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.

FITting In At FIT: Day 9, Part 2

If I were to use one word to describe myself at this current moment it would be tired-as-hell. That's one word, guys. I walked approximately a bajillion miles today going in complete circles, more than once. From class to see the Richard Avedon exhibit (it's incredible, by the way; if you're in Chelsea between 10 am and 6 pm until this Friday, you should go see it), back downtown to take the train to Williamsburg, only to get off at the wrong stop and wander aimlessly for around two hours--in the heat, humidity, and rain, mind you--and then take three trains to get home; upon my arrival home I realized that the store I was looking for but couldn't find was two blocks away from the point at which I stopped walking and decided to turn around. Gr8. 

Today was the first day of my final week of FIT, and we got down to business fo' real. I've got my fabric, I've almost got my whole pattern, and I'm all set to whip up a pair of mighty fine pants. Just you wait, they shall be mighty fine. 

Foot exhaustion=brain exhaustion=short post, so it's time for the visuals. 

Photos by me and my handy tools. 

Top: gift from my aunt in France 

Skirt: Sag Harbor via Vice Versa Vintage 

Pearl bracelets: gifts?

Rings: from grandma and Venice Beach

Bindi: Laughing Lotus Yoga Center (phreebeez!)

Sandals: Blowfish via Chictopia 

See how much extra fabric I have here? I could hide a few small people under there, I bet. About seven, I'd say, if I had to guess.

I feel like there's always one photo in every outfit post where I look murderous. Here's your daily dose. 

Look! I can mysteriously hide one half of my arm! The longer you stare at it the weirder it becomes! Ha-HA! 

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Dora's Favorite Accessory

We all know what that is, right? Maybe this will give you a hint.

You've heard the phrase "A dog is a man's best friend," right? Let's modify that a little bit. "A talking and perpetually hungry purple backpack is an eight-year-old Hispanic girl's best friend." 

I don't know why I'm spending so much time on this whole Dora the Explorer thing, it was really just a segue into the theme of this post: backpacks. 

Being a student, backpacks have been a huge part of my life since I was a wee little munchkin. For a while I went through a phase in middle school when I deemed backpacks totally dorky and religiously carried a tote bag to hold all of my homework and supplies. Needless to say, it was quite difficult to find anything at all in the bottomless hole that is a shoulder bag. Hand sanitizer spilled in there more than once (three times, to be exact), making my math notebook all crinkly. Damn you, locomotive cleanliness! As I entered high school, however, I went back to my old friend. Partly because I'd gotten a really intense Hurley one for free from the Apple Store for sending me a broken computer (on my birthday, nonetheless) and partly because I figured I needed to be mega organized for my freshman year. It turns out that it was not only I that had made the switch; the rest of my new school's population had stopped giving backpacks the cold shoulder--pun intended--and brought them back into their lives. Did you see that? I just packed two backpack puns into one sentence. <--I'm just on a roll here guys. 

As a strong believer in the philosophy that oftentimes trends start with the people, not the runways, I will show you some examples of the rise of the backpack. It hasn't just recently become popular amongst angsty teenagers: this trend has gone mainstream. Bloggers are wearing them, Urban Outfitters has their models wearing them, real people are wearing them. This is legit. 

Madeline Pendleton of Jean Greige wearin' a backpack! 

A model wearing the Deena & Ozzy Pop High/Low Backpack in the Urban Outfitters summer catalogue. 

The infamous Phillip Lim denim vest/backpack hybrid. I tried to find it online for you, but it's sold out. Probably because the Man Repeller did a very convincing post about its versatility.

And now for the high fashion examples. Okay, I admit that Phillip Lim's bag technically should belong in this section but shhhhhhhhhhhhhwhwhwhwhwhhhcatshshshhwhwhshhhhhh.

               

Left: The Row leather backpack  Right: Carven suede backpack 

    

 Left: Jeremy Scott backpack  Right: Marc by Marc Jacobs backpack

Backpacks are practical, guys! They let you carry all your crap around while applying equal pressure to both of your shoulders instead of just one. That sounds like a terrible disadvantage, but I promise it's much better that way. 

The trick to wearing the backpack correctly is to made sure your choice fits into one of the following categories: old school, sophisticated or made of an unconventional texture. 

Backpacks that are very '90s and/or homemade-looking are really rad right now. They're more for people who are kind of badasses or whose style comes off as slightly punk and grungy. Think along the lines of: "Yeah I wear a mutha uckin' (Flight of the Conchords reference, anyone?) backpack, come at me ho." 

Sophisticated and streamlined backpacks are very modern. They're for the person who has a somewhat minimalistic fashion sense or who wants to a simple yet beautiful carryall that can hitch a ride on their back and give their arms a rest. 

Backpacks made of unconventional textures such as denim, leather, suede, or corduroy are legitimately dominating the trend scene here. If you didn't notice before, take note now that the majority of the backpacks I showed you up above are in fact made of denim, leather, suede, or some other cray-cray material. The Marc by Marc Jacobs one looks like it could be made out of raincoat fabric (aka a combo of plastic and rubber and some other weird-as-hayyyl things). 

Among us youngsters, some fairly popular places to get some relatively inexpensive but totally jammin' backypackies are Urban Outfitters, ASOS and Fjällräven. My friend Kimberly also recently got a pretty damn cute one from JCPenney. I suggest checking out all those places if you're in the market for one of these little fellas. 

It's summer. Getchyo' flippyfloppies and yo' backypackies and yo' jimmyjammies out. 

I'm done with my freshman year of high school, guys! Just two Regents tests next week and I am peacin' out for good. See ya on the flip side biyatches. 

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Wishy Washy

More wish than wash, if you please. 

Like any normal human being, I have the desire to own things that I have no money for. Here is a small (actually, it's quite large) collage of thirteen of my most-coveted items from my brain list. Made at around 12:30 in the morning, do not judge my Photoshopping skills...to my face. 

1. Baseball shirt 

2. Maison Scotch baggy jeans

3. Urban Renewal Boyfriend Jean Short

4. 7 For All Mankind floral jeans (worn by Aimee Song)

5. Black kitten heels 

6. Septum chain (seen better here)

7. Del Toro x Man Repeller Fancy Flamingo loafers

8. Afghani necklace (worn by Madeline Pendleton)

9. Vintage gloves 

10. White Converse (worn by Sadie Heisler)

11. Maryjanes

12. Black flats 

13. Mustard yellow loafers (these ones just showed up on the internet, so I was like, "Okay, you can join") 

I'm out shopping at the moment, so I figured this was an appropriate thing to post. There will be more to come on my buying adventures at a later date. For now, drool on your computer over the beautiful specimens pictured above.

Happy Thursday, meaning it's almost Friday, meaning it's almost the weekend. So happy almost weekend.

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Current Obsessions: Bordeaux & Velvet

I wasn't originally intending to combine the two into one post, but it just so happens that everyone else who likes velvet thinks it looks best in a shade of burgundy. Crazy stuff, if you ask me.

While in Urban Outfitters the other day, I realized that I'd picked up three different velvet pieces--leggings, flare pants (funny story about these guys) and a dress. I didn't buy any of the above, but I did buy a bordeaux chunky sweater at the discount sweater store out near my grandma's house. I almost bought a different one in the same color, but luckily I did not because...I've already got one at home. There's clearly a reoccurring theme here.

I guess the burgundy/velvet combo was brought to my attention by Madeline of Jean Greige a little while back:

Velvet Ballerina from Miracle Eye. $29.

When I say "brought to my attention" I mean that I fell in love with it. I wanted that dress so bad. And if I'm not mistaken, it was made by a 15 year old girl. Pretty rad stuff.

Here are some other photos I found from Urban Outfitters, American Apparel and Miracle Eye:

Velvet Long Sleeve Mini Dress from American Apparel in Burgundy. $44.

My friend was wearing this today at school and I was mad jellin'.

Kimchi Blue Velvet Strappy Wedge from Urban Outfitters in Maroon. $49.

Velvet Full Woven Skirt from American Apparel in Burgundy. $38.

Dr. Martens Velvet Mary Jane in Red. $110.

My life would be complete with these in it.

Staring at Stars Crushed Velvet Flare Pant from Urban Outfitters in Maroon. $49.

So here's that funny story. I tried these on in black the other day at the store and I came out of the dressing room to show my friend Michelle (I was also wearing a big sweater with a bear on the front) and I started dancing to show her the full effect. This would of course be an opportune moment for one of my 8th grade English/Social Studies teachers to walk by. I'll spare you the details, but we'll leave it at extreme awkwardness ensued.

Burgundy Velvet Burnout Blouse from Miracle Eye. $16.

If you don't want to go out and buy all of these things, then...that's totally cool.
Gotcha there! Thought I was gonna reprimand you, right? Heh.

I'm going to the Daphne Guinness exhibit again tomorrow, and this time I'm bringing my sketchbook. Oh yes.

Nighty night, buds!

P.S. Did you notice how I added a baby sidebar widget that tells you how to follow my blog? I'm going to try and make it bigger/more visible, but it's there, on the right side under the blog archive.

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Labels

You know what I hate? Labels. Not like the Post-It kind of labels that you use on accordion folders, but the kind of labels that people stick on each other. Call them whatever you like: labels, stereotypes, classifications, social expectations, I hate them all.

There's actually two topics within that one that bother me, but they sort of fit together: there are the actual names and categories that people are put into, and then there are the expectations that society has set for certain people and genders.

These two topics seem to be circulating in the blogosphere lately, from Chictopia to Jean Greige and it took me until now to fully realize my opinion on them. Since they both have relations to fashion and appearance, I figured that it wouldn't be too out of the blue to talk about it on my blog.

People nowadays seem to particularly fond of classifying others as certain things, based on little to no information. They call people “ghetto” or “hipsters” or “JAPs” and a variety of other names. Now, I'm sure that there are people who don't mind being called those things, but I hate the fact that people think they've figured me out so accurately that they've already got a category to put me in. The one that I deal with most is “hipster.”

I know a lot of you are going to think I'm completely overreacting to being called a hipster, but it really gets on my nerves. According to the New Oxford American Dictionary, a hipster is defined as: “a person who follows the latest trends and fashions.” That seems like a valid basis for determining who is a hipster and who is not, if that's something you care to spend your time on. However, just because I like and buy the clothing at Urban Outfitters and often buy clothing at thrift stores because they're financially convenient for me does not mean I'm a hipster. To me, a hipster is someone who takes trends and does not interpret them in an original way, and if that's what someone's calling me, that's insulting. I like to think that I dress in (and do other things) an original way, and it's almost degrading when people lump me in a group with others who are in fact nothing like me.

Don't get me wrong, I don't hate all labels, and sometimes I'll wear them proudly. This is also going to sound ridiculous, but you have to think about it in a more serious way to get the point that I'm trying to make. If you ask nearly anyone who is familiar with the Harry Potter series, they'll tell you that Hufflepuffs are the lamest House and that any and all Hufflepuffs are pathetic. I completely disagree, because I'm a proud Hufflepuff. Based on the description given in the Sorting Hat's song from the first book, 

“You might belong in Hufflepuff, 

Where they are just and loyal, 

Those patient Hufflepuffs are true 

And unafraid of toil.” 

That description fits me perfectly, so why should I not be proud to be a part of a group where there are other people like me? The point of all this is that I know who I am better than anyone else does, and they have no right to label me as something when I know that it's not true.

Now to adress the other issue: social expectations for women. I recently read an article on Chictopia that discussed what a “real” woman is. I find that issue to be very controversial, similar to the whole skinny models topic. Every female human being is a real woman, unless they were born a man, in which case I wouldn't categorize them as a “real” woman, because they literally are not. When people say that “real” women have curves and don't have stick skinny legs, I don't get it. Just because not everyone can be six feet tall and thin, why does that mean that there aren't a good portion of women that are? They're just as real as a woman who's five foot two and has more curves. I simply do not understand where people get these ideas of who's real and who's not, because even in math there are very few numbers that aren't real. Just the fact that a woman exists makes her real. You might think I'm being too literal here, but I'm just trying to make a point.

Madeline of the blog Jean Greige also talked about it on her blog the other day. She started off talking about her hair, which she had dyed from blonde to a green-ish purple color using Kool-Aid. She wrote my exact (well, not actually because mind-reading is some deep stuff) thoughts on the issue:

“Many elements of media and western culture have ingrained in us a visual of the ideal woman. What is a woman supposed to look like? I was taught by mainstream visual cues that a woman is supposed to be busty and blonde, with a lot of makeup put on in such a manner that people think she is not wearing makeup, and with a particular way of dressing that shows off key body parts in a provocative manner. This dress is tight. Here are my legs. Here are my breasts. There is certainly nothing wrong with a woman choosing to look this way, but there is something wrong with society teaching us that this is the way a woman should look. The only way a woman should look is however she pleases. Blonde hair or blue hair. Long hair or no hair. High heels or Keds. Makeup or unshaven legs. Adhering to trends or ignoring them completely.

This is why I love fashion. It presents such a variety of alternatives to inspire women. By showing us silly ways to dye our hair and wear awkward proportions and humorous accessories, fashion is really showing us ways to self-identify rather than allowing male-dominated perceptions of the feminine ideal to identify us on our behalf. This is the brilliance of The Man Repeller The more we step outside of the standard idea of 'what a woman should look like', the more we have the power to redefine sex-appeal for our cultural standard. Sex-appeal should be based on confidence and intelligence. The way we look should be something extra but unrelated, something which we can have fun without fear of judgement or consequence.”

She's kind of a genius. Everything she said is so true. As a teenage girl, there are certain things that people expect me to do and ways I should act and things I should wear and say. Like what I was saying in this post, I won't wear or do anything if it makes me uncomfortable. I don't dress for other people, I dress for myself. Some people think that fashion is shallow because it's all based on appearance, but it's only shallow if people choose to see it that way.

I like to think that people read my blog for the written content, not just the pictures, so let me know if you like reading about things like this on my blog in the comments or in an email to youreatulle@gmail.com

Feel free to add your two cents in the comments area. Or five dollars. All donations go to cancer research. That was a joke.

I'm still working on my project, which is hard work, but fun at the same time. The joys of fashion... 
You know what else is fun? The launch of Huffington Post's High School Bloggers site that happened on Tuesday, October 4th! Supah stoked up in this club! Spread the word!

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