"It's just a bunch of Hocus Pocus"

I once was a cave woman for Halloween. My mom teased all my hair out, baked a chicken bone dry and glued it to a barrette, then painted a couple of my teeth black. I won the contest that year. And couldn't get the knots out my hair for days.

Hope y'all have a lovely evening, filled with sweets and glorious sugar highs and crashes throughout. Meanwhile, I will be on the hunt for candy corn...does it exist in the UK?

Happy Halloween...!

I wonder

Do you think she can feel the pea?

photo via foto_decadent

On the flipside

Though I may be trembling at the thought of winter (and its sudden appearance last night with a strange hail/snow/slush phenomenon), I find it useful to look at magazines from the southern hemisphere to keep me warm. Damn them, entering summer and all. Right now I am on the hunt for the new issue of the Australian magazine, Russh, with the model on the cover looking very (mid-90s) summer ready. It's really difficult to find in London, and thus far come up empty-handed but during my search I discovered Frankie magazine...another Aussie mag on art, fashion, music, etc and I quite enjoy it.

Ironically, it was the issue from july/august, so was all about winter anyway. Sigh, I guess I am just destined to accept and embrace the grey ahead.

Did you reset your clock?

The chill is definitely beginning to settle. Many days of be-tighted legs ahead, sigh. At least I gained an hour of sleep this weekend. Hurrah for the end of British Summer Time/Come Back Summer!

About Me.

Over at Discotheque Confusion, Stevie asked her readers to fill out the simple questions below and leave them in the comment box. Figured, I might as well as share mine here...though the answers differ slightly, now that I've had time to think about it.

Oh, and I am absolutely useless at picking a singular favorite of anything...hence the multiples.

Style icon:
Currently MK Olsen (appeals to my slightly grungy side) and Zooey Deschanel (appeals to my girly, pretty, vintage side)


Food:
Model: Coco Rocha -- I love your little pinched face!


Perfume:
Book: A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
Film: There could never be just one, and I have so many childhood films that made lasting impressions, but at the moment, my top five might be (in no particular order):








... ok, so that's seven and...there are definitely more, oh well.

Now for the rest of questions where I was too tired/lazy/no photo was appropriate...

Designer(s):
Marc Jacobs, A.P.C., Chanel, Lyell, Charles Anastase and Luella

Band:
For now: Band of Horses, MGMT, Coconut Records, She & Him, Carla Bruni, Kaiser Chiefs - an ecletic mix...
Always:
Cat Stevens, Louis Armstrong

City:
London!

Your style:
Pure nonsense, i.e. slightly scruffy, slightly girly. askew and sleepy (can style be sleepy?!). I guess what I mean to say is that i could never look pristine or proper, something's always a little mussed...

Shop:
Antique markets in east london where I can get costume jewelry good and cheap...

Where do you see yourself in five years?
I hope to have a better idea of what I want.../at the bottom of a very long ladder

Perfect day:
Going out for a big (american!) breakfast (eggs or pancakes, coffee), visiting secondhand bookstores, getting more coffee and a stack of magazines at borders, visiting a gallery, dinner in chinatown, and a movie at the end, either at home or in the cinema..(oh and throw a little impromptu shopping in there)

Current job:
Law student - full effing time-

Dream job:
Not lawyer. Journalist of an interesting sort.

Rorschach

I. want. this. shirt. like. woah.

The print is so very Rorschach blot test. I see a bear. Or an exoskeleton. What do you see?

(ps. If you were wondering, it's part of the Mociun & Alyson Fox collaboration for SS09)

Louise, get us to damn Mexico.

"Well, I've always believed that if done properly, armed robbery doesn't have to be an unpleasant experience."

(photo via foto decadent)

Pecans & Poses

Meh. I am at a weird stage where I am kind of bored with my dressing and yet am not in the mood to shop. Gasp. I guess in my head it has something to do with correlating ease of dressing with creativity...the easier it is, the more boring it must be. Though I think when I admire other people's style it is more about the way they wear something and not necessarily the innovativeness of it. Does that make sense? What does it mean to dress interestingly anyhow?
I mean Carine Roitfeld pulls off a denim pencil skirt like no other. Attitude over effort it seems.

That said, to switch it up (an eensy bit)...this is the first time I haven't tucked a shirt into a skirt in a long while. Strange, slightly bland admission, but true. It felt nice.



Sugar-covered pecans, anyone? With the cinnamon and brown sugar, they remind me of fall. I love when food fits a mood.

ps. if I did it right one can now...follow my blog with bloglovin

Iekeliene's Eye

Iekeliene Strange had a camera backstage during fashion month...She's got killer cheek bones, crazy style and a photographer's eye. Well...when it rains, it pours.





More at style.com

Time, time ticking on me

I'm back. Sort of. My trip involved black & tears but also seeing old friends and laughing over old memories. Kind of makes you realize how silly some neurosis can be...like panicking over keeping up a little blog. Anyway, I will return in true form soon, I promise.

Bouncin'

I'm off to Toronto for a week for a family thing. This blog will lie dormant for a wee bit. And that's that.

Another way to waste the day

As if I am not already far enough behind on my reading and don't have enough cyber distraction, I happened to happen upon a new find the other day, a live journal community called Vintage Photo. As it sounds, it is simply a collection of vintage photos that people post from all decades, and I find myself constantly scouring it for interesting pictures of the days of yore.

Here are a sampling of some of my favorites, more of which are on my tumblr.

A.P.C., Mom, & more corduroy

Continuing on the fascinating subject of corduroy...

I tend to browse the online boutique, la garconne, a lot - it has a nice simple layout and carries some of my favorite brands, such as A.P.C. Upon browsing, I fell in love with this A.P.C. corduroy skirt with pockets (always a plus)...



I knew I really wanted it, but also knew that it was $200 and probably not that difficult to sew. Now, I am a horrific seamstress...I've tried, I've failed, I've given up. My mother, on the other hand, is brilliant. She is completely self-taught when it comes to sewing, and boy can she sew. I had the most amazing Halloween costumes when I was younger, I wish I had pictures to share (and I kind of still wished she'd make them for me). ANYWAY, so when I went home (this was about a month ago) I asked my ever-skilled mom if she could, perhaps, maybe, replicate such a skirt.

She looked at the pictures, looked at a skirt I already had and said she'd give it a go. She even offered to try and make the pockets...something she has never done. So, off we went to JoAnn's Fabrics to find some corduroy...which was quite the expedition on its own, let me tell you. All the textures, colors, then buttons, oy! Well, I didn't find the caramel color of the A.P.C. skirt but rather this honey color (kind of like the Boy trousers I spoke of) instead.


A couple of days later...voila! That material turned into a beautifully sewn, handmade (couture!) corduroy skirt that fit me precisely and only cost $4.59 (for the material, oh plus lots of tea-bringing for mumsy). And the fact that my mom made it makes it so much more special than anything I could buy from A.P.C., no matter how nice.

Though did I mention the boots are actually A.P.C.? They cost a teensy bit more than that Fox Sweater (my heart still aches!) and I figured shoes last much longer...plus I had some birthday money left over, plus I like that they kind of make me feel like an Edwardian orphan, is that bad? Oh well.

Did you hear about the corduroy pillows?

...they're making headlines! Remember that one, anyone? Anyway, 3rd grade jokes aside, I am pretty sure I might be going insane. It has come to a point, where Robert Redford is inspiring me. 1970s dashing Robert Redford that is. Well, specifically, 1970s dashing Robert Redford as Bob Woodward in corduroy pants is what is inspiring me. Or rather making me itch with envy.

That makes me sound crazy, right? Well, to clarify further...a few months ago, I watched All the President's Men because it's famous and I thought I hadn't seen it. After watching it, I realized that I had, in fact, seen it a couple of years ago because it was famous and I hadn't seen it. That element aside, what caught my attention this time 'round was Rob as Bob, who, in all his investigatorial glory was trouncing around Washington talking to Deep Throat wearing an awesome corduroy suit. (Words I never thought I'd type). I hadn't considered corduroy pants since the 8th grade, but I wanted. I even wrote it down.

Then I saw Michelle Williams in the Boy by Band of Outsiders campaign and my desire was confirmed. I want. I need. In that perfect honey color. But why-oh-why do they have to be so frickin' expensive?


****
ps. Wes Anderson looks pretty nifty in corduroy too.