Real Talk, Spring/Summer, travel diaries

June – According to my iPhone

I hate to admit it, but Labor Day is an unwelcome earmark of time in my life. As much as I protest and persistently point out the sun’s warmth and my ability to wear shorts well into September, it’s hard to deny that the last long weekend of the summer does, in fact, mean that summer is over. The last two summers in the city have left me wanting a little more. Hectic and weird work schedules meant that a getaway looked like one or two train rides to Far Rockaway or, if we were lucky, a long weekend in Connecticut. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love doing both of those things, but 12 collective hours in the sun does not make for a summer glow.

Thankfully, this year was a little different! Earlier in the spring, I mentioned that I had multiple trips lined up and darling, I did not lie. Pardon my absence over here, but with all this travel, I accidentally took summer sabbatical. Below is the month of June, according to my iPhone

Here’s what I learned in June:
– Weekend 1: The Hamptons is a beautiful place. It will make you feel poor while simultaneously making you feel like a rockstar. Andy Cohen really is the King of East Hampton and the Surf Lodge is too big for its britches. Uber Helicopter is a thing. And the Clam Bar has amazing ‘Lobby’ Rolls. When we went to the Hamptons, Ryan and I represented American amongst 12 Australians. I’m keen to do it again.

-Weekend 2: I feel just as passionate about Nashville as I do New York City. Barista Parlor is the most pretentious coffee shop I’ve ever visited and gives any Brooklyn roaster a run for its money. Although drastically different since I left, you can still improvise a photo shoot on a flatbed truck, which means that maybe Nashville really hasn’t changed much at all.

-Weekend 3: Weddings in Connecticut are beautiful. Also, good friends are the ones you can see once or twice a year and always pick up right where you left off.

-Weekend 4: Having visitors every 6 weeks or so really helps Ryan and I see all the lovely touristy things New York has to offer. In one day alone we brunched at Junior’s, traversed the Brooklyn Bridge, paid our respects to 9/11, explored Central Park and Grand Central Station, ate fresh guacamole, made a new friend or two, and watched the Braves beat the Mets at Citi Field. In New York, you really can do it all—as long as your friends are in town for 72 hours, that is.

-Weekend 5: Going to swanky NYC nightclubs will make you realize that there are entire subcultures in this city of which you know zero things. Also, nothing makes you feel older than hearing the words: “The reservation is for 11:15pm. See you tonight!” If your initial reaction to those words was a giant GULP, then you are old too.

June-baby, you were ages ago and boy do I miss you. We’ll always have Memorial Day weekend…oh, and all these pictures.

xx – Haley

Award Show, Night Out, Nighttime Look, Real Talk, Recap

HHA Fashion Bracket: The Ultimate Prize

Is it just me or is it boring in here? Imagine my heartbreak as I turned on the red carpet coverage on Sunday night and…nothing. I am so sorry Hollywood, but you guys phoned it in this year. So many of the gowns just seemed uninspired, drab, or dated. I’m sorely disappointed, but then again, not every year can be 2014 aka The Year of Lupita.

I am, however, very pleased to relay that I have crowned my fashion bracket winners and as an added bonus, I’m including a lightning round Best and Worst Dressed list from The Academy Awards, because a little glitz-meets-snark never killed anyone.

First order of business: our winners. The HiHaleyannie Fashion Bracket Best Dressed Awards go to:

BRIE LARSON and EDDIE REDMAYNE and also EDDIE’S PREGNANT WIFE HANNAH!!!!

My most sincere and envious congratulations to you three. Admittedly, I didn’t expect to give this award to a couple, but the Redmayne’s really brought it this year and there was simply no denying their power-couple prowess. Like any longtime actor finally relishing her red carpet run, Brie Larson took risks with her gowns, but goodness, she stood out. We didn’t have Lupita this year, but I certainly enjoyed The Year of Larson.

Eddie Redmayne + Hannah Bagshawe

Is there anything better than a couple in McQueen? Not this year! Even though Eddie mentioned that he was “sweating” in his velvet tux, it was worth a little dehydration. His perfectly cut suit made him look 7 feet tall with ease. Meanwhile, Hannah rocked out her “maternity gown” with a stunning halter neck covered in jagged gold. Power couples, take note: Black Is Back!

Brie Larson

Brie Larson in Gucci

Upon my first glance, I thought the tasteful, traditional fit of this A-Line gown was too easy to be so good. But a second look sold me. This striking blue gown cinched with a show-stopper belt, reigning in layers of textured, expertly-draped pleats, made this up and coming starlet shine brighter than the rest. Remember when JLaw showed up to her first Oscars a few years ago in the fitted, red Calvin Klein dress and everyone was all, “Who’s THAT?” This is that moment, all over again, for Brie Larson.

With our winners happily basking in the glow of our approval (#Millenials), let’s take a look at who gave them a run for their money in a lightning fast round of BEST DRESSED!

Olivia Wilde – Most Current

In a phrase: WOAH. Like, yes. Pleats and chokers FTW.

Daisy Ridley – Best in Chanel

Daisy Ridley in Chanel Haute Couture and Christian Louboutin

In a phrase: Perfectly executed hemline. A tad old for her, nothing a slick-backed bun can’t fix.

Charlize Theron – MOST MOST

Charlize Theron in Dior Haute Couture

In a phrase: Okay ladies, let’s get in formation. Couture by Charlize.

Saoirse Ronan – Best Entrance

Saoirse Ronan in Calvin Klein

In a phrase: “I may be new here, but I totally know what’s up.”

And real, real quick, can we gently discuss these brave souls who were, as they say in sports, a swing and a miss? WORST DRESSED

Jared Leto – Worst Miss

Jared Leto in Gucci

In a phrase: PUFF

Sarah Silverman – Worst Fit

Sarah Silverman in Zac Posen

In a phrase: Spray tans don’t fix everything.

Alicia Vikander – Weirdest Choice

Alicia Vikander in Louis Vuitton

In a phrase: Melted butter popcorn.

Ahh, doesn’t that sass feel good? And with that, let’s kiss goodbye this award season! Thanks for following along. Next week, I’ll recap Fashion Month, so get your notebooks out—you’re gonna want to write this stuff down. 😉

Cheers y’all,

Haley

All photos via Vogue.com

Award Show, Night Out, Nighttime Look, Recap

A V. Involved Fashion Bracket

Queue up the DVR, because we are in the middle of award show season, babies! As someone who loves the satisfaction of checking experiences of a list scrawled in the back of their planner, I kind of, totally live for award season. Every winter, society simply GIVES us a dozen movies we should probably see so that we can have a relevant and exciting conversation about Leonardo DiCaprio in the checkout line at lunch.

But the real reason I love award season is, DUH/OF COURSE, the fashion. So much money, thought, work, and planning goes into the outfits of the stars that I feel we really owe it to the “teams” of the stars (if not the stars themselves) to pay attention. But doesn’t that whole best dressed/worst dressed scenario feel a little played out? I mean, fashion police feels a little tired, am I right? Not gonna lie, my super snarky alter-ego comes alive when assessing this category so in effort to be kind and carry on, I’ve come up with a new idea:

Introducing the BEST DRESSED BRACKET

Ladies and Gentlemen (and let’s be honest, I mostly mean ladies), here are your contenders:

Top Row (L to R): Rachel McAdams, Alicia Vikander, Bryce Dallas Howard, Abigail Spencer, Brie Larson, Cate Blanchett, Jennifer Lawrence, Julianne Moore | Bottom Row (L to R): Oscar Isaac, Ryan Gosling/Brad Pitt, Jacob Tremblay, Orlando Bloom, Eddie Redmayne, Matt Damon (with wife), Leonardo DiCaprio, Jason Statham (with RHW)

This year, I’m matching up some of the shiniest and most dazzling movie and TV stars to determine who really is the most fabulous of them all. We’re about halfway through the season so I’ve already pulled my favorites from The Golden Globes and The Critics Choice Awards. On Saturday, we have the SAG awards and then the mothership, The Academy Awards, brings our sports-meets-fashion-face-off to a head on February 28th.

Note: An Inordinate Amount of Time Was Spent on This

A few things to note:

This is entirely subjective and hinges on my own editorial eye and personal preferences.
I am still sorting out the rules of this as I go. Let’s just say, if Rachel McAdams doesn’t show up at the SAG awards, I’ll figure out a replacement player. Sports teams have subs, so we can too.
Feel free to follow along. If you are really a fan, you can pull this bracket image off into a word doc, print the doc, and show your work-mates. They’re really gonna get into it. ~~I think.~~ I promise.
Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt are currently a co-team of their own because apparently they are now too major to walk the Step and Repeat.
Bonus points if you share, like, or tweet about this program. Sharing is caring.

Happy DVR-ing everyone, don’t start without me. I’ve got the popcorn.

– Haley

Photos c/o: HarpersBazaar.com and Eonline.com

NYFW, Recap, Spring/Summer

Fashion To Go – NYFW

The invasion has begun. My instagram feed is flooded with pictures of my favorites spots around town, but now by out of towner bloggers. Blacked-out windowed Escalades and Suburbans are hunkered down in front of the hotels Mercer, Crosby and Trump. When I walk home from work, my route is a little less direct as I swing by these spots to try and spot/restrain myself from tackling a celebrity. Fashion’s bi-annual Christmas has begun –

WELCOME TO NEW YORK FASHION WEEK.

Sadly, I’ll be missing many of this season’s shows due to an overly hectic personal schedule, but I’m following along via that oh-so-helpful, yet FOMO inducing social media. If you want to bone up your fashion intake this week, I highly recommend checking into Vogue’s site VOGUErunway.com (RIP STYLE.COM – you will be missed!)

If you just maybe want to know what’s hot and what’s not this NYFW, I’m your girl. Today is all about the quickest Fashion Week rundown ever.

Let’s jump right into Hihaleyannie’s First-Ever Fashion To Go!

The Favorite – Public School

photo cred: vogue.com

Right now, these two designers are the hottest thing out there. Between their much adored line and manning the helm at DKNY this season, Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne are honing their A game and bringing it hard. Passionate lovers of the city, it’s easy for us all to pull for the street-style guys whose line’s style is a little goth and a little prep and very, very clean. Not to mention, their ready to wear items sell out faster than you can say,”Where do you keep your Public School shorts?” As my friend, Russian GQ photographyer, Volodya Timchuk, would say, “They are cool, Soho boys.” Yes they are Vlad, yes they are.

Most Instagrammed – Givenchy

photo cred: @VogueParis

The inception of the Givenchy show began and concluded on Instragram. Last week, Givenchy announced via Instagram that they would give away 425 +1 tickets to whomever signed up in time. Givenchy’s acclaimed designer Ricardo Tisci was thrilled to be presenting in NY for the first time and wanted the world to see it happen. Well we all signed up and the site crashed several times and yours truly is ~~proud~~ sad to say she did not land a ticket. BUT good ol up-to-the-nanosecond Insta was there for us. Snaps of Kanye and Kim finding their seats flooded my feed, along with the gorgeous West-side sunset glowing in the background while cream colored ladies with bejeweled faces stoically walked the catwalk. I feel like I was there! But not really.

Most Runwayed – Gigi, Kendell, Cara, Karlie and the rest of the PYT Squad

photo cred: Vogue.com/Getty Images

Fashion’s darling girls are only gaining momentum this season.This group of gorgeous, barely-of-age ladies will walk in almost every show imaginable. You can’t swing a stick in Manhattan without hitting one of these doe-eyed, long-legged vixens. And they’ll be walking every show from DVF to Tommy Hilfiger to Oscar de la Renta. I mean you can for sure swing a stick without hitting one of them. But it’s so crowded in the city lately that you can’t really swing a stick without hitting someone. Also, where would you find a stick? #nonature

Most Under The Radar Runwayed – Anna Ewers

photo cred: vogue.com

She’s the face you’ve seen but just can’t place it. But Anna walks in hundreds of shows a season and no doubt this season is no different. Her face is strong or soft or sexy or whatever mood a designer is attempting to create. She’s the ultimate muse to any artiste and we’ll continue to unknowingly see her face in ads for many seasons to come.

Back At It – Lauren Conrad

photo cred: @lclaurenconrad

If you are my mom, you may actually recognize this name! Everyone’s favorite Kohl’s designer is back at it with a new line. LC didn’t quite graduate from soft sweetness, but hey, you do what you know. And yes, there’s a time and a place for girly girls and that place is a place where girls where bows in their hair (that means you, the South!) and bikinis on the reg (heyyyy California!).

Hot Colors – Just take a look at the most recent shows showcased on Voguerunway:

photo cred – Voguerunway.com

Hard to say as today really dives into the deep end of the shows, but I’m saying we’re coming back to bright, bold color and lightness in general. Yesterday, Idan Cohen sent his models down the runway in bright, candy-colored and beaded gowns. At Givenchy last night, Ricardo Tisci sent his girls down his highline runway in white silk slips and cream colored jackets. Better up your spray-tan budget for Spring 2016.

Hot Trends

photo cred: voguerunway.com

I’m calling for another round of off the shoulder tops coupled with high-slit skits. This season will be about showing skin in new and exciting ways. Less cutouts, more slits.

Keep your eyes peeling and your ‘liking’ finger ready because now you know. Next week we’ll recap shows and drool over all the pretty clothes. Merry Fashion Week to us all.

Haley

HI, HALEYANNIE | STUDIO H

style, self, & motherhood

Tag Archives: recap