greens, pinks, light blues, skies and sea

Sometimes seeing one photo sets off my memory and I immediately associate it with images I have stored in the back of my mind. While internet-stalking a bunch of Prada lookbooks for a SUPER HUGE IMAGE SPAMMING BEAUTIFULNESS-OVERLOAD post going up later this week, a couple photos from the Spring 2008 sent me digging into the archives of Tumblr as well as my head as well as the folder entitled "can you please just like marry me" on my desktop..Royal Tenenbaums books, neon water Meisel goddesses, Totoro greens, Hanne in the new issue of Numero shot by Lina Scheynius, nebula, and fish grazing in coral (do fish graze?)
Prada, Numero, Nebula, Family of Geniuses, Meisel, coral, second Totoro still. Other photos, Youtube screencaps.

in which i review haute couture using 30 rock quotes from the one with james franco

So...I went to Paris and kind of forgot to mention it on this here blog? Was packing until the very last moment, no wireless in the hotel, etc., so now I am home. I present to you a shorter review of the shows I saw...composed almost entirely of quotes from the James Franco episode of 30 Rock.

Let's begin with Christion Dior, this bar jacket, specifically.Lace, pastels, bows-it's everything I've ever wanted, kind of like having ice cold diarrhea from drinking too much Jamba Juice!

This extravagant dress had an incredibly lengthy train, which made me want to ask the model if she was an ass scientist, because her ass blah blah blah you get the point.

And now for Chanel. First of all, the HAIR! So good, like if you combined a pillow that's been in the microwave with wig extensions from a store you might get if you typed "Nancy's Secrets" into the Internet.

Next, we have this cardigan I've been sort of afraid to wear, it has fuzzy buttons, and-I'M NOT GOING BACK TO NOTHINSVILLE!-Randy Lemon you open this door right now!
Where were we? Oh right, cardigan.
Looking fierce? If it was 2006!

The last look was accompanied by a male, as if she was Greta and he was Klaus.Your silver suit is all good and well, Male Model, but if you really want to become Julianne Moore's lover, YOU SHOULD BUY A LEATHER JACKET!!

Moving on to Armani-Was it inspired by the moon? Does chewing on a sponge trick your brain's hunger center? Yes, yes, a million times yes!

Last but not least, Givenchy. I would wear this lil' number to a bar called Homebutt:
And so wraps up my intellectual, sophisticated review of this couture season. When at shows, it's important to keep in mind that no matter how much you want to skip onto the runway and poke Freja Beha's poufy hair, you must contain yourself and take a picture instead. Kumiko taught me that.

hats

Suppose I should address this:Apparently this hat was very upsetting to some people!
I had no intentions of blocking the views of people behind me but it didn't block any views-I'm SHORT, so watching the show behind me would be like watching it through a regular-sized adult, but better, because adult heads do not have holes in them. Other than the stinky cheese man, from that one book, from like, second grade, or something. My dad was sitting next to the Grazia writer that tweeted this picture and said there shouldn't have been any problems in seeing the clothes, but I'm pretty sure she or he was joking, anyway?

The day before the show we went to the Dior atelier (which was, in a word, amazing, but that's all for another time) and spent a bit of time with Stephen Jones, who, being the incredibly friendly and charming mad hatter he is (his watch was SO Alice in Wonderland, kooky and distorted numbers and everything) was very kind as to give me this hat he had made as a sample for one of Dior's couture shows a couple years ago but ended up not being used. It only seemed appropriate to wear it to the Dior show.

Also, some people thought it was too show-offy, which..I mean, my philosophy for dressing is pretty much to go all out, and it seemed like the right time to do so. Complaints that it's "childish" or "obnoxious" are silly. Because to some other people, it would be a bad thing if I DIDN'T dress childishly! And that sums up the Haters thing altogether-it is impossible for EVERYONE to be pleased with EVERYTHING. If I wore leather and studs no one would complain, and I'm not sorry for bringing a bit of color into the room. Haters gonna hate, etc. But also, I am really curious as to when news websites will write about something interesting, i.e. not what someone wore to a fashion show. Really, the people that actually care will read about it on this here blog. Otherwise, it feels pretty pointless to me!

More photos and such laterrzzz.

fashion, basically. also, TEAM CONAN

This morning Tanya Gold published an article in The Guardian entitled "Why I Hate Fashion." SPOILER ALERT: it's about why she hates fashion. I suggest reading it before continuing reading this post, because then you get more of an idea of what this whole discussion is about. Also, I hope you're sitting down. Get cozy. Use the toilet real quick, so you don't have to get up and go in the middle.

I can't say I fully disagree with everything she said. I hate the size issue, I hate the commercialism, I hate 14-year-old models being told to lose weight so they can look sexy in a dress made for women twice their age. The problem, though, is how she is so general-ALL of it is uncreative and evil, apparently. But it's a broad subject. Criticizing parts of it (poorly, might I add) is understandable, but putting Yohji Yamamoto in the same category as a magazine about cellulite, dating tips, and makeup is not. Oh, and speaking of Yohji Yamamoto? He hates fashion, too. Oh, and speaking of makeup? Neither editors Katie Grand, editor of Love, or Anna Dello Russo, editor of Vogue Nippon, (you know, Vogue, the magazine Ms. Gold said she spits at and sometimes rips up) wear any.

I am sort of used to the occasional "Why would you waste your prodigal, wiz kid, Jay-Leno-would-probably-sit-you-on-his-lap-and-exclaim-'kids these days! They can use commas!'-type GENIUS (that's me, the genius!) on something as frivolous as fashion?" email. I am also, luckily and gratefully, used to the occasional "I don't like fashion at all and I have never taken an interest in it but I still love your blog and like what you're doing" email, as well. And while we are on the topic of Leno, COCO ALL THE WAY. Tonight was a sad night.

It's refreshing to me that those who can see that all the supposedly "fashion"-oriented magazines and reality TV shows are BS can still appreciate a fashion blog, and for that I'm very thankful. It's not, I don't think, a very difficult thing to do. But then there's the "fashion is stupid!" mindset. The people I know in real life that share this view hate it when clothes are just about being attractive -- then they scoff when I show them the work of any designer whose work is out of the ordinary or not focused on making its wearer look sexy. Tanya Gold, too, says that she "can look at the clothes on the catwalk now and laugh at their imbecility." So, you hate fashion that is soulless and you hate fashion that required of the designer thought and emotion. That's pretty cynical. Conan says don't be cynical. AND CONAN IS RIGHT.

You know, in the beginning of The September Issue, Anna Wintour says she thinks some people mock fashion because they are intimidated by it. And she's right. Yeah, it's snobby, but you know what? So is turning up your nose at a runway collection because you thinks it's weird and you just don't get it. This, in fact, makes the nose-turner-upper not too different from those horrible "fashion" magazines - dismissing something because it's strange. How very narrow-minded.

Ms. Gold speaks about how she discovered fashion at 13 and then dressed in a way she knew she was supposed to dress. "How I enchanted. How I belonged. I thought I looked just like the effortlessly beautiful girls at school. Except I didn't. And, very soon, I realised that I didn't. All that weekend job money and childish angst and still I looked like me. That was the first seduction – and the first betrayal." I don't believe Ms. Gold "discovered" fashion; she discovered middle school and teenagerdom. She said that before that, she dressed as Andy Pandy and was happier.

I find the idea of dressing as Andy Pandy pretty awesome. It's creative and it's fun, and that sounds fashionable to me. What Tanya Gold and many others, including myself, hate is the everyone-has-to-look-the-same-and-also-sexy philosophy, which is NOT fashion.

This is by no means written with the intentions of a personal attack on Ms. Gold, but rather, a kind of response to this idea that I see coming up often. I think that the problem with fashion isn't fashion, but how others decide to see it. The same "fashion" magazines that offer advice about pleasing men might decide that fashion isn't for overweight people, but it's Tanya Gold's fault for believing it, and if she really wanted to have fun with clothes she could. Same goes for the idea that clothes HAVE to make you look sexy. Not if you don't want to! Isn't that amazing!

I invite these folks to read a constructive runway review by Cathy Horyn, Robin Givhan, Suzy Menkes, Hilary Alexander, or Lynn Yaeger. Look at the works of Comme des Garcons, Rodarte, Issey Miyake, Alexander McQueen, or Vivienne Westwood, at the very least. Read a magazine that has not one word about plastic surgery or dieting, or at least, ignore those parts and appreciate the art (Lula, i-D, Russh, Dazed and Confused, Pop, Love, Vogue, Bazaar, W, to name a few). Be open-minded.

Her article was essentially pointless, and I guess my post is, as well. Tanya Gold will still hate fashion, my friends will still question the loyalty I have for it, and I'm pretty sure that most of the people that come to this blog and will see it come because they already know everything I just spent too much time saying, anyway. Still, I felt compelled to write it, for whatever reason, and will go to bed, my brain swirling with thoughts. I love discussing and thinking about fashion philosophy, and I wish the "it's supposed to make you look attractive" one would vanish.

Read: Personal attacks on Tanya Gold, be it about her writing abilities or physical appearance or age, are irrelevant, unnecessary, and will be deleted.

ugh some lyric with the word blue in it, i dunno i'm lazy right now

AHA! New camera hath arrived! Also I swear this is the last billionth post in a row about my hair being blue >.<
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I was told I look like an Oompa Loompa during lunch and it made my day increasingly better.

And pictures of pretty dyed hair from Lula Issue 6:
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COTTON CANDY HAIR FTW. Um, that's it for tonight, YER OLD MAN IS GRUMPY. Video editing software, school projects about the Lattimer Massacre, and technology all hate me right now, I think.

sacre blue

Unfortunately I am an idiot who dropped and broke the family's digital camera (NOOOOOOOO!), so this crappy webcam picture will have to do - it's rather inaccurate, though...way too green.
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Some notes:
-Looks KILLER with Proenza Schouler top from Spring 2010, cobalt colored socks showing through sandal heels, bright red tees, Slow and Steady Wins the Race sunglasses, and anything silver.
-Right now it kinda looks like a wig with the bangs down so until they grow a little longer (Proenza Pre-Fall lengths, perhaps?) I'm pinning em back. Kinda soccer mom-ish, only a soccer mom that is a smurf, an anime character, and not the one you want to carpool with because she may be housing rats the glove compartment.
-REALLY fun to coordinate outfits around.
-I'm also, apparently, farting? Or constipated? In the picture above? Yeah, who knows.

Here is a pretty accurate representation of the shade...
blue hair on the ground
And also the picture that caused me to break my camera :(

I'll need to take a better picture somehow but really, I'm so happy with the way it turned out! I get the best of both blues too, because right now it's bit more vivid and then it will fade to the frosty, icy shade in about a month. No regrets, which is definitely a good thing when you dye your hair, I think.

Oh, school report time!:
Why'd you dye your hair? BECAUSE I HATE BLUE HAIR.
Did you know your hair is blue? WHAT?! IT IS??! NOBODY INFORMED ME OF THIS!
Well aren't you a little badass/rebel! FIND A BETTER LOCATION THAN THE LIBRARY TO TELL ME THIS.
Sadly no funny analogies today! Come ON kids, put your brains to work and deliver the goods next time! Luckily this stuff will be in for a couple months so get your brains to work.

Oh and until the new camera comes (ugh) here is an old outfit I for some reason never posted (also, WHOA, blonde hair):
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Yeah bad picture but you get what the outfit looked like. The print on this dress from the Rodarte for Target collection reminded me a LOT of Edward Gorey illustrations:IMG_5058
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And the dress especially reminds me of the coat of the woman in the illustration below:
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"On the shore, a bat, or possibly an umbrella, disengaged itself from the shrubbery, causing those nearby to recollect the miseries of childhood." God, don't you wish you were someone who walked around reciting stuff like this? And it just came from your own head, like you weren't actually RECITING it from somewhere else? Me too, but my lips only flap on about how badly I need every piece from Miu Miu spring and how great the James Franco episode of 30 Rock was. BUT BACK TO THE OUTFIT, I am supposed to tell you because of that new law that I received compensation and pieces from the Rodarte for Target collection for my collaboration with Target.
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Just wanted to be mysterious/creepy like Gorey and wear a leather coat and this hat that Belle gave me (love love love)
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So that's that. Excited about my hair.

let's do this.

Today I am visiting Sheba and pals and going BLUE. No reason other than that I'm bored and I just like how it looks? And it will prompt me for some very amusing analogies from the mouths of my classmates? Also, it would change all of my clothes, because with each outfit I'd have to find a way to match it with blue hair, and I think it's a good way to force myself out of this lazy style rut I've been in for a while.

I think we're going for a frosty blue, a la this editorial in the new Dazed & Confused (which, ef why eye, is GLORIOUS. Courtney. is GLORIOUS.)I think with this color it can be soft/cottoncandy-y or robotic/intense whenever I want. Surprisingly versatile in that way, no? Also, model chick with the hair needs to CALM DOWN. STOP jumping. I'm TIRED.

If the frost is too difficult, I will go straight up BLUE a la Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind:

Other reference points, aka people that make colored hair look cool, aka people I wish I was:Katie Shillingford by Tommy Ton.Proenza Schouler SS10.Enid Coleslaw. "It's not like I'm some modern punk, asshole. This is CLEARLY a 1977 ORIGINAL."

On another note, I rarely write about having been featured in some type of publication here mainly because...I don't really know actually, I think that most of the articles I have seen are more or less the same? And I feel weird being like "Look! A newspaper!" However, I was really excited to be in the new issue of Mykromag, and in such good company, too! (Lara Stone as a nun? In illustration form? Yes.) It's one of my favorite online publications and Jean-Paul Paula and Sonny Groo are personal style iconszszs of mine..and in the article I talk about my dad's nerdy dancing (which is honestly pretty close to mine.) Read it here if you're interested! And hope that my hair doesn't mutate and become a lamb-human when I try to dye it!

you're standing on my neck

This week was, in every positive way possible, 90'S WEEK. All this came in the mail and I am a lucky lucky girl:
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Kim Gordon twice in one photo! It must be magic!

Manic Panic from Anna, with whom I tried to create a Sassy-for-the-00's (or I guess, 10's, now?!) this summer. It failed, I'm lazy and she's busy. Also, I might finally be going blue this weekend. Frosty blue, though, I think..that way it can be soft/light and futuristic/intense whenever I want it to be. Meh heh heh!

Girl Power is by Marisa Meltzer, co-author of How Sassy Changed my Life and author of The Greatest Tumblr Ever. I'm only on one of the Roman numeral pages at the moment but tomorrow I fully intend to build a fort and eat cereal inside whilst reading up on how female musicians in the 90's changed music, definitions of feminism, and pop culture, and how it's led to the popular female artists today such as Taylor Swift. Can't wait.

Next, we have a Ghost World pin from Brandon, which was sent along with a Rei Kawakubo pin. Um, amazing?

NEXXXT is a scrapbook zine from Isabel, without a doubt one of the most thoughtful gifts I've ever received.. she collaged over a skateboard magazine with basically EVERYthing I like: lots of articles about Marc, Balenciaga, Cdg...pictures of CdG...pictures of lots of NINETIES stuff...pictures of Grace Coddington...pictures of Peggy Guggenheim and Isabella Blow and more awesome people. And so many of the pictures are ones I've cut out months ago, too. ONE MIND, man. ONE MIND.
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I spy Winona in Beetlejuice!
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Sidenote: Hayyyy Carey Mulligan, why not share the Galliano love? My address is 123 North TOTALLY JEALOUS OF YOU RIGHT NOW Blvd, kthnnnxxxx.
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Bindi stickies! Lower right hand corner! Gwen Stefani! NIIIINNEEETIIIIEEES!!!
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PS, Isabel totally should've been a teenager in the 90's. Also, why do all cool people live in Canada? Except Justin Bieber.

Free Kitten and 1997 SPIN "The Girl Issue" - SO GOOD. Both, along with clothes and a good luck charm, from Laia, my soul sister. I haven't gotten around to listening to Free Kitten yet, because conditions have to be PERFECT and I must be FOCUSED, but this issue of Spin is amazing. It has everything I love about the 90's (minus some CdG/Prada/Calvin Klein but WHATEVS WE'LL ALL DEAL IT ISN'T RELEVANT ANYWAY) and everything I love about being a girl.
First, we have CHLOE:
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Love you too bb.

Next, we have a couple pages of the main GIRL feature:IMG_4704
Daria! Frida!
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Bjork in McQueen by Nick Knight! Music I need in my life likenow! Joan Jett! Not Kristen Stewart! Ew! That movie! Looks bad! And the kiss! Between her and Dakota Fanning! Is a really cheap gimmick! Who said that! Not me! Scroll down!

And now some 90's lady fashn:
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The Fiona Apple pages are glorious too but my camera was dyin.

So that's that. All the more reason to build a time machine.