April 26, 2012

everything was beautiful and nothing hurt

I really liked the way the toilet paper looked next to my shirt. I like to combine textures and the fluffiness of the toilet paper went excellently with my shirt.
I was really inspired by the pajama suit trend going on right now. I felt like this striped shirt resembled the pajamas that the bananas on T.V. used to wear. I really like the shirt because when I stare at it for too long it gives me a slight headache. It's like a clothing optical allusion.
AND NOW LET'S FAST FORWARD LIKE A MONTH
For Spring Break, I helped my friend Karinna move and we had a little National Best Friend Day sleep over. The next morning we woke up early and took the train to Berkeley. We wore similar shirts just to really emphasize how our friendship affected every aspect of our lives. We also wore bindis. She wore a gold one on her forehead, and I put two on the side of my eyes. She also gave me this awesome cheetah print scarf that I just loved. I went ahead and wore it not giving a fuck about the weather. I just really liked the way it looked with the stripes.... Some lady at Goodwill commented that it was off season. I was going to comment that her clogs were ugly, but she was wearing overalls so it was okay. She better watch out next time. (she did say she loved the scarf though, and I do have to agree it was sunny outside, but I mean I didn't have a heat stroke because I wore it so I don't understand the problem!!)
These are the bindis I wore. They made my eyes look quite feline-ish. I tried so hard to take a good picture, and this is what I got. If you don't like it, then it's okay...haters gon' hate. If you haven't noticed by now, I take all my pictures on my phone because I find it a hassle to carry my camera around everywhere. I'm not a photographer, so I mean what do you expect??
My mysterious friend Karinna! I considered posting a picture of her with her face, but I knew she wouldn't have approved of the picture. I'm trying to keep her as a friend, so I'm not going to risk our friendship over a picture...You guys will just have to bear with the anonymity of these pictures. Her outfit is just divine though. We called it the school girl outfit.
Berkeley was not what everyone hyped it to be. We went mostly for the thrift stores. They weren't as good as Haight, which was a bummer. I did end up buying some really nice boots though so I wasn't complaining too much. I also got to save my money. We bought some ice cream, and then Karinna got called a princess by a little girl so the day was still perfect.
Lana Del Rey is the only one who can wear a crop top and not look like a hot mess, okay?
An Allison Harvard picture doesn't hurt anyone. It rejuvenates the soul.

April 24, 2012

swirls of white

I am beyond obsessed with this outfit from Stella McCartney's Spring/Summer collection. Mostly the meshed shorts with the perfect swirly lining that reminds me of Versace's last collection. Like my friend said they looked like expensive basketball shorts, but they are just more than that. I have really fallen for the sporty trend (which is just baffling ironic, since I am the LEAST athletic person on this planet we call Earth). I just always fall in love with white during summer, and then this also goes with my obsession with mesh. I love the way the top has such a low cut. The jacket is also just so divine. However if I had to pick one thing to keep from this outfit, it would be the shorts just because I love them to death. I might regret it later, when I want the shirt and the jacket...but I've just wanted the shorts longer so yeah.
 Vogue UK March 2012
 Stella McCartney S/S 2012

These shorts were my inspiration to wear these, not as magical but what are you gonna do?

April 18, 2012

I am from now on known as the world's flower baby

On beautiful Fridays, my friend Karinna and I wait for the bus and plan our endless NYC adventures. At the bus stop, I came across this beautiful flower and decided to care for it like it was my own. I stared at it, held it in my hand, and comforted it when it was upset. I nurtured it and and helped it become aware of how beautiful it was. I then soon realized that there were many more little flowers like this one on a nearby bush. I became amazed by new discovery. Had I discovered the lost city of El Dorado!? No, it was more than that. I had found my calling...flower nurturer. I learned a lot from these small delicate living beings. I started out by, what I though was helping them, to what I then realized was there way of enlightening me. I WAS THEIR BABY! 
 Here Karinna took pictures of me with my flower buddy. Look how adorable we look together. We match in color and cuteness. Look how I can't keep my eyes off the beautiful little flower being. I am in a trance, admiring it.

thrifted sweater, DIY collar, and thrfited pin
Now I don't know when the people at my school will finally comprehend the idea of a detachable collar. When will they understand that I am not trying to look like a stripper!? When will they understand that I can have a collar, without wearing the rest of the shirt. The collar shown here is my glitter version, which was inspired by the Miu Miu booties from F/W 12.

Now this is another controversial piece. The pin of the unknown child that I wear with pride. No people this isn't my baby picture! No people I don't know who this is! I just wear it because I feel like the soul of the child, that is trapped in the picture, accompanies me wherever I go. No I will not put a picture of myself in the pin! Who do you take me as? A narcissistic freak!? I love this child, which I don't know if to call a little a boy with an Anna Wintour cut, or a girl with an Anna Winour cut, OR MAYBE A BABY PICTURE OF ANNA HERSELF! However, I take pride in being the owner of this pin, which may have belonged to one of, if not, the most powerful woman in fashion. I also feel like a soldier with this as my badge of honor, blessed by Queen Wintour.
Behold the desert beauties of my local church. Complete with beautiful colors. 

FLOWER~ POWER~BABY~OHYEAH~

April 16, 2012

French, as we speak

WHY!? That is what I keep asking myself. Vogue Paris is causing an internet controversy. Vogue Paris has been promoting it's new website more and more, and then they stated how the website would be available in English. However recently, there are articles going around assuming that Vogue Paris will now be printed in English. This was all due to the tweet from Vogue Paris saying: "France gave the US the Statue of Liberty, now we are taking Vogue.fr to the wider world... get ready for ". Now this tweet is really vague for me, because it doesn't specify if they are talking about the magazine or the website. I then became especially confused when I saw this tweet: "Karl, Marc or Christopher?  is coming soon to Vogue.fr". The idea of Vogue Paris printing in English really scares me as much as it angers me. I can seem to comprehend why someone would come up with such a horrible idea. Vogue Paris is one of the most prestigious and influential magazines of the fashion industry. In my eyes, Vogue Paris (along with Vogue US and Vogue Italia) is part of the Holy Trinity of fashion magazines. The fact that Vogue Paris is stripping away the French factor of a FRENCH MAGAZINE is the biggest, worst sell out move ever.

I respect the french language so much, and when I would buy Vogue Paris the best part was reading it in French. I mean I really stopped buying Vogue Paris after Carine Roitfeld left the magazine, but I still really admired some of the editorials under Emmanuelle Alt's leadership. Many speculate that this change in Vogue Paris's language is just to become more accessible for the whole world, but mostly for the US. However I don't see how much more money that magazine would bring in once it is printed in English. The magazine is over $15 on the US newsstands, which scares off casual customers, so making it English won't really increase a significant amount sales. Let's face the fact that most people in the US who buy Vogue Paris are working in fashion or fashion fanatics, and have many buy the magazine without being able to understand it.
 I remember back to my sophomore year in high school, when I asked a my friend how he had so much time to read all his Vogues. He told me "Nobody reads Vogue, only old rich ladies that stay at home all day". Now a religious Vogue reader myself, I know that I don't read every single article in Vogue. I only will read 3-4 articles that interest me, but the rest of my time is spent looking at the beautiful images. If I don't even already read all of Vogue US, why would I want to read a magazine about French fashion in English. This transition in language would really make the magazine lose it's distinction from it's British and American counterparts.
 The french language is so beautiful and is a TREMENDOUS part of the French culture. By stripping the magazine of it's native language, we are really just making the French language seem inferior to English. It is beyond disrespectful to the French people.  I am not even French and I am insulted. If the magazine did keep Vogue Paris in French and just translated every issue into English, I would be okay with that...as long as the French edition was still available for sale outside France. However this would just be a huge hassle, and the magazine would probably stop after the first issue...realizing it is such a bad idea.
Since I will be living in NYC, and have greater access to the world's magazine, I will not ever consider buying Vogue Paris if it is in English. I am really proud of my native culture and language and have a lot of respect for people who are the same way. Vogue Paris in English is a disrespectful action towards culture (since it would give other magazines the idea to want to change their language as well), and all in an attempt to make more money. It is so sad, and I predict the downfall of the  magazine if they went through with all of this. I get sick to my stomach when I see people celebrating that they will finally be able to read and understand Vogue Paris, because it just shows cultural unawareness. The magazine should be reaching out to the people in the country, instead of trying to reach out to other countries who have a low percentage of people who actually give a shit.

EDIT: This whole little rant seemed to be pointless since the tweet referred to the website (like the way Vogue.it is in English), just like I had suspected. Whatever, this is my feelings about the magazine printing in English, if that ever happens.

April 10, 2012

you can't dress slutty in March!!!

THE FOLLOWING IS A RECAP OF A SUBURBAN REBEL TEEN EVENT:
ANTIPROM 2012
WHERE WAS I!? WHERE WAS TEEN VOGUE!? WHERE WAS THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT?!!! This was brightly displayed on Teen Vogue's April 2012 issue, and obviously many of the girls at my school aren't subscribed or read Teen Vogue. Which is a shame considering that everybody just looked like a Hunger Games' Capitol train wreck. I can predict that the girls at my school obviously didn't pick any of these 101 GLAM DRESSES. Now I have a theory that you're supposed to look tacky at Prom, it must be a requirement (that and having white french tip nails, in your choice of fake or real, considering the swarm of pictures of these darlings on Instagram). My own teacher said "YOU CAN'T DRESS SLUTTY IN MARCH!!" when she found out our Prom was on the last day of March this year. She was correct that many of the girl's motivations is the ever so man-appealing slutty look. My teacher may or may not be a teenage mind reader (she also may or may not be the same teacher that had a phone call with her mom, DURING CLASS, about her daughters first gynecologist visit). Now I just feel guilty because while I was skipping the Prom filled pages of Teen Vogue, I could have been preaching to the young ladies about what to wear to Prom. Now every year you see a different trend, these were this years trends:
  • TOMS as nightwear shoes - let's put aside my annoyance to this show hype, but why would you wear the most casual shoe known to man (the heir of the Croc), and wear to what ideally is a glamorous and formal event. I get many were trying to be comfortable with having to take off your shoes, but at least don't take pictures of your feet. NO.
  • the long silk floral dress - replaced last year's lace and neon trend
  • the young men's grey tuxedos - I get all the guys tend to look the same in black tuxedos, but this year all the guys looked the same in grey tuxedos.
  • the ever so classy "freak dancing" was replaced by his close cousin the fabulous "twerking" - teens all over America experience this cultural phenomenon in which women degrade themselves in public, and men unleash their sexual fantasies. 
Now here would be about the time where I would show you how I, the Bay Area Fashionista, managed to break all of society's Prom rules and unleash my creativity in my Prom outfit. But here is the thing...
I DIDN'T GO!
Yes! I defied the laws of high school and didn't attend my Senior Ball. I missed out on the memories that would last a lifetime. But what did you expect? I would have probably gotten sick from all the judgmental thoughts in my head. I mean I'm just heartless and probably would have caused a scene (this is coming from the guy who contemplated posting the worst and worst dressed of my prom in this post, but didn't just so I wouldn't get the reputation of the Perez Hilton of fashion blogging). Instead of attending Prom, my rebel best friend Karinna and I went out to San Francisco on an expedition she would never forget!
There we were emerging from the underground world of BART (our subway train), and were graced by the beautiful city of San Francisco. As soon as I looked up I saw that the Louis Vuitton Cup 2013 would be held in SF this year. WHAT IS THIS LOUIS VUITTON CUP YOU MAY ASK?? Well I thought it consisted of Louis Vuitton giving shoppers the opportunity to raid the store and acquire the most items in a designated amount of time. The winner would not only take their pickings, but also the coveted LOUIS VUITTON CUP! BUT NO! This is not the case. The Louis Vuitton Cup is some sort of boat race. I googled it and lost interest once I saw that you weren't shopping for Louis Vuitton, so I don't know a lot of the details. You can go google it yourself if you are some sort of chic boat person.
Oh hey Lana! This was another way of San Francisco and the Rasputin music store in Union Square of reminding me that I was too sick to attend the Lana Del Rey meet and greet at Amoeba, a couple of months back. Thanks for having my back San Francisco. THANKS, REALLY! I love you Lana!!!!!!!
After we managed to get myself away from the Lana Del Rey poster, we moved on to find a place to eat and this fabulous two toned building. Look at the colors, look at the chicness. After eating Karinna looked up our next destination on the her trusty iPhone, where she received terrible news. To get to the place she wanted to go, she would have to cross her worst nightmare....CHINATOWN! You see I don't understand her hate for Chinatown, I find it quite pleasant and cute. She blames the slow tourist pedestrians!
While in Chinatown, I found inspiratrion from this graffitied wall, depicting a Chinese dragon, and a Banksy graffiti which I don't why I didn't include in the picture...but oh well. My name for this revamped version of this and this, is MERMAID SKELETON EXPEDITION! It was in honor of something you will soon become aware of later on in this post. I know I like to revamp outfits a lot, but sometimes they just make sense to the places I go. Which then I end up taking pictures of, and later realized I had posted something similar before. All of you guys really loved my ribz outfit that I posted during the summer, which still continues to get an insane amount of views. So to those skeleton-cut-t-shirt fans, THIS ONE IS FOR YOU!
thrifted leather jacket, thrifted shirt, Ralph Lauren shirt cut to resemble a rib cage, mermaid  necklace
After being hit on by a motorcycle drunk guy outside a bar, we reached our destination! A TATTOO SHOP!! Tattoo Boogaloo, which we may or may not have just liked because of the cute name, was where Karinna had decided to get her tattoo. The shop was so retro and cute, and they had this mermaid painting in the waiting area (which was like a sign from above that this was a correct choice). I wanted to take more pictures of the place, but I didn't want to look like an annoying tourist. A couple of hours of waiting, and then a couple hours of getting her tattoo, Karinna was then branded with a permanent genius piece of art.
Now it makes more sense why I dressed the way I did this day. All in honor of this beautiful image. Everyone at the tattoo place was in love with Karinna's choice. Katie, our her tattoo artist, was the coolest person ever. She cursed a lot, and praised us for being so rad in skipping prom to do this. It was such a perfect Antiprom plan, and I was so happy to do this instead of prom.

Now I am not promoting to do something badass instead of going to prom, but let me just say that it's worth those missed memories. I mean I think I will remember this more than those prom memories that I am still trying to forget from last year's prom.

April 05, 2012

the other side of the tracks

I've been trying really hard lately to stay away from anything quotidian. I recently felt inspired to sleep on the other side of the bed, as I call it. It involves me sleeping with my head where my feet usually rest, and my feet where my head usually rests. I started to have very vivid dreams that I remembered the next morning with ease. I kept doing it for a couple of days, because we had been learning in psychology about dreams and I really wanted to be able to remember my dreams for our dream journals. It was quite inspiring seeing how my unconscious mind was more vivid when I slept in a different place. My dreams were also really extreme, including: my friend and I going to jail, the ground shattering, me as a royal ad mist a revolution, and living in the underwater world of Versace. I soon however had to stop sleeping that way because I noticed that I wasn't resting as much as I would regularly do. During a hectic week, I went back to my old sleeping position, where I slept more soundly. 
thrifted vest, H&M shirt, my favorite necklace ever, thrifted shoes
This outfit has actually been lingering in my mind for a while. When I first bought the vest, I thought of outfits I could create with it. I was inspired by this contest for a ticket to meet Jean Paul Gaultier at the SF de Young, and I envisioned a darker look that popped out with the gold necklace. I wanted to find a extravagant white collared shirt to pair it with. However, when I decided to wear the outfit one morning I noticed I didn't have extravagant white shirts. This outfit really just pieced itself together that morning, creating something that really satisfied me. It was simple, yet so intriguing to me. I felt really happy in this outfit. I think it has to do with the fact that I love the cut, length, and details of the vest.
The darker shots are two of my favorite. When editing, I wanted to create a different side to the shoot, so I made these darker. I especially liked the photograph below, because I love the way the pose contemplated the outfit and the scenery. I seem to be looking afar and into the future, and since the future is currently important to me, it really captivated my attention.
I wore this outfit when I went to see my school compete in a poetry slam. It really influenced my choice of more darker colors, and the touch of gold was to attract attention. I did get a lot of nice compliments, mostly on the necklace, and I really enjoyed myself. This picture was taken while my friend Murmie and I looked for somewhere to eat lunch. It is a fence that was completely covered in this geometric colorful delight. I asked her to take a picture, and she got one of me squinting from the sun, since we were in a hurry I didn't bother taking another one. I also really liked the way my necklace let off a shining glare.

I really look forward to seeing our school compete at the poetry finals. It's going to be tough, but our school has so many talented poets that make you really feel the emotion in their words. It is something I really look forward to. I plan to dazzle with my outfit also however, have to look good when my school wins!