20110810

don’t know how it all got started, i don’t know what they do with their lives

Photobucket
my telephone usage hit an all-time high at some point between the years of 1999 and 2001. looking back, i blame it on tweendom, which at the time was just about reaching a shrieking fever pitch, and a blossoming friendship with my cousin josie, just a year older than me and equally enthralled by endless discussions of boys, boy bands, boyfriends... you get the picture. unfortunately, all our parents got was the bill.

as the length of our conversations increased exponentially, we developed a practice of painstakingly tracing the convoluted trajectories of our lengthy discussions. for some reason, we got a huge kick out of dissecting the paths less traveled that our dialogue had chosen - how did we go from gushing over carson daly to vigorously critiquing the catholic church anyway, what with all the frequent bouts of giggles and tidbits of breathless gossip? (the answer: carson daly once aspired to be a priest.) like so much of what went down between the years of 1999 and 2001, the ritual was simultaneously enjoyable and slightly inane. as it turns out, though, my erratic behavior still requires in-depth investigations to this day. case in point: a serious-ass sartorial blue period, which has got me typing 'cobalt' into every e-retail search bar in sight, even though i've never been able to count blue among my favorite colors.

back in college, when i tossed around the idea of starting a campus fashion publication, one my favorite potential titles was cobalt. the project never took off, but for awhile there, i had a great time looking up cobalt glass creations. all things pretty and blue were soon forgotten until i received "the ellements of style" for christmas, featuring christina hendricks in pair of blue ladypants that haunt me to this day. the final push came about a month ago, when i clicked on lucie porges' closet feature on slu. her wardrobe initially triggered an infatuation with all things pauline trigère, but it was an obsession i quickly learned my finances couldn't support. unwilling to give up pauline's ghost, i finally stumbled upon the holy grail: a boxy coat from the early '60s, with hidden gold buttons and a sculpted mandarin collar. only sixty-five dollars - sold. a silky cerise lining read pauline trigère in jaunty cursive, but the color of the coat itself is what truly held my attention.

i held out for all of ten days before i fell right back down the brilliant blue rabbit hole. having already scoured the internet for affordable pauline pieces, i shelved that particular obsession for wealthier days and set about trying to recapture that eye-widening hue. first came a maxi dress with yet another mandarin collar, followed by a chunky cableknit pullover, which prompted a sudden intervention, staged and executed by my languishing bank account.

[via etsy]

3 comments:

Guiltyhyena said...

I don't think I can look at the color cobalt in the same way now! :)

I hope you don't have to shelve the all things inspired Pauline Trigère for too long. I feel your compulsion for it.

Lexy @ QUIRKY EXPLOSION said...

COBALT.

I love that colour. It's so magnificent. And the colour of one of my favourite tights. Amazing!

And ah. I love the term "shrieking fever pitch." Exactly how I'd describe all the obnoxious kids I went to high school with. (Myself included, surely...)

QUIRKYEXPLOSION.blogspot.com

said...

IT'S A GREAT COLOUR & I LOVE A GOOD CABLEKNIT!