Hello, possums! I have some exciting news for you guys: I'm at college! Those of you who follow my tumblr already know first two days were terrifying (sorry for my whiny blogging), but I think I'm starting to get used to this new chapter of my life. I wish I could take a million pictures of my dorm room for you guys, but I don't have a camera yet so this blog will have to go on a brief hiatus until I get around to buying one.
Until then, I have a picture that I never posted of the outfit I wore on my birthday. I turned 18, so I guess I'm a legal adult now. I celebrated by making a cake, watching Project Runway, and eating delicious Tibetan/Indian food. This is what I wore for the festivities:
Thrifted top, thrifted DIY dyed shorts, target socks, thrifted necklace, DIY daisy crown, new Kate Spade frames!
I may not have mentioned it on this blog before, but I have pretty bad vision. I usually wear contact lenses, but I recently got some glasses that are attractive enough to wear in public. This outfit, or some variation on it, has been my uniform this summer: dorky polo, shorts or miniskirt, knee socks. Now that I'm at school I've been gravitating towards midi and maxi skirts with collared shirts because I am boring. I also invested in some girlmonster-y black lipstick, so my style will still be far from collegiate! I can't wait until I can take some pictures of the lovely campus and cool things I brought with me.
I hope everyone is doing well even though summer's almost over :'( I wish you all best of luck at school or whatever plans you have for the fall!
So I know my posts have been few and far between lately. Mostly it's because I've been in a rut style-wise and I want to only put things on this blog that I think are really worth posting. I don't want to just slap something together for the sake of having a post, you know? But now I have some things to show you guys that I feel good about.
First order of business: I went to my favorite thrift store the other day and discovered that there is a treasure trove of fabrics in the 'material' section. There was some adorable vintage fabric with a hippo print, a fleece with wolf faces on it that my sister bought, and something that looked like an old bedsheet with surfer dudes on it. The best thing by far, though, was this amazeballs microfleece blanket with angels and vomity pastel colors.
Look at those colors! And the little angels with their fluffy wings and Rookie-style flower crowns! Plus it's really soft. Best purchase I've made in a long time. It is everything I love.
On the same shopping trip I ran across this floaty little pajama thing. I'm not sure if it's a top or a really short nightgown, but either way it's the cutest piece of sleepwear I've ever owned.
I took these in my sister's room because the lighting was perfect. Also my room is really messy, and not in an aesthetically pleasing teenager-y way.
And lastly, my daisy manicure that I'm really proud of.
Everything in this post is really girly. I've been gravitating towards very feminine, even girlish things recently. It may have something to do with thesetwo girls on tumblr, who post beautiful femme pictures and talk about reclaiming their girlhood and live together in a pretty pastel apartment. I've also been introduced to the idea of reclaiming femininity and using girly things to feel powerful. Looking feminine is a way to challenge the idea that to be powerful and successful, you need to take on masculine traits. Femme people are looked down on and are told that frilly clothes, pastel colors, exaggerated makeup, and other feminine things are frivolous and unimportant, but at the same time are told that they should be ladylike and put effort into their appearance (at least in the case of cis women). By dressing femme, I'm taking control of my gender expression and being "ladylike" on my own terms.
When I was shopping for dorm furnishings for my upcoming year at college, I gravitated toward baby-pink sheets, floral prints, bunny figurines. I hesitated more than a few times and wondered if I should get some more refined things in basic black or white. I eventually realized that my love for girly things doesn't make me any less intelligent, powerful, or interesting than anyone else. If someone can't take me seriously because of my pastel cardigans and ukulele, that's their problem. I won't apologize for my femininity, because even though western culture places a higher value on traditionally masculine traits, I believe there is just as much value in feminine traits and it's time we speak up about it.
Hello, friends! So much has happened since my last post! I've been a busy bee, and hence a bad blogger. I have an extra long post today in an attempt to make up for it. I'll start with my long-overdue recap of the Chicago Rookie meet up. I didn't take any pictures at the actual event because I suck, but I have some other related images.
As soon as I walked into the record store where the meet up was held, I knew I was among my people. This is the group photo from the Rookie tumblr. Just look at all these cuties! I'm in the pink tshirt with the pentacle, standing towards the left.
I met Meagan from Naturally Dapper and this girl, who knew me from tumblr. She was really nice and cool and was wearing the cutest outfit (she's the one with the blue hair and flower crown behind me in the photo). I also chatted briefly with Tavi, Petra, and Hazel, and they rule. They are all so friendly, smart, funny, and just as cool as you would expect them to be from their internet endeavors.
This was the thing I made to go in the giant Rookie shrine, but it kind of fell apart and I never got a chance to give it to Tavi and co. I thought about mailing it to them, but I kind of got attached to it. Oops. It's an empty hair dye jar coated in glitter on the inside with lace and fake flowers glued to the lid. I thought it was a good symbol of my teenage-hood because it encapsulates green hair, glitter, flowers, lace, and ridiculous homemade crafts. I also added a sticker that my friend Genny gave me in a care package earlier in the year that was inspired by a Rookie article! I thought it would be good to include a little Rookie-induced girl love on my shrine item.
This is the zine that I made in the zine workshop. I didn't write a title on it, but if I had it would have been "Things Allison Likes". The top photo also includes my daisy crown that I wore and a flier for Rookie Yearbook One, which comes out in September!
I also have an outfit for you guys! I wore this to a Beirut concert with my friend Ben the other day. The band was amazing and the lead singer is a dreamboat. Like, seriously, listen to his voice.
Vintage dress, homemade flower crown, old Urban Outfitters sunglasses from before my boycott
I was agonizing over whether to buy this dress for a while, but eventually I decided I had to get it. It was a lovely surprise to see that it had been marked down from $42 to $19! I guess the shop was closing down and they were having the mother of all sales. It fits perfectly, makes me feel like a 70's goddess, and you can do this with the sleeves:
I drew freckles on my face, but I chickened out and wiped them off before going to the show. I also left the flower crown at home in fear that I would lose it.
I'm really happy with these photos. They really feel like summer to me. I wish I had freckles in real life.
What do you guys wear when you want to feel extra-fabulous?
P.S. I've had a twitter for a while, but I've only just started tweeting regularly. You can follow me here if you want. I still don't tweet that much, but whatever.
Thrifted top and skirt, ebay sunglasses, old target socks, the usual saddle shoes
Tumblr was teeming with hilariously exaggerated patriotism this morning, so I thought I'd join in the fun with a pinup-esque outfit in American flag colors. Plus I got to bust out these bitchin' heart sunglasses I just scored on ebay. Tonight I'm celebrating by barbequeing some meat, watching the fireworks, and singing "America the Beautiful" until my family can't stand me anymore. It's the American way.
Happy 'Merica day, kids.
P.S. This is my 100th blog post! Woah.
P.P.S. I also got featured on a Chicago style blog while I was on my way to the Rookie meetup (which I'll post about soon, I promise)! Check it out here. This has never happened to me before so I'm super excited and squee-ing and stuff! I don't even mind that I look a little derpy!
For mood music to go with the valentine theme, here's a beautiful cover of my favorite sappy love song.
This shirt is my DIY pride and joy. It took me forever to sew the roses on and get them positioned just right. I almost chickened out at didn't wear it today, but I'm so glad I did. I felt really glamorous and it fits perfectly with my valentine-y inspiration as of late. I've been browsing Stylelikeu and it's inspired me to be really creative and expressive with my outfits and not worry about the occasional stare or rude comment. It's funny because my style is pretty tame compared to most of the internet fashion scene, but it can be a little outrageous compared to other people in St. Paul. Sometimes I wish i lived in New York or LA where no one would look twice at me, because I'm pretty shy and don't like to attract too much attention. I'm learning to love standing out though, and I look forward to wearing fake flowers on my bosom for years to come!
I've been having a really fantastic summer so far. I've been trying to fill my days with fun and productive things besides just tumblr, and I've been relatively successful! I'm devouring books and movies (I just rewatched Marie Antoinette for the decadent pastel vibes) and going out to do interesting things in the twin cities. I plan to go to lots of concerts and festivals and spend lots of time outside.
Speaking of, I spent last weekend at the gay pride festival and it was the best! I mostly ate fried food and people-watched. There were so many cute, stylish, outrageous, and/or scantily clad people! For whatever reason there were also a ton of cute dogs. The atmosphere there was so joyful and it felt like anyone would be welcomed and celebrated. Minnesota is facing a potential amendment to our state constitution that would ban same-sex marriage, so the event had a somewhat more political slant than usual. It's really important that we shut this amendment down by voting against it in November, or the rights of queer Minnesotans will be in severe danger. It doesn't mean that if it passes we'll never be able to legalize gay marriage, but it'll make the fight a whole lot harder. Let's crush this stupid-ass law under our fabulous heels and spread love and tolerance instead. Fellow Minnesotans, vote NO!
P.S. brownie points for anyone who recognized the Bye Bye Birdie reference in the title.
As odd as it may be to draw inspiration from Valentine's day in the middle of summer, it's been central to my aesthetic preferences these days. Things like candy colors, roses, hearts, and lace are inexplicably appealing to me. I've been wearing red and pastel pink and lusting after the kitschy beauty of Meadham Kirchhoff spring 2012.
Photos taken from the sourceless clusterfuck that is tumblr, except the last one which is from my polyvore. Shout out in the comments if you know sources I should be citing!
Lucy Michelle and the Velvet Lapelles merch t-shirt, thrifted DIY skirt, DIY bag, thrifted polo, target tights, thrifted sunglasses
I wore this outfit to go see Moonrise Kingdom, which is the best movie I've seen in a while. Since the movie is centered around two children, it seems fitting that my outfit looks like it could be worn by a small child. I've noticed that my wardrobe lately has been trending towards little-girl territory with lots of high collars, knee socks, and my ever-present saddle shoes. Interesting.
The skirt I'm wearing is one I've had for a while, but I got sick of it the other day and decided to shorten it. It was at kind of an awkward place between midi and maxi, and now it's decisively midi. I got the shirt at the Lucy Michelle and the Velvet Lapelles concert that I went to last year. It's probably my favorite t-shirt. It's really soft, fits me perfectly, has a cute graphic, and, most importantly, has a great memory attached to it (the band was fantastic). This, for me, is that one garment that I wear usually once a week.
