TRIPLE THREAT: Liquid Fashion

When I bought my first pair of liquid leggings in May of this year the ridicules rolled in as easily as I slipped off chairs when wearing them. But starlets Lindsay Lohan, Kate Beckinsale, and MK&A starting donning these slippery slacks and fashionistas followed. Pretty much every fashion item can be bought in liquid form these days. Donning liquid attire takes guts, but if you’re risky enough check out our three faves.


American Apparel’s Liquid backpack:
Whoever says backpacks are nerdy has clearly never laid her eyes on these stylish school bags. Not only is this backpack a fashionable way to carry books, pencils and lunches, but its double straps make carrying important items a lot easier. The days of walking on a slant from carrying heavy one-shoulder bags are over.



American Apparel’s Liquid Skirt:
These shiny minis come in 3 colors: purple, black and gold. It’s a sassed-up version of the 1990s denim mini-skirt. They look great paired with black opaque tights and high flat boots and a plain beater or T. For a little extra sex-appeal add some heels and a tube.



Members Only Black Liquid Leggings – The Mother of All things Liquid:
Liquid leggings are to regular leggings as glitter glue is to normal, old-fashioned, glue. They perform the same function but do so with pizzazz.
The pants add a little somethin’ somethin’ to the regular tank or T, and they can be dressed up with a great pair of booties or heels, or toned down with flats. After all, why be matt when you can shine?

REVIEW: All About Influence

If someone uttered the words "coffee" and "Olsen" in a sentence, one image would appear in most minds: a raggedy-looking (yet oh so chic) Mary-Kate or Ashley donning oversized sunglasses and carrying a coffee cup wider in circumference than one of the sisters' own limbs. The twins' signature paparazzi shot became Starbucks' best advertisement, but MK&A recently introduced a new kind of coffee to the world--a coffee table book, Influence, about the creative geniuses who most inspired the twin moguls' own lives. 

Celebrity branding has reached overkill--the famous have given the world books, perfume, shoes, toys, even dishware. Most consumers struggle to find anything genuine in branded products and often see these products as pure monetary incentive for the names behind it all. However, Influence offers quite a different story. The collection of intimate and thought-provoking interviews with 21 of the sisters' most admired creative thinkers feels authentic and fresh. It reads intimate and appears constructed with savvy and smarts (clearly a project sparked by passion, not money). 

Within the pages of Influence, MK&A personally conducted the interviews in addition to writing full-page introductions for each inspirational subject. The book includes superstars in the worlds of fashion, art, and design including Peter Lindbergh, Karl Lagerfeld, Diane von Furstenberg, Terry Richardson, and Lauren Hutton. Each influencer's section contains a collage-like compilation of personal and commercial photographs and examples of the creator's works. The book's inside covers feature a plastering of Polaroids of the twins posing with their interview subjects.

Considered two of the world's most influential young figures themselves, the twins are magicians of style, constantly breaking conventional rules and staying true to their ideas despite harsh criticism. But fans looking to get their Olsen fix will be disappointed. Yes, two sections of the book are dedicated to the sisters (each names the other as a major life influence--big surprise there), but the book is not about them. Instead, it takes the reader on a journey with some of the most forward-thinking creators of our culture, people whose thought processes seem both wacky and genius at the same time and force readers to view life from an upside-down point of view. If you've ever dreamed of being a fly on the wall in Lagerfeld's Parisian couture house or in a club listening in on the conversations of fashion heiress, Margherita Missoni, Influence provides the next best thing. You'll laugh, you'll scratch your head, you might even cry-but most of all, you will be inspired.