Party on at ECHO

Vermont photographer Natalie Stultz sent in this photo, captured last Friday evening from a lakeside picnic near the ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center in Burlington.

A good time is had by all at the annual Daysies party — a celebration of readers' picks awards — but no one parties heartier than the Sisters LeMay! Nor, for that matter, rocks better wigs.

Burlington Named One of the "Worst-Dressed Cities in America"

Burlington is many things, but an international center of high fashion it isn't. Sure, there's Karl Lagerfeld's island vacation home, and our state inspired a New York Fashion Week line earlier this year. But that's about it. But just because we're not uber-fashionable, that doesn't mean we actually dress badly, does it?

Let's ask GQ Magazine. According to GQ, Burlington is the 28th-worst dressed city in America. That makes our fair city more poorly dressed than other urban-hippie enclaves such as Boulder, Colorado and Portland, Oregon. But we're better off than San Francisco, Austin and Las Vegas.

The ranking itself isn't exactly inaccurate, as sightings of fashion disasters are near daily occurrences in the Queen City. Hippie ponchos are in, for example, year round. Half of the college population can't be bothered with more than sweatpants and cheap rubber flip-flops when leaving the house. I'm pretty sure baby birds live in some of the beards I see everyday. Even Burlington's hipsters always seem to be two years late to the party.

Need Help? Ask Some Drag Queens

As further proof that everyone and their mother is hopping on the digital caboose, our good friends over at the Hot Damn Trailer Park in Beaver Pond now have their own app.

Vermont's favorite drag queens, the Sisters Lemay, recently released "Ask Some Drag Queens," a mobile app for iProducts and Droids made by the dubiously named KrappApp. According to the app, which we purchased for a whopping $1.49, the program was created by a "young adult cancer survivor," and 10 percent of the profits will go to the I'm Too Young for This! Cancer Foundation. The app can be purchased from iTunes or the Android Market. 

The app works a little bit like a magic 8-ball. Only instead of shaking the device and getting some crap answer to your most burning life questions (You: "Will I get laid off?" Magic 8-ball: "Outlook good."), you need only touch one of the ladies' photos to hear one of 100 snappy replies to your queries. 

The app doesn't do much beyond provide the user with various kitschy Lemayisms. But it could be entertaining at a wine cooler party. Below are some examples of the app in action.

Ask Some Drag Queens intro

Boyfriend question for Amber

Career question for Margaurite

Fashion question for Margaurite

Makeup question for Lucy Belle

 

If you still can't figure out how the app works, consult this handy video below.

Glock, Paper, Scissors?

OK, that headline might be a little misleading, but it got your attention, didn't it? On a day when a mountain of snow is blocking every door of my home, it's nice to think about the Shelburne Museum opening in May, cuz that means it will be warm. Or at least warmish. A press release from the museum today announces the season's new shows.

One of them, titled "Lock, Stock and Barrel: The Terry Tyler Collection of Vermont Firearms," features 106 guns made between 1790 and 1900. There may not actually be a Glock among them, as I have no idea when Glocks arrived on the arsenal scene. In fact, I'm personally no fan of anything with which I could shoot myself or others, but I'm sure these particular weapons are at least handsomely designed.

Green Mountain Avengers at NYC Fashion Week

Here in Vermont, we're aesthetically as far removed from the fashion capitals of the world as you can get. You're about as likely to see grease-stained Carhartts and duct-tape-covered puff coats cruising down the runways of Paris or Milan as you are to spot an albino moose (which will be never, since a hunter shot the only one in the state last year). Sure, we can boast a fashionable few in our ranks. For the most part, though, our sartorial selections lean more toward carpentry than couture. 

But at a recent show during New York's Fashion Week (currently in progress), the Green Mountains made a stand. No more will our functional fashions be relegated to dairy trade publications and logging calendars. After Saturday's Gant by Michael Bastian show, our style is poised to be the toast of the town. Or at least not lampooned for silly things such as mismatched buttons, homemade patches or our liberal mixing of different plaids.