cute drawings, collages, and sculptures by christina song.
Year: 2010
hardly strictly
hardly strictly bluegrass starts today in san francisco!
with one exception – radiohead’s show at outside lands (first ever nighttime show in golden gate park) – this was the most fun i had when i lived in san francisco. the festival takes place each fall in golden gate park, and consists of three days of live music – FOR FREE. those of you who haven’t been to san fran, october is probably the nicest month out there weather wise and there’s really nothing better than spending a weekend lounging on blankets in spectacular golden gate park with a bunch of friends listening to the plucking of guitar strings. this year’s lineup is sick – including t. bone burnett w/ a special appearance by karen elson, jenny and johnny, steve earle, conor oberst, joan baez, trombone shorty, umphrey’s mcgee, the felice brothers, sharon jones and the dap kings, yonder mountain string band, the avett brothers, railroad earth, elvis costello, patti smith, emmylou harris, and many more.
did i mention its FREE??? check out the website here.
what’s eating Abbey Lee
During the fashion weeks abbey lee has been caught off duty wearing a number of Free People items, here she is wearing our Almost Famous Jacket.
Her whole ensemble here is looking very “Almost Famous!”
our october catalog
here at free people we are so inspired by fashion bloggers – we love seeing how they express their personality and fashion sense through their blogs. there is no denying the influence they’ve come to have in the fashion world and we love it, because they’re real girls. so we invited three bloggers, each with their own unique look and style, and asked them to model in our catalog. we wanted the shoot to be natural and fun, and capture them in their element. each blogger had the freedom to style their own outfits and were photographed in the homes of three of our employees, each with their own personal photographer.
the outcome: a visual diary of three girls who love to have fun with fashion.
natalie suarez makes the world of modeling more personal by sharing her off duty style, fashion inspiration, and passion for music on her blog natalie off duty. natalie was photographed by her sister dylana suarez (of the blog nana in wonderland) at the home of our creative director in northern liberties, philadelphia.
england-based georgia larsen is the free-spirited blogger behind dora’s fur, where she shares her eclectic style, fashion inspiration and personal photos and stories. georgia was photographed by our studio photographer nathan kula, at his home in northern liberties, philadelphia.
rumi neely has become an international sensation through her blog fashiontoast, where she showcases her impeccable style in editorial-quality photos taken by her boyfriend colin sokol. rumi was photographed by colin at the home of our senior designer in mt. airy, philadelphia.
the catalog will be available online and in the mail on october 5th.
october calendar!
thursday poll – edition 112
poll time! i love our selection of backpacks…i’m thinking about getting one because i think they’re perfect for weekend getaways. which backpack would you take traveling?
the faded cold spring backpack:
the somerset backpack:
the russel backpack:
or the leather and canvas backpack:
last week’s poll was very close but the winner was the solid chiffon maxi skirt!
October Catalog Sneak Peek
you guys may have heard by now that our october catalog features three lovely fashion bloggers – natalie suarez, georgia larsen and rumi neely. we’ll have lots of great stuff for you on the blog in the month ahead including behind the scenes videos, photos and interviews with each girl.
here’s a sneak peek of what’s to come!
![Untitled-2[5]crop](http://bldg25blog.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Untitled-25crop.jpg "Untitled-2[5]crop")
the catalog drops october 5th.
a baby shower, fp style
today our team held a baby shower for our visual display and store design manager – one of the very talented creative ladies behind our incredible stores! as you can imagine, our visual team went all out for her baby shower. they even decorated a golf cart that they drove straight up to her desk to pick her up and drive her over to the outdoor location where the shower was set up! here are some photos from the celebration.
“hamburger” cupcakes!! so cute.
congrats to the beautiful mom-to-be!
more DIY inspiration
kaitlin, a sales associate at our roosevelt field mall store in NY, uses old free people catalogs to make these awesome notebooks and frames! i keep all of my old fp catalogs and use them in collages, but i might have to try this instead…
i love her collages! thanks so much for sharing kaitlin :)
austin fall kickoff event!
our lamar store in austin, texas is having a really cool event this weekend! in addition to a raffle and fall fashion ideas from our staff, they will be giving away FREE feather hair extensions and showing customers how to put them in their hair! according to our austin fp girls, this is the must-have accessory for next weekend’s austin city limits :)
doesn’t it look amazing with the hair in the french braid?? our austin girls are going to take more photos at the event documenting how to put in the extensions, so stay tuned for a how-to post next week! :)
and if you’re in austin, make sure you stop by our store on saturday between 1 and 5 for the event!
wednes-diy
i love yoga, and when i first started going to classes i realized that i needed a case to carry my yoga mat to and from the studio. i went to a few different stores and found the cases to be way too expensive when it seemed like something i could make pretty easily using supplies i already had at home. turns out it was!
all you need is fabric, a needle & thread, measuring tape, scissors and your strap. for fabric i used an old tapestry and for my strap i used a soft belt (the kind that you tie, without a buckle) that came with an old pair of pants.
unfortunately i did this a while ago so i don’t have photos documenting the process. but basically what i did was rolled up my yoga mat and measured the length and the circumference of the mat. i added on a few inches to both the length and the circumference to be safe, and then cut the fabric to that height and width.
next i folded the fabric in half, with the patterned side of the fabric on the inside, and sewed the side and bottom together – leaving the top open. then i turned it inside out so the pattern is on the outside and the extra fabric and stitching is on the inside.
for the top of the case, where the opening is, i folded the top edge of the fabric a couple of inches on the inside, so there was a double layer, and then did two rows of stitches about an inch apart. next i strung a shoe lace through, in between the two rows of stitches, creating a drawstring for the case.
now for the strap! i kinda did this my own way. i cut two small holes near the top of the case and two near the bottom, put the belt through and knotted it. some may want to sew the strap to the case but i found this works just as well and was probably a lot easier :)
i’m really happy with the result :) i’ve had it for a few years now and it has held up really well!
make it perfect and real
i always feel like the best way to get to know someone is to see where they live – a home can tell so much about a person. we’re going to be exploring more homes of fp girls here on the blog and i thought i’d start with my own.
i’ve been living in old city, philadelphia for about a year now since moving back east from san francisco. old city is my favorite part of philly because its rather small and my closest friends live in about a two block radius – as well as my favorite coffee shop, record store and bar. i don’t spend much time at home but i view my place as a safe haven when i need to relax, listen to music and be alone with my thoughts.
this buddha is one of my most treasured possessions – i got it from my dad, who used to collect them. the beatles white album is my favorite record of all time, and i found this original copy at a thrift store in ocean beach san diego.
this is actually a lamp that is currently being used as a hat rack :)
more of my favorite things… jewelry box that holds some rings and trinkets that are very special to me. i still ask my eight ball for advice when i can’t make decisions. a lucky candle, favorite photo and drawing i did of jimi hendrix.
i needed a place to hang my necklaces so i put a few nails in the wall.
the majority of my closet is free people – not because i work here, it was always that way :)
i saw someone with this cardboard sign on haight street in san fran and i thought it was awesome.
photos of places i’ve been and my favorite grateful dead poster.
the majority of the artwork i have hanging right now is concert-related.
this little antique mirror table unfortunately does not belong to me, but i love it so much. i use it to store random little trinkets, photos and concert tickets. and i always have candles burning!
my fridge – my favorite quote of all time is in the center.
another quote i love, from a jimi hendrix song. the postcard at top right was sent to me when i got the job at free people and i thought it was the sweetest thing ever. and fun fact about me – i’m a certified bartender in san francisco :)
and last but certainly not least – this is my cat, jam <3