how i feel about the changing seasons

• Dip in the temperature, but a bright blue sky.
• Cozying up in big hats and bigger jumpers.
• Drinking delicious quality coffee from the independents; fuck you Starbucks I don't need to drink your shitty coffee just so I can study for hours anymore.
  
• Moving on from student life, hoping I'll find a career or it will find me.

I do love autumn. It's going to be a weird one with everyone else sharpening their pencils and buying their books, but maybe that little nip in the air will keep me on my toes.

(clothes topshop, other photos gathered on desktop from random tumblrs)

What rules you?

Often, when reading interviews about 'fashion people' the inevitable question arises: what are your style rules? Sometimes they are wise words, sometimes they are not. The problem with me and rules, is that I will decide, 'oh, yes what excellent rules to live by' and then promptly, accidentally, forget about them. But there are a few rules (found on Details magazine 'Rules of Style') that are worthy of remembering, scrawling on a scrap of paper, repeating to oneself, even if they aren't explicitly followed. The ones that I like the most are less style rules and more suggestions for living a life well led or ones that simply make me laugh.

I love the back. A beautiful back makes a beautiful front. When you slouch, think about what happens to your front. You have to keep your back in the right position. This is where your spirit lies. Yohji Yamamoto

Classic simplicity always works. Tom Ford

Cheesy music makes a party. Donna Summer or Madonna—that stuff gets people on the dance floor. Then you have to have junk food, done well, because that’s what everyone really wants. Micheal Kors

I’m a big fan of old Shetland sweaters. Anything with a hole or two in it, I feel that it’s worn and loved. Marc Jacobs

The biggest mistake a person can make when dressing is following other people’s advice. It’s up to them. Even if they end up badly dressed, if they're happy, it’s okay. Kean Etro

Style is a question of charm, not nationality. Veronique Nichanian

It’s sad that the cell phone is replacing the watch as a time-telling device. Thom Browne

Cigarettes are a vile, dirty habit. Joints, on the other hand, are perfectly acceptable. Scott Sternberg

Trying to talk with your clothes is passive-aggressive. Rick Owens

And after listing 9 rather good rules, Rick Owens ends with the only rule never to be forgotten:

It's funny—whenever someone talks about rules, I just want to break them. I recoil from the whole idea of rules.

On disappearing

She just finished school and didn't know what to do with herself. She packed a small duffel with jumpers and skirts and went over to grand-mère's, hoping the clutter and eccentricities of the surroundings would clear her mind.

To be honest, I don't know if this webshoot for Another (styled and photographed by my favorites of favorites, Camille Bidault-Waddington) has made the blog rounds in the past month since I have been completely removed from the blogging world for quite some time. I know that the blog has lain quiet before but never for this long and I've always kept up with my Reader. But since I finished exams (at the end of May!) I haven't posted a post or read a blog.

Currently I have 1000+ posts to read. It wasn't particularly purposeful, I just found that I felt no compulsion, no desire to know what was going on. I blame oversaturation perhaps. Seeing the same editorial over and over, seeing the same girl wearing the same thing even though she was a different girl. The internet and the way it has provided for the democratization and globalization of fashion is an interesting thing. Not a bad thing, but sometimes it overwhelms me, especially as an active participant. I get bombarded with images of people and their internet lives and it freaks me out. So I had to step away.

This blog has no purpose. It has no theme, no direction, no particular point of view. Just me and my quite random thoughts and desires. So when I have no thoughts, desire or inspirations it goes quiet. But I think I'll always come back. If anyone happened to stick around, thanks. Sorry for being wishy-washy.

And now to note: this editorial is everything I do love: A timeless simplicity that could similarly yet contrarily be described as a sort of 70s minimalism, all set in a charming haberdashery of a flat. And that is all.

How Tao, Brown Cow

"Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them - that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like." ~ Lao-Tzu

Feeling a bit overwhelmed by everything at the moment. End of school malaise, gray sky weather and all that. Bah humbug.

And on a slightly less dour note, I quite like this editorial from the new Russh (which I won't see for another two months, knowing my local mag shop). Got that whole feral beauty thing going on, wilderness, eyebrows run amok and all that. It makes me smile.

Throw on

(top: bona drag, middle: turned out, bottom: asos)

Dresses: truly, the simplest form of dressing . Throw on. Grab some shoes. Done. Course all sorts can be done to spruce up a dress, accessories, sweaters, etc., etc., but when you have the right dress, there is very little extra needed. I am currently enjoying the idea of the nightie-as-dress - not in a Courtney Love 90s slip sort of way - but rather in the Victorian nightgown sort of way. The dress at the top by Lonely Hearts reminds me of that sort of thing, and my mind began to fester more on the subject when I saw this New Zealand gal on turned out, who wears vintage nighties to the beach - quite the perfect cover up. Then I found this very Edwardian looking dress on ASOS, and I was convinced. The last one is a little too twee for me with the bow and all, but all this got me thinking....

I have a long nightie at the back of my closet - 'my granny nightie' as I lovingly think of it (and others besmirchingly call it), and...well, folks, granny I will have to be, because this summer, if I don't have the gumption to wear in the city, it'll certainly be my go-to beach companion.

He Said It

So you want to be writer?
Charles Bukowski

if it doesn't come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
don't do it.
unless it comes unasked out of your
heart and your mind and your mouth
and your gut,
don't do it.
if you have to sit for hours
staring at your computer screen
or hunched over your
typewriter
searching for words,
don't do it.
if you're doing it for money or
fame,
don't do it.
if you're doing it because you want
women in your bed,
don't do it.
if you have to sit there and
rewrite it again and again,
don't do it.
if it's hard work just thinking about doing it,
don't do it.
if you're trying to write like somebody
else,
forget about it.


if you have to wait for it to roar out of
you,
then wait patiently.
if it never does roar out of you,
do something else.

if you first have to read it to your wife
or your girlfriend or your boyfriend
or your parents or to anybody at all,
you're not ready.

don't be like so many writers,
don't be like so many thousands of
people who call themselves writers,
don't be dull and boring and
pretentious, don't be consumed with self-
love.
the libraries of the world have
yawned themselves to
sleep
over your kind.
don't add to that.
don't do it.
unless it comes out of
your soul like a rocket,
unless being still would
drive you to madness or
suicide or murder,
don't do it.
unless the sun inside you is
burning your gut,
don't do it.

when it is truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by
itself and it will keep on doing it
until you die or it dies in you.

there is no other way.

and there never was.

happiness is a warm gun

In six months, as I've mentioned, I finish my law degree. It has been a grueling, trying, ridiculous experience -- especially because halfway through my first semester of my first year, I knew that law wasn't for me. Why did I stay? I don't know. Dropping out seemed so ridiculous. And I actually like learning about the law, I find (some) of it academically and intellectually interesting, but it's not what I want to be. So now I find myself in the position of almost having an LLB, but with no interest in putting it to good use. I puzzle my parents and relatives with my choice, and I question why I didn't quit sooner, but it's too late for that now. Going to law school meant I got to move to London, live in an incredible place and have incredible experiences. I got to postpone 'being grown-up' for three more years.

But what's next?

I don't know, but I do know that upon graduation, the above Digby and Iona locket is the perfect commemoration of a strange three years.

a final note for 2009

To the Great Wide Void:

It seems I took an accidental hiatus from blogging...whoopsydaisy. I thought that being home and on holiday would give me tons of time to spend blogging, but rather, after a sordid traveling experience, I arrived to a house without internet and there went that plan.

It's been about a week, and I've finally returned to the world wide web, but I know more than to make promises of more frequent posting when I'm not sure I can fulfill them. I've been a bit of a deadbeat blogger the past few months, and with the final six months of law school round the corner, I can't imagine I'll get much better. I've been conflicted about whether to apologize about it or just remain silent. As you can see I chose the latter mostly because I never really understand when other bloggers apologize, it's their blog, their lives, their time. I wouldn't want them to post just for the sake of posting and so neither do I.

As for me, this blog was created as a personal filing cabinet of sorts, for all those images that I find on the internet, and all those random thoughts I have about fashion. I'm an overthinker. I overthink overthinking. But I just wanted a space where I didn't feel any pressure and could do as I fancy, and I think that is what this is. I have no real indication of how many readers I may have, and I guess I prefer it that way, because then I write for myself without the pressure of pleasing an audience. It's a bit more scary to think people are actually reading what I write, when most the time, my posts are small burbles of spontaneity without much foresight. I feel a wee bit of blogger shame when I compare myself to all the others I read, with their collages, well-thought-out prose and just generally inspiring content.

But in the end, I think I'm happy with this little space I've created for myself, even if I can't devote as much time to it as I like. And I'm always delighted if I get a comment here and there to know that I am not speaking entirely to an empty void. But Void, if it's just you and me, I am okay with that too. We do well together, and I'll see you in 2010.

Love,
dw

my leonids

Every news outlet anywhere has been screaming about the leonids meteor shower tonight -'best in years’, ‘must-see’ event, etc, etc. It is supposed to happen at 2130, BST, but I live in London, and stars are few and far between in this town. At 2125, I went out onto my tiny balcony, overlooking the back of a turkish restaurant, in search of the beginning of something magical. So far, so nothing. I did see twinkling lights all around, whirling and twirling and moving to be sure, but these were not showers. They were planes, circling, in preparation to land at Heathrow or Gatwick or maybe even Stansted. I stood for about 10 minutes, watching the twinkling lights. It reminded me of that movie Pushing Tin, how close they all could be to crashing into each other. Slight misses between tin cans floating in the sky — it may not be natural, but it’s pretty magical.

the shape of things

The clog-shape is having a bit of a moment, eh? I can't really decide whether that's a good thing or a bad thing. I do like the wooden heel but clogs remind me of my childhood, when I had hideous pink clogs that I wobbled around everywhere in. Not something I want to relive, especially since I'd probably still wobble today...heels and I are a bit of a farce.

(all shoes from Creatures of Comfort)

Roar

Holy crap...this $610 Max suit by Opening Ceremony has sent my mind in a tizzy. Random thoughts on it:

• Who on earth would spend that much money for a onesie?
  
• Ok, I would, if I could, merely just to wear it in my apartment to snuggle in on a cold winter's night and pretend like my childhood is now.
  
• I wish I had been Max that one Halloween, but was a scarecrow instead.
  
• You know what everyone will be this Halloween.
• I really hope the movie doesn't suck.
  

last days

Summer. That time of year that we all wait for, long for, yearn for, is almost over. Course, living in the UK, it never really feels like it begun (minus the two-day heat waves). But still, there were some lovely days spent doing lovely things, summery things like reading in the park, sipping ice coffees while strolling through Soho... I even went rowing! Well, I sat in a row boat while someone else rowed...turns out I cannot row, my coordination just simply isn't effective enough for proper oar maneuvering. And now September is 'round the corner and I'm left wondering, 'Is it really time to say so long sweet summer'?

red

(images via Starbucks and Jane Austen)
I've wanted to dye my hair red since I was a wee lass, but unfortunately when I was 11 I found out that I had psoriasis, a genetic autoimmune disease that affects the skin. While I was lucky enough to only have it on my scalp, where it is easily hidden (but most annoying for medicinal application), it meant that I could never do all the things that I wanted to do to my hair when I grew up. No dyeing, no perming, nothing. So I've left my hair au naturale, letting the sun do its bit every summer, but I've recently been hankering to switch it up. I fear what the chemicals of permanent colour may do to my skin, so I think I may try a semi-permanent rinse of some sort, in a red of some sort, though perhaps not quite as bright as the above. Baby steps...

of questionable taste

Ok - so I can't decide whether I think these leggings from ASOS are horrendous or wonderful. I don't know what draws me in exactly, it certainly isn't the styling, which is definitely on the hideous side of things. Maybe it's the recent crop of photos of 'Chloe Sevigny for Opening Ceremony' that have popped up and left me pondering her line's own fairisle pants. I was undecided about them when I first saw them in February, but I am warming up to the idea (though that may just be the Chloe effect).



Back to the ASOS leggings, I just don't know how you could get away with wearing them without feeling like you are wearing long johns. On one hand, I am very drawn to the woodsy, country look for autumn, and 'folksie leggings' seem to fit into that category. On the other hand, I always have, and forever will, think leggings as pants are one of the great downfalls of society. I've lamented it as a trend from the beginning, and so if I did purchase the above, how would I wear them? Definitely not as pants, but would it be a bit much under a dress? These bad boys have left me in a state of sartorial confusion: are they ugly, how to wear them, etc. Too much thought for a piece of clothing, but I tend to overthink just about everything, so there you go.