Miscellaneous

Visually feeding my brain because I'm too lazy to go downstairs and feed my stomach.

I wanna take another photography course terribly badly.

♥ Lini.

If I'm Doing "Research" It Doesn't Count As Wasting Time Online

Feathers & Fur,

Socks & Shorts.

More pictures here.

Cannot wait to wear 'em this winter. Faux fur though please!

I got these from Sock Dreams and they feel like clouds, insanely warm and soft.

♥ Lini.

Why you can't be a firefighter and an astronaut.

I hate the human need to categorize things. I like to think I see things in a broad sense, not in their most simple terms. A person can be an football player, but they can also be a musician, a French food connaisseur, a collector of bottle caps, and speak six languages. But people just think "Oh, he's into football." There's no possible way he could be any good at that, and do much of anything else, and if he is, he's doing something wrong. In class the other day my professor told us we should fight to maintain our interests. I agree as we get older they tend to narrow them down as we focus on our careers, especially since modern society forces us to "major". I just see myself as so much more then the handful of descriptive nouns and adjectives forced upon me.

The two pictures above are work I've done. Garments, graphics, and photos, 100% all mine. I like them, or did once before someone ripped them apart. By some standards they just weren't good enough. How is that for encouraging expression? How can anyone progress when placed under mounds of pressure and forced to sacrifice all loves but one? You'll end up resenting or at least occasionally questioning the one you choose.

I loved literature once. I gobbled up novels for breakfast. I fantasized living in the worlds of Emma Bovary and Scarlett O'Hara. I used to love recipes, I used to love cooking. I used to wake up and look forward to running a few miles before class. I once could recite the release dates for upcoming movies I couldn't wait to see, back when I loved movies.

Now I can't remember the last time I even read a simple book for leisure, let alone a great work. My meals now largely come wrapped in plastic and if I look tired, I assure you, it's not from a revitalizing morning jog. I couldn't tell you the last time I stepped into a movie theater. Where's the time when you're trying to live up to everyone else's standards for success in order to survive?

So, here's to the death of hobbies and curiosities. I only hope some good will come from complete and total specialization. I also hope this made some kind of sense, 3 am is approaching.

♥ Lini.

I would totally love a career in FASHION!!

How To Fake Being A Fashionista:

Ten Easy Steps To Convincing The General Public You Possess Far More Style Than You Actually Do

1. Build up a wardrobe consisting of mostly black clothing. Once you feel ready for a challenge, experiment within the exciting worlds of white, greys, and beiges. Currently the proud owner of stacks and stacks of bold prints and bright solids? Throw them away, immediately! Or, better, drop them off at Goodwill. Update your status on various social networking sites about the generous donation you just made. Charities are so in right now.

2. Become obsessed with the appropriate fashion designers and labels. Name drop them as much as possible. Currently, you may want to focus on young Asian male designers. Cult favorites are Alexander Wang. Derek Lim. Phillip Lim. Jason Wu. Talk about your complete adoration for them whenever anyone stylish is in earshot.

3. Blog. Talk about blogs. Talk about what you saw on your favorites blogs. When in doubt, reading The Sartorialist and Jak & Jik are pretty much guaranteed to make you sound super trendy.

4. Calculate your salary, and figure out how much you earn in a month. It is unacceptable to spend any less than this amount on any pairs of shoes or any handbag. Also, exponentially decrease your caloric intake along with your increased spending on accessories. Skinny bitches make better fashionistas, fact.

5. Don’t forget the importance of beauty in partnership with fashion. Update your haircut as deemed appropriate. The bob? So 2009. Consider extensions if your mane is still sporting this super outdated cut.

6. Caffeine. The life of a fashionista requires quite a bit of energy. Refuel at your local fair-trade supplied coffee joint. Fair trade is so in right now.

7. Subscribe to a variety of magazines. The thicker and glossier the paper the better. Be seen reading them. Bonus points for European publications.

8. Recruit a gang of sassy gay friends. Known as GBF’s, the Gay Best Friend is a staple for any self-respecting fashionista. Bring him wherever you go. Have him give you styling tips and pick out potential suitors for you. Encourage him to be publicly fabulous. Show off your GBF!

9. Make your attitude as unpleasant as possible. Experiment with adding puckering your lips, snapping your fingers, rolling your eyes, and yawning to your daily exercise routine. Never underestimate the importance of body language. Be sure to exaggerate boredom or disgust at anything remotely unsightly.

10. Lastly, practice speaking like a fashionista. Refer to movies like Mean Girls, The Heathers, and Clueless for examples. Though a bit outdated, these films offer great examples of proper catch phrases and the correct pitch for your fashionista voice. Update yours to fit into the latest season, and you’ll be set! Remember, you’ll be spotted as a fraud unless you can correctly match how all the other fashionistas sound.

[Just a piece from my journalism class, enjoy!]

♥ Lini.

Better Late Than Not At All

Fashion Weeks Favorites, Jason Wu and Herve Leger.

Thanks for another season of mind blowing design, courtesy of a suspiciously young Asian male and for proving bandages dresses never get old or less sexy.

♥ Lini.

Raindrops on Roses and Whiskers on Kittens

Things and people that make me happy.

Those Rodarte shoes are stunning, and I swear Shepard Fairey sold his soul to the devil. He just does not age.

Sometimes I forget how much I love things like movies and music. I focus so much on school and get so caught up in fashion that I fall behind in what's going on with everything else.

Then today someone asked me today what I do when I'm upset. I had to think for a second because it had been so long since I had stopped and spent time on things I enjoy but aren't directly related to my studies or hopefully future career. So, I downloaded some new Kanye [for free, everyone.] I finally got around to watching Annie Hall. I caught up on my favorite blogs. And I ate a bowl of ice cream.

Even when I'm going crazy, it's funny how easy it is to come back to Earth.

It's the little things sometimes.

When I'm feeling sad, I simply remember my favorite things, and then I don't feel so bad!

♥ Lini.

Maxi Skirt, Maxi Bored.

I've been hesitating lately when asked about a certain topic. People ask, "What were your favorite looks this past week from the New York shows?" I just have no answer. When I opened the New York Times this past week to find praise for Kors' maxi skirts, I wanted to scream.

Congratulations, Mr. Michael. You made a long skirt. With straight side seams. I sold that shit all summer at my retail job. But, if your intent was to make people instantly decided to add your collection to their wardrobe, I'm sure your succeeded. Me, however? I just yawned.

I have no favorites. I was disappointed this year. I was also slightly disgusted at Fashion's Night Out. I think it's cute Ms. Wintour insists fashion feeds people around the world, yet I don't see her stepping out of her Manolos anytime soon. Don't play with us Vogue, that was a far cry from a charity event. It was far cry from a fashion event as well. I don't see why people would be blowing up Twitter with snapshots of Kanye West in SoHo. Is he a fashion icon? Nope. I'm sure the general public wouldn't recognize most of the designers who create the clothing he, or another other celebrity, wears daily.

So what were my favorite highlights of fashion week? None really. All that really got me drooling were updates from the Wang Carnival party. That, now that, I would have liked to have seen.

♥ Lini.

Are you smarter than a 4G?

I spend a lot of time of my phone.

I spend a lot of time hating my phone.

Still, I wake up to my phone's alarm. I check my email and social networks. Throughout the day, I play various games, update statuses, schedule meetings, plan events. Every time I do any of these things, I feel a little more important. I feel like a CEO now that I have a Smart Phone. Someone's lost? Let me get you directions. Need a recipe? Let me check that out for you. Running late to a meeting? I'll reschedule. I feel so powerful, all because a small metal and plastic device belongs to me and seemingly contains the entire world.

But now everyone has one. What's next then? What are actual CEO's going to carry around next? How much smarter can our technology be? Not to sound like a bad sci-fi flick, but machines freak me out, because their potential seems far too vast and untapped.

Digital, digital get down.

♥ Lini.

A Penny For You, Your Thoughts, and Your Belongings

Sometimes I wonder how interrelated creative fields really are. I also wonder how much love for one's art dies once they choose to dedicate their life to it. Does the frustration of selling-out to succeed destroy the original passion artists feel when they originally choose their paths?

I wonder, on a daily basis, how many people who work as artists in any fashion, sell-out in some small way or another. The other day I got the haircut in the black & white picture above. I have no idea if the cut was the stylist's liking or not. Did it annoy her to waste her skills on something she found awful or strange? Or, maybe she loved it. Maybe she is slowly going insane giving Jennifer Aniston's to every woman who walks in and snipping my mane into a quasi-half bob made her week. I'll never know.

Would a tattoo artist put more effort into a work he found beautiful? If you hired a singer for your wedding and they like your musical selections, would their voice sound better? At restaurants, do chefs try a little harder when a customer orders something the chef finds appealing? Ideally, professionals should perform and create at their best regardless, but I wonder sometimes. I think if someone hired me to do a project for them, I would work harder if I was attracted to their ideas.

I mean, how selfless can any creation truly be? If time is money, and people are obsessed with selling themselves as either an idea, product, or service, than sacrifices will inevitably be made. We all know the customer is always right, but if you like working with one medium, and the public demands another, well... Where does that leave you?

Are broke, unhappy, or lucky the only options for creative people anymore?

For the record, I love my new haircut.

♥ Lini.

Basis Of Appeal

There's no cable in my house.

There's never been cable in my house growing up, but at college, in the style of grand American tradition, I generally had cable. This semester, nope. This is fine with me. I have luckily found a friend two blocks away who has HBO. [Read: True Blood fix, taken care of.] As I was saying. This lack of cable has made TV watching a little bit more creative at times and a bit more squeamish at times.

The other day I will shamefully admit I watched an entire hour of Divorce Court. When the defendant bellowed at the judge that his wife was a nag and asked "Have you ever been married to Fidel Castro?" I knew the time had come to turn off the television. During this one hour period I was exposed to various commercials. I now know various shows, popular shows, are coming to mainstream television channels. Amongst these are Entourage and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Now, I guess my question is, why did this weird me out? I've always heard great things about both. Now that they've become accessible to me, why wouldn't I want to watch them? Why would I have been willing to pay to see them before, but now, they're free, and the desire is gone? I feel like it's similar to wanting the it-bag then finding it completely grotesque after seeing it knocked off at one to many mall kiosks. Why is that?

I think the basis of appeal of anything in today's world is how trendy it is. Maybe those shows are great. I probably won't ever know, unless of course, they stop playing Divorce Court [which, by the way, has it's own Facebook page. I am NOT kidding.] There just doesn't seem to be a point in watching them now that the episodes are reruns, everyone has seen them, and well... they're just lost the basis of their appeal.

♥

Lini.

Curiousity

Photorealism, painting by Ana Teresa Fernadez. So, so sick. I am obsessed with photorealism. I blows my mind, everytime.

Yesterday I was in Dick Blick, and art supply store picking up some fabric dye. I always go goo-goo eyed over markers, paint, paper, and anything of the sort. It makes me wonder if maybe I should have gone into art instead of design.

Don't get me wrong. I adore design. Art and design are of course, completely similar- one merely focuses more on form while the other aims to master function. It's just when people start drooling over things like wool satin, I don't really feel much of anything. Little excitement, little wonder. Fabric is nice. Sewing techniques are nice. But is nice really a word you want to use to describe the aspects of your chosen field? I could spend my life visiting art museums. I could move into a art store and experiment with new media each day and never get bored. I almost bought a oil pastel the size of my fist yesterday merely because it was so fascinating. I hate working with oil pastels! Art supplies just make my heart skip a beat, I suppose.

Form x Function?

♥ Lini.

Speechless

As much as I do like Tumblr, I prefer to blog because I love to write.

I believe in the potency of words.

Sometimes, however, images speak on their own.

And, my love for Banksy goes without saying.

Some new favorites of mine.

♥ Lini.