Raised By Wolves

under renovation

2010-09-21T16:03:00.003-04:00

i'm on chictopia only (chictopia.com/queenelizabeth) until further notice...

this is pretty much how I feel nowadays

2010-08-04T23:44:00.004-04:00

(at the 1:50 mark, otherwise this makes no sense)

See you at Thanksgiving break? who knows anymore...

smells like team spirit

2010-07-09T15:41:00.003-04:00

One of my favorite parts of being on a sports team in high school (you know, besides the obvious things like getting in shape and making friends and winning medals) was team spirit for races. Basically, we dress up according to some goofy theme the day before a race to show our support for the team, etc...and of course, I always went way overboard. If spirit was all black with warpaint, I added a tutu. This next outfit, from earlier this year, was for "all one color" (plus warpaint) - and it's probably my favorite team-spirit outfit, maybe even one of my favorite outfits ever.

Checklist: grey tailcoat, silver skater dress, grey tights, silver oxfords, silver chain headband, silver glitter on eyes and "warpaint" stripes.

And look what else ended up matching my outfit...

Two events, two shiny silver medals. Sure, gold is nice, but silver is nice too. I was happy.

THE END

ps. blogging is DIFFICULT! More 4th of July shenanigans this weekend, maybe? I'll try to squeeze it in between sleeping, making another cake and watching Tyra...

it's MAGIC!

2010-07-07T17:47:00.004-04:00

Hey, you know what, fashion is boring*. Let's talk about food:
*not really

Hungry yet? Keep reading...this photo is (oh snap...wait for it) JUST THE ICING ON THE CAKE.

ZING!

Now that I've got that out of my system, let's get started. (FYI - there's a more straightforward recipe at the bottom. Highly recommended.)

My friends and I had a picnic this Saturday, and since it was 4th of July weekend (an occasion I just made up) I decided to make a flag cake. But not just any flag cake...this had to be an insane, technicolor, fireworks-shooting mother of all flag cakes. I got home late on Friday and started planning and sketching right away, the final goal being a cake that had flags on the INSIDE - in other words, you cut it open and see a flag in the cross-section, on every slice. Confused? Because I just re-wrote that sentence 10 times and it still doesn't sound right...well anyways, here's my master plan.

OK, two plans, technically, the top one (7 layers) being more ambitious and awesome-looking, the bottom one (5 layers) for if I chickened out or worried about the method not working. Guess which one I chose?

(I chose the 7-layer one.)

So basically, it's like rainbow cake, except instead of random swirls of color, we want a specific pattern (the flag), which is made by arranging and piling up layers of red, white and blue batter in the pan - lots of three-dimensional thinking and design going on here. Since I wanted the flag to be "all cake", without frosting in between layers, I used a bundt pan (tube pan? whatever it's called) to make the cake as tall as possible.

Since photos of cake batter being made are pretty boring, let's fast-forward a bit...I divided the batter into thirds (if you look at the paper above, you can see all the math I did to figure that out) and then mixed in the food coloring. I'm pretty sure this stuff is older than me...awesome.

Mmmmm.

Red, white and blue cake batter...I ended up transferring them into Ziploc bags because I didn't feel like getting out the real pastry bags from the pantry. But piping from pastry bags (or Ziplocs, whichever) makes the next steps SO. MUCH. EASIER. Oh and - cut a small hole in the corner of the bag! Cake batter is a lot thinner that frosting and will pour out if the hole is too big - and you need to be really precise when you're putting it in the pan.

I followed the plan I laid out for the 7 layers, and...(this is VERY important) built the whole thing upside down. Because when you use a bundt pan, you flip over the cake when it's finished, and if you did this the right way up, you might get some people upset over upside-down flags.

Layer 1 (before and after adding the white stripes), 2, and 3. I forgot to take a photo of layer 4, but picture layer 2 without the white stripes and that's pretty much what it looks like.
The white stripe should have some height to it...this ends up becoming a "star" (OK, a white dot inside the blue part) when you cut the cake. It goes on top of the blue, not at the same level.

Layers 5, 6 and 7, and into the oven...I completely ran out of batter after 5 layers and made another 1/4 of the original recipe. It sort of slipped my mind that 2 remaining layers out of 7 > 1/4, and I almost ran out at the end. I'd recommend a smaller pan (mine was ~10 inches) or more cake batter.

I took the cake out of the oven, let it cool, took it out of the pan, flipped it over, and...yikes.
Green? Orange? I was worried this was going to look more like a tribute to the Irish flag...not that there's anything wrong with that. But see that little speck of blue where the crusty outside part of the cake came off...that's like a little glimmer of hope. I think the food coloring just does weird things in response to heat, so don't panic if the outside of the cake is butt ugly like this - the inside will still be beautiful.

And now, the best part...the frosting. You can see in the photos that it's slightly melted in some spots, because I didn't let the cake cool completely, and you can also see (below) that it's messy and thick and falling off the sides of the cake. I call this "rustic", and I choose to embrace it. Whether your cake is perfect and neat, or...not so much, is up to you.So then I took it to the picnic in this adorable little country-girl picnic basket...
and tried to keep it in the shade until it was time to eat...
and THEN...
Except my film camera wanted to focus on the shoulder in the background instead of the awesomeness up close, so here's a better view.

I was actually really happy (in a surprised way) by how it turned out - sort of psychedelic and swirly, rather than straightforward stripes. I think I like it better this way, actually.
Oh, wow...check out that cross-section. Check out those STARS...Seriously, guys? Every bite was like something out of Dr. Seuss - all swirly and stripey and magical.

And then we left it in the shade for a few hours and wandered around the park and drove home...and this is what it looked like.

Yikes...although I guess that's what you get for trying to serve buttercream in 90º weather. On the plus side, though, the frosting that melted off sort of got infused with blueberry...and I ate it alllll.
And this is what it looks like now:

Yup. Disappearing one piece at a time.

The final verdict? The cake itself was delicious, although a little dry and dense (more science-y reasons why that is, in a minute). The frosting was unbelievably good (as long as you keep it cool) and the berries on top were the perfect addition. I'm definitely making this again, probably in a different pattern (any requests? Other countries' flags?) and with more trial and error. I love cooking experiments.

4TH OF JULY SURPRISE CAKE: THE RECIPE

Makes one 9 or 10-inch (ish) tube pan, plus extra batter, maybe...I dunno

For the cake (adapted from a Joy of Cooking recipe - You can use your own recipe, or *gulp* a MIX if you like, as long as it's a white cake and not yellow. Because the flag does not have yellow stripes.)

3 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter
5 1/4 cups cake flour*
6 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
12 egg whites
Red and blue food coloring

*If you don't have cake flour, you can fake it! Put 2 tbsp of cornstarch in a 1-cup measure, and fill the rest with flour. Now you have a cup of cake flour.

Beat the sugar and butter together until light and creamy. (Science fact: the air bubbles in the fat are what make cakes light and airy, so if you don't beat the butter for long enough, the cake will be heavy and dense.) In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and salt. Add to the butter and sugar, alternating with the milk, 1/3 of each at a time (Does that make sense? So you add 1/3 of the dry ingredients, and then 1/3 of the milk, etc...) Beat after each addition, then mix in the vanilla. In a separate bowl (and make sure you clean the beaters first!), beat the egg whites until stiff, but not dry. My mom says adding a teeny bit of salt and/or cream of tartar helps here, so do that if you like. Just a tiny bit, though.

Now gently fold the egg whites into the other bowl, and there you have it...cake batter! You want to try and get through these steps as quickly as possible, because (more science!) once you combine the wet and dry ingredients, the chemical reaction that makes cakes rise in the oven starts happening. The longer you wait before putting the cake in the oven, the less it rises. And trust me, these layers take a loooong time.

The pattern for the cake layers - hopefully it's clear enough!

Divide the batter into 3 bowls and mix the colors into each one, then put each color of batter into a pastry bag or Ziploc with the corner cut off. Start piping the batter into a greased and floured tube pan, according to the pattern above. Each layer should be less that 1/2" thick (if you're doing 7 layers), or a bit more than 1/2" thick if you're doing 5 layers. Or just make your own pattern - get creative! (But make sure each section is thick enough that it doesn't disappear like some of the smaller stripes in my cake.)

Bake at 350º for...um...an hour, I think? Just check every so often to see if it's done, I dunno. When it's done (when a cake tester comes out clean), take it out, let it cool completely, and then put on...

THE FROSTING
(I used this recipe, but I'm re-printing it here)

5 tbsp flour
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup (2 sticks!) butter
1 cup sugar

Whisk the flour and milk together over medium/low heat until very thick, then remove from the heat, add the vanilla, and cool completely. Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, then add the cooled milk mixture. Whip until light and fluffy and delicious. Frost the cooled cake (this icing melts really easily!) - you'll probably have some left over, but you know what? You can put it in the fridge and eat it with your fingers later.

Put some berries on top if you like - I think it's cool to have a flag on top of the cake and one on the inside, but that's just me. Do your own thing!

And don't forget...Cake for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack and midnight snack. It's the right thing to do.

i want to go to there

2010-07-05T22:58:00.002-04:00

ETA: Sorry guys, I did it again - this monstrosity of a post is wayyy too long to read in one sitting. Whoops. Do yourself a favor, if you're in a hurry or have a short attention span, just scroll through and look at all the pretty pictures. Thanks.

okay, ETA after that - on second thought, I'm splitting this up into a few separate posts, coming up this week. Just trying to spare y'all the mile-long photo marathons.

July 4th is probably my favorite holiday, ever. Think about it: hot summer weather, burgers and hot dogs, you get to wear red, white and blue, FIREWORKS...it's like a perfect storm of awesomeness and summer fun. Plus, it's the one day of the year when I can profess to maybe sort of like this country of ours without being embarassed to say it. (And then I can eat a Rocket Pop afterwards.)
I'm not exactly patriotic, but I do have a soft spot for kitschy Americana and anything that could be called iconic or quintessentially American - bonus points if it involves my favorite color combination, ever. This post has been brewing in my head since February, but since I was too lazy to post it then, I figured now would be the perfect time...right? Anyways, here's what's been piling up in a folder on my desktop called "USA!"

This music video was what made me want to put this post together, way back when. I mean, you could go through this thing with a checklist. Band jackets, glitter, hot dogs, popcorn, pageant queens, cheerleaders, jocks, Marilyn Monroe- and Johnny-Cash-esque extras, a big ol' flag...and the CLOTHING. Gah. I need that sequined jacket in my life, stat.

Speaking of music videos...clearly, taking tons of fuzzy screenshots is becoming a habit of mine. But there's quite a bit of red-white-and-blue in the video for Telephone...

...and of course, a mind-boggling amount of product placement. Ain't that America...

This is where I was last 4th of July - seeing Jenny Lewis and Conor Oberst at Battery Park. She came out wrapped in an American flag and it all felt very country-ish and summery and American.

I made this linoleum print earlier this year...try and look at it with 3-D glasses. Trippy.

I think the iconography of the American map is really interesting. Left- wish I could remember where this came from, but it's pretty cool. Right- Drew this up last-minute and sent it in to Quoteskine for a contest...long story.

Cafe Society is a tiny and incredible vintage store that always has the best seasonal displays...I took these while walking by last week.

I love seeing local businesses get into the spirit of holidays - but "heck yeah", Trader Joe's? Really? Let me show you how it's done.

Aaaand I think that's a good place to stop, for now...
TO BE CONTINUED.

What I wore: Cap and gown edition

2010-07-02T15:46:00.002-04:00

Just a quick post before I run out to dinner, but guess what...I'm a graduate! As of 4-ish weeks ago, but you know, blogging delays and everything...
My school's colors are red and blue, so of course it was the perfect opportunity to wear my favorite color combo. Say it with me, everyone...red, white and blue!

They handed out plastic Wayfarers to everyone before the ceremony, but I wore my red heart-shaped ones instead because I just gotta be me.

I didn't manage to get a full-length shot, but here are the shoes I wore (the other pair belong to my awesome friend Sarah, above, not to be confused with the other awesome Sarah in my prom photo...aah)

Oh yeah, by the way...I made this dress! After recovering from the exhaustion of prom and after prom and all that nonsense. I got this printed silk at a little store in New York a year or two ago, and had multiple people comment on how timely the "oil rigs" were...and to think, I assumed they were power lines all along. Who knows...

Here's a better close-up of the dress, sans graduation robe. I really like being in the middle of a twin sandwich photo op...and like I said yesterday, I'd normally feel bad about posting photos of other people without asking first - but you know what? Everyone looks cute, so it's OK.

The dress is actually reversible, since one layer of fabric was kind of sheer - I basically just made two separate, identical dresses and attached them at the elastic waist. If I had the energy I'd make a tutorial, but...yeah. Also, I didn't feel like modeling it so I sort of stuck it on a hanger to take some detail shots...yup. Blogger extraordinaire, that's me.

promalama ding dong

2010-07-01T17:10:00.003-04:00

Wanna hear the story of how I almost didn't make it to my own prom? (Thought so.)
I decided to make my own dress a long time ago, partially because I wanted to be all cool like that and partially because Jo-Ann Fabrics does this contest where you make your own dress and the winner gets $50 grand for college - pretty cool stuff. I honestly don't know whether it's worth it to keep my fingers crossed (finalists get notified tomorrow, i think?), but we'll see...
ANYWAYS. Story time.

(See all those cat hairs stuck underneath the layers of tulle? They drove me CRAZY)

So I had this all laid out ahead of time, and drove to Jo-Ann (DROVE! As in, me behind the steering wheel and my dad in the passenger seat holding on for dear life) and wound up getting 14 yards of tulle because the store was about to close and I couldn't make up my mind and was just like OK I'LL TAKE ALL OF THIS. And then I went back home and spent the next month or two being busy at crew practice and writing my senior paper and enjoying the nice weather and generally forgetting about prom.

But then crew season ended and I realized I only had a week to sew my dress, which should have been plenty of time. Turns out, though, when you're pleating and hand-sewing layers of tulle with teeny tiny stitches for hours on end...it's not nearly enough time. Add that to the fact that I sort of slacked off that week, and maybe went to get a Vermonster one day and possibly went shopping twice that weekend...

The photo makes these look kinda distorted and short, but they're actually 5 inches tall!

The dramatic finale? Picture me freaking out and hyperventilating over a half-sewn dress at 5:30 the evening of prom when I was supposed to take pictures at a friend's house at 4:30 and had to be somewhere else at 6, and then picture my mom sewing the zipper for me while I sat on the floor and had a mini panic attack. Fast forward to a few minutes before 6, when I finally put the dress on and realized that it fit perfectly (by some miracle) except...it was WAY too short. In some misguided, panicked decision I had chopped off a good two or three inches of tulle from the bottom hem and it was just kind of inappropriate. So what do you do when your skirt is so short you can barely walk, let alone dance? Well, if you're classy like me, you run and get some gold sequin shorts to wear underneath, breathe a sigh of relief, and go to prom.

I feel weird about posting "actual" (ie. Facebook) prom photos on here...so here are a some (one awkwardly cropped) that I took with my disposable. We took a few photos in the swanky hotel bathroom (excuse me, "powder room") on the way out - you know the kind, with schmancy tiled floors and tons of mirrors...

Some clearer photos - I took these in my yard for the contest a week(ish) later, after re-sewing the skirt to a more decent length. Took about 100 photos trying to find the right lighting, camera angle, backdrop, etc...my face was soooo tired of smiling by the end.

And look what happened to my poor heel after walking around the yard...sadface.

Up next: I sat in a hot, sweaty gym in a polyester robe for 5 hours, wore a silly hat with a tassel, and they didn't even pronounce my name correctly! That's right...it's GRADUATION time!

while you were out

2010-06-30T12:08:00.007-04:00

So I woke up this morning and thought, "You know what I haven't done in a while? I haven't updated my blog." And then, since it was only 7:30, I fell asleep for another hour and dreamed about wormholes and time travel and Seinfeld and 7th grade dances and that Dish Network ad with the astronauts. But then I got out of bed for real and made a mango smoothie and sat myself down and made a resolution to start blogging again. Every day, for as long as possible. And since I literally have nothing to do until I start my job, I'll be blogging up a storm, and not like the other times when I say I will and then don't, but for real this time. Pinky swear.

Anyways, here is a giant pile of photos I've amassed by not blogging since November, more or less. This goes up to about June 1st, and tomorrow we'll tackle the important stuff like PROM and GRADUATION and OTHER EXCITING NEWS.
Additional sidenote - yes, there are lots of photos, and they are all tiny, so click to enlarge. And I'm pretty sure even Charles Barkley would say that the lighting in most of them is turrible. But it's the best I can do - so here, in vaguely chronological order, is what I wore.

Miscellaneous photos I took for photography class OVER A YEAR ago...kind of silly/camera-whore-y/lookbook-y, but whatevs. Plus I really want to make a gif out of those last 2 photos...and I wish I hadn't returned those white sunglasses.

Beautiful vintage gown that I found in the basement of a vintage/thrift store in Providence...I'm considering selling it or putting it on Chic Swap, because a) I would never have anywhere fancy enough to wear it, and b) I have a weird thing about high necklines - they just look odd on me. I think it's never been worn, though (apart from me swanning around the house in it for an hour or two) - it still had the original tags.

Took this with my crappy cellphone camera at a concert last summer. Kind of creepy, but I loved the dress she was wearing. Pleated, structured, one-shouldered seersucker goodness.

Halloween...this could have been so perfect but ended up being sort of awkward. So many issues with this costume...I thought this eyeshadow was white when in fact it was purple - I thought these tights were nude when in fact they were pink - and I thought this dress did a decent job of covering my ass when in fact it was just sort of obscene. (I've since given it to a much shorter friend, and it looks awesome on her - and I got some kickass clothing in return.)
But at least the shoes turned out cool...I just spray-painted my white oxfords silver after seeing this photo.

1. Friday (Oct. 30) was Twiggy - Saturday (actual Halloween) was Holly Golightly, or a sort of failed attempt, anyways. I tried to dye my hair brown with this terrible temporary liquid that did absolutely nothing...oh well, live and learn. also I KNOW the gloves are supposed to be black.
2. my default "it's cold and I'm tired" outfit
3. Thigh-high boots...still trying to figure out how to wear them.

Not much to say here...but let's see a close-up of those shoes:
Long story short, I wanted to order these in white but the last pair in the warehouse was a box with two left shoes in it...aargh. So I got tan ones, and am thinking of spray-painting them a different color. Thoughts?

Tried to paint my nails sort of "blackberry" color...ended up just looking black.

Then I tried to use a linoleum cutter to carve patterns in the nail polish...kinda worked, kinda didn't.

#2 is still one of my favorite outfits; #3 looked so much better in the fall with white socks and bare legs, but no photo of that, sadly.

Last days before winter break (red + green = Christmas, duh. Also it's really hard to wear green glitter and red lipstick without looking like a hooker clown.)

Glittery deer in headlights on New Year's Eve.

I've realized I can't really pull off leggings as pants, and these shiny ones are just kind of foolish. But #3 is another one of my favorite outfits, ever.

1. as far as food is concerned, peach + mustard = DO NOT WANT. It's pretty cool with clothes, though. And I think my skirt just rode up a lot in this photo because holy hell that is short.
2. I was going to wear this for the day but then my vegetarian friend called me up to hang out so I took the fur off.
3. predictable...

1. it turns out that wearing fur to school is a really good way to get people to argue with you
2. Wore this to a college interview...I think? Not sure if it worked
3. Last day before flying to Texas. Kind of hipstery, also kind of sleepy.

The Peabody Essex museum had an exhibit of Iris Apfel's badass collection of clothing, jewelry, and just generally amazing stuff...I only got a few photos before a guard told me to put the camera away, but still. Do you see that fluffy pink purse? That looks like Mongolian lamb had a baby with cotton candy. A GENIUS BABY.

Uncommon Objects in Austin is basically the coolest place on earth. If I ever get rich, I'm coming back here and decorating my new mansion with all sorts of crazy shit like taxidermied wolves and old typewriters and bronzed baby booties and antique eyeglasses and 50's telephones and tea sets and much much more. Seriously, it's so amazing here...sort of like an indoor flea/antiques market, but everything is arranged so beautifully by a decade or theme (the whole back area is sort of 60's-mod-Eames clocks-bright colored modern furniture). Go have a look.

These two (above) are from two different vintage stores in Austin? I think? Either way, pretty much amazing.

Gorgeous printed fabric at some lovely expensive boutique on South Congress Street - can't remember the name. It was nice though.

All frizzy and t-shirt-y from crew practice, so ignore that part, but...don't even try and tell me this isn't plain fucking awesome. I wish I was going to a Lady Gaga concert so I could wear this outside the house.

meh, kind of tired and only half trying, but hey, it looks alright

#1 is a little something I like to call "geek goddess", because my sense of humor never really evolved past puns. #2 permanently stretched out the neckline of this dress by wearing it as a skirt. #3 is all crooked because I sort of forgot how to use my tripod after 2 months of...not using my tripod.

Don't ask me why it was cold enough for two sweaters and warm enough for shorts. When my hair looks this good down, I tend to get distracted from everything else.

Yeah, yeah, enough photos of the damn romper. But hold on a minute and check this out...

I was pretty proud of myself.

Love this color combination, too bad whenever I wear these shoes without socks they give me fiery blisters from hell. They're probably just full of bad karma because I "borrowed" them from the school's costume loft.

If a potential hipster dresses up as a stereotypical hipster in order to make fun of hipsters, are they still a hipster?

this was a bad day for blisters...ended up walking around barefoot. I LOVE being barefoot.

more bathroom photos - the blazer (right) will be discussed in an upcoming post, but for now, I'll just point out how awesome it is.

I discovered the magic of disposable cameras...now I've moved on to my mom's 60s/70s Olympus and an 80's Canon Sure Shot that I got at a yard sale. Film's expensive, but worth it.

1. I'm shiny because I put on sunblock...TONS of sunblock.
2. wore this to go practice driving...don't I look excited...
3. I had an awkward number of photos and ran out and didn't have anything to put here, so here's a photo I took last summer to enter in a Teen Vogue outfit contest...never did end up submitting it. This is way back when my white oxfords were still white.

Last day of school? Maybe? I wish I had some close-ups because I wore a shit ton of rings and glitter. Afterwards I found glitter flakes all over the dress, my face, my notebooks...it never goes away.

And some random non-outfit photos...

left: one of my favorite photos from that photoshoot in the costume loft. I tried to throw the hat in the air and make it land on my head...
right: fun fact, my so-called "cat" is actually half cat, half elephant

took some dopey artsy glittery photos...

Someone lost a cupcake on the side of the road! So sad.

GLITTER...and gold. I'm not even sure what this stuff is, but it's amazing. It makes your skin look like gold leaf.

I did this about a week before February break (you can see it in some of the pre-Texas photos), soooo...a LONG time ago. But it's actually perfect timing to post it now - or did you forget what this Sunday is? That's right, grab your firearms and apple pie, because it's an all-American, red-white-and-blue July 4th extravaganza. See y'all tomorrow!

Understatement Of The Year

2010-04-18T17:48:00.007-04:00

Let me just preface this post by saying - jesus fucking shit, it's been a long time. I wrote this over April break (over 3 weeks ago) and somehow never got around to posting it because I'm a total spaz. But here it is, although some of the stuff in it is kind of outdated by this point. H&M has a 30-day return policy so I've already made my decision about that (see below), and I've also made my decision about college. First person to guess both correctly wins a $50 gift certificate to blogspot. (sorry, i stole that line from hipsterrunoff) Anyways...just keep reading, OK?

------------------------------------(post that i wrote a month ago)--------------------------------

Well, I'm back, and hopefully for good this time. College apps are done, school is basically done (1.5 months left, but no one cares), and it's finally nice outside. I have a new layout, a new header, and over 50 followers (I think Charmalade was the 50th - that happened a month or two ago and I meant to post something then.) I know, it's pretty small potatoes, but still. I might do something exciting when I get to 100. Video blog? Giveaway? WHO KNOWS???

Anyways...I have a huge mental backlog of posts that will appear here in the next week or two, but for now I'll keep it short. I went shopping a few weeks ago and got some bad ass sequin shorts at H&M. Which is awesome, except I couldn't decide between gold and navy blue. Help me out?

Do me a favor and don't look at these photos too closely, because I used a free knockoff of Photoshop and you can totally see the line where the photos come together.

Which one looks better with my red tennis sweater?

Which one looks better with a sailor sweater?

With a crop top? (note: I didn't realize until now how short I cut this shirt...yikes!)

With a plaid shirt that I stole from my dad?

With a leather jacket?

Captain jacket?

Circus ringmaster?

Trashy librarian (or maybe "nerdy showgirl" would be more accurate)?

Under an awkwardly short dress?

Plain vanilla?

And now, some gratuitous close-up photos of sequins for your viewing pleasure...

So who wins, blue or gold? You think it's bad that I'm outsourcing my decision-making process to a group of strangers on the internet, just wait until I tell you about colleges...

---------------------------------(end of post that i wrote a month ago)-----------------------------

Stay tuned this week, because I have no homework and there'll be blog posts a-plenty. Good times.

we can do it

2010-03-17T22:20:00.008-04:00

sometimes you just feel like punching something.

sometimes you try and pose like a badass.

sometimes you forget to wear green on St. Patrick's Day.

sometimes this song gets stuck in your head.

I guess this is kind of Minnie Mouse meets Rosie the Riveter meets a leather jacket? Or maybe I just wanted an excuse to flex my muscles, no big deal.

See?

OK, so this photo situation is getting a little awkward, because I really don't want to keep on doing these bathroom outfit photos, but the ones I take at home come out so much worse. Look:

vs.

(lots of photos, because choosing the right ones takes too much time. Didn't Mark Twain say something once about not having enough time to write a short letter? That's how I feel.)

How does that make any sense? Windowless bathroom vs. house full of natural light? Readers/bloggers, where and how do you take your photos? I'm stumped.

Not much more to say today, so I guess I'll let the pictures talk.

Bathroom acrobatics...I'm pretty sure I did something weird to my shoulder. Not really a smart move.

Oh and in regards to everyone who asked last time, this stall has a door so nobody can see me, but today it was empty for a while so I took photos in the main area. Pretty smooth, until some girl came in and was there for a really long time washing paint off her jacket or something (it's the arts building) and I had to pretend to put on lipstick and fix my hair until she left. I swear I'm not usually this awkward...

you should know i don't normally do this sort of thing

2010-03-14T16:30:00.005-04:00

No time to take photos at home before I left for school, so...bathroom photoshoot, again. This is sort of becoming a recurring theme here.

All I have to do is put the camera on top of the soap dispenser and pose away. There's actually better lighting here than in my house, which is kind of awful.

I feel like such an entry-level altbaguette* when I do this. The glasses (and the pose) probably don't help either. See here (NSFW): http://www.hipsterrunoff.com/tag/bathroom-hotties

*(after reading HRO for a while this has sort of slipped into my vocabulary. And sometimes I just want to write in that style forever.)

Do these "ironic" photos boost my personal blog brand?
Are handicapped stalls more relevant than normal ones?
Do yall think a non-alt has ever posed in a bathroom?
Do u know n e other places 2 take photos at skool? [via self timer]
What is ur fave alternative photography meme?

<3 u handicapped stall. see u next week.

easy rider

2010-03-07T20:20:00.010-05:00

Biker jacket + equestrian-ish pants = pun?

Sorry for the booty shot - but look, these boots have red soles! They're from urbanog.com, specialty retailer of all things tacky...no, I don't really know. They have a lot of really not classy shit, but also super cheap shoes and shameless designer knockoffs. Definitely worth a look.

One of the perks of straightening your hair every so often is being able to do this:

Oh and I tried out double-wing eyeliner after seeing this post and this video (from Toast With Charmalade and Michelle Phan, respectively). It gives this really cool cat-like look. Try it out!

The title of this post just sort of popped into my head...later I googled it and remembered that it's actually the name of this movie (embedding disabled by request...pfffft), which I've decided I need to see asap. (ps. don't you love how different 60's movie trailers are from current ones? so weird!)
The IMDB description alone pretty much convinced me. Dropping acid in a graveyard with hookers? I'm sold.

one flew west

2010-02-28T20:51:00.015-05:00

This all started when I picked up an antique syringe (sans needle, otherwise it would be a little too creepy) at Uncommon Objects in Austin and decided to use it as a pendant. Of course my mind went off on all sorts of weird tangents, the #1 being Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and the whole idea of hospitals, nurses, and crazy people* (the latter two more or less making up her character. Read the book if you haven't already, but basically she's a passive-aggressive, controlling psycho bitch who runs the mental ward of the Oregon State Hospital in 1962 and then Jack Nicholson shows up makes a ruckus and yeah?)
(Sorry english majors)

*heyyyo political incorrectness

So I started off with the syringe necklace and sort of geisha-ish lipstick (because she's described as sort of doll-like and pale, with big orange lips I think? THIS WAS JUNIOR YEAR I DON'T EVEN REMEMBER) and then this ended up being a sort of combination of mental patient and psycho nurse. I'm kind of proud of myself for figuring out how to do this headband where it looks enough like a bandage (slightly over one ear) that you get the idea, without people asking "ZOMG WHAT HAPPENED TO UR HEAD??!?1!!"

Fellow bloggers, do you ever notice that you pose differently depending on the outfit or idea? I sure do. Today I felt like I was either wearing a straitjacket or just plain crazy and needed to be restrained/backed into a corner. Wait, I shouldn't say that. That just sounds...yeah.

I thought this looked good with my coat but didn't realize it until I got to school. So...bathroom photoshoot time?

(you can only sort of see the partial lipstick here but I really liked how it looked in real life)

I really need to start writing down some of the things people say about certain accessories. A sample:
"Oh my god! That's so creepy! I can't even look at it!"
"I like your outfit...Wait, is that a syringe? Are you an evil nurse? You're evil!"
"Wanna play doctor?"
"Are you high?"

No, and no.

Now on to the interesting part of this post.

A few stills from the 1975 movie of the book. Honestly, I was kind of underwhelmed at first by Nurse Ratched's appearance, given that she's described as a literal monster in the text. If anything, I expected her to have scary exaggerated lips like these Alexander McQueen models (from a while ago, and RIP)...click here because if I put those pictures on here I will have nightmares.

(style.com)

A Louis Vuitton (Spring 2008) nurse and Richard Prince painting.

Emily Haines/Metric write songs that are relevant to this blog post.

meh...this music video scares me. Honestly I think the second song works better with this post, but the first lines of Monster Hospital have been stuck in my head all day. Monster Hospital...will you please release me?

Christopher Payne takes wonderful photos of (mostly abandoned) asylums. A sample:

(all photos from chrispaynephoto.com)

A lot (apparently) had built-in spaces like beauty salons and bowling alleys, which came off as especially macabre to me because of how "normal" they seem. You could look at these photos out of context and never know that psychotics or lunatics (or just misunderstood eccentrics) sat in those chairs.

These photos (from the LIFE photo archive) were taken in 1949 at a Worcester, MA hospital. There's a whole series that you can see here (ish).

And of course, a few pages from one of my favorite fashion editorials - this "Rehab" spread from Vogue Italia.

So this has been pretty morbid, but at least it was interesting, right? Honestly, I think there's something really fascinating and evocative about hospitals (especially abandoned ones, as above) and while some of this matter might be a little too creepy to wear around your neck on a daily basis, it's good to think about. Does writing this and gathering up these images give me some sort of weird medical obsession? I hope not, because it's too damn interesting to ignore.

What are you talking about, I've had these for ages

2010-02-24T20:13:00.006-05:00

Say hello to my new glasses!

Yeah, yeah, I know, geek glasses aren't exactly revolutionary or anything. I'd been contemplating getting them for awhile but always figured it was too late to jump on that bandwagon. But I spotted these in a vintage store in Austin and decided I don't really care if they're soooo 2007 or any of that nonsense. You know what? They look good. And that's enough for me.

"I didn't know you wore glasses!" - my english teacher
"Do those actually do anything?" - assorted classmates
"Can I try them on?" - everybody

Remember, way back in 2009, when I contemplated buying this leopard dress? Well, $44.99 is too much to pay for most things if you're a cheapass like me, so I decided not to even though I kind of secretly wanted it deep down. And voila, two months later, it shows up on the clearance rack in Texas for half the original price (well, give or take. Texas sales tax is a bitch.) So...guess who's getting their leopard on? THAT'S RIGHT.

Dude in my British Lit class says this necklace looks like puke... I think he may actually have a point. Maybe if you were King Midas and you ate too much tapioca? Help me out here.

-I loaned it to a friend for about 5 minutes, for the sake of an epic leopard photo op (say that five times fast)

Yeah, yeah, my pictures are blurry. Maybe it's an "artistic choice". Or really poor lighting, whichever.

And finally, an embarassing photo of yours truly practicing a leopard-appropriate growl. Until next time...
RAWWWWRRRRRR

if you liked it then you shoulda put a name tag on it

2010-02-11T20:00:00.011-05:00

I've done something very stupid.

Longtime readers/stalkers/myself may be familiar with my favorite leather jacket - I stumbled upon it in H&M right before Christmas in 2008 and more or less wore it constantly ever since then. That is, until a couple of weeks ago, when I STUPIDLY put it over the door of a stall while changing for crew practice and didn't bother to pick it up on my way out. One temper tantrum, two trips to the Lost and Found, and fifty "MISSING JACKET" flyers later, I've decided it's officially gone. So...sayonara, leather jacket. It's been a pretty sweet ride.

Here's the inaugural post...this is still one of my favorite outfits, ever. Ah, memories... Just looking back at all these pictures brings a tear to my eye.
No, not really. It just makes me wish I still dressed this cool.

For a while I had this idea that some random person at school had taken it, and that I would see them wearing it in the hallway and have a massive confrontation, teen-bitch movie style:

Me: Uh, hey, this is really random, but I really like your jacket...where's it from?
Some dumb freshman bitch: Uh...I forget, I think it's, like, vintage?
Me: Oh, that's cool. You know, I used to have a jacket just like that, but I lost it about a week ago.
SDFB: Uh...that sucks?
Me: Yeah, it does. It's just really weird because my jacket looked exactly like the one you're wearing. You know what would - No, never mind. You know what would be really funny?
SDFB: What?
Me: Wouldn't it just be hilarious if that was my jacket? If you were standing right here in front of me, wearing my jacket! Talk about irony! Man, that would just be - DID YOU STEAL MY JACKET?
SDFB: No! It's mine!
Me: I DON'T THINK SO BITCH

SDFB: ...
Me: [takes jacket and walks away]

Obviously, that never happened. But wouldn't it be cool?

Wherever I've gone (since December 2008), this jacket has gone too. It lived with me at Parsons for a month this summer and got way too much rotation considering the ridiculous weather. Concerts, sample sales, Gossip Girl sightings, getting lost in Soho - this jacket saw it all. It came with me to New Hampshire for a week of laziness, ice cream and awesome friends that I really ought to see more than once a year. I took it on every single weekend road trip and college visit - it would have traveled to Austin too (I leave tomorrow at ~7 AM) if it was still around. I've trick-or-treated, gone to concerts, cried at 500 Days of Summer, stuffed my stomach with fried chicken, hailed my first cab, fallen asleep on the New York-Boston bus, imitated Marlon Brando, tried to dye my hair, learned how to drive (not very well), worn sweatpants in public without looking like a douche, and ~~cheated shamelessly at~~ played a mean game of croquet - all within the comfy confines of my beloved biker jacket.

By some miracle, I won a replacement on Ebay with one second to go, so I guess I'm getting a second chance. It won't be the same, of course - it'll take a while to break in and work on some new sentimental memories - but it's better than nothing.

RIP leather jacket. We had some good times.

we made it

2009-12-20T17:12:00.015-05:00

and it was worth the wait.
and the snow.
and the money.

Now that I'm in lockdown mode this blog is reserved for special occasions, ie. my birthday, halloween (when I get around to posting those photos) and oh yeah RODARTE FOR TARGET! I'd been planning on driving there with a friend about a month in advance, until this cropped up last night:

ajsdfkl;ljklads;kl;dsfjklakls;dfafksdl;fdssdffsd

But as it turns out, the city's underground subways aren't affected by snowfall, and walking from the train stop to the mall in a quasi-blizzard is no big deal when a designer collaboration is at stake. So we bundled up our coats and borrowed our moms' snow boots and set out for an epic adventure.
I honestly had no idea what to expect - either the store would be full of Rodarte fanatics grabbing everything in sight, or it would be totally empty. We got there at around 8:30 and it looked like this:

Not a fanatic in sight. Our hands were probably the first non-Target-employed ones to touch those racks, so we got first pick of everything there. Apparently that wasn't the case elsewhere:
But that's New York, and this is a mall in a quasi-industrial wasteland on the outskirts of Boston, and one of the perks of suburbia is that nobody cool enough to care about Rodarte lives there. So even if we'd come at noon, it still probably would've been in stock.

But going to Target at 8 in the morning is fun. So there.

I tried on the leopard dress, which was cool but too itchy/small in the shoulders/not worth it, and ended up getting the blue sheer dress and black lace cardigan:

Better pictures coming soon, but for now...

God damn this is turning into a gigantic post. This is what I wore on Friday, thanks to the generous masterminds behind Chictopia's Chic Rewards and my speedy reward-grabbing reflexes. I won this dress (the black lace halter from the Rodarte for Target collection) on Monday, got it in the mail on Thursday, and wore it straight away.

oh hey there mulleavy sisters, you're a pretty cool pair

For some reason the lighting was really good that morning? Probably just because the sun was bouncing off the snow on the neighbors' roofs, or maybe because the clouds parted to let through a ray of sunlight on this glorious dress. No, it was probably the first one.

Awkward eyes-closed photos are awkward, but very necessary to show the amazingness of silver glitter eyeshadow. I plan on doing a proper post on makeup later (sidenote: psssh yeah right) but for now, I'll just say that this stuff is awesome.

And OH HAY AUDREY:

(from How To Steal A Million, 1966)
silver glitter + black lace = i think you get the picture.

In other news about shiny things, my bow is made of tinsel:

Christmas spirit! Next week I'll be in New Hampshire with lots of snow and pine trees and wood stoves and knit stockings hanging from the mantelpiece and other lovely things. And then I get to go home and rot in my pajamas for a week while wrapping up college apps...wonderful. But after that I get to be a second-semester senior...get to escape from my terrifying history class which has dwindled from 20 students to 10 after the teacher scared everyone away...get to practice yoga and tai chi and zen stuff in science...get to blow off a night's worth of work every once in a while and not really give a fuck. I'm looking forward to it a lot.

could never tell you what happened the day i turned...

2009-11-23T22:37:00.007-05:00

SEVENTEEEEEEEEEEN

click here to listen

(Marina & the Diamonds - Seventeen)

well, sometimes it just happens that I stumble across a song that's perfectly relevant and appropriate to the situation...like when I somehow found this song a day or two before my birthday. The lyrics don't pertain to me at all (in fact, the title of this post makes me seem much more badass than I actually am) except it's called Seventeen, and it (briefly) talks about turning seventeen, and I turned seventeen, so...yeah?
Mainly it's just a great song and she has a really powerful voice and this is an excuse for me to talk about music and listen to this song over and over.

November 20th this year fell on a Friday, granting me the holy grail of a "birthday weekend"...TWO days of special treatment for being a year older, TWO days of awesome food, TWO days of celebrating with friends, and TWO birthday outfits.

First off:

(Flash? No flash? Does it even matter?)

This is pretty much a formula for my ideal outfit: something badass and leather-jackety, something frilly and poofy, something shiny, red lipstick, wearing my hair down and having it actually look presentable, and red, white and blue. Oh yeah, I spray-painted my white oxfords silver. It was for Halloween - I'm sort of going in reverse chronological order here.

Didn't do a whole lot on Friday (mainly went home and fell asleep immediately, due to SEVERE lack of sleep the previous week.) Almost drowned (ok, not really) by falling asleep in the bathtub with my face barely above the water. I need to start managing my time better.

Saturday:

More shiny - it took me about 45 minutes to pin this halter dress into a strapless dress, and that's no exaggeration. My friends bought a tiara and made me wear it. Hey guys, I'm pretty sure that's for your Sweet 16. You're a year too late.

My SUPER DUPER AWESOME BEST FRIEND HANNAH (who wanted a shoutout, in case you couldn't tell) took the photo on the left* and we both thought it ended up kindasorta looking like a fashion photo. Too bad I'm incapable of opening my eyes in photos.

Well, that's not entirely true. I can also be a total creeper when the situation calls for it:

Aaaaaand I think that's a good place to stop.

ps. HAPPY 67TH BIRTHDAY JOE BIDEN (he shares my birthday)!

*incidentally, that cake in the foreground is german chocolate cake, the best ever. it was gone within 24 hours.

took me a month to break the news

2009-11-19T16:45:00.007-05:00

WOW. Sorry about that, you guys. College applications are really kicking my ass right now. The good news is I'm actually getting some work done, but the bad news is that I went back on my promise and disappeared from the internet for wayyyy too long. I'll be posting sporadically (I have photos from Halloween, miscellaneous outfits, and NEW SHOES to sort through) when I can find the time. Watch this space! (Actually, I really shouldn't say that, because everytime I say "Stay tuned!" or "Coming soon!" I flake out and leave for two weeks.)

Another thing, before I forget - a while ago the lovely idée_géniale tagged me with a Beautiful Blogger Award and I was going to repost this right away but then I didn't get around to it and I broke the chain and now a 7 year old dead girl is going to come to my room in the middle of the night and strangle me...if you believe that sort of thing.

But what I'm trying to say here is, the rules of the award are that you post it, list seven things about yourself, and nominate seven other bloggers. Since I'm super late on this I'm not going to tag anyone, and I'm too lazy to think of anything interesting to say, but thank you, idée_géniale! If you haven't seen her blog already, go have a look. Doesn't she remind you of Zooey Deschanel? No? Maybe that's just me.

Anyways, for your viewing pleasure, here are some photos of me and my SUPER AWESOME friends being silly and playing dress-up. None of these clothes are ours (except my flapper dress) but oh, how I wish...

PS. Tomorrow's my birthday! Bonus points if you know another special someone whose birthday is tomorrow...

my one dream in life is to see a live taping of the Maury show

2009-10-25T15:28:00.006-04:00

When I was sick last week, basically all I did was shop for shoes online, eat chicken soup on the couch, and watch trashy daytime TV. I'm better now, but I'm still kind of obsessed with those tacky, awful guilty-pleasure shows, especially Maury. Ever since my friend showed me this clip, I've spent way too much time on Youtube watching all sorts of crazy messed-up people reveal their inner secrets on the Maury Show (why anyone would want to do that is beyond me, but it makes things more interesting for the rest of us).

But there's something that you get from watching it on an actual TV that Youtube can't replace - the message after the ad break saying "Would you like to attend a live taping of the Maury Show in Stamford, Connecticut?" and then there's a website that you can go to and request FREE tickets.

OMG.

For some reason I never realized it was possible to get tickets (even though it makes total sense) and now it is TOTALLY going to happen. I told my friend who loves the show and she was like OMG GIRL. WE'RE GOING. and I am sooooo excited. Even though it won't be until April (once we both get into college). IT'S GONNA HAPPEN.

Soooo back to what this blog is actually supposed to be about...this is what I wore on Friday? I took all the fringes off the back of this dress (while watching aforementioned trashy TV) so now it's half-flapper, half-bodycon, 100% awesome. I know I'm wearing this jean jacket wayyy too much all of a sudden, but y'all will just have to deal with that because it is AWESOME.
(FYI I don't actually say y'all in real life, I'm from Massachusetts.)

Oh and I'm kindasorta taking a break from blogging for a week or two (except Halloween, because I can't not post my Twiggy costume) because the show I'm doing costumes for is going up in 2 weeks and it is getting craaaazy, and I need to work on that whole getting-into-college thing if I want to go see Maury in April. So...see ya then?

tag, you're it

2009-10-22T21:17:00.004-04:00

I found out about the site Wordle recently and decided to give it a go...it's actually pretty fun and a little addictive. I felt like doing some sort of experiment to see which words popped up the most. These 4 are (in order) comments on this dress, people's Facebook statuses, words on this blog, and words on This Is Why You're Fat. Good thing I made them a while ago, or the words "tacky" and "communist" would be totally dominating the 3rd one.

(this last one was really hard to format because the words fried, cheese and bacon came up way too often and so they're HUGE)

uh anyways, this is what I wore yesterday? Nothing much to write about it. I totally stole the socks-over-jeans idea from cocorosa circa last spring (see here) and ended up really liking it, partly because of how it covers up the huge gaping hole in the knee of these jeans that just keeps getting bigger and bigger. But I've had them since 8th grade, so maybe it's time to move on...

who wants a twig when you can have the whole tree?

2009-10-19T22:44:00.005-04:00

I DO I DO I DO

I've decided to dress up as Twiggy for Halloween this year! I'm really excited. It's not as creative as a flapper dress made out of videotape, but on the plus side, it's also not as time-consuming. I've actually gotten the comparison a lot before, which always surprises me a little - I guess it's mainly the way I wear my hair and lots of mascara. But I'm really looking forward to doing some crazy 60's eye makeup - I just need to find the perfect 60's dress to go with it.

Oh and title inspiration (at 0:28) =

mhmmmm girl.

ohmygodyouguys

2009-10-19T21:33:00.010-04:00

OK, so...

I still can't decide if these are a travesty or a gift from god. They're $37 knockoffs of those Alexander McQueen motorcycle-jacket ankle boots, the ones that Steve Madden did a knockoff of and got in big trouble for. (yes, those are five separate links, just because I can.)
(McQueen on the left, Madden on the right, in case you couldn't tell)

So basically these are a knockoff of a knockoff, and they're as cheap and shiny as you'd expect - but come on, for $37, that's kind of ridiculous. In a good way.

It's also really amusing to me that they're from gojane.com, a site I usually associated with shitty plastic jewelry that featured prominently in Seventeen editorials circa 2006. I'm honestly not surprised that the vast majority of their inventory doesn't seem to have changed since the year 2000:

(sorry about that)

But I was surprised to see that their shoe section has (in my opinion) a pretty good range of designer knockoffs and all sorts of super-cheap things. Sure, there's a decent range of tacky prom heels, but there's also stuff like this:

I wish I had a better memory for designer shoes so I could connect these knockoffs with the originals...I wanna say Stella McCartney on the left, Nicolas Kirkwood (?) on the right, and the middle ones look more like Urban Outfitters than anything else. There are no links to the product page because I'm planning on buying a few of these and I'm too paranoid that someone else will get there before me.

Actually, I'm either going to buy them from GoJane or urbanog.com, depending on which one is more reliable and cheaper overall (I've heard everything from "Their stuff is awesome and super cheap" to "They're a total scam and they steal your money!"). Their shoes are actually identical, and not even in a knockoff-y way, but in a "these came from the same factory" kind of way.

See?

Oh and I'm definitely buying a pair of these for myself...

Alexander Wang knockoffs much? These actually have a really gross filigree heart on the side, but I don't care - come hell or high water, I am going to make it work.
(by removing the tacky heart, not by rocking its tackiness)

So basically, if you've had any experience (good or bad) with either of these websites, let me know before I get ripped off. It's not that I mind wearing poorly made synthetic shoes (just the opposite, in fact), I'm just worried that they'll take my money and never send me anything in return. Which would be really sad.

aaaarrghh

2009-10-18T13:05:00.008-04:00

Apologies are in order for being such a lazy blogger. I've basically stayed in bed for the past 24 hours (with a few breaks) due to some unexplained illness that could be anything from the dreaded swine flu to just a bad cold. My activities for the past day: listening to Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, eating Werther's Originals, wallowing, and other things that start with the letter W.

Still can't decide if flash or no flash is better (or at least, which one is less bad). Can you say "seizure-inducing"? I know I can.
And this gif took me way too long to make...last time I used picasion.com but it seems to have disappeared. Anyone know a good gif-making site?

When I hit a creative block and can't think of anything interesting to wear, I go to Wikipedia and hit "random article" over and over until I find something that catches my eye. This time it was aurophilicity, a chemical term referring to the tendency of gold to attract gold. I don't actually have a lot of gold in my wardrobe, but I wore these boots (of course) with a decent amount of gold jewelry and a panning-for-gold-circa-1849 denim jacket (or at least I like to think so - after all, Levi's was founded during the gold rush, and I just associate beat-up denim with gold miners. see?)

I would've loved to pile on tons of gold chains a la Givenchy/Mr. T/Run DMC (whoaaa super rhymes) but...I don't have any gold chains.

I'm mixing silver and gold because I like to break the rules, and I'm wearing my Girl Scout ring (left pinky) upside down, ooh subversive...

Oh incidentally, I'm just as bad at ending blog posts as SNL is (sometimes) at ending skits. So...yeah.

Maybe he's just well-read...

2009-10-15T20:34:00.003-04:00

"...or maybe he's well-red."

(pssst if you look closely you can totally see the grease stain from where I spilled the best pasta ever and had to change during my lunch break)

This quote from Seinfeld always stuck in my head, and now I finally have a use for it (sort of) - turning it into an outfit that's pretty much an excuse to wear this super warm wool shirt. I never really wear red that much (except for lipstick), so now I have a reason to. In case you're not a rabid Seinfeld fan like I am, the gist of the quote goes something like this: Elaine's boyfried is a communist and reads the Daily Worker - she defends him by saying he's "just well-read", and then George chimes in with this witty little bit of wordplay.

It took me ages to find a video of the episode online, so I figured I might as well post a screenshot or two so I can feel productive.

Soooo this outfit is inspired by...communism? Well, not really (it's basically just the idea of wearing red), although I guess the buttoned-up shirt is kind of utilitarian and practical and suitable for the proletarian masses or something. Sorry if you're a communist and I just trivialized your entire ideology in that sentence - my bad.

(I just realized how ridiculous that paragraph sounds. This outfit is not inspired by communism. I just got the idea to wear red because of this episode.)

(I also use parentheses a lot, I've realized)

This is that awkward time of year when it's too dark in the mornings for non-flash photos to come out well, but not dark enough that the flash photos actually start to look good by comparison. So... some of each? The obligatory skirt-twirling photos come out better with the flash anyway.

curtain call

2009-10-13T18:08:00.003-04:00

So I kind of disappeared and went on a college road trip this (long) weekend...didn't really do anything too interesting, except for buying the new Lula in New York (my local Borders stupidly never has it in stock) and having an awesome Philly cheesesteak in (duh) Philadelphia.

I figured I might as well get some use out of this dress that I made and wore to semi last year. One of the perks of making your own dress is that you don't just wear it once and then ignore it forever - this one's casual enough (it's made of recycled sweatshirt material) that I can wear it to school. And as much as it made me look like a goth in a sea of satin at my school's dance, I'd much rather have this little beauty in my closet than something like this.

everything in moderation

2009-10-08T21:43:00.006-04:00

For once I don't have a whole lot to write. There's not a big elaborate inspiration behind this outfit - I just really like to wear red, white and blue. I was actually going to wear my navy blue blazer under this, but it made my shoulders even more massive and was just a bad look. You should've seen the shoulder pads in this white blazer before I took them out - they were probably 2 inches thick and made of that squishy foam stuff with another layer of padding around that.

...I'm suddenly reminded of that Taco Town skit on SNL - "...then we roll it up in a blueberry pancake, dip it in batter, and deep-fry it until it's golden brown!"

I could definitely do the hyper-layered, Taco Town version of this outfit - three blazers, maybe 2 T-shirts, thigh-high socks over tights/leggings, etc...(and then we wrap a fur coat around the outside!) but little things like not getting overheated and having football shoulders make that too unrealistic. Oh well.

The inital idea came from this photo, which I saw probably about 2 years ago and never really forgot about...the entire Alice in Wonderland-themed shoot is saved on my hard drive somewhere. It would be so amazing to pull off something this extreme - maybe when I have about twelve button-down shirts and a few hours to spare.

Five things that make me smile

2009-10-07T22:08:00.007-04:00

1. Lady Gaga wearing these Alexander Wang sunglasses on Saturday Night Live last Saturday night. Wow that was fast (her wearing them, not my subsequent reblogging of it.)

2. Random phrase generators that come up with vaguely dirty-sounding, surreal, or just plain silly combinations. Clicking the "next" button over and over is really addictive.

3. Pomplamoose Music's Youtube versions of Mrs. Robinson and La Vie En Rose - both are just lovely and have bonus funny bits at the end that made me laugh out loud.

4. Reading the reactions/speculations in yesterday's outfit post... keep 'em coming!
(I feel like this is the awkward one out of the 5 because it doesn't have a picture)

5. And finally...

A little while the lovely Erin of calivintage offered to interview me for her blog - of course I said yes, and the interview is now up. If you haven't already seen her blog, by all means, go take a look! Thanks again Erin :)

ps. there is someone else who deserves a shout-out but i'll get to that in another post. and I know she's reading this because she stalks me. just kidding. but actually, no, not kidding.

(no that was not supposed to make sense to anybody else)

Guess who?

2009-10-06T19:47:00.008-04:00

Today I'm doing something a little different. I could write a whole post about my inspiration, like I usually do - and today's inspiration is definitely deserving of a full-length post with tons of photos and the whole nine yards. But I feel like I'd just be ranting on and saying things that make sense to me, but not a whole lot of sense otherwise. The path from inspiration to the actual end product isn't always clear, and it's not like I can walk down the street with a paragraph taped to my shirt about what inspired me to wear whatever it is I'm wearing. It's easy for me to see how the starting point and the end point connect, but what I want to know is, does anyone else see it?

So instead of explaining my inspiration, I'm leaving it up to whoever reads this blog. Take a look at these photos and take a guess at what my inspiration was. There are no right or wrong answers - if you tell me I'm dressed up like a 1920's cabaret singer, you might need your vision checked, but it's as valid an answer as anything else. There's no prize for guessing correctly (sorry) but you'll probably feel really smart if you do.

I might reveal the answer tomorrow, or next week, or never... I've actually been wanting to write something about this mysterious book/music/movie/TV show/person/place/time/thing/abstract idea for a while, so I hope y'all are smart enough to guess it quickly. Good luck!

What will I do with you, pink and blue?

2009-10-05T19:00:00.008-04:00

Once again, the idea for this outfit came from a song... "Pink And Blue" by the Mountain Goats, click here to listen. (this was the only place I could find it online - it used to be on Youtube but I'm pretty sure it got deleted because of copyright stuff). I've only listened to a few of their songs but I really like how most of them have some sort of story (yeah, because writing music with a story behind it is so groundbreaking) - "Fall of the Star High School Running Back" is my favorite. Go have a listen.

So what I'm trying to say here is, this started out as a combination of pink and blue and turned into a crazy combination of intense layering, more pink than I've worn all year, and some bittersweet 80's/90's off-duty grunge ballerina with a thought in the back of her head along the lines of one of my favorite New Yorker cartoon captions, "I'd better get a hit country song out of growing up this way." Fucking Cartoonbank.com is under construction and all I could find was a teeny little thumbnail of the cartoon, but here it is:

When a song starts off by talking about the wind out of Oklahoma this morning, the denim jacket sitting in the back of my closet since freshman year has to work its way in somehow. Or at least that's the way my mind works.

"And what will I do with you, pink and blue, true gold...nine days old?"
(Literalism WIN)

ps. note the nails

this is what i do when i feel like i should be posting more often but i don't really have anything to say

2009-10-04T20:27:00.007-04:00

So I must've been writing about the 70's and shiny things in an email, because this popped up on my Gmail sidebar:

Of course I was intrigued and would rather check out some disco pants than write my history essay, so I clicked. And lo and behold...

YOWZA. This photo made me hyperventilate just a little bit when the page loaded. Forget the fact that (see below) they're essentially men's pants made from shiny material - this photo alone could cure cancer and bring about world peace. I've suddenly been reminded exactly why I love shiny things so much.

The next few photos? Not so much. Maybe if they made these in women's sizes, or even if they didn't and if only I had 100 clams to spare, but this goofy dude riding a skateboard in disco-ball slacks isn't really sweetening the deal. But I could see these being worn paper-bag-waist-style with super tall heels, or sort of slouchy and loose with that too-cool-for-you "I-don't-give-a-fuck" attitude, or something...with lots of hyphens in it...

ps. also really digging the unbridled ridiculousness of the USA! pants (their punctuation, not mine):

Never mind the fact that the rest of the site is all about pants you can bike in without getting killed because they have reflective strips, and made-in-San-Francisco practical clothing for active people (needless to say, not exactly my niche)...I'm all about finding inspiration in the most unlikely places.

(all photos from cordarounds.com)

angst angst angst angst angst

2009-10-02T21:09:00.008-04:00

La Roux is coming to Boston in October and I would sell my soul to see her perform. The fact that it's at the Paradise Rock Club (which my history teacher mentioned as one of the earliest 1950's rock n' roll clubs that's still around) certainly doesn't hurt. But it's an 18+ show, and unless I can defy the laws of space and time to age myself 2 years before October 27th, I'm out of luck. For now I'll just listen to her music on endless repeat and look through photos of her in concert so I can imagine I'm there...

(uh ok so she's clearly not in concert for these two but whatevs)

ps. she has a badass british accent and dresses really cool too

(image sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

I'm so dizzy, my head is spinnin'

2009-10-01T17:50:00.008-04:00

(flea market bow, vintage dress, thrifted shoes)

I highly recommend listening to this song, right now. Side effects may include spontaneous humming, head-bopping, toe-tapping, lip-syncing, and general goofiness. If I were you, though, I'd just play the song and open up something else in another window, rather than actually watching the video. This guy seems like a bit of a creeper and reminds me of Jack Nicholson, and I'm really not digging the sideburns. I think at one point I actually put my hand in front of the computer screen so I didn't have to look at them. But the sparkly balloons in the background are pretty epic, as is the laughably bad green-screening towards the end. Maybe worth watching just for that little gem of 60's-era technology (or lack thereof).

(While trying to find a video of this on Youtube, I also came across this bizarrely impressive mashup - totally not my type of thing at all, but it's pretty cool and surreal to listen to how the tune's been appropriated and put in a completely different context.)

So for today, my goal was to 1. dress up like one of the (probable) screaming teenage fans at a Tommy Roe concert (although this looks more 50's than 60's), and 2. to wear something poofy and twirly for the obligatory spinning photos. And some normal photos, of course, so you can actually see what I'm wearing while I stand still.

I was humming this song the other day and my dad recognized it - apparently it was a huge pop hit when he was growing up. I think he was pretty surprised that I would be listening to what was considered a sappy pop song back then, although now I just think of it as "60's music". Maybe that makes Tommy Roe sort of like the Jonas Brothers of the 60's...oops.
(Sidenote: to anyone who googled "jonas brothers" and found this blog, leave now. There is nothing here for you.)

I got onto this whole 60's-music kick courtesy of last.fm - I just click on the "60's" tag and it brings up a crazy mix of Janis Joplin, the Ronettes, Simon & Garfunkel, the Kinks, Petula Clark, Johnny Burnette, Jimi Hendrix, the Beach Boys and many many more. It's an amazing combination of out-there hippie music and sappy sweet pop harmonies, and I have to say, I love them both. I also think it's hilarious how literally all male singers in the 60's were exactly the same:

Eerie, right? Clearly, to make it as a pop singer in the 60's, you needed a clean-cut, all-American image; handsome good looks (with plenty of hair gel); and a name like Johnny, Bobby, Billy, Tommy, or Elvis.
Oh, and being able to sing, too. Although honestly, flashing a smile and making teenage girls swoon (a la Conrad Birdie) was probably more important.

Not that anything's changed since then.
(warning: do not click if someone is looking over your shoulder or you will never live it down.)

In the Navy

2009-09-30T20:03:00.007-04:00

(thrifted blazer, H&M dress and tights, Nine West shoes)

I really liked the gold nails and buttons together although the photo didn't come out as well as I'd pictured it - and there's a lovely close-up of my split ends. They'll be gone after tomorrow!

In keeping with the whole color palette (too bad the black shoes had to go and ruin it) I used this navy blue liquid eyeliner and put a tiny bit on my lips too, which might not have been such a great idea, but it made this cool blue tint that didn't show up in the photos but was cool nonetheless.

I'd planned out this outfit and post title (what can I say, I love a good pun) beforehand, but in a strange coincidence, I got a letter today from none other than the US Navy, saying that because of my "recent performance on a college entrance exam", I was - oh boy! - eligible for a scholarship from the Naval Reserve something something something - which is basically a roundabout way of them telling me to join the Navy.

Thanks...but no thanks.

"You still have to get where you're going."

2009-09-29T18:21:00.011-04:00

So, I wanted to put silver glitter on my nails after seeing this amazing silver tinsel trench coat at Burberry:

But then I could only find gold glitter even though I could've sworn we had silver lying around somewhere, and decided to go in a different sort of direction. The song Black and Gold has been stuck in my head since I went to see Fame on Saturday and it was playing in one of the scenes (sidenote: How ridiculous is it that I noticed that one of the characters was wearing these Wolford tights (that Susie Bubble blogged about a while ago) pretty much right away? Probably almost as ridiculous as the fact that I found that post by searching for "style bubble wolford curly wurly tops" on Google.)

ANYWAYS. With the words "black and gold, blaaaack and goooold, black and gold" playing in my head, I figured that gold glitter would make a fine substitute and added a gold headchain to go with it - and there you have it.

(diy headchain, chic rewards dress, Urban Outfitters sandals)

(black and gold, black and gold, black and gold)

This weekend I watched Mad Men with a few friends who had never seen it before, and so we started from the first episode because it's that type of show that you have to watch from the very beginning. I hadn't seen it in a while and forgot how much I enjoyed watching it - not only because of the costumes (EPIC) and all the other period details, but because of the dialogue and the way that the advertisers (especially Don Draper) come up with really fascinating ideas out of thin air. The first episode focused on marketing cigarettes to consumers after studies showed that they were dangerous, and Pete Campbell (one of my favorite characters) had this to say:

(couldn't get a screenshot, just this dopey "brooding actor" photo from google images)

"People get in their cars every day to go to work. And some of them die. Cars are dangerous, and there's nothing you can do about it You still have to get where you're going.
Cigarettes are exactly the same - so why don't we say, 'So what if cigarettes are dangerous? You're a man. The world is dangerous. Smoke your cigarette - you still have to get where you're going.'"

Amazing, right? (even though it was subsequently shot down by Don and the executives.) And it seemed pretty relevant because I came down with a nasty cold this weekend, and with one hurdle after another, I would've normally just worn jeans or something baggy and comfy in order to wallow in self-pity and eat chicken noodle soup. But instead I put gold glitter on my nails and dressed up Greek-goddess style, because cold be damned, I've still got to get where I'm going.

*Oh and...(way to ruin such a cool ending) for those of you who asked, I don't really use a recipe for the scallion pancakes, but they're pretty similar to something like this - except I don't use boiling water because I'm lazy and it doesn't make a difference. Yeah.

fend for yourself

2009-09-28T13:53:00.005-04:00

My lunch yesterday = chicken caesar salad and scallion pancakes, two of my favorite things to make and to eat. Nothing too fancy, but I wanted an excuse to post lots of pretty food pictures here. The scallion pancakes are ridiculously easy and delicious, although they made my house smell like a cheap Chinese restaurant. And I'm pretty sure that the healthy factor of salad is canceled out by all the greasiness... oh well.

(before & after)

Scallion pancakes must be eaten with soy sauce, no exceptions. This may sound gross but I've discovered that they're also really good with a little bit of cream cheese on top. Try it!

Tiny little pieces

2009-09-27T17:10:00.013-04:00

I've become a little bit obsessed with the macro setting on my new camera... these are just a few of the way too many photos I took while trying it out. The first bunch are yellow because they were taken at night (ie. because I was too impatient to wait for good lighting).

Too cool to be square

2009-09-26T16:21:00.011-04:00

...and yet too square to be cool.

I really like the combination of a cute little 60's dress and dorky awkwardness. For every 4-inch heel, there is a tube sock; for every cat-eye, there's a partially-straightened but still-frizzy hairstyle (a la Hermione Granger in the first Harry Potter movie, back when she was still a nerd).

I'm definitely going to straighten my hair more often - I bought my straightener in 8th grade, at Target, for $20, and never used it after that year. But I really like how long it makes my hair look - people were commenting on it all day long! (I guess it's because I wear my hair in a bun all the time, and nobody would ever know if my hair was above the shoulder or down to the floor.)

(I'm still experimenting with this whole side-braid thing. The first photo looks different because I accidentally left the flash on - I still like the way it looks, though, otherwise I wouldn't be posting it here.)

Speaking of things that people were commenting on...I brought this typewriter to school to use for a project in art class, and ended up carrying around most of the time. (It's inside the case in the above photos, if that wasn't clear.) During lunch and my free block, I sat in the hallway with my friends typing on it and generally goofing off, and probably the majority of people who walked by us stopped and did a double-take, asked where it was from*, said something along the lines of "That's so cool!", etc. I guess it's not really typical to be sitting in a school hallway with a 60's typewriter on your lap, but boy was it fun.

*the answer to this question - my dad got it at a yard sale for $20.

It types in red and black ink, which is super awesome and cool.

uh yeah, we're a pretty cool crowd.

The case reminded me of a little 60's suitcase - the idea of going off on a vacation with this cute little box (although completely impractical) is pretty charming.

Oh and...if you haven't already guessed by now, ~~you should be paying more attention~~ I got a new camera! The outfit photos came out kind of weird because I hadn't figured out how to change the exposure settings yet, but I had lots of fun playing around with it and basically ran around my room like a crazy person taking close-up photos of everything I could find. Some of them actually came out well, if you can believe it, so I'll be posting them later.

yayyyyyy consumerism!

Maybe this'll wake you up

2009-09-24T18:02:00.008-04:00

Awkward moment yesterday in history class - I was sort of nodding off and drifting in and out of consciousness (it was 8:30 in the morning, give me a break) and could sort of hear my teacher lecturing in the background, when all of a sudden I heard "...and now we're going to watch this video clip, and maybe that'll help Elizabeth wake up." I jolted awake to find half the class looking in my direction and whispered "Sorry" trying to sound as apologetic as possible.

I've learned my lesson, though - stay awake in class at all costs - which tends to be kind of difficult when Tim Gunn is on the Tonight Show (!!!) and you have to stay up to watch it and then start doing homework at 1 and only get 4 hours' sleep as a result. Oh the perils of my life.

It's been a while since the last time this tutu got an airing...I figured I might as well inject a little more crazy into my daily routine. And notice the braid? Inspired by Alexander Wang, obviously. Just doing my best to jump on the bandwagon...

(style.com)

Oh and I made a little something to go with it. It's always been my opinion that everything in the world can be expressed in the form of a graph. Hence:

Hey, just being realistic here.

I straightened my hair before braiding it and took it out when I got home, resulting in sort of beachy mermaid-ish waves. I'm not at all used to seeing my hair this long and now I'm kind of dreading getting it cut. Bloggers like Fashion Chalet or inside am-lul's closet have always made me envious of their super long, straight hair, but this is a pretty close substitute (and it's about as close as I'll get.)

There was something else I was going to write here but I forgot it - don't you hate it when that happens? This is probably a sign that I need to get some sleep. Like, right now.

a nervous tic motion of the head to the left right

2009-09-23T20:35:00.010-04:00

For some reason I've always wanted to reference that song in a blog post...I think Andrew Bird lyrics tend to make for good titles in the first place. But in this case it's actually appropriate because I've gotten into the bad habit of turning away from the camera for photos (to the right, not the left, but that's a minor detail.) So I should probably either correct that nervous tic motion or learn a new goddamn pose.
This photo came out looking kind of strange, but I like it - even though I suspect editing your photos like this is the sort of "omg s000 zany~" cliche that would end up on Hipster Runoff. Who cares, I think it looks pretty cool.

I sometimes like to think up a story to go with an outfit, as corny as that sounds. This whole black-lipstick thing was the starting point for me today. I love the idea of a clean-cut, all-American girl from the suburbs circa 1970 (sort of like how Gloria from All In The Family dressed) who somehow gets sucked into the London punk scene. Old habits die hard, and the high-waisted pants and ponytail are staying (for now), but the very least she can do is smear on some black lipstick. Yes, I know it barely shows up in these photos, and I would love to elaborate on it more than I did today, but it's the idea that counts - clean-cut "mainstream" style with just a hint of subversiveness.

While I was trying to find photos of 70's high-waisted pants (and this type of girl wearing them), I came across this 1970's group on Flickr and fell in love with a bunch of the photos. There's just something so special about people's everyday photos, family photos, people just hanging out and having fun - it's really fascinating to see little snippets of strangers' lives from that time. My mom actually has some of her own 70's photos, including some she took (she did a lot of photography in high school) - maybe she'll let me scan them soon.

(Click each photo to see the original page - lots of these have interesting stories behind them.)

Incidentally, there's another really lovely photo in that group that the computer won't let me link to here (copyright issues, I guess), but you should really go see it - click here.

miss robot

2009-09-22T19:32:00.006-04:00

Spot the difference!

(thrifted t-shirt and pleated silver skirt, wet seal skirt (underneath), topshop leggings, bcbgirls wedges, secondhand suspenders)
(oh and my little brother's badass sunglasses from back when he played little league baseball)

I can't decide whether I like this better with or without the aforementioned badass shades...although they definitely add to the robotic look.

Yesterday in English class, we got a new student teacher. She introduced herself as "Ms. Robbat", pronounced like robot. So any other ideas I had for today's outfit went out the window and I dressed up like a robot instead. Funny how inspiration can hit you at the weirdest times.

Oh yes I did. How could I resist the temptation to make an animated gif of me doing the robot? I'm kind of bummed that it's only 4 frames though, because I can actually do it pretty well in real life (if I do say so myself) and this doesn't show it at all.
All of a sudden I'm reminded of the now-defunct blog Fashion Robot - anyone else remember it? It was one of my favorites and she did her fair share of robot poses too.

I'm really starting to love this new shade of lipstick. It's hard to see the actual color in these photos, but it's a really dark reddish-purple color, almost like a black tint. My next purchase might be black or blue lipstick/gloss, if I can find it for cheap. I think it would be so cool to wear super dark lips with a completely sweet and un-goth outfit. Maybe tomorrow...

a case of the mondays

2009-09-21T22:32:00.007-04:00

(vintage coat, urban outfitters top, f21 jeans, thrifted boots)

So I was too lazy to clean up all the colored pencils and crap from the drawing project I was working on last night in order to ~~get into art school~~ develop my creativity as an artist, and now I have a beautiful colored pencil rainbow on my floor. Which actually worked out kind of nicely as I'm wearing all black today and could've used a bit of color to brighten up.

*the only pose I know is the one with averted eyes*

It's blatantly way too hot out for a fur coat (well, technically it's Persian lamb, which I'm pretty sure counts as fur), but I was getting kind of impatient anyway - plus I figured it would look best with all black, and I barely ever wear all black. It's vintage, warm and cozy, $15 from Goodwill, looks like something my fabulous grandma would wear, and doesn't even smell bad. Epic win? I think so. PETA can go suck a nut.

more detail photos. Old clothing labels make my heart sing.

that's all, folks!

there's no "reverse monet" on urbandictionary

2009-09-21T19:01:00.006-04:00

But there should be. And here's why.

I love Rodarte. It's one of my favorite labels, I think the Mulleavy sisters are fucking awesome, I'm always blown away by how cinematic and out-there their shows are. So I was expecting to love their new collection when I saw it online.

(click to enlarge; all photos from style.com)

And yes, there were a lot of pieces I liked, but my initial reaction to the show was a big ol' "meh". There was just something about the colors or the shapes or the overall look that didn't grab my attention as much as previous seasons, and while I got that it wasn't supposed to be "conventionally pretty" by any means, it didn't really click with me at first.

But then...but then...I clicked over to the "Details" tab.

WOW.

(for the love of god, click to enlarge)

There's just something so intricate and beautiful about all the details here that don't translate at all to a zoomed-out image on a computer screen. I literally didn't even notice some of the work going on here - the clusters of sequins scattered on top of the fabrics, the embossed texture on the leather, the torn-up lace behind the layers of plaid...it's a shame that they're so hard to see in the full-body shot, although I guess it's kind of intentional that the most interesting part of the clothing isn't blatantly obvious. There's so much going on here - plaid, leather, lace, sheer fabric, disintegrating spiderweb knits, sequins and jewels, prints and tie-dyes, fabric that's been burned or torn - but rather than shoving it all in your face, the Mulleavy sisters have woven them together in a way that takes a keen eye to appreciate.

So that's why I'm coining the term "reverse Monet" - the opposite of something that's good from afar, but far from good. Uh, yeah, I'm sure that'll catch on real fast.

A few more:

THE SHOES. I loved how the cutouts in these echoed the Sharpie "tattoos" on the models' arms, and the metal plating looks like the work of a mad scientist. This whole photo looks like a scene from an alien world, complete with fog and eerie lighting.

I think Rayna Mordanova is absolutely beautiful, mainly because of how unconventional she looks (bowl cuts ftw? except those aren't really so "unconventional" anymore). I'm a little worried about how her dress is styaing up here, but she can get away with anything in my book. And I've mentioned this before, but the blackish-purple lips are weird and wonderful and I'll be trying them out soon.

OK, one more.
BLUE STEEL!!! Oh Sasha P., you crack me up.

Fireworks

2009-09-18T19:24:00.027-04:00

(thrifted blazer, vintage crinoline, thrifted shoes)

I guess it's good to start off with a bang. I'm still trying to figure out the technical parts of blogging (the layout is pretty sparse right now, and it took me ages to figure out the formatting for this post) but I'm glad that this is the first impression I get to make - poofy, frilly, and red, white and blue. If I had to answer one of those inane survey questions along the lines of "If you could only wear one thing for the rest of your life...", it would probably be something like this.

($1 shorts from the Dollar-A-Pound here. God I love that place.)

It took me a couple tries to get it right, but I ended up doing a sort of cat-eye look with blue liquid eyeliner (click the pictures to zoom in; sorry about the crappy quality.) After wearing the same makeup every day for 3+ years (plenty of black mascara, and occasionally lipstick) it feels good to branch out a little. I just went to CVS to get black liquid liner (ok...and a giant bag of candy corn), and because there was a buy-one-get-one deal on Revlon, I ended up getting a purple-ish lipstick (called "Blackberry") so I can attempt something like this: (Rodarte on the left, Vena Cava on the right)

(although I have to say that Vena Cava photo is kind of creeping me out. Whose hand is that???)

The one I got was sort of a mix between these two looks - very dark and dramatic. There's something about the Rodarte version (more on that collection soon) that I especially liked, the way it's super dark around the edges. It's almost like the look of being in cold water for too long and having your lips turn blue. Any product that could replicate that look would be in my possession straight away.

Hello

2009-09-17T22:43:00.005-04:00

*movie reference, anyone?

Well. I should probably introduce myself.
My name's Elizabeth, I like fashion. This is a blog about fashion. I also like food (a lot), so maybe I'll blog about that too. Who knows. It's all sort of up in the air right now.

If you want to see what I've been wearing for the past year you can click here
And if you want to see what I'll wear tomorrow you can stay tuned.