One of a Million

When I initially began blogging, almost two years ago, I thought that my age would set me apart.  Sure, what I was doing wasn't very original, but hey I was half the age of most other bloggers out there.  Now I've almost lost that edge, not that it was much of an edge to begin with, and I've started wondering what sets me apart as a blogger.  Of my favorite bloggers, each has their own little quirk that makes them different from the hundreds of thousands of fashion bloggers out there churning days on days of outfit posts.  Leandra Medine of The Man Repeller posts about social/modern/pop culture issues along with pieces on fashion, Karla from Karla's Closet posts bi-weekly moodboards, and Ivania Carpio from Love Aesthetics religiously adheres to her dress code of white, black, and grey.  Its easy to post #ootds or tips on how to wear your favorite pair of jeans.  Its a lot more difficult to find your unique voice, to find ways to make your blogging style so particular to you that readers would recognize it without a title or an author listed.  And personally, I think developing that voice is infinitely more important than gaining thousands of followers.  An intelligent and individual voice attracts intelligent and individual followers, or so I'd like to think.  So that's my goal.  Developing my voice.  That is my goal.  Not for the next month, or the next year, or maybe not even by the end of college.  But gradually, over the next however many years, until I can look back and be proud of who I am as a writer, as fashiony/stylishy person (I hate the word fashionista), and maybe just as a person in general.  I want to read through my blog and  think about several social issues, admire some outfit choices, and laugh a little at some self-deprecating humor.  So often I find myself slipping unnoticed into generic and blahblah-plain blogger speak.  After spending hours every day reading blog post on blog post, the blanket fashion statements creep into my writing and soon enough I look back and find that the paragraph I've just written could have easily been found on a thousand other blogs.  So I'd like to avoid that.  In short, I'm working on finding me.

P.S.  Am I ready to rock the Tommy Hilfiger runway or what??

                                                                       

 

Thanks to Shay for the pictures, she's fab

Street Style

For those of you who are still unable to process how utterly and mindblowingly awesome the runway was at Chanel, here's some food for thought that will hopefully return your ability to form coherent sentences.  While Fashion Week was originally centered around the fashions sent down the runway, these days the fashionistas seen hailing cabs and walking the streets of New York in stylish yet seasonally appropriate ensembles have become an even bigger source of inspiration for those of us not lucky enough to snag even a back row seat.  While undeniably a crucial source of inspiration for the upcoming season, many times runway looks lack accessibility, making these designs less relatable to those who aren't deeply invested in the fashion industry.   Instead of checking in to see the latest designs sent down the runway at Dior or Valentino, style enthusiasts are avidly discussing the extremely wide leg trousers that Leandra Medine wore out and about during New York fashion week.  While the high-end designers will, eventually, come out with their ready-to-wear styles, media and fashion week followers are more interested in the creative and innovative outfits hustling from one show to another, outfits already in their ready-to-wear state.  Being one of these street style enthusiasts, I've been ardently following trends seen off the runway for the past few weeks.  Without further ado, a few of my favorites (disclaimer - they may or may not be related to fashion week).

  

  

  

  

Resolvedly Resoluting

This is me keeping up (or trying to) with my New Year's Resolution.  Two times a month is often enough, right?  Well, at the very least, its an improvement from last year.  

So remember that post from a couple months ago about coats?  If not, I don't blame you.  It was around October, sometime after Fashion Week, and I posted about all the super awesome coats being seen out and about.  I decided to join the ranks of these sensibly fashionable women and here we are.  In addition, I found a pair of shoes where the infamous socks + heels combination actually seemed to work out for me.  I'd heard tales of such pairings where the wearer didn't end up looking like a preschooler, but believed them to be false.  However, I'm a true convert now.  Side note: these shoes may or may not have contributed to the re-spraining of my ankle, but they're adorable so its all good.

ALSO, one last thing I promise.  I'm currently in the running for an internship in New York and I need votes.  Any and all help is appreciated, plus then you get the privilege of being the recipient of my unconditional love (shh yes that's not a condition, don't question it).  All you need is a Facebook, a computer, and 3.456 seconds.

http://www.fameandpartners.com/fashionitgirl2015?cf=home 

(Scroll to the bottom and my name will either be one of the more recent ones or you can search for it).

A Seasonally Appropriate Mixtape

It might just be me, I'll admit that is a definite possibility, but I feel like some seasons call for specific genres of music.  For instance, fall feels more like some jam-able rock music followed by some easy alternative (maybe some Little Hurricane and NONONO or Cage the Elephant and Bronze Radio Return) whereas spring is more of a pensive indie that makes you want to praise the earth gods for all the green things that magically appear outside (Bon Iver or Young the Giant anyone??).  Or maybe I'm a pompous music geek.  Either way, I prefer to sort music by mood and even more specifically - season.  On days like today, the bitterly cold days that are somehow made even colder by the bright sun, I prefer some electronic-y alternative.  Not the depressing kind, but the kind with a killer bass line that makes you think - but not in a bad way.  The kind of thinking where you don't go far enough to get sad, but just far enough to feel wise and learned.  Its a very specific frame, perhaps I've set myself up for a bit of a failure, but now that I've taken the time to explain this whole crazy system I might as well give it a shot.

1. Artist: James Blake
Songs : Lindisfarne II, Unluck

2. Artist: Lo-Fang
Songs: Permutations II, You're the One That I Want

3. Artist: Glass Animals
Songs: Gooey, Black Mambo

4. Artist: Chet Faker
Songs: No Diggity, Talk is Cheap

5. Artist: Typhoon
Songs:  Hunger and Thirst, The Lake

6. Artist: Ratatat
Songs: Lex, Loud Pipes

7. Artist: Polica
Songs: Smug, Amongster


That's all for now children.  I hope you enjoy it, but if you don't then feel free to ignore all future music suggestions that I may chose to dole out.

Bikinis in January

We've rung the New Year in, hung up the Christmas decorations, made our resolutions, entered the post-break real world once again, and now we're sitting here wondering what the next move is (because its definitely not the homework you should be doing).  As the department stores would like you to think, in fact, as any clothing store in or near the continental U.S. as well as many abroad would like you to think, its bikini buying time!  As you sit sipping your tea, browsing Pinterest, and glancing outside in hopes that the snow has magically disappeared and left you magically surrounded by the warm breeze of summer weather, you might as well be buying next summer's bikini.  No time like the present, right?  Well, the best time is actually after summer when everything goes on sale, but lets not get wrapped up in the details, shall we?  Besides, the endless days of bone-chilling, soul-crushing, mood-ruining, and numbing weather have nothing on the joys of searching for summer clothing.  Each cute bikini top is a little spot of warmth in my soul, or so I tell myself.  Regardless of whether its the bikini tops or the bulky sweater I have on, its time to talk suits.  I know its a little late to be bringing this up as a new trend, but it is relatively new to this style - high waisted bikinis.  Not only do they make you look like you keep up with the Kardashians and have secret fashion insider knowledge, they also do a really good job of covering up the unwanted fleshy area otherwise referred to as the "muffin top".  Also, I like the whole idea of mixing and matching.  The days of coordinating bikini tops and bottoms is over, from now on its watermelon print with pinstripes, checks with plaid.  Or, in this case, a more demure pairing of neon yellow with hounds tooth.

Resolutions

For the last few months, I've been putting off blog posts for several reasons.  I had to focus on college apps, I had to focus on keeping up my grades, I had to focus on my last season of club soccer.  But does it ever really get any less busy?  Even now that I'm done with the worst of it, I can see a fresh bundle of stress and furious ice cream binge sessions lurking just around the corner.  So, as part of my New Year's resolution, I've decided to view blogging as a way to treat myself rather than as a long and painful task I feel obligated to take part in, somewhat akin to visiting the dentist. That's not to say I don't enjoy it, but sometimes even the thought of going through the process of photographing and writing can leave me worn out.  From now on, I resolve to squirrel away precious free time for blogging, I resolve to look forward to it, I resolve to spend hours planning ahead for my next post instead of doing my homework.  Well, perhaps not that last one, but we'll see.

In addition to that specific goal, here's a few of my others:

1. Sing out loud more; in the shower, washing the dishes, walking the dog.  Sing more and sing louder.

2. Wear lipstick to school, not just pinks and browns, but dark purple or blindingly-bright red.

3.  Be nicer (less hitting my brother and more talking to strangers sitting next to me on the train)

4. Last, but not least; wear denim on denim, dye my hair crazy(er) colors, go swimming at 2 am, wear witch hats inside school, refuse to speak for a day, make duct tape clutches a thing, make guacamole on a Tuesday night, eat only carrots for a day, teach my dog to speak French, tell my principal her hair looks nice, and secretly pass out chapstick to the entire senior class.

  

One last note, I've decided to do away with listing the brands of every article of clothing I'm wearing in the post.  As a completely broke teenager, I don't have money to purchase up and coming or trendy brands.  Instead, I prefer to focus on styling and developing my sense of style with the materials that I have.  I've decided to quit the whole listing of brands thing in an attempt to convince myself that I actually mean this.  Besides, how many times can you really stand to see me list Target, American Apparel, and vintage?

Thanks to Shay Basa for the pictures

Clothes, clothes everywhere and not a piece to wear....

Admit it, we've all been there.  A truly first-world problem, one many of us face on a daily basis.   Sitting in front of your closet packed to bursting with clothes, you stare at last season's forever 21 knockoffs and thrift store purchases that seemed like "the thing" when you purchased them, but now just like what they are, grandma clothes, and see absolutely NOTHING to wear.

I'm sorry if I just led you on, I don't actually have a solution to this puzzling conundrum.  If I did, it wouldn't take me over half an hour to pick out my outfit every night.  However, I do have some suggestion that might shave a few minutes off the stressful task of picking out an outfit every day.

1. Have a backup, have several backups.  Hell, have three weeks worth of backups.

The "I might have a group project today that none of my group members worked on last night plus I had practice until nine and I think college apps are starting to make my hair fall out" Backup

Not particularly orginal, but hey, it does the job.  Some slouchy Gap distressed jeans, Doc Marten Chelsea boots (the distressed kind duh), and a tshirt that we're going to assume is Hanes for the sake of the time crunch I'm under.  Add a scrunchy to disguise the fact that your hair looks like it hasn't been washed it a week.  Because it hasn't.  If you're feeling particularly outgoing you can even wear them like this model.  According to American Apparel they count as clothing so by all means go for it.  Scrunchies for arm bands, scrunchies for pants, extra stretchy scrunchies as a bra!

Divert your eyes from the more than half naked model so we can move on.  My next tip might just be a way to enable my Pinterest addiction, but I believe that looking for inspiration online can help too.  Now I'm not encouraging you to follow this suggestion to the extent that I have, but pinning a few outfits a week can help.  Find a few good pinners to follow, or find sites such as WhoWhatWear or Free People with Pinterest accounts.  Let me just take a second for unabashed self-promotion; follow me at http://www.pinterest.com/citychilddreams/ or just look me up.  

Okay enough of that, time for the final tip.  This might be a little obvious and might not seem like much in the way of advice, but I've found that it works pretty well for me.

Ready for it?

See that oversized cheetah print trench coat hanging in your closet?  Yeah that one, next to the pastel high waisted jeans.  Wear that.  

Those bright green wedges that your relatives would use to identify you with if you ever got hit by a bus while wearing them.  Yeah, wear those.

Grab a crazy piece.  The one thing in your closet that you've always been a little hesitant to wear, maybe because you didn't know what in tarnation would ever go with it or maybe because you wanted to avoid ridicule on public transportation.  Disregard those hesitations.  No fashionista worth her weight ever let the opinions of a few mediocre dressers affect her style choices.  Today is the day you wear the striped denim jumpsuit you bought three years ago.  Loud and proud girl, loud and proud.