I’m kinda zonked right now from a hilarious and fun filled evening but this photo was too good to not share. And it was the only one I took the whole evening! Karla, Geri, and I are demonstrating some signature blogger facial expressions: the laugh, the pout, and the smirk.

A big thank you to Lucrecia of Fashion is Poison who provided the vintage clothing and a cool makeup artist on set. Shout out to Kat at Urban Decay. What a treat to meet and hang out with the L.A. fashion bloggers. Look forward to seeing you all again.  I’ll be adding you to my blogroll, no doubt.

Check out karlascloset, becauseimaddicted & fashionispoison

When the results of the Fashion Intel survey were in, one of top things readers wanted to see were the places I go to in L.A. and the surrounding areas. Welcome to the very first, Places to Go.

How can you go wrong with a place called Loving Hut? You cannot. Especially when it is run by people who follow the Supreme Master – Ching Hai – who has been described as “part Buddha, part Madonna”. If you have never visited the Supreme Master TV website, then you haven’t lived! Please check it out and report back. Ha, they even play that station in the restaurant. If you find to that you start slipping away into a cult state of mind, then we’re in the same boat. It is indescribably weird and fascinating.

Loving Hut serves delicious vegan good. Since I’ve decided to drastically change my meat intake, it is great to have a restaurant down the street that offers delicious Vietnamese bun thit nuong (though the noodles weren’t vermicelli), veggie curry and faux chicken tenders. Even with as much as I cook, it is so nice to go somewhere with delicious menu options. Plus, nothing is over $10.

For those of you who know me, you know that I’m all about the drink and this place has some of the best. May I suggest the rose lemonade (pictured above) or the piña colada that Asael got. Amazing.  Save the planet and watch this hilarious video.  How many of the 15 languages on the screen can you read?

Lady Gaga has done it again. From the images I probably don’t even need to tell you how amazing her new music video for Bad Romance is. Razor blade glasses! The McQueen shoes! A hairless pussy! Bear train! Setting a man on fire! There’s so much more.

Watch it in full, here.

Film has always been a love of mine. What equally mirrors my love of watching films is critiquing them. As I am currently trying to map out my future, I’ve become increasingly interested in USC’s critical studies program which offers an M.A. or Phd. This has become very appealing to a girl who loves a critical examination of mass media and popular culture, particularly film.

An Education is one of the only films I truly enjoyed this year. Finally, my dreamboat Peter Sarsgaard has got the role I’ve been dying to see him in – so sexy. Set in 1960s England, the film’s backdrop and fashion left me inspired to grab one of the many hats I own and pair it with some leopard. Carey Mulligan looked lovely, but it was every outfit worn by Rosamund Pike that had me taking notes. Obviously clothes are not what a good movie makes, but since this is a fashion blog, I needed to gush.

I haven’t seen this mentioned anywhere else, but this film was absolutely feminist. The main character is a brilliant young girl destined for Oxford but decides to discover art, jazz and Paris instead of academia. I won’t reveal how everything unravels but this character does not weaken, instead you see her become an amazing young woman. What I appreciated most is that she has control over her autonomy all the awhile being brilliant and super stylish. Perfect.

See it.

Driving down HWY 1 there is no shortage of organic produce, pumpkins, pies and jam. Asael and I saw a sign that said “jam tasting” and we immediately made a u-turn and drove right up to the jam haven. The place was called Swanton Berry Farm and is the oldest organic strawberry farm in Califonia. The place had tons of jams to sample – which we did – and if you wanted to buy something, it was on the honor system. All you had to do was leave your money and make change if you needed. Ah, what a way to live.

We grow nopales (cactus) in my backyard so I was excited to see this field of them when we visited the farm. The place was full of wonderment, including these teeth and an awesome scale that I just had to share with you.

The last photo is of one of my favorite places in the world, Big Sur. What a great view from Nepenthe restaurant at sunset. Cannot wait to return.

Tuesday night I got back from a wonderful trip to Tracy – San Francisco – Half Moon Bay – Pescadero – Coastanoa – Big Sur. My honey and I had an amazing time and it was so hard to go back to work. In Pescadero we stopped by Harley Farms, home to the cutest goats and some of the most delicious goat cheese I’ve tasted. We had so much fun sampling over 10 cheeses and playing with the barn kitties. If you’re driving down HWY 1 I highly recommend you visit Harley Farms.

Just 10 miles down the road was our campground at Costanoa. A big thanks to my friend Stefani for her recommendation. We had an amazing time there. Our canvas tent was a lovely getaway in the woods, equipped with a heated mattress pad. Our campground had a jacuzzi where wild times were had and it was such a treat simply to enjoy all the silence. In the evening we spotted at least 20 deer grazing just steps away from us. We even saw a fox! I love wildlife.

Tomorrow, Big Sur.

wearing: vintage leopard blazer, vintage Valentino pants, J Crew tissue sirt

Happy Halloween from Lady GAGA!

P.S. That’s my sister in the last photo

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This is my favorite Paris Vogue fashion spread of all time. It is a couple years old and any chance I get to use it, I do. I’m convinced Carine Roitfeld is into magic, the Occult, or all of the above. Just take a look at her wearing this pentagram necklace.

Halloween is tomorrow and I’m sad the month of October is almost over. I’ll miss talking about Halloween costumes, baking scary cupcakes, and trying to get all my friends to sacrifice goats – just kidding.

P.S. I hope to post some costumes photos tomorrow, we’ll see.

images via Pseudo Occult Media

It is almost Halloween and needless to say the anticipation is growing. I’ve had a lot of friends ask me for Halloween costume suggestions so I thought I’d share an easy yet credible suggestion.

Go as Sally Bowles (Liza Minnelli) from Cabaret. It is a classic; it is sexy without looking like you are one of those girls desparately trying to look “sexy” and will show everone you know a thing or two about film.

Trust me. You can pull it off! Now I’m off to San Francisco.

The moment I saw this cover of MUSE magazine I immediately thought of one of my favorite films, Mais ne nous délivrez pas du mal (Don’t Deliver us from Evil). Natasha Poly, who looks like Sasha P. on the cover, appears ghostly, possessed and dreamy in every photo – much like the two young French girls who surrender themselves to Satan in the aforementioned film.

Halloween is mere days away.  Though these images are always inspiring, I find it apropos to share them now.

muse images via Twisted Lamb

Welcome to the new Fashion Intel! Please make sure to change your links and bookmarks to www.fashionintel.com. I felt that a re-design was absolutely imperative in the continual growth of this blog. Thank you to everyone who took part in my recent survey. Your answers were not only helpful but many down right hilarious! One of the things you mentioned was how you’d prefer a blog that was free of clutter and easy to navigate. This Virgo couldn’t agree more. Here are some of the changes I’d like you to make note of :

+ You will now find links, contact info, and other goodies at the top of the page
+ My twitter feed also scrolls at the top of the page so you can read my up-to-the minute updates… you’ll get a lot of restaurant recommendations, movie reviews and I’d like to think I show a bit of wit sometimes / FOLLOW ME HERE.
+ “Share This” is available for every post so if you’d like to share an article on your facebook, twitter, et al. please be my guest
+ The search bar can now be found at the end of the page
+ My contact info is now Natalie@fashionintel.com

I know you’ve been wondering what my personal style is like because you expressed it in the survey. I anticipate more personal style posts in addition to the material I already cover. You can look forward to lots of black, hats, masks, gold jewelry, platforms, vintage, and interesting locations. Having a full-time job in addition to being a former full-time student (yes, both at once) did not allot for much time in the way of style posts. Now that I’ve graduated I foresee an easier integration of more personal things. We’ll see.

P.S. I look forward to launching the shop soon, where you’ll be able to buy some amazing jewelry, vintage, and designer wares.
P.S.S. I love puckering my lips because it is obviously the most ridiculous thing one can do. Lets take it over the top!

ON SALE TODAY, LADY GAGA & THE MONSTER BALL TOUR

I bought my tickets in the presale yesterday – center orchestra, wow – but you can buy your’s today starting at 10 AM.

Gaga on the tour’s fashion direction: “The fashion, certainly, is going to be another exploration and another level from where we were with the Fame Ball. The theme of monsters is certainly going to be an influence, as well as the theme of evolution and change. It’s going to be a truly artistic experience that is going to take the form of the greatest post-apocalyptic house party that you’ve ever been to.”

Last week I went into American Apparel to buy another leotard and to my delight all of their vintage eye wear was 50% off. Most of the shades were ironic (barf) or 80s but I came across these beauties and knew I had to have them. I have a fondness for tortoise shell and these appear to be the god-mother to the Spring ‘10 Linda Farrow for Alexander Wang sunglasses shown here. How could I resist?

I love leather gloves and plastic black kitty cats. I wonder if any one else has this much fun in CVS.

It is 11 days away until All Hallows’ Eve and if you don’t know what costume your wearing, you better get on it!  I saw this image from this month’s Dazed and Confused and immediately thought of Lady Bathory.  You’d look that good too if you bathed in the blood of virgins.

Maybe this could be your costume?  A mix of high fashion and history.