Blogger Diary: A Perfect Saturday

This weekend was my favorite kind of weekend. Sleep in Saturday morning, wake up bleary eyed and warm under my blankets, throw on some clothes and head to my nearby bar for a leisurely brunch.  The fire is crackling and the burning wood is a welcome scent in the morning. Then we’re off on a mission to find a vintage camera strap for my new camera.   I tried some of the local Old City boutiques but no luck at any of those (although I did walk out of one with a cozy new sweater with suede elbow patches).  We stopped at a couple thrift and antique stores in the South Street/Bella Vista area before making our way back to Old City for the night – the photos below are from Anastacia’s Antiques, a pretty cool spot on Bainbridge between 6th and 7th, and we also stopped at Retrospect on South Street, which usually has some great vintage finds.   The holidays have really taken over the city and I find myself craving a heavy snow fall… I love it when the streets are blanketed in white drifts of silence.

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If any of you have any tips on where to find that elusive vintage camera strap… holler!

Catalog Travel Diary: We’re Here!

We arrived late last night in a fog of a quietly empty Hanoi.

This morning we saw the chaos of the city alive, scooters racing like bugs below and excitement filled the crew.

And we’re off! The FP team met with our local producer Thoa, at 6am this morning to start our adventure to Halong Bay.

Xo

Catalog Travel Diary: Almost There!

We’re 24 hours into our journey,  having fun during our layover in Seoul, Korea. 5 more hours to go and we’ll be in Hanoi! At 6 am we hit the road for a 5 hr trek to Halong Bay, where we’ll be shooting on the beautiful junk boats. Stay tuned!

Xo

Destination Spotlight: Santorini, Greece

On a small island in the Aegean Sea, sits a paradise of whitewashed buildings and bright blue roofs, so blue they blend in with the sky. The island, officially called Thira, is Santorini – essentially the remains of a volcanic explosion that destroyed the earliest settlements that were once one large single island.  The volcano left behind a caldera – a massive lagoon with steep cliffs surrounding it. It was one of the largest eruptions in history, and some believe it may have contributed to the legend of the lost city of Atlantis. An air of mythology settles over the buildings and cliffs, and I can imagine wandering through winding, narrow cobblestone walkways and imagining the stories they hold. Today the island’s economy relies largely on tourism, and it’s easy to see why.  The sloping cliffs allow for stunning views at almost any point on the island and the stark white of the architecture creates a clean, cool setting that would be hard not to find relaxing. Just looking at photos of Santorini can make you feel refreshed – it has quickly moved up to the top of my list of places I want to go.

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Photos by Thomas Northcut.

Stay tuned for more info on where our catalog team stayed while shooting our December book, and some of their favorite places in Santorini!

On The Road: Diary of a Catalog Team

Our catalog team is always busy – when they’re not traveling around the world shooting the books you see each month, they’re planning the next ones, months in advance.  They are departing soon to shoot our March book and we’ll be posting their journal entries for you here on the blog! Stay tuned…

In two days we’re off on another FP adventure- this month’s journey takes us all the way across the world to photograph breathtaking Vietnam, top to toe- a land of dramatic landscapes, coastlines, colors.  We’ve got 32 hours of travel in store- a flight from JFK –> Seoul, Korea, Seoul –> Hanoi, Vietnam. We’re so excited to have the opportunity to share this experience with you – we’ll check in over the next two weeks and keep you abreast of all of our discoveries.

xo

December Catalog Behind the Scenes

Our December catalog seems to have everything I’m craving right now… breezy dresses, textured knits and denim, soft colors and the beautiful setting of Santorini, Greece.  I can’t get over how beautiful this place looks – more on that tomorrow, but for now here’s a peek behind the scenes of our December catalog, featuring model Mona Johannesson and shot by photographer Enric Galceran.

Behind the scenes photos by Thomas Northcut.

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I love these rose crowns!

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The adorable washed floral baby tee is also on my wishlist…

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I love this look! The rocker vegan leather pants, joe lace up boot, o-town muscle tank and joplin necklace.

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The awesome ray of light dress.

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Another fave – the we the free lunar maxi dress, speckle ribbed pullover and hayden stitch boot.

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Shop the December Catalog.

Photo Diary: New York City in the Fall

This weekend I was in New York City for our crafting event at Free People Upper East.  I love New York this time of year – the weather was still mild enough to walk around outside all day comfortably, but a cheerful holiday spirit fills the air.  I spent Saturday wandering around in Brooklyn and stayed the night at the Bowery House in downtown Manhattan before heading to the Upper East Side on Sunday.

My first stop was Brooklyn Flea – a thrifter and vintage lover’s heaven!

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I loved the vintage holiday decorations and ornaments :)

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I was drooling over the turquoise jewelry!!!

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After spending a little too much time sifting through all the treasures, I walked down to Prospect Park where there was a little farmer’s market – and hot apple cider!

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I would so love to live in a Brooklyn brownstone one day…

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I stopped for a quick cider at a pub in Brooklyn –  I loved the little jar they served it in! Then I hopped on the subway back to Manhattan to head to the Bowery House, where I was staying. This place is perfect for anyone traveling to NYC on a budget, if you’re literally just looking for a place to crash.  It has a cool history – in the 1940s it was a temporary home to soldiers returning from World War II.  The location is convenient and the price is great, plus it has a cool rooftop garden – but if you’re a light sleeper, bring ear plugs :)

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Spotted this post-it note in Prospect Park :) Stay tuned for part two, with photos from our event on Sunday at Free People Upper East!

Photos from First Friday!

As promised, here are some photos from our fp girls’ art opening on Friday night at Reward, called “A Distant Land To Roam.” Inspired by western prairies and Native American motifs, the show featured intricate wall hangings, drawings, collages, fabric animals, and other small goods. It was beautiful!

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The beautiful artists :) On the left is our New Romantics Mesh Poncho!

The show will be up at Reward until December 30th so if you live in the Philly area be sure to check it out :)

Tree, Line

“This is an ongoing series of constructed photographs rooted in the forest. These works, carried out in Surrey, Hampshire and Wales,involve site specific interventions in the landscape, ‘wrapping’ trees with white material to construct a visual relationship between tree, not-tree and the line of horizon according to the camera’s viewpoint.”

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Work by Zander Olsen.

I love stuff like this… these are brilliant!