When Blogs Collide!

Earlier this month, during a rare and wonderful break from an oppressive heat wave, we got together with photographer/blogger Ari Seth Cohen and videographer Lina Plioplyte to take a few pictures for a project they’re working on for Advanced Style. His Thursday, August 4th posting on us simply titled "Graphic Fashion" says it all. For those of you who haven’t yet seen it, above is his opening photo.

Through sheer luck, we ended up looking perfectly synchronized. Trust us, if we had tried to match our outfits, it never would have worked so well.

Actually, that's not entirely true. Before we meet, the two of us do try very hard to plan coordinated looks, often having scintillating conversations that go something like this:

Q: “What are you going to wear?”
A: “I don’t know. What are you going to wear?”

The most helpful response we get from one another is something like:

“I’m going to try to wear the [X thing] with the [Y trim], but not if it rains. And if it doesn’t go with my [Z accessory], then I'll have to wear something else entirely."

And so it goes, back to square one, and we make up our minds independently.

On this particular day, Jean said: "I'm wearing my Jeremy Scott platform boots, but I have no idea what else. I wanted to wear my Donna Karen pants, but can't find them anywhere." Jean bought a black jacket at a Yeohlee Tang sample sale three years ago that she brought home and hasn't seen since. She swears Gremlins take her clothes while she sleeps and hide them from her. Valerie has offered to do Closet Rescue with Jean on numerous occasions, but Jean (thinks Valerie) would rather have bamboo shoots under her finger nails than helpful friends with organizational skills in her closet. Is it like one of those TV gags, where every time the closet is opened, an avalanche of STUFF falls out and buries the poor hapless person on the other side? Jean's not telling, so one can only speculate. (Jean says: Du-uh. Anyone who watches Hoarders knows how upset they get when anyone messes with their Stuff.)

So, where were we? Oh, yes! When we arrived on the plaza and it turned out we were both wearing black and white stripes, no one was more surprised than we, because we did not – and could not – plan it. But we loved the effect, and we think Ari and Lina made the most of it. Here's the shot Ari took with Jean's camera to memorialize her boots and Valerie's Gareth Pugh gladiators by Melissa:

We turned the tables on the photographer and videographer. Jean snapped this fabulous shot of Lina and Ari in that luscious early evening light on the plaza at the Seagram's Building in front of a newly installed John Chamberlin sculpture. Don't they look positively fab? You'd never know they had both just gotten back from a trip to California to gather shots for Ari's blog and footage for their documentary, or that Ari was totally jet-lagged, or that Lina was about to leave town to spend a month in New Hampshire editing video. They just looked great and "got down to business".

We're all waiting with bated breath (not baited breath - that's what fish have) to see the final product! Carly Simon said it best, in song: "Anticipation"!