I missed my one-year anniversary!!!

So, yeah. Totally spaced on that one.

However, as a late anniversary celebration, I am going to share with you all of the lovely things that I have been craving this winter...especially since the SNOW DAY on Saturday that caused the roof of the Metrodome to collapse!!!

Alright, so here's my list:

1. Chunky knitwear. I was in New York for a few days in November, and saw people whose heads were engulfed by giant scarves all over the place. Not only is this adorable, but it's also quite practical.

2. Dance music. I got 'Seven Swans' as a Christmas present one year, so winter has long been Sufjan time for me. This year, though, inspired by his new album, I've decided to try something a little different. Instead of a dark, singer-songwriter, Nick Drake/Neutral Milk Hotel/Alela Diane winter, I'm feeling something a bit more upbeat. There's nothing like walking to class at eight in the morning while pretending that you're in a movie, about to stop your ex-lover from getting on a plane to Sweden. Hall & Oates, anyone?

3. Cinnamon lattes from the coffee shop down the street. (Um, self-explanatory.)

4. Poetry slams. I went to a Spoken Word workshop two weeks ago, then to my first-ever poetry slam on Friday night. I absolutely loved it. Ironically, I don't think that words can quite describe.

5. Short stories. Okay, so I realize that this, like dance music, is a summer thing. I know that it's common practice to hole up and read Anna Karenina  or Ulysses in the winter, but let me just ask: who even invented that rule? Seriously, who? Winter is cold and dark and full of final exams. Why not have fun in the tiny spaces between, the tiny spaces that are perfect for holding the words of one of these lovely people?

devastation

I can't think of any way to introduce this, so I'll just come out and say it: I ruined my Forever 21 blouse and Urban Outfitters skirt (the ones in the picture in front of the Museum of Contemporary Art) by washing them with my new black pants. Even though my mother taught me how to separate my laundry, and even though I've been washing all of my own clothes for years, I still managed to think that black dye + pink/blue would not equal nasty black smudges all over the place.

We took them to the dry cleaners, but a woman with 30 years of experience was stumped by them.

Then I went to the mall (which was horrendous in itself) and actually found the blouse again, but they didn't have my size. I bought it anyway, but when I put it on at home I looked like Betty Draper's perpetually pregnant neighbor.

I'm sure all of you know how to do laundry correctly, but just in case you've been tossing everything into the machine together and have been, as I once was, very, very lucky, let me just say: you've been warned.

drove to chicago

Every summer, we make elaborate plans to See The American West, in all its vastness and glory. Then we just drive to Chicago instead.

This summer was great because it didn't involve any college visits, and we could actually spend time in the city instead of trying to figure out how to get to Evanston or Rogers Park. Here's what we did with this new-found freedom:

the staircase at the Museum of Contemporary Art...at the bottom is a pool with carp

from underneath

Cora was very intent on taking a picture of me outside the museum. (Urban Outfitters skirt, Forever 21 blouse, Gap shades)

in four solid years of Chicago trips, I've never gotten sick of the Bean.

(Target dress, Nine West flats, belt stolen from Cora)

drinking a peach freeze at a restaurant in Chinatown

this woman was not so sure about us

dancing in the park

the Art Institute had an unbelievable Henri Cartier-Bresson exhibit...below are some of the photographs we saw.

(Truman Capote)

this was my favorite...a man arriving in New York from Europe after being separated from his mother during World War II.

lovely girl of the moment

Christina and I went to Tea Garden yesterday. I was just sitting there, drinking my mango tea latte through one of those way-too-big-how-am-I-supposed-to-fit-this-in-my-mouth straws, when suddenly I saw this hot pink blur:

I asked her where she got it, and she said, "Oh, I just found it at my house. I think it's Mayan. Everyone tells me, 'Christina, that's a tablecloth!' and I'm like, 'Shut up, it's a scarf!' "

 

Finishing up her tea garden/contemplating her outfit. 

Love the deer necklace and the geometric top.

Painter jeans. You can't just go out and buy those, you know.

i would say that i'm just drifting. here in the pool.

I watched The Graduate last night for the...seventh time? I'm not sure. Still definitely my favorite, though. Every moment is so extremely well thought-out, every line and look and color and note. It was the first movie to use the technique of starting the dialogue from the next scene while still playing the pictures from the scene before it.

But, of course, you know where I'm really going with this. The clothes.

With Mrs. Robinson, it's all animal prints, all the time. I couldn't find any good pictures of this dress, but it has an extremely subtle zebra print that I noticed for the first time last night.

Elaine is much more effortless, with a very simple and iconic American sway. You'll see what I mean in the clip below.

thou answerest them only with spring

March has arrived out of nowhere and it is glorious. The U student body has officially made the transition from awkward snow boots to sneakers without socks, from North Face quilted jackets to shorts and T-shirts. Forty degrees you say? Oh yes. We are a thick-blooded people.

This weekend I am going to bask in the sunlight in the spaces of time when I am not

1. English-paper-writing

2. Buying pants at Urban (they are a surprise! Also the picture from their website didn't work, so...)

3. Knitting a GIANT SCARF!!!

4. Thinking about the most beautiful of dresses, which I found today on etsy.com and, though it cannot be mine, will be remembered for the rest of my life.

  

  

It is Mexican and hand-painted, circa 1950s. A marvel of craftsmanship and artistry.

ward, i need to wear your blazer, my sweaters are being dry-cleaned.

An uneasy feeling has been tugging at me for a while now. I have fallen into a style rut. I am dressing so conservatively. As my sister put it, "Emma is becoming a Christian. For real this time."

This is what may have caused it. It is called The Pink Phenomenon.

When I was very young, I despised pink, mainly because, as a girl, I felt that it was being forced upon me. I insulted it at every turn, and I certainly refused to wear it. Then, all of a sudden, I went to high school and became obsessed with it. I wanted it. I thought about it all the time.

Similarly, I went through a brief period when my hair was an inch long and I wore men's pants all the time. I actually really hated it, but I refused to fall into the trap of The Pretty Abercrombie People.

So THEN, in tenth grade or something, I crashed and started wearing dresses constantly. Then came my black/grey pencil skirt + tucked-in blouse phase. I am starting to feel as though wearing neon blue tights and chunky bracelets is not enough to counteract The Grey Pencil Skirt That I Wear Every Day.

Anyway, that's the sitch.

I have recently become very re-interested in pushing the boundary between masculine and feminine dress. I say re-interested because I used to wear my dad's boy scout shirt with pearls, which caused my English teacher to call on me by saying, "Yes, oh wise one in the extremely ironic boy scouts of America shirt."

I want to go through characters I love and see what would happen if I combined them...for example, a few weeks ago I wore this hand-made vintage dress that I bought in a thrift shop in Arizona, along with a tweed blazer. The story that I made up to go along with it is embodied in the post title. I will post pictures soon.

Tomorrow I am considering doing a Blanche/Stanley mix-up. Already stole my sister's beater, so GET READY.

Also very interesting to me is Brett Ashley. I just started reading The Sun Also Rises and am so inspired (even though I still maybe like F. Scott Fitz more...we'll see. And before I write this quote down, can I just say that I opened right to the page I was looking for on the first try?)

"Brett was damned good-looking. She wore a slipover jersey sweater and a tweed skirt, and her hair was brushed back like a boy's. She started all that."

 

This is them in real life! I am thinking she is the mysterious one next to Ernie.

christian have i loved

Last night at the dinner table, we decided that beige is the absolute worst color ever. It does not look good on anyone, even people who can work decidedly nasty colors like yellow and orange. So today when I decided to check out Christian Siriano's spring collection, I was at first a little nonplussed by the beige festival. However. The Gowns.

 

  

  

The sheer volume of these is so fantastic. Each individual texture works in perfect understanding with the color of its material; red naturally has a frazzled, feathery quality...blue moves in more direct, generous lines, and beige, if worked correctly, can have the quality of cream.

  

And THIS. The skirt has such a darling sway, so unlike anything I've seen before. 

you must remember this

I got back from my grandmother's funeral in Phoenix on Wednesday, and while I was there I spent a lot of time looking through old photographs. There are many of them, and they are all quite wonderful -- I'm afraid I never realized how glamorous and elegant she was, and how much she cherished beautiful things.

I love love love this dress. So simple and sweet. And those darling little shoes!

At the moment all we have is photographs of photographs, so the quality isn't great. I'm really looking forward to getting more of them...especially this one of she and my grandfather sitting at a table and smoking. They look so tough, we dubbed them Bonnie and Clyde.

This is my grandmother on her wedding day with her sister, Dorothy. I love how excited they are. The real photo is a little blurry, too, full of motion and life.

lovely girl of the moment

Another lovely girl! This is Hannah, who I've known forever and whose style is always so perfect. I love love love the contrast between these two patterns (three, if you count the couch), and the red wall behind. Almost like she dropped into a Jane Austen novel (and who doesn't wish for that?)

Her top five must-haves for the season are:

1. "Boyfriend" cardigan (bought, or if you can find a guy with nice sweaters...)

2. Chapstick!

3. Hobo mittens (that's what I call them, but I'm not sure what they're actually called...)

4. Tall boots

5. Something with a little sparkle in it. Sweater, belt, headband, etc.

I love how simple this is at first glance, but then the accessories make it -- the scarf, the little red flats.

It is my one-month anniversary today

Ah, yes, it has been one month since that fateful day when I decided to become a fashion blogger. I'm not sure if anyone is really reading this, but you know what? It's alright.

We finished watching netfllixed Project Runway: Season 3 last night. Definitely the best finale thus far. The CLOTHES! (Am I super old for liking Laura's collection the best?)

I started googling my fave people from past Project Runways, and discovered that Daniel Vosovic wrote a book! I also took another look at his collection from the show, and remembered why I loved him so much while I was watching season 2.

Can you even stand how beautiful these are? Everything is so wearable, but still different from anything I've seen since. His new collection is coming out next month, so I am very excited. Look here for some really fresh, lovely photographs of the old collection. I don't say this often...if ever...but I would wear every one of these pieces.

Remember this collar???

I love the hard, architectural lines of this jacket against the gentleness of the dress.

 She just looks so darling.

are you cooler than an 8th grader?

So, it turns out that I'm not. Cooler than an eighth grader, I mean. My mother was reading the newspaper aloud to me this morning as she always does (what will I do when I'm in college? Seriously, I won't know that's going on. The U.S. will invade another country and six months later I'll be all, "WHAT? That's OUTRAGEOUS!!!"), and then she said, "Oh, look, a story about a fashion blogger," and pointed at this picture of a girl who. Is. Thirteen. What's more, she is, as Alice would say, supes hilare. Really, when I was thirteen, I was not a cool person. I was in full awkward mode, wearing my dad's clothes and chopping off all my hair to spite other girls. I didn't even know what Prada was. Shoo.

I sound bitter about this, but I'm not. I'm just slightly embarrassed that I am sometimes still bopping around in American Eagle jeans and salt-stained boots. This is actually the first blog I've found by a girl who is legitimately fashion-forward, who has an understandable budget and puts really creative things together. Take a look, it is very apt.

So, in other news, I GOT A COACH BAG YESTERDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is so lovely. We bought it at an outlet store, and so instead of being $368, it was $149. Um, hell yes.

However, it is my graduation present and so is locked away in my mother's closet until classes end. In May. I would post a picture of it, but, as I said, locked in closet.

I stumbled across Michael Kors' 2008 collection (ages ago, I know), which it turns out was inspired, in part, by Mad Men. And just look. The dresses, especially, are absolutely killer.

 

 

 

 

 

and love this tux. so clean and perfect.