I Don't Believe We've Met

And so I revert back to my awful puns for post titles. It feels good to be home.

As you are most likely aware, the Met Costume Institute Gala 2012 happened just the other night. It's one of the biggest events of the year; other titles include the Met Ball and the Oscars of the East Coast. The reason all of this happens is to celebrate the opening of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's annual fashion exhibit. This year the exposition is "Impossible Conversation," showing the differences and similarities between two of Italy's greatest designers, Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada. You can check out some picz from the exhibit on Harper's Bazaar's website. Da yooj.

The best thing about the Met Gala is that it's infinitely more artistic than, say, the Oscars or the Grammys. Those are so commercialized and in my opinion, a little overrated (most of it is just watching people walk down the red carpet. For two hours. Wanna just show up on time, guys? That would be super.). If you're going to a museum exhibit opening, by default it is artsy. Therefore, people have a bit more fun with their outfits. Not as many people pay attention to this particular event (in comparison to the Academy Awards), so the attendees are free to experiment as they please. You'll see what I mean in a minute.

I've selected a few of my favorites from the evening to share with you all. Make like Spongebob and just soak it all in. That was really bad. Wow. 


Photos via harpersbazaar.com.

Mah home gurl, Arizona Muse, in Erdem, with the designer. They are so perfect together. I want to be their child friend. I'm a huge fan of Erdem's dainty floral prints, so slap 'em on Arizona Muse and you've got yourself a winner. 

Here we have China Chow rockin' that Jean Paul Gaultier. This dress is so architectural and confusing that I can't tell if she's a woman or a tent. That is man repelling at its finest. 

Diane Kruger, also man repelling at the Met Gala in some Pradadada. Undefined waist: check. Tent-like silhouette: check. Feather adorned hemline: check. It's a good thing she already has a husband.  

Hailee Steinfeld, how I love you so! You're barely six months older than I am, yet your wardrobe is a million times better than mine will ever be. In honor of the exhibit's subject, Hailee's sporting a Prada dress. The straight neckline and embellishments are totally age appropriate--you've done it again, Hailee. 

I've already professed my love for Alexa Chung before, so I won't launch into a whole speech now. She's showing us a prime example of someone experimenting a lil' bit on the red carpet. When was the last time you saw someone wearing a white button-up shirt and a leather dress to a black tie event? That would be never. She and Karen Elson both rock some scrumpdiddlyumptious Marc Jacobs ensembles. 

I'm not a huge fan of the actress, but I love her dress. Kristen Stewart actually surprised me a bit by wearing a patchwork Balenciaga piece. We've got some python-esque print, some colorblocking, some leather...she's covered all the bases. Kudos to Kristen.

Coco Rocha has so much going on here that I don't even know where to begin. Let's start from the top and work our way down. Pink dip-dyed hair...hmm. Not quite sure how I feel about it. It's a little too Katy Perry for me, but it's tolerable. The vintage Givenchy yellow pantsuit is perfect, though. It was worn by Elizabeth Taylor, and she's even got the wine stain to prove it. 

Another teenage favorite: Dakota Fanning. She and her sister Elle are probably angels from heaven, but like, whatever. Dakota keeps it sweet and simple in a gorgeous Louis Vuitton gown. She has the pastel trend down pat. 

Here we have Exhibit B (pun, 'cause it's a museum-related gala) of experimental fashion. Elizabeth Banks is wearing Mary Katrantzou. There is some masterful peplumery going on right here. I can't tell if I like the hair and makeup, though. I think a red lip and slicked back hair in a cool bun or something would've been better. 

Emma Stone keeps it cute and playful in this red Lanvin number. As per yooj, Emma accessorized/hair styled/makeup-ed perfectly. 10 points for Gryffindor (the joke there is that she and Emma Watson share the same name, and latter played Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter films, and Hermione is a Gryffindor.)! 

January Jones is once again in Versace. Is that a mini peplum I see? Either way, it's a yellow dress, and that's always a good thing. January is basically a trendy sex monster. Hmu. 

More fancy fun with eveningwear! I love me some Rodarte, and that shade of orange on Kirsten Dunst is quite smashing. She's totally channeling the forties look, down to the hair and accessories. 

Classic Linda Farrow. She's wearing Naeem Khan. That's all I can say. 

Chanel is by far one of my favorite design houses on the face of the planet, so you can imagine my delight when I saw Stella Tennant wearing this dress. I mean, she has a metal corset on. She's practically wearing armor. We got ourselves a fierce chick up in hurr. 

I usually don't go into such great depth about celebrity fashion, but there were some especially interesting looks at the Met Gala, wouldn't you agree?

I'm as curious as a cat today so why don't you tell me which one is your favorite? That would be cute. You can pour your heart out into the comments section, this blog's Facebook wall, send a tweet, et cetera, whatever tickles your fancy, floats your boat...I truly would like your fancies tickled and your boats afloat.

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Trending Right Now: Silly Sunnies

A few weeks ago, it would've been okay if I'd kept saying "Trending Next Spring." April was kind of a joke. But May is now upon us, and the fact that spring has come with it is inevitable. I might confuse you if I continued to title these posts with names referring to next spring. The lack of consistency is going to bother me immensely, but I shall do this for the good of the public. Meaning you.

On to the real matter at hand: sunglasses. I have a love-hate relationship with this particular accessory. As a young girl, I was always infuriated by them because I could never find ones whose lenses my eyelashes did not brush up against when I blinked. The best way I can describe this feeling is to have you imagine putting mascara on...every time you open and close your eyes. You can see why I became murderous as soon as the prospect of shopping for sunglasses entered my mother's mind. A few years ago, I discovered big sunglasses that made me look like a bug, Nicole Richie style. They were the only type I would wear. Period. My mom thought I was insane, probably. I literally looked like an insect. I totally dug it. (Almost a pun?) Last year when I went to France with my French class over spring break, I found my beloved pair of heart-shaped sunglasses in Nice, and the rest is history. My love affair with UV-ray-protecting lenses and their respective frames is quite complicated, but undoubtedly existent. I've gathered more pairs of sunglasses in the past year or so than in the preceding fourteen-ish years, including these ones from Venice Beach and these puppies from my mom.

The thing that I love about sunglasses is that they add character to any outfit while shielding your eyes from the harmful sun. That bitch. Causing skin cancer, hurting your eyes, over-warming the Earth...so overrated. As you can tell from my heart sunnies, I prefer kooky ones to plain ones. I was never a fan of the classic Ray Bans, mostly because they looked awful with my bangs. Now that those repulsive things are gone, I think I can explore that new world of possibilities without fear. Feelin' a little like Christopher Columbus here, guys. Crazy sunglasses are exactly what we should be talking about right now (the key words there are "right now")--nothing is more on-trend. Except maybe all of these things.

Here are the best of the weirdest that walked the runways for this season. Get ready, fish is about to get cray.

Photos via harpersbazaar.com.

Acne 

I don't even know what to call these. Are they aviation goggles? I mean, they can't possibly be sunglasses. 

Lanvin

I thought these were like the Matrix sunglasses, but it turns out they're not. I wouldn't really know because I've never seen those movies (please don't hate me. While we're on the topic I've never seen "West Side Story" or "Rent" either), but I just kind of assumed. They're actually more Spy Kids than anything.

Prada

Pradadadada sunglasses, part deux! These sort of remind me of the ones my mom gave me. 

Proenza Schouler 

I love cat-eye sunglasses more than anything. These are cat-eyes to da extreme. I just realized that the word extreme is spelled similarly to the word creme, and I was thinking earlier today how in certain situations creme is a much prettier word than cream, but not all the time. 

Rag & Bone

Swimming goggles?

Sorry, that wasn't supposed to be a question. That is a solid fact. She could probably dive into a pool and be able to see just fine.

Rochas

I may have lied before. These are the most extreme cat-eye glasses I have seen to date. They're like if a teardrop was wearing a turquoise Snuggie. ...Sort of. 

If you're looking for some more sunny silliness, hop on over to the Man Repeller's blog (what's new.) and check out her lil' story about the crayest of the cray. Sunglasses-wise, that is.

It's Wednesday.
...Yeah.

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Can I Have Your Closet: Max Piersol

I had my first verbal interaction with Max Piersol merely days before I took his picture for this post. I'd been admiring his style from afar for a while (you'll see why in a minute--this kid is a straight up boss), but put yourself in my shoes. Would you honestly go up to a kid with a pink skateboard and attempt to engage him in conversation? No, he's definitely too cool for you. He wears knee-high socks, guys. Socks up to the knee. I don't remember how it happened exactly, but all I know is that a week and a half ago, I was in the basement of my school (this is not nearly as shady as it sounds) and I was asking Max if he would mind if I took photos of him and interviewed him for this blog. His response was as follows: "Yes please." I knew from that moment on that this was going to be a great experience. 

Since I really just met Max, I don't know much about him. He's an actor and a skater, and as I learned from doing this segment on him he has the potential to model. Max is an adorable human being. Just putting that out there. Even though I'd barely spoken to him before he stepped in front of the camera, he was completely at ease during the interview; before I knew it he was throwing profanities around and making me giggle like the little girl that I am. The thing that I really appreciated about Max is that he was so unapologetic with his answers. Here's a great example: how many teenage boys do you know that would openly admit, knowing full well that his answer was going on the internet, that his mommy buys most of his clothes? I'm going to go ahead and guess not many. I suppose you have to be pretty shameless about that sort of stuff if you can rock a neon pink skateboard, bow tie, flannel shirt, brightly colored socks and a sideways hat...all at once. I know you must be really pumped to read about/see this kid, so without further ado, I give you Max Piersol. 

Note: I don't sensor any of the interviews because I feel that limits the interviewee's freedom of expression. If profanity makes you uncomfortable or something, I understand if you don't want to read this post. It comes up very minimally here but I figured it would be considerate just to let you know. 

Odelia: How would you describe your style?

Max: Okay, a lot of the stuff I wear is like—I don't wear skinny jeans 'cause I have to skate. I wear baggy clothing 'cause it's easier to skate in, but then also, I wear like, my big flannel—my big flah-nell—and also I wear baggy pants, not these ones, but sometimes I do, that's usually my style. It makes me feel like a samurai, and that's really cool. Like, I dig the whole samurai style.

Odelia: That's awesome. Who are your fashion icons and who do you admire aesthetically?

Max: My fashion icons are... [long pause] shit! [Laughter from interviewer] Nora, my friend Chris [Rivera], I'm in a gang with him. Hold on, let me think, I can come up with a good one. Oh, right, yeah, the Doctor, Rory, like everyone from “Doctor Who,” Chris from “Skins,” Alo from the third generation of “Skins...” Yeah.

Odelia: Where are your favorite places to shop?

Max: [Laughs] Okay. I buy my shoes from skate shops, but I always wear Vans, so that doesn't really matter. And then my mommy buys a lot of my clothes.

Odelia: [Laughs] Do you know where she goes?

Max: No. [Laughs] I order my pants online, 'cause they're cooler that way. And then, yeah, skate shops and my mom.

Odelia: Nice. If you could own one item right now that you don't have, what would it be?

Max: Okay, there's like this—Push Culture, this clothing line called Push Culture, and it's like longboard clothing and they have these sick-ass pants that are kind of like my style, except they cost like a hundred bucks, but they're still really cool, and I want them.

Odelia: Awesome. This is the last one: would you say that fashion is a big focus in your life?

Max: Yeah. Maybe I don't think about it like other people that dig the whole fashion scene and everything, but I do like to look at myself in the mirror sometimes and be like, “Today I look pretty cool.”

Photos by me. 

Max Piersol: part model, part skater, part actor, part student, part kewl kat. 

This kid has a freaking neon pink skateboard and coral socks. It doesn't get much better than this. 

Flah-nell: present. Decked out helmet: check. Shoestring (otherwise known as a shoelace, but that word is for n00bs) functioning as a belt: you know it. Makeshift Frankenstein-esque stitches: of course. [Edit: I was informed by several people that these are in fact silence marks, which is in reference to Doctor Who. I apologize for my ignorance.]

I'm not usually a fan of caps, but this one is sick. Max goes hardcore with his skating, and I totally dig it. 

I call this one, "The Thinker." 

Peep the underside of his hat. 

Pulling an Elvis, keepin' it classy. 

Werk. 

This was in reference to something that he has to do in drama class, but I totally did not get it. I appreciate the pose, though. 

Yeah. I'll just let all of that sink in. 

On another note, I wanted to apologize for being absent from this blog for nearly a week. As they say, duty calls, duty here meaning school. Specifically English class. Specifically The Odyssey. Only 38 pages left. I read approximately 200 over the weekend and still managed to go on an adventure in Prospect Park and eat Indian food in Jackson Heights and do yoga in Chelsea. You see now how my choice was between either blogging or sleep--my mind said blogging but my body was like, "Shut up you ho," and in the end my corporeal being had more control over me than my noggin. I hope that not writing often in May doesn't become a tradition (I only wrote eight posts last May, but I had an excuse. I was kind of starring in my school's musical. That sort of thing is a little time consuming.). 

I'm still bummed about missing the Supermoon. Damn you, visible masses of condensed water vapor floating in the atmosphere! 

Jolly Monday and a wonderful week to you! 

P.S. This may be the last one of this for a few weeks until I find new subjects. Don't fret, I shall have a few more in the near future. I already know who they are, they just don't know yet. 

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Singing Sweet Songs

If you ever wanted a list of things you shouldn't do on a school night, going to a concert at Gramercy Theatre is probably one of them. As I told you on Monday, I went to a Charlene Kaye concert last night at that particular venue. Let me revise that: I thought I was going to a Charlene Kaye concert last night. You know me, I've got a story for everything. It's time to tell da tale.

I got to Gramercy at around 6:40, only ten minutes after they said the concert was starting. I thought I was going to be fashionably late or something. In reality, I was standing in a sparsely populated room for about 45 minutes, listening to some Canadian Starkid/Glee/Darren Criss diehards who had indigo hair and partially shaved heads blab about their obsessive lives. It was hell. I was by myself, mind you. Really k00l, I know. The concert finally started at around 7:45, but it wasn't Charlene, or anyone that I was expecting to be opening for her. It was Jillette Johnson; she was actually really good (imagine a mix between Regina Spektor and a lil' bit of Lana Del Ray, but a much more musically talented Lana). I thought Charlene was going to come on next, but no. It was Theo Katzman. His band was great and he was so adorable, but it was getting late, and there was no sign of Charlene coming out any time soon. After Theo wrapped up his set, I got my hopes up that she would be the next person on stage. Wrong again. It was Alicia Lemke, who was legitimately a brunette Lana Del Ray. She was wearing a white maxi dress with cutouts at the rib cage and had a wreath of feathers protruding from the side of her head, and she was playing a ukelele. Let's just say I wasn't the biggest fan. While she was playing, I got autographs from Theo Katzman and Charlene Kaye, who had actually come out to watch the show and was j-chillin'. At this point, my mom was like, "You need to go, you have school tomorrow." But then, being the awesome chick she is, she agreed to stay for a bit of Charlene's set and was let in by the guards after complaining about how I'd saved up money for the ticket and I didn't even get to see what I'd come for (it was a $15 ticket...). I was mega pumped when she hit the stage, but then I didn't even know any of the three or four songs she played because they were all off the new album that she had released that day. I kind of just gave up and went home. I got some pictures, though. Wanna see?

Photos by me. 

This is Jillette Johnson, just jammin' out on her keyboard. She had on a really awesome jacket that had a denim bodice and leather sleeves. It looked just like this one from Sandro, although I doubt a budding musician has enough money to spend on a $400 jacket. 

Theo was actually a really classy dude. He had on a tie and a black shirt and everything! He even had little gold hoop earrings that I observed when I talked to him. Kewl kid, is he not? 

He's totally getting into his music, which I love. It's just the greatest when people are passionate about their craft; that's probably why I go to an arts school. That would make sense.

Charlene Kaye! FINALLY! She had on some really intense glittery eye makeup, but the best part of her ensemble was the dress itself: it was some sort of mermaid-y sparkly sea green spandex dress with a feathered neckline, which you can sort of see above. It was really intense. 

You can see the outfit better here. Imagine wearing that. ...I can't. Just the whole idea of it is really frightening and overwhelming, but props to her for rocking it. No pun intended. 

Here's a playlist of my favorite songs from all the artists pictured above: 

1. Cameron by Jillette Johnson 

2. Every Few Days by Theo Katzman 

3. I Feel Love (All the Time) by Theo Katzman 

4. Strike a Chord by Charlene Kaye

5. Different Colored Eyes by Charlene Kaye 

6. All the Life Around by Charlene Kaye 

7. Dress and Tie by Charlene Kaye featuring Darren Criss <--a.k.a. the love of my life 

8. Magnolia Wine by Charlene Kaye 

9. Skin and Bones by Charlene Kaye featuring Darren Criss

10. Bound Red Gideon by Charlene Kaye 

Happy listening (and Wednesday)! 

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