it's about four am right now and i'm dead tired, but it's time to hit the road - california, here i come.
20100107
20100102
but thick as you are, pay attention
for a timid bookworm with coke bottle glasses and an aversion to team sports, i somehow managed to get myself pretty scratched and bruised up during my formative years. whether i was gullibly accepting my older brother's ill-fated footrace challenges or skipping through the house with all the grace of a baby elephant, for a while it seemed like i couldn't go a day without drawing blood, breaking skin, or falling down. i still have the scars to commemorate my childhood clumsiness, but for the most part, i don't mind them.
still, there are a couple i could live without, most notably a nick to the eyebrow that refuses to correct itself. back in elementary school, wednesdays were half-days, and therefore the day of my weekly library visit. on one particular wednesday, i must have checked out some terribly exciting tome or other because once outside the library, i took off away from my mother in a giddy half-skip. naturally, i didn't even make it to the end of the block. my foot got caught on a chunk of broken sidewalk, and i pitched forward, nosediving into a cocktail of concrete and glass, as a broken bottle laying on the ground just missed my left eye and sliced into my brow instead.
after my mother got through cleaning me up, chewing me out, and praying over me, she began waiting for my now-sullied brow to grow back in and correct itself. unfortunately, that day never came. with age, my brows grew thicker and somewhat obscured the mark, but it's still there.
in the meantime, i've always been a sucker for audrey hepburn's almost cartoonishly thick eyebrows, and every time i visit the phenomenal cheap thrills, i find myself seriously envying the gorgeous raez's bold brows (and outfits, and poses, and photography..). my own brows aren't what i would call thin by any means, but lately my mission is the thicker, the better, so i ventured into the soho mac store a few weeks ago and bought an eyebrow pencil in stud. since i never wear makeup, this is quite a big step for me. i know better than to step out displaying my amateur handiwork just yet, but until then i'll consider it a minor new year's resolution to master bigger, badder, and better brows - scars be damned.
20091231
we need a resolution
time to get glittery and revisit all those vices one last time before attempting a perfect '10.
20091227
she was a long cool woman in a black dress
when i picked up the latest issue of vogue at the newsstand, i was a little startled by its super svelte heft. of course, unsubstantially-sized january mags are certainly standard fare, but something about this particular issue felt particularly flimsy between my fingers. in the end, it turns out that the next decade's first installment of vogue is the glossy equivalent of my personal candy crack, welch's fruit snacks - quick and sweet, but actually nutritious and worth revisiting.
for all of its reveling in the past and anticipating future fashions, it was a brief m.i.a. feature, tucked away towards the tail end of the magazine, that stopped me in my tracks. i've been a fan of miss arulpragasam's early nineties fly girl meets tribal acid trip vibe for what feels like forever, but year after year of wild style can easily lose its edge, and i hadn't thought about her in a sartorial sense for quite some time. now she's absolutely killing it with this sexy, subdued style, a perfect older sister to her former look that's cleverly described as "iranian-american princess/sade."
when i recovered my lost jewelry back in october, i did a gleeful reassessment of my pieces and found that gold made up the vast majority of the collection. still, i've always opted to wear no more than two golden baubles at once so as not to veer into gaudy territory. now, i have a distinct urge to pile on as much as possible, forcing the boundaries of poor taste to mingle with a bold, unapologetic sort of elegance that straddles the late seventies and early eighties, remniscient of tina chow and a young anjelica huston. and the best part is that everryone from topshop to tom binns loves to tinker around with gold, making this an incredibly simple look to emulate. in some cases, it seems that all that glitters really is gold.
20091225
20091224
the mood is right, the spirit's up
off to brooklyn for the evening with bob dylan's christmas album on heavy rotation. if this video is any indication, i really need to work on scoring an invite to one of his holiday shindigs.
20091220
out on bail fresh outta jail california dreamin'
well, i slogged through the boundless mires of literary criticism and feminist theory and broke on through to the other side, and oh, how sweet it is. this year's christmas gift exchange with the boyfriend resulted in a slick and sturdy crosley record player, and i've been holed up in my room for days, bringing it all back home and revisiting highway 61 on vinyl.
of course, i could've been home in new york by now, but i'm sticking around for a few extra days to make extra cash for the long winter break ahead, which will include a trip to los angeles and san francisco. since i've never been further west than colorado, i'm incredibly excited and somewhat overwhelmed by the possibilities. i mean, we're talkingdisneyland, venice beach, cable cars, hollywood, haight-ashbury.. disneyland?! expectations are high, to say the least, but all the travel guides in the world aren't going to give me the juicy details that you all can. if you have any la/sf recommendations for vintage shopping, restaurants, cool areas, thrifting, people watching spots, and other generally cool things that stray from the typical tourist fare, get in touch - all tips would be much appreciated!
[via basilio silva]
20091211
drowning in leather-studded kisses and literary theory
oh hey.
i'm in the midst of exam period hell right now, but i wanted to drop a quick line, lest anyone think the silence around here since my last post means that the frenzy of black friday swallowed me up or anything like that. i really hate going weeks at a time without posting, though, so expect a ton of content and -dare i say? - features after the fourteenth, when i finally wrap up this godforsaken semester. speaking of features, my list of favorite videos on youtube is getting out of hand, so i'm thinking about a weekly video feature of sorts.. sartorially/aesthetically lovely music videos, musically lovely fashion videos, and things of that ilk, accompanied by my unfiltered rambling, naturally.
well, i hate to start on a terribly obvious note, but this song - not the album, but this song - is literally getting me through my stay in academic purgatory, not to mention that the video, also on heavy rotation, has yet to get old for me. and somehow the credits via nicola formichetti make everything that much better - now i can make a real go at hunting down that ethereally nurselike rachel barrett dress and that phenomenal red alex noble jumpsuit (i promise i could find an occasion for it). at this level of fangirl-status obsession, it's hard to believe that i used to detest lady gaga merely months ago.. enjoy! be back in a couple of days.
20091127
yes, we have no bananas, we have no bananas today
this is the best image i've stumbled upon in a long, long time. audrey was my first style icon and i never tire of returning to her classic gamine appeal.
hope you're all coming out of your post-thanksgiving food comas.. i've never been one to brave the madness that is black friday, but i've decided to venture out and see what i can rustle up this year. updates to come.
[via google image search]
20091123
yeah you got that something, i think you'll understand
remember when fashion bloggers everywhere started flipping out over nine west last spring? during the two weeks between the end of my sophomore year and the beginning of my trip to paris, i made it my life's mission to acquire a pair of heech sandals. i talked about them so much that my friends went ahead and gave me a nine west gift certificate as an early birthday gift, although in retrospect, it very well might have been a crafty attempt at getting me to purchase the damn things already and stop rambling on incessantly about them.
the day i finally snagged a pair in black leather will go down in my personal fashion annals as one of my happiest sartorial moments, and to this day, i can't pass up a brown leather pair without seriously contemplating snatching them up. still, those heady days in hot pursuit of the heech actually mark my second love affair with nine west. way back in fourth or fifth grade - i'm talking about my crayola fashion design studio days here - i was completely obsessed with the brand. i nagged my mother until she caved and bought me a pair of strappy caramel platform sandals - so, so very nineties.
anyway, the point of all this is that i've just plunged headfirst into my third nine west crush with these boots. aptly titled 'elation,' these shoes are the epitome of everything i want in a boot: simple, unadorned and sturdy, with a bit of slouch. christmas cash, meet your destiny. but as usual, i'm torn. black? ivory? ..both?
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