Self portraits & a new tattoo.

I had a lot of crazy dreams last night that triggered something in me to wake up & play photo shoot. I brushed on my makeup skills and did nothing to my hair, only sleeping on it slightly damp last night. I made the dress a few months ago and I'm really pleased to how it came out. You can't really see all the fun details in the photos, but there's leather shoulder trim, vintage buttons, and a cool seam in the front. I should wear it way more often than I do.

You can sort of see the new cicada tattoo on my shoulder in some of these. I'm so, so, so stoked to have another new tattoo artist in Chicago. Allie Fischer from Tattoo Candy has a really great traditional (a mixture of old & new) style with the cutest add-on of her own decorations. I swear each of her illustrations were meant for me.

I'm spending the rest of my evening finishing up a batch of wallets & then prepping my brain to go back to work at the salon tomorrow. I've had three days off in a row - not to mention the holiday week before hand - and I need to get my weekday-game-face on.

xo
Alexz

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.

The Spanish Fringe Bag - A Custom Order

I've been doing a lot of creating over here lately. Heads up, I've been working the salon all day so naturally, I'm really lacking in the department of wording and creating sentences. This is going to be mainly a photo post to show you the favorite bag I've made up to date.

Here it is! The Spanish Fringe Convertible Bag that I showed you a few days ago when it was still unfinished. Well, it's finished now and I'm so happy about it. This particular bag is for a friend of mine with a killer style, so I'm pretty stoked that she's going to be supporting Bird Trouble. She had requested it to be vegan friendly, so I cut up a faux leather jacket to use the material, and she had wanted to have the fringe to be as long as it could be... so I made it as long as it could be with the jacket that I had. The spanish material is a blanket and the inside is a silky pink polkadot lining with pockets. The best part about this bag is that it can be worn in 4+ ways.

Hope you like it! Since this one is already sold, I'm only taking custom order requests for bags in this style. I technically have more spanish blanket for one more bag in this size, but another bag would look a little different. If you're interested in inquiring about pricing or anything in general, you can email me at Alexz {at!} BirdTrouble.com

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.

Photoshoot :: SUMMER HIGH 2012

I am back to show you guys the rest of the photos from the photo shoot I had in my studio earlier this week. These photos of my bags are laid out for you in a story-like way where I tell you a little bit about where each bag's original design inspiration came from.

I took the photos myself with my self-timer (and I took a bunch before I weaned out the ones I didn't like.) My backdrop is vintage wallpaper just simply taped up on the middle of one of the walls, so I used pretty tape so that it wouldn't look out of place when not being photographed. I purchased the vintage wallpaper at Chicago's Vintage Bazaar last year when it was held at The Congress Theater. I hit the jackpot because it was only $10! This was the moment I was waiting for to cut up the roll and actually use it. I positioned a door to the right of the photos, which actually helped with the light and gave a little something to a simple blue backdrop. I actually found the door in alley way of my apartment! I knew I wanted to use it in a photoshoot, but was also waiting for the perfect time. The reserve side is amazing, but you'll have to wait until I show it to you in another post!

I'm really happy with how they turned out but most of all, I'm glad I tried something different with my photos. Normally I take pictures outside on my porch or in the neighborhood, but I've been having this vision with a sort-of matte backdrop for the longest time now, and the whole set up idea just hit me in the head the other day. So yes! I hope you enjoy them. If you look closely, you'll notice the texture on the wallpaper that I immediately fell in love with. I'm really just that child year old at heart who gets smacked in the hand for touching too many things.

The photos are linked to the bags in my Etsy shop if you were interested in a purchase, and I am currently piling them into the Bird Trouble Pinterest, so feel free to spread them around your style boards! There are more photos of a few single bags, some clutches, and pouches that will be posted shortly. I just didn't want to photo overload too much!