1997

The best collaborations during the 90s for me was photog Glen Luchford and art director David James. I used to rip out Prada ads out of Vogue and I would post them all over my room. They were spooky and sultry and made me think things like, "so this is what it looks like to be a woman," like every day in a woman's life is supposed to feel like film noir.

A Few Things

A few things:












images from tfs, chanel, diptique, style.com, tumblr, nomorebluejeans.

1. Beautiful Swimmers

2. MM6 x OC. So wearable. So boring. I love it. 

3. Smelling like Catholic mass. I think it smells sexy and I get a lot of positive compliments.

4. Making this facial expression.

5. Painfully cute.

Hicks

Mario Sorrenti w Michele Hicks. Glamour France, September 1993

One of my favorite editorials as a kid.

SEXXX

I'm home alone in my sauna-like apartment while the rain and wind has an unbearingly dark atmosphere looming outside.

I'm sans pants making spicy curry sauce while watching my kitties sweat in their fur coats to Larry Heard (aka Mr. Fingers) records. I'm so thankful I have a steam-heated, Victorian apartment with huge closets and excellent insulation (I also have the best 60-year-old building manager who keeps our building in the most pristine condition).

Something about the music, the rain outside, the mucho picante spices and the warm air in my place has me thinking about one thing and one thing alone...SEX. Too bad my baby daddy is on a work trip.

A few things I'm finding sexy at this moment:

 

 images via tumblr

1. Peek-a-boo tits

2. Eggs

3. Pancakes

4. Leaving the skin on the potatoes

5. Bengal kitties. LOL! 

I Wanna Be Adored

 

 

1. Sweaters of romance.

2. Jil Sander florals 

3. Sexy flowers

4. Kenzo Takada

 

It's post Valentine's Day and I've been feeling really romantic. That is so corny to say, but it's true. In my mind, romance means flowers, Italian films and sex. It's like a mash up of sweet tenderness and really somber, like in La Notte.

Love turns into something else when you've been together for a long time. Michael's idea of romance is buying the groceries when I'm broke and changing the litter box with no complaints. He never seems enthused about "date nights." He is going to Japan by himself. You see? Is it because I don't look like Diane Lane?

images from terry's diary, acne studios, style.com, tumblr, 40 years of kenzo

images via tumblr and dazed and confused

Right now I'm really into low ponytails, strong, subtle prints and bobs.

I'm pretty sick of literal 90's fashion translations everywhere in the city. It's so boring to me and lacks in imagination and polish. Floral dress+leather jacket+Doc Martins. It's on everyone. Not everyone in the 90's was into "grunge" and just because grunge is trendy now doesn't mean girls have to be so literal with it.

This is FACT: Boys in SF dress so much better. The shopping is better for guys here too. San Francisco girls shop at Lululemon and H&M, think James Perse is fashionable, dress according to their favorite celebrities and wear yoga pants with everything. Conversations with stylish men about fashion is almost always intelligent. Conversations about fashion with girls is almost always superficial. Guys notice that my over-sized-horse-blanket coat is "Chloe inspired." Girls just look at me confused.

These facts make me so thankful for shops like Metier, MAC and Acrimony. If they weren't here, I'd do something crazy like move to LA Japan.

Things I'm working on:

1. Bone straight hair.

2. & 3. Essential closets.

4. New glasses.

Thvm SS11

Uggh. So good.

Have you seen this? Thvm Rag's Tumblr is hands down the best Tumblr I've ever seen in my life.

images via Thvm 

It's a catalog mash up of post-punk, post-modern, russian beauties, samurais and NAKED. A visual assault that for some strange reason leaves a taste of honey and dirt in my mouth. Weird. Only other thing that does is this band which I miss dearly. Must be some kind of mental thing.

Closet Visit

Right now I'm obsessed with artist Jeana Sohn's Closet Visit, a photo/interview based blog that is sorta like the Selby, but much more feminine and sweeter. I suppose it caters to the inner voyeur in all of us.

all images via Closet Visit 

 I particularly love the series she did on Momo Suzuki, who is the designer behind Black Crane (an awesome basic tee line) and is the wife of Alexander Yamaguchi. Momo has a beautiful Los Angeles home, minimal jewelry and a spectacular wardrobe that oozes good taste.

Sweet Sixteen

Tonight is my friend Skylar's Sweet Sixteen. No joke. Unfortunately, I can't be in Los Angeles for her insane birthday party where Ariel Pink and a bunch of heavy hitters are playing to celebrate how amazing, intelligent, beautiful and talented she is. She is an inspiration to us all.

So since I can't attend, I'm going to dedicate a bunch of stuff to her as 16-year old me. I'm pretty sure we would have been friends then too. Enjoy.

images via tumblr, thank you, ok, my friends and my computer

Playing Grown Up

Playing Fashion, Winter 2010

When I was 13, I started collecting editorials. I started playing attention to fashion and it was so exciting, so powerful during that time in my life. I covered my walls with clippings. I read Ginsberg and Thus Spoke Zarathustra and dressed in black. I met a bunch of older teens/college students who taught me about Wire and MBV and about what it was to be a music collector. I got good grades. I was a good kid.

After I moved out at 17, I was super inspired by girlie looks that were really sixties, floral and French. I thrifted a lot. I bought tons of "outfits." I bought a lot of insanely expensive records. I spent a lot of money frivolously and consumed things that I thought would make me happy for that brief moment in my life. And man, was I a flirt. At the time, that was who I was and what I was like. I convinced myself that money didn't rule me, things didn't rule me and my image to people mattered. I don't dislike this me. I was a pretty liberated little lady and I think I dressed for fun. But, I made a lot of mistakes.

Now that I'm older, most editorials bore me. I've become a cynical and hardened critic. I do, though, try to listen to other people's advice even when they don't think I do and have become way more fucking Zen or at least try to be (hope to be). I carry a sewing kit and Shout wipes. I bought shoe trees. I listen to more talk radio. I walk slower. I've always been lactose intolerant. Always. You start to look at some of the things you did as a young adult, thought, bought and decided. You step back and think "wtf was I thinking?!! I was such a smart kid." 

Maybe getting a little older makes you boring, maybe it makes you out of touch with how most people are thinking, feeling, liking for that brief moment in their young adult life, but I'm liking this older me for being a bit more cautious.

I'm not sure if other girls like the stuff I post on fashion or if they even like any of the music stuff or get it. I don't even know where I'm going with all this. But, blogging for some reason makes me happy. Writing something makes me happy. I think that's all that matters in the end.

 

Red, Blue, Silver

I'm sick of all the black.

Usually during the spring/summer months, my wardrobe turns into the black parade. Maybe I'm rebelling or maybe it's that we don't really have seasons here in the Bay Area. But this year, I'm thinking of embracing some color here and there. Mostly my favorite colors to wear (primary blue, poppy red, silver). So, it's back to 2005 for me!!

images via Kling, ssense, Acne x Opening Ceremony, Creatures of Comfort, La Garconne

Uggh, love her. My boyfriend's personal style is like a cross between Chris Bell from Big Star and David Hemmings in Blow Up. I don't know if it's his influence, but I like the look on girls, too with the addition of a leather jacket.

via Vanessa Jackman

Undercover SauerKRAUT

Do fashion people "get" these music references?

I often fantasize that someday, people who like fashion and people who like good music will merge. No more separation of fashion friends and music nerd friends. I know it is possible, but I can't talk about Pheobe Phillo or my love of cutie Kiko Mizuhara with my music buddies over the turntables. I can't listen to anymore Lady Gaga references when I'm hanging out with my best dressed gays. Its like I'm living secret lives.

The two places on earth where tons of regular people know their shit when it comes to music is a) Europe and b) Japan. I always think that Japanese designers and Dutch/English designers are ahead of the game, intellectually speaking. They aren't trying to sell us commercial trends like most brands, and sometimes I get the hint that their collections are like a huge middle finger to designers who are in it to sell pretty. I may or may not be on to something.

Whatever it is, Jun Takahashi listens to a lot of Krautrock and watches a lot of cheese sci-fi films and I like him for that. No, this isn't his best presentation, but it sure put a smile on my face.