The end

367 posts later, I think this blog has served its purpose. I started it four years ago simply as a way to record my thinking about fashion, which for me at the time was a process of exploration. I was thinking about how I wanted to appear to the world, and how to achieve it. In a sense, it was a record of my search for personal style.

If I look back through it, I know I'll see awkwardness, superficiality, and materialism. When a friend of a friend was told about my blog, his response was, "what's the point of it?" Fair enough. But it wasn't meant to be interesting to anyone else besides me. Still, I'll keep it up on the web as a record of an imperfect time in my life, when I was looking for beauty and hoping some of it might rub off on me.

I have started a new blog that continues to explore my interest in fashion, vintage, and food (the latter a rediscovery of an old passion). It's a bit more presentable, I think, than this blog was ever meant to be.

The end of anything is sad for me. Even when it ends with a sense of completeness.

Granola chic

My students this quarter have taken to my clothing style. It took one, an older Russian lady, to break the ice. In her thick accent, she said, "I like your shoooz." I asked her if it was too granny, which solicited a chorus of responses from the surrounding students--mostly no, but one yes. The "yes" from the one who had said that he noted my style on all the locals during his visit to Japan, a kind of granola chic.

Since then, a couple times a week, someone says something nice. A's all around!

Anthropologie aims for a younger demographic

I visited a store the other day, the first time in months. The music was loud and jumpy, not the usual swingey French tunes. Today, I notice the website has a picture of this 20-something girl hawking their "Newbies" line.

I wonder why the company has decided to edge their target demographic lower. Whatever the reasoning, they must be doing something right because I hear their stocks are still rising.

New old resolution

(pic from the cherryblossomgirl)

Back when I was a wee, poor mouse, I had a rule about clothes: I'd wait half the number in days of the price of the clothing. So for a 20 dollar skirt, I'd wait 10 days, in other words.

Well, that old rule has held me in good stead lately, since I find that my desires vacillate so often.

Here's what I crave now, but it's likely to change.

- cord shorts in seafoam green
- black mini skirt
- black leather skirt & pants ... to be worn with my dorky librarian clothes (kinda embarrassing to try these on in the thrift store)
- a few patterned chiffon tops, most likely from Banana Republic
- whatever goes on sale at a.p.c., especially in tops, skirts, and dresses ... I like to herald the spring season with a new dress from a.p.c.

Destitute

The Washington Post, "From Rei Kawakubo, Adding Layers of Meaning" by Robin Givhan

Kawakubo didn't abscond with that indigent woman's actual identity -- the designer probably has never even seen this particular woman. But Kawakubo appropriated the one thing that forcefully announces the presence of the disenfranchised in the world, one of the few things that keep them from disappearing: Belongings. The rainbow of fabric in a Sudanese refugee camp, the piles of broken shoes in the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, a stack of jackets and parkas in a coat drive. We might not see the individual, but we see their plight. We see something.

Okay, I changed my mind

The outfits I like are the two at the far right and the one on the far left. I decided against the Russian dress because the scarf is not attached, which makes the dress a simple henley. And I hate henleys. I like the black cutout one because I have a new fervor for black, and the cutouts add just the right amount of detail. Then ditto for the dark dress with the flowers. Perfect slouch.

Waiting for the Sale

I have a few items bookmarked (mentally) for the A.P.C. sale. I'm thinking that with this recession, the store will again have an early markdown for their Spring collection, just as they did with their Fall collection. So despite the fact that A.P.C. often sells out early, I'm going to wait for these things.

Plus a few items I can't find an image of: the Hamilton dress, the Hamilton top, the Web belt, and the Pocket Skirt. But only if they are marked down. Without a discount, it's only the striped top and the russian dress (above, in the middle) that I really, really want.

Makeup

Stopped in Sephora today, killing time. Was followed by four separate Sephora ladies around the store. Made me feel quite jittery. I had not a single minute without someone "straightening shelves" nearby or pacing back and forth down my aisle.

Still, I tried on these products:
Frederic Fekkai Glossing Cream
Benefit Posietint
Benefit Rose Lip Balm

And I fondled these:
Urban Decay's Lid Liner in Smog (a kind of sparkly grey-green)
Stila Convertible Color in various colors
Giorgio Armani Gio
Marc Jacob for Men
Burberry Touch

Thrift Triumph

It's only my thrift-store finds that garner compliments.

a.p.c. dresses

love their dresses. simple cuts, so they're easy to layer. the only fancy touches are the location of the waistline and the prints and fabrics. there is a naive quality about them as well, where they betray their french pedigree.

the ones that i have earmarked for spring: the simple smock with the tie neck and another with ruffled sleeves.

new idea for a uniform

mini skirts
long cardigans
thin tees

all in black...

international students from asia

at school, the international students wear the cutest outfits. two styles in particular have recently caught my eye:

* the very colorful, very "kawaii" style--full of tee shirts, animal iron-ons, childish prints, etc.

* the high-maintenance babe style--louis vuitton bag, heels, skinny legs, and immaculately pressed clothes