hit the road, jack

i've often gone to great lengths to articulate the overpowering sense of sartorial lust that's been known to strike me at a moment's notice, wooing me into an impulse buy or impromptu shopping spree before i can even stop to gather my thoughts. it can happen on the street if i lay eyes on a particularly well-shod bystander or at a vintage store after unearthed a kookily classic throwback piece, but i most often get the urge when i'm flipping through my monthly glossies. there's nothing quite like a well-styled editorial to get me scouring my sources for a dizzyingly high scultpural heel or crimson wool cloak for fall. luckily for me, the prices of said pieces are usually so far out of my price range that i don't have to worry too much about succumbing to temptation - if logic alone didn't stop me, my credit card most definitely would.

and then there's lucky, a monthly glossy godsend packed with so many essential pieces at reasonable prices that it's all i can do to get through the issue once without making a purchase. so imagine my excitement when madewell teamed up with the magazine for its fall denim tour. despite the inherent danger of placing myself in a room with the always-tempting madewell gear, i grabbed my friend colleen and headed over to check out the scene.

we weren't disappointed. as if the dj, free swag, delicious selection of mini-burgers, buffalo chicken, desserts, and bars on both floors weren't enough, lucky editor-at-large elise loehnen was on hand with a rack of madewell's killer fall collection - can we stop for a moment and appreciate the loveliness of this military jacket? - and personal denim styling tips. in order to get an idea of which fit suited each guest, there was a quirky little quiz on hand for evaluation purposes - rail straight for me. of course, i had to fight myself to keep my wallet shut, but there is most definitely a pair of workwear biker boots with a lovely yellow lining with my name written all over them.

as always, the ladies of madewell were beyond sweet, and it turns out the mini klein tools pouch i picked up over the weekend in new york was a big hit. also ran into the lovely ladies of dreamecho and beyond boston chic (wearing some amazing glasses), which is always a pleasant surprise.

colleen was an especially big fan of the personalized flip books - see voguing shot above. seven seconds of action recorded on camera, half an hour's wait, and voila. we were a bit nervous that we'd have to leave without picking up her unique souvenir, but it turns out time was on our side. we grabbed the flipbook and hopped on the bus back to campus, already scheduling our next visit to madewell.

[image credits: the lovely colleen o'brien/moi]

it's the truth, it's actual: everything is satisfactual

i'm done with class for the day, but i'm still recovering from the past weekend: a three-day whirlwind trip to new york with cameron, consisting of multiple taxi rides along central park west, a birthday cake sundae to remember, apartment hunting on roosevelt island, a new camera (!), breaking in my navy wedges, billyburg afternoon, avoiding the shower, trams in the sky, long walks, an adorable waitress and free banana split at brooklyn bowl, dancing on stage at the gershwin theater, muted carmen sandiego, thrift shopping for grandpa threads, cosby sweater score, high line hijinks, shirley temple custards, a shopping spree for cameron with my enthusiastic stamp of approval, baked mac and cheese to die for, hair for the second time, freemans sporting club barbershop, falling in love with tommy on fifth, adding to my bob dylan record collection, hunting for a giant ground sloth, and white wine toasts with fried chicken and fries.

[image credits: refinery29]

hike your skirts and rouge your lips

i've always taken pride in my hometown, pairing a dry, self-deprecating appreciation for staten island with an unrelenting defense for its unique place within the quintet of boroughs that make up new york city. over time, it's become clear that this fierce love for the city's varied aesthetic significantly affects my view of fashion, for better or worse. though i've been known to have brief flings with diverse looks, the old "when in rome.." adage holds no sartorial weight with me, as i simply can't adhere to the doctrine of say, running shoes and big-brimmed hats while traversing the four kingdoms of disney world or the waspy pastels and crisp collars of the prep set here in the thick of the ivy league.

of course, there are some exceptions. but even while i aspire to the pouty irreverence of kiraz's parisiennes, it's the whimsically elegant blonde streak and murderously slim cut of holly golightly's evening dress at dawn, the bold colors and childishly mismatched look of fort greene's ghostwriter crew, the gaudy gold and wild nail art of my high school classmates, and the insouciant masculinity of annie hall that instantly come to mind each morning when i play dress up.

that said, i'm prone to obsession, and it doesn't take much to make me want to wholly immerse myself in another stylistic world. in the case of wildfox couture, all it took was a lookbook. after stumbling across their website on a computer at refinery29 over the summer, i found myself returning to pore over the vampiresque fall '09 images and previous seasons' lookbook time and again. the kooky, girlish sexiness of the pieces captured within a set of meticulously haphazard and hazy images seemed at once quintessentially californian—t-shirts with 'i ♥ la' and 'malibu girl' really drove the point home.

yet despite the paparazzi shots of less-than-stellar style icons like lauren conrad and miley cyrus donning wildfox couture, the faded, timeworn tinge on wildfox couture's cheeky pieces makes it appear accessible, even to a black-clad, menswear-loving new yorker like myself. it may just be the westward road trip my roommates and i have been planning lately but i'm really itching to get some wildfox into my wardrobe.

[image credits: wildfox couture]

that dirty rhythm moves me, the devil's gotten to me

a stubbornly vibrating cell phone dragged me out of a weighty slumber at about noon today. i exchanged a glance with dylan through stinging, bleary eyes and envied him as he stood up, yawned, and stretched his furry limbs gracefully, leaping out of bed onto the floor. i attempted to rouse myself in similar fashion, cringed in pain, and immediately resumed my supine position, every muscle below my waist begging for mercy—blame it on the boogie.

still, as i hauled myself out of bed and hobbled to the bathroom, i found myself scanning my mental calendar for the next opportunity to experience last night's festivities again. a few friends and i went out to the donkey show, a disco adaptation of a midsummer night's dream. and by disco adaptation, i mean a disco party. there were certainly remnants of the shakespearean tale, with mismatched love connections, potions, concoctions, and fairies, but it all played out to a steady stream of disco hits on the dance floor. four glittery, muscled men silently fawned over audience members, miming invitations to dance and spreading sparkle everywhere. as far as my outfit goes, hot pants unfortunately don't leave much room for storage, so i didn't have a camera on me. suffice to say, there was a black and gold lamé batwing blazer involved, which a face painted dr. wheelgood (puck) took a fancy to.

all in all, it was one of the best nights i've had in a long time, though i ran myself ragged dancing for hours in five-inch platform heels. as soon as i find an outfit to top the one i donned yesterday, i'll be back at club oberon in a heartbeat.

[image credit: american repertory theater]

laughter is calling for you down at our rendez-vous

it was just about the stroke of midnight on labor day when i swear i felt an autumn chill sweep the quad and rustle the still-green grass. it sent me scurrying immediately to my room, diving underneath blair's blanket on the couch and dreading that chill in my bones that i know i'll be feeling until probably early may. i immediately started contemplating the wardrobe that i'd hastily packed and recently drove up from new york—what i'd imagined as streamlined just two weeks ago now seemed paltry and ill-equipped for the long, cold road ahead.

boredom and a recurring shopping addiction eventually led me to gilt fuse, whose emails i'd studiously ignored all summer long due to my nonexistent salary. the 80%20 sale caught my eye, with a small but sweet collection of hidden wedge beauties, but i tried to stay focused on the task at hand, namely autumn-appropriate pieces. open-toed boots need not apply. then i saw it—the navy canvas and patent leather atop a mid-height heel, kind of like acne's atacoma wedge, only more pared down, casual, reasonably priced, and just low enough to avoid wiping out on centuries-old cambridge cobblestone. in other words, perfect for me. just waiting on that two to three week estimated shipping time.. rough.

p.s.: i was twittering a few days ago about an interview that i was keeping under wraps, but it's up now, and it's a feature on r.j. cutler.. super psyched, check it out!

[image credit: gilt fuse]

chased our pleasures here, dug our treasures there

as i take advantage of these opening days on campus to figure out my schedule and "shop" classes, one unfortunately unavoidable rite of passage is the awkward process of trying to force students to get better acquainted with one another. most teachers just make everyone offer up their name, year, major, and a reason for taking the class, but some people go a little overboard, making you play awful icebreaker games and answer bizarre questions.. not fun. luckily it's labor day, and i've got a bit of a reprieve from those forced interactions, but since i'm already in the habit of talking about myself in compact sound bytes, i figured i'd follow up on a tag that thread zeppelin tapped me to do awhile back.. ten things about little ol' me!

youn// road trips are my latest obsession.

i revealed in my last about me post that i'm terribly obsession-prone, latching on to some topic or other with fervent passion and pursuing it to insane lengths. my fixation of late began when i went up to burlington this past july to see bob dylan et. al, and i've yet to put it to rest. i'm currently in the market for a candy apple red vw van with redone interiors, ready to go cross country and back again, so any leads are much appreciated.

due// i can't drive. or ride a bike. or do pretty much anything involving wheels.

kind of casts that first fact in a new light, yeah? i suppose i was too busy reading copious amounts of books and dreaming up new ensembles for my barbies to remember to learn to ride a bike. in my defense, i took drivers' ed and did quite well in senior year of high school—i 've just been putting off the road test since then. i don't mind it so much, but i kind of don't want to be that lady without a driver's license when i'm say, forty-two, y'know?

trzy// i'm a terrible procrastinator.

i was going to elaborate on this and make an accompanying image, but then i realized i could do it later. suffice to say, i was tagged to do this post over two months ago.

fyra// i don't eat condiments.

this one really seems to throw people for a loop for some reason, though i'm not quite sure why. i don't eat ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, salad dressing, barbecue sauce, sweet and sour sauce, sauce of any kind, gravy.. the list goes on. salt and pepper are okay though. it's something about putting semi-wet substances on top of more or less dry food that freaks me out a bit, but i swear when people find this out about me, it's like i've just told them i have two heads.

fimm// i didn't go to a concert until i was 17.

i blame my overprotective mother—she was convinced i'd end up trampled, crushed, or somehow dead if i set foot inside a concert venue, but she finally loosened up and drove taylor and i up to newport, rhode island to see jason mraz a few weeks after graduation. even though i got a pretty late start, i'd like to think i've racked up a pretty decent list of concerts in the past three or four years: vampire weekend, willie nelson, gavin degraw, sara bareilles, g love and special sauce, the beach boys (with john stamos, no less), the cool kids, ratatat, k'naan, the virgins, bob dylan, kanye west, third eye blind, kid sister, john mellencamp, black kids and jason mraz four times over.

seis// once i find a job i like, i keep it forever, more or less.

the facts: new york public library, started beginning of sophomore year, stayed until the day before i left for college. took up at a campus library pretty much the day i got to campus, where i still work. summer camp at my old high school, started the summer after junior year, still working there every summer. basically, don't hire me if you're not ready to commit to a long-term relationship.

seven// i've become a full-blown cat lady.

i put a self-imposed ban on dylan posts awhile back, but that did nothing to curb my day to day infatuations with my little feline friend. he's no longer a tiny little fluff of cuteness, but even as a young man of cat, i still regularly experience maternal-status freakouts over his most trivial movements and behaviors. luckily my roommates are just as in love with him as i am, so we gush over him on a daily basis.

acht// i speak spanish and french. or at least i did until i forgot it all.

four years of spanish in high school, and two years of french in college plus a summer in paris, and somehow it's all gone out the window. my mind is like a sieve, i swear.

neuf// i have a strange consumer relationship with paris hilton.

a friend of mine and fan of paris hilton's once dragged me to macy's in herald square because she was doing a signing, and bought me her book so i'd have something for her to sign, except that when we showed up it turned out you needed to buy her perfume in order to get through the door. not wanting to be a killjoy, i bought a bottle, met paris for a brief moment, who was pretty gracious and sweet, and received a signed photograph of her for my efforts. but just when i thought i'd closed the paris chapter of my life, a relative recently bought me some new paris hilton fragrance, probably as a result of seeing that first bottle lying around. go figure.

dez// i kind of suck at doing these types of tags.

and as a result, can't think of a tenth fact. happy labor day!

[image credit: google image search]

we clean up and now it's time to learn

bear with me, friends. my posts have been spotty at best, but i'm doing the whole back to school thing this week—including bearing the unique burden of having to choose between studying modern american crime narratives and protestantism in american literature, attempting to dig our coffee table out of an overflowing storage room, and soaking up the collegiate campus vibe for my fourth and final time around. i can't say i look quite as precious as this girl while i'm doing it, but there's still time for me to acquire some pencil skirts, eyelet blazers, and headwraps and give it a go. be back soon!