Cold Breeze

I know I shouldn't be so excited to go shopping for sweaters...But I just can't help myself. I have a need to snuggle up in some over sized knits.

Images Via: Becausei'maddicted

Like a Canary

Summer's come and gone, but that doesn't mean I want to start changing colors with the leaves. I keep my summer clothes close at hand, thanking God there's still a heat advisory. If I shut my eyes, maybe I can pretend it's still summer.

Images Via: BecauseI'maddicted and Altamira NYC (in the opposite order)

Let Your Hair Down

You've heard many a-time: what goes around comes around, particularly in fashion. This season is no different, with 70s inspired looks ruling the runways. Chloe seemed to take a cue from Marc Jacobs a few seasons past and created oddly shaped pants with enough volume to hide a small elephant paired with a pee-yellow button down. Normally I'm a huge fan of Hannah MacGibbons (Chloe's head designer) for her soft take on the 70s. In previous seasons her neutral colors and attention to detail elevated the collection from thrift store wanna-bees. But it seems that she's lost her love of subtlety, and wants to hit the consumer over the head with her intention. She might as well have thrown on some printed patches and called it a day.

Despite my bashing, I really do love this new look in fashion. The 70s had a wonderful bohemian sophistication; the women never seemed as if they were trying. "Yes, Darling. I just threw this on and am this fabulous." Maybe it's because the 70s had some of the most flattering fits and cuts of any era. Because jeans were flared, hips looked smaller in comparison. Because shirts were looser on top or had bell sleeves, those of us with little chest had something to distract from our lack of cleavage.

I now find myself scouring vintage stores for 70s clothing or 70s inspired clothing. I love how something as simple as a white button down becomes transformed with large sleeve or an embellishment. I feel the whole point of the 70s was not to look 'done'. Naturally beautiful, age appropriate, and always stylish was the name of the game.

What do you think? Are you loving the 70s or do you want to send the Disco back where it belongs?

Images Via: Lee Oliveira, BecauseI'mAddicted, and Cupcakes and Cashmere

Uniforms

I've gotten to thinking about uniforms. Maybe I'm obsessing because I am desperately awaiting my cheerleading uniform, but still. Is a uniform really a plaid skirt and button down top that one is expected to wear the same way every single day? If we all wore the same thing, would we really stop judging each other by appearance and focus on personality?
Style shows force us to fear. Are we projecting the right image? Do our outsides match what is inside? As a complex person, it is difficult to express your full self in a few items of clothing. And yet as a society we are obsessed with how we look, that we present ourselves in a certain manner and that people know exactly who we are and what we stand for by looking at us.
So uniforms. They're supposed to level the playing field. If we no longer have a physical outlet of expression maybe we'll actually interact with each other rather than making judgements based on appearance.
Alright, I'll admit it. I love uniforms. I love the idea that an outfit can connect you to a group of people and really righteous idea. I understand the counter arguments about stifling self expression, but isn't it really self expression when you are given the same pieces of clothing as everyone else and make it your own? Teen magazine have at least one or two articles a year about how to accessorize a uniform in order to individualize it. I feel that uniforms are about being a part of something bigger, yet there is still room to be oneself.

Images Via: becausei'maddicted and cupcakes and cashmere

Girlish

I am so sick of the whole 'tough girl' look. I don't understand why women aren't comfortable being feminine. I think it all started in the 70s, during the women's feminist movement. Not that I think women shouldn't have fought for their rights, but that in fighting to be treated equal to men, they forget that their power lies in their femininity.

In society, a women is considered weak because she shows emotion. Tears mark her as the 'weaker' sex. But I don't see what is so less about expressing oneself. It has been proven that bottling your emotions can lead to serious health issues, so isn't a woman truly being stronger by admitting how she feels and allowing those emotions to make her vulnerable?

Furthermore, a women's power lies in her sex appeal. Women have the ability to read relationships and social atmosphere, and manipulate that with their feminine wiles. A former female finance reporter would enter Wall Street's 'Boys club' in a pencil skirt and pumps. She could lull CEOs and major finance executives into a fall sense of security, making them believe that she wasn't asking the hard hitting questions because she had breasts. But when the article came out, it revealed secrets that the men hadn't even remembered to admitting to.

And especially don't forget the women in your life (especially after Mother's Day!). My mother was a single parent for many years. She worked a full time job and then came home and took care of me. It is her strength that inspires me to be proud of being a women and all that means.

Images Via: Cupcakes and Cashmere, Altamira NYC, Becausei'maddicted

Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Freind

I never used to wear much jewelry, it was too difficult to write with rings on every finger. But accessories are like expensive drugs, but the high is longer and satisfying. Every time I see that little sparkle on my finger or catch sight of my necklace in the mirror, I can't help but smile. Normally I buy my jewelery while on vacation, so each piece reminds me of an adventure. Now, everyday I take a trip in my jewelry box, and come out with at least two rings and one necklace. My favorites have to be my two knuckle ring, and the giant moonstone from Cozumel (photos to come) and though they're both huge, I wear them everyday. I feel bad for anyone who makes me mad because they'll be forever branded with a starfish and weird studded pepper...thing.
What accessory can you not stop wearing?

Images via: 5 Inches and Up, Becausei'maddicted 1 and 2 (Asesa), Late Afternoon

P.S. Don't my sunglasses look Leonardo DiCaprio's in Catch Me If You Can?

Taking a Breather

Alright, so posting has been suuuper slow, I know. But put up with me for a little bit, because I decided that anytime I'll be posting that each post should be quality. Unfortunately, that doesn't come as easy for as it does, Tavi or Jane Aldridge. But hey, no one's naming names...
I want to thank everyone who has supported this website, it means so much. Unfortunately, I'm going through some things right now, and I'm not working at 100%. More like a weak twenty, to be perfectly honest. So to everyone who's stuck with me and rooted for me, thank you.

Images Via: becausei'maddicted

Too Much?

I don't understand school. There's something about it that makes me feel like someone punched me in the face. I just feel so drained, so exhausted. I've completely lost the will to care. What does sitting in a classroom, learning mundane facts have to do with life? I'm sure that if Precalculus ever comes up in my future career I can get a tutor or read a book (shocker!).
A friend of my mine went to vocational school, training during high school so that the minute she graduated she could go straight into a job. Though I do want to go to college, there's something about learning practical skills. If by some chance I couldn't go straight to New York I would be able to work my way to where ever I wanted to go. But it's even less about having a job (no, the hunt has not gone well), it's really about being able to take pride in something.
Creation in its rawest form is done with two hands, determination mixed with curiosity, and a whole lot of time. Recently, an artist (I wish I could remember his name) holed up in his brother's garage for two weeks. He created a live art project, leaving his web cam running the entire time he worked, creating a self portrait on a turning wheel with letters from significant moments in people's lives who called in.
Crazy, you say? Need years of training you say? Wouldn't you be surprised to know that during the week this man works as a computer processor. People have the capacity for the amazing. The technological advances we've made in the past fifty years speak to that. But how can we continue to grow and to really understand our world if we're never in it? We spend so much of our lives sleeping or stuck in a cubicle/desk that the world becomes idealized; a glimmering bit of sunlight almost completely blocked by Venetian blinds.
Don't get me wrong, I believe in education. As a society we cannot grow as a society if we never have any knowledge, but students (that means you!) need to demand more real world experience. Whatever we learn in those seats are useless if we can't carry them with us.

You might be wondering how these photos fit into this post. Notice the black and grey? Yea? Well that's my mood.

What do you think? Am I a whiny slacker or is school getting you down?

Images Via: lookbook.nu, becausei'maddicted

Old School Glamour

Trekking with my family through the rainy streets of downtown Chicago, I catch just a glimmer of glamour. The drenched carvings on the side of the Wrigley building, the amazing amount of fedoras that seem to appear at any sign of precipitation, and just the energy of the city itself. Unlike New York, Chicago is a lazy kind of city. It sits back with a cigarette on fire-engine red painted lips and smirks at all those who don't have time for a drag.

Images Via: BecauseI'maddicted