Sequins International: A Slide Show Of Style From Mexico to Belize

I’m finally recovering from my holiday break slash honeymoon with my new wife, travelling three weeks between Mexico & Belize. This was a great chance for exploring unfamiliar territories while also getting  the inside scoop on fashion trends south of the border. 

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We started our trip in Mexico City. The Zócalo in the center of the the city was brightly decorated with shimmering nativity scenes. Angels, wisemen, donkeys all reflected light alike and I found it a humbling moment of sparkle unity.

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The City was more than just sequins though. Here, we see an adventurous fashion pioneer on the streets near the Zócalo. Note the  platform shoes, full mask, sceptre accessory, and winning attitude.

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Of course, my investigative reporting would be incomplete without the current state of Mexican bling, and let me tell you, IT WAS EVERYWHERE. Here was one of my favorite street looks, a person dressed in head to toe sequins holding a cardboard box that says “Your Destiny”. An accurate vision of my future, I can only hope.

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We did a fair share of shopping in the city markets, but we also took our time really exploring outside the urban areas. Here’s a pic of a day trip we took to the ruins at Mitla outside Oaxaca, where I donned my favorite ‘Goodwill Bins’ swim trunks and a Pierced Arrows t-shirt in sweltering heat. I found a perfect graffitti wall to pose in front of. Notice the large sun hat I picked up and made a regular travelling accessory. I love this thing! I’ve always felt a little cursed to a life without sunglasses (I have yet to find a pair of appropriate Dwayne Wayne style flip shades that can accommodate my specs); so without a way to protect my eyes, I decided to find a hat that would keep out the rays. I think I chose well because people could not stop staring (nearly always a telltale sign of fashion achievement)

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After Mitla we went to a small factory where they preserve the wool dye-ing practice of the indigenous Zapotecs and showed us the natural materials used to create these fresh colors.

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Back in Oaxaca, we spent our evenings in the center square trying street food and taking in the nightlife. Here’s a super slick clown with amazing blue trousers that would be the envy of basically anyone in Olympia. This guy was hilarious and had a great time singling me out and making the kids laugh at me at my own expense.

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This is me the last day in Oaxaca. Absolutely brimming with joy. We had seen so many great things up to this point. I was walking on clouds!

With a full week left in the trip I thought to myself that surely nothing could go wrong…

TO BE CONTINUED….

SAVE THE DATE

It’s the first ever SEQUINS IN SEATTLE RUNWAY SHOW!!!

This is my big debut! I spent the afternoon with Kenneth Piekarski and Jonathan Grosvenor, putting together a few fab looks using things pulled directly from my closet.  This runway show will be for the annual Hollow Earth Radio / VERA PROJECT DIY Holiday Fair, and in the spirit of doing it myself I’m putting together items that are already in my wardrobe and assembling them into a souffle of high rising high-fashion. 

The fair is a great fundraiser for two rad non-profit organizations (full disclosure: I’m a co-founder of Hollow Earth) while also being a top-notch spot to pick up vintage clothing, weird crafts, and new records from local labels. 

You can find out more about the fair here: Facebook Invite

And here’s just a preview of some of my upcoming winter line you’ll see strutting the catwalk this weekend! 

 

Hope to see you at the fair! It’s totally free!

More than one sequins connoisseur on my block.

This is my neighbor, Michael.

On any given at-least-somewhat sunny day you can find this fine gentleman laying out on the grass, soaking up rays & talking with the occasional passerby (human, cat, or otherwise). He’s a happy, deep soul – always ready to talk about energy fields, pyramids, mayan calendars, musique concrète, or the bamboo cheese tray he found in a bargain bin (Full disclosure: Michael successfully convinced me to go in halfsies with him on said cutting board, and now we trade it back and forth between our houses). He’s a sharp fellow, full of interesting stories to share or peculiar perspectives to riff on. 

But yet, with all of those magical aspects shining outward from this person, it has taken me a FULL TWO YEARS to learn that he is also a proud owner of brilliantly crafted sequined garments! 

Truly: What are the chances of two ‘sequined ones’ finding each other living so closeby? 

So, learning of Michael’s mutual interest in flamboyant attire, I could not resist inquiring further when walking past his house this weekend. Always friendly, Michael brought out one of his favorite charms and allowed me to put it on.

Me, twisting side to side in the sunlight.

Michael giving advice on sequin upkeep. 

The best part of all of this? Michael totally allowed me to borrow this dazzler, in fact, he insisted upon it! If you really love something, you gotta set it free right? I feel like I have so much to learn from this dude.

BONUS VIDEO !!!!!!!

Glitter Sale : A Retrospective

Oh loyal fans, I must offer up my dearest apologies! After this Saturday’s Goodwill Glitter Sale I was unexpectedly put into what the medical community has called “a severe glamor coma” – a debilitating condition which left me slack-jawed and muttering to myself for the last several days. It is only now that I have achieved a form of spiritual clarity, surrounded here by the pile of sequin jackets and brightly colored vests purchased this weekend, that I can offer a sufficient look back on this most holy of holy days.

It goes without saying that I take my Glitter Sale seriously. But I am not one of those most righteous of devotees – the kind that wake up at 4am to camp outside the Dearborn Goodwill and wait their turn to enter that palace of enchanting apparel before the sun has yet to rise.
But I did wake up pretty early by my own standards and when my team arrived at 11am we were bestowed with sanctimonious lanyards & told that with our entrance numbers we were estimated to be let in around 4pm. 
All of us felt the blood rush from our face. 4pm! 4PM !! We went back to our car and drove to the Szechuan Noodle Bowl in the International District a little dejected, hoping that we wouldn’t lose heart and that the test of our commitment to the calling of all that is glitter and gold would persist throughout the day. We ate green onion pancakes and bok choy and tried to keep the faith.
Thankfully, instead of long lines, this year Goodwill decided to use the virtuousness of text messaging to let folks know when they would be permitted into the gates. Around 3pm we got the signal that we would soon be able to enter, and we rushed back to the thrift store seething with excitement. 
Words cannot describe what is to be experienced behind those fanciful curtains lifted only but once a year. As I entered into the exclusive sale I felt all sound collapse around me; my vision narrowed into a tunnel and I felt myself as if moving underwater. 
My wife took my hand and snapped her fingers in front of my eyes a few times ( this close from having to break out the smelling salts) and as emerged from the daze, I entered a fight or flight mode, racing clumsily through the aisles. 
As best a description as I can give: racks and racks and racks and racks with the most impeccably tailored blouses, vests, and jackets – almost exclusively beaded and sequined apparel, constantly replenished by staff and equally devoured by a host of hungry customers. 
It took me a minute to find my bearings, but I before long I found the aisles I was looking for: 
GLITTER JACKETS. 
Just try to imagine that for a moment. A WHOLE SECTION FOR GLITTER JACKETS.

I spent a good 40 minutes in this part of the sale, carefully sifting through the many varieties and trying things on right then and there. At first I was so excited that I actually broke a few hangers trying to pull things off too quickly. At one point someone picked up the hat I had in my stash but that I had forgot to keep nearby, and I felt my voice crack as I snapped “NO WAIT. THAT’S MINE GIMME GIMME GIMME”. 
Once I had the item back in my possession I was a little embarrassed about my behavior, and had a chance to reflect on it. Humbled, I decided to stop treating the experience like a competition and tried to just enjoy the moment. I looked around at all the smiling faces, the happiness and joy being had by all the folks around me and was deeply moved. Everyone was having so much fun!
It was such a peaceful experience, a singular moment in time that I can always refer back to as my ‘happy place’. And no one can take that away from me!
And now, for the fashion!
This was a great blouse thing we convinced Meghan she HAD TO GET. It has an elastic waist and ripples and ripples of shine. If it would have fit over my beer belly (and believe me, I tried) I would have snagged it from her. One of my favorites pieces from the sale, hands down.
This was my main competition, a stranger I met named Derrick, who had a criminal amount of sequined loot he was dragging around with him. We talked shop for a while, and he told me that he has a little project going where he’s taking men’s jackets and attaching sequin fabrics to them to spruce them up. I hope to feature this work on a future edition of Sequins In Seattle. 
Complex patterned jacket that Amber took a liking to. 
A pretty special vest with bead work and butterflies. <3 <3 <3 <3
Me, in a frantic moment.
No comment needed.
Totally snagged this one!
Fabulous sequin hat with music notes!
These are SEQUIN UGGS that a customer (Diane) was wearing. She got them on the
home shopping network. MUST FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THESE. 
And my personal favorite from the weekend, this sequin robe formal wear. 
I can totally see myself wearing this on a night on the town and stopping all the  muted-tone fleece-wearing fools in their tracks. Seattle is about to get so very real. 
THANKS #GLITTERSALE