Bird Trouble at ESKELL, Chicago & a Holiday Bazzar.

Find select Bird Trouble Bags in 

Chicago's, Wicker Park,

whimsical designer packed store,

ESKELL.

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / my personal iPhone shot 

I failed to mention this when it happened. It happened well more than a month ago and of course I'm a jerk and just mentioning it now. I've been so busy trying to organize shop and sew, sew, sew for the holidays that I fail to mention little milestones of my little Bird Trouble baby growing.

Bird Trouble can now be found in the heart of Wicker Park, Chicago, at a charming whimsical store, Eskell. It has to be one of my favorites to get lost in! It's shops like this that inspire the craving to own my own boutique one day. I'm so grateful to have their support. As Time Out Chicago say's Eskell is known for stocking tiny designer labels, many from New York’s hippest enclaves. The standout line in the boutique, though, is co-owners Kelly Whitesell and Elizabeth Del Castillo’s, which is also named Eskell and was featured at at the city's Fashion Focus in 2008. The duo has also recently started organizing designer sample sales.

On December 8th, I'll be at Eskell's Holiday Bazaar where you can find a few of us designers that sell in Eskell. Last year was so much fun, I may have had a little too much wine last year... woooooof. I can't wait for this year though. These girls are so much fun to work with. This is a GREAT event for holiday shoppers. I will be bringing a lot of $20 - $60 items but I will pack all the big bags for the real generous gift givers. 

**Mention you heard about the Eskell Holiday Bazaar from this blog post & receive 5% off your purchase from the event. Hope to see you there!**

ESKELL

1509 N. MILWAUKEE AVENUE

CHICAGO 60622

Bird Trouble Look Book Preview

Bird Trouble had a photo shoot scheduled with Megan Saul for this past weekend and I can not be more excited to share these with you. I've been quite over my not-professional-looking-photos, so when Megan Facebook messaged me with the opportunity to collaborate with her, I jumped right up. It's been a delightful treat working with her! This is the first shoot and the next one being this coming up weekend. I'll be styling both and modeling in one. Next weekend will just be my babe of a friend, Rosana. You're going to love her. She's great all around but I am partial to her fantastic hair.

These bags that are photographed come apart as Bird Trouble's next few collections. They come in groups separated by the textile they're made out of. In these photos, there are two found materials and one completely new technique - dyed and bleached. There are multiples shapes with tassels because I know you guys like those.

The Vagrant /// The Bona Fide

WEARS: I went thrifting a few times to collect all the clothing I wanted in the photos. That long sweater is the best thing ever. It's Anthropology that I found for $3 and it makes me feel like I am wearing a cape. The T.Rex shirt was originally my friend Bryan's shirt until he handed that sweet little baby to me. I treat that shirt so good. I also borrowed some rad jewelry made with bullet shells, leather, feathers, & critter bones. Chicago designer, Arieana creates one of a kind accessories for the day dreamers and night time seekers, the Flux of Feathers. I think her style compliments Bird Trouble's "tough" side. Yeaaaah, tough girl side. Real tough.

Outfit Post & A Custom Bag.

Oh hi there. 

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend. I wanted to share a few photos from my latest adventure photo shoot. A few weeks ago, Ty and I walked over to Montrose Beach with a bag full of bags, a banana for me, a bone for him, my camera, and my tripod. I wanted to take a few photos of a custom bag I did for my friend Rosana and refresh some pictures on my Etsy listings. 

Here are some photos of Rosana's custom bag and a few outfit pictures. I made her bag out of a 1970's cotton - one of my favorite all-time finds because it's such a trippy print - and repurposed leather cut from a leather jacket. I wore James' Tumbleweeds sunglasses because he forgot them at my apartment (ha, sucker... never gettin' them back! Not. He took them back the following day. Doh.) and I put on some bright jeans to contrast my temporary cool sunglasses.  

Red & Black Basket Tote is NOT a Bird Trouble design. Unknown design.

Shoes : Thrifted

Bright Blue Jeans : F21 brand but thrifted.

Shirt : Gap t-shirt found in a pile of clothes from a neighbor who was moving. The pile was next to the dumpster.

Hat : From an antique store.

Sunglasses : Tumblweeds Handcraft.

I'll be sure to come by to share the rest of the slew with you guys soon. Can I mention how awkward it is taking photos of yourself, by yourself, and to watch a guy slowly creep past on his water jet ski? Dude. It's pretty funny though - and you get over the random folks staring...

Until more show and tell,

Alexz.

From the Weekend : Chicago Renegade Handmade Bound

This weekend was Renegade Handmade in Chicago. I did not have a table for Bird Trouble, but I did spend the day in Wicker Park on Sunday to mingle and "window" shop. It was a hot day, but we're still cherishing those days over here before the cold comes through. Renegade was huge this year and it felt like it took forever to walk through. Especially if you're from Chicago and you run into someone you know that you stop and chat to every 1/4 of a block. I checked out a bunch of awesome vendors including some of my already favorites along with new favorites; Lady Faye Jewelry, Cities in Dust, Steff Bomb, Dolan Geiman, Sara Cramer, Boyfrengirlfren, Debbie Carlos, Modern Adornments. Don't worry, I plan on showing them off a little later in another post. 

I had the pleasure of meeting Beca and Doug from Tumbleweeds Handcraft this past weekend. It was my plan all day. James and I talked to Beca and Doug for a while about things that include : switch blades, smelly ear holes, skate parks, puppies, and only the coolest vans. They really are the most awesome, humble, genuine, and kind people I've met in awhile. I just wanna hang out with them all the time! Pout. For the next few hours after we parted ways, I think James and I only talked about how we want to make our dream van cool, moving to a little house in the middle of the woods, and making a bunch of things.

James gifted me with this necklace from Once Lost Jewelry {Columbus, OH} that he had secretly purchased as I stood only a few feet away. We didn't really give each other birthday gifts this year to save money and I'm totally okay with that, but he was sweet enough to buy this for me as a belated. We've been bug hunting lately and our dead bug collection is vastly growing. Mostly cicadas, moths, butterflies, and a dragonfly. We tried for spiders but they wrinkle up. Okay, anyway, the reason he bought this necklace for me is because there is a real butterfly wing inside of watch lens (yep, watch lens). The chain is 60 years old and there's a little monocole charm hanging down. I love it.

Beca and Doug were kind enough to give James a pair of sunglasses to trade for some Bird Trouble bags. He loves them. It's the first pair of sunglasses that I've seen him enjoy so much. I'm stoked on James owning something handcrafted from our new friends. I think he looks dang good in them and they're perfect for his black t-shirt and blue jean every day attire. Thanks Beca and Doug for making James look top-notch and for bringing smiles to our faces!

Did anyone else go to Renegade in Chicago, or in your city? Experiences? What did you buy?

Until next time, xo.

Fashion in the Streets Show.

Two Saturdays ago, Bird Trouble participated in an event called Fashion in the Streets. A few blocks in the West Loop were taken over by local Chicago designers, food vendors, and then an entire runway production for a few local designers. Talk about really awesome opportunity. I had a great time making the friendships that I did with the designers around me and Katie from Lady Faye Jewelry, who I shared a space for both of our displays, and gaining that experience to do a Chicago show like that. It felt pretty damn fancy.

Here are some pictures of my table and coat rack display. I used a metal clothing rack to secure my banner [I used twine], a blanket for my tablecloth, my vintage magician stacking box to store porches in, and a painted skull my mom gave me as a paper weight for my newsletter sign up. I put my flickr business cards on a plate and a little bit of text on an About Bird Trouble in a vintage wooden frame.

Here are some photos of the other designers around my table. There were only the ones in my surrounding. I missed a lot of designers and didn't take many photos so I'd be able to see if someone was ask my table. That, or I may have just been too hot in my polyester shorts to run around... ha.

Lady Faye Jewelry 

Mineralogy

Shades of Grey

Lisa Spagnolo

Clair Vivier Bags & Jewelry

From the Fashion Show

I'll be slowly coming back from my short hiatus soon. I've had to deal with a few real life emotions and a lot of stress in a short period of time recently having to do with taking care of my dog Ty and a little bit of AMPUTATION on his cute tail whip. For some reason, I can't budge the want to blog during periods of those - but I'm working on teaching myself to get over that.

Talk soon!

Alexz

Chicago Botanical Gardens

I turned 25 years of age almost two weeks ago. On my day of birth, we rented a Zipcar Mini Cooper that was named Meryl. Meryl was a convertible. We rented Meryl for a few hours to enjoy the beautiful - quite rather hot - day at the Chicago Botanical Gardens. We spent a few hours there kicking around and having fun. It was fun being able to run around there while telling each other stories. I didn't plan for much party time on my birthday because it landed on a Wednesday, so really, this was perfect. We ended it at the local bar with my roommate, Max - who happens to be a friend of 10 years - and a couple beers each.

Here are some of my favorite photo captures. I'll have to share the other half in another post because there's a handful.

More next time!