Category Archives: Life

Inspiration: The Great Gatsby

05/23/2012

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Oh man, I cannot WAIT for this movie to come out!! It’s directed by the brilliant Baz Luhrmann, who also directed two of my favorite movies, Romeo and Juliet and Moulin Rouge, and this film looks like its going to be of similar styling! I can watch this trailer over and over again. I love Dicaprio as Gasby, and Toby Maguire is the perfect Nick Carraway.

A few months back I decided I wanted to read the book, The Great Gatsby and I was surprised how great of a read it was. I was getting into reading classics and after reading MOST of Anna Karenina I switched to Gatsby…much easier! Than I rented the Robert Redford film from 1974- and boy do I get now why all the ladies-of-a-certain-age love their Robert Redford. Handsome devil he was!

Back to this version…have you looked at the fashion? I wish I could pull off the flapper dress, but the ’20′s simply were not made for curvy girls in fashion! (The 50′s and 60′s are more suited to our types!) But all the head bands, and hats look amazing! I’ve been obsessed with head-gear lately and I wonder if this movie will bring a surge in head wraps and head bands again. Side note, doesn’t Carey Mulligan make a beautiful Daisy?

Are you as excited to see this LONG AWAITED film as I am? With this cast I’m sure Baz Luhrmann will redeem himself after his last major film, Australia. Yikes. I still love him, because that wasn’t his fault! Nicole Kidman went overboard on the botox and couldn’t express anything on her face, which is really too bad- seeing as she was/is so beautiful and a great actress. There is my tangent…so here are some pretty killer head wraps I found online at Urban Outfitters. Would you wear one?

 

 

I’m on Instagram!

04/26/2012

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Check it out! I’m in Instagram! My user name is black_is_black so feel free to follow me! If you mention that you found me from my blog- I’ll follow you back. :-) These are some of the photos I’ve already posted on Instagram. I like to post some DIY tips, outfit ideas and general inspirations!

 

 

What I’m listening to right now…

01/08/2012

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Happy Sunday! I figured today would be a great day to post about something that always inspires me- great music! I’ve been finding a lot of cool tunes lately, in a variety of genres. Here are a few videos of my favorite songs these days. Enjoy!

Gotye Ft Kimbra: Somebody That I Used To Know

Seriously I can listen to this song on repeat! Love it so much. Kimbra is awesome too- so check her out. This video is kinda strange but cool, and the song is just so good!

College Ft. Elecetric Youth- A Real Hero

This is a song from the movie Drive. Awesome movie, pretty cool 80′s inspired dance ballad. My husband would say this song gets played WAY too much in our house!

Grouplove- Colours

If you like Modest Mouse and The Pixie’s you love these guys! Such a fun band. I’d highly recommend checking out more of their stuff!

The Belle Brigade- I didn’t Mean It

This song is rad- so don’t let the damn Twilight soundtrack deter you. I hate those movies and the hype- but I LOVE this song. Makes me do a wicked head bob dance.

First Aid Kit- The Lion’s Roar

These two Swedish sisters are an awesome duo. I think they may even be one of my new favorite bands. I love their style and the vocals and lyrics are amazing. Enjoy!

Jamie Lidell- Compass

Totally was not aware this was from a video game…oh well- its a great song none the less. Not much of a video- sorry.

Grizzly Bear- Two Weeks

Cool harmonies. Kinda reminds me of Feet Foxes, but I’m OK with that. Such a dreamy song.

Graffiti6- Free

Little bit of soul, little bit of rock, little bit of gospel- just all around good melody. Catchy stuff right there.

The Sheepdogs- Who

Classic Classic tunes. Reminds me of my childhood. My Mom would love these guys!

Pinterest

09/19/2011

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I have a favorite new site and I am totally addicted to it. It’s called Pinterest.

Its just an inspiring site where people can “pin” cute/interesting/cool things they come across online. The basic concept is: you can create “boards” with themes and “pin” photos to each of them; the “pin” is then linked backed to the original website for further information. Pinning just means you are taking a quick snap shot of an image. Its awesome, and very addictive! Plus its a great place to store your bookmarks- rather then bookmarking everything!

If you are already on Pinterest.com then you can follow me at: http://pinterest.com/rachelekehler/ Or feel free to just check out what I’ve pinned so far! Its so much fun!

Thank You!

02/24/2011

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Last night I got some great encouragement with my blog. I met some new people and to my surprise they shared that they read Black Is The New Black regularly! It was so great to hear that others enjoy reading my fashion rants and opinions!

Recently I haven’t been blogging as much, mostly because I haven’t found a lot of inspiration with Fashion- but that is no excuse for those who read on a regular basis! And I’m sorry for letting you down!

But, do not fret! Your words of encouragement gave me the boost I need to keep blogging, so look forward to some new posts from me!

I am planning on having an Oscar Party on Sunday so stay tuned for my fashion “do’s” and “don’ts” of the night.

Love you all,

Rachele

Looking back at 2010 in Review by WordPress.

01/02/2011

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The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how Black Is The New Black did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

Healthy blog!

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

Featured image

A helper monkey made this abstract painting, inspired by your stats.

About 3 million people visit the Taj Mahal every year. This blog was viewed about 47,000 times in 2010. If it were the Taj Mahal, it would take about 6 days for that many people to see it.

In 2010, there were 20 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 171 posts. There were 7 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 2mb.

The busiest day of the year was April 25th with 249 views. The most popular post that day was Plastic-Pandemic?.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, twitter.com, en.wordpress.com, youlookfab.com, and search.aol.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for ashton kutcher and demi moore, shiloh jolie pitt tomboy, taylor momsen, white boots, and david beckham suit.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Plastic-Pandemic? November 2009
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2

Hollywood’s Most Stylish Couples July 2008
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3

Neckties…how to REALLY wear them! February 2008
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4

EWE White Boots! February 2009
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5

Who wore it better? July 2008
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Styling A Wedding

05/06/2010

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Great friends of mine, Kristin and Matt, got married on April 3, 2010 and I helped them a bunch with their wedding.

Kristin had been living in Korea teaching English in an elementary school for 1 year and wasn’t in Vancouver up until about 3 1/2 weeks before her wedding. Matt was also away in Honduras teaching kids and building schools up until about 7 DAYS before the wedding!

Needless to say- they needed a correspondent who was in the city where they were getting married! I jumped at the opportunity, because Kristin was one of my first friends when me and my husband moved here 4 1/2 years ago. I helped wherever she needed, looking at venues…tips on centerpieces etc… but what I really take pride in is styling both Kristin and Matt head to toe for their big day! Since Kristin was unable to try dresses on I had to really know what would look great on her body type- and with Matt only having 1 day to shop- we had to think fast! Here is a candid picture of the two of them:

They looked both ended up looking great, relaxed, and had fun on their big day! I had lots of fun helping them out–maybe I should go into wedding planning? hmm… haha!

Here is one shot from the photographers web site:

A Fashion Genius Dies Today…

02/11/2010

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We just heard about the death of his mother last week and now yesterday, Alexander McQueen, 40, was found dead his apartment. He committed suicide. Its so sad when you hear that such a genius has passed. He has won British Designer of the Year 4 times is his career.

Our thoughts are with family and friends. This is such a tragedy and McQueen with never be forgotten.

An affordable way to wear designer clothes

01/24/2009

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Do you ever wish you had just a little more cash so you could go out and buy that designer dress ?  I know I do! Well  let me introduce you to a  little boutique called Du Jour.

Du Jour allows you to rent out designer dresses! You can also rent to own! How exciting is that?  Now its not only just men who can rent out tuxes, woman can rent their dresses too! They carry sizes 0-24 with the cost of renting about $150+ with an additional $25 dry cleaning fee. Its so affordable! They carry designer labels such as;  Gucci, Prada, Calvin Klein and Betsey Johnson.

Du Jour is located at 628 Abbot St, Vancouver, BC.

Christine Vancouver Sample Sale

11/26/2008

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Christine Vancouver is the world renowned designer for high end, couture lingerie and sleep wear. You can see her luxurious designs in such magazines as In Style, Glamor, Lou Lou, Vogue and O Magazine. Her silk charmeuse tailored pajama set was worn by Oprah on the the cover of her January 2008 magazine and featured in her most watched episode “Oprah’s Favorite Things!”

Wondering where you can get your hands on these sweet but sexy little numbers? The Christine Vancouver sample sales are happening in 2 places this year:

Location: They Sync, 1650 W. 2nd, (between Fir and Pine, within Nettwerk Productions).
When: Sat.-Sun., Nov.29th – 30th, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

AND

Location: The Christine Vancouver Showroom, Suite 201 – 657 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. Please call for directions, 604-922-0350.
When: Wed.-Sat., Dec.3rd – 6th, 10 a.m. – 7 p.m, (except Sat, hours are, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.)

**Come early to score silk PJ’s, gowns, chemises, robes and camisoles. Collections will be 50 70% off wholesale price!


My 2 new dresses

11/23/2008

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I went into my favorite store, Urban Outfitters, looking for a Christmas party dress and found many I liked. For some reason everything I try on in that store fits me- which is strange because that doesn’t happen very often. I’m a curvy girl with lots of shape and I usually struggle to find the right fit, but not at Urban Outfitters!

Here are the 2 classic dresses I purchased:

This dress is an old tuxedo top, with a silk crepe bottom. It’s really flattering with the smocking under the bust.

So this dress isn’t too flattering on the stick thin model, but I loved it on me! It looks like a vintage 1950′s shift dress. It’s a classic that will never go out of style.

If I had more money to throw around, these were some other dresses that I really liked:

McQueen for TARGET!!!!!!

11/19/2008

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Oh my gosh!!!! I’m SO EXCITED! Alexander McQueen is going to be designing for Target in their GO INTERNATIONAL line that comes out  March 2009…Guess who’s making a trip to the states?? I’m SO pumped! I hope he doesn’t let me down like Comme Des Garcons for H&M…blah…