when she got her groove back

My friend Meagan sent me this jacket because it didn't fit her I think, and I couldn't be more blessed right now. I have the best readers and the best blog friends. Seriously. Anyway, this jacket? It is one of my dream jackets, and goes perfectly with everything ever and I spent this entire morning and most of the afternoon listening to BoA and taking pictures of the infinite outfit possibilities!  I'm not going to show you all the outfits, though, because a girl has gotta have some secrets. Lol jk they're going to be my fashion week outfits and I don't want to show you guys until then.

I seriously haven't been this inspired to dress in awhile. It's just, such an Arabelle Jacket. It is Me.

You're probably like, "...so where is the jacket?" I thought I'd show you the starting point of the outfit first. Ignoring the awkward school-photo-esque pose (it was intentional, I SWEAR). This is basically a maxi skirt dress thing I got the other day at Goodwill for $1, for layering and simple summer outfits. I'm wearing it with a Road Warrior Harness by Angie. Eventually I'll buy a harness from Zana, I've been trying to decide which one for like, a year, because I am absolutely pathetic with fashion purchases and it takes me literally like 8 months to decide whether to buy something or not if it's more than $5. You think I'm kidding, but I'm not.

INSERT DRUMROLL HERE. I DON'T WANT TO EMBED ACTUAL DRUMROLL, SO IMAGINE IT OKAY? fake drumroll: sdjasdkadhkedwdsakdjasdadakjdahdkjadkajsdhakjdhakdakdakdakdakdjaa...

So this is ~the~ jacket. It's mostly unbuttoned because I wanted to show the harness still, and also the faked dress texture I did using hair elastics. I've done this trick a bunch of times before. If you're a longtime reader, you'll remember my sweater-skirt, my tablecloth skirt.... it's all the same principle really. Also, this was the first picture I took and then decided to put lipstick on so that's why it's different than the rest of the photos. 

This is such a classic CDG jacket, and it's from one of my favorite periods of Rei's work. It's entirely adjustable, because it has four arm holes -- you can wear it upside down, half upside down, etc. This is 'right side up'.

This is like, a really, really horrible homage to my favorite Nick Knight / CDG editorial, it was in Another Magazine Fall 2004. It's on the fuckyeahcdg tumblr I help run.  I may have failed, but it was in my head so it counts! This is what the jacket looks like 'upside down', and with the sleeves tied up in front. I think in the future I'll tie it into a ball. You can also wear it with the sleeves hanging down, obvs.



And just to change it up, this is how the jacket looks partially buttoned over a CDG blouse and some sequined harem pants. Ugh you guys it's so good I could cry.

The glaring omission to this post? My CDG dress, obvs. But that is for another day -- a special occasion, baha. Thank you so much Meagan. And thank you for reading. 

things i am obsessed with: a mix of things

I'm not really paying attention to personal style blogs or runway right now, just art and music and things in between. This is what I've been listening to lately. 

A mix I made, a mix I love. 

My favorite Thought Catalog article right now: Screw New York. If you live and/or work and play in the city, you'll probably get this. At present I'm so over New York. This always happens in the summer though. It becomes a hive of tourists who ask you where Times Square is when they are AT TIMES SQUARE, and the ever present reek of garbage wafting through your hair and baking into your pores while you walk -- or swim -- through the humidity and try not to melt on the 90+ degree pavement. 

Junya Watanabe Comme Des Garcons Spring 1998, Balenciaga Spring 1999.

Two collections I'm really relating to right now. It's still not quite where I want to be style wise, but it's as close as I've seen so far. The search continues as always. 

things i am obsessed with: ephémère

Ephémère.

Animation: Bart Hess Dancer: Percevale Perks

This is what I'm into.

things i am obsessed with: odani motohiko

This is a guest post by my bff Scott Park.

Source

I’ve discovered Odani’s work accidentally I can’t remember where or when but ever since I did I’m continuously intrigued by his aesthetic and use of material. I was fortunate enough to see his work and also Chiharu Shiota’s installation at the “Bye Bye Kitty!!!” exhibition during my stay in NYC. Odani’s work resembles organic biomorphic forms, and possibly the idea of transformation. His visual presentation seems to be in a state of purity almost as if scientific in nature. I’m obsessed with how
his pieces evoke a feeling of being uncomfortable but to the point in which after a few moments of inspection, you forget you’re in a bare sterile white room, and in some ways sense something so natural.

The idea of Mending, Renovation, and Transformation are all that I’m interested in at the moment. And in some instances I had a personal connection to how poetic in substance Odani’s and a few other artists are now impacting me and my own work, especially since I tend to incorporate a similar notion of psychosis. I believe to question reason, sense, and experience can alter someone’s comprehensive thinking. But perhaps if this is what the future may look like, it’s a good sign.

♥

these are hard times for dreamers

Today is all about one of the projects I've done this year. Earlier this year (like freshman year at college actually), my friend Aimee approached me to contribute to the magazine she founded, pocketto, with her friend Emma. I'm so grateful they put up with my "artistic quirks" and I just recieved my copy in the mail. I'm so so happy to have been part of the first issue and can't wait to see (and hopefully partake in) future issues. 

Flip Through: Pocketto Magazine #1 from cavaan on Vimeo.

Aimee is such an obscenely talented photographer and I really do hope that if you have the means to purchase the magazine (it's Australian based, here is it's facebook page) please do so because you won't regret it. You can peruse the past online issues too.

PHOTOGRAPHY: AIMEE HAN FASHION EDITOR: EMMA DO MAKEUP: SARAH LEA CROSS, KATRINA CHEUNG HAIR:  IMOGEN MCCLEOD, KAT COLLINS ASSISTANTS: JULIA TA, CHARLIE LIM, MATTHEW SONG

I don't think I ever published this zine for people to buy outside this collab with pocketto, and I don't think I will because my zines are usually one-offs and only sent to friends as presents. They don't look right photo-copied in black and white, the best copy is always the original so you can feel the textures. So I'm very happy the quality of the paper and etc is so good in the edition that is being sent out with pocketto. Here's a page just because.



Have a good day. ♥

things i am obsessed with: chiharu shiota

・・・　　at Kenji Taki Gallery, Tokyo, Japan 2009

This week, I figured I'd do something new; there's going to a post every day (including guest posts by my BFF Scott) because I want to show you guys stuff other than outfit posts and my angst-essays. A few days ago, Scott and I were on the phone last night discussing what's going on in the art world right now and how it's the only thing that is really inspiring us at the moment: fashion is on the sidelines, neither of us have really been impressed by shows or streetstyle lately and so we've turned to art. We've been obsessing over the art stuff Hussein Chalayan does when he's not doing fashion collections, and some really cool people I think you'll all like too. 

Home of Memory. Solo Show La Maison Rouge (Paris) France (2011)

Most of the time I'm not impressed with the modern artists I come across at Museums; I feel like most are stuck in this referential circle jerk where their work is just a platitude to older, more well known artists and I'm just grossed out by it right now. Like I said in my last post, everything feels like a copy of a copy of a copy and I want to claw my eyes out. Chiharu Shiota is one of the artists that makes me feel optimistic about what is going on in the art world and fashion scene. My favorite artists right now are all (and I don't think coincidentally) japanese post-war artists who've been on the scene for awhile and are off in their own dark world and drag you into it. It's very clinical, sometimes repetitive, but it never feels old. Chiharu is the perfect example; she's been doing the same method for almost two decades but always in different ways. It's very haunting and reminds me of the horror mangaka Junji Ito's work a little bit.  Speaking of which, I'm feeling in the mood to be terrified, so I'm gonna go back to watching City Hunter now (BEST DRAMA SINCE COFFEE PRINCE?).

Installation at Haunch of Venison 2010　　Haunch of Venison　 (London) U.K.

In Silence. Solo Show Detached - Tasmania Museum & Art Gallery Cooperation with Museum of Old and New Art, Curator: Olivier Varenne (Tasmania) Australia 2011

on complexes and vibes and moods and "trends"

http://aacgoddard.blogspot.com/

The internet is boring me. Since most of my days are spent on the internet in some form or another -- tweeting, watching Netflix Instant, blogging, whatever -- it's not really a surprise, but it's more about actually being tired of seeing the same things over and over again. I am tired of saccharine sweet. I am tired of being drowned in nostalgia everywhere I look.  I am, simply, tired. I want something new, fresh, angrier, more passionate, something -- anything -- than what I am seeing everywhere, all the time. Because to be honest, everyone is doing the same thing and it's boring the shit out of me. Real talk.

I hate everything in my closet right now. Everything. Nothing is simple enough, pure enough, clean enough, enough enough. Do you understand what I'm saying? I don't even know what I'm saying. I probably sound puritanical or something. Basically what I mean is that I am seeing the same vibe everywhere on the internet and where before I was inspired by it, now I feel stifled by it, like I can't escape it or even know how to escape it, and it's seriously infringing on my fashion and style boner.

Summer dressing is always dreadful for me because I am obsessed with layers, but in a way I am thankful to have to deal with the summer heat because it has forced me to look at my style differently. I don't feel like it's progressed much this year, I dunno if it's obvious to you guys since I hardly do outfit posts but I haven't been impressed by it recently because it isn't challenging enough.

I'm at this point where I don't know what I want in terms of style: simplicity? Hardly. I yawn at "effortless American chic" and ridiculously embroidered dresses and strange deconstructed works of art are still my favorite things. Do I want edgy? Ohmigod, if there is one thing I have never been it's 'edgy' or 'sexy'. I feel stupid and uncomfortable trying out those adjectives. That's the thing: it's me trying. When it comes to personal style, I never try. I don't understand when people ask me how I put outfits together. It's not rocket science, I just pick things instinctively. There is no great and complicated process. It happens in less than a minute. I remember times where I used to plan my outfits days in advance and would daydream about inspiration and it would be a thrill, but my life has changed and my processes have changed in response to that.

Maybe that is why I'm so bored right now. Everything is both homogenized and comfortable; I'm not being challenged, I'm not having to think, everything is just so and the pool of inspiration is just like a big pool of nostalgic glitter and lace and frilly over the top patterns and melted candles and cobwebs. That is fine. I get it, and I still like it -- it's just not for me anymore. It's still pretty and dreamy, but it's feeling a bit stale to me lately, you know? It's like when you listen to a song you love one too many times and it instead becomes a song you skip over on shuffle. I don't want to constantly be reminiscing about the past. The past never moves, never changed. It  isn't romantic to me anymore. It's just the past. You already know the past; it's nostalgic because you edit your memories of it to make is something you want to cherish. If we focus too much on it and model our present on it, then what have we created? Nothing. It's a copy of a copy of a copy. The total sum is zero. Nothing has been gained.

There's this thing Raf Simons said that has been lurking in my head for awhile now, I think it's pretty on point:

“The future, for me, is romantic. I don’t understand people who say the past is romantic. Romantic, for me, is something you don’t know yet, something you can dream about, something unknown and mystical. That I find fascinating.”

I want something else for myself right now. I'm not sure what, but I'll let you know when I've found it. Wish me luck.

harry potter, makeup and glee (the non-tv show kind)

Been having a super busy but eventful week; New York has been nice to me lately, I am never without friends in whatever neighborhood I'm in nowadays and it's a nice feeling. I feel like time is moving both in fast forward and slow motion... kinda missing school, but there's a lot I need to do this summer! I've been writing a bunch of posts for you guys that are sitting in the drafts, but the time isn't right to show you all yet, but I promise they'll be worth it. Until then, I hope my somewhat sporadic photo diary will suffice.

Man I write so formally and old don't I ahaaha. I am 80 inside. Alright I'm going to go back to playing with makeup, see you later. 

we have to use quarters to shower? this is a bathroom not a goddamn arcade ok

Back from vacation, short lived and aggravating as it was at some points, never going back to that place again I think. Oh well, I'm not broken up about it, I'm just glad to be home.

We stayed in a cabin, and as you can tell my my dubious expression it was super exciting to worry about bugs 24/7 crawling into my sleeping bag (I don't even dislike bugs, but I mean, seeing a bug the size both my thumbs combined crawling up my arm when I'm trying to sleep it not very comforting, nawwhatimsayin?

 

It had it's good moments though, I liked the countless cat-naps on the private lake and the time some ladies at the beach thought I was a celebrity and asked for my autograph (what even???). Also, playing DDR. I will never pass up a few hours on a dance pad, ever.

Even if my vacation was a bust it was nice to get away for a couple of days from the computer and from my responsibilities  even if they are cool responsibilities to have. I hope you're having a nice 4th!