resolute

"i got a head full of ideas/ that are drivin' me insane.."

my love for fashion is no secret or surprise.

i've cultivated it over the years, creating a zeal that keeps me above the mire of the daily and mundane. for that reason, i find i'm most strongly drawn to the sartorial realm when in the depths of repetition and drear - in the middle of a northeastern january, bitter winds whistling through stark branches, or during the last stretch of a grueling semester, hunched over in a library underneath fluorescent lights while scanning dry, impenetrable texts. the several days that have passed since my last substantial post and this one have been tests of both endurance and willpower - the desire to chuck the study guides in favor of glossy editorial spreads and wintry thrift shop hunts was almost unbearable. i wanted nothing more than to create cleverly crafted ensembles and scour all my sources for inspirational words and images, anything at all to ignore the task at hand.

but after all the strife, i've emerged victorious. after an epic marathon of a semester, the last of my papers and exams are turned in and with an admittedly short break on our hands, four of my roommates and i headed to new york this past weekend. though home is just a ferry ride away for me, we booked a hostel in an area located directly between the upper west side and morningside heights. since sarah was leaving directly from new york to go to cape town for an entire semester, thousands of miles and nine months away from us, our trip was a chick flick-worthy journey of laughter, tears, arguments, revelations, and adventures. now that all is said and done and i'm launching into the spring semester, i'm inundated with a happy exhaustion and optimism.

ever since i found myself operating "on harvard time," as they say, i've learned that february is a true start for new beginnings. january is for cleaning up the messes of the last year's semester and keeping it together long enough to finish on a good note. by the time the month crawls to the end and another semester has been put to rest, there you are, ambitions and plans in hand. i've got ideas for miles, a hankering for innovation, and a drive to write. here's to 2009 - again.

don't call it a comeback-

hey, kids.

finals got a little crazy, but the good news is i'm done. i'm in new york for the weekend for a break between semesters, but i'm back with a vengeance next week. promise. 

thanks for all of the sweet comments!

toora loora toora loo rye aye

can you tell i'm really starting to like these jeans? they were dug up in the heat of an insomnia-fueled diy mission, and i hastily resolved that since i hadn't worn them in the years since i was forced to buy them, they were prime to be cut up, house of holland ss'09-style. but the more i tried them on, the more i grew to love their ridiculous banana shape and odd fit. i'll admit that they still make me feel like a soccer mom/dexy's midnight runner hybrid and i wonder at times if they do anything at all for my figure, but what can i say? i love 'em. also featured: the aa scrimmage tee that i've wanted for months, finally purchased during my epic consumer blackout.

little precious has a natural obsession

i'm not a big drinker, so i can't say i know what it's like to wake up after a night of partying and learn all kinds of sordid details about what you did while under the influence. i can however, fully attest to having experienced consumer blackout - you walk into a store, calm and composed, thoughtfully fingering attractive merchandise with no intention of buying, and the next thing you know, you're home with a significant addition to your wardrobe and an empty bank account to boot.

it happened to me yesterday - i met with sarah in the square to help her celebrate her last paper being handed in, and somehow i started celebrating the same thing myself, though mine were all turned in last week. after that, i began rationalizing that a late christmas gift to myself couldn't hurt.. or an early birthday gift. at that point, the vision got a little hazy and i lost track of my spending, but i'm starting to put the pieces together..

the wool/velvet combo on this blazer reminds me of an outfit my mother whipped up for me in emerald plaid, circa christmas 1996. but even though it might have been swiped directly from samantha parkington's wardrobe, it still manages to exude a military-style cool, with sleeves that were made to be pushed up.

seeing this dress on its hanger, i was convinced that putting it on would be akin to wearing a trusty old backpack. i took it to the fitting room strictly out of curiosity, and was pleasantly surprised by its fit and the vast array of imagery it brought to mind - rainshowers and jumping in puddles, ducks and ponds and train sets and pine trees. it strikes an odd balance between childlike jumper and heavy utility garment, but what's even more odd is that it works.

[*at this point, i'd like to take a moment and gloat over the fact the above two items came to a grand total of $30.]

my inspiration for this look consisted of rhoda morgenstern, 1970s downtown new york, african drums, miami housewives, and ms. monaco, my seventh-grade teacher with the ice-cream white hair, strong perfume and brooches that fastened scarves to sweeping ankle-length skirt suits. i'm not one for lots of accessorizing, but certain pieces inspire you enough to try something a little out of the ordinary. these shoes would qualify as one of those pieces. since i brought them home, i've caught myself on several occasions just gazing at them. the platform shape with wood-like detailing on the leather is simply too much for me to handle. forget warm weather and sunshine - as soon the snow melts, i'm stepping out in these bad boys. mark my words.

and the damage doesn't stop there.. a trip to american apparel (un?)fortunately proved just as fruitful - more on that later.

here's the thing

i don't want to be one of those annoying people going on and on about their pets all the livelong day, but when he does ridiculously cute things like this, i feel like it wouldn't be right to not share with you all.

but that's it! maybe sometime in the future i'll indulge myself with one entire post dedicated to the story of dylan, but i promise, after this there'll be no mention of him unless he does something directly related to the purpose of this blog, i.e. jumps into an outfit shot, eats my elizabeth&james tank dress, or starts wearing a miniature version of the new dior homme collection. seriously - i bought a ton of stuff yesterday, so there'll be outfit posts and other goodness galore to come, sans dylan.

the stylish wanderer recently tagged me to name six unimportant things that make me happy, i responded to the same tag once before, but hey, lots of things make me happy, so here's six more.

there's no better feeling than plopping a great new purchase down in front of the cashier, and watching the prices tally up, only to realize that you've been blessed with an unexpected discount.

without junk food, i probably would have wasted away to nothing long ago.

sweet store window displays are like a commercial spin on museums, without the obligatory "my kid could do that!" comments.

though i've probably never used a bit of their advice, i have a strange attraction to how-to books, but only for relatively unattainable goals, like becoming a bohemian or a bombshell.

the rare sunshower is my hands-down favorite form of precipitation.

and last, but not least, comments - i'll continue to write regardless, but especially love the feedback.

you know what to do.

thought she was james dean for a day

this is what happens when reading period strikes. and how bout that classy dorm flooring?

i turned in my last paper yesterday, so i'm free, aside from a little bit of daily studying, until the twenty-first when my first exam takes place. there's not many people to enjoy the free time with, since most people are preparing for earlier tests, but i have the rare opportunity to truly relax and indulge in things i like to do - reading, watching movies, sleeping, online window shopping, playing with dylan, checking out blogs.. the simple things.

it was while catching up on old fashionista posts when i found the deluge of comments accompanying their fashion secrets post. curious, i clicked to get a sampling of the responses, but once i started reading them, i couldn't stop. i'm blown away by how many people are literally addicted to fashion - as in the textbook sense, to the point where it negatively affects lives, whether in the form of jail time or crushing debt (i don't include eating disorders in this discussion, as i believe there are several factors besides an affinity for the fashion industry that contribute to a full-blown ed). alarmed, i did a quick self-assessment - has my love for fashion worsened my quality of life? luckily, the answer is no, and when i dug further for my own fashion secrets, i found that they're hopelessly tame. for the sake of sharing, though..

as far as body image issues go, i've got a few, but after taking a course on women's long and sordid relationship with food, i have a much more solid grip on the difference between reality and distorted perception. i'll admit that from time to time, i play dumb when people ask me where i bought something. this is half me nonsensically trying to prevent people from maybe buying the same things as me, but at the same time sometimes i'll buy certain things and adamantly tell all my friends to do the same. i think the other reason that i do it is to mask secret number two: i have an absolutely encyclopedic knowledge of my wardrobe, as well as several other people's too. i can't retain facts for important exams but i can tell you where, when, and why i bought a ten-year-old pair of light denim flares. ridiculous? maybe. involuntary? definitely.

oh, and while cleaning my room - another thing i magically have time for all of a sudden - i found the beloved mj bracelet! the wardrobe gods must be smiling down on me.

must be the clouds in my eyes

if i had to designate one outfit as my go-to ensemble, this would be it. it's that quick fix for the days when i'm not in the mood to look like a bum or revert to the usual black on black fare, but don't have the energy to piece together something innovative and unique. best of all, every well-worn, perfectly broken in piece of outfit, simple as it may be, has a bit of history to it, evoking the sartorial equivalent of wrapping a warm quilt around my shoulders. the scarf (as headband) and shoes are my mother's, stolen and given by/to me respectively, the shirt is a high school relic, the infamous "man-shirt" of the winter uniform that i once hated with a passion, and the jeans are a treasured several-year-old h&m purchase, high-waisted with suspenders and an impeccable fit.

unfortunately, a small but noticeably absent addition to this outfit is my marc jacobs 'veritas inlustrat' leather bracelet, bought about a year ago on newbury with my roommates as a sort of update on the old friendship bracelet spiel. i wear it twenty-four/seven, with the obvious exception of showers, and this morning dylan started rolling around my bedroom with it while i got dressed. by the time i was ready to slap it on and rush out the door, it was nowhere to be found. i'm not too frantic yet, since it hasn't been missing long, but things could get ugly if it doesn't turn up soon..

jan8, update// still no sign of the bracelet (thanks for asking, nina!).. but i admit i haven't been looking very thoroughly, since i've been churning out paper after paper this week on nanogenes, gender relations in early british literature.. after i finish one more on countercultural fashion in the fifties, i'll be a bit freer, so wish me luck and i'll see you then!

two steps forward, two steps back

happy new year! hangovers aside, i hope things are looking all bright and shiny and promising for everyone.

notice anything different? i like lily cole as much as the next chick, but ever since i took down my old sophomore spring'08 banner at the end of the summer, i've been kinda jonesing for it. imagine my delight when i stumbled across the spring'09 lookbook via refinery 29. luckily ms. miller didn't tweak her formula too much - let some friends loose in new york city in sophomore gear (styled by lissy trullie!) with cass bird, recreating the hazy, hot child/summer in the city vibe that i loved so much the first time around. despite the intended 1970s lower east side influence, last spring's lookbook reminded me a lot of the movie kids with a less dated wardrobe. this time i'm getting a little tatum o'neal + kristy mcnichol in little darlings vibe. less talk, more visuals, you say? i got you.

oh, and i'm well aware that this is a totally season-inappropriate post, but i figure it's summer somewhere, right? and as far as i'm concerned, it's never too early to get in the mood.

related:

- chrissie miller @ refinery29, the selby. be warned, she's kind of awesome.

as of this posting, i'm heading back to cambridge with dylan - i'm not due back til friday and i don't relish going back to school, but i had to get up and go somewhere, y'know? i have trouble sitting still. when i get back i'll be writing the first of three papers and studying for finals, but as promised, there will be posts. peace, kids.

no, really.. is it summer yet?