Friday, January 14, 2011

i don't mind dressing in green if i thought that you'd understand what i mean



Spent a beautiful afternoon taking photos with Alex in the park. It was CRAZY warm today. 65 degrees warm. What a treat! One more reason to love the South Bay.










I love when everything is green! The hills all turn brown in the sun by May, normally, so there's a very brief window where things are all bucolic and verdant like this.




On me: skirt: thrift -- top: thrift -- jacket: thrift -- shoes: Jeffrey Campbell / On Alex: cords: Levi's -- sweater: thrift -- shoes: thrift -- hat: Scala -- jacket: Vintage Members Only, thrifted







Today's title comes from The Soft Boys -- There's Nobody Like You. The Soft Boys are a really amazing, influential, and sadly under-appreciated group from the seventies. I strongly recommend their album Underwater Moonlight to any fans of post-punk and 80s alternative!

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

you just haven't earned it yet, baby


skirt: thrift -- blouse: thrift -- shoes: BC Footwear via Nordstrom Rack -- tights: Payless shoes clearance -- cardigan (below): thrifted


Sporting my newly-thrifted skirt, which I made mine for $4 and change. I really like it because it's quite fun and funky without being too over-the-top. And dig the weather! I wasn't cold at all while taking these photos. Gotta love the Bay Area.

I'm sorry to be such a poor blog-reader recently. I barely have time to write my own blog at the moment. I've been especially booked this week with attending meetings, finishing up some personal tasks, and getting all adjusted to my new academic schedule. I also spent a lot of time doing yoga this week. I've done yoga many times in the past, but I haven't ever taken any classes here at my university. Unfortunately, both of the instructors I've tried out thus far weren't quite jiving with what it is that I want to do in or derive from a yoga class. Nevertheless, they've really whetted my appetite for yoga, and for that alone I am glad I spent the time and money. Now to find the right class!

Anyway, I was feeling silly this afternoon while taking my photos. Observe.


Busting out a modified tree pose. Somehow pinning my heeled shoe against my thigh just didn't seem appealing.


Impersonating an airplane (or an albatross!).


My attempt to get into eagle's pose before the self-timer clicked.


Mood swings. I love that cardigan I'm messing around with. I bought it for $1.50 at the Salvation Army in senior year of high school, and I've worn it way more than I should ever since.

I think I'm going to try putting my tripod much lower to the ground and see if that helps with the blurred-shoes-thing. I noticed that all of the ones where my shoes are in crisp focus were ones where I rested the camera on a random low wall or something. Hmmm.

Today's song title comes from The Smiths -- You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby. (In case it wasn't already clear, I'm totally obsessed with The Smiths.)

Monday, January 10, 2011

apples and oranges


jeans: Levi's -- top: thrift -- blazer: found in costume closet -- shoes: Pour la Victoire via Loehmann's -- cardigan: Delia*s clearance

I wish today's photos had come out better! I was in a rush to get to class, and I wasn't nearly attentive enough to the exposure settings. Ah well! It also drives me crazy how my (point and shoot) camera always makes my shoes blurry. Grr.



Anyway, I love the colors in this outfit. Lucky magazine was talking about pairing pale pink with orange, and I thought that sounded like a really dandy idea. I topped it off with cognac shoes and this amazing blazer I found in my school's costume closet when I directed a play in my senior year of high school.



The blazer fits me perfectly and seems to be a real work of craftsmanship. It has great details like this striped lining in the sleeves and red piping where the lining meets the wool.


It was also made in the city where I live!



Thanks for all of your congratulations on my last post! I really appreciate it :) I'm sorry if I've been a little slow on responding to comments--school's back in session, and my life is back to its usual over-scheduled pace. Hopefully I'll get into the swing of things.

Today's post title comes from Pink Floyd -- Apples and Oranges. Syd Barrett forever!

Sunday, January 9, 2011

i'm in the new york times online and photo sunday!

First things first...

...that's me! In an all-thrift look I styled for a photoshoot for the New York Times! I've been wanting to share this with you guys for so long. Back in November, my friend Alok invited me to participate in a shoot that our school's Sustainable Fashion Collective was doing for a New York Times feature piece about sustainable fashion on college campuses. I lent a lot of clothes to the group and modeled for the shoot, and I was lucky enough to make it into the online feature. Best of all, I'm wearing the top that's pretty much my favorite shirt ever :)

I can't thank Alok or the Sustainable Fashion Collective enough for getting me involved. It was a really wonderful, fun experience. Major props to our photographer, a fellow student Kris Cheng.

And now onto Photo Sunday. I thought that today, I'd share some of my favorite photographs, all by different photographers. I left out ones by people I've already featured in Photo Friday/Sunday, but their work would all definitely be here otherwise.


Edward Weston
Charis Wilson, 1937
source
This photograph is one of the dozens of unforgettable images that Edward Weston and his muse/model/wife Charis Wilson created together. I believe that it's a photograph taken during the time they spent touring the States and making photographs for a Guggenheim Fellowship. There's just such an obvious connection between Charis Wilson and Edward Weston that comes across in this photograph. It's as if you can see all of their relationship just in her expression. Some of my photography teachers were actually friends of Charis Wilson, having met her because she spent the second half of her life in Santa Cruz, which neighbors the San Francisco Bay Area to the south. She passed away in 2009 at the age of 95. By all accounts, Charis Wilson was a beautiful human being in all senses of the word. A documentary about her and Edward Weston, Eloquent Nude, is definitely worth watching.


Alphonse Mucha, 1908
source
I only know about this photograph because I bought a postcard of it at the Metropolitan Museum when I was 13. I don't think I even saw the print itself. I love the juxtaposition of the gazing woman and the sleeping man. It's a sort of unfamiliar visual scene, but I always have such a strong impulse to figure out what the model must have been thinking. It's corny, but you can really see something behind her eyes, can't you?


Peter Hujar
Candy Darling on her Deathbed, 1974
source
I first saw this photograph as the cover of Antony and the Johnson's album I Am a Bird Now. Candy Darling was a Warhol Factory superstar, a transwoman who delighted everyone with her beauty. And that's her Lou Reed sings about in "Candy Says." She died of leukemia in 1974 at age 29. All of her grace and all of her sadness come across in this image.


Man Ray
source
This is probably the first photograph that I ever really fell in love with. I'm not sure I'd find it quite so impressive now as I did when I was 13, but I can still look at it for a long time. I think Man Ray singlehandedly created my artistic interest in creating surreal images.


Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii
source
This photograph is from 1909. That's right. 1909. Full color. Prokudin-Gorskii essentially invented the Technicolor process. I think the process of this image is what really fascinates me, but the composition and colors and expressions themselves would make it a standout even with today's technology.

I hope you liked seeing this little smattering of photographs! It was a lot of fun to put together.

On the subject of photography, RosieGlow is having a camera necklace giveaway! It's SUCH a cute piece :)

Friday, January 7, 2011

are you ready boots? start walking.


skirt: thrift -- shirt: gap clearance -- scarf: thrift -- coat: thrift -- tights: TJ Maxx -- boots: thrift -- hat: San Diego Hat Co.

Since I knew Alex and I were going to hang out today, I resolved to base my outfit on the hat you see me wearing. He bought it for me last year, but I just haven't worn it that many times. It's a bit difficult to match (I have a bit of a matching neurosis) since it's tan, brown, white, red. I feel awkward wearing it with anything black, and I always feel self-conscious since it's such a statement piece. Well, for me, anyway. That said, I love it, and it's quite well-made.



Anyway, I floral-ed it up in the outfit and hoped it would be a nice complement to the hat. I honestly wish that I'd worn different shoes with this look, but I've worn these tights with these boots so many times that they're all raggedy and messed up. In order to hide that, I put the boots back on.Very productive of me, no?



I need to get some new boots. I've worn these ones to death, and resoling them would be more expensive than just buying some new (old) ones. I've had these since senior year of high school. I swear that every time I wear them, someone sings "These Boots Were Made for Walking" to me. That's fine by me since I love that song (and the guy who wrote it, Lee Hazlewood). Check out this awesome promo video for the song.



Love those fuzzy sweaters! I scored some awesome thrifted pieces today, and I can't wait to style them and show them to you all :)

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

guest post at Zipped and 100 followers!

Today's update takes the form of a guest post on the lovely Chelsea's blog Zipped!

Mosey on over to read out my getting-dressed methodology :)



I also woke up this morning to 100 followers on Google and 22 on Bloglovin'! What a treat. I am so happy :) Thanks so much to all of you for taking an interest--it means the world to me, truly.

xoxo

Monday, January 3, 2011

we could be dignified and old together

First day of the quarter! Sorry for the lack of updates over the last several days. I've been busy getting my ducks in a row for moving back into my room and starting the new quarter.


sweater: thrift -- dress: American Apparel -- tights: Urban Outfitters -- boots: thrift


I bought this dress with the American Apparel Groupon that my mom gave me at Christmas. It's a little tight on the bottom (one-size-fits-"all" is never a good idea...) but I have hopes it will stretch out a bit!





I'm really happy because I've discovered that several of my best friends are in the history class I have to take for my major! I think this quarter is going to be all kinds of fun.



Feeling kinda terse today! Maybe I'll have a little more to say next time :)

Today's song title comes from The Modern Lovers -- Dignified and Old.