SwayChic Goes to Camp!!

John Waters: The king of camp, the tailor of trashy, and the god of the beautiful gross has been inspiring and creating unique art since the early 70's.  He spread his cheesy punchy imagery across 4 awesome decades, always keeping true to himself and his art.

Film and fashion seems to always go hand in hand.  Watching films with awesome clothes involved can really get your fashion imagination brewing.  Pink Flamingos really makes you want to wear cheesy clothes and be fantastically trashy, Hairspray makes you want to own everything campy made in the 60's-  in fact I never understood Rockabilly style until I watched Cry Baby, then I went to the nearest thrift store and bought some creepers.

Below are some styles on Swaychic that we would cast in the next John Waters cult classic : C'est Sway Chic.  It would be mostly full of awesome floral dresses.  Click the pic to shop our choices:

Winona Forever

 

There are many indie goddess out there: Chloe Sevigny, Zooey Deschanel, and Christina Ricci to name a few.  But no body can hold a candle to Winona. Here's some evidence to back up this claim.

Exhibit A

 

She NAILED the androgynous look

Exhibit B

She knew Greenday when they played for a crowd of 20 including her

 

 

 

 

 

Exhibit C

Um she has these awesome C cups

 

Exhibit D

Big hair, latex bra...do you need more proof?

Exhibit E

I want my daily commute to look exactly like this.  We'd be singing Pixies songs obvs.

So there you have it.  Depp may have replaced her with "Wino" - but no one can ever truly take her place. 
I imagine even Johnny knows that deep down inside.

Waiting for the "wet" look to come back this summer.

 

 

Get to Know a Sway Dude: Ian

Ian has been working at our SwayChic.com Headquarters for almost a year.  He is the man who answers the phone, keeps our customers happy, packs your orders, and maintains our site.

He is also really good at changing light bulbs and bringing a peaceful vibe to our office with his relaxed and cool demeanor.  When he is not answering your phone calls and being more polite than most humans, he likes to spend his spare time making his own clothes and exploring his new hometown of Los Angeles.

"Hey dudes!  I'm Ian!"

Ian is here to answer your questions and mine:

What is your sign?

Libra....remember that Zima commercial? Possibly the only Zima commercial? Wait for it...

What are some trends you are looking forward to seeing girls wearing this summer?

I'm really excited about super saturated brights in creative combinations and loud loud prints: total visual assault. Kickass one-piece bathing suits. Booty shorts/cutoffs (who isn't?). 

90's throwback, duh. Lots of denim, lots of high-waisted, lots of crop tops, lots of chunky heels (double bonus because I'm tall), some studs, some leather, some acid wash, some neon, some big beautiful hair (finally fully moving past ombré).  Also bodycon dresses.

What is your favorite item up on the site now?

The Acid Wash Denim are really rad. Carolina (the model) really nailed that set. 

What do you like most about working for Swaychic.com?

Learning! Seeing the progression of LA fashion up-close. Learning about all the variation in style. Walking through the garment district. Learning the back-end process of the fashion industry. Getting inspired to work on my own clothes. 

If you were a childhood toy, what would you be? - Jazmena via Instagram

Michelangelo TMNT action figure with a grocery bag parachute or 2 tied to my back. Maybe a Super Soaker 50 when it starts to get really hot. 

Why do you have such pretty hair? - Halle Bee via Facebook

I don't wash it very often.. Also Modem Salon in Silverlake! Also my parents. Also possibly eating a shitload of cookies and milk all the time.

When was the last time you shaved your beard?  - Amy Singh via Facebook

Like with a razor? A long time. Years. Clippers are essential. It got pretty over-the-top a few months ago. I trimmed it real short a week or two ago though. The big beard doesn't really fly in LA. 

Will you marry me? - catchingdreamswithcemre via Instagram

Hmmm... Sure.  Meet you in Vegas.  I'll be wearing an Elvis Costume somewhere on the strip.

Dollar Store Haul(ah!)

I have a saying, "if you can't buy it at the dollar store, you don't need it."  I live by this motto for everything, except clothes of course...

I like to hit up my local dollar store at least twice a month to get all my living essentials. Aside from that I also like to get as many strange knick-knacks as I can, and if you are in the market for strange knick-knacks to have around your home or office, the dollar store is the PLACE TO BE.

"Perfect" is how I would describe this place too Coco-Cola.

From plastic flowers, to religious kitsch, and back to undefinable oddities, the dollar store has you covered in cheaply made layers of plastic awesome crap.

Aside from filling my shopaholic needs while spending as little as possible, this store has some fantastic things to look at.  Not buy, just look at.

Here are somethings that made me chuckle- not to the point where I needed to buy it out of pure hilarious joy, but at least put a smile on my face.

Ok so from L to R, T to B, let's talk about this.  First -I had some interest in buying this, but I couldn't understand what is was, and its title "Close relationship between family members" did not help. Next we have someone who hates alcohol, or at least beer making bottle opening magnets.  "Killer Lite"? Ok we get it Drew Downer, we will take it easy on the brewsky.  Next up is El Valle "Toys & Candy" - hoping this haired object is a toy. The item that follows says "Dog Leash", yup it says "Dog Leash". I thought it was some sort of doggy toothbrush, but I guess its a leash. After that you'll see a donut shaped object.  It says "Warm Cover of Toilet Bowl." Yuck. Next we got fake Toe Nails. Yuppp.  And finally we got this sweet bra hanger.  I did not know this was a thing.  Dollar store cleared that up for me, it is a thing  (I could see Katy Perry wearing this with some high waisted shorts)

Ok so onto what I got.  Here is the Haul:

So I got myself a super cheese pink vase, some awesome colored pens for work, a plastic butterfly napkin holder which will make a great mail holder for my desk.  Those two knotted items are curtain holders with tassels, the succulent in the back is fake, so I should be able to keep it alive (?), I have a sparkle headband to wear like I'm MIA, some adorable travel size plastic containers with puppies on them, stick on nails that seriously have brown on the tips of them and smiley faces that say "I  <3 Pudding" (?????? seriously...the implications..) a sports bandaid I made into headband, tweezers hand painted to look like a gypsy, and a tri colored mat for my bathroom floor.  All on  top of a plastic circle mirror that is way better than something you get at Ikea. 

Overall $11 well spent.  So if you are have a couple random bills in your pocket hollah' at the dollah' store.

What People Wore/Did not Wear to Coachella

Ok so Coachella happened.  Tupac hologram, gas explosion, Thom York's DJ set, blah blah blah.

Prior to Coachella I felt that if I had to look at another festival lookbook online again, I would have to burn every fringe dress I own.  Burn!!!

It's like everyone said "What?  It's April?  Then it must be festival time!!!!"  I thought music festivals were for THE MUSIC.  Turns out they're for slashed denim booty shorts, overpriced feather headwear, and side boob.

Don't get me wrong.  Girl's gotta look bangin' anywhere she goes but all these festival lookbooks just had me wanting to go where fringe isn't allowed.

Then beginning last week and going into this week you see fashion blogs talking about what people wore to Coachella.  Well guess what?  I'm sure you found that somewhere else, so in lieu I  will list off some things I am pretty sure people DID NOT wear to Coachella:

I bet no one wore ice skates.  It's totally impractical, and how are you supposed to catch the Black Keys at one stage and run over to see the Artic Monkeys 15 minutes later at another stage?  Impossible.

 

The Hope Diamond.  I am pretty certain no one wore this since there is only one and its super protected by very high tech lasers (or so I learned from the movies).  Show me pics if you did in fact see someone rocking this at Coachella and I will show you a big fat liar.

You would have to be really thick-skulled and confused about how climate works to think wearing a winter jacket to Coachella was a good idea. It was like 570 degrees and dry as hell.

A live, un-sedated King Cobra snake.  Yes it would be totally bad ass but I am pretty sure no one wore one around their neck to Coachella- at last not this year.

Ok but to give you what you want in case you missed it on any other sites,  here were some highlights of what the Celebz (cuz seriously that's all we care about) wore to the music festival of the year:

Oh Rihanna.  She always dresses awesome.  I am in a love/hate relationship with her however.  This move made it love again though- the clever comeback that it is.  Say no to Drugs....

Dita Von Teese.  Really went with her sailing theme... although she is about 150 miles away from the high seas.

 Crochet and tribal?  C'mon Port, aren't you a fashion designer?  These ensembles would be fine on anyone else, but aren't you supposed to be starting trends, not following them? It's like she googled "what do people wear to Coachella" and went with it.

This gem of a lady looking just fine.  I ain't mad atcha.  And who is that guy?  And why does he think he can get this close to Lilo?

Vanessa Hudgens was pretty much the mascot of Coachella this year.  Hippy gear? Check.  Crop top? Check.  Tassels? Check.  Sun Hat? Check.  Rainboots? Check.  Backpack? Check.  Fingers giving the peace sign? Check.  Braids and feathers? Check and double Check.  It's like she was on some sort of Coachella scavenger hunt.  And won obviously.

Kate Bosworth.  I like them boots girl.  And lace is always a festival must-have: breathable and sexy, yet classy.  She played it safe and I can respect that.

Katy Perry.  She had this years festival must have: the floral head gear. Overall she looked cutesy, vintage and I am pretty sure she is wearing creepers in that middle shot so, it's all good in my book.  Love that lace dress.

David Hasselhoff.  The man can do no wrong.

Hope you enjoy our Coachella round up!  If it sounded snarky at any points it's cause we are secretly jealous we didn't get to go...we had way too much work to do.

Discountstripper.com

Last week former Sway employee Andy D came into town and was playing a show at a strip joint.

First of all this is Andy D:

Now imagine that at a strip club.  I obviously had to go.

This was the first time I have ever ventured into a strip club (aside from those 3 rough months back in 04' when someone's mushy balls had to put food on the table.  JK guys) 

I love getting dressed for the occasion and getting dressed to go to a trashy strip joint was especially enjoyable.

I obviously had on some fake fur, a fitted 90's floral top and swaychic.com's teal fitted pencil skirt.  My hair was Susan Lucci-ed circa 1991 and I had to bring out my vintage clear plastic and metallic wedges. 

Once I put on my "casual stripper" shoes I realized how much I loved the clear plastic wedge and I wanted more in  my closet ASAPS.

Before my friend picked me up I googled "stripper shoes" to see if I could find something I liked.

The first results was a site called discountstripper.com.

Now obviously I had to check it out.  I mean, its so sad and beautiful and perfect. Discountstripper.com? 

I wanted to start a band that minute just so I could call it that.

Annnyways I checked it out and OH MUH GAWD- so many gems!

Yes there are obviously some out-of-hand-trashy-never-wear-outside-of-the-house shoes, but there were also some awesome f*cking platforms.  Eat your heart out Jeffrey Campbell these are real stripper shoes!  Perfect to give you some height so your maxi dresses won't drag if you are a shortie like myself.

Also let us not forget DISCOUNT stripper shoes, so the price is right.

So if you have some time shimmy your way over to discountstripper.com and check out the goods and get some deals, ya'll know I did.  

I got these two beauties and it was under $70!:

I discountstrippered it out

So don't forget when you are getting your fashion on don't be scared to look outside the box and find the OG's of the trend du jour.  It will save you some bucks and you may get to experience that awkward moment when the UPS guy goes "I have a delivery from discountstripper.com" in front of all your coworkers...

You Need This Now

ATTENTION SWAYCHIC SHOPPERS

There is a blue light special on aisle everywhere!!

#CRAZYNOTTOBUY!!!!!!!

So last december I was about to leave my office and I was in a pinch. It was 2 days before Christmas and as a workaholic I had no time to shop for an awesome Christmas ensemble.
Then we got a delivery from one of our vendors.

Going through the goods I found a shirt I had preordered months ago. It was form fitting, off the shoulder, slightly cropped, and black. It was a Christmas Miracle!
It was on its way to one of our stores but I snatched a Small out of the pack and brought it home. It looked quite awesome with my gold lamé vintage skirt. Rapidly I became obsessed with this perfect top. It was Friday night... what was I going to wear?? My Christmas Miracle top obviously. It became my new obsession.

A few weeks ago I stopped into the showroom of the designers who made it and found out something quite awesome - they extended my awesome top into a dress! And it came in aqua!!! I ordered it no questions asked and I have been not-so-patiently awaiting its arrival. Well guess what. It came in this morning!

Click To Buy!

AND I am so in love with this dress I want all of you to have it. How can we make this happen? How about it's only $14! Seriously everyone needs this dress. Thanks, we love you too.

This is part of our new series CrazyNotToBuy.  It is kind of the best thing ever- so you really need to be all about it.


Final Sale! Limit 1 per customer, duh!

#CRAZYNOTTOBUY

I love my job.

I live, breath, eat, sleep, sneeze, scratch, drink, yawn, and hiccup fashion.

I love seeing people putting the effort into looking their best and sharing their fashion sense with the rest of the world. Get creative, have fun and look good- because we're ALL watching (unless you're in your comfort zone wearing your muumuu, in which case the only person watching you is that crazy bald guy in the apartment across from you.)

I don't know about you but when it comes to my wardrobe I can talk myself into buying just about anything if it makes me look hot enough. Sometimes you have to break the bank on fashion and it hurts so good. We all get it.

 For this reason we're giving you—oh lovely reader—an incredibly affordable price on pieces that you will wear. A lot. 

These are items that we've found and decided we can't live without. We don't want you to have to live without them either.

So go treat yourself! Go get those shoes you've been looking at every day or the purse you must have for Spring or the really hot bustier that will make your lover or future lover or Ryan Gosling want to take you home right now. Wear them with these awesomely priced styles we're offering and rest a little easier knowing that you did your part to offset the cost.....at least a little bit.

We're calling this promotion CrazyNotToBuy because we have to call it something and this seems pretty spot on. Every CrazyNotToBuy item we offer will absolutely be living in the front of our closet this season. It's the kind of thing we wish our favorite store had done years ago. Now we run this sh!t and we can, so why the hell not? You're welcome.

You know we gotta say it... Limit one per customer, all CrazyNotToBuy items are final sale and don't forget there's free shipping on US orders over $50!

The Price Is Right, and I Have No Shame

While getting my first Gel manni (recommended!) I was reading the latest Seventeen Magazine (obviously, I cannot get enough prepubescent embarrassment stories) and found out that Hard Candy is now being sold at Walmart.

For those of you who don't remember, Hard Candy made awesome unique colored nail polish long before any one dared to wear bright blue on their fingernails (I'm talking 15 years ago-the bottles also came with a free jelly ring!)  Apparently for awhile now the "alt" cosmetic brand has been available at Walmart.  They have lipgloss, eyeshadow, blush, the whole gamut.

So the next logical step was to high tail it out of there and get myself to the nearest Walmart to check out the goods.  Now I found some gloss, bronzer and mascara that made the 7th grader in me delighted.  However I also realized I was in a Walmart, something that hasn't occurred since high school.

Now back then you could not pay me to wear an item of clothing from Walmart.  Everyone would see my new shirt and be like "B*tch got that at Walmart..." and write me off as any sort of fashionista.

However now I feel no one I see on a day to day basis peruses their local Walmart's clothing sections.  So I figured I might as well check out their duds and see if I could find anything wearable and get some clothes on the cheap.

Of course everything I found was essentially unwearable (except for some basic tanks) but, BUT I stumbled across this wall and nearly lost my sh*t:

Those are not my Wavy Lays.  I repeat, those are NOT my Wavy Lays.

Like six different, perfectly colored muumuus for $11.88!!  Now I have been meaning to buy a muumuu and I  find awesome ones all the time at thrift stores, but there is something personal about a muumuu where I could just never get myself to buy a used one.

It something someone wore like, ALL the time.  They didn't just own that muumuu, they OWNED that muumuu, and something about wearing a used one seemed wrong.

As a lazy individual who loves to lounge and not leave my apartment unless I absolutely need to attend that party/get coffee/buy cloths/buy paper towels I spend a lot of time in what I like to call the "Comfort Zone."  And a great muumuu is just what a girl needs to make her way into the VIP section of the Comfort Zone.  (and since you are wearing it alone and independently, it is essentially the most quintessential indie fashion item you can own.)

I was elated obviously and narrowed it down to these two:

They have pockets!!

I opted for the pink one with the slight cheetah print, contrasted by purple flowers, because it was way too perfect.

So if you find that you yourself spending lots of time in or around the Comfort Zone and want something polyester and perfectly printed with no waist line- get yourself to a Walmart ASAPS.

While there, don't forget to check out the boys section (if you are petite you can usually fit in the M-L sizes)- I also snagged this St. Patty's Day button up for $7.88

Leave your pride at the door, pick up a smiley sticker and be prepared to read some tabloids in the 45 minute line to the register.

Six Layered Buyer Burrito

Ok so Spring is upon us.  As a resident of Los Angeles this means practically nothing to me weather wise  (Be jealous, its fine.) BUT it does mean Spring fashion is upon us as well.

Here is a very quick rundown of what you can expect:

Bright Colors
Neon Pastels (I love Oxymorons!)
Collars (Peter Pan, or classic)
Colored Denim
Lace Dresses 

A good Spring Trend indicator to me is the MAGIC Fashion Tradeshow that takes place in early February of every year in Las Vegas.
As a buyer I get to look around and see what everyone is presenting as their must haves for Spring  and Fall 2012.

However, as in Fashion week, the best indicator of what people will really be wearing is what other buyers and fashion insiders working the show are wearing.

And what were they wearing you ask?
Bright blue skinny jeans and a button up blouse.  Oh and if they didn't have Ombre hair I did not see them because it was essentially a sea of Ombre going down in Las Vegas.

It was like a giant layer cake.  Black, then tan, then blonde, then white, then bright blue, then the yummy bottom layer of black wedges.  Hmmm Buyer Layered Delight!

I apparently did not get the memo, but I just forwarded it onto you.

Speaking of layers and Ombres we finally got these guys in along with other awesome new shoes (did you enjoy that segway?)

Model Behavior

A few weeks ago we had the joy of working with model/singer/skateboarder/superwoman/secret Kim K look alike Rosaly Pfeffer to take some hot shots of her for our website.

Check out her fresh-ta-death song "Flossin".  Blare it loud on a Friday night, put on a sexy bodycon dress, hipster hooker shoes, have a few cocktails and head out the door- good luck will be had.

"You're in my shot bro"

A Bloggy Blog Day

Today we did our latest photo shoot, showing casing some sweet spring apparel that is coming to swaychic.com oh so very soon.
Today's model was Bethany from SnakesNest, who's style we have adored for ages.  Having a model who can style herself makes me happy.  Sometimes it seems like such a waste when you get a beautiful girl with a great body who dresses frumpy (just cause you're cute even when walk around in just sweats and a tee, give some us more eye candy- the world could use it!) .  I mean to each their on, but COME ON.  If you got it, flaunt it girl.  So kudos to Bethany!

Check out her blog to get some style inspiration.  Below is a sneak peek of the shoot, new styles up by the end of the week!  So many cute maxi dresses!

So

stoked.