Modern Design

A little while ago, I received an email about doing a sponsored post with a website called Modern Design. The deal was I'd get a ring made of tungsten and all I had to do was write about it. Obviously, I took the opportunity, because free things--despite what anyone tells you--ROCK. 

After poring over the website for hours trying to pick out the ring I wanted, 'cause decisions suck and everything was pretty and AHHHH, I finally enlisted the help of my mom, my sister, and Lola to give their opinions. I eventually decided on the ring you see pictured below, a badass ring with Roman numerals on it. Roman numerals remind me of a) Harry Potter (not too sure why but they just do) b) ...the ancient Romans.... c) ~intellectualism~ d) antiquity, and I like all those things. They have all been condensed into a piece of jewelry I can wear on my phalange of choice. 

[Photos taken by myself, with this snazzy new camera/video camera Lola's family gave me.]

Fingers are weird and bendy--why? 

Channeling the fierceness of Harry and the DA

My grandma's dining room table served as a perfect platform for my lil photoshoot.

Because I am silly I also threw in the bracelet my mom recently got me.

Heh heh EFF EVERYTHING!!!! 

Check out Modern Design's kick-ass jewelry by clicking HERE.

Have a fancy funky weekend, or have a weekend devoid of either of those adjectives. 

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Tell Me About It, Stud

From personal experience, wearing most dangling earrings or any earrings made of any straight up metal have always made me look a bit too ghetto-fabulous for my style. There's nothing wrong with ghetto-fabulous (it has the word "fabulous" in it, so obviously) (PS that word was coined by my freshman year French teacher), it's just not for me. 

One thing I always loved about Caroline's style is that she has some of the coolest studs. She has two simple piercings, right on her lobes, so she accessorizes them with the earrings hailing from the Realm of Badassery. I have six piercings across both ears, so wearing funky studs doesn't really work too well for me because the other holes detract from the awesomeness of the center pieces (the studs). But I'm working out ways to remedy this dilemma, mostly because there are very few things I wouldn't do to get my hands on the Fiona Apple earrings that you will see below. 

The perks of wearing bangin' studs are as follows: 

1) They're simple and understated, yet are unique enough to not fade into the background (here meaning your ears).

2) If you have the standard ear piercings, you can wear them. You don't need a cartilage piercing or a septum piercing to do this. 

3) These studs work with most people's styles. Caroline and I have very different aesthetics, yet I can see us both wearing these earrings. 

I combed through several pages on Etsy in search of some of the best studs out there. Here ya go. 

[Photos via Etsy.com.]

Whole wide world vintage world map studs from Bloomy Jewelry

Now you can never claim that you're bad at geography (I don't know where Iowa is, either, it's not just you).

Gold wire knot studs from WirePalladiumJewelry

I think someone got a little frustrated.

Deathly Hallows studs from AspieCraft

I don't care if Harry Potter is not cool anymore, my love for it will never die, thus these earrings are a perfect manifestation of my ceaseless adoration.

Full moon studs from Bloomy Jewelry

You can only wear these once a month.

Question mark and ampersand studs from Allium Jewellery

For all those grammar sticklers out there.

Clock studs from Bloomy Jewelry

I guess watches are overrated anyway...(no they're not I love watches)

Silver elephant studs from ChelseaJewels

Pretend that you bought these in a foreign country and impress all of the people that aren't going to ask you about your earrings.

Shaka sign studs from GreatJewelry4All

I make this hand motion so often, and now my ears can act on behalf of my mobile extremities.

Fiona Apple studs from ARTWORKbyMALLORY

I AM BUYING THESE SO BACK OFF.

Marilyn Monroe studs from ARTWORKbyMALLORY

Drink up, laydeez.

Andy Warhol studs from ARTWORKbyMALLORY

Has anyone ever made the Andy Walrus joke?

Frankenstein studs from ARTWORKbyMALLORY

Lil' Frankie.

Monet studs from ARTWORKbyMALLORY

I don't know what painting this is from but these remind me of the sun setting in a desert.

Black cat earrings from Catmade

I don't like cats all that much. They stare at me and bite me. But there's, like, a whole cat culture out there so for people that are into that, here you are. I must admit, these are quite interesting.

It's never the wrong time to buy jewelry, especially when, by doing so, you're supporting ~small businesses~ that are often run by women. It's a win-win for everybody on the planet because you are helping yourself and society and the economy so BUY YOURSELF SOMETHIN' NICE. Also most of these earrings are relatively cheap.

I hope everyone had a nice July 4th and is surviving the oven.

Things are crazy, ya know?

Okay those are my daily musings, your turn.

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Over It

There are really only a few things in the world that I will never get sick of: Spongebob, water, grapefruits, and overalls. And maybe Raisin Bran. And also chocolate. There's just so much to love about all of them that I couldn't imagine why I would ever stop enjoying their existence. Let's scooch back a little bit and focus on the fourth tenet of my list, our dear friend the Overall. 

I was on quest to find the perfect shortalls a while back, if you recall. My next unspoken quest was for the shortalls' cooler older sister, the overalls, and this quest was completed with minimal effort. Story time! In eighth grade, my mom found her old pair of overalls from when she was either my age, living in France, or from the '80s. It's unclear. What is clear, however, is that they are lavender, made of some odd crushed-velvet-corduroy-but-not-really fabric, and are essentially perfect in every way. At the time of their discovery, I was too much of a pudgeball to fit into them comfortably, so I gave them to Lola for safekeeping. A few months ago, I was reminded of their existence, and greedily asked for them back (just kidding about being greedy, we now have a healthy relationship with the overalls. They serve as a sort of "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" object, except there's only two of us, and these pants cover our whole body). I now wear them at least twice a month, if not more. I somehow always manage to wear them on the same day my friend Violet wears her mom's overalls, so when we walk into English class in the morning we stare at each other in shock and everyone thinks we are weird outfit-coordinating freakazoids. There seems to just be a certain feeling in the air that lets each of us know that it's the right day to have them on. 

Seeing as it was Fashion Week, I figured there was no better time to flaunt them in the public eye. I wore these bad boys to the Son Jung Wan show last Saturday (more to come on that soon). 

[Photos by Lola.]

Overalls: Gap (my mom's)

Striped shirt: my mom's

Jacket: Gap via Housing Works

Boots: Timberland 

A look that exudes pure, unrefined badassery.

Necklace: "Om" charm from a bead store on a chain from a different necklace (I've been wearing this everyday since I bought it in December)

Choker: a gift from a frand

Isn't it convenient to have a choker that reminds everyone what my first initial is, and that my first initial looks conveniently like a normal shape?

Just being happy in my comfyclothes. 

Bow: a phree-bee!

I thought putting a bow on my shoe would add more pizzazz than if I put it in my hair. Luckily for me, since I'm always rushing wherever I'm going, my shoe bow fell off at some point in my day's travels and now it is lost forever. RIP shoe bow. 

I'm now supposedly on my February break, which is really just a four-day weekend because the public school system sucks royal hippogriff, which actually means that I'm not going to get to blog as much as I wanted to because some people don't understand that four days is not long enough to do a week's worth of homework. Basically I hate everything besides the aforementioned list (see: the beginning of this post).

Happy Saturday! If you're one of those people that has a full week off, you suck!

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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.

Hufflepuff x Grotto NYFW Launch Party

With only two days left until New York Fashion Week officially begins (as well as Fashion Month as a whole), the entire city is alight with fashion talk, kick-off parties, and lots of models. ...If you can 'alight' something with skinny people. The first of many events I'm going to be attending in the next week or so--that wasn't intended to sound so pretentious, I swear--was last night, the Grotto NYFW Launch Party. I'm still not quite sure why I was invited, but I was über pumped when I was, of course. Firstly because it was a fashion week party, and secondly because Anya from Project Runway was debuting her Spring 2013 collection there. Hell yeah. 

I got myself all dolled up for the occasion...only to stand in line in the rain for about forty-five minutes. I got inside eventually--after seeing and briefly conversing with several Project Runway veterans, one of whom invited me to their runway show next week--and stayed for about twenty minutes speaking to a lovely couple from New Zealand. By the time I got inside, Anya's show was over. Mondo bummer. (That was a Project Runway pun right there!) It was at the Norwood Club in Chelsea, which is really just a freaking fancy townhouse with bars on every floor. It was very much intended for adults. And then there was me. 

I took some pictures of what I wore once I got home, painfully slipping back into my heels for the photos. Only for you guys. Literally. I would never have done that otherwise. Two syllables: blisters. 

[Photos by yours truly.]

Dress: vintage Jones New York via my mom's closet (classiq mama)

Heels: thrifted 

Bracelet: a store in Old Town

Watch: gift shop in Giverny 

Ring: Venice Beach 

I'm wearing the Hufflepuff house colors, black and gold, on purpose. I'm showing my house pride. Don't let anyone tell you Hufflepuffs are lame, because if they do I will come and slap them with my mental bitch-slapping hand. I have a hand that is especially for bitch-slapping because there are too many HuffPuff haters in the world. 

Cross-body bag: my great-grandma's with my gold belt attached with safety pins as a strap--classy, I know

Earrings: birthday present from my mom 

Those earrings are possibly the most painful things to get in. You have to drag a chain through the piercing in order to wear them properly. Mmmm.

It has a secret slit! I felt like Angelina Jolie all night, really. It goes higher, trust me. I just wanted to keep things PG. 

I had a few technical difficulties with my self-timer. 

It took several hours, a shiz ton of black nail polish, and a borderline poisonous amount of Absorbine Jr. (or Horse Juice, as I like to call it) to get my nails to look like that. Lola and I tried most of the ones from this post before realizing that splattering your nails with paint can in fact possibly go wrong.

I have one final day before school officially starts. DearGodsaveme. I had an awesome summer though, and hopefully you did, too. Autumn is one of my favorite seasons (because we have so many to choose from), so I'm getting quite excited about it. I am so done with walking around with a perpetual coat of perspiration on my body.

Merry Fashion Week! Let the games begin.

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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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Trending Next Spring: Do Your Ears Hang Low

I've had quite a busy little week, and it continues tomorrow afternoon with the Elizabeth + James Spring 2012 trunk show. More to come on that...after it happens. Short story short, I'm running a little low on time tonight but I didn't wanna leave ya hangin', so here's a little spring accessory trend to get you through the night.

I say, "costume jewelry," you say, "big and ostentatious." If we were playing the Connection Game, that would be quite an impressive answer. Regardless, large jewels and pieces of metal adorning one's ears hasn't been considered trendy for a while now. Vintage jewelry hoarders, rejoice! Put away your dainty studs and pull out the big guns--that is, your overly enormous, shoulder-grazing, so-heavy-these-could-rip-out-of-your-earlobe earrings.


Photos via harpersbazaar.com. 

Like little baskets hanging from your lobes, as seen at Bottega Veneta. 

I can't ear you! Punpunpunpun. As seen at Marni.

Oscar de la Renta didn't think one flower was enough, he had to put two. 

Pradadada! This is so Iris, methinks. Except I don't think she wears earrings all that much. She's got an arm party large enough to give one piece of it to every citizen of Wisconsin.

Peacin' out for the night. See you on the flip side. For some of us, that means the other side of the world (more to come on this later).

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Ankle Candy

Like arm candy, but for ankles.

As I mentioned the other day, I've decided to wear bracelets on my feet more often. Despite the fact that the temperature dropped back to its norm (as opposed to the near 70 degrees we had on Thursday), I wore flats and nice, chunky jewelry on my left ankle yesterday. The only downside to doing so: if you decide to jump-walk up stairs, it feels like the bracelet will fall off, but chances are you won't be doing that. I'm just an impatient stair-climber at times.

Cute story about these flats: I never wear flats (I wear flat shoes but not actual flats flats), but I bought these in May of 6th grade as a part of my costume in a school musical. I had to be a showgirl and we needed black shoes we could dance in, but we couldn't find any comfortable straight up black shoes. I figured black and white stripes weren't that different, so I got them. Turns out they are. I was the odd one out, what's new.

Every so often, when I'm feeling the vibe (I've been inspired lately by this girl I see on the subway every morning on my way to school; I may have to ask her if I can take her picture one day.), I'll whip these babies out and build a look around them. Since I was in the mood for an ankle bracelet, the combo made me think, "I need to wear cuffed jeans." My friend Sadie (you saw her feet in last night's post) has been wearing reminiscent-of-childhood t-shirts these past few days, so I threw on my Minnie Mouse shirt, and I never wear graphic tees. And in honor of the fact that it was Friday I threw on my flannel shirt, now known as my Friday Shirt. Fridays are that day where you're like, "Wow, can I please just go home, this is a useless day," and you just want to be comfy while moping. Flannels=comfort, and by the transitive property, flannels=Friday. Done.

Photos by me. 

Flats: American Eagle

Regular bracelet turned ankle bracelet: Squan Dry Goods given as a present from Edith

Jeans: Candie's

I kind of love this bracelet a lot. 

Deformed toe on the right, frayed hem on the left. Classy photo here.

Take special notice of my wood floor. Just do it.

It's Saturday, which means the weekend has begun, which means it's almost Monday and the cycle begins again. I really do have a somewhat pessimistic outlook on weekends.

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Current Obsessions: Give Your Wrists A Rest

And relocate the party from your arms to your ankles. Yep, I said it, I am staging an ankle bracelet comeback.

I found this cool golden chain necklace the other day and I wore it as, well, a necklace. Then I discovered that it was going to be nearing 70 degrees in New York today, so I was like, "I'll wear a dress and my Converse and an ankle bracelet." Problem is, I don't own any ankle bracelets. Solution? I took that same gold chain necklace, wrapped it twice around the place where my leg meetes my foot and clasped it, et voilà.

I say, "ankle bracelet" you say, "hippie," n'est-ce pas? I thought so too, but all of a sudden I have felt that they are very classy. Maybe it's because my friend Sadie (who you'll see more about in a few weeks' time on this here blog) has worn t-shirts reminiscent of childhood summer days this past week. Somehow I feel like Leandra mentioned them at some point, but I think this trend might actually be one of my own creation. Let's take a look at how some people on the interwebz have worn them.

Photos via Tumblr, a.k.a. the un-cite-able hellhole. 

Classy but cute. An elephant never forgets. ...Never forgets the charm of an ankle bracelet! Pun right there. Think about that one.  

Just straight up classy. 

The whole vibe is perfect. 

 And here's how I did it.

Converse: designed by me, made by Converse 

Necklace-cum-ankle-bracelet: my great-aunt Barbara's

I decided to ease myself in to it slowly by starting off with a simple gold chain. Sadly, it was hidden by the tongue of my sneakers most of the day, but I intend to keep at this, wearing bigger and/or adding more bracelets to my party. 

Come join the shindig, why don't you? It's a blast. 

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