Emma is fine

Alright friends. Here's the deal. I get that Emma Watson is a cishet thin young traditionally beautiful extremely wealthy Ivy educated white woman. I 100000% understand that. But here's the thing. You know how someone who is VERY PRIVILEGED, such as Emma Watson, was threatened with nudes and other ridiculous typical stupidity by the very people she was telling to own the fuck up to their wrongness? Could you even IMAGINE what would have happened if someone like, say, Laverne Cox were to speak on behalf of the UN? If a trans woman of color were to represent feminism and women's rights? NO ONE WOULD LISTEN. Because the people who respect and love and admire Laverne Cox are not the people that He For She is targeting. Or that anyone interested in actually progressing feminism should be targeting. We're already the "in" group. The people who think that homosexuality is a sin and white people are superior and abortion is also a sin and BLAH BLAH SHUT THE FUCK UP BLAH BLAH BLAH, these are the people we need to be targeting. So that's what He For She is, ideally, doing. It would be AMAZING if Laverne Cox were the spokesperson for an organization called Xe For All or something beautiful like that but WE DON'T LIVE IN THAT WORLD YET. We live in a world where Mike Brown disasters happen and we still are fighting the Roe v. Wade fight and the the wage gap is very much a thing and rape is happening all the goddamn time. That is the world we live in. So for right now, having a cishet thin young traditionally beautiful extremely wealthy Ivy educated white woman be the spokesperson for a gender-exclusive organization is an okay step. It's not the best step, but it is a step. So please, everyone, calm the heck down, we will get there, but we can't ignore the harsh realities. The world is not ready for Laverne, because they're barely ready for Emma.

Choking

Necklaces are as old as time itself (note: I am not entirely one-hundred percent on the validity of that statement). Choking is also a fairly ancient practice. Combine the two, and you get chokers! And chokers are the cooler younger sister of other necklaces. You can wear them with literally everything. If you're wearing a t-shirt, add a choker. If you're wearing a dress, add a choker. If you are not wearing anything at all, add a choker. It works every time. Take it from my friend Devin, who has been wearing a choker (I think) everyday since the school year began, and rocks it indefinitely. As always (but not all the time), there's a bonus: chokers are on trend. Be in vogue every single freaking day if you want. 

Well, don't take my word for it, see for yourself. 

[Photos via the internet.]

Nina Ricci Pre-Fall 2012

Madeline Pendleton from Jean Greige

Pheobe Buffay from "Friends"

Charlotte Ronson Spring/Summer 2012

Leandra Medine from Man Repeller

Rag & Bone Spring/Summer 2012

Some girl on Tumblr

Madeline Pendleton from Jean Greige

Acne Fall/Winter 2012

Chloë Grace Moretz

And last but not least, Emma Watson rocking chokers before it was cool. 

Now go out and getch'yoself a choker and wear it everyday forever and ever. 

Anyone notice that the temperature dropped about twenty degrees in the past week? It's autumn, bitches! 

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PS: a happy birthday shout-out to my favorite little munchkin, Lola! She's the best, you guys all know it.

We Are Infinite

I read The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky at the end of 8th grade, around the same time I began this blog. I started this website for many, many reasons, one of them being that I needed somewhere to throw my obsessive thoughts and make my preoccupation with fashion real, and the internet seemed like the prime place to do that. This book and blogging were the two things that returned me to my natural human state (to an extent. I have a theory that I was secretly born as an old-man-puppy-fish, and that doesn't sound too natural to me) when I was strugglin' so hard. I read it once and fell in love. I read it again at the beginning of my freshman year of high school because Charlie began high school in 1991, and I was starting in 2011, so I read each of his letters on the same date in real life. Since that made no sense, let me clarify: if he wrote a letter on November 9th, I read it on November 9th. It was so weird how events in each of our lives occurred at the same time, twenty years apart. ...Even though Charlie is not real. When I found out that they were making this fuqin' amazeballs book into a film starring Emma Watson, aka the absolute love of my life, I had a major mini heart attack. 

The '90s is (are?) easily one of my favorite decades culturally, musically, and sartorially (followed closely by the '60s and '20s), so I was mega pumped for the costumes, props, sets, and soundtrack for the movie. They didn't disappoint. If you combined Sam's (Emma Watson) and Mary Elizabeth's (Mae Whitman) clothing, that would be an accurate representation of how I try/want to dress every day of my life forever. It's like a funky mix between grungy '90s lumberjack casual style and a gypsy witch that has a fascination with stick-on jewels, sweaters and their multitudinous variations (ie, poncho), bizarre skin adornments, and copious ear piercings. Das me! 

Hopefully you can feel the ridiculous amounts of spiritual/sartorial inspiration emanating from the following pictures, because if you do that means we are brain siblings. 

[Photos via imdb.com and google.com.]

Sam's room + Charlie's suit + typewriter = this is what I want most in life. I'm actually on the hunt (a quest, if you will) for a typewriter and a cheap tie, so if you see either one, let me know.

Patrick (Ezra Miller) is not even human, I swear. And then there's Mary Elizabeth (bottom left), being a total badass. 

This was easily one of the best scenes in the whole movie. They are at a school dance when all of a sudden a good song comes on, and Patrick and Sam are like, "Living room routine. Right now." So they shove their way to the center and just start dancing like maniacs. It is amazing.

Mary Elizabeth!!!!! Wearing red!!!!!!!!!! My favorite color!!!!!!! 

Emma as Sam as Janet. 

I want Sam's jacket and her hair, and Patrick's face to stay like that forever. 

If you have not read this book, drop everything and read it right now. If you haven't seen this movie, don't drop everything, but go see it anyway. That's enough unauthorized book promotion for today. 

One last thing: I made a playlist out of the mixtape Charlie made for Patrick for Secret Santa so you guys can fully immerse yourselves in the world of the book.

Have a jolly Sunday! 

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The Transitive Property (Lela Rose Spring 2013)

Lela Rose's runway show took place on Sunday, September 9th, at 11 am. Bright and early. Delightful. I took my seat and began perusing the front row from afar. When I spotted a perfectly coifed top knot and a set of familiar cheekbones, I asked the woman sitting next to me if that was in fact Lauren Conrad seated over there. My hunch was confirmed. As much as I hate to admit it, my sister and I did watch "The Hills" more than a few times at a suspiciously young age. 

Enough about LC and her California gurls. Onto the fashion show. As I mentioned in my video a few weeks ago, I didn't think that Lela Rose's collection was particularly visually cohesive. However, that is because it was based on "the frailty of the human experience." Wowza. Not to go all philosophical on you guys (don't get me wrong, I love going all philosophical; it happens at the most inopportune moments, actually. Or are they really the most opportune moments??? Whoaaaa), but life is not cohesive, so by my trusty friend--and the only useful piece of information I got out of my freshman geometry class--the transitive property, neither is Lela Rose's Spring 2013 collection. In the designer's defense, the collection makes a lot of sense conceptually. She was inspired by the work of the artist Jim Hodges, whose pieces references nature a lot, often in the forms of flowers and webs. Lela translated that into fabrics and prints, incorporating floral patterns, lace, and metal chains into her S/S '13 show. She used Hodges' entire oeuvre as inspiration for the collection, which resulted in a bit of a mish-mosh of ideas that didn't really seem to string together too well. There was camouflage and tweed and lace and lots of bright colors and metal(lic) accents...oh my! It may have been a better idea to just zero in on a few aspects of the artist's work, but perhaps if she had the collection would not have been as large, nor would the pieces be as sellable as they indisputably are. 

Below you shall find the best photos of the bunch from this show. 

[Photos by me.]

Highly constructed pieces and emphasized seams make for an interesting contrast.

Orange, why do you keep showing up season after season? Are ya done yet?

Isabella Melo. Mere feet from my body. Wut. Also neon t-shirts paired with coral skirt-jacket ensembles. Wut.

So content. Whatchu lookin' at, grl? 

Bam. Visual assault, in the best way possible. 

The Man Repeller would be proud of this dress.

Spidery and spindly, reminiscent of this piece by ol' Hodges.

...But like somedays, when I get like a crumb of food, that's a good day, so is this one.

Lacey-lace and lavender. Alliteration rox my sox.

The metallics I mentioned before. 

Also, the model definitely experienced a UFO sighting at this moment. That is the only explanation for such an intense glare. 

Isabella Melo, part 2. 

Laurenzo Conrad! All bedazzled and stuff. That man interviewing her shoved me a lot in an effort to get to Lauren first. We can call him Gopher Man. Don't look so serious, Gopher Man. 

Sorry for sporadic posting, ballroom dancing got in the way. Once. That's right, you heard it from me, I am taking a few ballroom dance lessons with my mother and two foreign instructors. High school auctions are the absolute best.

Would you all be devastated if I didn't do Fall/Winter 2012 trend reports? I know, I know, I just think I missed the deadline; I would be starting far too late for it to be of any help. I'll do the Spring ones instead, and I'll do Fall instead of Pre-Fall over the summer! Yay for compromises! I'll do a few of the good ones for this season, of course, because we can't pretend that the trends don't exist.

Have a mighty fine weekend, friends. Go see "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" because it's amazeballs. Expect a post on that soon, that's how much I love it. (It got almost 8 stars on IMDb! Good Will Hunting got only three-tenths of a star more. That is how awesome this movie is. Plus the author (Stephen Chbosky) wrote the screenplay, so you just know that nothing could go wrong. Except for that they left out the poem Charlie gave to Patrick, but after contemplating it for a while I forgive Chbosky.)

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Fair Trade: A Utopian Concept Surviving in a Dystopia

It's been quite a long time since I've written anything worthy of publishing on the Huffington Post, but following The Rebirth I suddenly rediscovered my love of recreational writing. I've recently been fascinated by the concept of fair trade, among other things, so over the past few weeks I've been doin' my research and writing up a storm. Now without further ado, I present to you the fruits of my labor. All three pages of it. Enjoy. 

This should be published on the Huffington Post within a few days' time. If that format is somehow more appealing to you then by all means wait until then to read it; I'll be posting the link up here, of course.

***

I was nine years old the first time I encountered the concept of fair trade. The students in the grade above me had studied organic fair trade coffee companies and had put up signs around my elementary school advocating for them. I knew the meaning of the words 'fair' and 'trade' in separate contexts, but for some reason my mind could not put the two together to figure out what the phrase meant as a whole. There's a slight chance I thought Fair Trade Coffee was the name of a café. I didn't pursue the topic any further after the signs came down, and the idea quickly left my head, only popping in to say hello and remind me of its existence every year or so. I would look at it and think, “Huh, that's interesting,” and then dismiss it. The idea of fair trade didn't resurface entirely until I was reading up about the wonderful human that is Emma Watson, when I stumbled upon the information that she had collaborated with a clothing brand called People Tree. I love Emma Watson and I also love fashion, so by common logic I thought I would love People Tree. It is quite rare that situations work out that way for me, but this time it did. I clicked the cute curlicue text button and was brought to People Tree's website. I saw a tab on the page that mentioned something about fair trade—the little old man in my brain started running through the archives of my mind and pulled out the file I'd stored in there for future reference about the topic...and found it empty. This is a common occurrence. When there is a void in my realm of knowledge it must be filled! I thought. If only this was how I felt about my academic subjects. As I began reading the passionately worded (yet tasteful) information page on People Tree's website, I slowly realized that fair trade was not such a foreign topic. It was in fact one that I had already thought about and discussed, it had just never been given a title in my head. The more I read, the more involved I became with the subject. Child labor?! No way, guys. Women not receiving equal pay for equal work?! You kidding me? Unhealthy and unsafe working conditions?! How is this still a thing? All of these issues came up during my freshman biology class (we had a fairly liberal teacher; we tended to digress from the subject at hand and have vehement arguments about government and corporate corruption) and I would continue to grumble angrily to my friends during lunch about how ridiculous the world is. We all know that actions speak louder than words, especially when the words are quietly expressed, poorly phrased, and consequently incomprehensible. The fact that organizations such as People Tree, Fair Indigo, and World Fair Trade Organization are actually doing things put my mumbling to shame. As lame as I felt while reading about fair trade, it motivated me to take action through my writing. Raising awareness is not as effective as starting a company that engages in fair trade, but I feel as though doing that at age fifteen is a bit too ambitious. Trust me, that is a future goal.

I've gotten this far without mentioning any real information on the topic—remember the whole irate rambling issue I have? If my seventh grade English teacher was correct, particulars come before analysis, not the other way around. Without further ado, I give you...solid facts so hard that if you were to throw them, you could potentially harm a puppy. Not that you should ever try to cast intagible objects at innocent canines or anything like that.

According to World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO), “The term Fair Trade defines a trading partnership, based on dialogue, transparency and respect, that seeks greater equity in international trade. It contributes to sustainable development by offering better trading conditions to, and securing the rights of, marginalized producers and workers – especially in developing countries.” The trading system is centered around three main themes that I have extracted from my research: compensation, equality, and honesty. These are the key to successful commerce in any field, yet most people seem to forget to incorporate any of the three into their business practices. It baffles me that the world market has become so convoluted and corrupt that such simple morals as treating workers fairly and with respect have become atypical. It is now considered the norm for a large corporation to recruit child laborers, to pay below the minimum wage, and to take advantage of their employees' social positions. WFTO began “writing the rules” for fair trade around twenty years ago because the concept's popularity started to increase around that time. Now, the organization is considered one of—if not the primary—the authorities on ethical dealings worldwide, from production to sales and everything in between. WFTO does not discriminate against the businesses they advocate for (that would be against their rules, silly!) as long as they comply with the group's ten basic principles. Sounds easy enough, right? Some organic cotton here, some alienated seamstresses there, and voilà! Just pop it in the microwave for ninety seconds and you're done. If only creating a fair trade certified company was as easy as Orville Redenbacher claims making popcorn is—and if you're me, the latter isn't too simple either.

The first of these criteria is that the company creates opportunities for producers or craftspeople that are at an economic disadvantage. The organization must support small family businesses, assocations or cooperatives in order to give them financial independence and make them self-sufficient. The second rule discusses transparency and accountability. If you're like me and don't understand these words beyond their use in Chase Bank advertisements, I'll simplify this concept. Essentially, the organization has to be honest with their workers and trading alliances as well as allow them the opportunity to partake in decision-making processes. Rule number three is kind of a mouthful. To summarize, it states that the organization should not be participating in fair trade to maximize their profit at the expense of the producers, the company won't copy other peoples' designs without their permission, blahdiblahdiblah. To me, these are just basic principles of morality, but I guess respecting the labor of other human beings is too much to ask nowadays. Speaking of principles, the fourth one on WTFO's list is similar to the previous one: the prices are reasonable and mutually agreed upon by both sides. Criterion number five says that no forced and/or child laborers shall be employed in the making of fair trade items. The fact that things like these are guidelines for how to be a fair trade group bewilders me. Ethics, people. They are still relevant today. Apparently they were phased out with the obsolescence of parchment paper and ice boxes. Sixth on the list is one of my most highly favored: gender equality, freedom of association, and non-discrimination! Hooray! As a self-proclaimed feminist and budding social activist (I'm still in the angry-at-the-world-but-too-furious-to-do-anything phase), this topic naturally speaks to me. Let's get a bit hypothetical. Just because I can have babies, some guy that works just as hard as I do gets more money? Oh—oh, right, I see how that works now. Thanks for clearing that up. Maybe I'm a Buddhist, or perhaps I'm a member of the Church of Scientology; why should it matter if I'm doing my job well? It's probably because I usually poison each garment I make with a special potion I concocted that brainwashes everyone into worshipping Buddha or reaching a spiritual understanding with Tom Cruise. That tends to be the dealbreaker. If injustice were to take the form of howler monkey, the entire planet would have gone deaf by now. The next few rules are short, sweet, and to the point, starting with number seven: the organization must provide good working conditions. The eigth concept promises that the company will help their employees improve and grow, while the ninth states that it must promote and advocate for fair trade. Doing anything else would be counterproductive, don't you think? Last, but definitely not least—especially when the caramel candies in my cabinet are melting and peoples' eyelashes are sweating as we speak—guideline number ten tells organizations to channel Aretha Franklin and give the environment some well deserved R-E-S-P-E-C-T, the same way young children are told by television endorsements to respect Capri Sun pouches.

To some people, fair trade may symbolize a sort of ideal work force that can't possibly exist in our current economy. That is exactly what is so fascinating about it. Fair trade is a concept working against the grain of what is culturally and morally accepted in commerce. It's fighting the very system that has been oppressing, impoverishing, and manipulating our fellow humans for so many years. After all this time, it would seem impossible to make any permanent changes, yet fair trade organizations are doing it. As WFTO has eloquently phrased it, “Fair Trade is more than just trading: it proves that greater justice in world trade is possible. It highlights the need for change in the rules and practice of conventional trade and shows how a successful business can also put people first.” The terrible issue with all of the injustice in the trading industry is that the people who run the involved corporations tell lies. They lie about how much they will pay their employees, they lie to the public about how their products are made, and they lie to themselves about how unscrupulous their actions truly are. So many massive companies have pulled the wool over the majority of the consumers' eyes—no pun intended—that some people refuse to believe that fair trade is actually feasible, if not a more ethically correct alternative. As a confused factory owner once said to the fair trade clothing company Fair Indigo, “Let me get this straight. You want to pay the workers more than the minimum wage?” One can only imagine the tone of disbelief that accompanied these extremely disheartening words. If I were to paraphrase what he said, it would be something along the lines of: “Let me get this straight. You want to pay the people who support our global economy exactly what they deserve so that they don't starve on the streets or take their children out of school to help them work or lose every scrap of their integrity to a heartless corporation?” See, when it's put that way, it's quite difficult to justify his words. Because of people like this owner, two billion citizens of the world are attempting to survive on less than two dollars a day. A hot tea at Starbucks costs more than that. Therein lies the bone of contention.

We've discovered the problem, but can we fix it? I always enjoy drawing inspiration from children's cartoons, so in the words of Bob the Builder (not to mention our president, but I like to think that Barack Obama took this catchphrase from the animated construction worker), “Yes we can!” Luckily, for all of you goodhearted but apathetic people out there, fair trade businesses have already done fifty percent of the work for us. For example, People Tree works “hard to make sure that all our dyeing has minimum impact on the wearer, the producer and the environment,” because they “reckon there's little point in taking pure and innocent organic cotton fibres to a big, belching garment factory, or saturating them in vats of toxic dye.” Fair Indigo states on their website that the fair trade prices that are set for commidities like coffee and tea strive to cover production costs as well as the cost of living—food, shelter, clothing, education, and medical care included. Fair trade groups don't just help out their workers, although even that much would be enough to surpass other companies. They aid the communities they work with to invest in development projects such as schooling, health care, and housing programs by having the employees set aside part of their income towards a social premium. Equitable treatment of workers? Check. Improvements in local communities? Check. Even our good old friend the environment benefits from fair trade. The farmers who participate in fair trade cooperatives don't use what Fair Indigo calls toxic agrochemicals that are often used to control pests. A decrease in utilization of harmful pesticides equals a happy Earth!

I am primarily a fashion journalist, so of course I must tie this all back into an apparel-related sub-topic. Fair Indigo has started making garments out of “organic and other ecologically friendly fabrics.” This may make their clothing more expensive, but isn't the higher price worth paying when you think about how many peoples' lives are improved—if not saved—by your purchase? Think about that glowing feeling you get when you know you've done something good for the world. I bet that has never happened to you from buying a shirt. Now it can. If nothing else, it's something you can cross off your bucket list: “Feel an overwhelming sense of gratification from purchasing a blouse.” Done. I urge you to also consider what the founders of Fair Indigo said about starting their business: “After years in the apparel industry, a small group of us decided to throw our corporate lives out the window and start something completely new.” Throw your metaphorical corporate life out of the proverbial window and start afresh by sustaining the earth and its inhabitants. This is change we can believe in. 

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If My Hair Were Shorter

...This is what I hope it would look like: a cross between fashion blogger Zoe (Girl With The Flower), Michelle Williams and Emma Watson, with a touch of Carey Mulligan. Mostly Carey Mulligans face shape, because it matches mine most accurately out of the bunch. I think. I've been spending a lot of time trying to figure it out. Let's just leave it my head shape is a mix between all four of theirs, because I really can't decide.

Photos courtesy of girlwiththeflower.blogspot.com and google.com. 

Zoe

Michelle Williams

Emma Watson 

Carey Mulligan

Ever since I saw Zoe's haircut (it used to be more around my hair's length, and also quite wavy/curly), I've been obsessed with this style. I may reach the same point that I did over the summer, where I just needed to cut my hair off. This time, however, my mom is not as willing to comply. It may take more of a fight. Or, I may not do it at all. I would LOVE to hear what you guys think about it: if you think I could pull it off, if I should do it, or if I should just stay away from mega short hair at all costs. There's a cute little comments box below for your remarks, statements, judgements and opinions (really, that's what it says, right there in the big capital letters underneath this post). You can also help me decide whose face shape is closest to mine. It's bugging me. 

P.S.: I've been working all day on a fantastic shoe DIY. I mentioned its existence at the end of my t-shirt DIY, but its been pumped up a bit since then. Literally. Think about that one for a minute. 

Happy weekend!

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Emma³

Emma³=Emma x Emma x Emma If we're being technical, it should be 3Emma, but Emma³ is twenty billion times cooler. 

I know I haven't been on top of my blogging game lately, but in my defense, I was plagued with a head cold this weekend and had to do something called "sleep" (? I was unfamiliar as well). I wasn't very good at it. Perhaps it is something where practice makes perfect? 

But to make up for my baby hiatus, I have decided to tell you all about the three Emmas that are not only style icons, but are highly inspirational (Emma Watson especially. I am basically in love with her. It's partly to do with the fact that she is Hermione Granger, but she's also a wonderful and spectacular person. Sigh.): Emma Watson, Emma Stone, and Emma Roberts. 


All three of the women are young actresses that started off small and have worked their way up to bigger and better things. Over the years, their styles have developed as well, and I'm here to open your eyes to the world of Emmas. 


Emma #1: Roberts
To be honest, I don't know much about Emma Roberts, except for the fact that I watched "Unfabulous" religiously as a child. DAY AFTER DAY IT'S UNFABULOUS AND EVERYONE AROUND ME IS UNBEARABLE!


Most people know her from "Unfabulous" or because she's Julia Roberts' niece, but it looks like little Miss Roberts is making a name for herself in the real world. She has graduated from Teen Nick Academy for Bad Acting (TNABA)and now attends the Real World Institute for Talented People (RWITP). Speaking of legit things, she was recently put on Derek Blasberg's list of young rising stars, alongside Zooey Deschanel, Dakota Fanning, Amanda Seyfried and Lea Michele. That's a pretty hot list Derek's got goin' on there, wouldn'tcha say? 


I haven't seen Emma in any movies lately, but I've been seeing more and more of her in Harper's Bazaar, so maybe that's a sign telling me to jump on the bandwagon. This girl's making her comeback, and this time she's doing it fabulously. (Pun pun pun pun pun pun pun, Nickelodeon!) 


All photos courtesy of harpersbazaar.com.

At the Missoni For Target launch party, wearing
a Missoni cardigan

With Jaime King at some runway show

At a different runway show, wearing what looks to me
like some good ol' Chanel Haute Couture

Emma #2: Stone
The world first saw Emma Stone in "Superbad" and loved her, then in "House Bunny," and then her career took off like a sparrow in November. Meaning fast. "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" came next, then "Zombieland" and the one that made Emma Stone a household name: "Easy A." After that movie, she took about a million jobs and came out with "Crazy, Stupid, Love" and "The Help" all at once. The next big one is "The Amazing Spider-Man." Let us note that all of her roles in these movies were leads.

So she's basically one of the beastest women on earth right now. And she's like 22, so she has the whole rest of her life to become a legend.

She's been a blonde, a brunette and a redhead, and looks gorgeous as all three. I don't know anyone like that.

Her style is classic and beautiful, and wears Clavin Klein, Chanel and Christopher Kane. Check dis chick out. 


All photos courtesy of harpersbazaar.com.

At the Golden Globes last year in her infamous
Calvin Klein gown

Wearing something gorgeous and being l

          

Wearing Chanel Haute Couture at "The Help" premiere               Wearing Christopher Kane on the Jimmy Fallon Show.   
                                                                                                               Now that's the Emma I know--a laughing redhead. Like me. 


Emma #3: Watson
Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson is secretly a Parisian. Which makes her approximately 83.7 percent classier. The fact that she plays Hermione Granger in all eight Harry Potter movies makes her 104.6 percent cooler. The fact that she is British makes her 74 percent more awesome. The fact that she is playing Sam in The Perks of Being a Wallflower, aka one of my favorite books of all time, makes her 69.2 percent better than everyone else. Her intelligence, talent and beauty add another 256 percent onto that, which leaves us with 587.5 percent Emma Watson.

I'm kind of in love with her, which I mentioned before. Just thought I'd say it again. One of my many lifetime goals is to write her biography. Now that is something worth checking off your bucket list.

Let me tell you a short story. One day, about four years ago, I was walking around Manhattan with my mom and sister, and this teenager/woman comes walking at a brisk pace right by me, and it took me about 20 seconds to process that I was pretty sure that Emma Watson had just walked right by me. It's not confirmed, but it still gives me the heebie jeebies when I think about it.

If you didn't manage to pick up any of the magazines she was featured in this summer, such as Vogue and Harper's Bazaar UK, then you can read the articles here: read the full article from Vogue and small excerpts from Harper's Bazaar UK's feature on her.

If you don't see what's so incredible about her, then I don't know what to do to convince you. She was born this way. And she was born to run. From dementors and Death Eaters, that is.

Oh right--the fashion part. She looked adorable at age 12 and stunning at 21, with her Hermione hair and her pixie cut. Her current hairstyle kind of makes her look like Twiggy sometimes; there's a picture below. She's also flat out beautiful. Just look:

She knows how to dress herself in a very unique way; never subdued, but not Lady Gaga-ish either. WHY CAN'T I BE HER, PLEASE EXPLAIN. But seriously, I don't understand the science of it. Anyone wanna help a brotha out?

In 2009, lookin' chic at a garden tea party of some sort

Being a Twiggy-fairy in yet another garden for Harper's Bazaar UK's August 2011 edition

Emma in Burberry. See what I mean? She's like a good party: not quiet but not too loud. In my opinion.

Emma at the MTV Movie Awards, gorgeous as ever.

In an editorial that I can't seem to pinpoint. Bein' cute, wearing a literally handmade monocle.

I hope you have gathered as much inspiration from these infinitely inspirational women as you possibly can. But hurry, before everyone else snatches it up! JK, that's physically impossible. We all know how much I love making jokes about illogical things just for kix.

In other news...
Wait, that was a totally unintentional but totally perfect transition into what I'm about to say. I now write for the Huffington Post. They were looking for high school bloggers to write for them, so I submitted my work. I now send them blogposts as often as twice a week and they publish it on their site. I'm not sure how I was chosen or who else is doing it, but I'll let you know as soon as I get my grubby little fingers on that info. I'm lying, my fingers are not grubby. They just have blue pen on them because I like to draw smiley faces out of my hand freckles.

Also, the beginnings of my Missoni For Target purchases have arrived! I wore one of the headbands today. I felt very Italian. I think there was even pizza for lunch today at school.

The winner of my shorts giveaway was Daxia from Silk and Satan.

I won't be covering spring clothing and beauty trends until after Paris Fashion Week. Same with street style. If you recall, street style is the first thing I wrote about on this blog. Memories...

I feel like I'm forgetting something, but I hope I'm not.

Oh, but I am.

Last night I saw Newsies!, an off-Broadway show about 1899 newsboys. It was really good, and my mom's student was in it. Plus the lead had some serious pipes. I'm talking Aladdin-style. Since it was out in Jerz-ay, I got home at 12 am and had to get up at 6 am for school. And I had a science test today. I love how these things play out so nicely.

Enjoy your three day school week, I know I am.