goldenrod

(risto blouse, ebay'd horace sweater, thrifted skirt, alexander wang shoes)

Yesterday I dressed up as a sort of goth grandma, or in other words, what I envision my personal Advanced Style to be like one day. At 26 1/2 I still have my youth but every year it slips further from my grasp and time, vicious time, taunts me from dreams and photographs and piles of regrets. It's true that one musn't dwell upon those long-extinguished flames of the past but with each passing year I seem more unable to stop myself from doing so. Maybe it's a natural part of shedding youth. I suppose that one part of getting older is simply coming to terms with the end of halcyon days, but truthfully, my youth wasn't idyllic at all. Perhaps when I am much older I'll find that my most blissful moments are those taking place right now.  

you need to give me more texture

Sometimes fashion and fashion blogging and fashunthis and fashunthat gets all caught up in the name that's stamped on a label inside a neckline. Admittedly, I do this too (ugh h8 myself), but at least I am immediately grossed out with myself for even caring, and proceed to put on pajama pants and "borrow" one of my boyfriend's t-shirts. And by borrow I mean, of course, I wear it once and relegate it to the hellhole known as my hamper until boyfriend sadly wonders aloud where his favorite Ride t-shirt went.

So removing context and discovering the basis of a garment is a great way to fall in love with your pieces all over again. Prints and textures say so much about style and taste in a way that is regrettably overlooked. My style primarily tends towards black things in a rich texture that is eye-catching and romantic, while my prints are hazy shoegaze dreams. I find that I gravitate towards anything that is ethereal, which goes for fashion, music, art, literature, and so on.

What do your favorite prints and textures say about you?

puke-a-tronic

(comme des garcons jacket, leggings and white button-down from the thrift store, givenchy glasses)

Last weekend I found myself scattered between a performance art performance involving transistor radios and capes made from CDs, and wearing a tulle headpiece amongst an apartment full of kitsch while I lip synced for my friends' music video . I really enjoy visiting the homes of others that resemble a Tchotchke's/Chili's/Flinger's, ie, campy shit all over the walls. Maybe it's because there's a kind of voyeuristic aspect to examining novel trinkets and bric-a-brac that I'm not used to seeing everyday, especially since when it comes to decorating my apartment, my worldly possessions could fit in the corner of a single room. Much of my late teens and twenties were nomadic, half by choice, half by escapist life necessity. But luckily these days I have stability enough to stay in one place! Life Achievement Unlocked.

I'm wearing my first CdG, a half-jacket I bought in NYC a couple weekends ago. I have a ton of styling ideas for this thing. Buying clothes from now on will be done so if the question "can I wear this with my half-jacket?" being answered the in the affirmative. Big black glasses and minimal makeup because I wanted to look decidedly not-sexy. And this vintage tulle headpiece, which I borrowed to film my portion of the music video. Yes, I'll post the video as soon as it is released! As long as you all promise to not make too much fun of me. 

holygrapie

So, I bought a fragrance? I've never worn a scent before so this is kind of a big deal for me? I haven't the foggiest notion of anything related to perfumes so to spare us all some posturing I won't even pretend to know anything about it. But I was at Comme des Garçons in NYC and idly sprayed this pink liquid onto my wrists. I was instantly transported back to my childhood visits to the botanica with my grandmother and the piles of herbs and resins and candles she'd bring home and set alight in our home as she prayed softly. Beautiful memories these are, and this fragrance, with it's notes of roses and frankincense and Catholica, gives me a most palpable sense of nostalgia in a very comforting way.

rave on

(vintage bestey johnson coat, proenza schouler jeans, thrifted sweater)

So last night the old man and I went out on a date to the Music Box Theater where Jim DeRogatis was hosting a screening of 24 Hour Party People. It's one of my absolute favorite films because for 1.5 hours I can lose myself in a mad, Madchester world that exists only in dreams and legends and my romanticized longings. If I could go back into any point of musical history it would be undoubtedly be able to experience the ecstasy (literally) of a rave at the Hacienda. I would trade my youth in with no hesitation to have been born long enough ago to see Madchester in its heyday. New Order and the Stone Roses and the Factory Records experimental art project...how I wish I could have been a part of that. I don't even like the Happy Mondays!, but it's not about the music I think, it's about what it represented, it's about time when people were just genuinely fucking excited to see rock bands at a shitty club and they danced at shows and partied in a scene that was original and dynamic. There has been nothing like that since, from the Union Jack to the stars n' stripes because the DJ has commandeered peoples' dancing bodies. At risk of quoting The Smiths, the DJ says nothing to me about my life. And so I spend my days romanticizing a scene I wasn't born early enough to know. Though romanticization is kind of fun because I have this elaborate idea built up in my head of what the Hacienda was and real life always tragically falls short.

Anyway. I wanted to wear an outfit that felt sufficiently 90s and Madchester, and I think I accomplished it with the cropped turtleneck, Peter Saville-kinda pants and giant fake fur coat. English music scenes from the 80s and 90s (shoegaze, new wave, batcave, Britpop, Madchester, etc) occupy a very special place in my heart and my "personal identity" and have always been a major inspiring force for me.

"This isn't about me. I'm a minor player, in my own life story."

i wanna jump the walls and run

(emma cook cape, preen dress, super old tights, venessa arizaga necklace, alexander wang shoes)

I wore this outfit literally every day while I was in NYC last weekend, but have been enjoying it so much that I decided to take some better photos of it. The inspiration here is Graveyard Girl, and not just the song by M83, but the archetype of spookiness and whimsy and loneliness and wide-eyed wonder. It takes the severity and coolness out of wearing black and tempers it with innocence and longing. I identified immediately with this song because it taps into some part of myself that isn’t cool, has never felt cool, and to be perfectly honest, doesn’t even understand this notion of coolness to begin with. M83’s song (the youtube video is HERE, should you wish to listen to it)
was rightfully lambasted on Hipster Runoff and I’ll be the first to admit that it’s obnoxiously cheesy, but sometimes cheesiness is okay! I like this archetype specifically because it’s a sophomoric idea of “goth”. The world is a fucking shameful place sometimes and being brought to smiles, even through a pastoral song or deer appliqués on a cape, can make each day worth feeling a part of.

Some screencaps from the music video, which includes sappy things like tombstones and roses.

You may notice that I am wearing flat shoes! This is a really big deal for me. I place myself firmly on the heels side of the debate because I am short but oddly I have big feet (we're talking a 9.5-40 situation) which is probably the worst combination for flats because I end up looking like I'm wearing clown shoes. Not sure if it was the constant pain my legs are in since I've been going to Bikram Yoga everyday, or Arabelle's enabling when we were at OAK, but I've finally invested in a pair of flats FOR GREAT JUSTICE.

I have never been much of a jewelry person, but this Venessa Arizaga necklace captivated me immediately. It’s an ethereal reverie and feels like something that was found in a ghost ship under the ocean. The perfect way to introduce a little dreampop into my everyday monochrome ensembles.

a weekend in NYC, in instagram because i am lazy

Every time I visit NYC, my trip is always a whirlwind of cramming in time with friends and doing lots of walking and getting lost on the subway. Apparently Uptown really means Uptown and Downtown really means Downtown! The best part of the weekend, of course, are are the photos you won't see and the memories that I was too drunk to remember...

the only outfit i wore during my trip/untentionally britpop-themed bar that morgan i stumbled into, DO NOT remember taking this picture.

happy birthday arabelle!/yarn bomb

downstairs is A.OAK, at OAK/i bought flats?! wang, from OAK

waited 2.5 hours to get into death and company, SO WORTH IT/morgan meagan sara

this mexican place was a party/how cute is brodie's dress?!

space invader at cdg/street art at CdG, recognize the artists?/...hello first CdG.

cold girl

In NYC for the long weekend. I've been really with some really intense real life personal things lately, so this trip will provide some much-needed relaxation! My camera battery died and OF COURSE I forgot to bring the charger so until I stop by B&H, this is what you get! Emma Cook cape (PUT A DEER ON IT AND CALL IT ART), Preen dress, Venessa Arizaga necklace that you can't see.

lanvinnnn laaaanvin you are my cameo queen, or distance versus time cutting verses down to size

I haven't written any reviews or discussed much runway fashion lately, largely because the Spring/Summer 2012 season was tremendously...uninspiring. These days it takes something really substantial for me to draw my creative energies away from Internet Validation Of My Existence. And besides, aren't blogs supposed to be about "advertorials" and LOOK AT THIS THING I GOT FOR FREE and posts that don't even try to hide the fact that they are essentially copy? Am I breaking blog rules by writing about something that is designed in no way to put money in my pocket/further my internet fame capital/finesse relationships with brands and PR reps? Am I allowed to write about fashion on a fashion blog?!

Clearly I have a lot of pent-up feelings on the subject. But I also have feelings about Lanvin's Pre-fall 2012 collection! Good feelings, feelings of admiration for expressive design that captures two divergent aesthetics: Dancing Queen Roxy Music Ladytron, and obstinant neovictorian refineries. This is a woman who laces up her boots with the compulsion of hanging her clothes on fabric hangers (NEVER WIRE HANGERS) but lets her laces fall under a glittering disco ball and liquid courage. It's especially fascinating that dear old Elber Albaz decided to coalesce these two archetypes because so often, women are caged into one or the other. Party girl or bookworm. Social butterfly or hermit. Whore or virgin. In media and news and advertising and uh, life, it's these dicey boxes that us ladies get stuck in and see our counterparts get stuck in as well, to the detriment of being valued by society as, you know, A FULL COMPLETE PERSON. As human beings we are complex and multidimensional creatures with capacities for limitless interests and endeavors and all sorts of neat self-actualization. Lanvin's lady in this collection is so actualized that she goes to *~da partie~* in a cameo necklace and a true blue mancoat and elbow-length gloves. She's sexy on her own terms. She dances in long sleeves because she likes long sleeves but also likes to shake her bonbon. And thus, I term her the Cameo Queen.

  Ladytron - Deep Blue