Author Archive
Kathleen Scully, Day 31
This is my last day! The month went by so quickly. First, I’d like to thank Eliza for designing an awesome dress that has allowed me to modernize, refresh my wardrobe, and truly make me realize how much I have. So cliche, but some of the best things are in our own backyard – or already in our closet! All of the items dusted off over the last month have a new found appreciation…Read More>>
Kathleen Scully, Day 30
July 11, 2010
I went to Urban Vintage today for a bite to eat while reading some of the Times. I decided to stay super simple today, no belt, minimal jewelry (I made the necklace a decade or so ago.) The amazing old-bold skirt is enough, I love it. I bought it years ago somewhere, thrift, but today is the first day I’m wearing it. It is the sort of skirt that needs the grounding of the perfect LBD.
I’m also hanging out at home – cookin’ up something good for tomorrow- make sure you stay tuned! I thought I’d show you a peek of my place. A couple of my favorite books on the table with a caned top that I found on the street. The shelf that was in my studio at Pratt and holds one of my hat forms, trimmed with a necklace made with acorns strewn on a plastic bag, vintage salt and pepper shakers, tile molds I made, paint brushes, glaze, paint, etc. All readily available for me for any arty project strikes my fancy.
Kathleen Scully, Day 29
July 10, 2010
Today I found myself in a former secret salon during Prohibition, but now it is more of a designer hangout. In true crowdsource style, Melissa Zook stopped over to lend me some jewelry for the daily post.
Melissa makes all of this super cool leather jewelry. I know what you are saying, leather isn’t sustainable. Get this: most of it is from her father’s farm! Directly from the cattle he raises. Pretty awesome, right?
Leather ruffle. I love it.
Kathleen Scully, Day 28
July 9, 2010
I’ve lived in New York City for Fifteen years, I’ve lived in four of the five boroughs, but I’ve never been to Fort Tildon before today. Looks like most New Yorkers haven’t made it out to this secret little spot either. What a gift.
After a few hours of working in my friend’s studio, I headed out with my un-made straw hat that I tied with a scarf from Beacon’s closet, a necklace from my Ann Taylor days, a skirt I bought at the Williamsburg Mini Mall, and a bikini.
The tide was amazing.
See you tomorrow!
Kathleen Scully, Day 27
July 8, 2010
Anyone recognize where I am? Yes, I’m at a church, but which one?
Comment if you partied here in the 80′s or 90′s…look familiar now? Yes, Limelight has transformed itself once again…selling colorful sweets, this time for the mass market…
or not…
and curiosities, look Eliza! – Crystals!
I didn’t purchase anything here, I had plenty of my own lovely and color items on, like this necklace Koos bought for me years ago.
Like his jackets, it’s reversible!
My skirt is from my friend Lucia, from here friends over at Bobutic. I think am a lucky girl. All of these gifts! But then, my shoes, all day running around had given me a blister!
Again, my luck was with me. I had a meeting with my friend Adam from Help, I need Help.
Adam, just happen to have some of his perfect little product with him. So Help I have a blister came to the rescue. These awesome little packages are all compostable, but I think I want to make a bracelet out of the turquoise packaging. I think it’s the perfect size. I know it’s the perfect color.
Kathleen Scully, Day 26
July 7, 2010
Argh! Grass is greener over at my friend Kenzan’s back yard. He runs Studio 1Thousand, and has his own indigo dye studio. He can dye anything you want in indigo. I pilfered though his collection and have worn one of his fabulous new shirts upside down as a skirt, the neckline is the hem and the end of the t-shirt is tucked into my biking shorts
Peek-a-boo!
I found this awesome pirate/Gaga eye patch on his book shelf and snatched it up for the photo shoot. I can’t remember where the bracelet it is from, but it is Mah-jong pieces made into beads.
The ultra long necklace I made from an old necklace, and added the black beads and the one scarab, for new life. Oh, and those rings, I wear them almost everyday! The silver one I bought on St. Marks Place my first year in New York, I use it to keep rings that are too big on, like the gold one which is my grandfather’s wedding band. The pearl necklace is Kenzon’s too. He made the metal clasp. Have pearls ever looked hotter? I think not. Quite literally and metaphorically.
My shoes are a find from my sister’s closet some time ago. I love them. I call them my super 77 shoes. This is also a nice detail of Kenzon’s emblem and the little lapis lazuli scarab.
Kathleen Scully, Day 25
July 6, 2010
Right when we thought it wouldn’t get any hotter – it did. A friend of mine posted on Facebook today that it’s best to stay inside, not so much because of the heat, but because of the smog. We all know that living in New York City is like smoking a pack of cigarettes every day, but today apparently the air quality is 10 times worse!
My way of combating the heat on a fourth floor apartment, with out air-conditioning, is to be wearing my American Apparel basic body suit under my LBD- that I can just throw on should someone come to the door. I’ve dressed it up in my faux pearl necklace, and bracelet. Shoes are the same from Day 6, and the hat is a recent addition, complements of my mom.
Stay cool all!
Kathleen Scully, Day 24
July 5, 2010
How does one stay cool on a day like today? Go grocery shopping! A guarantee that it will be the coldest and most guiltless way to stay cool. This was my third trip to one today, and I’m not joking. The first time I forgot money, the and reason for the third is that I buy dairy from one and fruit and veggies from another. I ‘forgot’ dish soap, so it looks like I’ll be heading out again. Oh, well.
Wearing the least amount as possible, I’ve pulled my hair back in to the world’s smallest bun to show off my earrings from 1994 trip to Prague.
Pretty cool, right? The earrings are hammered copper with wooden beads. Light and airy. This is me on Greene Street…
Taking reference from my denim skort, (a find from my college days, that was at home last week-end) I’ve wrapped the dress, if you will, by asymmetrically buttoning it. Here I’m at home again. T-shirt is pretty much generic, and my touch of color today.
Kathleen Scully, Day 23
July 4, 2010
Happy Birthday America from a Bicentennial Baby!
My tennis skirt and bandeaux top are given new life today with the LBD. The tennis skirt is a hand-me-down from a friend. The bandeaux top (I made from tube socks) has more or less lot its elasticity and I made it into a halter this morning with a blue grosgrain ribbon.
I bought my shoes a few years ago on a day of desperation when the shoes I wore to work were constraining my pursuit of happy feet.
My hat is all about perusing happiness and freedom. It is made out of corrugated cardboard cut in a cool shape that allows the wearer to wear it either top up…
Bottoms up…
Or inside out…(there is a fourth way, but some how my memory card decided to take a vacation!) Anyway, you get the idea. The nifty hat accessory is made by a friend’s mom a couple of years ago for birthday bonnets.
In the coming year, may all live life to the fullest, be free of doubts, constraints, and to find funding for projects that make one happiest – whatever hat you choose to waer.
Kathleen Scully, Day 22
July 3, 2010
As a warm up to celebrating the birth of our country there was a BBQ in a community garden in Clinton Hill. I wanted to dress as if I stepped a little back in time, but also be modernly me. On the way out the door my skirt hem fell out and I gathered it up with a few bug pins given to me years ago. It worked out perfect for the look, Long loose drapes, with a little pinning. Here the LBD became a bit of a long blouse.
The straw hat my mom gave me last weekend on my trip home, and the choker necklace is just a black stain ribbon that to me finished my look and made it mine, I need that little touch of the twenties.
I piled on lots of bracelets, just for fun, the beaded one is a necklace, and the green stone one was a gift to my mom that she gave me, oh, maybe twenty years ago.
The fabulous shoes, are from Koos. He found them one morning at the flea market in Chelsea. They are WWII souvenirs from the Philippines. Beautifully hand embroidered.
Thank you to Miriam for helping with styling and photos today!
Kathleen Scully, Day 21
July 1, 2010
I wanted to dress like Clara Bow with black and yellow polka-dots as the pattern throughout my outfit today – and took all the photos myself…Here I am in my apartment…
I ventured onto my beautiful roof, and took this silly close-up. The hat is one of the first I ever made, and the scarf was given to me by a former co-worker. My earrings are from the same place as yesterday’s earrings, my ring is old and I haven’t a clue where I got it from. My necklace is from Barbara Silverstein, it’s rose-gold filled knit wire with freshwater pearls inside.
Love Clara Bow’s look…
I lowered the waist of the dress with a tie of my Pop’s from high-school, in the 1950′s, to give the LBD a more Flapper silhouette. Notice teeny, tiny jacquard yellow dots on the tie…
Kicking up my heels in my shoes that remind me of my Irish Dancing days, they also have been in my closet for just about ever – I recently “repaired” them with a black sharpie! And, yes, I still remember the jig! Every once and a while you can see me do it on St. Patrick’s Day.
Happy Friday everyone!
Kathleen Scully, Day 20
June 30, 2010
I’m doing my a cheer for myself today. I’ve picked up my bound copy of my thesis at the Pratt Library. To dress for the occasion, and to dress with slight reference to the infamous movie scene shot in the Pratt Library, I donned my Cowboy boots. This is about at cheer-leaderly, or cow-girl-ish I’ll ever be.
My accessories are small and discrete today, but full of meaning. I’m wearing my Ganesha pendant, which is etched in a piece of glass and almost not visible. Ganesha is, among other things, the Deva of intellect and wisdom. The scarf is from Nicole Miller. I worked in the boutique on Madison Avenue during college, and bought it back then. The signature print is of diner icons. I love diners, particularly old ones. The significance here is that I’d like to continue to visit diners, not work in one.
The earrings are a bit less significant, purchased at a store just below where I had my spoons cast for my thesis, that was having a sale with such deep discounts, I felt like I was stealing them. I borrowed Ms. New’s hat for the photo shoot.
I have yet to master the craft of self-portraits, even with my awesome Canon G11. Lucky for me I ran into designer Elizabeth New right outside the library today. After reading Me, Myself and iPhone by David Coleman in the Times today, I couln’t help but to include both close-up shots. Which one do you like better?
Kathleen Scully, Day 19
June 30, 2010
On my walk to school today the guys who hang outside most of the day said they really liked my outfit today, pointing up and down that it all worked head to toe, and really liked the black. A bit of a change from the usually lascivious glare. I’m happy to have made amicable conversation with them today. I owe it all to the LBD and the change in weather that has made life so much more bearable.
It is our last day to move out of our studios at Pratt. So, another photo shoot at Pratt seems only appropriate. The fourth floor of the Industrial Design Department is a perfect back drop with the lilac dress, a hand-me-down from Lucia, designed by Brenda Cecchi for Patafisics, which I’m up-cycling with the LBD. I love lilac and yellow together, my watch was a gift from my internship this past year, and although not sustainable, it brings a smile to my face when I wear it. The LBD, lilac jersey and citron plastic yellow watch make a great color combination with the gray wall and the yellow alcove with a 3D sculpture.
Kathleen Scully, Day 18
June 29, 2010
Photos today are the result of a little trip to ISCP in Bushwick and Stumptown Cafe in Williamsburg, all by Francesco Mario Tumbiolo.
It was most difficult to get dressed today. I have not buttoned as much of the dress as possible to allow all the wind to blow through, with a colorful bandeaux top underneath from Koos. In celebration of my friend, Lucia, and her last night in New York before heading home to Italy, I’m wearing beads around my neck she made when she was my roommate in Italy, over a decade ago. I’ve also added a cross that my grandfather made. It’s about as old as I am. I’ve worn the bracelets again from Florence.
Shoes are ages old, I can’t at all remember where or when I got them, only that they are one of my best buys ever. I’ve had them for years and paid under ten dollars for them.
Things that are most precious are not things at all, but relationships. Lucia and I have been instant friends since we met in 1995 when I studied in Florence. She parts for home tomorrow, and I’m hoping to enjoy a little vacation there in August. Nothing is tied down now, we will see where life takes me.
Kathleen Scully, Day 17
June 28, 2010
On my way back to Brooklyn today. I’m filling up with a good meal with my Pop at Strong Hearts Cafe in Syracuse before the long drive. Strong Hearts offers free wireless, and awesome vegan food, yummy! I’ve opted for a photo shoot across the street at the fountain.
In travel comfort style, I’ve wrapped and belted the dress over a long knit dress, same material of the scarf and skirt that I’ve worn earlier. The 60′s style belt today is mine, a find from a thrift store on Fulton Street, but my pop says the belt “looks like it fell off of a hippie at Haight-Ashbury.” Ha, Ha, always count on you for a laugh!
Kathleen Scully, Day 16
June 27, 2010
Big city, country, and today, little city. The All-American Syracuse Jazz Festival. Wearing as little as possible, in the intense humidity, I’ve added just my shoes and a little stoop-sale skirt to the LBD. My bag is thrifty. I’ve always saved it for the Jacobean-style print.
All accessories are again from Mom today. This super sixties belt in particular is an amazing find. I think I’ll be heading back to the city with it in my suit case. The stigma of this flower power has a secret use, but hasn’t been used in ages.
Kathleen Scully, Day 15
June 26, 2010
Today is sponsored by my Mom; clothing and photos. Yellow seersucker vintage house dress from the late 1930′s? Such a cute print of little colorful green, red, and purple yarns dolls. They are colors I would likely never put together myself, and therein lies its charm! Belt, earrings and bracelet also my moms. Shoes mine, on their their third or fourth Summer.
Zao Chen, the cat, wanted to be in the photo too! This is the front yard, the trees were a LOT smaller when I was growing up here!
Lovely details from the dress are the cool sleeves with transparent plastic green buttons. Nice photos Mom!
Kathleen Scully, Day 14
June 25, 2010
I took a road trip home today, through the Catskills to lovely Central New York. I arrived at my Mom’s house this evening to a huge watermelon! Here I am on the front lawn in my LBD and a star-blinged romper – I bought at a sample sale (for only $15!) Flips flops are from Muji, on their third season.
Before heading out for the trip, I had to clear out my studio at school, above, one of my last photos of me in the space before I’m out for good:(
I couldn’t help but to include a photo from my last night’s dinner, in Freeman’s Alley. I think this photo shows off the line of the LBD-into-jacket really well. The purse is from the most epic flea market in San Francisco, about ten years ago, probably less than ten dollars.
Kathleen Scully, Day 13
June 24, 2010
Wear Colors, a directive from a clothing store window yesterday in SOHO. I took it to heart today when thinking about what to wear. I wanted to get dressed up as I’m having a joint belated birthday dinner with one of best friends from school, Lys. We have birthdays just a few days apart that coincided with our thesis presentations, so tonight, we are giving ourselves the full treatment. Oh, I have the opportunity to be a bit over the top. I’m so excited! Orrie King was available for a quick photo shoot before her daughter went down for a nap and took these amazing photos just above and below.
photo by Orrie King
I’m wearing one of my favorite skirts that I bought about five years ago from a boutique on Lafayette Street in NOHO, a Top Shop tank, and shoes from Ann Taylor, many, many seasons ago.
Much of the rhinestone costume jewelry I own comes from a thrift store I worked at from age eleven to eighteen, back home. I wanted to make the jewelry look modern, so I extended the necklace with a coral ribbon and have a rhinestone belt as a bracelet. I’ve again made the dress into another jacket by pinning the hem to the neckline with rhinestone pins from a church sale.
photo by Michael Ryterband
Shortly after my photo shoot with Orrie, I was on Pratt’s campus to sell and donate a couple of things from my studio, and ran into my friend Michael Ryterband, who is a graphic designer and photographer and snapped the photo above. He also a super cool drummer who will stop at nothing to practice, which is actually how we met a couple of years ago. I was building my furniture piece in the metal shop and he came in asking if he could practice there! Adam, who runs the metal, shop let him. I love Pratt. I’m going to miss it so much.
Kathleen Scully, Day 12
June 23, 2010
Errands and an appointment at the Apple Genius Bar brought me to SOHO this afternoon. With the heat index at 93 degrees, and a warning to walk slowly, I put on the most uncomfortable shoes I own in order to force myself to do so. Ha ha, I’m just kidding. I was impressed with myself for lasting so long in them though! I bought them from the same woman my shoes from Day 6 are from. My cheap and cheerful dress goes from a little Hoochie to a little Haute with the onset of the LBD. And Yesterday’s bracelet is today’s necklace.
I accessorized in my Plastic Fantastic pieces a white bracelet from a sidewalk sale and a blue fish pin I used to gather the dress open more is from Junk in Greenpoint. The photos are taken by Rashedah, known as the vintage lady at the corner of Mercer and Prince. She let me use one of her original handbags that she designs as a styling prop, next to her awesome collection of vintage.
