I was just packing away my accessories and makeup for the move to my dorm, and somehow it led me to stroll around YOOX for accessories. Yeah, everything leads back to online shopping, whatever. Like my wardrobe, my accessories collection is certainly colorful. More is always more! I haven't been wearing necklaces as much as I used to, or bracelets or rings, for that matter. I used to be very intense about wearing like an arm full of bangles or a dozen necklaces at a time, but now I wear one accessory, if that. Kinda bored my necklace collection to be frank. If I had the means, I'd totally grab one (preferably all though, bahaha) of these necklaces in a heartbeat.
Are you an accessories person? I don't really think I am. Or a shoes person. I'm into jackets, they're my vice. What's yours?
August has been the busiest of my summer! Wrapped up my AMAZING internship at Teen Vogue (Thank you Casey and Naomi and miss you Andrew and hi Noel and Anna and Josh!), planning out my rapidly filling up fashion week schedule, almost getting hit in the face on the R train by overenthusiastic spontaneous break dancers, getting trapped in cabs by con-men cabbies, skype calls ALL THE TIME with people I love, good food, better company. I'm really just so so happy and thankful and tired and excited all at once. I thought I'd share some of what's been going on with you.
No explanation, I'm already showing you lots. Meagan and Candice are such cool, down to earth people. Don't you like the sofa? I am an /arteest/. I used all my favorite Louis Vuitton and Chanel scarves, I'm obsessed with them right now. This Chanel scarf (the left cushion one) is so cool, it's the only Chanel item I own and actually like.
I'm really emotional over makeup right now.
And remember that wishlist post I did? Well, I got the 2 most important things off of it, and I just got the shoes today! I had a really elaborate happy dance I did holding the shoe box, my parents were creeped out but I seriously was stalking the package almost 24/7 for the past week, I screamed when I saw the UPS dude. I have been wanting these forever and now they are mineeeeeeeeeeee bwahahahaha
Also, posting will probably be lil' sporadic for September, can't avoid it. Gonna be juggling classes, fashion week reporting for FutureClaw, other writing projects, getting kick started on a super amazing feminist film project I'm heading up, all that jazz. I like blogging on a schedule like I did this month, so I will try to figure out what days work for me and let you guys know when to expect posts. Scott will be posting some too, I decided that one way we can keep in touch even though we're on different continents is to blog together. Friends that blog 2gether stay 2gether!! Okay, thats about it. See ya. x
Went around pulling some accessories for a series of collaborations with Meagan, first on my list were the collars that Eleven Objects makes! The ladies behind the brand are super super nice and it was fun visiting their studio and fawning over their next collection, and being hated by their grumpy cat but still wanting to love it because I love all cats, ever.
They surprised me with a collar to keep! I'm so so in love with this collar, and decided to play with it today. 3 looks, 1 collar. You can click the photo to see the outfits in larger dimensions for details.
All thrifted and/or vintage besides the collar. There's apparently like this 'style rule' where you should limit your outfit to 3 colors, maximum. Well, that....is....dumb. I think most of my outfits are like, 3 colors minimum. Well, recently, I have been wearing mostly all white and black on a daily basis, but it's usually the same outfit and that'd be boring to photograph since you saw it already. This is how I'd wear the collar on a normal day though.
I made the yellow cardigan in the first outfit into a skirt in this outfit. Super easy D.I.Y, literally took me five seconds and I just unbuttoned it to become a cardigan again afterwards. I like this color combination a lot.
The shape of the two skirts bugs me, but oh well -- in real life, it's much more peplum and less bag-lady. I used a shoe clip from ban.do to top off the look, just because. I love their shoe clips, I used them on the shoot too. I hardly ever show you guys what I'm wearing on my feet though because it's too much of a pain, but trust, these clips are on my shoes all day long.
Anyway, I'm off to start packing to go back to school, and also back to fondling this collar lovingly. :)
I promised you guys a post on wabi-sabi, so I’m gonna give you a post on wabi-sabi. Please, please keep in mind this is just what I know from random free time researching, and if you have anything to contribute on the subject I would love for you to say something in the comments! Or if you have any questions or criticisms. Learning curve, I don't go to fashion school, though I do sneak in to lectures sometimes in disguise. Shhhh.
My vibe right now has been really, really, parred down simplicity: all I want is Jill Sander, Yohji, Rei, Margiela. By simplistic, I am really stretching that word out, I know – what I really mean is self restraint. Less shouting, more whispering. Does this make sense? By simplistic I don’t mean boring, or plain. I mean aggressive restraint. Deconstruction. Paradox. I want to wear all white, or black and white, but I don’t want to wear loud patterns. They have to be quiet. They have to be very concise. Shadows and sparseness. Everything needs to mean something. In my search for this particular aesthetic, I kept on coming across the word ‘wabi-sabi’, and it (unsurprisingly) led me to primarily Japanese designers… but also tea ceremonies, haiku, and Swedish architecture. Basically, I am turning into a a Terence Koh clone!!! I'm going to have a white phase and everything. Just kidding. Okay. Seriousness.
Defining the concept ‘wabi-sabi’ is not something I am equipped to do, so I will instead give you the definition that Lenoard Koren suggests, and direct you to this article. If you aren’t up for reading it, his definition is that wabi sabi is ‘the most conspicuous and characteristic feature of what we think of as traditional Japanese beauty’. Catherine Maxwell’s probably more helpful definition is that it is an idea of wabu (to languish) and wabishii (lonely, comfortless), and sabishii, which is kind of like rust but also means desolation. This sounds way more angsty than I want it to be, so let’s elaborate. Wabi essentially means reclusive, as in that is your philosophy, and sabi refers to material objects.
The aesthetics of wabi-sabi began in the Kamakura Period, which is probably why it’s closely related to Buddhism, mostly Zen. You can definitely see the influence of Zen in wabi-sabi designers, not only in how they design, but what those designs represent and also how they operate their business. I see it so so clearly in the work and store design of Comme des Garcons. Hard to find pop-up shops? Check. Movable walls, signifying impermanence? Check. Stark, industrial design influences that make things seem empty? Double check. Reluctance to be interviewed, like, ever? Gee, I wonder……..yep, check.
This is the CDG store in NY. Everyone there is SO nice and don't mind when I visit just to cry over the clothes.
I think the reason I am drawn to wabi-sabi is that it is very lived in and very real. I love clothes that are very shiny and sequined and what have you, but I have never felt comfortable in truly ‘glamorous’ designers. Bless Valentino, I love staring at you but I would feel weird as hell wearing you. Wabi-sabi mimicks nature, but exaggerates its tendencies to wear down. It’s an experiment in destruction, while simultaneously creating. The wabi-sabi aesthetic in terms of design can be described as making something new out of something broken or something unexpected, and not quite making it “right” or “expected”. It’s not supposed to be polished or perfect; it’s supposed to be real. And real things have scars, and flaws, and imperfections and mistakes and quirks, and that is that makes it great.
In many aspects, wabi-sabi is anti-fashion. It's not glamorous, luxurious, probably not impressive or attractive to most people...it's not supposed to be, and it doesn't care what you think. Perfect example: When Yohji and Rei first came on the scene, WDD totally hated what they showed and considered them to be slaps in the faces of high fashion. My favorite snippet: “Japan’s answer to the atom bomb.” Damn.
I don’t want to focus just on Japanese designers like Yamamoto and Miyake though, because I don’t think they are end-all of the aesthetic. I am actually directly contradicting one of my favorite articles to read when I say this, too. (The article I am referring to is “Fashion, Trends, Japonisme and Postmodernism: Or ‘What is so Japanese about Comme des Garcons?” by Lise Skov.) I think the concept of wabi-sabi can be seen in lots of other designers, like Margiela, Helmut Lang, Shelley Fox, Alexander McQueen, Haider Ackermann, Robert Cary-Williams, and many more. I think they all approach fashion from a similar point of view, and all have a question in mind when they design. They're always exploring. They are making clothes for strong people who are unafraid. They often evoke this kind of unearthly solitude that is both magnetic and scary. They are all kind of punk.
I think Shelley Fox's 1999 collection is incredibly interesting and it's unfortunate I can't find lots of pictures and interviews about it -- the techniques she used are beautiful (and so very wabi-sabi). I think if you like Rodarte you'll like this collection because both designers make fragile, fierce and beautiful things and their creatures come from a point of destruction. Bandages, ectoplasts, and burning were key to Shelley, and the Mulleavy sisters have made intricate dresses that could be the cousins of Shelley's work if you compare them side by side.
I think Haider Ackermann has some wabi characteristics too. I especially like this show, but I wouldn't say it's the BEST example of wabi-sabi from him --I'd pick specific looks from several seasons, but not all. I dig his work because it's got a quiet quality and even though he uses really luxe fabrics they aren't untouchable, and you can play with each piece and make it into something else. That's very sabi. Clothes that make you feel like a princess aren't wabi-sabi, for example. Dolce & Gabanna is not wabi sabi at all. Definitely not Valentino. But Margiela can be, and you could put up a good argument that Rad Hourani has some wabi in him.
The important thing to remember about wabi sabi is that it evolves from something new, it comes from destruction and be a kind of rebirth, but one that happens all the time. It's an aesthetic, not a clothing trend like "tribal" or whatever, it's larger than clothes and is more of a mindset on how to live your life. To put it in more "official" words, Richard R. Powell, author of Wabi Sabi Simple, summarizes by saying "It (wabi-sabi) nurtures all that is authentic by acknowledging three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect."
So I know I didn't go in depth into every possible designer, but I think this post is already long enough and I think it gives an ok introduction to what I think wabi-sabi means in fashion. I haven't gotten quite into the gritty details of japonisme (and the poor aesthetic that wabi-sabi can be accused of being), but I'll save that for another time I think. Hope I didn't bore you! x.
I just got leggings I've been dying for as a surprise present, so I couldn't wait to try them on and experiment with what I could do with them! Ria is one of my favorite internet friends and I can't wait to hang out with her at fashion week this season since she's staying in my area. I decided to wear them in a very clean look, trying to restrain myself from what I'm used to. It's more interesting I think. I ended up being very Storm Trooper Dominatrix by accident so I decided to go all the way with Princess Leia hair, too.
Cannot get enough of this jacket from Meagan, it seriously goes with everything and I can wear it however I want. I cutoff the arms of this button down shirt because it is way too big otherwise, and I think it's a match made in heaven no? There was no way I was going to spend like $50 on a sleeveless button down when I can just make one out of something I never wear.
Oh also I have a whip just lying around so obviously it was necessary to incorporate it into my look. I mean, hello???? When I look stoneface I look really scary so whatever, these are the best pictures you're gonna get of me wielding it. I ain't no model. That's Lara Stone's job.
Jacket: Comme des Garcons, gift Blouse: Thrifted Leggings:Filthy Magic, gift Shoes: Thrifted
Ria owns Filthy Magic (the place these leggings are from), and she is having a sale right now and you can also get 15% off using this discount code: FASHIONPIRATE, fyi. I got the last pair of leggings and I'm so grateful, I can't wait to experiment with them more.
I feel that I would be doing you a disservice if I didn't also show you my shoes. I haven't done head to toe outfit shots with this backdrop because it's actually on top of my bed, and I'm sure as hell not going to wear shoes and get dirt on my bedding. But these are the shoes I wore with the outfit. Aren't they unreal?
p.s my wabi-sabi post I promised a few posts back will be up on Wednesday. Super stoked.
There are few photographers that actually make me feel anything. When they do, it's usually paralyzing how much I feel. I like paintings more, honestly. Sometimes I go museum hopping in the city when I'm feeling empty and sitting in front of a painting can fill me up with feeling again. It's like that with things you appreciate. You don't have to understand it, it's just there, and you work your head around the idea the painting is and imagine these worlds and influences and it's just a nice feeling. Photography doesn't do that for me a lot of the time. I just flick past it onto the next picture. They don't always mean something, or they aren't meaningful enough, and that emptiness is a waste of time to me.
BUT! There are sometimes photographers who make me dream. Sometimes, they make me dream so much I want to just climb into their photographs and see the world as they see it. Allison Scarpulla is one of those photographers. You know those photographs on tumblr or weheartit that are like, hazy, nostalgic........... bland as hell? Yeah, Allison doesn't do that. They're like children's stories come to life, in the vein of Tim Walker and Wendy Bevan. Perhaps a mix of the two. A lot of them remind me of my favorite children stories, like Baba Yaga or the Brothers Grimm. They are monumental, they are fantastical, they are not nostalgic but ripe with actual feeling and a sense of existence and emotion that is seldom seen in photographs. I don't even know if they can be called photographs -- photographs imply a captured moment of reality, and I don't know any reality like the one Allison portrays. I don't know how she does it, but it's really awesome and I love it.
You can see more of her photos on her flickr and cry over her talent yourself. I wish I could tell you more about her and her inspiration and technique, but she has nothing on her website! I'm going to have to stalk her.
I wasn't even going to post this 'cause it's so old, but whatever. This was my junior prom dress! I think I look much better now than I did then, to be honest. I had no clue how to do makeup and I just towel dried my hair and my prom sucked. Oh well, the dress was worth it and I've worn it many times since! But I've never photographed it. It's been on street style blogs quite often, photographers seem to like it (I wore it to FW once or twice).
It's a custom piece from Angie. She was so so sweet and it's really one of my favorite dresses ever.. I'm kind of having a specific color palette right now, only black, white, and red so this was a natural pick to wear today. I'm also wearing one of my favorite lipsticks, Revlon's Fire & Ice. Pure, matte red. Luuuuuuvvvvv.
Anyway, everyone who wanted a code should be getting an email from me sometime today! There is some problem with the code but it should be figured out ASAP.
Anyway I'm off to watch japanese horror movies and cry into my cat plushies in terror. Bye.
I could say how much I'm totally bummed school is almost back in session, but I would be lying. I'm a huge nerd and cannot wait to spend my entire day at the library and nights sitting in some strangers backyard listening to a very drunk reading of Dylan Thomas poetry and go to basement shows where everyone is basically required to be an english/gender studies/politics major. I love learning and reading and writing 10 page papers and I CANNOT WAIT to do these things.
Jacket: Pendleton, thrifted Blouse: Vintage dress worn as shirt, thrifted. Skirt: Gift from mom Tights: Thrifted brand new! $0.10 holler. Lips: Urban Decay Super-Saturated High Gloss Lip Color in Crush.
In honor of back to school prep, I thought I'd base the look around my new Modella bag. I took a break from being a goth wabi-sabi ice princess and pulled out colors to do a Clueless-y monochromatic look that is worthy of the backpack. You guys, I am a total sucker for backpacks, especially colorful ones. My Coach sequin backpack is the most used bag I have! But I want to keep it forever so I put it back in it's duster bag until school starts up again. This is more durable and I quite like it. The magnets are much weaker than the Coach one, but at least it's machine washable.
You might have also noticed my hair color is significantly darker. I dyed it the other day. The vibrant magenta will be back soon enough; that's how my hair looks when it fades over weeks.
Anyway, I know a lot of my readers are high schoolers or about to enter high school and I just wanted to say good luck! High school was such an awesome environment for my creativity and I hope it is the same for you. Just be yourself and don't apologize for it, and you will do just fine. People are jerks but what they say can't hurt you if you don't let it. If they're giving you looks for trying something new, just throw it back in their faces and smile when they stare. Nothing will freak them out more, trust me. I know it can be really scary to walk down the hallways in something that doesn't fit in, but it is also super exciting and it's ok to wear what makes you happy. Wear things that make you feel alive, isn't that the thrill of fashion? Clothes make you feel things!! So, please remember, you shouldn't have to apologize for being who you feel you are. Ok? Remember this. Always remember this.
On a lighter note, I'm re-reading my favorite feminist light reads in prep for school and also for this film project I'm working on. It's gonna be really cool I think. The Miranda July isn't actually about feminism but it's an interesting.
Speaking of reads, and also school, since you're probably buying textbooks for the new semester I have partnered up with CampusBookRentals so you can get 15% off your rentals. You'll get free shipping both ways and have the option to choose exactly what day to return your books, it's pretty cool. I have 9 codes to give away, all you have to do is comment below and I'll pick randomly. Please comment with your name, e-mail and what you're studying in school (it can be your major or just a class you're taking).
I'll pick the recipients Wednesday, August 17th and e-mail you the code and also an e-zine I made on fashion and feminism. If this sounds good, comment! x
This post has been like, three years in the making. I've actually had this outfit in my head since I first saw my favorite collection....I've just never actually put it on. I've had it since before the blog, but I never wore it until today. I hope you're into it, 'cause I am.
I decided to photograph it different than my other outfits, 'cause it's obviously a different animal entirely and is purely conceptional. I still used my d3100, but I wanted the photos to be really unapproachable and kind of weird and old looking. Different lighting changes everything! I like how it looks like someone took them on a bad film camera. I think it falls in the CDG aesthetic, don't you?
The Lumps n Bumps collection was like, probably the least commercially successful one Rei ever did.... but it's also arguably the most important one of hers in fashion history. It is kind of grotesque, and for that I obsess over it religiously. First ever fashion related thing that burned itself into my mind. Burned! I wrote one of my college application essays on it. It just taught me a lot, you know? You don't need to be pretty to be cool. It's ok to try really hard. It's fun to be alienating and creepy!!! Cuteness and approach ability are overrated anyway. I don't want cater to other people's expectations. The best place I've ever been was inside my own head, so I just pull out things from my imagination and hope for the best most of the time. And most of the time, it works.
It was pretty simple to mimic the look of the collection -- I just added padding using scarves and my crinoline! I could have added more bumps but I wanted to be able to move, sooooo. You can't see it because I didn't like most of the pictures, but the silhouette is exactly the same as the white look at the top of this post. I just rolled my crinoline into a ball and shoved it up my butt! Wait, that came out wrong. Not actually in......... but like, around. We're all friends here so I'm not oversharing. I think the look have been best with oversized binder clips for my jacket but I just shoved it inside itself to get what I was looking for.
I like how absurd it is. I like how unwearable it can be. It's nonsensical and kind of ugly but it's unforgettable and different and I am so, so happy I have a version to call my own, even if it's not the real thing. And this entire outfit cost me $15, instead of the probably like $500000000 original cost. I think I did good. Anyway, I hope you like -- or that you don't, and it terrifies you and makes you think. Either way works for me.
P.S I have an alternate photo set up on my tumblr, where i used "normal" lighting. It should be up at the same time this post goes up so you can check it out too.
Another way to wear it. Mehh, it's not my favorite way to wear it as a dress, it still looks like a crinoline! My favorite way to wear it as a dress is to wrap some around my neck vertically, like that blue tulle Viktor & Rolf dress. Regardless.....I still like it this way, with a gazillion layers and textures. ^___^ It makes me feel like a gigantic snowflake. I'm listening the day away to La Blogotheque videos today, it's nice. Also, if you're about to buy college textbooks wait until next week because I have discount codes to give away you'll like!
You guys, remember the earlier days of the blog when I used to wear crinolines as dresses and two tights at once? There was this one Nozomi Ishiguro dress, it was red, and I was obsessed with it. I haven't kept up with Ishiguro's work, but I spent the afternoon listening to T-ARA and catching up on it and it inspired me to do this. I took about a dozen photos using my crinoline in different ways with things I'm really into at the moment, inspired by my previously posted moodboard. :)
I love this crinoline because it's so versatile, I can literally wear it a thousand different ways because the elastic is old and there are so many layers to play with. I'll show you another way I've worn it on Wednesday. I wish I could make gifs because I'd show you how it moves IRL, because in these photographs the outfit is wayyyy girly, reminiscent of my favorite McQueen collection (can you guess which?) and it wasn't my original intention. Oh well.
I noticed I have an influx of new blog readers! Hiiiiiii. :) I'm guessing you saw me in Teen Vogue or from Lucky's front page. Nice to meet you. *bows* ^_^
I did not actually intend to make a shopping list / wish list solely based on this one dude, but I really am obsessed with his outfit and general existence and have accumulated a wishlist over the past few days of stuff I really, really want and intend to purchase in the very near future. Read: I spent my paycheck before I actually got it, going to be eating ramen for another nine months straight, OH WELL WHAT IS SAVING MONEY I DON'T KNOW WHATEVER OK
First stop: Dem shoes. Minute I get enough money in the bank to get them from my *secret* location, they will be MINE. hiss. Since I can't afford to buy EVERYTHING here, I'll pick and choose and then DIY the rest. Particular the blazer he's wearing. You will see that one day.... I am determined to make it if I can't buy it.
Lately at work I've been researching up on wabi-sabi (I'll do a post on it probably this week, it's super interesting) and looking more into my favorite designers like Jun Takahashi and Rei and the like. Not that it don't do it already, I've amassed a respectable library of awesome papers on fashion theory and Rei since I started blogging. But, when I was on the phone with Scott the other day (I hope you all know who I'm talking about by now, you'll see a lot more of him on FP, just saying) I mentioned how misleading my closet can be.
On one hand, I have an excessive amount of cute, twee vintage dresses and skirts that I love and wear on basically a daily basis. But if I had the means, I'd only wear macabre complicated and absolutely man-repelling situations. I basically wear vintage because it's all I can practically afford and it's easy to wear and it makes me feel pretty. But most of the time I don't want to feel pretty, I want to feel safe and dangerous and strong and powerful, which is what I feel when I wear avant garde stuff like Junya Watanabe. I think Grandpa Yohji said it the best, when he describes why he creates clothes.
“My role in all of this is very simple. I make clothing like armor. My clothing protects you from unwelcome eyes”
—
Yohji Yamamoto
I like that. That is what I like. What I absolutely despise about summer dressing is I can't treat clothes like an experiment in solitude or like armor. It's annoying.
I've written about street style many times before, or at least, FRUiTS before, and some of these pictures are very old but they never seem to lose their magic for me. I'm really interested in the way some designers repeatedly use masks, and almost puritanical motifs when it comes to clothes.. how often can you call someone wearing head to toe Yohji or CDG sexy? Edgy, maybe (gag at that word), cool, certainly. Beautiful, certainly. But never sexy. Or at least, hardly. I like that the most about it. You basically force people to see you on your own terms, something that might scare them a little.
Going through old fashionspot forums looking at pictures of my favorite CDG collections at the moment (F/W 2008, 2006, the two collections the majority of my own cdg stash is from) and it's funny to me that those are like some of the least liked collections, because they scare people. I dunno, they were always my favorite because they were literal interpretations of mixing 'gendered' clothing, masculine with feminine. Suits with dresses bursting out of them, crushed Victorian frills peeking out from really formal menswear. So, so so cool, so beautiful. It is so strange and different it is beautiful in it's own respect and redefines the standards of beauty, and that is what is so fantastical. They are such perfect examples that you don't need to be sexy or even pretty or cute to be beautiful. In fact, you can be downright frightening.
I did an interview with Cyrena from ReFashioner, she was really cool and I think you might enjoy the interview. :) We hit it off and I'll be working with ReFashioner in the future.
