MONTBLANC X THE WEBSTER COLLABORATION LAUNCH PARTY

The Webster — a brand I’ve known since my University of Miami days — collaborates with world renowned Mont Blanc to design a new stationary capsule edition. There is no fountain pen without the timeless elegance of Mont Blanc, but The Webster definitely completed the stationary set with its signature Flamingo pink. It’s no surprise that I love attending these events after a long day at work, so it was the cherry on top honor to have enjoyed meeting people while celebrating the ultimate luxury collaboration of Mont Blanc x The Webster.

Let’s rewind a bit to why I attended. The Webster flagship was founded in 2009 in South Beach, Miami, but I was still living in Egypt at the time. I didn’t discover The Webster until 2014, when I first moved to Miami. It was a ‘stumble-upon’ discovery I came across while exploring the Art Deco architecture of Miami Beach, which included The Webster hotel (est. 1939), home to The Webster store since ‘09. It was like walking into a giant closet of luxury clothes and mixture of brands to match my every mood and desire. Basically, The Webster was my fun place to shop and explore during college. Fast forward to now a decade since their first Miami store (5 years since I found them), and here they are in New York City!!! Their Soho location was last night’s launch venue, successfully bringing a little bit of Miami to New York.

The launch definitely connected a room full of industry insiders. Maggie Gyllenhaal & Peter Sarsgaard were two of quite a few guests who attended — of course I didn’t have the courage to go up and say hi to them (lol). I did, however, enjoy the mix of amazing talent around me — from bloggers, to stylists, to college interns — both Mont Blanc + The Webster did a marvelous job with the launch.

DJ Mona Matsuoka

“The ultimate luxury collaboration: The set would not be complete without a signature ink in Webster pink.”

“For 31 nights, I raced home after work, threw on a costume, did my hair and make up on the fly, took a bunch of photos and had it up by 8pm.” — Christie Monteleone

If you thought planning out your Halloween costume was hard, imagine planning out 31, one for each night of October leading up to Halloween! Well, I had the pleasure of following Christie Monteleone (@ckmont) as she posted the most amazing, hauntingly creative movie/TV show inspired photos throughout all of October for the 31 Nights of Halloween challenge. Although it is now November, I must say the final image Christie posted was not only the perfect Hocus Pocus way to end the series, but her BTS Instagram Stories and captions gave a peek into the hard work and effort it took her to 1. find the inspiration and time, 2. gather participants to help (she’s got a bada** family), and 3. shoot these images while publicly acting in character — as you’ll see in the photos, she perfectly captures the essence of each scene.!

All 31 were ABSOLUTELY amazing, but let me recap my top 10 favorites:

1. The Joker

Do you see what I mean by Christie capturing the essence of each scene!? Set in the bathroom of a local movie theater, The Joker comes to life. The movie itself was approached to be a “low-budget ‘character study’ of a comic book character” (- Joaquin Phoenix) set to feel like an everyday world. Christie frames the photo to show an endless repetition within the mirror, where The Joker is within you, as the movie says — “It might as well be the thing that scares you the most."

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Christie Monteleone | L.I (@ckmont) on Oct 28, 2019 at 5:01pm PDT

2. Stranger Things

Who hasn’t watched Stranger Things? The American science fiction horror show set in Hawkins, Indiana. Well this is straight out of the Season 2 finale of Stranger Things with Eleven closing the rift in reality in “Chapter Nine: The Gate”. When Christie posted this photoshoot, along with the extra effort of adding the Photoshop effects, I was mindblown!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Christie Monteleone | L.I (@ckmont) on Oct 19, 2019 at 4:05pm PDT

3. The Shining

For some reason when I think of The Shining, my mind goes directly to Joey Tribiani and the only book he’s read more than once (clearly, I’m a Friends addict). Of course, Christie approached this photo shoot with the actual Shining in mind. Including the iconic “Here’s Johnny” Jack Nicholson scene reference and the scary twins (featuring Christie’s very own sister).

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Christie Monteleone | L.I (@ckmont) on Oct 22, 2019 at 5:00pm PDT

4. Halloweentown

How I used to wish to be able to whistle for a cab driven by Benny. Halloweentown was my childhood favorite, as I’m sure most 90s babies grew up watching the Halloweentown movies every October since 1998! My favorite part of this photoshoot is Christie’s mom dressed as Aggie and the appearance of Benny!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Christie Monteleone | L.I (@ckmont) on Oct 27, 2019 at 5:21pm PDT

5. The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

I’ll admit, I have yet to watch this Netflix Original show. I’m still holding onto the Melissa Joan Hart version, however, I have seen previews for the show and I must say these photos are hauntingly similar. The wig, the outfits, the candles scream horror and occult, definitely a dark twist to the Sabrina the Teenage Witch tale I’m used to.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Christie Monteleone | L.I (@ckmont) on Oct 15, 2019 at 5:05pm PDT

6. Ghostbusters

Who ya gonna call? A 1984 supernatural classic. Need I say more…

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Christie Monteleone | L.I (@ckmont) on Oct 30, 2019 at 6:14pm PDT

7. The Nightmare Before Christmas

Tim Burton’s very own Jack and Sally declaring their love for each other. The Nightmare Before Christmas is a Halloween classic, actually all of Tim Burton is, but this one in particular features Christie and Rachel — with Christie’s boyfriend unavailable, Rachel came to the rescue to star as Jack in this rendition of The Nightmare Before Christmas and they make the perfect pair of gals!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Christie Monteleone | L.I (@ckmont) on Oct 24, 2019 at 5:00pm PDT

8. Scream

The movie Scream is definitely a scary one, especially this opening scene with Drew Barrymore, I was scarred from the start of the movie. But I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw this post. Why? Because I read BTS Instagram stories for this photo shoot first, apparently to get this shot Christie had to keep making these faces out her window… towards her neighbor’s house... which would’ve probably been quite a strange view to see (lol).

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Christie Monteleone | L.I (@ckmont) on Oct 2, 2019 at 4:39pm PDT

9. Edward Scissorhands

Like I said, all Tim Burton is classic Halloween. Edward Scissorhands starring Johnny Depp, the story of an uncommonly gentle man — or in this case woman, as this photo successfully captures the longing pain of the unfinished, artificial creation who has scissor blades instead of hands. Also, how crazy is this costume! Makeup, scissor hands, and all.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Christie Monteleone | L.I (@ckmont) on Oct 29, 2019 at 5:03pm PDT

10. Harry Potter

You’ve either read the books, seen the movies, or both, but there is no way you haven’t heard of Harry Potter and Hogwarts. Of course, there are the other wizards, Harry’s best friends, Ron and Hermione. They're also two characters who wind up together at the end of the Harry Potter series. I love that Hermione and Ron were the characters chosen for this photoshoot.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Christie Monteleone | L.I (@ckmont) on Oct 31, 2019 at 4:45pm PDT

Wearing:

Temperley London dress | Marc Jacobs bag | F21 boots (similar)

Shop Similar:

Wearing: SJYP jacket | J Brand jeans | F21 shoes (similar)

Shop Similar:

Wearing: Rebecca Taylor coat | Cinq-a-Sept dress| vintage shoes (similar) | Amazon red gloves | Hair color: Loreal Spray

Shop Similar:

Wearing: Line + Dot coat | H&M sweater | Urban Outfitters glasses (similar)

Shop Similar:

Finding My Place In The Social Media World

As someone who has struggled to find her place and voice in a very saturated industry (especially with the limiting effect of the algorithm changes), I’ve come to understand that I thrive the most when I’m creating and conceptualizing fun, real-life shoots. Don’t get me wrong. I love seeing how different fashion influencers can take multiple outfit photos all at once, and keep it engaging and thoughtful. I can’t. It was stressing me out to carry loads of clothing around, to take multiple outfit shot, so I have something to post everyday… because “posting everyday is how you grow”. Personally, I love a good phone snap from time to time because sometimes, that’s all you need to capture a quick moment while you’re out and about or on vacation.

Overall though this year, I’ve made a conscious decision to really lean into making content that was in the moment, where the story to it is just my everyday life. I wanted to play with interesting ideas (like videos), all fun and light-hearted. Sometimes in unique locations. And above all, just a real, in the moment feel. Of course this is all unsponsored at the moment — a blessing and a curse since the costs add up, but at the same time I’m free to create what I love!

So where am I going with all this? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, I’ll keep referencing all my outfit links on this blog for whoever stumbles upon it.

Wearing: H&M dress, All Saints jacket, F21 shoes

Shop Similar Below:

Wearing: CO. jumpsuit

Shop Similar Below:

Wearing: Adeam dress, Staud bag, Fendi shoes | H&M headband

Shop Similar Below:

Wearing: Opening Ceremony sweater | Aqua dress (similar) | Staud bag

Shop Similar Below:

Why I post my Outfit Recaps

Did you think the NYFW posts were over!? Well they will be after this one (at least until next season), but I couldn’t leave out the #OOTD recap post. Basically, I’ve been rounding up my Instagram outfits photos and scouring the internet for similar items to the ones I put together. It’s something no one asked me to do… I just chose to do it. It’s more work for me, but I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - I love helping. Like actually helping. I understand how difficult it is to put an outfit together when you’re already in a rush in the morning. So if I’m able to share my own style and link a range of brand (affordable and high-end) items, then why not? It’s the same reason I started sharing my travel itineraries (the original reason I began this website). If I already put in the time and effort to plan it out for myself, I just take some extra time to put it all together for others to use/be inspired by/etc. Reward Style makes it easy to create a link code and organize it all.

So... whoever is reading this… I hope you enjoy the outfits I share! Up above are the four outfits I wore this month during New York Fashion Week.