bluer than velvet was the night

I really hate wanting it to be school in the beginning of summer ("But Tavi, it's almost July!" "SHUT UP NO IT'S NOT I KNOW HOW TO READ AN iCALENDAR") but the suburban high school vibes in Autumn de Wilde's new video for Noah and the Whale are so good! Contrasty blue and red and white and cheerleaders and saddle shoes (Audrey Horne) and knee highs. I know you're supposed to hate high school but to me it's just what you make it and if I can pretend I'm in this or the Virgin Suicides or Freaks and Geeks or something I'LL TAKE IT. (Full disclosure: I have been graced with the good humor and friendliness of Autumn many a time, but if I didn't like the video, I wouldn't post it! So there.)

I picked up on some Blue Velvet vibes.

Then I got some other vibes.
Like Twin Peaks, only less green and brown, so really only the stuff that takes place in the school.
And the Virgin Suicides if it was a little colder, and this cell phone picture from Mobile Art.
SOURCES UNKNOWN! Who are these mystery witchy girls? Can I be their best friends? Would they hate me for posting their pictures on a fashion blog?
Edit: Mystery Witchy Girl #1 (on the left) has spoken! Her name is Heather Lynn and she conveniently linked me to a Facebook album of even more pictures of her as a child and teenager, because there is nothing unshadier than nurturing obsessions with strangers on the internet when they were children. Thank you, Heather Lynn!
Rinko Kawauchi.
Edie Campbell for Tank Magazine.
Chopped Cheerleader by Sarah Small.

And now, for a turn to pastels and ironic internet aesthetics, TEEN WITCH (you love it already) is a magazine started by Zain Curtis for teenagers I'm really excited about and want people to know about because it needs backers and I think it's a really important project. Mister Curtis's tumblr should tell you enough.


TEEN WITCH is a magazine that puts BOP and J-14 through a kaleidoscope, aiming to honor and give praise to the gay and trans youth underground scene. Essentially art-based, TEEN WITCH is inspired by sub-cultures, the Internet, Nickelodeon magazine and childhood nostalgia.

How exciting! If you pledge a little, not only will it be able to bloom and blossom like your favorite Disney stars struggling with coming to terms with their sexuality while in the public eye, but you may get yourself some treats named after said Disney stars! That was a sloppy sentence, so go look at the page for the chart of packages you'll get in exchange for whatever pledge and you'll understand. Go look at the page period! They've already reached their pledge goal but mo money can sometimes be helpful and nice. No matter what Biggie says.

let's do the time warp again and again please

The other night I went to my first midnight shadow performance of Rocky Horror Picture Show, which was also my first time ever seeing the movie (I don't know how I considered myself a human being before either), and I can say with confidence that I've never seen so many thigh highs in my life. Also, Tim Curry's legs! Why is he not on the cover of every women's magazine with tips on improving your stems ever?
I only started taking pictures at the end so sorry for spoilers but YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN IT BY NOW ANYWAY even if I hadn't til Saturday night.
Emotion!
Gusto!
Pizzaz!
It was a good fun time, with lots of elbow sex.
And lots of TP-ing of my friend who made the mistake of falling asleep. Then the assholes behind me who stole my prop bag and claimed they "found" it (IN MY HANDS, PERHAPS?) (ok I left it on my seat but still) had the nerve to photobomb this picture. Then I wrote about them on the internet and felt better about myself! Ha-ha!
Also, the photobombing thieves should have had to clean up after everyone, since they like those prop bags so much.
Also, my friends looked rad, and I was like, man, we could totally be a really stylin gang right about now.
Since I'd never seen it before I didn't try a costume, but everyone thought I was dressed up anyway. Like that time my school didn't let anyone wear Halloween costumes but I did anyway because I'm a rebel. and got away with it because everyone thought it was simply one of my outfits because I'm just so QUIRKY!
I went for creepy Virgin Mary/Virgin Suicides vibes because I'm //edgy and because I'm obsessed with this crown Petra gave me in a CROWN EXCHANGE, which I think should become a national event or traveling van or something:
Ain't it a beauty! My eyeliner is Urban Decay and everything else is thrifted. QUIRKY!
rebel.
~independent spirit~
*down 2 earth*

Speaking of cultural stereotypes used in teen magazines to tell girls which eyeshadow to wear, you know that thing I'm doing with Jane? If no, here. If yes, it is happening, I'm just not about to go gabbing about it all the time because then you get trapped in these ideas you said long before the bigger idea gets to become a reality and we don't want that. If "yes, I even submitted and wrote you a great email and sent some stuff I'd worked hard on," I would like to extend a long overdue thank you.

We (me, Jane, and one of our editors, so it doesn't sound all vague and creepy and like we're in some giant headquarters skyscraper somewhere) learned a lot going through those, and I feel extremely lucky we get to hear so directly from the audience what they want to see in this. I should've clarified from the beginning -- this was me expecting everyone to read my mind -- that the submission call was for regular contributors. So without sounding too much like I'm under the delusion that you're all waiting outside the door to our headquarters skyscraper with unbearable anticipation, whenever we want a different point of view on this thing or an artist to feature who does that thing, we still get to look into that plethora of 2000 emails. This also makes me feel very lucky.

Also, sorry it took so long. There were so many! Actually looking at them > saying no without thinking enough just to give a quick response. Also, man you all know how to write heartfelt letters. Is there a way I can be a penpal as like, a job?

Last thing I learned and feel lucky about -- we might end up with the coolest audience ever. Thank you again. It's incredibly life-affirming to know people care about this and want this to happen and want it to be good. We do too! I'm excited for you all to see.

And while we're on all this talk, I guest wrote something over at Jane's site, xoJane. OK, fine, I wrote all those paragraphs just now only so I could promote myself and link you to that post. You got me! It's like that time you got me for wanting to self-promote my foot. If you don't know what I'm talking about you should probably read the post I wrote before you can get in on the joke.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

Hi! I just got back from a trip with my dad to New York. It was enjoyable! We stayed here, and I got really angsty and "STOP IT GAWD YOU'RE EMBARRASSING ME IN FRONT OF ALL THESE PEOPLE WHO ARE OBVIOUSLY FLOATING FOUR STORIES UP IN THE SKY AROUND US" when my dad insisted on taking a touristy photo:
(I do a cat eye now, and my cardigan is Soft.)
Perhaps this would've been more acceptable somewhere blatantly meant to serve out-of-towners with a weakness for life-size Statue of Liberty snowglobes, but you're supposed to play it cool at the Chelsea! Stop freaking out about the fact that your radiator is pink! Don't take home those shampoo bottles to make into flower vases! Forget the a slight possibility you might encounter Patti Smith in the elevator! I would include a gif here of JamesFranco saying "be cool" to Lindsay in the episode of Freaks and Geeks where she helps him cheat on a test, but gifs are the mark of someone who spends too much time on the Internet, instead of outside being cool. I was even going to tell you that it is the fifth episode, on disc 2 of the DVD box set, and its official title is "Tests and Breasts," but admitting to such knowledge off the top of my head would also be uncool.

I'm obviously not embarrassed enough of that picture to not post it on the Internet though. Look! I'm at the Chelsea Hotel!!!!!

To redeem myself, here are pictures I took of myself alone in our room, without a parent to blame for their existence:
I was thinking of Twin Peaks for its colors and fall vibes and J.W. Anderson Spring 2011 for the pieced-togethered-ness.
Thrifted tee dress, American Apparel button down, random found gold brooch, patch from Poison Apple Studios, Laura Palmer pin from BookHouse Creations. That's Pennsylvania there on the patch, though I had to take what turned out to be an incorrect guess at the right way to rotate it since I'm not one of those people who can tell you the shape of Pennsylvania off the tops of their heads. (Also, Chelsea's internet was not helping. There's a reason no one ever wrote songs about the wifi at the Chelsea Hotel.) I can't tell you its significance, I kind of just decided it had some kind of witch trials connotation in a way that only makes sense in my head, but I have no intentions of finding out because googling "Pennsylvania" gets you a lot of stuff.
Also, I dyed my hair again! Or, Sheba did. There's something insincere about a false ginger but I'm okay with that.
I've been enjoying self decoration by way of stickers lately, and also rings. Jordan Catalano ring from Flamingo Cupcake Studios, vintage hologram Jesus/Mary ring, and gift from Meadham Kirchhoff.
Like a regular Ray McKigney.
Hand-me-down skirt, AA socks, shoes gift from Rachel Antonoff. (I'm a lucky person.)
P.S. These banana splits with Elizabeth and Laia were really amazing.