Hiding from Responsibility

It's been way too long since I've tagged a post as "Dalies".  Baad.  This is why I'm hiding my shamed face in these pictures.

that last one is just for the boots.  The cowboy-inspired rainboots a-hem.

My work uniform is all black.  I'm allowed grey, as long as it's covered by black (you'd think I worked in a funeral parlour) making it both very easy and very difficult to dress for work.  In any other kind of weather I'd just rotate black dresses, but January means pants for most of the time, which means I end up wearing a black blazer/cardigan, black jeans, and a black top to work.  I'm starting to *shock* crave colour.  It's weird.  I need Punch so I can tolerate wearing black all the time, because all of a sudden when I look at something I think "well if it's not black I can't wear it to work, so......"

P.S IMADEAVEST!  I saw the circle vest at American Apparel last weekend and went all nuts, in part because of the many ways to wear it (golly gee, no way).  Until I realised it is a big circle with two smaller circles cut out of it for arm holes that costs $35.

So I went to Fabricland and made my own in about 15 mins (including reinforcing sewing time) for $7.  There it is up there.  A little longer than the AA one, which is good because it creates a larger hood if I want to wear it upside-down.

Okay So I Forgot My Questions.

Augh.  This week already feels like a wind tunnel.

I bought a hat on impulse.  Why? I don't know, I meant to buy gloves, instead I bought a trapper's hat from a department store that originated from a fur trapping company (10 points for the name of this department store).  

And this was my outfit of the day.

Oh. A store I really really like is having a sale.  I'm hoping to go later this week.  Perhaps by then my face won't look like a Hussein Chalayan dress from SS09.

!! Something less random:  After watching that Janelle Monae video and seeing someone with one, I kind of want a cummerbund to use as a belt.  I'm fairly sure these cost about as much as another belt at Value Village (~$3), but we'll see where this goes.

Blogging is better than post-it notes when it comes to remembering certain things.

Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself.

And this dress.

In these and the following I'm wearing it with a hat but other than that, I just don't know what to do with myself (dun dun).

Sorry.  I don't know why I'm not deleting that sentence.

Okay - I'm on an all black white and grey kick, which is heavily influenced by the dress code at my new job (Black, black, and more black).  I bought this dress along with another at That Place because a)um, it's black and b) It's so comfortable.  I swear, it's like not wearing clothes.  I kind of feel cold and uncomfortable and I'm in my jammies as I write this.

I'm just not entirely sure what to do with it.  I'm getting a wee bit bored with my chains and I just don't have enough to really toughen this up.  I tried this metallic-bra-and-belt thing (but didn't take pictures - dammit!) but it didn't seem like enough.

I dunno.  It's the perfect dress that is incomplete.  Or am I just over-thinking this, and the dress is fine on its own (I'm just too over-accessorized to see it).

*sigh*

I don't know what else to do.

Metal Karaoke.

I sang this:

(the girl part) and various other songs. 'Twas a fun night all in all.  I felt mildly powerful ordering my drinks (which I managed to not overdo. woot).

Continuing explorations in metal and metallic-themed objects.  I did the "wrapachainaroundyourwrist" again, and this time squeezed an old watch that doesn't work anymore into it.  The chain, that used to be "gold" and is now faded, looked kinda good with the gold and silver watch.  Marina likes.  She may do again.

Also, I have a pair of boots that I was going to give to Goodwill but now I think I may keep and (at the risk of sounding kind of trendy and annoying) Stud them.  But I saw these shoes where the heel had 3 bolts in it (don't know the designer or else - trust me - I'd display them here and mail you the napkins later) so maybe I'll use those?  I don't know.  There tends to be a 3 month gestation period between the idea and the actual "doing-it-myself"

ALSO; some idiot decided to dispose of this poster (on my birthday, sweetola).  They also had a Don Quixote poster but I'm more of a Dostoevsky gal myself.

this reminds me; I need a new book.  any suggestions?  I'm on a non-fiction kick, and I just finished THISBOOK.

It's my birthday.

I'm gonna party like it's my Birthday.

(but I will not sip Bacardi like it's my birthday)

And you know I don't give a _____ because it is my birthday.

img via fotodecadent, I think.

Wahoo.  I ordered my very first legal drink today.  I wore a lot of necklaces over black pants a black shirt and a pinstriped shirtdress, and opted for bare wrists and two belts as their replacement.  I kind of wanted to do a photo of this, but thought that it would be far more entertaining for you too the "karaoke" version of all this.

The picture is because 19 feels a wee little slightly different.  I think it may be the fact that I'm now allowed to meander into a bar/club and not stare nervously at the bouncer.  Just the ability to do so is a little "bahahaha-I-made-it-I-beat-the-system" and opens the door to a real change I guess. 

The little extra bit of responsibility throws something at me that feels a little like a shaved head.

Plus, I cleaned out my closet yesterday night so I'd have a real true fresh change come today.

That's what I wanted to say - I made a bit of a change.  I've seen the change when I get bored an peruse my own archives, and I saw it yesterday when I donated a bunch of clutter to Goodwill, and I saw it today when it finally hit me that I am 19 and that it's actually not that old at all.

Yeah, This Is Still About Clothes.

I've just been off on planet "away" for awhile.  

Here is one thing that doesn't cover everything only a snapshot.  I actually wish I had taken an outfit photo a week and a half ago when I wore the same Pink Floyd shirt 3 days in a row (I know it was gross, but in my defence - day two was laundry day and I had the decency to throw it in there for those few hours) because it would illustrate the story a bit better.

I have mentioned many a time that I dressed badly in high school.  Like, ill-fitting jeans and t-shirts, never a skirt in sight.  I also went to a hippy arts school (Rosedale Heights for the very curious) that had no auditions and no strict "major" system (so you could branch out into more than one aspect if you wanted to).  There was a very creative and cool atmosphere, especially when I first got there.  I remember being struck by the volume of manic panic-ed heads, torn clothing, and metal (there was a lot of metal).

Okay the point - their general presence made me want to be a punk.  For awhile I had this secret desire to stomp around in Docs and style my hair with wood glue though I never did because I knew that there was just no way I could pull it off;  I didn't even swear, let alone actually listen to punk rock.

  

Now, I kind of figure it was the metal and the chains.  I like the picture, the attitude that metal projects, how safe it is and makes one feel.  Slowly I seem to have integrated a lot of metal into the general rotation of jewelry 'round my neck, wrists and fingers, piling them on top of one another and wrapping them around already slightly torn sleeves.  Is this a return to my 14 year old dreams of punkdom?  Shall I go back to The Clash and Rise Against, develop a snarl and curl my lip for no particular reason?

I highly doubt it.  The reason is probably more along the lines to the trend to stud everything in sight, tearing and shredding the rest, and the influence of Ms. Lanphear and her preferences for metal cuffs that would make Wonder Woman drool.  

I kind of wish I could see whether this will just be a passing trend (for me) or I'll stick to it.  This isn't the first time I've wrapped a chain around my wrist, but how far from the last is it?  I've loved my cuffs for as long as I can remember but if bare wrists and knuckles come into vogue what will happen to my cut-out silvers and golds?

To Counter Balance My Ranting

I give you the gist of what I was wearing today.  Chains and knits and whites and blues.  

Later: I deleted the ranting post.  What you are missing is:  me telling the story of the ignorant fad-politic who I almost slapped at a Starbucks and being generally annoyed at the fact that everyone I know was so in tune and aware and opinionated about someone else's election, while our own election had the lowest voter turnout in history (59% - which translates to roughly 19 million people), and then deducing that maybe my annoyance was (at least in part) due to the fact that I'm jealous of your inspirational, intelligent, articulate, and charismatic President-Elect.

Congratulations Southern Neighbours!!!!!

LIKE OMG HALLOWEEN.

The perfume ad idea died with my inability to find a large enough decanter/vase to act as a perfume bottle.  I tried, I swear.  I went to 3 Value Villages, 1 Goodwill, 3 Dollaramas, countless generic dollar stores, a Loblaws, Wal-Mart, Zellers and even The Bay.  Nada.

So, I'll introduce you to HipsterGal.

Saving the world, one cosmo at a time.

No lie, the best part was that some people didn't get that it was a joke.  

Swap Meet.

Eh!

This gonna be short because I can't think of anything long to say, I'm afraid.

I bought one thing this past week, and that was a Zara copy of a very nice, very shiny, kinda S&M-if-you-wear-it-right, pair of Kate Spade boots.  Winners: 299, Zara: 69.

I'd say I won this round, corporate bigwigs.

ALSO: the 69 Vintage By The Pound store had a clothing swap this week.  Taking away all of the stuff I don't wear anymore got me the above very pretty white jacket (for some odd reason, I could not get a proper picture of it, next time maybe), two pairs of shoes, a fall-y plaid skirt, and two shirts.  

*sigh* and I saw a partridge singing in a pear tree on my way home, isn't that weird?

"Word" To The Finding Gods

I found a find today.  A biggie.  

After an interview for a job (yes! step one!) I went to a vintage by-the-pound near my house to just pass the time and look at clothes that I wouldn't buy.  In addition to the following I also found a yellow and white striped, super-wide leg terry pantsuit.

It actually screamed " 1977, L.A, A POOL IN THE HILLS + YOU, ME, A DRINK, AND A FLOPPY WIDE BRIM HAT BABY", which kinda freaked me out/made me want it so bad (in related news, disco can save lives).

What I did find was this dress:

I can't seem to get a picture that does it justice in the teeny basement that is my apartment, however, the original price of this dress (which is in perfect condition save the single hook + eye that is on a loose thread) was $140 at 69 Vintage.  I have photographic evidence of the original tag.

But at their amazing, lovely, fantabulous, ridick, ridonk, awesome, brilliant, e.t.c By-Th-Pound it cost $10.50, including the belt and scarf I got with it.

um yeah.  Pretty much.

I suppose I had a bit of a 50's-y, vintage-y day seeing as I also wore this very comfortable (faux) fur wrap:

Me likey.  Found at after cleaning out my closet-y.  It keeps me warmy in the October fall.  Y.

Later:  I put the dress away and discovered it had pockets.  !!! pockets!

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uuuuuunnnnhhhhggg.

My computer is acting strange.  Far too slow.  This, among other reasons, is why I have not posted in a few days.  The other reasons include seeing people who would be leaving at the end of this long weekend, and eating enough turkey to take me until Christmas.  I ran errands yesterday and voted. It didn't do much, but was a nice day.  Got to spend some quality time with a box and a golf pencil in my elementary school's gym.  And I was one of 59% of something.

Not the point.

This is.  Fiddling with this scarf is a fun pastime.  I managed to get a bit of a Pugibethan neckline out of it earlier while trying to fend off "october".  It's actually become one of my favourite pieces because of the fact that I do not know what to do with it and therefore have no limits in my imagination as to what it can be worn with/how it can be worn.

Oh I'm also going for a new look with this blog thing.  I have a lot of time (probably a little bit too much) on my hands right now so I can, and I'm trying to do a big overhaul thing.  I'm halfway through organizing my files of crap that I have saved and will get on to my closet next.

Maybe I'll post the results of that........would that be as productive as I think it will?  yes.

Achoo: A Tale of A Tag

In blog-land, being tagged is almost like being.....verified?  Confirmed?  Initiated?

I'd say so.

I'm glad to be initiated.  Especially by such an articulate, and awesome blogger.

A Guide To This Tag:

1 - Turn on itunes/ipod/music playing device

2 - Activate "Shuffle Mode"

3 - Use the first song that plays to influence/inspire your outfit for the day.

I actually did this first on Saturday night to inform my outfit for Nuit Blanche.  Sadly, during the event (which, compared to past years, kinda blew) I managed to gracefully and cartoonishly, dump a tray of McDonald's onto my lap. So..that picture will come when my pants have come back from the dry cleaners.

But I did it once again this morning and came up with a very fitting song.  In part because it was raining like the dickens outside.  It was grey, and cloudy y'see.  And dammit, I spent 3 minutes outside and was soaked to the bone, to the bone y'hear!

The song?  Audrey's Dance by Angelo Badalamenti, from the Twin Peaks soundtrack.

My ipod really loves Angelo (as do I).  He works with David Lynch often, has done the soundtrack for Twin Peaks, Mullholland Drive, Blue Velvet.  He also worked on the film Secretary.

    

The only piece missing from these is my pink hat, because it got a little wet and dirty so I had to dry and clean it.

The image that this composition brings to mind is of metals - brass specifically.  It's hard to explain, but I picture sort of....puddles of a dark, thick liquid, and someone stepping in them, and causing the splashes to sort of solidify and turn into brass or silver.  So I went with a basic black jumper, tied up around the front to create those little triangles and a lot of silver - on my belt, on my wrists, and I put a silver headband around my hat to complete that part of it (I suppose I'll show you those when I post the pictures from this weekend, or maybe sometime tomorrow.......I'll figure it out).

My jumper is also really slouchy.  I pulled it up so that the top half was draping over my belt and the legs were draping over themselves, and the whole idea was to make it a black, "liquid" that was hit here and there with bits of metal.  Don't know if those pictures give the idea but I thought it was there.

This was worn with a pair of lace up H&M wedges, by the by.

*ahem* So...who to tag who to tag......

I think I'll ask:  Leila Grace from The Vain and The Bored (because based on the song of the day at the top of each of her posts - she has great taste),  Stefani from Keep Your Guns at Home (for a chance at Cat Power), and Quoth The Raven 

Oh, and for a random pick from my blogroll:  Urban Audrey.

Tryin' the Blingin' on the Wristin'

This was my wrist today.  The rest was not particularly noteworthy soooo I focused on my wrist (also making the "outifit post" a bajillion times easier).

Comments included: a joke about selling fake rolexes, being on Toronto/London/Tokyo time, forgetting the time, being on time, e.t.c.  Not that it matters much anymore, I quite like this.  Next time I'm thinking of going smallest to largest face.  

Part of the comfort is from my love of cuffs.  Almost all of my bracelets are cuffs.  Silver, brass, cut out, solid, most (I'd say about 90% of my wrist jewelry?) are cuffs.  I like how protective they are.  I like that they climb up my arms, into my sleeves as if trying to give the impression that my arms are in fact made of metals.

Another positive - the watches over the sleeves made me stop stretching my sleeves over my hands (The equivalent of putting that gross tasting liquid on your fingernails to stop from chewing them).

Later: I found out who belongs to those shoes, apparently The Sartorialist liked them too:

  

Ms. Dusty Dustball At Your Service

Half inspired (wow how bloggy am I?) by the mustard socks below, half inpspired by trying to blend in with layer upon layer of dust at my new job.  I think it might work better if my pants didn't pillow outward or bunch up or something.

Not sure.  Something is missing.

Effort, perhaps?  I had very little this morning.  

Floral Armour

I'm getting sick (damn).

So I decided to protect myself by wearing my wool Zara dress and this:

A humongous scarf I bought at Courage My Love for $0.50 awhile ago.  It's been sitting in my scarf box for months, only because I couldn't figure out a way to wrap it around my neck without looking too bulky.  I had this whole hoodie-scarf-wrap thing going on for awhile, and today I just decided that I would wear it like armour:  Loose-but-Tight around my neck.

For awhile it looked a little like that bodysuit from Maison Martin Margiela I posted awhile back.  Sadly, I could not seem to recreate that now, no matter how hard I tried (which is just the way it goes).

Wasson and The Wangs Sounds Like A Groovin' Band

Doesn't it?

I think so.  Like a Shangri-La's-esque girl group with edge.  Or maybe a relaxed California surf-rock band?  I dunno, I was thinking that after re-reading my last post about pink and subliminal messaging (readreadreadreadthisblog)

Continuing with the whole "Wangian Aesthetic" I dressed like this to go to a gallery this past, extremely rainy Saturday night.  The pin is (was) my mother's, and is being added to my collection of elephant themed jewelry.

I feel like this is too comfortable to be true.  Because as it drapes and falls all over my shoulders and I'm stretching out all in and over my shirt I'm thinking "this is clean and simple and comfortable and I can stuff to this".

But the point is to not add "stuff" to it.  The point (as I see it) is to keep it so simple that you start thinking it is complicated.  Sort of like waving your hands in front of a bully's face to distract him before you run off in the opposite direction.  To doubt the simplicity of a garment is an exercise in creativity (how did she do that? How did she make it fit that way?) that gets the mind thinking past what to add and instead thinking how to add.  Or how to fit.

Mildly frugal as well.  The next step, after thrift shopping, is learning how to work with only two pieces at once.  Or as few as possible.

It seems to work best with only one accessory is my point.

El Weekend - Clothing Part

There was a bit of a "wangian" aesthetic going on with a lot of the attendees.  By that I mean the loose, silver-grey shirts and the tight black skinnies.  Like, I saw one girl who was wearing black Cheap Mondays, a loose white tank and a cropped denim jacket (wish I'd gotten a picture).

The sillhouette is interesting.  It hides a lot but I felt like to properly pull it off you had to be ten feet tall and a size nothing.

So I tried it myself for the Sunday:

I was mistaken for media twice, which was weird but got me free food, and I have never been more comfortable in the rain. I kind of like this.  Lately I've been more and more attracted to big, structured, draped pieces and what I like about Wangian-ness is that it combines this with more skin-skimming pieces.  

Like - emphasize what you like and then just throw a sheet over the rest.  Very simple.  Even a monkey like me can make a passable try at it.

Another element I really like (taken from his RTW Fall 2008) is that you can go from really dirty to really clean without looking like you're trying to look really clean if you're really dirty and vice-versa.  Both fall within Wang. Examples:

Clean v Not So Clean

Hate to ride a bandwagon, but I enjoy this.  Exciting.

The only thing it is missing is a nice, defined line or two.

Also: I did not know Erin Wasson was a stylist, I thought she was his go-to model or something. Shows how late/ignorant I am.

later: today at work someone said "I just saw a movie the other day. It was called Ghost World and you look just like the main character in it" which has never happened before.  odd.

El Weekend

I went to V-Fest this past weekend. I was the small awkward girl at the recycling store encouraging you to "trade in your cans and bottle for free stuff!!!!!".

I finally got to see SONS AND DAUGHTERS:

quote: "(Leonard Cohen) has a song called Dance Me To The End, we have a song called Dance Me In"

So excited.  Got there early, ended up face to face with the security guard (who made a special appearance in a lot of the pictures I took).  I wish I'd gotten a picture of Adele Bethel's shoes, they were wicked cool.  The interaction between her and Scott Patterson (guitarist) were really great.  During one song's bridge she just stood above him while he was kneeling and shook her tambourine over his head like some kind of little threat to him. 

The Kooks managed to make the entire audience sit down.  He said "sit down...everyone sit down, we're gonna jam" and so the band sat down.....and everyone else followed.

Weirdest moment at a concert ever.  Reminded me of a more sober Editors.

I was about a half mile back for Oasis and Bloc Party so I got no good, clear pictures of them.  I did see the guy attack Noel Gallagher though, that came out of absolutely nowhere (but right before introducing Morning Glory, Liam did say something unpleasant about Manchester United so maybe that's what spurred it? I don't know).  They finished, which I didn't expect.

I got one odd but good picture out of Oasis, this one:

Odd, but nice, surprise.  Kind of post-apocalyptic.