Photo by Angela + Ithyle

Bri Emery, uberblogger

Erika Brechtel's kid is only 3 years old, but she knows the perils of being raised by a fashion blogger. "Mom, put your iPad down," she'll say. Or rather, scream: "Mom! Put! Your! iPad! Down!"

Brechtel, 38, is a mom, homeowner and full-time graphic designer married to "a workaholic architect husband." She is also a blogger: She started posting about fashion on her "brand styling" company Small Shop Studio's website a year and a half ago. Her most successful posts deconstruct a particular trend. "How to wear the gray tee," for instance, or "how to wear red jeans."

"Thousands of hits a day," she says incredulously. "For those!"

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Kevin Scanlon

One of the fascinating Angelenos featured in L.A. Weekly's People 2012 issue. Check out our entire People 2012 issue here.

The girl with the pretty face and the big ass -- that's what they called model Rosie Mercado in high school. To become a model, she didn't lose the weight. She embraced it. Mercado is 5 feet 9 inches and weighs 293 pounds. She actually weighed 350 pounds when she was chosen to be the face of Full Figured Fashion Week 2010, barely a year after she started modeling.

As a kid growing up in Riverside, she always wanted to be the girl on the catwalk but never imagined it was possible. Instead, she was the one beautifying her skinny friends, doing their hair and makeup. She didn't date, or dance, or go to concerts or prom.
Things only changed for her when she stopped hiding and started living. She turned her makeup skills into a career. Her confidence grew. Now, at 31, her motto is: "If you close the door, I'll find a window."

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Colin Young-Wolff

The Standard Downtown

Quantifying the best of anything is a dicey endeavor. Whether it be dive bars or gay bars or strip clubs, the best places for you will, of course, depend on your taste. (Many of these lists will be available via the Weekly's new "Best Of" mobile app, by the way).

When we wrote about the "10 Bars Most Likely to Get You Laid in L.A." we were called out and questioned a lot in the comments section, with attractiveness of patrons the biggie. We never promised Victoria's Secret Angels or David Beckham look-alikes, folks.

We're not making any guarantees with this list, either. Some guys like earthy natural beauties, some like tattooed punkettes, some dig curvy Latinas, while many are into lanky blondes. (Were you thinking of the Stones' song "Some Girls," too?) Being genetically -- or surgically -- blessed is one thing, and in L.A., there's a bounty of both. But "hot" is ultimately about attitude, heart and mind; how you carry yourself and put yourself together.

Still, as the Weekly's nightlife prowler-at-large, we do tend to notice a predominance of pretty things at certain night spots. Since we shoot a weekly slideshow, we have to be on the lookout, after all. The following bars always seem to have gal gaggles with moxie and allure -- L.A. women we like to look at and boys go to the bars to meet in the first place.

Note: This one's about celebrating allure, not objectifying. Please refrain from the anonymous hater comments, unless you're an ugly, lonely loser who knows you could never, EVER get any of these babes in real life, even with lame lines and tons of liquor. And ladies, a list of hot boy bars is coming soon...

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Shannon Cottrell

For more photos check out our slideshow, Sage Vaughn: Studio Tour

Sage Vaughn, one of SoCal's favorite contemporary urban naturalist painters, is tucked inside a quaint and tidy mid century modern one story studio, located right where Pasadena ends. There's a small group of mourning doves that gather daily outside his door waiting for seeds, unnervingly oblivious to the occasional hawk overhead. Prime death watch viewing if he's not busy researching other concepts of animal behavior, whether it's a Wagner opera or in an inherited collection of vintage Hustler magazines.

This particular morning, upon LA Weekly's arrival, we find red velvet cupcakes and a mean cup of joe complete with hand frothed milk waiting for us. Not a typical artist interview welcome, but our man Sage is anything but typical -- evidenced by the ski mask he always wears tucked in his back pocket.

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Star Foreman

Queens of the quinceañera

The Teen Party Expo came to town recently, and the L.A. Convention Center morphed into what the inside of a young girl's brain must look like: Hot. Bright. Crowded. Confusing. Loud. Sort of like hell, only fluorescent pink.

Picture it, the giddy schizophrenia of a candy booth right next to an orthodontics booth. A bakery booth handing out slices of cake next to a booth hawking Ultra Body Cleanse Plus Pack weight-loss pills. The thump-thump-thump-thump-thumping of dance music. Entering the convention hall, it takes, conservatively, five seconds before your retinas are ready to explode from staring at everything glittered and bedazzled and feather boa-ed and sequined to death.

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Boxer Manny Pacquiao's fragrance is finally launching worldwide. First wind of the scent came out last year. (Check out our A Considerable Town dispatch on how the fragrance was developed.) Pacquiao will be at Fred Segal on Melrose here in Los Angeles on Saturday April 30 from 4 to 6 p.m. to premiere MP8 Scent of the Champion.

Fred Segal will be selling 50 autographed bottles of the scent. Pre-order for $55 at Ron Robinson.

What does Manny Pacquiao the cologne smell like?

Says the Fred Segal website, "A top front punch of fresh bergamot, lemon, and citrus followed by combination punches of lavender, sage, vetiver, and a jab of nutmeg at the bottom." Also with musk, vanilla, amber, cedar, and blood of the enemy. Just kidding (about the blood).

In the meantime, training for his upcoming May 7 fight versus Mosley continues.

"Dita - Pink" by Olivia De Berardinis

Gallery Nucleus is one of Los Angeles' secret treasures. Located in the small town of Alhambra, a bit off the beaten path, the intimate gallery was transformed by a monsoon of glitter and glitz for the opening reception of its current exhibit, Poster Peepshow: The Art of the Pinup. 

According to Nucleus, the exhibit "celebrates the pin up girl by featuring original artwork by contemporary artists and pays homage to pin up masters such as George Petty, Gil Elvgren, and Alberto Vargas. Over the past decade it has become impossible to ignore the growing popularity to recapture the nostalgia of pin up glamour."

Opening night guests included famed artists, pinups, celebrity debutantes, students and more, all who gathered to celebrate female empowerment and making women feel beautiful.  Julie Newmar, the iconic actress and model best known for her role as Catwoman in the original 1960s Batman TV series, spoke to L.A. Weekly about her entrance into limelight. 

"I started off as a musician and a dancer," Newmar said.

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all photos by Gendy Alimurung

Jenette Goldstein, proprietress of Jenette Bras--bras for "the overdeveloped and underserved"--hosted an artsy modern dance bra event at her store recently. If you'd driven by the store on Melrose Avenue last week you'd have seen scantily clad women dancing in the windows. You may have gotten into a car accident ogling the women. They were all gorgeous and amply endowed and wearing pretty, strappy, bondage-esque bras by Dutch designer Marlies Dekkers.

Here are some photos from the event. Goldstein called it "Strapping Lasses." The name works on multiple levels. On the one hand, it is an homage to the style of bra Dekkers designs. On the other, it reminds you that in these economically strapped times, you have to get creative to keep your merchandise moving.

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Why is it that every time they need an edgy, bad-ass, anti-hero-type chick, they stick her in a skintight bodysuit and a bob cut? Presented here are a baker's dozen of pop-culture's greatest bob cut women. An homage, if you will, to the hairstyle preferred by little girls, dominatrixes and flappers.

1. Quorra in Tron

Olivia Wilde told Playboy that it took three hours to get out of her Tron costume, it was so tight. Aww, poor baby. She has kind of a big forehead, so the bangs work for her. Many comparisons are being drawn right now between Quorra and...

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These lovely ladies aren't fashionistas, they are "fatshionistas." They were out in force when Full Figured Fashion Week came to Los Angeles for the first time this past weekend. They gave me some tips on how to survive stylishly in a thin person's world.

1. Love your body the way it is.

I gotta say, I enjoyed Full Figured Fashion Week way more than regular fashion week. The girls were less bitchy. The models knees and elbows didn't look like they could cut you if you bumped into them. The attendees in general were sweet and supportive. I can only surmise that this is because they weren't all ravenously hungry. Which brings us to...

2. Food. Eat some.

It's not just for staring at and getting all pouty about. There was even cheese at Full Figured Fashion Week. Cheese! (For more on the cheese, see our sister blog, Squid Ink.) The best part about being full-figured is that you can eat and not have to be a total psycho about it. These girls seemed blissfully normal compared to many size zero-obsessed, calorie Nazi women in Los Angeles. They arrived. They ate. They didn't sweat it.

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