music to fashion and back again...

Sorry for the brief AWOL. I kept trying to find the graphics I wanted for this post, but they were very difficult to find.

Anyway, as of late, I've been obsessing over a look, not unlike LAST TIME where I obsessed over lavender and caramel in a tough but sweet british countryside look for early fall.

As for my latest obsessive look, I blame it on this hawaiian guy, danyo cummings, from youtube. Like my unhealthy obsession with ebay, I also love looking for new songs by under-the-radar singer/songwriters on youtube. After the school semester ended, I was so obsessed with this song "Angel" by Lisa Lavie [it's a lot cooler than it sounds]. Sometimes it's just fun to search for things and figure out your taste and new things you like...as long as it doesn't get too obsessive [often a fine line for me].

Anyway, you know how fashion intersects with music in the funny way that it does? With music sometimes inspiring fashion, sometimes complementing it, sometimes, fueling it?

Well I listened to one of his songs...and it made me want to do 5 things:

1. Pick up a ukelele.
2. Move to Hawaii.
3. Adopt a easygoing, laidback frame of mind.
4. Put my black hair in a loose side-plaited bun.
5. Wear a breezy, slightly sheer, subtly patterned dusky but vibrant blue dress with an assymetrical hem that goes from knee to ankle. and spaghetti straps.

You'll see what I mean when you watch whatever makes you happy.

I mean, that's the song: "whatever makes you happy" :)

The above list is significant because all these things are nothing I would ever even consider doing. As for #1, although I always fancy learning instruments, I'm not so inclined! I still have a guitar in my room that I haven't picked up for years since I was worried about callouses and I didn't know how to tune it. As for #2, although Hawaii is depicted as you know, a tropical wonderland-- I hate heat, I actually like winter more than summer. I never considered Hawaii as a vacation place for me, and as too stereotypically mainstream as a vacation place to be of serious interest to me, personally [although we don't really take vacations much anyway]. I've always had the dream of being city chic and working well in fast-paced NYC.

So you see, this hawaii thing is SO different for me. Concerning #3, although I try to pretend to be easygoing sometimes, I am FAR from it. As for #4, I am not hair-inclined. I have long thick black hair, which hardly holds any curl. I don't even know how to french braid! But I just have this image of me in a sweet loose side-plaited hairdo. This is what took me so long in putting a post together since surprisingly, I couldn't find any runway photos where models had that style that was in my head although I was sure I saw it someplace [I think I clicked through 700 pictures of hye park and coco rocha and I gave up. Hey, you try clicking through 700 pictures of hye park and coco rocha!].

a better idea of the hairstyle...but should be looser

tracy reese sp 08 photos [tweaked from elle.com & focusonstyle.com]

And lastly, #5, ...that type of dress is NEVER something I would wear. I mean, I'd probably never pick it up off a rack. I mean, layering, and mashing together different colors and textures is more my thing than a medium-long breezy blue dress [not to mention the blue in my head is nothing I would ever wear]. I would also never pick up something with a neckline like that since I don't fell it suits me very much. Also, I typically don't like this type of breezy material either and long patterned dresses just aren't my thing. Another reason this posting took as long as it did was because I couldn't find "this dress" online at all... I also kept debating whether or not to try to put look together in real life, like an outfit post, but like I said, I'm hairstyle-challenged, and I don't own ANYTHING like that.

my sad 5-minute MS paint and photo editor rendition

So "What does this mean!" I wondered. I'm willing to trade NYC dreams for laidback down-home Hawaii? I don't know...maybe this is my new secret dream. It is very strange... all I know is, if one song can make me want to do so many strange things that are not what I'm inclined to, it must be a pretty special song. Plus, it's real catchy, in a non-pop way.

Any of you have a song that makes you want to change...well, your whole lifestyle and your personal style? Or just want to share your latest musical song obsession by an unheard of artist with me? strange times...


PS. not only do music and fashion have a long history together, but musicians and activism do too...on the animal rights side, you got (of course) Paul McCartney, Common, Tommy Lee, Tegan and Sara, Death Cab for Cutie...and now KT Tunstall! [actually one of my favorite artists]

"Two-time-Grammy-nominated songwriter KT Tunstall has just lent her voice to the campaign against KFC, firing off a letter to the managers of every KFC in Scotland encouraging them to pressure the company to stop its suppliers' worst abuses of chickens. You can read the full letter here." -blog.peta.com

Have a favorite artist who speaks up for animal rights? Take a page and be inspired! :)

______

action of the day [DO THIS]
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I think this tropical post would be incomplete if I didn't mention anything about my sea friends. You know, sea turtles, dolphins, and...sharks. Did you know that longliners are the worst culprits when it comes to shark finning?

Background info from http://www.hsus.com/:

"This fishing technique is very effective for catching sharks and indeed, many longline vessels are specifically fishing for sharks. However, some that catch sharks will cut off their fins and then throw the animals back in the water, leaving them to bleed to death. Shark fins can fetch a very high price due to the demand for Asian shark fin soup. Enforcing a requirement to bring in the whole bodies of these large animals would allow boats less space for the targeted species.

Recently, countries have started to adopt laws and international agreements against this cruel and wasteful practice; yet it is still legal in many places and laws against it are too lenient and poorly enforced.

Humane Society International is campaigning to strengthen domestic and international laws against and reduce demand for shark fins."

You can learn more about this here: http://www.hsus.org/wildlife/issues_facing_wildlife/shark_tournaments/

You guys, as I always say, can make a difference. With persistence, the Humane Society had a significant victory in the campaign against the Oak Bluffs Monster Shark Tourney in Martha's Vineyard. And the seaside town of Destin, Florida recently decided to discontinue the annual Destin Deep Water Shark Tournament.

Here's your action of the day, all you have to do is the sign your name to this! [see below] If you want to do more, visit:

http://www.hsus.org/wildlife/issues_facing_wildlife/shark_tournaments

Stop the Star Island Shark Tournament

The gory public spectacle of the annual Star Island Shark Tournament in Montauk, NY, is more than just a cruel contest kill—it also contributes to the ongoing decline in shark populations.

The shark species targeted by the tournament are all suffering serious population losses. The thresher shark was just categorized by The World Conservation Union as "threatened with global extinction." North Atlantic populations of blue and mako sharks have declined by 50 to 70 percent over the last 20 years. (hsus)

SIGN HERE-- it'll take less than a minute! and I would be very happy : )

The 1st Vintage Ebay Deals Post out of many to come [think nina ricci, martin margiela, dries van noten... ]

*updated* I added 3 new clothing items as of today, June 9th

As promised. This is the first "ebay post" out of many to come-- there's things that are really low (like 9.99) and and nothing over $75. It's a whole mess of vintage and vegan items [good deals on things like... nina ricci, martin margiela, dries van noten...] and some cute vintage swimsuits and dresses. To see why vintage- and ebay- is such a positive thing-- and environmentally thoughtful-- see this post here. [3rd section]

There's also two items I've got my eye on...and being the hoarding little girl that I am, I'm not posting those ...yet...I mean I'll add them later if the price gets way beyond my control. But I'm keeping an eye on them for now... ;)

Of course, ebay transactions can always be very troublesome...for instance, I won this gorgeous Tsumori Chisato bag, and my dad handled the correspondence-- I used his account after all-- and the london seller, "merrison2006", basically decided to be -- is there a nice word for jerk?-- and not only was rude and unprofessional in exchanging emails, but "lost" the bag, and refused to even find out where it was for us...leading us to believe he didn't ship out the bag in the first place...which is pretty plausible seeing as I won it for like $60 total... anyway I was SO heartbroken to not get the bag (which was also not leather...which was perfect for me)... in any case, always be careful when doing ebay transactions... you get good sellers and bad sellers.

In any case, my future ebay posts- will be shorter. I just thought the first one should be special! [plus a lot of bookmarked ones already ended when I decided to post] Without further ado, see the below for my vintage ebay picks and if you actually decide to purchase a piece, do tell! :)

Each photo lists the time it's ending, the size, and the current price.
[click each to go its url]


Sweet Stuff









The Best Summer Suits- wild and tame.





I've got my eye on...Instant Gratification




Vegan/Vegetarian
[the vintage margiela is such a good deal...]









and...this one tsumori chisato bag [all cotton]
which is...$580.

Vintage (1 new and rest used)-
good for the environment, all cute.
















Also very exciting-- which deserves its own section-- are these vivenne westwood rocking horse shoes from the early 90's. Of course...these are selling on ebay for like...$350 or something. However, if you type in "rocking horse" and look in the shoes category--- checking the box for searching in description as well-- you will find many shoes especially in the "buy it now" section...which are say... kind of knock offs. or some styles are "inspired"... but still...for the fashion crazies... with shipping, those styles, below are about $50 I think.


The Real Deal



Knock Knock.



Who's There? A lot of shoes, it turns out!

the many faces of g. chang. warning; amount of graphics here might make your computer explode

Thanks so much for your comments and the blog birthday wishes last post!

I know I said I'd put the next post up when I had 10+ comments (my new timing method...but I might change it because 10 might be too quick I think) but I actually have a legitimate excuse.

So..what happened was that a lot of the outfit photos that I took during the semester...got deleted since I thought I had saved them, but I didn't. Basically. So when I made the last post on friday and recreated that embarassing moment...I also had to basically, recreate all of my outfits from a paper that I thankfully saved with my organized doodles. Keep in mind, it's WARM here. Really warm, which turned into really HOT since I was trying on long-sleeves, sweaters with cowl necks, etc. and it was disastrous. Plus, just now, every time I uploaded a photo, Blogger kept adding pages of spaces to my notes, so that a 10 page Word html sheet turned into a 75 page sheet. Ridiculous.


In reality, I was dying when I kept rearranging the cardigan in the last post (it's harder than you think to take redeemable outfit photos than you think; the lighting, out-of-focus, the color, the blurriness, the details, not showing up like you thought it would...). The heat also explains some of the silly photos.


Anyway, in the middle of taking some photos, my dear, lovable, reliable Canon- which I put under self-timer- FELL. onto the floor. hardwood floor. I tried to resuscitate it, but to no avail-- it wouldn't turn back on. Then cue the distress-- that my parents would murder me (they got it for me for Christmas 2 years ago after all). Long story short, today finally, I went out and bought a pack of tiny screwdrivers and dismantled the thing and took out like 20 screws [somehow 2 of them were left over when I put it back together, Lol] and spent the late afternoon fixing it. And I was pretty sure that it still wasn't going to work, but lo and behold, my Canon has 9 lives, and it did not let me down when I turned it on.


I. salvaged semester photos
II. recreated semester photos [some items left behind in Cali; hence, recreated]


I. salvaged semester photos :

snap snap snap snap





l i q u i d g o l d



So one of my favorite vintage silk shirts from a thrift store I mentioned

3 separate occasions:

1. vintage belt, same thrift store. vintage boots- ebay. [I think I'm going to sell them though since they're too narrow]. plain white shirt.



2. elizabeth hurley caftan [scoop nyc, sale $20], black tulle striped skirt- $20, old belt, vintage YSL pumps.



3. Two vintage silk shirts; one draped also from aforementioned thrift shop in aforementioned post. Free people shorts.



I had been planning to go out this night [below], but I didn't end up going out--- we just went to the ice cream store ..?




jovovich-hawk [target] dress. not that flashy in real life.
straps were so long that I just let them hang and wore it like a tube dress.




II. Recreated Unsalvagable Photos

feeling much relieved after the outfit for the last post,
when I took those 2 layers off . ah plain and simple.



Getting ready for the next outfit. Dying in the Heat.



Fiddling with the Camera [this is the only floral piece I bought for the summer because of a balenciaga fever]



Pow. How you like me now?

[Floral Skirt: Goodwill $5! Alice Temperly for Target top, Target sleeveless lavender cowl sweater [both on clearance, forget how much]. RL strappy shoes ($17?)]






This is actually a little wristlet pouch I made:

I just remember thinking that all those heavy leather wristlets kind of defeated the point of a wristlet which is supposed to be light, and so I made a nice organic-looking daisy-like one [light oatmeal muslin on the outside, the lightest peachy pink satin on the inside]

it holds just enough of the essentials- a lipbalm, keys, and little cash and a few cards [credit card, ID card..].
also, it's not really a wristlet, it's like...a palm-let,
because I dislike the weighted feelings on my wrist.
and no I don't wear watches.

they make me feel "chained to time".



prepping for next outfit

there is also some explanation behind this one..

I actually wore this during the semester with a red and white striped united bamboo button-up skirt [which is reserved for a whole other post] and my vintage YSL caramel bow pumps. totally different feeling.

this is probably the most avant-garde top I own, so I really wanted to play up the shape. this outfit has a more expensive, editorial feel.

[top, mary ping- creatures of comfort spring sale, recently acquired orange lace skirt- vintage versace (my first versace), red heels- vintage oleg cassini (the one with the wise words on my header)]







prepping the camera for the next outfit



[flourescent yellow workout top- uniqlo, sheer pink racerback-free people, mom's old butterfly skirt, girbaud skirt $5, belt- H&M $12.50]

I would have never walked out styled like this [see bottom]

but I thought it would be a good "what if".



I did this overlay of sheer socks thing,
I tried the sheer pink socks with my blue AA's this semester, and I really liked the effect
--but I kind of forgot which outfit I did it with--
so I just redid the whole thing. here, my various efforts.

try 1: I felt a little too superhero with these cause of the red shoes.



hm? what about these shoes?



oh yes, I like it better.




ready for action! reporting for duty!

[girbaud skirt- in mini-cape form, isabel marant top tucked in [creatures of comfort spring sale], vpl sample floor shorts $49, sheer vintage nordstrom socks. tommy hilfiger canvas espadrilles- macys sale]




New Look. I really wanted to try out my newest purchase-- a $10 H&M pinstriped suspender skirt:

Try 1: I wanted this to have a creepy, circus-boy, little drummer boy type vibe [a ra ta ta tat]. Maybe if I had a good makeup artist.



when I had first tried on the skirt in H&M, I had on a pleather gray motorcycle jacket, and my white converses. I felt pretty sweet and tough, like a modern day pink lady. Then I realized the jacket was $99.

red shoes were better here. [$40 short jacket, fornarina nyc sale]



I'll put up the next post after 15 comments xo
-update- hi! sorry sorry. I know it's reached 25 comments, but I'm doing some intense physics and I need to redo my CV and stuff...gimme an extra day :) xo