french dressing...

  i don't like red wine, cheese, butter or the smell of paris - but i do like the french revolution, the hippopotamus (basically the french red robin), the way things spoken in french sound so nice even if they're awful and my new book how to be parisian wherever you are. written by a group of fashionable frenchwomen, this book humorously talks about how to be parisian in your love life, style and bad habits. most important to me is obviously the style because just a few of my favorite people ever/style icons happen to be french or call france their home. brigitte bardot- the sixties sex symbol, jane birkin- the englishwoman a paris, francoise hardy- the songbird and the actress- anna karina. 

  french dressing (pun intended) is laid-back and easy. classic pieces with no frills and sparkles usually. makeup is simple- nothing but a red lip on special occasions and hair is delightfully messy. it's timeless, simple and good for lazy people like myself. i put together a few looks inspired by my favorite parisian ladies and the basic things you need to embrace your inner parisian. 

  

THE BASICS

1. the trench coat
2. the neutral sweater
3. the breton stripe
4. the red lip
5. queen chung pulling french style together

BRIGITTE BARDOT

the sixties sex symbol

(jeans: anthropologie, striped t-shirt: fossil, bow front blouse: nasty gal, striped dress: fossil and
button up: fossil)

JANE BIRKIN

the englishwoman

(dress: free people, jeans: anthropologie, heels: free people, wicker purse: alexa chung's vintage collection,and white tee: anthropologie)

FRANCOISE HARDY

the songstress

(heels: boden usa, miniskirt: boden usa, breton stripe crew neck: boden usa, oxford button up:
fossil, and fur jacket: madewell)

ANNA KARINA

the actress

(eyeliner pen and mascara: alexa chung for eyeko, plaid coat: madewell, peter pan collar
dress: orla kiely, red cardigan: boden usa, black flats: the gap and plaid trouser pant: anthropologie)

http://howtobeparisianbook.com
http://www.anthropologie.com
http://www.fossil.com
http://www.nastygal.com.au
http://www.freepeople.com
http://www.bodenusa.com
https://www.madewell.com
http://www.orlakiely.com/usa/
http://www.gap.com

paint is black: tom ford spring/summer 2015

  

   one of my favorite designers for both menswear and womenswear will always be tom ford. when a man on the red carpet is asked "who are you wearing?", the answer is almost always tom ford. ford started out at gucci and yves saint laurent before launching his own menswear line. he then started the women's line of his label. the only word to describe what tom ford does is exquisite. its beautiful. the design, the tailoring, the lines - clean and sexy (yes, i sound like an ethan allen commercial). i don't think anyone does a suit like tom ford and no one translates a suit into womenswear better than tom ford. 

  spring is the time of lighter colors and florals in fashion. as miranda priestly would sarcastically say, "groundbreaking." designers showed their lighter sides and played on the  60s a little for their 2015 collections. then there's tom ford. its black-all black with metallics, short, and dark. yesterday was the tom ford show at london fashion week. his silhouettes were similar to the 70s inspired collections like tommy hilfiger or orla kiely, but done without whimsey. tom ford is sexy and sheer. clothes for a certain type of woman, a woman who certainly isn't self conscious. 

forgive me tommy for i have sinned...

  while most people live stream sports, i live stream new york fashion week and dream of someday being able to attend it. out of the shows i've seen so far, i have a favorite. tommy hilfiger spring/summer 2015. in the past i've been very rude to tommy hilfiger polos and sweaters. forgive me tommy hilfiger. i take back all i've said passing your store in the mall and refusing to wear your clothes as a child. forgive me. this new collection isn't like all the other tommy hilfiger i've seen growing up. its rock n' roll tommy, but with a 60s vibe. the catwalk looked like sergeant peppers, krishna and woodstock, the clothing like mick jagger and francoise hardy circa 1964. the clothes were perfectly accompanied by the very 60s psychedelic shelter song (one of my favorites) by english band temples. first model to walk out on the catwalk- none other than mick jagger's daughter, georgia may, wearing a striped cape much like striped pants and shirts her father wore in the early days of the rolling stones. if you put 60s inspired clothes with strange indie rock and have alexa chung take over your instagram show day, it's guaranteed to be my favorite. the link is at the bottom of the page and if you have a mindless twelve minutes, watch it. 

http://fashionista.com/2014/09/tommy-hilfiger-nyfw-livestream

rainy day blues...

mark rothko- untitled black and grey

  to quote alex turner, its "an exceptionally rainy tuesday night". it has rained all day, which of course doesn't bother me at all. i've been sitting in my room looking out the window at the drops rolling off the glass for hours. writing politics papers and watching the rain. in attempts to make politics just a little better and the rain a little more bearable for those of you who like the sunshine, i made a little playlist of some of the songs getting me through this homework/rainy day blues. 


temples | shelter song  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs4i41cOv0s

tame impala | mind mischief https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF5E2X55_kg

francoise hardy | comment te dire adieu https://www.youtube.com/watch?   v=s7wIzUOaJ4I

the fratellis | oh scarlet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaTSEGFLoYk

the rolling stones | sympathy for the devil https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBecM3CQVD8

serge gainsbourg & brigitte bardot | bonnie and clyde https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dY9PY4r83p8

arctic monkeys | no busses https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuRLmk7SWsk

august…

no. 1

no. 2

no. 3

no. 4

no. 5

no. 6 

no. 7

no. 8 

no. 9

no. 1: my totally unobtainable thing of the month- charlotte olympia kitty flats. they cost 

like $500, so of course i don't own them. i like to think that someday i will own them and i 

walk down the street feeling really great about myself. they also come in halloween vampire 

kitty, also like $500. 

no. 2: i walked into gap to look and walked out with these. boyfriend jeans are probably like 

the closest thing to a boyfriend i'll ever get. anyway, they're very comfortable and i would suggest

that you all buy some and save your legs from skinny jean restriction every once and a while.

no. 3: this jansport backpack for made well is deceptively big. when mine came in the mail i thought

theres no way i can fit all my stuff in there, but it looked cute so i didn't want to send it back. school

started this week, and much to my surprise i can fit so much stuff in it. so it's cute, functional and a 

nice not cheerful color to suit my taste. 

no. 4: my favorite person to research and read about is bob dylan for some reason. probably because he 

seems very mysterious, and that he is. i went to the bookstore's music section and picked up this massive

bob dylan biography. it's dylan the biography by dennis mcdougal. the book is quite large, 530 pages of 

bob dylan. so far i've read only 173 pages, so i still have a lot to go. bob dylan definitely isn't everyone's

thing because  his own family thinks he sucks at singing. his dad even said "its a good thing bobby 

can write because he sure can't sing". he's kind of an awful human being, yet lovable person. 

no. 5: i have searched high and low for this magazine. it's called kinfolk and its a publication from

portland, oregon. its collections of photography, recipes and spotlights on different designers. they 

publish about four or five a year and they make an excellent coffee table- type book. they're more 

expensive than the typical magazine, but that's because they're made to last so you'll keep them. 

no. 6:  how could i do my list of favorite august things and not talk about the iowa state fair? it's 

my favorite time of year and favorite place in all of america. i love the fair. i went five times and still 

didn't see all i wanted to see and eat all i wanted to eat. 

no. 7:  my favorite beauty product this month is fresh's sugar lip treatment. they're tinted lip balms in 

a variety of shades and they didn't make my lips swell up which is always a good thing. 

no.(s) 8 & 9: my song 5 by haim is one of my favorite songs this month. i just like it and i can't really 

explain why. my other favorite song this month is chelsea dagger by the fratellis. everyone has 

probably heard chelsea dagger once on some commercial or in some movie. it's by my favorite band  

*cough* *cough* the fratellis (just in case y'all forgot that one band i wrote a paper about and woke 

up at three a.m. to buy tickets to their we need medicine tour). 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSlmgr15Yh0


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEXHeTcxQy4