rookie meetup

So here is my collection of memories and stories that all have to do with the San Francisco Rookie Road Trip Meet. So it all started one day at my local Fro-Yo shop. There I was eating Lychee Froyo with my favorite topping, strawberry and lychee bobas. I was skimming through Instagram when I saw Tavi announced the dates for the Rookie Road Trip. I was ecstatic, and I envisioned myself actually seeing Tavi in real life. So as more time went on, the activities for each city were released. I was still ecstatic to meet Tavi in real life. So I hit up my girl Aimee and told her the good news. She was ecstatic to meet Tavi too, her reply through text said it all: "!!!". Time passed and me and Aimee planned our pilgrimage to San Francisco. I had dreams of how it would all be. The first one was of me, Tavi, and Aimee having a garden tea party, while Tavi handed us Smuckers Uncrustable sandwhiches...in grape flavor. The next dream consisted of Tavi standing in front of us, and we were just causally talking about how she has met Alexa Chung, and she then proceeded to call her and invite her to dinner with us (my dream ended before Alexa arrived). So the day finally arrived and I would finally live the actual moment when I met Tavi...in real life.

So I planned my outfit WEEKS in advance, but of course the weather wasn't on my side and I had a slight cough...so I had to re-plan my outfit that morning. I chose my sea horse shirt because it was cute and appropriate. We arrived in SF early, and we proceeded to walk through a bad part of town..and of course I looked over dressed and I was afraid people would believe I was lost and rich and kidnap me and then my parent's wouldn't be able to pay the money they asked, in order to set me free. We finally reached a hip and trendy part of town and I felt a little safer. We went inside Bi-Rite Creamery about an hour early. The picture above is of that moment. We met the marvelous Maria, who was a worker for the ice cream shop. We explained how there was going to be like 60+ people coming to the shop to fan girl over Tavi. She asked if they would be as well dressed as us and I blushed and responded, "hopefully". She let us sample all the flavors and helped us make our decision. We then saw some fellow Rookies outside the store and we went to go socialize. We may or may not have been intimidating because nobody wanted to be our friend, until we met a charming young lady by the name of Katy. We talked about Tavi and all that Rookie stuff. Soon everyone started arriving, and it wasn't long until we saw Petra saying that Tavi was coming. Everyone just stood there a little confused, so I grabbed Aimee and Katy and we walked to wear Tavi would be walking up to. So when Tavi arrived, she approached us first and I died a little bit.

Tavi was wearing this colorful floral dress with a monarch butterfly clip. She was so shy and timid, and it was so cute to see how delicate she seemed in person. She introduced herself to our group and she talked to us for a little, and I told her how Aimee and I would always talk about her in math class, and she joked and said we had gossip sessions in which we talked shit about her. 

She made this face when I told her I was taking creeper pictures of her. After she moved on to the next group, Aimee suggested we go in line to get ice cream. As we stood there looking for the line Maria came out and directed everyone to where the line was...we found ourselves in front of the line...and standing next to Petra, Anna, and Hazel the rest of the Rookie crew. We talked to Petra for a little and I gave them some bracelets I made, which are pictured below. They were shocked to find out I made them and seemed really grateful. I gave Anna one too because I thought it would be mean not to, and she was so surprised since she isn't a writer for Rookie (she's Petra's sister). She thanked me and and Petra said to her, "I could see you eyeing me with jealousy". Then Petra and I proceeded to giggle and I told her about which flavors I liked the most. Maria yelled at me, "Victor! Bring your friend (Petra), to the front!" I felt a little happy that Maria thought Petra was my friend. After paying I talked to Avery, Petra's boyfriend, about all the interesting flavors (including some little mixture that included olive oil, that Maria had let us sample). We soon sat for a little and conversed with Anna about the whole trip and the upcoming Rookie Yearbook. Petra soon came and took us outside to talk to her.

Here are my bracelets, I made the Rookie crew the same ones, just different colors. Pictured is also the ring I wore to the meet (I ended losing it, but later found it at home...so it never made it to the meet) along with an assortment of other rings I didn't care to photograph. Outside, Petra, Anna, Avery, Aimee, Katy and I talked about San Francisco and hobos and all it's wonders. We also talked about food and how Tavi has an accent. Then a hobo complimented Petra on her glasses and she said they were from Urban Outfitters, which Avery then joked with her for "promoting" UO, who is a sponsor of the Rookie Road Trip. After talking for quite a while with Petra and her sister and boyfriend, we walked together to Dolores Park. On our way there we talked about Lana Del Rey and how I almost met her, but didn't, and how we all wanted to meet her. We talked about Lana for most of the walk there. When we arrived to the park, Tavi was sitting on the grass forming a big circle. Petra came in and suggested we all just huddle since we had a big group. She walked inside the circle towards Tavi and while everyone sat there confused I took the opportunity to follow Petra, grabbed my friends, and I sat right next to her...AND RIGHT IN FRONT OF TAVI.

Now I was I was just living in the moment, so I didn't really realize how lucky I was. I mean I'm not saying all of this to sound egotistical, but after seeing pictures other people took of the huddle we were extremely lucky to be sitting so close to Tavi. Others just saw her from afar, because the group was so big. I turned around and saw everyone just huddled around Tavi, Petra, Aimee, Katy, myself, and a few other people. I mean you could say I was just in the right place at the right time, and I was really astonished by how Tavi has this cult-like following. I'm really happy that I was able to sit so close to her, and really just take in how humble and kind she is.

She talked for a little, and then led us in a Norwegian lullaby her mom sings to her. She then told us all how stylish we all were, and how she didn't expect such a big turn out. She then told us to mingle among ourselves. So we all stood up and walked around, many walked up to her to wait for a picture, and a moment to talk to her. I would say about 80% of the Rookies were huddling to meet Tavi. I only imagined being Tavi in that moment, and I wondered how wonderful it must be to meet all these people that have always wanted to meet her. Some of them were so creative and kind, it just made you realize how much of an influence Tavi has.

Meanwhile, I took pictures with people that were so kind and friendly and with such amazing clothes. I also took a picture with Colleen (left in the picture above), who I had seen preform her poetry twice. She knew two of my classmates, and I believe she recognized me. Colleen is so incredibly talented and was surprised to see her, yet I was happy we had something in common. She introduced me to her friend, who was best friends with another poet I knew. I met so many more people, with interesting stories and lives. I was really honored to be given that opportunity. 

After a little wait, a lot of mingling, the crowd around Tavi had diminished. Katy, Aimee, and I approached her and she received us with hugs. Aimee gave her this beautiful zine, and then I gave her a bracelet (like the one I gave the other writers) in a mustard color, and I explained how I knew she liked that color. She remembered that exact moment I was talking about and told me she loved it and how I got the color right. Katy gave her some patches and a crown on behalf of her friend that was in Israel. I then gave Tavi some things for a little shrine she was building, and the articles had importance to me and Aimee, it was a Les Mis button and a bracelet she made me. She was so delighted and asked to have a group hug. We then each took pictures with her, mine came out super dark (hence the editing), and she then gave us each another hug. We then said talked about future things she was doing, and her art installation in LA she was making with Petra. We then left her and went to go socialize with more people.

Here is a picture of me and Petra, who I found so incredible. She had a rock star vibe to her, maybe because of the coat she was wearing, but she was so down-to-earth and friendly. We took sunglasses pictures because she said she felt prettier with them, I said I did too because I tend to look derpy in pictures.She later said on instagram that this picture was sassy, which made squeal of delight.

Hazel was so kind too! She joked a lot which was really fun, and she was so bubbly yet cool. I mean her aura was like a pink bubble gum pink, with a sudden dash icy blue. She was so adorable in person also. We spoke a few times, and I am not going to lie...I jumped up and down in my head every time she remembered my name. MEMORIES: Greaselightn'.

Hanne, who had an incredible flower crown took this amazing picture of us. Katy is on the far right, Justina (who I talked to online a few times, and was happy to meet) is next to her, and then Aimee was camera chopped on the left, but her wonderful scarf jumped in the picture enough to be partly photographed. 

And we also met a sweet girl from Beijing, she was American but lived there. She had a nifty new Polaroid camera, and took a picture of us...and then gave it to us. It was very nice of her, Aimee kept it but I had to take a picture for the MEMORIES.

So that was really most of what happened. I was so glad to be there and delighted to meet so many cool people. I know I must have come off as fanatic to the Rookie Crew, but it was impossible because you admire these people and their work online so much that you are just so delighted to meet them. In the end I don't regret my fan girl moments because they were sincere and truthful. *wink and smirk*. I was also happy to see us on a couple of posts. One post on the Rookie tumblr made me realize how I was one of the few boys at the meet up, and my manhood is recognized in the post. I really appreciate them admiring my clothes, considering how I had to change my original outfit. It was really all worth it when Tavi complimented my shirt, and loved the seahorses. A lot of people really liked it, so I was glad I went with it in the end. My head also makes a cameo in this post by Hazel. Look for me in the picture of the group huddled around Tavi.

Aimee took this picture of me with an amazing mural after finally leaving the event.

Thrifted jacket, Zara shirt, Levi jeans, sunglasses were a gift from my brother.

The shirt has a story, I wanted it as soon as a saw it in the store. My friends told me I should wait since I had some other things I was already buying and my total was racking up. So I did, but after not buying anything in the SF thrift stores, I went back before Zara closed and bought it. I MEAN IT HAD SEA HORSES AND VERSACE VIBES.

In the end I had a lot of fun, and made new friends. I also met many people I admired which was so surreal and such a treat. I could never thank Rookie enough for this opportunity. So amazing, and I will remember it forever.

Met Gala 2012

Let me just give you a list of my favorites of the night.

 Proof enough that Lana is perfect. Loved the cape, the gown, the lippy stick. 

 Honestly so cute. The F/W Marc Jacobs is styled so well in my opinion...and I heard she paired it with a bunny purse. I want red carpet pics though. Alexa Chung is always a favorite.

 Loving the witch vibes, and all the haters can hate. Team Mary-Kate.

 Karolina Kurkova in a full armor of beauty. Rachel Zoe

 The metallic seems to run off Camilla Bell so greatly. Ralph Lauren.

 Jessica Stam reminds us of the beauty of Dior.

 Even with a lobster on her dress, Anna still slays...I think the Prada lobster suits her well...such a strong creature. Bee looks beautiful Erdem.

 Bianca Brandolini had a glitz presence and I was loving it.

 SJP looked adorable, reminded me of a thrift store print...in a good way though!!! Very antique in Valentino

 I wasn't feeling it but it grew on me. Gisele in Givenchy

 Glad to see Stella repping Chanel. Loved it. It was simple, yet it stunned you.

And last but never least, Rooney Mara in Givenchy of course.

EDIT:

P.S. Victoria Justice looked really adorable in McQ. Good choice, she made a great impression.

Alexa on the runway and I'm still feeling it.

I may add more as I see any that I missed. These were my favorites and I mean, I did expect some of these on this list. I liked Marc Jacobs just can't find a HQ picture. Heres a LQ picture though. He took a really daring risk.

You can see the rest of the Met Gala posse here.

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.

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~

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.