Early Elvis

Wow, an Elvis song I hadn't heard, and instantly love. And it came from The Walkmen, so what could be better? Such an inspiration.

Found via The Walkmen

Strokes- Best Vids

This video perfectly matches the feeling of the song, especially near the end. Really cool cropped shots and compositions.


Love this one- all white outfits getting ruined by black water = rock n' roll.


The one that started it all. I remember how completely different this video was from the rest of MTV at the time. 10 years old already, doesn't feel like it!

Vintage Strokes

The Strokes have an album, Angles, coming out on Tuesday, and I'm really excited for their new stuff. These pics of earlier times are pretty full of guitar strap inspiration for me. Is Julian wearing a hawaiian shirt? Who else can work that into this kind of look?

Top image source lost

Bottom image from The Fader

Elvis in the Army

I love Elvis, and also military details- so these pics are some of my favorites! Very inspiring.

Images source lost, sorry!

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Saw this movie this weekend, and loved it! The visual effects are awesome, the music is catchy, and the costumes are well done. Inspiring in a fuzzy-guitar, garage-band (living-room band?), punk-rock-girl-with-manic-panic-hair-color kind of way.

All images from Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

The Morning Benders- Stitches

Fell in love with this band, The Morning Benders, sometime in early spring. And this song, especially. Now they've gone and made a great video for it, which is inspiring in more ways than one (colors, stripes, guitars, feeling, concept...etc).

Lucky for me I'll be seeing them again soon at Lollapalooza!

Video images from Vimeo

Beck

This week, in search of summery tunes, I came across some old Beck- specifically Que Onda Guero, which is a really fun song that I've since had on repeat (lyric about a melting popsicle= the best). Anyway, it made me remember that Beck is one stylish guy, quite ahead of his time. Definitely a good source of inspiration for creative guitar straps.

First image- no source (looks like Vogue to me)

Second image from Style.com

Little Joy- Fabrizio and Binki

Image from L'UOMO VOGUE, wearing Band Of Outsiders

I love Little Joy (hope they come out with something new soon?!), and I think these two definitely have enviable and inspiring retro-modern style.

This is one of the members of The Magic, performing with Islands. I really love this picture, and all the white guitar details + his white woven shirt with pintucks. Very cool combination.

Image from (????) on Flickr

More Julian

Love this. Very inspiring. And check out his new video here.

Images from his website

Early Lennon

Images from this site

Ever since watching The U.S. vs. John Lennon, Lennon has been someone I really respect, on a much deeper level than just fashion. So the fact that I think he also had a great personal style, is just the icing on the cake. I love these pictures from his days before the Beatles. Such a cool retro/rockabilly look.

Which is why I'm really excited(!) they are making a movie about his early years, called Nowhere Boy. 

Above is a shot from the new movie. I think this style is really relevant for today, with a lot of the current trends going to back to a nostalgic/classic americana look. I'm sure this movie will be an inspiration for some guitar straps, and I can't wait to see it.

Paul Banks- Julian Plenti

Paul Banks has a well-defined sense of style I admire. Stoic, sharp, dark, and a bit awkward. And one that not many people could pull off as easily. I like this new twist he's got going for his solo record as Julian Plenti- its definitely more casual and vintage-y than the Interpol look.

Images found on Last.fm

Dead Man's Bones

Is there anything better than when someone you like begins doing something else you like even more? I guess the only thing better is when their aesthetic is also oddly aligned to yours, which is the case with Ryan Gosling and his band Dead Man's Bones. Love him, love the music, love the spooky vintage look. Very inspiring.

Nick Diamonds / Islands' Style

Image from Above and Beyond Mag

I can't believe I've had this blog for almost a year now and I haven't posted about Nick Diamonds of Islands. They're one of my favorite bands, and he's one of my favorite lead singers. His style is fun and loud, and has definitely inspired several of my past guitar straps. 

On stage, he's usually wearing something pretty glam + indie, and the rest of the band is matching him. Most bands don't do this anymore and I think this makes Islands much more fun to see live. And in my opinion, this is the most fun band I have ever seen live (many many times).

Also- I saw him on a plane recently (!) and he was wearing a hot pink hoodie and his signature multi-colored high tops. Awesome.

Return To The Sea tour. I loved the all-white outfits the band wore. Very spacey/futuristic. I'm believe they were designed by Rebecca Turbow. This is what he was wearing the first time I saw them at SXSW. Great costumes + insanely catchy songs + onstage good times and theatrics + crowd participation = instant love for me.

Image from haaley

Arm's Way tour. They changed from all-white to all-black. A cool look, I think symbolic of the darker sound to this album.

Images from RHITMrB

Vapours tour (currently on!). Nick had this cape made by Christian Joy, who is famous for her costumes for Karen O. of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. They're coming to Seattle tomorrow, and I CANNOT WAIT.

Image from Anti's blog

Blazer, Scarf and Acoustic

The combination of this shrunken tailored jacket, the nautical stripe scarf, and a black acoustic guitar looks  really cool. Definitely some elements to consider for a new strap idea.

Image from  Man About Town, Issue 4, Jamie Hince (The Kills)

Casablancas

I guess there isn't much point in denying that fall has snuck up on me. I despise cold weather, but at least this pre-winter season brings some new inspirations, and a likely return to therine, which has been mostly neglected during these past few months of warm weather in Seattle.

So, with fall in mind, today I found this image while looking up info on Julian Casablancas' new solo project. I believe this is the cover for the new album. Its a great picture, both clever and beautiful, and the saturated colors are really amazing. For being a crusty rocker, he looks pretty dandy in his maroon velvet blazer. Definitely an inspiration to get back to work on some new straps!

Image from juliancasablancas.com

More from Raised by Robots show

More pics from the Raised By Robots show where Cameron is wearing one of my straps from the Gold Plate series. Love these pictures!

Images by Greg Hefner

Ham Again

Another one from the same performance as below. LOVE. 

The contrast is the best part: calm, classic clothing + vein popping rock-n-roll screaming.

(I don't know the source on this pic, found it in the forum)

Hamilton's Checked Shirt

This is from The Walkmen's set at Sasquatch 2009 (which I grudgingly missed). Its the first time I've seen Hamilton without his leather jacket in awhile. I really like the shirt he is wearing- if you zoom, you can see that it's a small check, not a solid. And he doesn't have the sleeves rolled up, but the cuff isn't buttoned, and it works. Overall, love this look, as usual.

I've got a picture of him and Elvis coming up too.

Images from +Russ on Flickr

Raised by Robots

I was lucky enough to sell a couple of my straps to Matt Payne, who was on tour with Raised by Robots.  Matt wasn't playing the guitar on this tour, but lead singer Cameron was nice enough to wear Matt's strap so I could see it in action at their show at the Comet in Seattle. This strap is from the Gold Plate series.

Matt's band: All My Pretty Ones

Images by Florence Ng