Is it can be autumn nao?

Since I had the great idea to start planning my fall wardrobe the other day, all I can think about is how I want the weather to start turning colder, so I can go back to school (that is, have an excuse to wear nicer clothes) and wear fall clothes. Summer has never been my strong point in fashion. When I was little, all I would wear all summer were bicycle shorts and a baggy tee shirt. Now, it's better, but not by much. I have some cute A-line skirts and some bermuda shorts, but basically I look very un-put-together. I thought perhaps this spring that I could totally switch to a California surf bum look, with vans and ripped shorts and faded tees. But then again, I'm too "classy" for that.

Autumn completely revitalizes my look at life and fashion. I love the cooler weather, the waning of summer, the crunchy leaves. I love being able to wear jeans without sweating. I love breaking sweaters and boots out of hiding and feeling in the air the tantalizing prospect of a heavy jacket. There's a feeling of renewal as the summer fades, a feeling that I can start fresh again, that I can shed failed styles and grow new ones. It's always nice coming back to my wardrobe after a summer away.

Gah, is it September yet?

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.

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.

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.

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.