25 May 2010

this is the post that was supposed to happen

Several days of amusement and procrastination in one post.

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Went to the local flea market with my friend Massiel and explored. This is city hall, it's very beautiful.
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Scored quite a a few things, all very saccharine and girly and not particularly my thing but too cute to pass up. They've all got a few flaws -- the last dress is beautiful (it reminds me of Atonement actually? Random?) but there are a few stains, and one of the sleeves is ripped and the bust doesn't fit very well. But it was too pretty to leave. I got a few portraits of my favorite old film stars and a flower garland as well. 8 bones.

I dunno. Summer and Spring, I love them a lot for the long days, but I can never figure out what to wear because layering is basically all I like doing. It's weird trying to adjust, I find myself wearing really simple, bright, girly outfits a lot when I'd rather be in a deconstructed trenchcoat and a pile of raggedy lace. Bluhhh.

i like my high heels and my riot grrrl. bite me.

This is Hagrid chilling in my garden to lure you into a very long post:

 Thank you for your input (good, bad, and the useless) in my last post. I realize my video might have been a bit confusing.  It was a rant, it was called a rant, and I ranted. As it is my blog I just post whatever I want, and I felt like posting that. In any case for everyone who watched it and left a comment (regardless of what it said) thanks. You guys brought up some very good points for the most part.

As it is, I am a feminist: so for the people that said I would have to stop blogging or stop loving fashion to be a real feminist, I do think that's 99.999 percent bullshit. I don't think being a 'real' feminist means I can't like fashion, and the fact I would have to give up something I love and work hard at do be a 'real' feminist just seems strange to me. Why would I have to give up something I love to prove that I'm a real feminist? Fashion isn't perfect, it has double standards, it's flawed. Yes. But fashion is also what got me into feminism in the first place, because it's a form of self expression. And as a feminist I do think every woman has a right to express themselves in whatever medium they so desire, including fashion.

You cannot tell me you're a real feminist or better than me at being a feminist just because I like fashion. Since when has there even been a rule of thumb to these sorts of things? Is there a guideline on how to be a real feminist I should be following? Don't think so.

"Throughout the nineteenth century anything 'detailed' or 'ornamental' was judged feminine or inferior; and this distinction was carried on into modernism." - Ash + Wilson 1992

So when you say fashion, which is both detailed or ornamental, is an inferior hobby, you're also saying that since it's such a feminine industry (as it is assumed to be) it's a worse thing to like than say, a 'manlier' industry, like sports. Is that really something you want to be saying? (That being said I wish things didn't have a gender connotation in the first place. Methinks gender is what you make of it.)

 I do not think fashion is inherently bad, or stupid, or shallow, or any of those things. If I did I wouldn't like it in the first place. I have said it a million times, I will say it another million -- I'm not into fashion that's too saccharine or easy. I've always liked fashion that meant something just as much as it was something to wear.  Kawakubo said in an interview once, "My clothes are for women who don't care what their husband thinks about what they're wearing." She's said a million other things I could quote, but the point has been made: my favorite designers are the ones who project a strong, powerful person in their clothes. The clothes may be uncomfortable to the viewer, but the wearer doesn't give a damn, because it's comfortable to her or him. What s\he's wearing is as powerful as s\he is.


In my research on my favorite designers, I asked myself the question: what links all of them together? Why do I like them so much? They're all defined to be post-modernist designers. Bernard wrote that post-modernity as a zeitgeist "...was a world of culture in which tradition, universal beliefs and standards have been challenged". They're rebels, they mish mash anything and everything to create what they want; fashion is for the aristocrats as well as the paupers.

Fashion, as produced by these designers -- McQueen, Margiela, Demuelemeester, Kawakubo, Westwood -- it wasn't about a gender, it was about an ideal. That's what I like, I don't want to be told that "if I wear ___ I will be more of a women, or more classy, et all". I want to be told "this is for someone who is very powerful and confident with themselves. it has a power of it's own."

A lot of self proclaimed feminists (I am not saying they aren't feminists, they're just different from me) seem to think that all fashion reinfoces sexual objecticiation, that it's counterintuitive to traditional feminist ideals. That seems like a blanketing and ignorant statement to me.... I will admit that a lot of designers just continue with the idea that good design = makes women look and feel sexy / a certain way = sexual objectification, but that isn't every designer in the book, that's just a few. You can't tell me Hussein Chalayan's collection of clothing-furniture is supposed to be sexually objectifying, or that a collection that was lovingly called the "Cancer Collection" is supposed to give a man a boner.

There are a lot of questions that have no easy answer. What gives an activity a gender stigma? What makes you a good feminist? What makes you not a good feminist? Why is fashion frowned upon?

This was supposed to be an outfit post, but looks like that's not going to happen.  Anyway, here is a dinosaur from my garden.

14 May 2010

this is a rant about 'girl stuff'


This has been bubbling up for months actually, thinkin about feminism, girl stuff, etc. I've been researching it for like.. the entire year (I seriously have a huge google document that's pages and pages long about it...) but Tavi's post got me motivated enough to post something here.

It is ten minutes long (I cut out repetition to save time, I was just going off the top of my head, no prep) but hopefully ten minutes well spent. Sorry for the strange quality, I don't know crap about compressing. If you guys don't hate videos I suppose I'll do them more often (shorter, obvz) but I just didn't feel like writing it all out so I just recorded free form.

Yup. 

12 May 2010

oh don't ask why

Woops I got bad at posting again, my bad. HERE IS SPAM TO APPEASE YOU!


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Been mostly into accessories rather than whole looks lately... my wardrobe isn't really interesting right now (I've been binging on nail polish and eyeshadows too much to actually invest in new clothes. Sad truth) but I've been really diggin my accessories.


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It's basically a bunch of obnoxiousness: sequins, metallics, tulle, neon colors. I know camel and khaki is the new black and everything but I was never into that and I'm not really going to go out and buy a trenchcoat in the name of the 'new postmodern woman'. I dig Celine, I do (I've been working the leather shorts look for a few years now, thanks very much) but the trends right now are just not my thing.

Like clogs. I hate clogs. I hate them, I don't care if Chanel does them (then again, when do I care about Chanel anyway? ....man it must seem like I hate Chanel....I don't! I swear. Karl is Kaiser.), they are just ugly gardening shoes to me. Give me a break ok. I am really into the clean lines that 90's postmodern offers, and I have a big soft spot for CK and Margiela and all that jazz but I just feel incomplete without shiny or colors in my outfits. Wearing all monochrome or nuetral shades just makes me feel lame.

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Sequin Backpack: Courtesy of Coach Watch: Courtesy of Tobi.com Chain Necklace: Goodwill Shoes: Steve Madden Nail Polishes: NK Nail Designs, Wet N' Wild Hat: Goodwill Glasses: What Goes Around Comes Around in NYC

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doin ma best anna impression

Doin ma best Anna impression. Do I intimdate you or do I just look like a gerbil?

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Better look at my hair color. People ask me if I change it everyday, but I don't. It changes shade and saturation every night and every wash because of the products I use in it. I stopped caring if the color fades a few weeks ago, 'cause there is no magical shampoo that will keep color forever. Just gotta roll with the flow man. Also: I am really that pale. I hate the sun. I HATE IT. 

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Love my new watch, though I guesstimate the time now (I'm never off by more than a minute, it honestly isn't a problem at all). I have a habit of only liking watches that look fake or like candy hahaha. I'll show you my watch collection in another post, it's no Rolex Shrine but I find it amusing.

Waste ten seconds of your life watching a video of me being a creep! You know you want to.




Mmmk. School is almost over -- little over a month before I graduate, crazy?? It feels anticlimactic because I don't really care anymore anyway, I just want to move on. My summer is looking awesome though, fashion to my eyeballs. I'm stoked. I'm crazy busy all the time now, but very happy nonetheless.

Anyway. Back to work. :)

01 May 2010

Jose Duran 2010



Jose Duran Fall 2010 Collection. Director - Daniel Garcia ; Stylist - RenĂ© Garza ; DP - Ruben O’Malley ; EP - Steve Choo Choreography - Elena Vazintaris ; Models - Indiamara @ IMG models & Megan Black @ Basic models ; Make-up - Agata Smentek, Hair - Marco Guglielmino ; Music - The Editors - In This Light & On This Evening

My new friend René styled this video... it's totally dope and makes me feel like the legacy Lee left us isn't gone, you know? I still have no idea what's to become of McQueen as a House but when I see awesome stuff like Duran's work it makes me think the big hole that's been left isn't going to be aching for ever. That being said, no one will ever be Mcqueen, but this collection is something I'm really looking forward to.

Randomness: we're doing jewelry pendant in art class and my teacher thought my tribute to the mcqueen shoe was too fugly. D:< I'm doing it anyway. I'm making a unicorn, technically, but I'm going to make it wear the mcqueen shoes. Compromise is awesome!!!1