Break The Cycle

November 18, 20145 Comments

I’m not sure if it’s the weather or some other factor unbeknownst to me, but I’ve been feeling a bit down of late. That down feeling usually manifests into obsessing over some particular thing in my life that I believe needs fixing. In this case, my home. Moving is always a transition, and while it’s been over 1 month, I still don’t feel like everything is as it should be. Our home leaves a lot to be desired – there are many things about the construction and interior of the house that have left me a bit baffled. It’s small things like maybe repainting some cupboards and reorganizing some rooms that could make the whole place better suited to my taste. But the problem I have – and have always had – is I never look at each thing that needs to be tackled as a separate. I look at everything all at once, as a whole, and it makes me feel like there is an endless amount of things that need to be done, and how can little ol’ me do ALL of those things right now?! It’s a horrible way to look at a problem when you need to tackle something. It becomes this cycle of not doing because you are thinking about how much needs doing, and you become so overwhelmed by it that nothing ever comes to fruition. Sheesh, right!? Does anyone else have this problem? Maybe even tips on how to get out of this cycle? At this point I’ve taken to reading Not That Kind of Girl (not the book I’m holding in these pictures, but this one is way prettier – sometimes I buy old books just for their pretty covers), listening to Serial podcast and re-watching the entire series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer just to get my mind off my new-found obsession with wandering around my apartment thinking of all the things I’d love to fix and then wanting to run away from my house because I’ve made myself incredibly overwhelmed.

Anyways, a day in the life, I suppose. I hope you’ve all been having a far more cheerful time, and if you’re not, at the very least, you know you are not alone.

Pinafore: TLO
Blouse: thrifted
Cardigan: thrifted
Tights: Target
Shoes: Sylvie and Shimmy
Bow tie: handmade

Into It, Intimates / Blood and Roses by Hopeless Lingerie

November 14, 2014Leave a comment

While I have already written a post in this series about Hopeless Lingerie and there are so many more brands I want to share with you, I couldn’t help myself when they released their “Blood and Roses” lookbook recently, so I’ve put those other brands on hold for another week and am sharing this gorgeous lookbook today. Inspired by “the romance of old vampire movies and the insolence of John Waters”, it’s a hauntingly sexy and possessive series of photographs (and the model, right? Can I be her?!). I’ll be the first to admit that while I’m a fan of old films, I don’t really know much about old vampire movies. So, I can’t really say much about their inspiration, but since my brain immediately tries to find reference for everything in it’s own way it went to the place I learned the most about vampires, Buffy. I was/am a huge fan of Buffy, and while their inspiration was not Buffy related – and maybe they would even be insulted that I’m using Buffy references – there is one universal thing about vampires that Buffy did bring to our late 90s world from old vampire films (and that a lot of new vamp films left out), and that was the sexuality and sensuality of vampires and their victims. I mean, any time Buffy and Angel did it (sex… teehee), Angel became crazy (or becomes Angelus, his sadistic, soul-less vampire counterpart), and it was this passionate, unrelenting desire for each other that could and would never be because Angel became a piece of shit. It also brings me to Drusilla and Spike’s relationship, that shit was super sexy in a way that only vampires could make you feel. And that’s what this lookbook feels like to me, like Buffy and Angel’s passionate love for eachother, Drusilla and Spike’s outrageously sexy (and funny) relationship and maybe a little bit of the temptress Darla’s entire being, cause lets be honest, when you think of a sexy vampire, you think of Darla. Hopeless Lingerie always pulls inspiration from truly interesting places, it’s one of the things I love most about them – lingerie and vampires, an absolutely perfect union.

Photography: Steph Cammarano
Model: Marian Wolfe
MUA: Emma Craddock
Assistant: Dominique Adamidis

Sur Ma Tête / The Ethel

November 12, 2014November 12, 20144 Comments

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

November 11, 2014November 11, 20142 Comments

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

November 10, 2014November 11, 20144 Comments

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.