Just supporting the team with a little Green Bay Packers nail art! I thought about doing one hand Packers and one hand Giants like I did last year with the Jets… but screw it. My love for the Pack is just too strong for a halfsie manicure. And now that they’re America’s team…

Allllllso note the Packers themed friendship bracelet. Go hard or go home, amirite?

And finally, a Packers top I made for a show last fall, just for extra emphasis:

GO PACK GO!

Happy Holidays! Our hilarious friends Molly Austin and Shamikah Martinez at Emotistyle (youtube.com/emotistyle) just put up a video of their holiday thrifting haul at AuH2O - we’re so honored to be a part of it! They picked out their favorite vintage holiday sweaters, sequins and sparkles from the shop, and talked about Elvis and magic and stuff. They also list the prices of everything so it’s kind of like a really great ad for AuH2O Thriftique. Check it out:

And if you like it, check out their other videos as well. Plus, they take requests for videos, if you have an issue, they have an outfit, email them at emotistyle - at - gmail.com. Have a great Holiday season!

If you’ll be in the city this Thanksgiving weekend, stop by AuH2O Thriftique for our BLACK FRIDAY SALE! The cheapest shop just got even cheaper. 15% off the entire store!

For those who couldn’t make it to the Stop Traffic Fashion Show last Friday, here’s a recap!

First things first, the Stop Traffic show was a benefit for the Law Students for Reproductive Justice and Kamisetas, a women’s collective in Medellin, Colombia, in support of labor and fair trade. All proceeds from ticket sales and the auction went to this worthy and important cause. From the program:

Human Trafficking is modern day SLAVERY.

In the U.S., the industries where forced labor and trafficking are most prevalent include agriculture, domestic service, factory work, hotel work, restaurant work, the sex industry, and sweat shops. However, what little protections are available to sex trafficking victims, are virtually non-existent to victims trafficked for labor purposes. It is important to recognize that the exploitation, physical danger, poverty, racism, sexism, and trafficking endemic to the sex industry similarly occur to victims in all industries. There are no practical distinctions between labor and sex trafficking, and laws should be revised recognizing this. All individuals who exploit others through trafficking must be equally punished. All victims should have access to immunity and the resources for rehabilitation it provides.

To learn about human trafficking in the fashion industry, go to: www.slaverymap.org or the UN global initiative to fight human trafficking: www.ungift.org.

Much thanks to Tara Prairie for organizing and for having me as a part of it! Also thanks to the Brooklyn YWCA for hosting, and the models and other designers involved. Here are a few photos of models in AuH2O Designs before the show:

Leanne Linsky

Leanne Linsky

Samantha Gurewitz

Adri Lima

Rosie Cohen

Kiko DeLorenzo

AuH2O intern Lauren Manning

Elena Cohen

Serena Suni Ramirez

Rosie Cohen

Samantha Gurewitz

Rachel Kay

Kiko DeLorenzo

A few of these items are still available at the shop - swing by 84 E. 7th St!

The other designers had beautiful stuff that definitely made a statement:

Kiko DeLorenzo and Nellie, of Nelesc Designs

Samantha Gurewitz wearing an Anthony Posada hand-painted top

Samantha Gurewitz in chromat

Samantha Gurewitz and Leanne Linsky in Moira Meltzer-Cohen’s hand-knit designs

Some shots of the runway! Note the Stop Traffic banner:

Collection walk at the end

Thanks again to everyone involved!

It’s been quiiiiiiite a long time since I’ve done a fashion show, so I’m really excited to be getting back into the game this weekend. This Friday at 7pm, I’m participating in a feminist fashion show for a very important cause: to raise awareness about human trafficking. Info from the press release below:

As part of Brooklyn Fashion Week, The Law Students for Reproductive Justice (LSRJ), CUNY Law chapter are hosting the first annual “Stop Traffic” fashion show to raise awareness of human trafficking within the fashion industry. The show will take place at the YWCA of Brooklyn, 30 Third Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11217 at 7:00 PM and will feature local designers including AuH2O Designs, chromat, Moira Meltzer-Cohen, Nelesc Designs and Anthony Posada. Models, entertainment and refreshments will be from the local community.

Tickets to the event are $10.00 and items will be available for a silent auction. Proceeds will benefit LSRJ and Kamisetas, a women’s collective in Medellin, Colombia in support of labor and fair trade.

Details:

What: Stop Traffic Fashion Show
When: Friday, Oct. 28th at 7pm
Where: YWCA of Brooklyn, 30 Third Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11217 - 3rd ave and Atlantic, right near the Atlantic-Pacific 2,3,4,5,D,N,R stop or the Hoyt-Schermerhorn A,C,G

Hope you can come out to see my new designs as well as support this cause!

Exciting news! AuH2O Thriftique is doing a Google Offer, which is just like a Groupon, only cooler.*

Our Google Offer is your standard “Spend $10 Get $20 Worth of Stuff” and I know I don’t have to explain, but that’s 50% off already affordable clothes and accessories. It’s only available to buy today in the next 12 hours, but you can use it over the next year. If you like the shop, grab one here and save some money, and you don’t have to sign up for anything: AuH2O’s Google Offer!

*Okay, maybe it’s not cooler, but it’s definitely better because we get a higher percentage split from Google than we do from Groupon.

Check it out!

When I read that friendship bracelets were in on Man Repeller, my absolute favorite fashion blog, I thought to myself, I used to make those! And I was really good at it, actually. In middle school, but still. Maybe I could do it again? I checked out the friendship bracelets Refinery29, Shopbop, Dannijo and Noir were selling, and they were all REALLY expensive! Sometimes hundreds of dollars. I figured I had to pick it back up.

So this summer, I raided my boyfriend’s grandmother’s crafting stash and acquired a lifetime supply of friendship bracelet making floss. On top of that, I found my old Klutz “Friendship Bracelets” book that my mom never got rid of. She knows me. From there, I was 12 again.

This one I used color-changing floss, how cool? Haven’t finished it yet though

As I learned from the Man Repeller, who I truly believe knows everything, stacking a bunch of friendship bracelets with other silver and gold and rhinestone-y stuff looks amazing, and is called an “Arm Party (TM).” And all the street style photographers are dying to photograph this. Though arm parties usually involve high-end and expensive pieces, that’s not how I do. Here are some of my handmade friendship bracelets, mixed with vintage stuff from the store, eBay, and St. Marks:

This wrist was celebrating New York legalizing gay marriage, note the rainbow

This arm party was for my friends wedding this summer

This is how I like to wear pearls

And this one celebrates a Mexican soccer team, the Pumas.

Next up: lanyard keychains! No, I’m kidding. Unless you know where I can get lanyard?

Good news and bad news!

The good news is: The store is doing so well! We’re selling vintage and secondhand clothing, jewelry, bags and shoes like crazy. The bad news is: Since we turn merchandise so fast, my partner Cheap JAP and I spend all of our time out stocking for the store or working at the shop, so unfortunately I haven’t been making my upcycled clothing designs much. It’s a shame, but it’s a good problem! Though I’m not able to get in front of my sewing machines for large chunks of time, I’ve channeled my creative energy into making jewelry. These pieces below are made from vintage charms, chains, buttons, and other unwanted/unusable parts. Still eco-friendly, recycled and repurposed and all the other good stuff!

This one is super special to me (and not for sale!) since it has charms and knick knacks from my grandma, my mother, and my boyfriend’s mother on it

This one’s for sale at the store for $50, or online at my etsy store here

And here are a few satisfied customers wearing their jewelry at the shop!

Looking good, ladies!

As you probably know from a million Lord & Taylor ads all over amNY and on the mini TVs in cabs, tonight is Fashion’s Night Out. To encourage people to shop “for the fun of it,” all stores in the city are staying open until 11pm tonight and providing free drinks! And AuH2O is no exception! Though we think it’s really much more fun if you can afford it, so instead of participating in the regular Fashion’s Night Out’s “international celebration of fashion,” we’re hosting the East Village’s celebration of cheapness: Thrift’s Night Out.

Come by the shop for some delicious (and probably very strong) punch, healthy and unhealthy snacks, and our standard cheap prices, especially our $5 and $10 racks. We won’t have celebrities like Justin Bieber, but we WILL have my mother Amy Goldwater, and if you’re lucky, she may do the splits.

Swing by any time from 6pm - 11pm. 84 E. 7th Street between 1st and 2nd. Hope to see you there!

Amazon did not pay me to say this (though I wish!) but…

I just got a kindle and seriously do not have enough good things to say about it. I honestly just want to read all the time now that I have it. I love, love, love it. And it’s so good for the environment! I used to only take out books from the library since i don’t like the paper thing (plus I’m cheap), but then I always had to wait 75 weeks for the new books to be available, and now I have them instantly, and I kind of like supporting the authors. It was $139, which doesn’t seem that bad, and I have the wifi + 3G model, so when I was camping in the middle of the woods and finished my book (Bossypants, by the way, and go read that RIGHT NOW) I could just immediately buy a new book. And it’s so small and sexy, it fits in my little over the shoulder bag, no more carrying a bigger bag in order to fit my book, and it has these fun little bookmarks and notes and highlights and an instant dictionary, and it is like the least amount of effort in the world to turn a page (in a good way!), and books are way affordable. Also you never have to charge it- the charge lasts for 10 days! I just cannot recommend it enough. I feel like a little kid that just got a gameboy. Only that gameboy is the most eco-friendly toy in the world that makes you smarter when you use it.

Get one now (or save up $139 and then get one)! And buy Bossypants.