Mean Little Nice Girl

Free People lace dress. kelly&katie pumps. Guess cardigan. Forever 21 necklace. Mossimo knit beret.

Strangely, I never wanted to wear girly things when my hair was long and flowy and romantic but NOW that I look like Madeline with her appendix, I am all up for frilly, lacy romantic dresses and heavy eye make-up. Got this gorgeous dress at the Macy's Back-to-School sale which is an awful misnomer because at that point I was in school for 3 weeks....

Another great thing about short hair - I can pull off the cloche! Which is great considering that I will be dragging my dearly beloveds to watch The Great Gatsby with me at the crack o' dawn and praying that they haven't ruined the book. So far only the most recent Pride & Prejudice successfully turned a timeless classic into a movie with all the main parts still intact. Or maybe that was just me being distracted by Matthew Macfadyen in his Darcy makeup. 

I want hats. Lots and lots of hats. Think Mad Hatter on a good hair day.

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The Woman Who Cut Her Hair

"A woman who cuts her hair is about to change her life" ~ Coco Avant Chanel

Because I am a hopeless romantic who lives outside her head most of the time, it is only fitting I describe my experiences with beautiful quotes from amazing French movies. I first cut my hair really short upon entering high school and really, it was a completely different world for me. No more oppressive middle school awkwardness, no more braces, or teachers breathing down your back - what is this FREEDOM? Now that I'm on the last year of my school career, I've gone back to my rebellious roots and chopped of my locks for bangs and a blunt bob. I look like a cross between a china doll and a Bond girl (the villainess, duh!) but for once I feel incredibly comfortable. I feel sharper, eviler. More like me.

It also helps that everyone did a double take and squealed their approval in the halls. And at Vanderbilt. 

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Come Again

American Eagle chambray shirt. H&M dress. aerie  lace bralette. Express belt. American Apparel  hair tie. Bag from Argentina.

Definitely all over the denim trend - my fashion conscious has matured to like denim again. I keep wearing it as a makeshift blazer because it is STILL too hot to have some denim-on-skin action. And I cheated, because it's technically chambray...but once again - way too hot. Also really craving rich autumn hues - I want to look like a rich old stiff. Might as well go crazy at the ASOS sales and get myself some random silk scarves, to match that lipstick I will put on outside the lines. 
  
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As We Were

 American Eagle shorts. Guess blouse. American Apparel hair tie. Tahari sandals. Leather bag from Argentina. Express belt.

It's always harsh when innocence and childhood must come to an end, and often those lofty ideals of happiness are interchangeable. Having been a dreamer for 17 years, only to have your rose-colored glasses ripped off leaves you with nothing but the garish light of day (oh Phantom of the Opera, how  wantonly I steal your wisdom!) that dreams and childhood fancies have painted over in every brilliant shade of magic.

Do not mistake this for depression! It's only a Peter Pan crisis...which should be up there with the Middle Age crisis as a life-changing hormonal phenomena inducing erratic behavior such as, but not limited to : buying up all childhood toys again, rereading childhood novels, having to deal with real world things and choosing to act on escapist tendencies instead. 

And this is exactly why school should not start on August 1st. It simply forces me into a cocoon of introspection with a depressing, if hauntingly beautiful Lana Del Rey soundtrack. This may or may not have been inspired, if tenuously, by "National Anthem" - loving the retro look recently. Also, I can no longer wear shorts because I have the arms of a gorilla and anything shorter than an Amish skirt is shorter than my fingertips...so I sizzle in the sunshine.

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Rebellious Streaks

 

aerie color block shirt. Tahari sandals. American Eagle shorts. Asos clutch. Lucky Brand rings. Essie nail color in Blue Rhapsody

If you haven't noticed I am an American Eagle rat, although in their defense they have perfected the prep school wanderer look - stylish, simple and comfortable, with a touch of the boho. Also, since it's summer I don't wear real clothes anymore - it's aerie's feathery light and paper thin almost-sleepwear that I crave, hence the shirt.

I'm done with pastels for the season. There is just no way pastels can fly in the summer. In the spring you can afford to look like you were dropped from the Easter Bunny's magic basket, but in summer we must all bring out our rebellious clothing. Oh look! Those shorts don't reach her fingertips and are an unnatural color! 

In my moment of weakness I succumbed to the blue craze. Nearly a decade ago I told myself, never again would I actively use blue in my wardrobe or particularly enjoy using it when convenience and comfort demanded it. I have always been told that I must wear lots of blue because it complements my eyes, brings out the color. So errant well-wishers would give me enough blue clothing and accessories to choke a baby elephant. And I hated it. So unoriginal (I was a little hipster before I even knew what a hipster was)! But now I heed the cloying wisdom of my elders - blue is my color, no matter how much I crave being able to look good in red. 

Anyway - I broke down and bought metallic blue nail polish - which, by the way, is the new black of nail polish (or dark red - could never go wrong with a vampy shade) - and I loved it so much I practically shoved it in the face of coworkers and passerby and made them croon about how pretty it was and how it reflected the light. Obsessive much?

Expect more intense plumage from me this summer...except it's not a summer at all since school starts back up on the first.So not only will our bodies be baking in the heat, but so will our brains.
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Big City Dreamin'

 Express blouse and belt. Rachel Roy skirt. Asos clutch. Gianni Bini flats (not pictured)

 Now that I am a visual junkie with slight ADD tendencies, subsisting primarily on a diet of blog photos, deviantART, Pintrest and Facebook (but only the Facebook pages of my photography friends), it should come as no surprise that I went for the pretty picture. The skirt is actually a print of the Manhattan skyline in watercolor and the sunshine yellow called out to me, challenging me to find a top to go with it. Usually, I am a firm believer in buying up the basics - black, cream, navy, tan, light pink - colors that match with the majority of the things I have in my closet. But who ever heard of teenage girls making rational decisions on a daily basis?

Another irrational decision - trooping around downtown Franklin in the blistering heat. Stopped off at Sweet Cece's to bask in the miracle that is air conditioning and ice cream and discovered the prettiest bathroom. EVER. Almost tempted to sneak my camera in there and take some shots of the gorgeous stained glass windows but then I realized even my insane visual cravings must have a limit.

Summer is rapidly coming to a close...like the calm before the storm, I'm sensing the piles of work that will soon engulf me, smelling the stress in the wind. But for now, throw caution to the wind because the fireflies are leaving.

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And the Sun Ate Her Eyes

Vintage top, vintage jacket, American Eagle denim shorts, leather bag from Argentina

After a bit of self reflection and a few much-needed caffeine jolts from all the times I've pulled all-nighters in the last few weeks, I still have no idea where this blog is going. I think it derailed around the time I decided most other people sucked at taking pictures of me and that I was better off taking pictures of them. Which were better. And exactly the way I wanted them to be. My aspirations to higher fashion evaporated with the record-breaking triple-digit heat, which left me unable to do anything but preserve my vampiric paleness and bemoan.

I've discovered the joys of Photoshop and of being a workaholic and may just ship myself off to an Addicts Anonymous meeting one of these days. But other than that my summer has been not a summer at all. The decadent delights of lazily perusing a stack of classics as I sip my tea and float around the house in layers of white are lost to a yellow, lime green or black (only for Fridays) uniform tee and sports shorts as well as the dubious joy of many children all in one place. I can hardly finish reading The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, let alone start on something non-school-related, like Foucault's Pendulum.

So what I mean to say, with much beating around the bush, is that there is a huge, awesome idea waiting to conk me on the head. It just hasn't happened yet. To tide you over until my awesomeness comes along, prepare for a picture vomit: I've taken over 1000.

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A Simple Love

 Filmofilia, Grace's Birdcage, Google Images

What lover of fashion can fail to be seduced by Chanel? I have recently watched Coco Avant Chanel with Audrey Tatou and have discovered a few fundamental truths : Chanel can only be portrayed by a fellow Frenchwoman, Audrey Tatou is beautiful and j'aime les francais! To make this a long post would be an insult to Chanel's dedication to simplicity and elegance, so I will allow, for once, the pictures to speak for themselves.


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Lips as Red as Roses

Having attended THE most famous, traditional high school event, the one that's the site of all the teen chick-flick climaxes, my high school experience is almost complete. It was the one night in so many years where I enjoyed being a girl in the media sense of the word - get my make-up done at Chanel, walk around the mall in my jeans and French Connection hoodie while being completely made up from the neck up, talk about the silliest things and squeal over each others' dresses.

The little egoist in me was a bit upset that Prom was the day right after my birthday and therefore stole ALL my birthday thunder. It's okay though - I had made a flower crown the night before and floated at the awards ceremony dressed as a fairy.

 

I went for a short white dress because I a.) had no date (or any desire to have one) b.) love white no matter how much it washes me out c.) was planning to really dance at Prom, not stand around staring at all the gyrating couples from the sidelines and d.) I secretly thought this was a Chanel-esque ensemble. Accordingly, decided Chanel's Rouge Coco in No.19 Gabrielle would spice up my fairly classic style-icon-inspired ensemble. This is also one of those colors I imagine putting on outside the lines when I'm old, wrinkly and blind (I've already decided to be a very hip old grandma...with a red Ferrari).

We took pictures at the most gorgeous campus ever - gotta love those well-funded private Christian universities and their abundance of gardens and gazebos.

 Dress - Kensie

Shoes - kelly & katie

 Earrings - Givenchy

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A Village by the Water

Like all my favorite photo shoots, this one was impromptu and natural. It felt divine to be at the lake on Easter Sunday (I am Orthodox, our Easter is a week later) right after a crazy night of Prom and party buses (photos to come later). I was feeling a little drained or maybe a little like a fairy woken up from a deep deep sleep and so my fancy fashion sense kind of went downhill.

But how could I resist? How could anyone resist this romantic and whimsical coral confection (that I happened to buy at Philly's H&M) or the equally amazing and soft peach cardigan(that I also got in Philly)?

I mean, who doesn't want to look like an Easter egg? Or a creamy concoction of...something.

Besides feeling like a fairy, I felt like a character in a neo-Victorian Gothic ghost story. The ones that happen in New England and involve girls in pretty dresses in gorgeous, if desolate rocky cliffs overlooking the ocean. Kinda like this :

And I almost forgot - 4 more days until my 17th birthday (henceforth dubbed the Sexy Seventeen because there is no way I'm letting Sweet Sixteen have it all)! Gosh I feel old already.

Dress - H&M

Cardigan - Nordstrom

Essie turquoise and caicos nail polish

Bare feet and whimsical attitude - Model's own

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Classy Coquette

Wearing my new ASOS clutch that came in the mail today. It arrived right before my friend did and I kind of maybe lost my head to "Package Fever"  - the overwhelming feeling that overtakes you when you see a wrapped birthday present/letter/parcel (even if it's not for you). Also, I am a slave to new things. I may or may not have sniffed, petted, danced around with and squealed about my new purchase(s)(there is a second one).

Was rifling through the bookstore again (I swear I have all the titles memorized, but after a while, the teen section just starts to sound the same) when I saw Derek Blasburg's Classy: Exceptional Advice for the Extremely Modern Lady. I like to pretend, with my high heels and conservative-ish style and the thank-you notes I buy because they look pretty, that I can pass for a lady. Although please don't ask me about what happens when the car in front of me goes 30 on a 55 mph road. Anyway, the man speaks the truth and he speaks it in a very amusing way (with pictures for all those visual-addicted, easily bored readers) - there are just not enough longer skirts out there in the world. Or women with self-respect, although when you get down to it the two factors correlate.

I think my look passes for lady-like. Feminine, airy skirt with conservative black pumps and a cropped military jacket and the girly bag (which I totally veni, vidi, and bought).

 

 Philadelphia tomorrow!

  Dress - Kensie

Jacket - Macy's

Pumps - kelly&katie

Clutch - Asos

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