Thursday, March 22, 2012

Tie Dye Minimalist

Dress - c/o Sugarlips Apparel, shoes - Nine West, earrings - UO 



Look at this fabulous dress Sugarlips gave me!!! My very first gift from an online fashion store. You have no idea how bad I wanted to squee all over my blog when I first got the email. It's always fantastic to be offered gifts, but to be offered a high quality, amazing item that you would have picked out for yourself had you discovered it on your own? Priceless.




And of course, the dress arrived on a difficult monday, made my day all the better. I can't paint a clearer picture than to tell everyone my room was a mess when I received the package - I'm pretty sure I paired the dress with every piece of clothing I owned. But then it occurred to me - less is more (a philosophy I have a hard time adopting some days.) If you can put intricate earrings (there goes that Edie Sedgwick inspiration again) with a dress that speaks for itself, you don't need volumes of accessories or other add ons.




I could have really gone buck wild with the photos, as me and my photographer traveled around for an entire afternoon to find *the* best shot. But I held back. With much difficulty.

Unfortunately, the dress is currently sold out. But here are some other items I fell in love with (click on the picture):







As you can see, they have a really diverse collection and I'm sitting here thinking of at least 20 different ways you could wear each item. Pretty cool, huh?

-h.


Thursday, March 15, 2012

Ombre lips

sweater - f21, button up - thrifted, leggings - UO, shoes - thrifted 

Don't be fooled, this photoshoot was taken in extremely windy weather and was absolutely freezing. All the outtakes were hilarious, my contacts were so dry because of the wind I look like I'm going crazy very slowly and I'm side-eyeing everyone...


Let it be known I'm obsessed with elbow patches. Obsessed. I've been wearing this sweater in all sorts of variations lately....Also I live in button ups. Just saying. Great for layering. But you knew that.



These past few weeks have been very difficult for me, not to make you pity me. You know the saying "when it rains, it pours"? My rainy life weather has been challenging the Richter scale, frankly. I wish I could tell you I've remained positive and optimistic. But what I have discovered is that sometimes when life sucks supremely, there are small "happy moments" life provides. I wore this outfit to college a few weeks ago. I have a long tread to my first morning class, over several flights of stairs and across the entire camp. It's a very lonely time, an optimal condition for daydreaming/dwelling on insecurities. While I was making my way up my final flight of stairs this random guy passed me and said, "excuse me, but were you the girl wearing those crazy black tights the other day?" it took me a second to register what he was talking about, but I remembered I wore this outfit recently so it must have been what he was talking about. He then proceeded to tell me "I could be a model" which left me with a smile for the next 15 minutes. I told him not model, but fashion blogger. You just have to take reassurance where you can get it, I guess. (What vanity...)



Also: OMBRE LIPS. Thank you, Nylon, for inspiring me. When I thought about attempting this, I was immediately bombarded by the memory of my childhood halloween costume of Queen Amidala from Star Wars...Remember those crazy red and white lips? I kept smearing mine throughout halloween night. I figured with ombre lips, I'd wind up doing the same thing. But nope. I've mastered the art of not pressing my lips together.

Perhaps a clearer picture of what I had in mind....I have a feeling this won't be the last you see of ombre lips. 

-h.


Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Sun & Moon

scarf, blouse, belt - thrifted, skirt - banana republic, earrings - vintage

So I recently wrote a story for one of my classes about a guy that sees butterflies

No seriously. This was my second story due for an assignment, my first one I was proud with, but didn't feel it was necessarily a "break through" - ie didn't really do what crazy things run through my mind on a daily basis much justice. Sometimes I humor myself and pretend I know what I'm doing, using intuition as my own critic.


So I wrote this story, right? It was about this crazy guy who hallucinates, written from his point of view. You really can't decipher what's real and what's not (or at least, I like to think.) I'm very drawn to psychedelic things thanks to my renewed obsession fascination with the Led Zeppelin film "The Song Remains the Same" and I decided to jump in head first. 

So the day it's due, and we're all critiquing each others stories (me with my pink pen of doom) and I see my story being passed around and I get to briefly take a glimpse...and I see it covered in writing from all different handwriting. Ugh. Fine then, I think to myself. Some things work and some don't. I made a mental note to scrap the idea entirely. I was incredibly worried this was too specific of a theme for a general audience - not everyone finds what weird things I find interesting. 

A day passes and I get my story back. Turns out the writing all over the page wasn't endless criticism, like I thought. It was actually praise! Everyone loved it! I was floating on cloud nine the rest of my day, even took the next class to reread the comments people made. If there's been one immediate affect this writing class has had on me, it's coming face to face with my worst demon, even more than writer's block - the fear of having my baby torn apart and ridiculed. This is yet another aspect I've fully emerged myself into, in hopes of breaking this habit - I practically throw my writing to anyone with eyes. I used to be so secretive. It's a great feeling. 

I tell this story not to "brag" of any writing skill I might possess, but rather, to update on a thought I posed a while ago. I opened up, honestly for the first time ever on this blog, about some rather personal feelings I was battling with - mostly about inadequacies and struggling with a real vision for my artistic endeavors. I'm nearing very important life deadlines, mostly regarding college and career choices. I'm at my absolute wit's end with decision making (god knows I'm horrible at it...I think I found a demon to challenge that other one...) and I'm telling you all this to explain the beauty of falling so low you can't fall any further. At this point, all you have is instinct and primal need. And I thought, what's my absolute most basic need? Writing. I want to do nothing more in life than write to my little heart's content. 


So not only is this a story of self discovery, but listening to your heart. It took me a while to find my own voice, especially with the "writing" medium. I took a lifeline and wrote about something uniquely inherent to myself and bit the bullet with my fear of criticism. I know I'm going to mess up in the future and write a less than perfect story, even to myself, but at least for now, I know what I'm capable of and have a steadier eye on the prize.

Oh, and the look today. SCARF. Love it. I love sun and moon things, saw this scarf, and have been planning a number of ways to wear it and show it off. Also, yellow colorblocking. Funnily enough, I dislike the color yellow on a regular basis, but the flow of colors and the spectrum I'm working with were appealing enough.

Thank goodness for swanky neighborhoods with fountains in the middle of the road.

-h.


Sometimes as I'm editing my photos, I feel like my cat is watching, so I let him do the decision making for me. He doesn't approve.