SOURCED - A CALIFORNIA COLLECTIVE

Leave it to the creatives to hone in on the perfect work space environment.

Michelle Mercado nailed it with her recent endeavor, Sourced - A California Collective. It's a carefully curated space in Laguna Beach that houses a variety small businesses.

Michelle relocated to Laguna Beach from San Francisco where she came from the world of event planning and design. When collaborating with the vendors she worked with, she always wanted to know more about the in's and out's of their trades - florals, stationary, photography, etc. When she gained a better understanding of these fields it helped her succeed and made her planning more efficient. Sourced Collective takes this concept one step further and is a space where Michelle and other creative small businesses can work together side by side.



When a quaint cottage in Laguna Beach became available, Michelle knew instantly that it was the perfect spot to make her idea of collaborating with other designers in close proximity a reality. In August 2013, Sourced Collective opened and became the home to several businesses including, Allison Kate Stationery, Rebecca Judy Photography, Floral Fete, The Bloomin' Gypsy, Macalistaire Vintage and ReDeux & CCH Design.

The goal is that everyone acts on their own but they also all come together and are a part of something larger. It essentially allows for all of them to have an understanding of each other's work and makes them all more well rounded.



Not only does Sourced have a well curated handful of creatives working out of the space but Michelle also found value in opening up part of the cottage for people to rent out and host workshops and events.

In fact, I'll be hosting a Trunk Show for my clothing line 16th Colony, on Friday, Jan. 10th. If you feel like killing two birds with one stone, come check out both, the inspiring Sourced Collective space, along with a rack full of Ponchos. There will be wine too so that's always a plus.



Here's a full list of all the creative people working out of Sourced - you're welcome :)

Allison Kate Stationery, Rebecca Judy Photography, Floral Fête, The Bloomin' Gypsy, Macalistaire Vintage, ReDeux & CCH Design

CAREFREE

Now that it's the New Year, I'm back at it.

I've been hiding out in Arizona for the holidays. This time I didn't bring any work back with me, which in all honesty made me a little antsy but at the same time just hanging out at home was a good way to unwind the year. I spent the week watching my mom cook (since I don't), taking photos with my dad (we both got new cameras last month) and hanging out with my best friends playing Cards Against Humanity.

Now that there's a clean slate with the New Year, I'm seriously ready to take it on. I typically don't do a lot of 'nothing', so in a way since being in Arizona I've stored up a ton of pent up energy and creativity and I am beyond ready to release it.



I'm not really one to talk about the things I'm going to do, I really just rather do it. So, I won't necessarily go into the details of what I anticipate the year to bring but I will say that for the last few months I've been listing out all my goals and ideas and now I have a timeline for it all.



I'm definitely so grateful for my readers and truly wish everyone a fantastic year ahead.



Dress - random boutique find, Jacket - Nasty Gal, Boots - Sophia & Lee

GUTS

I ordered a little something new the other day.

A new Canon 6D came my way and needless to say I'm pretty excited. Although, I wasn't necessarily in the market for a new camera until recently, after my trip to Miami. Unfortunately, in case you haven't heard, there's a lot of shitty people out there. My rental car was broken into, in the last few hours of my trip while I enjoyed one last swim at South Beach. I didn't think it'd be a big deal to leave my car in a parking lot for literally just an hour or so before I ran off to catch my flight. But in that time, all of my luggage and purse, with my old Canon and lenses, were stolen.

Having your stuff taken is such a weird and violating feeling. I won't go into the details of how angry I was or how desperately I wanted to go home after spending way too long speaking with the police and what traffic rules I broke in order to still make my flight. But the point is that although something like this is incredibly disheartening, I would never let it set me back. I obviously need a camera for my line(s) of work. Nothing will ever stop me. No setback small or large will deter me from chasing and accomplishing every last dream on my list.

To be honest, myself and the film crew I work with have pretty strict rules for ourselves and not leaving equipment unattended is one of them. But luckily, some of our other work habits were put into use during the trip, like: dump and back-up all the footage at the end of each day. That's the only reason I was still able to post my trip posts when I got home (my boyfriend's stuff was in the trunk of the rental, so his stuff/computer weren't taken - thank God.) After ANY shoot, I literally transfer the footage and stills from my cards ASAP - whether it's a just a blog outfit shoot or paid client work. AND I back everything up. So for all you camera nerds out there, let my experience be a lesson to you. ALWAYS keep an eye on your gear.

Now, time to break in this new cam.



Anyway, here's a song I have on repeat as I write out this 'Lesson' of a blog post. It's called 'Guts' by Alex Winston.

PENNY LANE

The weekend got away from me.

I'm here at my desk at 1:30 am before Monday brings on a new week and I have no idea where the weekend went. So now I'm left scrambling to complete all the stuff I wanted to do. This week is definitely jam packed with even more "to-do's". Like editing a video for a PR company, interviewing some cool people for Locale Magazine's Spring issue, packing up 16th Colony ponchos and designing my Christmas card (you're getting it late, just fyi - suck it up). I mean, that stuff, along with other glorious things as you can imagine.



But I'm glad that I got to go through some of these photos from my San Francisco birthday trip from a couple weeks ago. It was so much fun - I seriously love exploring that city. For me it's definitely a place that I click with. Not that I want to move out of Southern California but if I had to pick someplace else to live it might be San Fran. Well, it is a little cold there so maybe I'm not so sure about that statement. Hence me bundling up in this amazing Penny Lane inspired jacket. It's lined all the way through, so luckily I wasn't complaining too much about the cold temperatures this particular day.

Anyway, this is always a busy time of year and as we get closer to Christmas I hope all of you guys are getting everything knocked off your list of "to-do's" as well.



Jacket - Nasty Gal, Pants - Waxed Jeans, Necklace - Vanessa Mooney, Paisley Print Scarf - Target

GILLES BENSIMON EXHIBIT

A few weeks back, Riviera 31 at the Sofitel Los Angeles hosted the Gilles Bensimon pop-up Exhibit.

The latest of the French photographer's work was displayed so beautifully and elegantly along various walls throughout the hotel. Through his 30-year career, Bensimon has selectively photographed iconic women, including, Audrey Hepburn, Charlize Theron and Beyonce. I had the opportunity to view his unique style during an exclusive preview session and found myself inspired. How could I not, right?



The tour was really interesting - each photograph with it's own story. The one that stuck with me most was the story behind this Charlize photo. It's a little hard to see, but she's softly crying - Bensimon had sought out a song he knew made her feel sad and played it during their shoot to get this type of reaction. Even before knowing this, this particular photo was my personal favorite from the get-go. There's such an intense dramatic element to it.



Dress, designed by yours truly

UNIQUE LA : STREET STYLE

Over the weekend, I made my way to Downtown Los Angeles and scoured Unique LA.

This is obviously something that I typically do, where I scout out cool up-and-coming brands, chat with them and snap a few photos. But this time I added in a little something else - I ended up stopping a few random groups of people who I felt had really fun senses of style. So I snapped their photos and decided to feature them as well.

I think it's really great when the people attending these types of shows have an obvious charisma about them that almost reflects some of what you see in the products and brands that are being exhibited. A lot of the people walking around Unique LA had a keen sense of style and they seemed to be into the whole movement of local artists 'doing their thing'.



Monica Squitieri Jewelry - Beautiful pieces made by hand in California and inspired by tide pools, desert spires and valleys of gold.



The cute girl on the right actually has a great brand called Garden Head. - I've seen tons of flower crowns recently, but these are actually super unique and different. I really love the elements she uses to create them.



Rais Case - Driven by clean lines and beautiful textiles - designer Julie Rais Ellis uses genuine Pendleton wool fabrics.



Goat and Kettle - Artisan jewelry hand-hammered from antique keys & hardware.



Cherise's Pieces - All handmade by Cherise herself.



Weekend Society - I met the designer and he creates really great graphics for their t-shirt collection.

SNEAK PEEK: WHO'S NEXT?

Who's the subject of the next Hanger Shortage Style Vid?

A lot of people have been asking me when I'll be launching another video. I know that it's been a while since I've posted one on the site but, to be honest, the time has flown by so incredibly fast I seriously can't even begin to explain what that feels like. On top of all of that, I've been working hard to revamp the Hanger Shortage site. Pretty soon you'll see more info/content and even more style vids.

But until then, I'm anxious to get this next video up and running, featuring the amazingly creative entrepreneur Jesse Genet who founded Lumi. This girl is awesome and I'd rather not give too much away but just be prepared to be inspired. A few months ago, I visited her loft/headquarters at The Brewery in LA and she filled me in on everything from the creative side of Lumi to running, growing and maintaining a successful business that she's truly passionate about.

Stay tuned.

JUST ANOTHER DAY IN LA

My birthday rolled through, so I thought I'd share a few quick photos.

I was actually lucky enough to have the day planned for me and it was truly fun and jam packed. Up in LA, I got to sift through all the goods at the Vanessa Mooney sample sale and ended up scoring big with stuff like this lovely metal necklace.



Afterward, I made my way over to the new Killspencer storefront which doubles as their workshop. This guy Spencer has been making quality, handcrafted products for a few years now and since his first sale in 2009 he's been able to make a great name for his brand and now employs a team of 9 full timers. The space is pretty cool and all the merchandise is curated perfectly in a small area in the front. Past that, you can visually see their entire workshop filled with a line of industrial sewing machines and chalkboard walls with design sketches etc. It's pretty impressive.

Spencer and I ended up chatting for a bit about his brand and the types of new goals he'd now like to pursue. He definitely seems like the kind of guy that will never stop pushing for what he wants, being that he's super passionate not only about his line of goods, but he also has several other interests as well. We even talked some about 16th Colony and some of the things I'm working on as he checked out one of my handmade ponchos. Definitely a fun/inspiring conversation.



By this time I was getting pretty hungry and spotted the perfect bday lunch place there in Silverlake which was called 'Heywood'. It was a great little cafe that made grilled cheeses - they even came with little tomato soup 'dippers'. Doesn't get much better.

After crusin' down Melrose for awhile and stopping off at the GQ Block Party on Abbott Kinney, I made my way back down to OC and ended the day with the perfect dinner.



After thinking about my day I realized that it wasn't too much different than any other day that I have when I make my way up to LA. I was doing everything that I absolutely love doing which is just exploring, taking photos and learning about cool boutiques and designers. At that moment, I realized that I'm so lucky to be able to do that on my birthday and every other day of my life.

I'm also looking forward to the celebration continuing next weekend when I make my way up to San Francisco.