What to Wear to Summer Music Festivals

I know I didn't put this out in time for Bonnaroo... but Vans Warped Tour is just starting!

Dressing for summer music festivals can be tricky. The weather can range from HOT and sunny, to windy, to torrential downpour. The trick is to wear clothing that is comfortable and versatile, and to be prepared. Channel the boy scouts or girl scouts! And if you are channeling the girl scouts, make sure you remember to bring me some cookies.

To begin, why don't you check out: Tips For Attending Summer Music Festivals. You'll get some tips on what NOT to wear and other ways to have a fun time.

SMF 1 by nikkidee featuring Ksubi shorts

If you're not the stand-in-the-back type, holding a purse gets annoying real fast. And you know in your heart that it isn't fair to make your acoustic loving friend be bag bitch every year. Pair a stripey t-shirt or a breezy crop top with a utilitarian vest that has lots of pockets. Now you don’t need to worry about where you will keep your stuff. Go-go-gadget cellphone!  Wear some studded shoes and crowd surf your way to the front. Now you are truly hardcore.

Summertour by nikkidee featuring Nike shoes

Pair a bustier-style top with some cool jeans. Look ma, no tanlines! Add a cute backpack for all the free stickers you get...and guitar picks you'll catch.

Side note: Converse high-top All Stars happen to be my shoe of choice any time I go to a concert. However, they are flat on the bottom and can get very uncomfortable if you are standing, dancing, or moshing in them for hours at a time. I am stubborn and insist on wearing the same pink shredded converse I've had since about the seventh grade to almost every show.But I would consider trying boots or some more comfortable shoes, like Nike or another athletic type shoe.

Romps by nikkidee featuring Converse shoes

It can get really hot out there, and cute rompers make life so easy. And according to Polyvore, the pink one was seen on Kim Kardashian - zomg (I'm sure it looks better on you). The gray one is only $10 at blnts.com- Awesome. Save your money for sweet merch at your favorite band’s tent! And a twelve dollar hotdog.
Pair your romper with a cute hat and colorful converse for an outfit that everyone will envy.

Rock on in style this summer.

Quote of the Day

"In the deepest hour of the night, I confess to myself three things: I would die if I was forbidden to write, forbidden to love, or forbidden to fashion."

 -Lady Gaga

I guess fashion is a verb now. It should be!

Musical Clothes: Daft Punk is Playing at My House

I'm starting a new segment where I am going to create outfits, either on Polyvore or in real life, based on a song, band, or concert and post pictures here!

Music can greatly influence fashion, and I often listen to music while I am getting dressed and ready. Music can influence a person's mood and it can definitely influence their outfit! I would probably wear something quite different if I was listening to The Cure while I was getting ready, than if I was listening to Britney Spears.

If you have a song you would like me to make an outfit for, let me know in the comments or in an email. Feel free to send me ideas.

This first outfit was made in Polyvore and is based on the song "Daft Punk is Playing at My House" by LCD Soundsystem.

This is what I would wear if Daft Punk was actually playing at my house. It was definitely influenced by the music video!

Daft Punk is Playing at My House by nikkidee featuring Paul & Joe Sister skirts

Does the music you listen to ever influence the way you dress?

Inspiration: Christian Joy

Christian Joy.
She is a designer of costumes, of monsters, and of rock and roll. She was the first designer that I was inspired by and looked up to.

Christian Joy was born Christiane Joy Hultquist in Iowa. She began designing in Brooklyn around 2000 with no formal training. She met Karen O, lead singer of the band Yeah Yeah Yeahs in 2001 and began designing unique costumes for Karen's stage appearances.

"Christian Joy and Karen O met when Joy worked as a shop girl for Daryl K, to which the future rock star was a regular. After a few cocktails, Joy began to design the outfits that would eventually define Karen O's onstage persona." (Tongue in Chic)

 I have always been into fashion and the music scene, and Christian Joy and Karen O made me realize that music and fashion influence each other and are inseparable. If you look back in cultural history, you most likely think of the music and clothing from each time period, together. Each look means something and each song means something too. This is why movements in music and trends in fashion coincide.

Christian Joy in her studio in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
She has designed for the UK band The Klaxons. In 2007 her costume designs were featured at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London as part of the New York Fashion Now exhibit. In September 2009, Joy costumes were featured in a Where The Wild Things Are pop-up shop in Los Angeles. (The first picture in this post is a photo from this costcollection.)

Some of Christian Joy's work:

Designs for the stage

 The many costumes of Karen O.

I follow everything that Karen O wears on the stage. She makes the clothing come alive. She proves that clothing is meant to be worn, it is an extension of self. I can help you express who you are, or help you become another person entirely.
Christian Joy's clothing and costumes prove that anything really is possible in fashion.

 Extra Love:
www.christianjoy.us

What's inspiring you today?

Beautiful and Bionic

Hey everyone, I have a bunch of posts that are lined up and almost ready to go, so check back soon. For now, though, I am on a total Christina Aguilera Kick. I have her new CD, Bionic.
 Something I like about Christina is that each of her albums has a different sound, but they are all undeniably Christina. This album has a really different sound from Back to Basics or Stripped (my favorite Christina Aguilera album).  I saw an interview with Christina on FUSE where she explains that if Back to Basics was a look back in music, to jazz and the like; Bionic is a look into the future. She also says, in an interview with Ryan Seacrest, “It’s really a fun, fun record. Really futuristic. I was inspired by a lot of electronic music, electronic artists, and so you’ll hear all those elements.”  Most of the album is electro- dance type music, but my favorite song is "You Lost Me". It is incredibly beautiful and really showcases the different things that Christina can do with her voice. I reccommend listening to live versions as well-amazing!



I have heard many people argue that she is trying to copy Lady Gaga in her new video for "Not Myself Tonight". However, I disagree. I think that if you go back and watch old Christina videos, she has always been both sexual and artistic, always trying new and different things in her videos. I suggest watching the videos for "Dirrty" and "Fighter". She explained in an interview on People.com "I feel sexuality to be very empowering. I think men love to believe that they own our sexuality, so if a woman represents herself in a sexual way, people think, 'Oh it must be for a man.' But men don't have the right to own our sexuality. If I want to be sexual, it's for my own appreciation and enjoyment! That's why I like to talk about the fact that sometimes I am attracted to women. I appreciate their femininity and beauty."



Anyway, I really wanted to post this video: the song that became the anthem for freaks, for young girls, for the gay community, and for people around the world... everyone needs a reminder that we are all FREE from the judgment of others.                
My beautiful readers, remember:

You are beautiful. :]

Tatted Up Ready to Go

Yoooooo how's it going? I have two announcements.

1. I wrote this thing called "Sun Poisoned", and it has been featured on Epic Magazine. Mint! It is a little bit darker than most of the stuff I write on here. What do you think?

2. I got a tattoo! Yes, it is real.  I got it done on Friday at Explicit Tattoo in Suffern, New York.  This is my first tattoo, and I looove it. I wasn't keeping track of time, but I would guess that it took about an hour from the time the first needle touched my skin. The tattoo is on my left wrist. It says "I am free" in Italian and yes, that is a hot air balloon. Did you expect anything else?

Initial drawing.

Finished tattoo!

Have you done anything exciting this week?

Handguns Interview

 Handguns is a pop-punk band from Harrisburg, PA. The band is made up of Taylor Eby on vocals, Jake Langley on guitar, Nate Bobb on bass, and Marco Florey on drums.  They were added to a tour with the band With the Punches. They are all about hustling, hard work, and their love for music, which is awesome. Here's a little quote from their Myspace page that I think is rad: 

"We don't have famous friends we are not critically acclaimed and no one in this band was ever in some famous band who's name we could drop or coat tail we could ride. But we will get up earlier than you and work longer and harder. That has to count for something. If it doesn't then at least we had a hell of a good time trying and made some amazing friends along the way."

You can't argue with that! I was lucky enough to get an interview with Jacob, who plays guitar.

How would you describe your sound?
We play pop punk. Its what we grew up on kinda like a mix between The MovieLife, Saves The Day, and Blink 182

How would you describe your live performance?
 We put everything we have physically into our live shows. I feel like if I don't get done playing and have to wring my shirt out then Iike I have ripped off everyone who payed to see us play.

I actually have the t-shirt that says “Handguns cuddles on the first date” and I’m just wondering, is this really true?
 Yeah, we snuggle! :) but that shirt was made to poke fun at this hardcore band called Bracewar they have a shirt thats says "Bracewar fucks on the first date". If you have that shirt you are lucky we only made 25 of those in that color and won't ever make the same ones again. EBAY GOLD

Haha, awesome!
What is your favorite song (not from your band) ?
 I really don't have a favorite song I have so many. If I where to pick my current favorite song it would have to be "I saw Behemoth and it Ruled" by Man Overboard

How stoked are you to be going on Warped Tour this summer?
 Pretty stoked we are not actually playing at warped tour we are selling cds in the line then leaving to go play a show. Its going to be a lot of fun and a great way for us to get our new record into peoples hands.

Would you rather have the power to teleport, or the power to freeze time?
 Teleport hands down. Touring would RULE if we could teleport. Tonight England tomorrow Punxy Pa.

What advice would you give to a band that is just starting out?
 WORK WORK WORK WORK Don't worry about any of the other stuff. Like the hardcore band Modern Life Is War said in their song "dead ramones" "we're not pretty and we're not rich we're going to have to fucking work for it" That is the mindset we have when it comes to the band. We know that we are not by any means "heart throbs" and we are FAR from rich nor do we have rich parents to foot the bills. And we don't have some "in" by being friends with the "right" people. We just play, practice and tour as much as possible. Also when you love what you are doing as much as we do it doesn't feel like work. Oh and play music that means something to you. So many bands right now start out and write music that they think people want to hear. The songs we write are what we love and what we want to play.

 Any exciting tour stories?
Taylor and I wrote the song "Anywhere But Home" about the full U.S tour we just did. The song was written after we had just made a 1,237 mile trip from Wa to Az with NO money after 12 out of 14 of west coast shows were lost due to bad planning on my part / a "booking agent" and I use that turn loosely screwed us over. Coupled with being robbed at the house we were stupid enough to sleep at in Wa.  We had not eaten in days and were totally broke. We did EVERYTHING we could to make that trip we ate out garbage cans. Begged on highway exit ramps. Even played acoustic on the Hollywood Blvd. With all of the bad things that had happened we all agreed that even though we had just went through one hell of a hard spot that would leave most bands running home or calling Mommy to wire them money. We were happier in the back on a van running on fumes and spare change than we would ever be at home working.

I would like to add a side note to that story. We made that trip from WA to AZ to meet up with our friends in The Wonder Years to play three shows that they got us on last minute and in a very real sense saved us from being absolutely screwed without them and those street corners and many trash cans we dug food out of we would most likely still be stranded out there. True friends are hard to find! Dudes who you can call from 3500 miles away who care enough to do what they not just hard to find but they are once in a lifetime.

Anything else you’d like to say?
Yeah, find happiness wherever you can. Don't let the people in your life or the world tell you how to make yourself happy. We are on this planet for like 70? maybe 80 years if we are lucky. When you find something that make you happy choke the hell out of it don't let it go. For us its being in this band. And thank you so much for taking the time to do this for us!

Thank you!

♫  Go check out the band's Myspace at www.myspace.com/handxguns

♫  Follow them on Twitter

♫ Read the Handguns blog which has lyrics for their music.

♫ You can read a review for their EP Anywhere but Home here on Alter the Press and you can listen to it here !

 What have you been listening to lately?

Polyvore Twilight Eclipse Contest

Here is my entry for the Nordstrom Twilight Eclipse contest on Polyvore.

I made these just for fun, because I love a fashion challenge. The challenge are to use the new Eclipse line items for Nordstrom to create a set on Polyvore.

Eclipse Contest by nikkidee featuring ASH shoes

This one wasn't eligible because I used some items not from Nordstrom. Oops! Just goes to show: always read all of the contest rules. (I never do lalala)

Eclipse by nikkidee featuring TopShop skirts

If you entered the contest, leave your submissions in the comments! I'd love to see the way you VAMP!