two stars together- Johnny Depp, a talented and amazingly handsome actor, and Kate Moss, undoubtedly our generation's most iconic fashion model. They were together for four years, working red carpets, photo shoots, and the entertainment industry's hearts. What happened? I'm not so sure, but they broke up and that was the end of that. The idea of them parting briefly saddened me until I caught the feeling and got back to my senses. We live in a celebrity driven society that becomes attached to certain famous couples- Nick & Jessica, Justin & Britney, Brad & Jennifer, to name a few; and when they don't work out we obsess about it for years on end, sometimes wishing they'd get together again.

The thing is- none of us really know what their love was actually like. It could have been for publicity, it could have been for financial reasons, it could have just been for the hell of it. The bottom line is that we really never know and have absolutely no right too. In our real lives we get upset when hearts break, when a match seemed perfect or conversely, when a couple stays together when on the exterior they don't appear to make much sense. What we don't always acknowledge is the fact that, like Rihanna and Chris Brown's recent duet makes note of, "It ain't nobody's business...but mine and my baby." Only the two people involved in the connection know what really went on between them, what they really felt for each other, what their love actually was. So maybe that's the answer to Rihanna and Chris Brown, to Bill and Hilary, and Posh and Becks. Sometimes love conquers all, at times it's blind, but all in all it really just ain't nobody's business.

photos via: tumblr

Sretsis Fall 2013

Playing pretend was a game I knew and played all too well as a little girl. On somedays I was a glittering fairy princess, others an exotic deep sea mermaid, and on the random occasion- a really fashionable and highly intelligent doctor. Acting out these many fantasies was something I always enjoyed and then somewhat unfortunately I became a grown up, exposed to the harsh realities and responsibilities that come with adulthood and completely lost the game of pretend. The Sretsis sisters, however, never really lost it. Instead they live their life making the perfect ensembles to play the game to perfection.

For their autumn/winter 2013 collection, the ladies of Sretsis were inspired by Mexico's Day of the Dead or as they call it, La Dia de los Muertos. This resulted in a collection that's incredibly feminine, fun and colorful, but with a little bit of a dark edge to it. Butterflies and flowers are paired with both living and deceased skeleton cats and foxes. Blacks and burnt oranges accompany glow in the dark lively lime greens. This collection is not only incredibly girly and flirty, but also would work well for a late night dance outing. Imagine glowing in the dark in one of these pretty outfits. You'd be the life of the after party.

 Above, you can see Sretsis' fall glow in the dark looks. Below, view the adorable garden set look book. I can't wait to get my hands on this collection.