1. When I first adopted Gus I used to find him in the most entertaining spots around the house. I had a series of photographs of him called “____ Gus”, so for example, “shelf Gus”, “recycling Gus”…you get the idea. I guess this is stool Gus, or bedside Gus.
2-6. Just some bits and moments from around the house last week.
Sur Ma Tête / The Ethel
Meet Ethel, probably the silliest gal of all my hats. Silly mostly because she sits right atop my head (kind of like a turban) making sure you don’t miss her for even a second – she is in no way understated. Another pillbox hat, which I probably have a thing for. This one is an old girl, and you can tell – there is some staining (as you can see in the second picture below), and the ribbon and twisted straw that has been basket woven together are coming a bit undone in some places, but I love her all the same. I got her at an antique mall in NY State. I saw her just wasting away on top of a shelf and knew if I didn’t take her home, someone probably wouldn’t, although I can’t be sure of that because she’s pretty awesome.
Name: Ethel
Age: 60-65yrs (1950s)
Talents: stands out of the crowd, doesn’t give a shit what nobody thinks, has a darling bow to make her tough exterior a little more sweet, when worn she shares her wisdom from her many years of experience, and just a real hoot!
Dress & hat: vintage via antique mall in NY State
THE WHITEPEPPER Winter 14
I think it’s pretty clear by now that I have a thing for THE WHITEPEPPER. But really, what’s not to love?! Their pieces are endearingly feminine with distinct men’s wear details which is a style I have always been drawn to. To me, THE WHITEPEPPER is about having fun getting dressed and blurring the lines between girly and tomboy. The Winter ’14 collection lookbook is decidedly vintage-inspired which, predictably, I am a fan of. And how about those head scarves!? It’s making me think I probably need to start wearing one immediately, because dammit, they make it look like the perfect and most darling accessory! Oh, but this accessory is not just your average, often times, useless accessory, this accessory can also prove to be quite handy when those god-awful winter winds start destroying your beautiful hairs. Head scarves, guys.
Mine Eyes Deceive Me
It’s interesting to look at these photos and see how feminine I look and how, quite often, I don’t feel that feminine. If we are generalizing femininity, outwardly I am quite a feminine person – long hair, makeup, painted nails, dress. And it’s interesting how this type of look will lead people to draw conclusions about your personality, even if it may be very far from who you actually are. I remember after Ryan and I started dating, he had told me when we first met, he thought he was going to have to do a lot to impress me. Essentially, that based on the way I looked, I would probably be a high-maintenance, sort of elitist person (I’m speculating here, those may not be the words he would choose). I’m not pointing the finger at him, because most, if not all people jump to conclusions about who a person must be based on the way they dress/look (I do, you do…) But still, I was almost shocked that he thought this about me, because I have always thought of myself as a very low to medium maintenance girl, and truthfully – if we are again generalizing femininity – I don’t act much like a textbook version of a girl (or the 1950s version of a woman) – I think poop jokes are funny, farts make me laugh, I swear a lot more than I care to admit, if I’m at home I sit in the least lady-like positions as possible…you get the idea. The most feminine thing about me is the way I look. I can be incredibly emotional, which a lot of people regard as a female trait, but I feel it has nothing to do with being a girl and more to do with being a Cancer (or a human being). I like wearing dresses and skirts, but that’s because they are just categorically better than pants (you can argue me on that). But what’s even more interesting to me is that almost inherently, we have learned to categorize almost every type of person out there solely on how they choose to dress. Maybe movies did this to us – made us assign a personality type to every style there is, so there is no need to actually get to know a person. Heck, there are probably times when people actually assume they would not get along with someone just based on the way they dress/look. How sad is that?! That we may prevent ourselves from getting to know someone who may actually be awesome. The world is a strange place. I often wonder if the conclusions we jump to is a nature vs. nurture thing. Most likely nurture, but maybe it has been so much about nurture and engraved into our brains that it has actually become nature over time. Anyways, food for thought.
I hope you all had a great weekend. Mine was busy and didn’t feel like much of a weekend, but that’s life sometimes.
Dress: vintage
Bow Headband: vintage via Victory Mills
Lipstick: So Chaud by MAC
Nail polish: 5th Avenue by Essie
Natural State
Here are a few images I finally got developed from the Summer, when Ryan and I were camping in Bruce Peninsula National Park. These photos were taken at Horse Lake, which we had all to ourselves while shooting. I kind of wish I had brought more film with me – like I had in previous years while camping – but to be honest, the trip was more about relaxing, being with nature and each other, and sometimes it’s nice to just ignore your camera and not have any expectations for yourself.
I kind of like how rough these turned out – rough in the way that my hair is sort-of messy, and my makeup is barely there, and you can really notice my very questionable posture for a dancer. I like how film feels imperfect, and real, and that I, just like film, am imperfect, and real. There is something so liberating about not be able to check yourself in the mirror before shooting. I mean, when I shoot for this blog, I don’t bring a mirror with me to the location (I’m just too lazy to care about something like that), but before I leave the house, without a doubt, I have made sure I look okay. And with technology aka DSLRs, you can see what you look like immediately after taking a photo, which really acts as a mirror. With my Pentax, this is not possible, and being in the woods, the only mirror you may have brought with you is your tiny compact, and that’s in the car, far from where you are. Unlike DSLRs, I can’t see what every image looks like and fine tune the things I do not like for the next few snaps I take. There is no immediate editing, and no way to erase the image once the shutter has closed.
*photos by Ryan, taken with Pentax K1000
Dress: vintage
okay andie 