Ingenuity: the power of creative imagination.
Woah. That's quite a definition, thanks to my Dictionary app. In my honest opinion, this very power is one of the most powerful powers one can possess. And it perfectly describes what I witnessed on the lower, old streetcar deck of the Detroit-Superior Bridge last Saturday night. It's Cleveland's coolest kids' favorite weekend of the year, the
Ingenuity Fest! Where else can you soak up art, music, drama, science and technology all in one place? Actually, if you look hard enough you could find quite a few of those things in several places around town. BUT when else can you do it UNDER A BRIDGE?!? I simply adore the Ingenuity Fest and wish my life was a little more like it every day. I would totally become a troll (not the interwebs kind, the real kind) if it meant I could live under that bridge. And, of course, if it was constantly filled with such ingenious awesomeness.
When I was telling people that I was going to or had gone to the Ingenuity Fest the question that usually follows is "Oh yeah. What is that again?" To which I am dumbfounded. I probably should be able to describe my favorite Cleveland festival a little better than by saying, "Um there's like art and stuff and it's like, ingenious?" But it really is something you can't understand unless you've experienced it.
The best way to do it however, is through photos, which is what I plan on doing in this here blog post with the goal of luring you to the festival next year.
I know what you're thinking. What does this have to do with fashion? Well, people were selling fashionable things there (very fashionable things in fact) and it's art and fashion is the most commonly experienced form of art and stop yelling at me! Oh you weren't? My bad. Anyways YES there seemed to be more selling of fun and funky artifacts this year than I remember from last year. The first stand I came about was a new Cleveland Tshirt company I have not had the pleasure of coming across yet,
I Love CLE. I loved their Ohio shaped Cleveland design, which really sets them apart from other
C-town shirt sellers.
You may recall my
gold triangle ring I bought from
Salty Not Sweet this past spring. We were browsing a jewelry table and saw that very ring! Bestie and I felt really super cool when we asked, "Do you sell your stuff at Salty?" Even though we already knew the answer. Otherwise there was a serious case of gold triangle ring copycatting going on. But yes was the answer and I am so glad they were selling their goods! My favorite items had to be a pair of gold zig zag earrings and a pair that were zebra striped. As I love my animal prints I picked them up to discover they were actually cut up credit cards. Upon further observation though I realized they were H&M gift cards! SUCH a great idea! I've always had really chicly designed gift cards which are always sad to part with. I could keep them, but then again what would I do with an empty gift card, no matter how cute it is? Um, duh make earrings out of them, hello! The power of creative imagination at its best, people. They also had some unique long necklaces adorned with gold feathers and tiny bird cages. Sadly, when we made the rounds and headed back to where the tables were set up the happy jewelry people had fled. I'll definitely have to hit up Salty again to get more of their info!
Recently I have noticed an increase in Cleveland art and prints. One vendor had some great photos of our fair city for fairly reasonable prices. I have seen so many great artists and photographers with Cleveland-inspired art I can't decide on one to actually add to my collection! I think when the day comes that I have my own place I'll finally make my decision. I loved the street name prints I saw at
Made in the 216 event at the Dredgers Union in July, but some of these were fantastic as well.
This particular signage isn't even art, it's an actual street sign harking back to the day when this lower deck of the bridge was used for streetcars. I absolutely loved it and my little iPhone took a pretty legit photo, thanks to Ingenuity Fest lighting. I might have to take this and turn it into art myself. Somehow…
Perhaps the most literal cross between art and fashion was the table of tiny hats. And no,
Amy Poehler and Kristen Wiig were not selling them. Bestie and I could not get enough of these funky tiny hat and hair clips in just about any and every shape and size you could imagine, and even some you couldn't. For example, Bestie could not pass up the head topper with her boyfriend, Optimus Prime on it. I mean come on, how awesome is that?!? She wore it the rest of the night and received several compliments.
The rest of my photos aren't fashion per say, but could definitely serve as some kind of artistic inspiration. And what did we say about art and fashion? FASHION = ART. Boom. So I thought I'd add a gallery of the rest of my photos which include glamour shots of the bridge and a few of my favorite artists' installations at the Fest.
I had an amazing time at this year's Ingenuity Fest. Like I said before, I really wish the bridge were that awesome all the time. I wonder who I can talk to about making it a permanent market, kind of like the open air markets in Charleston, SC and other cities. Because come on, how GREAT would that be? So here's to the power of creative imagination, and hoping we get a little bit of that action every single day.
This particular signage isn't even art, it's an actual street sign harking back to the day when this lower deck of the bridge was used for streetcars. I absolutely loved it and my little iPhone took a pretty legit photo, thanks to Ingenuity Fest lighting. I might have to take this and turn it into art myself. Somehow… 
So far I’ve only done one project but I definitely plan on doing more. The second I turned the page to see this ring necklace I knew I had to do it. I have so many rings I never wear and, as the book describes, not enough fingers for! From class rings, to a bent Claddagh, heirlooms from my mom and grandmas and cheap ones from mall stores, I had plenty to go around. All I had to do was round them all up, buy some strong cord and slide them on! I twisted the cord to create a braided effect and to make it extra strong. I just did this one the other day so I haven’t worn it yet but I am so excited to. It is sure to be a huge conversation piece!
...er, absence. I took a little mini vaca to the Golden State last week! Had such a great time in beautiful sunny LA, but I'm glad to be back in the CLE! I'll definitely be getting some new posts going soon. Bought a few cute things in Cali to show off as well as some stuff I've picked up here and there this summer back in the 216.
We were really feeling the jewelry pinned up on this bulletin board. A lot of them were made from old watches and clocks from Aviaire and were so unique.
It may be debatable whether Jay-Z made the Yankees hat more famous than the Yankees can, but Kid Cudi recently claimed he made the Cleveland fitted more famous than the Indians. And speaking of Cleveland's most famous indie rapper, when I went to see him perform at last summer's Ohio Homecoming, I couldn't help but notice how many people were rocking this particular Tribe cap. As the organization seems to be weening off the arguably racist Chief Wahoo, they're putting more emphasis on the new block letter "C" logo.
So why am I explaining all of this? Because I bought one of course! I was rather anti-baseball cap for a while but with my current outdoor employment combined with the sheer awesomeness of these hats, I knew I had to have one. I was expecting to pay a lot more than I did when I walked into the Indians Team Shop during last week's Pirates game at the Jake. The intention was to buy my mother a Jack Hannahan jersey (and yes they do exist) but I had to take a look at the hat wall. I picked up the adjustable navy blue number, saw that it was just $20, checked myself out in the mirror and the decision was made!
When we finished our shopping and browsing, we headed up to the counter to make our purchases. Candra, the owner, was so sweet and funny. She genuinely loved everything in her place and everything I bought, she had one of her own! (And she also shared my love of vintage keys that were scattered around the shop ;) We also got to go home with our own little plants Candra said she had been growing in cups in her kitchen for weeks. My friend chose some herbs and I, who would have no use for such things, picked a lavender and a snapdragon. Such a cute idea!
Like I mentioned in my post exploring Lion and Blue, many of my friends have been the benefit of gifts from Flower Child, and a lot of it has been jewelry. One of my favorite gifts I bought at Flower Child was a pair of cameo earrings. Something I've bought myself from this front room full of bling was a large ceramic red and white flower pin. I bought it around Christmastime so I took it as a poinsettia but it's so fun and bright I've worn it all year round.
Once you get your fill of the first floor, take a trip down to the basement. There you'll find rooms and rooms and more rooms full of clothes, bags, accessories and more. As I said before, you could literally spend an entire day at Flower Child and most of it would be rifling through all those racks. From retro tshirts to sequined jump suits there is something to tickle everyone's fancy. One great find I bought was this kimono-style robe. I was casually looking for a light robe to wear around the house and I instantly fell in love with this leaf-motif number. Sometimes I wear it over lounge wear or take one of my sashes or scarves to cinch it closed.
Possibly my favorite Flower Child purchase is this vintage Pan Am bag. As I mentioned in my preview post featuring this classic bag, I had wanted a Pan Am bag since I saw Catch Me If You Can. That bright royal blue and instantly recognizable logo is so classically 60s. I was pretty close to buying a Marc Jacobs Pan Am bag on eBay but I knew I'd appreciate it more if I found an authentic one. I was in one of Flower Child's basement rooms when I saw it sitting on a chair around other random items. I could not believe it and once I saw the $20 price tag I knew I had to have it. If there's any doubt that it isn't an authentic 1960s bag, I can tell you the janky zipper and adjustable strap is definitely at least 40 years old. But regardless, this bag is great and I've used it a lot, especially since the recent cross-body bag trend.
