A New Site!

I love finding quality fashion sites and blogs. My newest find is WhoWhatWearDaily, aka WWWD. It reads more like a print mag than a blog, and the photochopped illustrations that come with each blurb are dynamite. I love being able to quickly take in a new fashion development. I also looove the punny name.

So What's the Point?

I bought Fashion Babylon a month or two ago with my Christmas bonus from work--I never thought that it would be in my local Barnes&Noble, but there it was. It's a rather quick read (I finished it in less than a weekend), but it was both entertaining and informative.

The most important thing I learned actually didn't hit me until last night when I was looking through it again: Fashion is mostly a sham. Everything is fly-by-the-seat-of-the-pants. Shows are concocted at the last minute, sometimes without much thought; inspriation is stolen from different places; designers blatantly rip eachother off. I think that's what hit me the most. Designer X can pick up a vintage YSL dress at some market, and send it down the runway, claiming it's theirs.

What's the point, then? What's the point of keeping up with the lastest trends, and buying the new "It" bag or the latest Balenciaga shoes? Fashion is one big wankfest--occasionally new materials are forged, but the rest is just recycled. Only the stupid people are blind enough to get sucked in to the frenzy of buying this season's trends. Oh, certainly there are some pieces which are just plain amazing, and of course those are going to be snatched up, but the rest of it, the "pink is the new orange," that's not even worth paying attention to.

All the really stylish people follow their own drummer anyway.

and now for something completely different.

It's time that I stop pretending that I know anything about fashion at all. I mean, I know a lot about current trends and such, but I'm certainly no authority. Therefore, I'm taking this blog in a new direction. It will chronicle my pursuit of a good wardrobe and an actual style.

Now, off to exploring the fashion world. And writing a paper for class...whoopee.

Fashion + Food

I'm sitting on my couch, eating a carbolicious toasty bagel with salmon cream cheese, and watching Iron Chef, thinking about fashion. The combination is a bit odd; after all, it's a giant sterotype that anyone in the fashion industry eats nothing but...what? celery and crack?

Despite this, there is a happy union between the two: Padma Lakshmi, host of Bravo's Top Chef. She's a model, an actress, a gourmand. And she's gorgeous.









Seriously, how could you go wrong with Sean Bean as an accessory? I just hope more of the fashion industry follows her lead, and embraces food. Food can be incredibly stylish and sexy. Food is the fashion of the future.

...Maybe not. Oh, and the secret ingredient is Beet.

looks for spring

If you want to look awesome for Spring, just buy everything over at American Apparel! (I'm not sure whether I'm being sarcastic or not....)




I think the leggings have started to grow on me, provided that they're not paired with a denim mini and Uggs.


It's nerdy, yet chic. I would have never thought to use brown shoes with the blue and green.


This is my absolute favorite. It's so ballet chic, and that skirt is amazing.

as if uggs weren't enough

OMG I can't believe I actually saw these. They're absolutely disgusting.

o rly

This is one trend that was better as a necklace. Seriously.


Forever21.com

since everybody's doing it.

OMG IT LOOKS NOTHING LIKE L.LO!! WHATEVER ARE WE TO DO?!?!

so, two months later

Apparently a blog other than my livejournal may have not been a good idea. I'm not going to make any promises, but I'll definitely try to update this one more. I've discovered that even though I can't wear every look (skinny jeans and size 12 hips don't mix very well), I can fangirl about them. And perhaps one day I'll whittle my way down a bit.

Back to the fashion. I know this is hella late, and that the Proenza Schouler line at Target was announced months ago, and I've already looked at the promo photos, but February 4 is getting closer. I've been remembering what it is I really liked about the collection.


That yellow skinny belt is amazing.


Layering is love. I haven't been able to pull of the Mary-Kate Olson-style layering yet, but this simple kind is just delightful.


And the colors! Oh, the colors. I'm so glad that big, bold colors are being tossed around now. (Photos from the Jane blog.)

Basically, for Spring I want a yellow skinny belt and my old figure back. Hah.

well, i bought new shoes

That's pretty much the only excuse I have for not posting, besides work and school and friends. In my absence, I decided that I rather miss this, so I'm going to try to post on a more regular schedule now.

But back to the shoes. I finally caved and bought a pair of Louboutin ripoffs from Target. I might have been tempted to buy a real pair, if only I had a real job and a larger bank account. But after I paraded them around my apartment, I started thinking. These shoes will be worn to death in about a month. For one, there's at least one celebrity wearing a pair at any given moment. Also, at Target, the red pairs were waiting for rainchecks, so that means that tons of girls around here have them as well. So basically, I bought a pair of shoes that everybody has, that will probably fall apart in less than a year of heavy use.

I like them so much I'm tempted to keep them around for a long time, like so long that my future kids will be poking around in the back of my closet and ask to use them for dress-up. My concern is that in the next 5ish years, they'll be incredibly dated and cliche.

I'll probably wear them anyway.

Madder for Plaid, er...

I have never liked plaid. Ever since I was a little kid, plaid has reminded me of lumberjacks and nasty fashion, pajamas and prairie dresses. I did wear a plaid skirt in 10th grade for a while, and plaid flannel shirt (bright pink and purple!) back when grunge was popular, although I didn't know it at the time.

As I began researching for FW06, I noticed a trend...PLAID. Oh noes! But this time around, it didn't seem so bad. In fact, Alexander McQueen managed to make plaid look appealing, especially when he had it overlaid with lace.


I could almost pull off the outfit on the right, except my brown suede jacket doesn't fit anymore.


The dress on the right is just heaven.


The dress on the left is really cool, but I have a feeling it wouldn't look so great close up, with the lace on the skin.


I love the Victorian vibe of the left dress. And I know that the last one isn't plaid, but it's so beautiful I had to include it anyway.

And Forever21 has a sweet plaid dress up on their website (I haven't been able to find that actual dress for sale, though).


The verdict? I'm still not a huge fan, but in the right context plaid can be gorgeous. And I want an Alexander McQueen dress.

Watch/Necklace Hybrid? I Vote Yes.

This is by far the best accessory I've seen this fall...and I'm not even sure it's for fall. Oh well. I don't think it would be too functional for everyday use, but it's certainly cute enough to wear all the time. It would be stunning to wear with a monochromatic outfit, with shoes to match the necklace. Perhaps like so:



The pear is definitely my favorite.

$125 is way out of my budget for a necklace though. I suppose I'll have to wait for knockoffs....

Back to School Fashion

The area I'm from is not renowned for its fashion sense. Everything is jeans and tee shirts, from my college campus to the streets downtown. The uni "uniform" tends toward a school sweatshirt and some sort of comfy pant...except for the sorority girls. These girls scout the newest trend, leech onto it, and wear it to death. Last winter was a fugfest of jeans tucked into Ugg boots, where the jeans were boot-cut and either bagging over the tops of the boots, or rolled up.

Then footless tights started showing up. This was in the spring, back before I was incredibly interested in fashion. Actually, the first pair I ever saw were peeking out from under a long hippie-type skirt. I was in shock, and was ever so glad when school ended and my eyes weren't assalted anymore.

This fall, with the rise of skinny jeans in the US, along with the continuing popularity of footless tights/leggings, I am a bit apprehensive. I don't want to see leg flab. I don't want to see rolled up jeans and pink uggs, although that's a bit too late. I don't want to see monstrous thighs and a denim mini...leggings would have been welcome in that case.

Fortunately, the footless tights/leggings that I've seen so far have been cute, or at least as cute as they can be. The girls have had skinny legs, and weren't wearing outrageous colors. I'll try to grab some pictures sometime.

Mission? Style.

Basically, with a new blog, I try to start over. This will chronicle my forays into the fashion world, which I have only given a passing glance in the days of yore. I'm a dork; I don't have the best body; I don't have a ton of money; I can, however, research the heck out of style on the internet, so as to make the best purchases for myself and my pocketbook.

My style right now is probably typical college student. I own manymany tee shirts, hoodies, track jackets, etc. I tend to look a bit on the "emo" side, and don't have many "casual work" clothes (which has proven to be a problem since I began my new job). I'm working on filling in the holes that glare at me in my wardrobe (black pants, mainly) and making a few frivolous purchases that offer a visual description of my personality.

We'll see where this is going...it may head off into a direction entirely of its own.

Launch

Of course I need another blog.