Thoughts From the Dirty City

I think that we are all biased to the staple looks that date to our own coming of age. It was the time we really started to define our character and personal style so it is only natural that the basic/popular looks of those times will always be appealing. I’m not saying we can’t all see the error of our ways when it came to the extreme trends. No one looked good in the workout wear of the 80′s. Remember the saying, spandex is a privilege, not a right. And for the exact opposite reasons there was nothing flattering about the 90′s borrowing of dad’s flannel and pairing it with the baggiest dress one could find. This was my own personal coming of age look, paired of course with some authentic combat boots purchased at the local army surplus, the craziest most clashing tights I could find and a  dog collar (to keep it real – obviously).

While I no longer feel a need to dress in the extremes of my youth, the general feel of that era still defines my personal style. I love wearing a mixture of textures and layering in unexpected ways. And yes, I still own (and wear) Doc Martins.  Sometimes I feel a bit guilty about this and wonder if my look and taste is becoming laughably dated. I make an effort to incorporate new looks and trends into my wardrobe to keep it fresh, but still sometimes I wonder. Then the new lines start coming out and it seems there is always at least one or two pieces that give me hope that I am not in fact turning into an old fuddy duddy. This year some of my favorites included:

Proenza Schouler

and Tracy Reese

Not that everything I love has to be a throwback to the grunge era…but it doesn’t hurt.

Images from www.nymag.com
click on image for slide show of complete line

If you thought I was done talking about OPI for at least a season, well, think again. To be honest, I thought I was done for a while myself. I had my new shade to get me through fall, possibly even winter. I wasn’t even remotely considering aquiring more new polish until a friend insisted I look at Suzi Ski’s in the Perinees to see if she should buy it. That is when I first discovered it. The strangeness on the website. The shade was listed twice…and some of my other favorites were listed three time. The normal listing and then others ending in “matte” and “suede”. It was confusing, the site is all in flash and I was just trying to get a quick looksee so I didn’t realy do a lot of investigating to figure out what was up. Until this weekend that is.

So, said friend and I offed to the mall to make her purchase of  “Suzi Ski’s in the Perinees” and generally waste a weekend afternoon. I was determinded not to even really look at the display. I was just along for the ride. Then it caught my attention. A new display, NEXT to the new display. I HAD to at least look…right?! There they were, some of my favorite shades lined up in two’s. One the normal shade, and the other a Matte version. There was “Russian Navy” and “You Don’t Know Jaque” and of course, the one thing that I just couldn’t resist…”Lincoln Park After Dark”.

I know it seems silly, and a total waste of money, and maybe it was. But the idea of my all time favorite shade of nailpolish available for a limited time in a matte finish…how could I not. I mean it’s matte for crying out loud. It just ads to the dark and complex nature of the color. It de-polishes the polish!! I waivered and then finally caved in. I was sort of just about convinced that I wasn’t being a total crazy for buying yet ANOTHER bottle of nail polish when the sales girl (who, yes in fact remembers me and now knows be by name) told me that they are coming out with another variation on the best sellers. A line called Suede. It’s a matte polish with glitter. The line won’t be out in the store until next month. I keep telling myself no. No way. No how is there any way to justify yet another purchase…but only time will tell if I will actually be able to hold out. Until then, a little preview.

Very much looking forward to the McQueen show!!

So, I’m still in a complete tailspin trying to catch up with all the Spring fashion goings on. I am starting to accept that I will never really be “caught up”. That’s ok though. It will give me something to do until another round of new lines comes out…right!? OK, I’m rambling.

Anyway, I’m still sifting through the shows of New York fashion week as well as moving on and ahead to the many other shows happening accross the pond. In my parusing of New Yorks offerings a few things became clear; pants are out, the 80′s are in and all my fashion sense is seemingly out the window. It was a bit harsh to realize that all the things about my own personal style may be completely unacceptable now. Usually there is room enough for everyone in fashion…well, almost everyone. Everything coming down the runway was so…classic, romantic and way, way over the top girly. I was begining to think that I was either going to have to change my ways or accept the fact that I would be completely out of the fashion loop (not that I am ever what one would call “stylish” but, whatever, you get my drift). Those that know me, know that I would rather be outcast than put on a frilly dress. But then it happened, and all my fears and quandries were

put to rest.

The Rodarte show.

I fell in love with the entire line almost immediately. Now, I’m no fool. I know I couldn’t get away with actually wearing most of the line, but that doesn’t stop me from loving it. (is this how people feel about the pantslessness? still, not acceptable) Everything about the show was the complete opposite of everything else I had seen all season. The dry ice pouring over the acid green and black runway. The gothy make-up and webish netting of the models hair all added to the extreme, bold  feel of the line.

If I had to label it, I would call it a mix of tribal and goth (but I hate labels so forget that nonsense). Each piece looked so fierce and edgy coming down the runway, and yet had the air of being incredibly delicate. It looked as if each piece was constructed on the model and would immediately fall to bits the second it was removed. The mixed uses of materials from felts, knits, leather and well pretty much everything else in between gave the line a tactile quality making it seem that much more art than clothing. And yet if I step back from the designers current presentation, I can see how these peices could work in the real word, mixed with other more conservative peices.

Now I’m not saying this is the most wearable of the lines I have seen. It was just the most appealing to me visually. Maybe it was a standout becuase it was so different from the rest of the shows, or maybe I am just a creature of habbit and tend to stick with the kinds of things I have always been drawn to. No matter why, or what made this show such a standout for me I’m glad it was there to quell my wories that come spring we will all be strutin’ around wearing shoulder pads and little else.

From the late 1970′s through present day, Take Back The Night events have been held by college and university women’s centers, YWCA’s, rape crisis centers, community centers, high school student groups, battered women’s shelters, …and other organizations dedicated to helping women achieve safety and empowerment. Events have been held in England, Belgium, Australia, Canada, the Caribbean Islands, the United States, and likely other corners of the globe. PLEASE JOIN US THIS YEAR AS WE CELEBRATE THE RAPE CRISIS CENTER’S 35TH ANNIVERSARY!

Take Back The Night March/Rally

show up, stand up, walk out AGAINST rape & sexual assault!

Time:6:00PM Friday, October 9th

Location:Firestone Park Community Center

So I am way the fuck behind. Not only is New York Fashion week over, but the London shows just wrapped up as well and the Paris shows are starting. Ugh. I have been working on a few posts covering my thoughts on the New York showings. My plan was to break it up into a few posts. One of the stuff I liked, one of the stuff I hated and the other would be for shoes and such. After starting each I realized they were starting to read like War and Peace and there was no way I was ever really going to wrap them up. There is just way too many great (and terrible) designers out there. It was making me crazy…and the posts were going  no where. So I scraped all three and have decided to take an entirely different approach. I am just going to start randomly posting about the shows a few designers at a time. In no certain order…mostly just as I remember them or stumble upon them again. I will try to remember to post what city the shows were in and all that good stuff.

To kick it all off I am going to start with the bad. The really, really, really bad. Something is happening in the fashion world. Something very vexing. There is a new trend (there usually is) to replace last years legging debacle (thank LaLohan for that one). I’m not sure how to even phrase this. It seems that designers have decided that clothing is now optional in the fashion world. You heard me correctly. It seemed like every show I watched had at least one model strutting her stuff down the runway sans pants or nipples blazing (sometimes, god forbid, both). You know that old saying show leg or cleavage, never both. Well it seems the new rule should be pants or shirt, take your pick.

I know this probably makes me seem like a complete prude but I don’t care. Who, aside from Lady GaGa, leaves the house without pants? I know that lives and schedules get busier by the day, and we have to make sacrifices to squeeze it all in, but are we really going so far as to sacrifice pants? I mean really. I don’t know a single person that would feel comfortable walking down the street in any of these gettups.  And for the ladies contemplating such gettups, cudos to your for being so balsey and confident. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you when dudes start hitting you up for your hourly rate. Personally, I’m sticking with pants.

All images are from www.nymag.com
and are from the Spring 2010 New York Fashion Week. Designers listed from left to right: Tony Cohen, Thom Brown, Julian Louie, Donna Karan, Charlotte Ronsen, Carmen Marc Valvo.

It may have come to some of your attention that I have not posted anything about my OPI addiction/collection in quite some time. Ok, probably not.  But for the purposes of my ego we will say you did. Perhaps some of you thought I kicked the habit?  Or maybe I was just so busy with my exciting and adventurous life that I just didn’t have the time to blog about my newest additions? Sadly, none of these things are true. I’m just lazy. It is shameful, but true. Well, that and I was thoroughly uninspired by the summer line. Not really all that surprising. Summer is nice and all, but fall will always have my heart.

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Most people get an itch to dust out the old and make room for the new around spring time. Makes sense. Windows have been closed for months and the long winter months give everything a packed away feel. This year, I couldn’t wait for spring and the gutting of closets and sorting of old stuffs has been consuming my evenings all week. Perhaps it was the onset of fashion week, or the shift the weather has taken, promising an end to summer and the arrival of fall. Fall always inspires me to do extremely random things. Wherever the inspiration came from I have been riding the roller coaster for days.

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