Dreaming in Color

As a girl with crazy hair for most of my life I had an interesting phenomenon come over me last spring- for the first time ever I was at a total loss of what to do with my hair! Typically in control of every aspect of my image- this took me by surprise.

So when I was asked by the hottest salon in town (http://www.aereasalon.com/) if I would allow a no holds bar cut and color to be a model for the new line of colors by Manic Panic I jumped at the opportunity!

Growing up in Texas as an alterna-grunge-goth grrrl in the 90’s you had limited options for making your lochs the colors of your dreams. I tried everything from berries to kool-aid, but every now and then I could snag a dab of the highly sought after Manic Panic and it worked like a dream! Tish and Snooky, the creators of Manic Panic and forerunners of the original punk movement in the 70s were totally my hero’s! The fact that I was privy to their unreleased magick potion felt like I had just won the lottery.

Excited, I met with Jeanise Aviles, one of the amazing colorists at Aerea Salon, for the consultation and she gave me the option of picking between pink or yellow. Yellow?! An unreleased vibrant “Sunshine Yellow”?! I was sold- and then as what was about to happen washed over me- I was struck with the awe inspiring realization that. . .I had become my teenage idol.

Wow! I never thought the girl I dreamed of being in my twisted crazy teenage dreams, that I saw on posters like Switchblade Symphony, or in late night videos on120 minutes was actually possible. But here I am-receiving the full-on professional treatment for the brightest hair I have had to date.

Like a pretty pretty princess the ladies of Aerea salon took good care of me! We promptly set up a shoot which I can finally share! Here are the long awaited Manic Panic Photos!! Enjoy!

Salon: Aerea Salon

Colorist/Photographer: Jeanise Aviles

Model:    Ali Luminescent

Hair Cut: Arleen Quinones

MUA:       Christine Geiger

Assist:     Ariane Garcia

(Ariane is also a radical colorist as well!! Glad she was there to help out with the shoot! )

And here are a few edits I was playing around with just for fun! Enjoy!

And the winner of the shoot! 

What do your hair dreams look like? Feel free to post images in the comments below!

Vibrantly Yours~

-=ali*

Ali Luminescent

http://www.aliluminescent.com

The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier

The Gaultier exhibit  From Sidewalk to Catwalk at the Brooklyn Museum is fantastic! Truly cutting edge, guiding new trends, exposing people’s fears and celebrating diversity. A designer speaking volumes through garments across the ages. What an enjoyable way to learn more about this revolutionary designer!

The first room won me over with his sparkling and elegant mermaid collection! Splash! Impressive textiles and great forms lounged around in the opening room inviting all to dive into his world.

It brings me great joy to see impressive, inspiring, and counterculture flavor in mainstream media. The show is well thought out and carefully put together- full of quotes and snippets of an artist truly being his own voice in a world of boundaries and expectations.

It is amazing to see someone cut through barriers of price in the fashion world and celebrate their unique voice and style. One of my favorite looks from his very first shows was the placemat dress made from cheap woven placemats from the Philippines. Resourcefulness can go a long way!

Another inspiring thing happening here is an artist celebrated and revered while he is still alive!! This is a great practice! Artists should be sought out and appreciated while they are still in action and can enjoy their success.

Don’t miss this show! It closes February 23, 2014.

Click here to view the Brooklyn Museum Website for details on the exhibition!

Siem Reap

Lolol i have tried to post thus blog 5 times- soon it will happen. Enjoy.

Wow I really wasn’t expecting siem reap, Cambodia to include so much sparkly and cute. I found a store today that sells jars of wishes that light up when you shake them and have little scrolls that you can use to make a paper star! And I found a second hand store that was full of all these elaborate hand made dresses. I’m sadly a lil bigger than your average Cambodian so even my favs were a bit small. But that did not stop the so cute lil gay Cambodian boy from running out from the shower in a towel to check the seams and let me know he could alter it just right. I felt at home in their shop full of sewing machines and sequins.

Cambodians are really friendly on the whole, with big smiles and a jokster attitude. Thrir culture gas a lot of flavor. The young ones are super fashionable-even their billboards are hot with Asian girls with white hair and pink eyes doing cute things. The boys all have gravity defying haircuts shooting out from the front short around the crown and sticking out from the bottom. Somewhere between futuristic and emo. They dress fairly European or Japanese-guys in stripey tight fitting dress shirts, slacks, and pointy shoes in bright colors. And everyone is really friendly!! It always amazes me how one nice interaction can totally turn my day around or skew my interpretation of a place. It also reminds me to be nice and friendly- because perhaps I too may turn their day around or be their only impression of what an “American” or “New Yorker” or “Texan” is. At the end of the day I’d like to just think that I’m setting a good example every day, no matter where I am in the world, of being a good “human being” and that this nicety will become globally contagious.

I’m glad I am from
NYC though otherwise siem reap could be a little overwhelming- at least the downtown part. So many clubs, vehicles, markets, it’s a busy busy busy place. Driving around feels like you are in a videogame- two actual lanes on the road, like 4-6 lanes of traffic driving in all directions, motorbikes, tuk-tuks pulled by motorbikes, small people riding huge bicycles with 3 kids piled on them, big people riding tiny bicycles, 5 at a time on mopeds, trucks, cars, buses, double decker buses, push carts- it’s like frogger or actually it reminds me of those lil miniature ice skating ponds-the kind you put in fake model Christmas village set-ups that have magnets underneath them moving the skaters in perfect intricate interweaving patterns seamlessly between one another. It feels like being a hockey puck-being darted around- on one of those. Lol. It is fascinating.

Today I spent making my way through Angkor Thom and tracing the long and wild history of the Khmer empire.

Tomorrow I get up super early to meet my guide at 5 am to see the sunrise over Angkor wat-then after some temple exploring my guide offered to take me up the mountain to see the Angkor carvings deep in the riverbed. I may or may not go pending the weather. It’s an hour and a half by motorbike. We will see.

Okay I have a super early day tomorrow so- over and out!

Xo