Magical Creatures!

The girls from Wildfox have created a collaboration with Francesa Lia Block. 

Check out these amazing illustrations made by Wildfox's Kim Gordon. 

She's an amazing illustrator. 

New blog obsession: Ring My Bell

A blog recommendation to start your week! 

Have you ever seen the t.v. series Revenge? Well I really haven't but some of my friends are 

really obsessed with it. So is the rest of the world. 

Amanda, from Revenge, is played by the lovely Ashley Madekwe, 

who happens to have a style blog! 

As soon as I started scrolling down on her page I fell in love with her style. 

Ashley was also Bambi on The Secret Diary Of A Call Girl (which I loved).

Check out her blog here. 

Le Sketecherie's Guide to NYC Part 1: Shopping.

From time to time we get stuck in a rut. A fashion rut, a hair rut, an activities rut, an apartment rut. Things just fall flat. Inspiration goes stale. 

Diana Vreeland writes: "The Eye Has To Travel". And I 've always believed so, but now I had the opportunity to travel to New York in the middle of the semester I find it truer than ever. 

Sometimes you have to shake things up and breathe new air for a while. 

Even if it's a weekend trip to the beach or an 80-days-around-the-world-type adventure, traveling is one of the main sources of inspiration you'll ever find (Hermés' last collection is evidence of it!). And after a trip you'll always come home refreshed and yes, maybe tired, but still renewed in many ways. 

New York is such a refreshing city. It's the city of endless possibilities and there's way too much to see, not only inside it's numerous museums and exhibitions, but in the streets. There are endless things to do, enjoy, taste, smell, you name it. The Art Deco buildings, the Flower District, the smell of the sea around the docks, the immense variety of food, the colorful and luminous Times Square or the people watching (no better runway than the streets!). It's so much that's impossible to take it all in! 

So, I've put together a small guide of the spots and secrets I have discovered (or people have shared with me) during my trips to NYC. I'm no Zagat guide, but this is my take on The City, from shopping, to dining. And hopefully, this guide will keep growing. 

I'll publish the guide in sections so keep tuned for the upcoming parts.

First: Shopping!

Forget huge strip malls. Shopping in new york is all about enjoying the city while you shop. Discovering small cute boutiques, but visiting the big stores too. And maybe, stopping for a cupcake and coffee on your way. These are some of the places I like or have discovered, besides of the obvious and usual (like H+M or F21). 

Henri Bendel

@ 5th Avenue

I know what you're thinking...look at those prices?! I know. But just look at the façade! It's so pretty. Bendel's not really in the affordable section, at least not everything they sell, but it's worth going in at least for some serious window shopping. 

Hell's Kitchen Flea Market.

@ 9th st. between 9th + 10th Ave.

Hell's Kitchen

Sat + Sun 9 am - 6 pm

You'll find just about anything here. From useless trinkets to vintage designer items.  I wanted to buy everything to decorate my apartment. It's really so much fun to go and it's a great inspiration source (Some seriously interesting people-watching here).

Meat Packing's Sephora

@ 21 9th Ave

Meat Packing District.

This is one of the coolest Sephora's I've ever been to. It's not crowded and the decoration is super chic and stylish. Sleekier and fancier than the rest Sephora's I've seen. And you have to check the lash bar, it's crazy. 

Marc by Marc Jacobs

403 Bleeker St. 

West Village

While Marc Jacobs is pricey, at Marc by Marc Jacobs you'll find cute and very cheap accessories. My sister even stacked on some pretty rings for $1 each. 

Bookmarc

400 Bleeker St.

West village

Just across Marc Jacobs and Marc by Marc Jacobs. Great art and design books. 

Urban Outfitters

526 6th Ave

Greenwich Village

A long time favorite. Even though this time I visited the Broadway store in Soho and I was kinda disappointed. I'm still listing it because they always have cool stuff, and because I hope it's just the Broadway store and not the whole brand. Hope it picks up again. 

Anthropologie

@ Chelsea Market 

75 9th Ave. 

Chelsea

Greath clothing pieces. And the home decor stuff is jaaaamazing. Their window displays are always, always beautiful. It's a little pricey but if you can't afford it, this place is a huge inspiration for home DIY's. 

Uniqlo 

5th Avenue

The store itself is impressive. Great for finding basics. 

Topshop

478 Boradway between Laguardia Pl. + Prince St.

Soho

About 4 floors full of TopShop. Need I say more? 

Blick Store

1-5 Bond Street between Broadway + Lafayette

http://www.dickblick.com/

I learned about this place from one of my favorite illustrators, Paper Fashion. So I used this opportunity of going to nyc to get some stuff I wanted and that you can't find that easily here in Mexico. If you're an artist, designer or crafts nut you'll have to agree with me this place is nirvana. Every supply you can imagine, every color of paint, any kind of pen, any type of brush, any size of canvas. NIRVANA!!!

Mood Fabrics

225 W 37th St. 3rd floor.

Garment Distric

In the middle of the Garment Distric, you go inside this building and press the button for the elevator. Then there's a ding! and you'll enter this charming elevator, you know, those with those sliding see-through doors (funny old dude operator included!). You get off the elevator on the third floor and voila! Another nirvana...seriously this place is like a textile museum. And yes, this is the fabric store from Project Runway!

Purl

459 Broome St.

Soho

For the kinitting nuts. A cute store filled with every color of yarn you can imagine. And many other pretty things. 

Don't forget the window shopping around the 5th, Soho and the MeatPacking districts. 

You'll discover your own fashion spots.

Have you ever been to NYC? Or do you live in NYC? 

What are your favorite shopping spots?

New York, I love you.

There's something about New York. 

Since I was a little girl I've been obsessed with it.
My grandfather always said I was "pavement flower". 

You how there are cat people and dog people?
Well, I've always thought there are also country
people and city people. And I am a city person. 

Yes, cities can get stressful and noisy, but big cities, like NYC,
will never cease to amuse and amaze you.

The minute you step a foot outside the cab and onto new yorker pavement there's a rush that will invade you and will linger long after you've left. New York is the Concrete Jungle. Walking its streets is always an adventure. You never know what you will find. 

What other city in the world has annual massive pillow fights?

Only New York. 

Here are some shots from my last trip to the city that never sleeps. 

Garance illustrated.

I call this "The Illustrator Illustrated". 

I'm a huge admirer of Garance. 

She's an illustrator, she's a photographer, she's a parisian. 

She's has been one of my biggest inspirations to keep illustrating 

and to keep carrying my camera around.

And she seems like such a chilled and fun person...doesn't she?

So I decided to make an illustrator of The Illustrator herself. 

I mean she's photoghraphed by The Sartorialist on a daily basis,

but I haven't seen that many illustrations of her. 

Hope you like it! 

Holi 2012

Every year I wait anxiously for the photos of the Holi festival in India. 

Someday I'll go to India to live this amazing experience.  

Who's in?

You can watch the rest of the photos here. 

Photos Via The Atlantic. 

Missed connections: NYC's subway illustrations by Sophie Blackall.

Handmade Portraits: Sophie Blackall from Etsy on Vimeo.

Meet Sophia Blackall. An Brooklyn-based illustrator I just learn about thanks to my sister. We were riding the sub and then she spotted a Sophia's original illustration displayed on the cart we were in. Yesterday, she sent me this video. 

Sophia rides the subway for inspiration and draws the peculiar characters she sees during the journey, to later create a larger illustration of these people on the subway. 

Her style is dreamy and whimiscal, with a children book's feel to it. The subway is one of the best places for people-watching, and I'm glad someone is documenting it all!

 You really run into some interesting personas! 

Check out her work process on the video, 

or you can buy some of her original work on her esty shop.