Friday, October 29, 2010

inspiration: kanye west's movie, chanel and new orleans

the title says it all-these are what i find fashion inspirational right now. however...i am really obsessed with how kanye's movie looks. the color palette, the sets-these stills are like beautiful little tableaus or gregory crewdson stills, except with way more fantastical subject matter.
i love it. i think i love it more as little photographs.
kanye's got some mad skills for art production.
stills from his film "runaway", and not in the order of how they appeared in the film.






chanel outfit



me at my mom's house, in new orleans.
dress-topshop.
sunglasses-dior
shoes-refurbished miu miu




until later. i'm going outside to enjoy the fresh louisiana sunshine and air.
love,
c

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

the corin tucker band

full disclosure i write this as im listening to "the woods." more disclosure? i was kind of distraught, the sink in the pit of your stomach feeling when a book series ends, the final goodbye, no more-when sleater kinney went on indefinite hiatus.

the corin tucker band is not sleater kinney. try separating her voice- her full, awesome, deep voice- from one to the other but it's really different and thank god for that.

i came to the show at bowery ballroom. amazing energy, different entity. her voice holds nostalgia for me- the fist issue of bust i bought, when i learned about kathleen hanna and feminist theory, the left wing bumper stickers i decorated my first car in, my high school activism ignited. it call came back. kathleen hanna was at the show. i didn't fan girl out, but i really, really wanted to.

sometimes i wonder if it's good music or nostalgia i have. listening again to the corin tucker band, it's obvious it's the talent. however, one can't help but wonder, if like williman eggleston's work which is so rooted in nostalgia, is it good b/c it's so indicative of a time, mood, feeling, b/c it's a documentary piece of the time as it was happening or is it good b/c it's simply good?

my friend sarah (who used to intern with me at bust), invited to me the show. we started talking about the beatles, pointed out that the beatles is like that. the beatles are often called the greatest rock band ever, but are they? or is it b/c the people who own music magazines are the ones that grew up when the beatles came out. could it be that the beatles were popular for the time b/c it represented something so different than what came before it? perhaps the beatles are popular now b/c of nostalgia (also the music they created but their popularity and celebrity is rooted in something more than just sheer talent). we build them up. sarah was saying why not nominate another band? like sleater-kinney or rather now corin tucker band as the best band ever.
i agree.
so is corin tucker band good? yes they are.
sleater kinney was once mentioned in rolling stone's greatest rock bands of the year or some title along those lines- they were one of hte only "girl" groups. but rock isn't about gender, it's about music.
corin tucker band is it's own band, with an amazing singer, and some awesome music.
it's not "alternative, indie, girl" it just is what it is, which is awesome.

corin tucker band
corin is in a dress from a woman in portland's vintage shop called "yo vintage"


i'm in my new favorite clothes- agnes b for opening ceremony jacket that feels very old french woman, my favorite top shop dress and band of outsiders sperrys


now i need to get dressed for work.
i'm wearing the madewell alexa chung dress.

ta ta for now!
c

ps...my new favorite song....
the corin tucker band- doubt

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

boston was so great, it got TWO updates.

The main reason I went to Boston (for less than 24 hours) was to visit my friend Nera. The last time I was in Massachusetts was six years ago to look at colleges, one of which is the college Nera attends.
I really love visiting my friends who have attended colleges with a traditional college campus. Since NYU doesn't really have one, I have something just really appealing about staying in dorms that are spread out in between trees or are in old houses, ect. What I love in it is probably rooted in the fact that I find it so odd since my idea of a "normal" college experience is so different. My first apt that I lived in as a sophomore in college was in Alphabet City- that to me seems normal.
While I've lived in New York for four years, and prior to that I lived in Louisiana and Texas, I've never really experienced what I would think of as a true Fall. Oh sure, the leaves change wherever you go, but not like what I saw up in Boston. In Houston and New Orleans, you barely notice Fall until it's well into December. The leaves stay green for a bit and then turn a slightly yellowish color. In New York the leaves turn a sickly light yellow and fall off in bunches.
However, further north they turn a rich, rich saffron, appearing almost honeyed in nature, so beautiful that I wanted to put them in my mouth. Yes, I wanted to eat leaves, I wanted to roll them in and take them home with me and put them up all over my apartment. Everything was blanketed in rich emeralds, pinky deep reds and yellows. The only response I had was soo....preeeettty...

On Saturday, Nera took me shopping and I shot some streetstyle. We then met up with the lovely Eunice. I love meeting people who's blogs I've read and vice versa. She was so nice!
Needless to say, I had a wonderful day long excursion vacation.

Nera playing in the leaves



Inside this amazing store near Berklee College of Music called Bodega



The Haul
Cape from a vintage store in Waltham, Dress Alexa Chung by Madewell (yes I went to a Madewell in Boston, yes I know there is one in NYC), Band of Outsiders Sperry collab (I have such big feet that I can fit into men's shoes...)

I'm so so so excited to wear the shoes and cap. And the dress as well. But the shoes I'm most excited about!
Maybe it's the southern in me but jeezum petes, I love sperrys...And band of outsiders. this is the best of both worlds.

*c*

Monday, October 25, 2010

boston street style

so i went to the boston for the weekend to visit my lovely friend nera.
and i took some street style shots.

enjoy!




Friday, October 22, 2010

what's better than being 3 stories up in the air surrounded by trees??

last sunday emma and i went to the highline.
it was one of those perfect sundays, since i had started the morning with pancakes from an old school diner near my apartment and i was going to end the day with a free yoga lesson.

the sun was impossible warm and bright while still being cool enough for tights and a sweater.
the highline was teeming with people.
it felt like one of those last gasps of breath that summer has when it's officially autumn.

there's nothing like being suspended in the air three stories above manhattan and being surrounded by trees. in chelsea. it's almost like being in an alternate universe b/c it doesn't quite feel real.

we strolled the highline in it's entirety and afterwards we had pear cider enroute to our advanced yoga class aptly named "big juicy."

it was a great day.

topshop dress (a million and a half years old), phillip lim jacket, outlet mall tatum hat.



the emmapanorama taken on the highline


the lovely emma




emma and i both have decided to start doing things for pleasure and fun. by saying that i mean, we are taking time for ourselves and this highline day was definetly a me not we day. it was about emma having fun, caroline having fun, no obligations, no things that must be done, people we must see. just straight up relaxing pleasure fun time day.
highlinepearcideryogaawesomeday.

love,
c

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

dapper dan

spotted near the highline on sunday. check out that hair, can tell why i photographed him?
(yes the film does look weird, experimentations!)

Sunday, October 17, 2010

i've fallen out of taxis, out of windows too....

fall in new york is never autumn, meaning that the leaves don't slowly turn yellow and amber and meander down to the ground. the fall off green and if they don't fall of quick, which most do, they stubbornly hold on. the sunshines bright, the air turns crisp and i try to convince myself that 50 and 60 degrees is warm, warm, warm, i am warm in a sweater. i tell myself it's warm even when it's not.


my new baby blue '40s leather jacket from ebay, cat print miu miu shoes



with this weather and new jacket, i've been re-reading all of dashiell hammet's novels that i own- the continental op, red harvest, the maltese falcon and the thin man (which is also one of my favorite movies).

stills from spirit of the beehive, the scenery is just a large blanket of rolling plains that i could get lost in.




Thursday, October 14, 2010

when light hits sequins it reminds me of tinkerbell

my friend monique and i do this thing where we lend each other clothing for such really reeeeeeeally long periods of time and while the other person pretty much owns it, it's still technically ours. this dress is hers but it lives at my house and i take it out for day trips such as wearing it to work or on dates such as friday nights, like i'm doing today.



vintage dress, rag and bone boots

ain't it grand? look at these sequins! monique got this from the this old store she used to work out. this old woman died and all of her clothing from the '40s was sold. she also had smaller and larger versions of outfits in her wardrobe, so she had doubles of dresses that were just in different sizes. which i find excessive and kind of disturbing (i guess it was for weight gain) in theory but in practice, it's...kind of awesome...b/c there are more pretty dresses around in multiple sizes. oh this doesn't fit? GIVE ME THE OTHER ONE.
i'm getting ahead of myself and kind of excited but vintage does that to me.


also my top loves lusts wants would sell a kidney to own maybe if i could but i don't think they give you money for organs- clothing stills from fashion week

prada


jonathan saunders


peter pilotto


versus (which i never thought i'd be into...but hey...look plaid!)


rodarte



gary graham



so i'm kind of obsessed with light/baby blue right. what are you gonna do about it?
yeah, that's what i thought.

ta ta,
c

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

new york street style: transition from summer to full on fall

Right now in New York, the weather is doing that lovely weird thing where it can't decide if it's hot or cold. Which leaves me being stubborn and refusing to unearth my winter clothes from the truck that is buried underneath a myriad of stuff in my room (that stuff includes a baby steel filling cabinet full of jewelry, camera lenses and a type writer). but since the weather is being weird, and it is warm in the buttery sun and pretty freezing in the shade, i am getting by and by just dandy fine with a sweater, sometimes silk printed silk scarves or a trench.
these people look pretty warm in the shade and cool in the sun as well.


i loved that this girl is wearing a short sleeved rittenhouse dress with a turban and fake fur collar.


i saw these guys on the street and had to photograph them. i love all the layers they are wearing, how so unconsciously cool they look. it's as if they woke up, threw on clothing from a pile of amazing curated and picked pieces and walked out the door.


im usually not a huge fan of jean material but this dress was really cute. the palete of restrained colors (black and jean) really made her hair and glasses pop.


these kids just looked like they were having fun.

these were the first people i shot when i knew i wanted to do something about transitioning from summer to fall. i love this girl's dress and the detailing on it. i love her heidi braids and i love that her friend is wearing a tie. what cool kids.

Monday, October 11, 2010

greetings from houston

spotted near brasil (a lovely restaurant that was a favorite haunt of mine in high school)




and my favorite shoes from high school. i found one pair buried in my closet and the other, i forgotten i had lent to an ex-boyfriend and he so graciously returned them to me. they are both kind of too big for me, but docs are amazing and i wore these pretty much chance i had. and sometimes i even wore them to school, even though the religious high school i went to didn't look kindly upon non-regulation dress code shoes. but they have seen their fair share of shows, punk houses, and normal houston explorin'

Friday, October 8, 2010

i miss the '90s nickelodeon




i was reading an article in nylon that's a couple months old, anywho the article was mentioning that nickelodeon shows in the 90s helped create a love of indie music for the author of the article, and maybe even affected her generation and how music is now perceived. which i disagree with and agree with (i don't think you can simplify a whole genre of television and compare it to alternative music popularity in a one page article). however, it got my brain thinking (oh no, isn't that dangerous caroline? well yes sometimes) about what i enjoyed watching as a child contrasted to what some of the girls i used to babysit watch. which actually reminds me of this one time i was watching hannah montanna and this little girl broke into giggles when miley cryus, with all the subtly and nuance of a hyena, delivered a joke that had been set up for like 3 minutes. the little girl continues to laugh and i just think to myself my god, do you think she'll notice if i read a book? little girl turns to me and says why aren't you laughing? oh...did you not get the joke? i said...well no..it just wasnt funny. the words spilled out of my mouth before i could stop them, i feel like sarcasm and absolute bluntness can be lost on four year olds. her eyes widened and she quickly turned back to the tv. ten points, caroline, you've made little girl not only feel lame but now awkward about her hannah montanna love.
so i've seen it all. i-carly, hannah montanna, lizzie mcguire, wizards of waverly place, and only one (thank god) of the high school musicals. which a seven year old had to explain the story to me b/c i was like who are these people? i felt old and it was great.
but the point is, b/c i should get to the point, the point is is that i've seen these shows and i don't really care for them. all of the girls look really perfect, their acting is horrible but it's really the things that they talk about and fixate on on the show that are annoying. every girl is not popular but seems to have a complex about being weird, or about feeling awkward but they all have a really special talent that if they shared with the world, their whole school would love them and everything would be just gangbusters, oh wouldn't it?
clarissa or alex mack never would've cared. alex mack had to hide her secret powers but was still cool and awkward and very well adjusted and well balanced and articulate for someone that was covered in dangerous chemicals and had a power plant after them. also she dressed well. clarissa was all like whatevs i'm weird and i have the best room and i listen to good music and in fact i'm so different it bothers me when people dress like me (and we've all had those moments).
angela of my so called life probably had the most angst, but it felt real. it wasn't her falling down the stairs slapstick style. it was her trying to talk to a boy that was so unaware of her. it was her and her friends and they had r-e-a-l issues, like being gay, dealing with friendship breakups, drug issues, ect.
or best of all, daria. with her sardonic humor, media awareness but also the fact that even though her sister bothered her and was super vapid, daria was still a good person to her. in fact, daria wasn't a bitch but just herself. she didn't have a lot of friends but that didn't bother her.
all of these characters engaged in very typical adolescent behavior and it felt real-b/c it dealt with instances that we've all had with growing up but their acting conveyed it as real. it wasn't overtly funny but it was humorous. granted, i know i am looking at this through the lenses of nostalgia, but i think it was better. i was given great, funny and complex female characters on television and they really made me feel comfortable about being different and weird. they never focused on how they felt alienated but really sort of prided themselves on being their own people. hannah montana feels awkward and weird and every single line is a joke. there is a neat little thing we learn at the end of each episode and the big reveal is that she's hannah montana. it was a different time them, the actors weren't being groomed for an industry machine, to have a movie, song and fashion career. which is lucky for me, i got to watch really awesome tv.
give daria over hannah any day of the week. i'd rather watch tv that celebrated uniqueness than watch tv that would've given me a complex about being myself.


Wednesday, October 6, 2010

the madeline rhyme

an old house in paris all covered with vines, lived twelve little girls in two straight lines, the smallest one was madeline....

i used to have that entire story memorized but that's the only part i can still remember.
sometimes, when repeating it, it almost sounds like they are describing my house! except my house isn't in paris and it isn't entirely covered with vines and greenery.

this whole shoot was just me messing around my house (some of the focusing is off, whoops)


my mom's fountain with my dog bon bon (her name used to be bonnie blue, she was named after scarlett o'hara's daughter, it was my favorite movie when we got her. however, over time her name has been shortened to bon bon)
surface to air shoes, anna sui dress


leopard sitting area
in my moicun dress, kate spade outlet mall socks and jeffrey campbell wannabe celine shoes



by the pool
in my buffalo exchange chanel jacket (sometimes when digging you can find the best things), urban outfitters shorts, gap shirt, kate spade outlet mall stockings (it was a great discovery) and jeffrey campbell shoes



in my sister's old bedroom/guest bedroom (she moved into a house with all of her stuff this year, thus her room is now the guest bedroom. whereas all of my stuff doesn't fit into my apt, so my room is still a caroline zoned area)
backwards marc by marc jacobs dress (i found it in telluride, co), gap black shirt


until later,
c