Since I am taking a short break between study sessions to post this, I don’t have time to continue telling Marfa stories at the moment. However, I’m trying to make sure that I at least post once a week on the blog, so here are some more pictures from the trip!
The El Cosmico campgrounds at night (above). Pictures at the Marfa Lights Viewing Center, taken on our last night (below). Although we didn’t witness a rare appearance of the lights, we did get some awesome pictures of the stars.
I’m absolutely inundated with school work at the moment, so I’ll make this post short and sweet.
Wednesday, Brett & I of course visited Prada Marfa again. It was much less windy, and thus much easier to take pictures.
We also decided to do a quick tour to Presidio, one of the three official border towns in Texas. We drove through Shafter, which was officially labeled a “Ghost Town” on the side of the highway. On our way South, we passed a Border Patrol station and quite a few Border Patrol SUV’s. They were literally everywhere.
When we finally reached Presidio, we quickly realized it wasn’t as interesting as we thought it’d be–most of the buildings were abandoned, and functioning places of business were primarily gas stations. As we left the town, we saw a sign pointing to Ruidosa, TX, and Brett and I, thinking it led to Big Bend National Park, decided to take it.
Along the way we saw some mangy looking wild donkeys, and a few cemeteries literally in the middle of nowhere on hilltops.Of course we had to stop every fifteen minutes to get out of the car and explore. The unpopulated regions can in fact be really interesting.
1. Free People dress from Kaki @ Seecreatures.com; 2. vintage felt cowboy hat; 3. dolce vita boots; 4. club monaco socks
That’s it for now. I’ll continue my story about Border Patrol and the military in the next issue!
My boyfriend Brett and I decided to forgo the typical spring break vacations here in Texas (South Padre Island or SXSW), and decided to head as far West as we could without actually leaving the state. Our destination: the small desert town of Marfa.
We used the El Cosmico campgrounds as our home base while we explored what deep West Texas had to offer. Although I wish we could have afforded a trailer, we stayed in one of the minimalist safari tents. With temperatures below 30 degrees every night, it was nice to have a heated mattress and tons of wool blankets to keep us warm, even though the tent itself was freezing.
For the two mornings we were there, we adopted Squeeze as our café. I’m a creature of habit, so both mornings I had the sandwich baguette with an americano, but Brett’s knackwurst plate looked delicious, too. Like every other establishment in Marfa, Squeeze had a minimalist, chic interior design that made you wish you lived there. (You can see pictures of Squeeze & El Cosmico on my instagram.)
So, admittedly, we didn’t go to any art galleries for which Marfa is famous. We did, however, go to the Prada Marfa installation–twice. Amazingly, Brett didn’t complain about having to revisit, and he gladly took the pictures of me.
Vintage felt cowboy hat; Zoe & Sam blouse; Jil Sander pants; Alexander Wang boots; Club Monaco socks & fingerless cashmere gloves
Tuesday night, we made the trek further out of civilization to the McDonald Observatory. It had been cloudy all day, so I was worried they would cancel the “Star Party,” the telescope viewing session. As I was driving up the mountain, I turned to Brett and asked, “Is that snow?!” Sure enough, we were hit with a thick flurry that lasted for hours. Since we had no choice but to stick around for a while, we bought additional tickets to the “Twilight Program.” If you like spending $5 to listen to someone sell you items in the gift shop, it is totally worth it. But since I don’t, we waited to find out if we would get to look through the telescopes (we wouldn’t), and then we left.
To be continued…
So I’m totally copying Lauren @ Sea & Skylark on the theme of this post. But I wanted to make at least one more post before I left for Marfa, so here it is! (I also had to make sure I had my tumblr sufficiently queued up with posts…)
These come from a series of pictures I took fairly recently of a few of my favorite things that I own. If you have any further questions about where these items came from, just ask me! (As for the belt buckle, I’ve no idea where my boyfriend scored this–but it’s pretty amazing.)
1. Alexander Wang boots; 2. gratuitous picture of dust bag + box; 3. Club Monaco driving gloves & bullet necklace, a gift from my friend Robbi that she purchased at Dolly Python in Dallas; 4. Vintage Zig Zag Papers belt buckle, a gift from my boyfriend Brett; 5. postcards from the Alexander McQueen Met Exhibit, a gift from my friend Mitchel
This past weekend, I attended 35Denton for the first time. Having lived in Denton for six years, I felt obligated (and equally excited) to attend at least once before graduation.
Of course, the entire week leading up to 35D was 70 degrees and sunny; but the day before the festival started, thunderclouds rolled in and a cold front drifted through. I watched Best Coast in freezing rain, packed tight next to people equally miserable–but it was totally worth it. Sunday, however, finally offered us reprieve from the drab weather, and we finally had a beautiful day to end the festival.
In the main stages area, there was a line of food trucks along the back, including the Nammi truck that Catherine designed (she also designed their web site). I had never tried bánh mì before, but theirs was exceptional.
The thing that characterized the festival best, however, was probably the phrase, “one in, one out.” Since most of the shows were in actual bars, restaurants, or clubs, they reached maximum capacity pretty quickly. Catherine and I tried to see Class Actress and Hood Internet on Friday, but we were easily 100 people behind when Hailey’s reached maximum capacity. The next night, at J&J’s, you lost your spot in the music room if you so much as went upstairs to go to the bathroom or buy a beer. Alas, I don’t think this is a problem that will fix itself. But lesson learned: get there early.
Other than that, I’m glad I got a wristband. At the very least, it was a chance for me to see people whom I hadn’t seen in a while. Next year, however, I’m resolved to attend SXSW. (Also, apologies for limited amounts of pictures, but I didn’t want to carry my camera around in the rain!)
It has been too long since I posted, but I have been completely overwhelmed with school and work. So, I have a lot to catch up on blog-wise. I know spring/summer 2012 collections launched forever ago, and I am indeed aware that fall 2012 fashion weeks have already started. BUT, I’m still going to be posting stuff I wore for fall/winter 2011 for the next couple of weeks.
I got this sweater skirt from Club Monaco back in the fall, and I wear it almost all the time! It’s incredibly versatile, comfortable, and timeless. (It’s actually on sale at shopbop now.)
Outfit Nº 1: paired with kenna shirt in navy, italian leather driving gloves, and brown thigh highs, all from Club Monaco.
Outfit Nº 2: paired with kenna shirt in cream, italian leather driving gloves, leather braided belt, all from Club Monaco; black tights from Target; fur scarf from Forever 21; and black heels from Steve Madden.
Ever since Burberry introduced its plum-colored perfectly-tailored bellbottoms in Fall 2009, I’ve waited like a lunatic each season for their runway shows. The consistently feminine silhouettes are always tinted with a sense of power and individuality that seek to reclaim stereotypes associated with “masculinity.” This season, Christopher Bailey continued in this line of thought, while creating paradoxically harmonious contradictions: the nostalgic with the new, the tribal with the proper.
The rich, dark colors of maroon, deep purple, and navy that characterized so many A/W 2011 collections returned in Burberry. In fact, at times I felt like I was looking at a fall collection. And with mid-length pleated skirts, button-down cardigans, and the classic trenches, the show seemed to look even further back in time. But paired with a parka, or a deep-cut sleeveless shell, a modern glow tinged the vintage pieces.
Although tribal prints have been used ad nauseum this season, Bailey mastered them. At times, he used bold gold and black stripes; at others angular, colorful patterns; and sometimes–most successfully–both. Instead of the mixes of patterns coming across haphazardly, as the mix-n-match often can, there was a perfect harmony in his looks: the different patterns were unified by compatible color palettes, while modern items like the parka were paired with classic pencil skirts.
I had to research the word prorsum, because I wasn’t sure if it was merely part of the name or a word in itself. Apparently, it’s Latin for “forward” (having been a Latin student for three years in high school, I probably should have known this), which, I think, can serve as a perfect motto for the luxury brand. Despite the retro emanating from the show, the juxtaposition of parkas and pencil skirts and Bailey’s use of the prints presented something wholly original.
Runway Photos © Style.com.
Anyone familiar with Rodarte knows that Laura and Kate Mulleavy have a fascination with smart, whimsical youth–their muses are, after all, Tavi Gevinson and the Fanning Sisters, who, despite their starlet popularity, lay somewhere on the fringe of popular culture. So it’s not exactly surprising that their inspiration this season began with Disney’s Sleeping Beauty and crept toward Van Gogh.
This brilliant juxtaposition takes us back to a time when Disney villains actually scared us; when we, as naive children, were more perceptive to just how dark aspects of Disney can be. Despite the cliché fairytale endings that characterize basically every Disney movie, the movies have a chiaroscurist distribution of good and bad in which the light incredibly light, and the dark incredibly dark. The Mulleavys capitalize on this effect by alternating between heavily-defined silhouettes and flowy gowns, or color-blocking and impressionist patterns and by coupling the princess dresses with dark, smoky makeup.
One thing is for sure: both Disney and Van Gogh were masters of vibrancy, something else Rodarte took full advantage of this season. The thick, crisp lines; the metallic, shiny fabrics; and the lush color palette perfectly gave the Spring 2012 obsession with color a new meaning.
Runway Photos © Style.com.
I’ve always been a fan of Alexander Wang’s–but mainly as an admirer of his consistent wit and shamelessness in adopting strange, and often downright unfashionable, inspirations. (Remember SS2010′s homage to high school football?) This season, he went for another athletic backdrop, but even more unglamorous and stereotypically further from high fashion than that: NASCAR and BMX.
And I loved it.
But it wasn’t because of his very literal interpretation of the theme (I have absolutely no feelings towards those sports!); rather, i actually found unlikely influences that were a large part of my adolescence: two epic anime called Akira and Neon Genesis Evangelion.
The dark palette of navy and maroon, the industrial setting, the puffy jackets and skin-tight pants, and the undertone of velocity (as Meenal Mistry puts it) immediately call to mind Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira (1988). Prominent themes of the revolutionary movie–hints of cyberpunk, edgy youth, a rebellious nature–saturate Wang’s collection. Furthermore, Wang’s organization of looks into “gangs” playfully mimics an adolescent street culture, which plays an important role in the movie as well. The myriad of utilitarian, athletic materials such as leather, mesh, and nylon used in body-conscious silhouettes and laser-cut patterns emit a futuristic energy through a retrospective 1990s lens.
A few of his later pieces in the collection have a more overt relationship with Neon Genesis Evangelion, Yoshiyuki Sadamoto’s post-mental breakdown magum opus. The body-con outfits look exactly like plug suits, especially with their angular, nonrepresentational shapes.
So maybe I’m projecting my own personal influences onto Wang’s artwork. Maybe–I tend to find anime influences in a lot of strange places. But Wang’s collection embodies a dark, curious youth with a futuristic aesthetic that is simultaneously retro-90s. The similarities might be mere coincidences, but to me it makes his collection more interesting.
First three photos © Style.com; Akira and Evangelion are © Gainax, TMS Ent., and their respective owners.
I wanted to have the newest reincarnation of my blog running before NYFW; but clearly, that did not happen. I did, however, manage to beat the advent of fall here in Texas.
Je veux avoir ce blog prêt pour NYFW; mais clairement, il n’ai pas été. Cependant, j’ai réussi à battre l’arrivée de l’automne au Texas.
Si cette traduction est erronée, lui envoyez un email ou laissez un commentaire, s’il vous plaît.
