Happy Birthday Harlequin!

Anora Crescent Photography

So I’ve never made a birthday post, although I’ve had this blog for several years, I’ve never thought to publish a post exactly on May 7th. And I really don’t know what to say - but I did want to share these photos that Cyndi of Anora Crescent Photography took because they’re kind of special to me. And you know what’s different? This is one of the few times I’ve ever tried smiling in photos. Isn’t that weird? I realized I don’t smile often in photos. Like, never actually. Too busy trying to channel some sort of model fierceness, I guess. And then while I was compiling these pictures together, it kind of brought back memories as a kid when I never smiled with my teeth  in pictures because I was so embarrassed by them for so long – first, I had really crooked teeth, then I had braces for several years. I remember someone later on finally told me that you shouldn’t care about how your smile looks, so long as you’re smiling. And the encouragement helped. And then life happened, and I got to a point where I didn’t even remember those old feelings – old insecurities were replaced with new ones. Life is funny like that.

In lieu of birthday nostalgia, what I also find cool about these pictures is family jewelry I’m representing. I’ve worn some of these pieces before on this blog. One of my very first blog posts was one I modeled “family vintage” with a skirt, handbag and jewelry that all belonged to my mother, grandmother, or great-grandmother. The tagline was “four generations in one look.” I’m wearing the same necklace from that post: it’s my mom’s pendant with my grandmother’s pearls that I restrung back when I used to make jewelry. The bracelets and the rings are also thrifted vintage from flea markets and other consignment.

I bought the tartan I’m wearing while I was in Scotland – it’s touristy, but I’m so glad I have it. It’s so cute and warm. It makes me feel like an American Girl doll or something. Especially with this cute embroidered coat I bought from Forever 21. It’s so fancy!

I’m getting ready for my birthday weekend celebration! This is what happens when your birthday is on a Thursday. I’ve still got Friday to go through until it’s the weekend!

For The Right Occasion

Anora Crescent Photography

Where oh where do I wear this? That is the question I ask myself most when styling a look. It’s safe to say anything we choose to wear is informed by what circumstance or context we will be wearing the items in question. I don’t know about you, but I never assemble an outfit without thinking “is this too much for where I’m going?” 

Date night at a quaint martini bar in downtown Mebane? Let’s pick out a flirty, bright spring dress with beige heels. Rock concert at a cool club in Raleigh? Bring out the black leggings with mesh cut outs and a crop top with ankle boots. Low key night in hanging out with friends? High waist jeans with a t-shirt is fine by me. Imagine mixing up any of these outfits and places - how totally awkward would you feel!

Usually, my outfit-planning routine is this: Enter closet. Consider the evening’s events and destinations. Mix and match until I find the desired look. (Oh, if only is was that simple. Try on about ten different outfits, leave them scattered around your room. Yeah, that's more like it.)

I look back through these wonderful pictures taken by the awesome Anora Crescent Photography of Greensboro, NC and am reminded of those last days of winter. What strikes me most about these pictures is how perfect this outfit blends in with the environment. When modeling, it’s hard to imagine the perfect location to shoot some of these outfits. I have to think to myself, does this look read grungy, urban, industrial setting? Does it look like something that needs a nature background? And of course finding these places are a challenge. But Cyndi, the photographer, suggested taking these pictures at a lake, and now I can’t think of a better place to wear this outfit. Or maybe I’m just recalling how serene this place was. As I was looking out over the lake, there was this perfect moment where I watched birds fly across the lake and it was really beautiful and poignant.

I talked a little bit in my last series about “committing to the look” and wearing all items that connect in some way to each other to create a cohesive look. I’m really glad I got shots of this jewelry set, because I’m really excited about its authenticity and origins: it was given to me by my sister who bought it in Blowing Rock, NC, many years ago. The sweater jacket that I’m wearing from Forever 21 has a pattern that reminds me somewhat of Native American art - (so I wrote an entire rough draft on the topic of cultural appropriation vs. appreciation because I really hated the idea of calling this look “Native American” themed. Too much ink has already been spilled over this topic in the fashion blogging community already; there’s not much more I can say other than I hate using this kind of terminology to describe an outfit, and as conscious consumers, we should be respectful when borrowing themes from other cultures and ask ourselves important questions like what our relationship to a certain culture is, what do we hope to gain by borrowing a type of attire, and so on.) The Minnetonka moccasin fringe boots were the perfect choice in piecing together the perfect winter look.

Sometimes I feel like my style is all over the place. But what I think I’m really attracted to is that feeling of taking on the personality of what I wear. The girl in these pictures is enjoying the view, embracing the lively fringe boots that seemed to move even when she didn’t, and is comforted by a warm winter sweater that closely resembles a bathrobe. 

I guess the places we go and the experiences we gather are perfect homes for our style and outlook on fashion.

Accessorizing Basics: Clip-On Earrings for Clothes

Photos by Nina Tellier Photography

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I’ve always found beauty in dilapidated buildings. It’s one of my small pleasures to explore rundown places, especially ones with strong character. Those places are the perfect canvases to imagine stories as a writer. 

This was my first time working with the amazing photographer, Nina Tellier, and she couldn’t have picked a more interesting place to work in. She's a fantastic photographer - please check out her body of work in the links above!

These photos were taken at an abandoned lot on the outskirts of Greensboro. It was a very old house judging by the layout and the rate of decay. Beside the house was an abandoned barn, so I assume whoever once owned the house must have worked in the barn and stables. This place had apparently been forsaken decades ago. All of the windows had been broken and glass lie shattered everywhere, but the long sheer curtains remained in tact and swayed eerily in the breeze at all times. With no protection from the elements, the carpeted floor sprouted giant moldy spots in many corners. There were gaping holes in some of the rooms, so every step Nina and I took was calculated and cautionary. You entered into the house through a long, narrow front porch which lead into a large open kitchen connecting to the other rooms. One room clearly belonged to a child at some point; the wallpaper print had preschool cartoon images of barns, tractors and farmyard animals repeated across the walls.

Sadly, Nina had learned this house and lot would be torn down sometime this month (there's a good chance it already is as I write this.) Many people had been there before, partying or generally vandalizing the place. To add to the air of creepiness, Nina learned of this place from a model who had done a zombie photoshoot there. In the kid’s room, there were buckets of fake blood splashed onto the walls.

Perhaps the most hilarious part of this story to me was how after we explored the place and came up with picture ideas, we began to shoot, and not after but two pictures, all of the sudden we heard a huge SLAM coming from one of the back rooms. We were both paralyzed with fear and had barely just begun shooting. Of course, the wind had simply shut one of the doors, but the blood and overall creepiness added to our paranoia.

I’m absolutely in love with these pictures – but the irony is that the main style advice I planned on discussing is completely covered by my hair in the majority of the pictures, which I totally hadn't realized until afterward. I’ve been using clip-on earrings to dress up my collars a lot this season. It’s a very simple trick that instantly elevates any outfit into something more formal. The clip-on’s that I have were actually given to me, so I’ve found alternate ways of using them.

Clip-on earrings are generally always inexpensive and easily found in most secondhand thriftstores or vintage jewelry shops. They are ideal because they won’t damage your clothing like a pin might, such as leaving puncture holes. These are easily an interchangeable seasonal accessory, but it does look especially nice when you pair them with sweaters. In most clothing retailers, I frequently see shirts with decorated collars. You can also add clip-on’s to a jacket with rolled up sleeves to give the illusion of button cuffs. I actually used this trick in another photoshoot wearing an embroidered jacket – can’t wait to post it!

I’ve read somewhere before that you can also use clip-on earrings to dress up a pair of flats or a scarf, but I don’t feel as comfortable doing so because the clip-on's don’t feel nearly as secure in those places as opposed to a collar where it might be more easily noticed if one happens to fall off.

Here are some pictures to use as inspiration for styling your outfits with clip-on earrings:

Here's a close up of the shirt and clip-on's I wore for the shoot. The shirt already had a unique embroidered print that is nicely offset by the gold and pearls.

Use clip-on earrings as faux button cuffs. Looks very vintage and expensive!

Dress up a solid colored shirt with clip-on's that have a texture or pattern. This would look really great with a sweater over it.

This is a sheer black button up shirt. The color black perfectly offsets the shiny, gaudy clip-on's.

I would love to see how anyone else has used clip-on's to spruce up an outfit! Leave a picture below in the comments.

xx

Transitory

I’ve been thinking about this one word a lot. I wanted to know if you could define your environment or mindset in one word, what would it be? It’s not necessarily that that one word defines you or your circumstances forever - what word synchronizes your thoughts and motives at this very moment?

Transitory.

When I think of this word, I think of that brief, beautiful moment of summer twilight that lasts for only a minute before night completely takes over from evening. I think of walking through an airport terminal and passing by gates whose destinations are places I’ve never heard of. I think of flipping pages back and forth comparing my place in a book with how many more pages there are until the end. I think of clothes that don’t fit me anymore.

I’m in a part of my life where the only knowledge I can rely on is that change is the only constant.

I begin every morning looking out the window as I open my curtains. I can just feel the cold emanating through the glass, see the ice crystals glittering in the lawn. It’s that part of the cold season where the day is never constant and I never quite know how to appropriately dress. The mornings are chilly and I feel the need to bring out my heaviest winter coat as I load up my bags to head to morning classes. By the time the sun fully emerges in the afternoon, the temperature is somewhere close to 70 degrees and I curse myself for over-dressing.

I let the whole month of October pass without any consideration to this blog due to far more important obligations, let’s be honest. I’ve been thinking a lot about transience and the movement of time, how it changes based on your own perspective. I’m approaching the end of my college journey and I think I’ve been swept over by nostalgia. When you get to the end of a journey, it’s normal to look back and think about what you would have done differently. I would be lying if I said the future didn’t scare me, but I take it that it’s a reassurance. I care enough and am motivated to always be considering what’s next.

In thinking about this photoshoot, which was obviously taken way back from the end of summer, I was reminded of another photoshoot I did a long time ago where I wore another poncho and a braided headband. I don’t get to wear ponchos that often, but I love that they constantly remind you of your movement; they emphasize your body language. At first, I was worried that this look was way too similar, but then reasoned to myself, who on earth would have remembered that shoot from over three years ago? In a sense, I think of this photoshoot as an homage to that old one. We are constantly reinventing and renewing our image. That’s the purpose of style; it's both evolutionary but reminiscent.

I am completely in love with these jeans from American Eagle. I honestly hadn’t shopped there before, but a friend introduced me to these jeans when I told her I was in desperate need of a new pair (the last pair I’d bought was nearly six years ago…!) This style is called the hi-rise jegging. I really benefit from high-waisted pants because my stomach is rather long and low rise to normal pants don’t always cut it. These are without a doubt the comfiest pair of jeans I own and they actually stay skinny which is an enormous plus. They paired perfectly well with my crop top floral bustier.

When I’m not carrying around a backpack everyday, I’ll try and figure out a way to pair a poncho with a winter top. I’m sure it can be done.

Next time, Harlequin goes full avant-garde. DIY tutorial to come! Be prepared. xx

-K.

Welcome home

Hello again after two years later! Welcome back to any familiar faces, and a sincere welcome to any newcomers. Fancy a cup of tea? Champagne?

I think the most important thing at this moment to address is why – why I left, and ultimately, why I came back.

I abandoned this blog because I let a lot of things get to me. Let’s be real for a second: style blogging is a lot of work for relatively little recognition. You have to take photos, edit them, write an interesting post, promote it on other blogging platforms as part of an endless cycle while constantly maintaining a unique sense of style and always planning one step ahead. During my short time in the fashion blogging community, I don’t think I’ve ever encountered this complaint, but I personally couldn’t shake this feeling of being vain and it created an inexpressible internal conflict. As I neared the end of my blogging days, I started to become very experimental in the photo editing process, generating unique concepts that edged me to want to do more. However, I wasn’t focused in my endeavors and struggled to find relevant writing material.

And so I stopped without any type of closure.

I came back because, well, why else. I missed it. Bottom line. For a time, I would visit this blog and look through the pictures, either cringing or thinking to myself man, I really had fun that day. I’ve always loved fashion, that part of me will always remain true. But fashion is only secondary to what really drives me: It’s writing. I want to write, and what better way to do it than blogging, right?

The objective for this blog and this ongoing project is to focus on leading a creative lifestyle. There’s a weird phenomena with artistic-minded people in that creativity is best when balanced with other creative pursuits. If you devote all your time and energy into one thing, you’ll soon become burnt out and loose all inspiration you’ve invested into that one thing. When you challenge yourself to engage in multiple efforts at a time (reasonably speaking) you can develop better, stronger problem solving skills that will eventually sharpen each project over time and allow you to look at each of your pursuits in a new perspective. Confused? Don’t worry, I still am.

What I really mean to say is that the more writing I can do, the better I will be at it. Especially after I learn the art of pacing myself.

I want this blog to be a portfolio of my work: my writing, modeling, styling, and even web design work. This is a showcase of talent. I want my work to stand for itself and to do that, I need good content.

That brings me to the next important topic, what to expect from here on out.

I think an integral component of the Harlequin blogging agenda will doubtlessly be striking photographs. In a highly visual culture, we all know an image is more likely to capture one’s attention than words alone (the writer’s woe.) Fashion is all about seeing, and importantly, liking what we see. This blog isn’t going to be just streetwear anymore, but what I would like to think of as branching into “attainable high fashion” – that is, the most idealized form the self can take with no apologies. Haute couture and "high fashion” are, in my humble opinion, the pinnacles of the fashion world and I want to strive to bring that into my lifestyle, and hopefully, if I’m so blessed, to inspire others to do the same. Through my writing, I want to learn more about the representation of self and how we create identity through style and aesthetic choices.

I’m implementing new changes in all facets of this blog. One new and I hope very exciting change will be incorporating styling series. Some of the ongoing series I’ve come up with:

How to style specific clothing items…. Do you have that one item in your wardrobe that you are stuck forever pairing with the same pieces over and over? With this series, I’ll look at multiple ways of wearing the same piece and how accessories and other items can completely change the look depending on setting and mood.

How to accessorize…For this, we’ll look at using one outfit and trying on multiple accessories. Or, say, you really are set on wearing certain accessories, and how you can plan outfits around them. This series will explore changing the ever changing tones of a look.

And this one, I’m really excited about….

“Can I do this DIY?”… In this series, I will explore and test DIY fashion tutorials from around the internet, rating and reviewing them based on level of difficulty, practicality, and whether I would recommend it. I will provide additional notes, advice, and other commentary for further personalizing these tutorials. Since I’m not a great designer of DIY things, I’m better at trying out DIY stuff and seeing if it’s really worth it in the end. Let it be known to the ends of the earth, I lead a DIY life. But some of these tutorials want me to go out and buy materials, which really isn’t that resourceful in my opinion. Plus, many of them look amazing but you really need expert level skill to create the item.

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Phew. I think I’ve said my peace.  It was a lot to say, way more than I anticipate saying normally, but very important nonetheless. I think this blog really is about finding a voice in a loud world.

Next time, we’ll talk about what happens when your selfie needs an update. Look forward to monochromatic styling, total absence of color, optical illusions, and peplum tops.

-K