Rah Rah Lady Gaga!

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Some of you may have heard that we like (okay, love) Lady Gaga. For example here, here and here. And this past Monday night we got to see her live at the Fox Theater downtown – woot! Needless to say, the Haus of Gaga put on an amazing show.

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Photo courtesy of the AJC.

I wasn’t crazy about the openers, but Gaga’s two-hour long show didn’t disappoint.

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The outfit above was one of my favorites. To sum up her wardrobe: cone bras, sequins, light-up blazers, lots of skin, leotards and a giant feather collar. Her dancers were awesome and Lar and I loved her performance art videoes in between songs.

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Me, Matt and Lar.

Lar and I forgot our camera so we didn’t take outfit photos, but rest assured we wore plenty of glitter and shiny bobbles. It was fun seeing other Lady Gaga fans all dressed up. We saw a couple of Bad Romance-inspired crown heads and two girls totally rocking the leotard with fishnets look.

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Nate, Lar and Mike.

After the concert we headed over to Blakes in midtown and ended the night with a trip to Waffle House. All in all, a perfect Gaga-licious night.

(All other photos courtsey of Nate the Great)

Bottega Veneta for $1.60!!!!!!!!!

So, my plan the next couple of days was to show you the awesome faux fur vest Cath made for me and the way my mom wrapped our Christmas prezies in Vogue patterns- all of which I still plan to do. BUT! Before any of that can happen, we must take a moment and give thanks to the designer purse gods and the fabulous people at Goodwill at North Lake for letting this precious gem slip through their fingers.

I give you my first designer bag (first designer anything) EVER. Welcome to my closet, Beautiful Bottega. Content warning: forthcoming purse porn:

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For those of you interested in the back-story of how this amazing thing became mine for only $1.60, here goes it:

My mom and I were doing some thrift shopping to cure our cabin fever. First stop, Goodwill. I had an armload of jackets (a Chanel knock-off, a silk hot pink blazer, etc.) and books (can never have too many) and was tottering up to the cash register. Next to the register was the 50% off table (yes, it was on the freakin’ 50% off table!!!). If the wonderful people in line hadn’t been there, I would have checked out and never glanced to my right, where Bottega was sitting demurely on top of porcelain kitty figurines and 80s VHS work-out videos. I picked up the purse (it felt like butter!), and I was like “Mom, this looks so much like a Bottega Veneta bag.” Whilst saying “it’s a great knock-off,” I opened the flap and nearly lost it when I saw the label. My eyes grew to the size of serving platters and I started to hyperventilate – drawing attention from the other shoppers in my line. My mom kept mumbling “keep your cool, keep your cool.” I was sure the Goodwill police we’re closing in, ready to snatch my gem from my hands.

Luckily I made it safely undetected through the line. When the cashier said $1.60, my mouth fell open and I think I drooled for a solid 3 seconds before coming to my senses (there hadn’t been a price tag on the bag- I would have bought it for a 100 times that!).

I’ve been hyperventilating ever since.

Our Thoughts On.

1. “The Same Type of Different” – Victoria Beckham & Rihanna
2.  “Check out Their Style through Your Video Phone” – Beyonce & Lady Gaga
3.  “Models that Ruled the Runway in 2009”- Kate Moss & Chanel Iman
4.  “The Tale of Two Cities: East vs. West”- First Lady Michelle
Obama & Kim Kardashian
5. “Opinionated Style” – Rachel Bilson & Sienna Miller

I Am Fashion Weak asked us to submit our opinions on the above list. You’ll be able to see our thoughts tomorrow (that’s Monday) on the site. Check it out and let us know if you agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree or just plain disagree.

Merry Christmas, Lovely Readers!!!

We hope you all are having a wonderful holidays- we wish we could celebrate with you all (one big AsianCajun holiday party- one year this will have to happen ;)).

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Cath and I donned our ugly Christmas sweaters just for you (and Becs’ party over at Style with Benefits). Cath’s talented bf Troy Cono, took these photos, thus sacrificing his eyes to the delight of our puffy-paint, doily-decorated Christmas funfest of sweatshirt wear! Both sweaters are from Clothing Warehouse in Atlanta. Cath and I paired the sweaters with black platforms (thigh-highs for me) and leggings. 

p.s. Do you see the built-in collar on my sweater (psst- I’m on the right)? Sold!

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If you need some more AsianCajun reading during your Holiday break, head on over to June Shin’s blog for our interview complete with baby pictures. While you’re at it, check out June’s gorgeous jewelry too- a little post-holiday shopping for yourself. Thanks for featuring us, June!

And a shout out to the beautiful B a la Moda as well. Have you guys seen her blog? This lovely lady from Madrid, Spain has the best suggestions for how to wear tricky trends- all on video (with English subtitles for those of us that didn’t do as well in Spanish class as we wanted). Thanks for the award, B!!! We are honored!

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A few of you inquired about our cutie Boo Radley in the post below. He’s actually our parents’ new addition to the family (we would steal him away but our landlord doesn’t allow pups in our apartment- le sigh). You can read about him in this post and see him with his hair shorn – he’s looking a bit more handsome now. I’ve always said I like a man in a hat:

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Another happy, happy holidays to you all!!!

xoxo,

Lar & Cath

(Gingerbread) Haus of Gaga

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We spent the last week and weekend with wonderful friends and family doing lovely gubly Christmas things: watching a Christmas Carol at the Shakespeare Tavern, roasting marshmallows at the Decatur bonfire, and making gingerbread houses.

I love desserts more than candy, so if I had been Hansel or Gretel, the witch wouldn’t have lured me with any amount of lollipops. However, had she been wearing Nina Ricci platforms and singing Bad Romance, I would have tottered after her in hopes of these.

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Gagaloo, are you home?

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Thanks for bearing with us, lovely readers! We’re almost out of the holiday madness, and our postings and comments will be a bit more regular!

We hope you are having a wonderful holiday season too!!!

How to Wear a Mega Scarf

The ultra-talented designers over at Epidemik Coalition have wowed us with their t-shirt design in the past. They’ve recently expanded their design know-how to luxurious silk scarves. Check out their shop We Are the Process here.

They asked that we show you a few ways to wear these beautiful scarves, and we gladly obliged (you guys already know how much I love silky drape-y things).

Look how gorgeous and large this thing is- it’s practically eating Cath. And just $35? A great prezie for yourself or a friend.

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A classic, and probably the way we will usually wear this mega scarf.

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I did the more expected triangle fold tied around my neck (fold in half, corner to corner and knot under top layer in front or back of neck):

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I love how Cath has her’s just draped around her neck so that it peaks out of the bottom of her blazer:

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Wearing your scarf out at night? Cath wrapped it around her American Apparel dress and accessorized with red.

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This is a diluted version of the bunny ears/oversized bows inspired by the Louis Vuitton Fall 09 runway (see here). I took the Frenchiness a step further with a stripped tee from H&M and a skirt from AA.

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Come summer I hope to use it as a sarong-like top. In the meantime, Cath and I came up with some other. errr. awesomely creative ways to wear the mega scarf:

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Ladies and gents (I like a man in a scarf- even if it’s silk) alike, how would you wear the mega scarf?

AsianCajuns Heart Rodarte

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Get thee to a Target! Rodarte is here! Cath and I had our early Sunday (Dec. 20) morning line-waiting technique ready to go, but we headed to Target this evening for some Christmas shopping and we stumbled into nearly the whole Rodarte for Target collection!

How is it possible that the Edgewood Target in Atlanta got a “preview” of the Rodarte collection? Officially only a few places (New York and San Fran, I think) were supposed to get a preview. I imagine our Southern style preview wasn’t exactly official, but we we’re still giddy that it happened- inadvertently or no!

I think we spent a total of 30 minutes in a family size dressing room and tried on everything available. Here are some of our favs (Cath had less luck, so it’s just me in these pics. The only thing she purchased was the see-through mustard cardi- a bit tricky to photograph).

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The blue dress above looks a lot more flattering in person. It’s super girly (I love, love a swirly skirt), so I’d probably toughen it up with some pleather and more black for the winter. 

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Ooo this kimono dress! I wanted to buy it to just hang it on my wall! I think I looked a little too much like I was wearing pajamas. If it were an actual robe or if I had extra cash to spend on impractical wall hangings, I totally would have bought it. 

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I did get this! I love how it’s not super-tight, so I don’t feel too Casino-y. Tight + animal print is a tricky line to walk. Some ladies can pull it off, but especially with my big hair I can look the wrong side of va-va-voomy.

Have any of you guys seen the Rodarte stuff in your Targets? Maybe this is yet another stellar aspect of the deep South, lack of long queues for designer lines. Now if only H&M would get Sonia Rykiel intimates- le swoon. 

Ladies, let us know what you pick up! Gents, are you fans of Rodarte? I’m always curious what the fellas have to say about the things that make us go crazy.

Sweatpants at Work

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Ack! We’ve been so remiss on the internets of late. Beaucoup apologies to our wonderful readers. Somehow, every year, I forget how insane the holidays are: local events, shopping for the perfect presents, concerts, a house museum to decorate, baked goods to make (and eat and eat and eat), family and friends to visit. We love it all, but it means our blogging, emailing and commenting get left out in the cold.

Well here’s a lovely little warm up: a cozy pair of sweat pants! Yes, indeedy. The girl who wouldn’t even wear sweat pants when required in middle school gym class, is now wearing them to work! See Exhibit A below:

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Can you tell how much I love this Nasty Gal shoulder-padded blazer? I’m hardly ever without it. And what better why to dress up sweats, but with structured shoulders and a neutral/minimalist (okay, nonexistent) palette?

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So the sweatpants kinda sorta look more like leggings, ’tis true. And many of you reminded me that wearing leggings to work is pretty much like wearing sweats. So no ground-breaking fashion moments here. But I really do love when fashion and comfort collide – not so much in footwear (begone, crocs and uggs!). If my waist band can expand whilst I eat more Christmas chocolate and gingerbread, and I can maintain a certain level of superficial chic-ness, well, I’m all for it!

Here’s how some svelte models (of the non-waist-expanding-variety) donned their sweats on the runway (click image for photo credit).

Below, Chloe creative director Hannah MacGibbon makes sweatpants look so good, you’ll burn your Juicy Couture track suit. Heck, she’s even wearing a sweatshirt- on her runway! A sweatshirt and sweatpants combo to work? That’s the next step.

Cath and I are out of town this weekend, but we promise to respond to all of your wonderful comments and emails – they truly make our day/week/month/year!

Also, stay tuned for an upcoming post on some lovely things the boys over at Epidemik Coalition sent us. Thanks for the early xmas presents, guys!

Holiday Sparkle

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I love seeing all the glittery-ness and jewel tones in magazines and catalogs this time of year. J.Crew features its sequin scarves and blazers, Urban Outfitters has hipsters decked out in satin, shimmery dresses and Sephora ads are packed with glittery eye shadows.

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If I had the money, I’d be running around town wearing a sequin blazer over a dark teal satin dress and sparkly heels. Instead, I’m making do with what I have, starting with jewelry. Here are the items I wore on Thanksgiving:

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Left to right: my “gold” Bitten ring that got bent at some point (it was only $6 so I can’t complain), thrifted “gold” bracelet with a burgundy velvet ribbon my mom used as a napkin ring strung through it, and and thrifted tassle necklace that I don’t wear often enough.

I’d really love to add even more sparkle for my Christmas party outfits. If I have time between all the gift shopping and work, maybe I can squeeze in a sequin/studded diy project somewhere.

My, AsianCajun, What Big Shoulders You Have!

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I know the big shoulder trend made its first appearance many months ago, but I didn’t give in until last week. Earlier in the summer I tried on a shoulder-padded tee at H&M and I looked like a line backer. My already broad shoulders didn’t need the extra padding. Turns out I just chose the wrong item of clothing! This blazer (from Nasty Gal) is very French Editor chic with just the right touch of football defense – haha! (anyone else sensing a sugar low?)

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Are you guys embracing the big shoulder trend? Obviously our lovely Lady Gaga is. (p.s. who’s going to see her Monster Ball Tour? Oo, me! Me! Me!). Of course she makes my jacket look like a boring black blazer with non-existent shoulders. Well, I went pantless for you Gaga, but I won’t go shoulder-full for you just yet.

Are you guys pro-shoulder pads or are you wishing 80s revival would die a quick and painful death?

Oh! And it’s Friday!!! Hope you all have a fabulous, fabulous weekend! Cath and I will be mucking it up with the Wren’s Nest folks, decorating the historic home for the holidays. Come see us on Sunday for The Wren’s Nest Victorian Christmas Party (it’s free – yippee)!