I’ve never been a person who wears a lot of frilly, girly clothes, but the recent spring collections, along with my (sort of) boredom with staid, dark clothes, have me craving frothy, ruffly creations. Not your average ruffles and frills, but the sort of over-the-top, extremely textured, voluminous pieces that almost go beyond girly-ness and become almost sculptural. These frills are incredibly textural, unapologetically theatrical, and generally just drool-worthy. I think the key here is the high quality and attention to detail of pieces; no floppy frill substitutes will do. I’m hoping I can incorporate some shiny bits as well (that Galliano necklace in the 6th picture is making me salivate noticeably). The color range of this shoot is also amazing and exactly the range of colors I want to explore for spring.

The wire-twist frills and pearls of Marc Jacobs’ spring collection are especially lovely, and don’t have the sort of annoying pastel twin set vibe that have conditioned me to dislike pastels so much. I think that one of the most fun parts about fashion is trying things you’ve never tried before, and not necessarily sticking to a singular “look”. It’s not that I haven’t wanted to wear frills, it’s more that I never put much effort into really finding ruffled pieces I really loved. But I’m willing to search high and low this year, so the search begins…

[img: fashion gone rogue]

…words don’t do justice to a beautiful piece of clothing¹.

1. At least, I can’t do justice to this image with words.

(img: materialiste)

I may lament the epidemic of extreme casualness in people’s everyday clothing, but sometimes, I admit, you just don’t have enough energy to put much thought or effort into getting dressed. And when the weather is dreary, I have a headache from last night, and I can feel sickness creeping up on me, and I just don’t feel like wearing anything interesting at all, I reach for my trusty oversized sweaters. Sweaterdresses and tights are my version of sweats and Uggs, because I can slouch around the house comfortably, and warmly, and I generally like wearing things with long sleeves that cover my hands. They’re not the most flattering, interesting, or innovative pieces of clothing, and I generally get stuck in a rut, wearing in the same way, only switching out shoes, bottoms of some kind, and accessories, but, in this rare case, I just don’t really feel bad about that. Wearing a big sweater is like eating a bowl of chicken noodle soup, it just feels cozy (and maybe a little sluggish). It may not be a good sign that I’m starting off the year wearing a large, minty yarn ball, but as I don’t really feel obligated to follow rules, even my own (and it leads to problems, it does…), I’ll just have to add a corollary to my anti-over-casual theory by saying that when the weather is horrible, sometimes wearing cozy clothes comes before wearing fun clothes. The irony of this, of course, is that when such an occasion arises, the most fun thing to wear actually becomes those boring, unflattering sweaters.

And, on an unrelated note, for being a non-purse person, I am really into this old Prada purse. Ombre, shiny hardware, and lots of zippers makes it heavy, but so much fun to carry.

Soundtrack of the day: Should Have Taken Acid With You by Neon Indian (wanted so badly to see them live, but alas, it didn’t work out)
Wearing: Opening Ceremony men’s sweater, Helmut Lang leather leggings, Fendi sandals, Prada purse

Happy New Year!
xx,
Lauren

2009 wouldn’t be complete without some Rodarte. From store curating to collaborations to post-apocalyptic visions of condors rising from ashes, the Mulleavy sisters have had quite a year. I’ve been constantly awed by them since I first set eyes on their beautiful dresses five years ago, I even had a dog named after their inspiring line. Now that they’re established, I’m excited to see where the next decade takes them.

As for me, I’m sad to see this decade go. I may be a child of the 90’s, but the aughts were my real youth. I can’t predict where fashion will go, let alone predict where I’ll be sartorially 10 years from now, but hopefully I’ll still appreciate a nice shade of mustard yellow. 10’s, here we come!

Soundtrack of the day: “The Sea Is a Good Place to Think of the Future” by Los Campesinos!
Wearing: vintage faux fur shawl, Rodarte for Target dress, Alexander Wang Hanne ankle boots

Happy New Year’s!
Lauren

Martin Margiela is one of my favorite designers, bar none. This little video is a great glimpse into his Paris atelier, and, in a little over three minutes, it lets you see why he’s one of the most creative and brilliant designers around today. I’ve mentioned that I’m strangely mesmerized by watching designers/their teams at work. There’s a part of my brain that just latches onto the creation of clothes; I’m like a child watching a magic show. My brother has been bringing up his argument that high fashion is just clothes made purposefully “weird” and “different” so that the designers can charge exorbitant prices for them, but I think this video is a bit of a counter-argument to that. I can understand when some people look at a garment made out of bungee cords and say, “Ok, he’s just trying to make clothes out of weird materials.” There is, of course, a lot more to it than that, but I can’t say I necessarily expect the average non-fashion-obsessed person to understand that. But, for some reason, I feel like if you see Margiela’s team at work, meticulously cutting and piecing together mosaic jacket pieces (oh, that mosaic jacket! my heart nearly burst with joy at that), you can see that it’s not just a matter of using unusual materials, it’s a careful crafting in a way that’s both meticulous and simply ingenius. This isn’t some slapped-together paper mache top, a grotesque stab at clothing, it’s approaching an art form (fashion as art quandaries aside). I’m so sad Msr. Margiela’s retired now, I really do hope his team can maintain his level of innovation and vision.

Maison Martin Margiela : Atelier Artisanal from Materialiste Paris on Vimeo.

It’s approaching the end of the year (and the end of the decade, at that), which generally means year-end lists and reflections on the past year/decade, but I’m not sure I’d be able to really make any sort of good year-end list. I do have a couple resolutions, but none are really clothing related (save for a general wish to curate a closet in which I truly love every piece of clothing). My wardrobe is in a state of turmoil right now. I’m not sure why, but I feel like deciding to try to stick to some sort of sartorial theme or resolution right now wouldn’t be wise. I guess I’m sort of doubting how much I know myself right now, and so I’m refraining from too much decision-making while I figure out my wardrobe plan of action for the future (more on various dichotomous ideas later). So I’ll just keep this holding pattern for now.

Wearing: vintage fur shrug, Christopher Kane for Topshop dress

xx,
Lauren

I mentioned a little while back that I was working on a scarf, my first knitting project. I used my amazing new circular needles, which I’m rabidly in love with. I’ve never been a big DIY person for some reason, more because of my laziness and high expectations than because of any fear of making things with my hands (on the contrary, making things is actually one of my favorite things to do). At first, I wanted a big, fat mustard yellow scarf to wear in the cold and generally dwarf my body (admittedly, not a difficult feat, as I’m already dwarfed by most tween children), but I decided to make it mostly grey instead and favor the sort of patchy yarn combinations that Rodarte has perfected in the last few years. I’ve got a much bigger and more daunting project in the works now, especially this scarf is my first knitting experience.

I like knitting and crocheting more than my other half-assed DIY projects (in fact, I don’t really consider knitting “DIY”, it’s more just a craft), because, for some reason, the amount of time and effort you put into it makes it more rewarding. My newly made scarf is a lovingly whipped up piece of clothing, as opposed to a stapled/pinned/shredded “trend” piece that will either fall apart in about 10 minutes, or I’ll get sick of, since I didn’t care enough about the piece to spend any money on it in the first place. I’m definitely not discrediting DIY in any way, I think it’s really great when people take fashion into their own hands and put together something really great that they want to wear. But for me, DIY is almost more about the process, and about learning a new skill or working on an old one, than about making something I want.

One of the best examples of someone who takes DIY to a level beyond “oh shredded t-shirts are so cool, I’ll make myself one” is Luxirare. She really takes a lot of care and effort in her handmade pieces, and it’s pretty clear that she isn’t just throwing pieces together for the sake of being on-trend. Similarly, with my knitting projects I want to make things that will last, that I want to make for personal, almost emotional reasons (yes, I realize how silly I am, getting emotionally invested in clothing). That beaming, chest-swelling feeling I get when I make something I am really proud of is intoxicating in a way that doing quick, trend-based DIY’s just isn’t.

Quick DIY’s are fun, and it feels good to make something that you like without slaving over details and skilled work, but for me, more carefully thought-out and time-consuming projects are more sustainable long-term. And since I’m pretty horrendous at sewing, for now I’ll stick to knitting, and think about the best way to approach my ultimate goal of learning how to sew.

Soundtrack of the day: Love Cry by Four Tet
Wearing: hand knit scarf, Rodarte for Target lace cardigan, dad’s jeans, Givenchy lace ankle boots

xx,
Lauren

Brought out one of my old feather headdresses. I haven’t worn this in months, but I love it too dearly to actually stop wearing it. I’ve never quite known why I love feathers so much (in my house I literally am ‘the feather girl’). I remember as a kid being so drawn to feathers, I’d pick them up off the ground on the beach or near the water, and my parents would tell me not to play with them because they were probably germ-ridden (and they were probably right), but I just couldn’t resist. Something about the texture of a feather is so different than fur, fabric, plastic, or, really, any other material. They have that sort of odd, natural beauty that I’ve always loved.

In high school, my preferences for material, color, and cut were constantly shifting, the way most people like things for a while, get sick of them, and move onto the next. But, as I’ve gotten older (yes, yes, I’m so old, I know), a small set of preferences has sort of emerged that hasn’t really changed. Call it the base of my style, maybe (although it doesn’t seem nearly basic or substantive enough to constitute the core of any kind of style), the elements of my style that (perhaps) won’t change too much in the future. It seems odd that something as ornamental and silly as feathers is a part of my long-term style (your base is supposed to be things like blazers and wool coats and LBD’s and things like that, isn’t it?), but of course it would be like me to construct a personal style vision out of entirely frivolous, unsubstantive things.

Soundtrack of the day: I Think I Can by Animal Collective
Wearing: vintage dress, handmade feather headdress, Chanel boots

xx,
Lauren