In One Package

Of all reasons to dress up, my favorite might just be all the messages you can convey in one look. Nobody knows exactly what you're thinking. It's almost mysterious..in a way. You can show a feeling, creativity, or the ultimate death of all personal style, copy a celeb. But still, if you pull it off really well, it's hard to tell. Black and White are some of my personal favorites, because black has this reputation of being dark and edgy, or even creepy. But white, is innocent and childish. Put it togethor, and you're one interesting yet complicated person. Still, silouhettes make the piece, and make the absolute feel of a look. It's a tricky thing, getting it right, but when you do, it's liberating, and you wanna show everyone how special you are. Unfortanutely for me, this usually happens on a day where I have a lot of time. And on days where I have a lot of time, I usually have nowhere to go. So I'm stuck at home in my funky headpiece and boots, begging for an excuse to walk out my front door. It's never possible for it not to have a story, even if you don't think about it all, it still tells a little bit about you. Sure, pretend you don't care, and wear flip flops and t-shirts to Broadway shows (Yes this is true and shocked me), just beware of the message you send out there. And for the most of us, that don't spend our days deciphering people's fashion ensembles, just look nice. Someone out there will come up with your story for you, and it will be a good one.

P.S. Forever 21 skirt, forever 21 tights, steve madden boots, H&M shirt, Francesca's collections hair flower

Grunge No More

Whenever I think fringe, I get this picture of Taylor Momsen in fishnets and black eyeliner with motorcyclists and tacky Elvis impersonators. Fringe has always been associated with grunge and the almost...scandalous. But not anymore. Alexander McQueen's latest collection entails a classy take on this previously dirty trend. Though grunge fringe is hardly a bad thing, and getting numerous stares from people at the citi bank can be fun, It's great to have a new way to wear it. A fresh, more wholesome way at that....at least for the fashion world.

Teenage "Behavior"

I'm sure every one's heard people talk about teenagers and everything they say has to do with them: laziness, technology obsession, no respect for themselves, their peers, adults, and their environment. This is partly true. We are a bunch of twitter, facebook obsessive compulsive disorders waiting to happen. Who knows if by 2020, we'll know any real person at all, except to walk next to them while on a smart phone induced myspace rampage, chatting with everyone but the person we're with. God knows how many times this has happened to me. We want boyfriends more than air and the latest celeb poster put up via thumbtack and superglue is more important than our parents newly painted wall. I say we, because I am not innocent on all charges, though I can honestly say to think of any of these actions makes me cringe. We are teens, and therefore, or behavior (usually) is less than satisfactory. But it is not just us that made this name for ourselves. After years of seventeen magazine "tips", telling us to be oh so concerned with our guy's every move and recently, being "fat and ugly" more than what is healthy for our body types, we can get confused. After years of media, television, and movies....(a.k.a Zack and Cody, MTV, Nickelodeon) telling us lazy, barely passing, rude to even our best friends is somehow.....cool. Help me here...am I missing something? This is new behavior.....helped on by our surroundings. Ask your mom, who's wall you just screwed with Justin Beiber pull out poster.... this behavior wasn't nearly as prominent in the glory days of pack man and nylon. It's out there, the influences, as I call them, but we.....we choose it, and that there, is our one major failure. And it can't be healthy. As an individual who doesn't want to be told a heart shape in my tan will make me hotter for summer (thanks seventeen) I say screw normalcy.

If you have any respect for yourself, and what our species is turning into makes you cry yourself to sleep at night, you'll check out seventeenmagazineproject.blogspot , a girl's experience of living off of seventeen magazine tips for a month.

Ete, Femme

When days reach a scorching 95 degrees, the only thing that keeps me sane are my gladiator sandals and the ice machine in my freezer. The pool is necessary for survival of the day. And even though its uncomfortably hot, and being outside can be excruciating, it seems the only thing you can do is go to a festival (Greek anyone?) or BBQ party of some sort, which is exactly what we did. God I love Greek food. I would trade my right hand for baklava and lamb with tzatziki sauce. Even though it's terrible Greece is dealing with such tough financial situations, at least they have their food. It has yet to reach that hot again, but if it did, I'd be prepared with my hollister denim short shorts, charlotte russe gladiator sandals, white ruffle forever 21 shirt, forever 21 mustard colored knit beret, forever 21 shades, and tilly's chunky necklace. Now if I could just get a slushee....

It's Been a While

There is one plus side to taking a leave of absence from blogger. The fashion takes accumulate, and where else can you get a fantastic background but Great Britain? This month, I was lucky enough to take a two week tour of the United Kingdom. I was definitely most excited to see London. And it was great, but I have to say, it was the places that I didn't expect that much from that really captivated me. It doesn't get more beautiful than the Irish countryside. Medieval castles in small quaint towns just don't exist in the United states. Our history is largely from the last couple centuries, which made this experience all the more memorable. London reminds me of N.Y.C, but Dublin is in a class all it's own. You don't see any pubs titled "the Hairy Lemon", or "O'Donohughes", anywhere around here. I must say, the excessive amount of fashionable people was a nice change. Californian summer everyday wear ranges from jean short shorts and abercrombie tees, to denim bermudas and baggy camp t-shirts and flip flops. Is it just a lack of time, interest, or disregard that causes this unfortunate wardrobe catastrophe I couldn't say, but on the one hand, it does add to a person's sense of individuality if they do it any other way. These photo backgrounds range from the Lodon eye, to Glendalough village Ireland, to Conwy, Wales, to the Conwy castle. I'm almost always wearing my forever 21 black tights, and steve madden boots or flats, as suitcases aren't designed for large expanses of foot wear. Ever present is my black by me jane leather jacket and yellow knit beret. Special pieces are my green paisley scarf, black and white check scarf, blue rag scarf from Switzerland, gray sweater dress from hollister, green stripe dress, urban outfitters skirt, and and gray bubble dress from forever 21. My pieces may be common mall finds, but it's how you wear them that counts, and a mossy castle in the background doesn't hurt either.

World Market Scarf Makes the Outfit

That's right. You heard me. World Market Cost Plus scarf. It gives my outfit the little bit of color it needs to be memorable, but it absolutely isn't a designer piece. The boots are Steve Madden for Macy's, the dress is a vintage-y piece from Forever 21, tights from Forever 21, vest from H&M, leather rocker jacket from Macy's (B Hip by me Jane) and a little red clutch my great-grandma gave me when I was like five. I LOVED it then. I loved all things red then. I still do, actually. I lost it for like 7 years, found it, then lost it again, then recently found it again. Vintage. Oh yeah. I'm really excited because this is the first picture of myself on this blog or anywhere online, though I've been dying to for like, years. I didn't have a camera for quite a while, then when I got one, I couldn't take the right level of photo I needed of myself for a blog. The self timer things is really bad. The photo's off-center and.....bad. And I just felt really awkward about asking people to take my picture for a fashion website, but I finally worked up the nerve.

Polyvore on the Rise

When I first learned of polyvore, I didn't know ANYBODY on the site except the girl who showed it to me, and I hardly knew anybody who knew of it. But now, more and more sites have links to polyvore. Ex. Charlotte Russe, Chictopia, Pottery Barn teen, ect. Maybe it's just me being naive, but could it be that polyvore is one the rise? To celebrate, here's some of my favorite recent sets. The site has great new features like ASK, new contests regularly, and a great community. I can't stress it enough. JOIN fashion peoples of America and otherwise!