Dreaming of Spring

It's good to be back!! I've missed you all and my poor neglected blog. I'm recovered from my jet lag finally but with this crappy weather and bad lighting I haven't been able to wear much but my Harajuku Lovers rain boots the past few days.

For those of you who don't live in California, let me tell you a little something about Californians... we melt in the rain.

Ok, not really but if you spent a rare rainy day here you'd think we did. People freak out when it rains to the point of hilarity. All our local news channels are franticly reporting rain storms, flooding and tornado watches. Seriously.

So in the spirit of hating the rain, I'm dreaming of Spring!

Here's what I'm looking forward to in warmer months....

This Victor and Rolf shoe just sums up Spring for me. Frills, bows and shades of pink. Yes please!

Ruffles and bows everywhere! I love all this girly-ness!

I'm also loving everything Miu Miu for spring. There's a dress in there right now that I swear I'd kill for. Unfortunately it's about 2 grand and I'm not at that point in my life yet. ;)

I have to choose between expensive shoes or nice clothes. I can't afford both.

Guess what I pick. Hint: ShoeGirl

I can't find a picture of the dress but it's a pouffy little party dress in this beautiful brocade fabric

I can't wait for Spring!

(most images from style.com)

post-avatar

I am an old person cheap and watch matinees. Is there a problem, officer?

In a pathetic tribute to Avatar, which I had the misfortune of watching after viewing glowpinkstah's makeup tutorial (with the result of Jake's first appearance in his avatar eliciting "Oh my God, Pandoran acne!" from me), I made a half-hearted attempt to channel my inner Na'vi (helllll yeah constructed language!) by putting on too much blue and braiding my greasy bangs. I am hesitant to post this because my outfit is so poorly composed it in no way does justice to the noble Na'vi people of Pandora. I hope the "what the hell am I wearing" label for this post will act as a sufficient disclaimer.

Blue skirt: made by my grandmother. Dark blue turtleneck: Charter Club, mother's. Dark blue tights: BP Nordstrom. Blue sneakers: Harajuku Lovers via Nordstrom Rack.

FIRST DAY OF CLASSES TODAY. Aaaand it's pouring outside.

sequins before plastic: a fashion history lesson, and a citrus fruit

Among the things I find incredibly bizarre are...

Buddha's Hand citron:

...and the fact that before plastic, aside from understandable materials like gold and other metals, sequins were made with gelatin. That's right. GELATIN. (Whut?)

Above, vintage French gelatin dangling sequins

So yeah. Bizarre. Thank you, internet. This website says gelatin sequin production began in the 1940s, but this Jeanne Paquin dress from 1925 begs to differ (click it. So pretty), so I am totally unclear.

In any case, gelatin was found to melt under heat or moisture, so its use in sequins was discontinued, and gelatin sequins are now fashion relics.

However! Algy Leiberman, whom I will subsequently refer to as The Sequin Man, because he had a sequin factory (hello, dream job filled with shiny things!), was determined to find a solution that would ensure a) his livelihood as The Sequin Man and b) the happiness of women everywhere who love shiny things too much.

Along came Eastman Kodak, of camera film fame. SHOCK AND AWE, the acetate used to produce photographic film also made pretty good sequins, too. The Sequin Man had Kodak produce acetate for his factory so he could make acetate sequins for magpies, and by magpies, I mean people like me. The new sequins were super shiny thanks to the silver plating, and they were more durable than the gelatin ones. The Sequin Man saw what he had made and behold! it was very good.

But not good enough. Though more durable than gelatin, acetate sequins were still prone to heat- and moisture-damage. Luckily, in the early 1950s, DuPont (later responsible for Kevlar) invented Mylar, a polyester film that The Sequin Man then used to sandwich his sequins, resulting in an extra-shiny, totally washable sequin. He sold his business in 1999.

Today, sequins are made out of polyester, PVC, or vinyl.

And as I sit here tacking more sequins onto my fake Chanel shirt, all I can think is... BIZARRE, and thank you, Sequin Man, for not giving up on sequins and for making my life shiny and happy. I'll take three, please.

Above, Sequined Tuxedo Cardigan by 3.1 Phillip Lim, $895 at Neiman Marcus

[Sources: here, here, here, here, here, here and here. Apparently the main source for this post (on Vintage Shopping Guide) was posted on December 30th of 2009, which would explain why my earlier attempts to write this post were totally unfruitful. Once again, thank you, internet.]

fierce, interrupted

I think this would have looked a lot better if I were not between hairstyles (i. e. if my hair were not the follicular equivalent of King Lear). Not sure how trashy it is to wear a miniskirt with a necklace this tacky, but I did.

Necklace: SoGood Jewelry. Gray turtleneck: mother's. Black jacket: gift. Black tiered miniskirt: secondhand, gift. Gray tights: DKNY. Black lace-up boots: Steven by Steve Madden.

Held Captive!

Ok, so I'm alive and no, I haven't really been kidnapped. I just got back from China where, as you know, they block my blog so I can't post.

Now it's 2am and I should be sleeping and I'm trying to type quietly despite these dang Japanese nail art nails (click clack click clack!!!) so as not to wake Ben up. He does look angelic when he's sleeping... ♥

Anyway- just wanted to tell you all that I'm alive and well, and I'm sorry for my lack of posts. I'll be back with a new post soon, right after I spend some much needed cuddle time with my hubby and puppies.

Hope you all are having a great start to 2010!!

xoxox

simple & clean

This ghetto photo of a copy of Harper's Bazaar reminds me how much I need a black blazer and a black and white striped top.

Back at school, heavy with the realization that this semester is make or break. Here goes something.

Put Me Back Together: A Stop Motion Video

Turns out my brother (who's in grad school for urban planning) has been working on a stop-motion video (...instead of working on urban planning). It's set to Weezer's "Put Me Back Together" and features a lonely little robot guy. I think it's kinda cute, don't you?