never seen so many people want to be there by your side

the weather continues to indulge me with sunshine and clear skies, even if it keeps me permanently distracted from my studies. the other day, i sat for my senior portrait, a throughly cheesy affair, complete with cap and gown, fake diplomas, awkward poses and all. having turned in the first of my final papers, i celebrated the completion of the day by stopping in to the american apparel across the street from the photo studio.

i didn't wander in completely aimlessly - after reading refinery29's swine flu post, i knew i had to get my hands on the super sheer circle scarf. i have the regular version in olive, and it's been very good to me, but i can't tell you how many times i've wished that it was made out of something a bit lighter so as to lend itself to more options. i snagged the atlantic blue and i'm already a huge fan. i also spied a pair of glasses that's the closest thing i've seen so far to the glasses in "notorious" that i was lusting after back in february. i'm still contemplating going back for them.

as i left the store, i planned to rush and catch a shuttle back to my house, but decided on a whim to stop at the theater in the square and see "valentino: the last emperor." i've been dying to see it forever, but when i hear 'limited release,' i typically assume that cambridge won't be included in that select number of theaters. still, i really dropped the ball on this one, considering the title had been displayed on the huge marquee for weeks before i noticed. the theater was practically empty, with the exception a couple of pairs of elderly women. i've only been to a movie alone once, for a press screening of "i love you, man," but i found the experience rather pleasant, so i was glad to do it again, especially for a film that most of my friends wouldn't really appreciate - i'd been asking around for a couple days and couldn't really find a willing participant.

i didn't expect to dislike it, but i was surprised by just how much of a reaction it evoked in me. it was more than a fashion geek's paradise, with glimpses of the valentino lifestyle, atelier and runway shows - i was delighted to spy the same silver mannequins and designs that blew me away in the "valentino, thèmes et variations" exhibit at the musée de la mode et du textile last summer in paris. it was also more than just an aesthetic feast for the eyes, with an endless supply of european urban landscapes and beautiful architecture. it was the strong relationships and the emotions attached to them that were the most potent aspect of the film. watching people melt into tears at the sight of a collection and valentino chum it up with karl lagerfeld were definitely some of the film's best moments for me. all in all, a lovely day - those others papers will get done eventually.

p.s.: as of last night (and a lot of hazing), i'm officially a writer for the harvard crimson!

it's 20 seconds til the last call

i guess you all can guess the reason for my absence. final exams (and papers and projects..), the prolonged form of torture that descends upon me each spring to suck the joy out of daily life, are here yet again - that's the bad news.

but consider the good: i'm finally getting inducted at the crimson this friday, the weather has been absolutely beautiful lately, i'm heading to colorado after school's over, and refinery29 begins right after that, kicking off what is sure to be a phenomenal summer. twenty-three days and counting!

i'm playing with the idea of using the timed post feature to keep pandora's closet active over the next three weeks - stay tuned.

where the birds wait and the tall grasses wave

the first time i laid eyes on antler magazine, i was curled up in a giant bed, bookended by sara and josh to my right and left, an elderly portuguese water dog named sadie calmly resting at my feet. tucked away from responsibilities and trouble somewhere on kiawah island, my companions and i drifted in and out of sleep, shifting to keep the streaming sunlight out of our eyes and awaking only to instigate pillow fights and flip channels. the hazy, natural imagery of the magazine matched the room's easy calm, and i plunged headfirst into the text: candid interviews and spotlights on independent designers and artists - straightforward, but with the uncanny ability to leave you wanting to know more.

charmed as i was, the harsh return to a reality of deadlines and stress whipped about by a constant northeastern wind pushed the enchantment of antler towards the back of my mind, joined with dreamlike memories of carolina beaches and the egalitarianism of interstate 95. imagine my delight at receiving an email heralding the release of antler's second issue. the formula has remained delightfully similar, drawing from an even wider pool of talent. a travel piece and film retrospective broaden the magazine's spectrum, as well, promising new directions for following issues. now that antler is firmly reinstated at the forefront of my consciousness, i'm excited to see what's next for the fledgling publication.

tremendous

my first refinery29 piece! go, go, go! it's gonna be a great summer..

and a great day - i'm helping put together our spring concert today (sara bareilles/ratatat), and i just walked mike stroud to american apparel while chatting it up about brooklyn and the unbelievable but ignored housing on staten island. classic.

look at me, i'm in tatters!

things i bought last night when i should have been working on papers, articles, and other important shit.

tan mickey mouse raincoat from the sixties; lime/black checkered bike shorts.

on cloud 1999

i've often been told that i have an old soul. at times, this judgment is meted out kindly, with a generous smile and approving glance. more often, it's asserted as a pithy quip, eyes twinkling with harmless mockery. even my parents chuckle at my reluctance to leave voicemail and wonder where i picked up an ardent affinity for the andrews sisters and peggy lee. i'm fully aware of the peculiarity of my situation - where does a girl born in 1988 get off thinking that it's "unnatural" to talk to machines, anyway? - but i've learned to embrace it, despite the general confusion of my peers.

i scoff at the experiences of those younger than me like a grumpy old-timer, illogically convinced that they could never compare to the years i've lived through. my only acknowledgment of an era that could possibly rival mine are the ones that came before it, probably even more idyllic in reality than my projected images of them, crystallized in my mind's eye. in true retiree form, i'm constantly marveling at just how quickly the years have gone by - for me, the y2k crisis seems like it happened just yesterday. while the eighties-inspired looks on the runway delight me, the ones remniscient of the nineties disorient me - do we really have enough temporal distance from the decade to revisit it already?

still, i figure as long as it's here, i might as well revel in it. ten years ago, i was ten, finishing out the fifth grade, and creatively stifled by a boring school uniform. naturally, this was the bane of my sartorial existence, but i reveled in the rare dress down days when we could show off our non-regulation wardrobe. i'd corner my mom and force her to pore over my top choices from the delia's catalog, nagging a commitment out of her to buy me at least two pieces. it was the best of times, and while i'd be hard pressed to recapture the fun innocence of that time, delia's has managed to remain relevant, even to my older and wiser reincarnation. yeah, i said it - delia's is still pretty cool.

i promise i'm not on one of my usual misguided nostalgia trips. before spring break, i was desperately searching for an inexpensive one-piece swimsuit and failing at it when i checked out the delia's website on a whim. not only were they stocked, the options were actually viable. i decided on a simple black strapless suit, which i plan on wearing with hot pants, wedges, and a loose frilly button down for a iris from taxi driver-type vibe when the temperatures hit swelter status in the coming months. the other options were equally enticing - i loved the rugby stripes collection, but deferred in the end because i couldn't tell if the yellow was matched with navy stripes (cool, nautical vibe) or black (trite, punky, vibe).

of course, at least part of the thrill has gone missing over the years, with plenty of pieces best left to precocious high schoolers and aspring tweens. the bulk of my grown-up wishlist is focused on their shoes, with the bass loafers poised to be one my next purchases. the multiple and constant sales, plus the twenty-five dollars towards my next purchase i received with my swimsuit also keep me coming back. call me crazy, but if we can resurrect neon bike shorts and crop tops from my childhood, then i'm reserving my right to start shopping at delia's again.

fun fact: on this day in 1999, the number one song on total request live was 'n sync's 'i drive myself crazy.'

[photo credits: plan 59, delia's, google image search]

shout hallelujah, c'mon, get happy

my summer gig! as my sidebar reveals, i consider this site my fashion bible, so you can't imagine the happy leaps my stomach did when i learned that i got the internship. squeeeeee!!

heroes in a half-shell

yeeeeah, this was my friday night. i almost wish i had some shame, but i really can't muster any. i grew up on this nonsense, and i positively relish any chance i get to relive it. i even surprised myself by how accurately i could recite full scenes after so many years.

the movie might be dated, but hilarious slang and cheesy martial arts aside, how cool was april o'neil? seriously, she could do it all - handle a career and hang with the guys, all the while clad in a taxi cab-yellow jumpsuit in with white boots. i'm a big fan of fulfilling my childhood fashion dreams, so i got on ebay as soon as possible to do a jumpsuit search, but i'll admit, even i recoiled in horror. there are a whole lot of atrocities parading about under the title of jumpsuit. it took everything in me not to retreat, vowing to only experiment with one-piece garments in the form of dresses, but i tried to stay strong, asking myself repeatedly, "what would april do?"

well, it's all about waists. she'd make sure it was well-defined.. really well-defined. a piece like this can swallow you in more ways than one, so it's necessary to keep things proportional at the very least. wrap it cinch it, belt it. use leather, plastic, or an obi sash, just define that waist. and speaking of waists, they should preferably be high ones - your legs will look much better for it. that said, this is a pretty ridiculous piece at its core, so by all means, go wild. the garment itself makes a statement, so add an memorable interjection - some gaugin, perhaps?

p.s.: anyone know how to embed a music player in a post? since my uncultured movie tastes are out of the bag, i think it's high time i share my embarrassing music with all of you..

shoes ain't laced but they all try to run it

dear i-D,

i know this is last month's problem, but it needs to be said: i'm gonna need you to chill out.

you know i love you and all, but really? twelve covers for march '09? twelve? a great idea in theory, and they're beautiful images, but for a broke glossy junkie like myself, it's reeeeally pushing it.

i know you're not the first to pull this sort of thing - had i not been blowing my euros on all other sorts of nonsense last summer in paris, i definitely would have bought the other three covers of the vogue italia black issue to go with my naomi. but really, twelve?? i got the daisy lowe, because it was the only option at my magazine stand of choice, but i would have loved the agyness. i've never been the hugest fan, but even as overexposed as she is, there's something very appealing about that chin-skimming bob and smoky eye she's got going on. i also wouldn't have minded the kate moss, simply because she's overexposed. or the twiggy, because she's twiggy.. you see the dilemma here.. so in the future, i'm gonna have to ask that you scale it back a little and not use genius ploys and stunning imagery to con me repeatedly at eleven dollars a pop.

thanks.

getting it together

i admire the multitaskers of the world, i really do. the people who can juggle academics and extracurriculars, the ones with multiple slashes in their job titles. unfortunately, i am not one of those people, despite my best efforts. i'm currently working on my life, but i'll be back soon with stories about a two-day new york trip, TOPSHOP, and things of that ilk. and tonight, i will supposedly be seeing the ultimate multitaskers, brad pitt and angelina jolie, at a global health conference honoring james haven. seriously.

update: just james haven. brangelina a no-show. the picture stays because it's gorgeous.

the precedent's already set now

one of the best things about fashion is its capacity to cloak a person in disguise - an eternally black-clad minimalist can go acid washed neon-happy in the blink of an eye if she so chooses, and as long as the final results are aesthetically pleasing, it's no harm, no foul. even so, sometimes i find myself craving things that are bit of a tough pill to swallow. while i save up pennies in pursuit of a perfectly androgynous, avant garde piece, a preppy inclination currently lurks dangerously in the farthest reaches of my fashion consciousness. i indulged this whim recently at rugby, hoping that the purchase would quell this bizarre whim, but every now and then i catch myself daydreaming about packing a vera with lilly and running off to martha's.

i'm not quite sure how to handle this, but past experience has taught me that suppressing the urge won't help. i might as well just give in and wait until the desire passes. at the same time, i refuse to join the campus cesspool of conformity, mindlessly donning polos paired with riding boots and a barbour jacket. it's not that i don't appreciate the classic ruggedness of barbour jackets, but my individualist spirit would prefer if i could figure out a way to channel prep with a healthy dose of my own personal panache.

while researching upcoming boston events, i found down:2:earth, which is, among other things, a "marketplace for eco-friendly products." their second annual exposition is taking place this weekend, so i took a gander at their exhibitors, zeroing in on the fashion vendors. again and again creates handbags, totes, messenger bags, and christmas stockings (too cute) out of recycled sails. i'm particularly enamored of their peace sign tote, considering my obsession with the symbol and its origins in semaphore. my only complaint was that the selection was somewhat limited. ella vickers, who will also be at the d:2:e expo this weekend, solved this problem. she also repurposes sailcloth, but her offerings are considerably more numerous, ranging from dog beds and duffel bags to yoga bags and my favorite - shower curtains. achieving a prep vibe in a subtle, environmentally conscious manner - i couldn't ask for more.

in other news, i've never really considered myself a huge "shoe person," much as i love them, but i'm pretty sure my heart stopped when i saw topshop nyc's shoe lounge on refinery 29. take me there?