Fashion for Writers

“The capital-T Truth is about life BEFORE death.” -David Foster Wallace, commencement speech at Kenyon

This particular commencement speech, which has been making the rounds since DFW’s passing, shares some of the same sentiment as the Fat Lady monologue from Franny and Zooey (Salinger), adapted to contemporary life. Read the speech (here).

The outfit I am wearing above is whimsy mixed with somber monochrome. I bought some new vintage bow ties to make into headbands. Black top, black skater skirt, black long underwear top, black fitted motorcycle jacket, black boots. Neil likes to give me guff about not exploring the color spectrum, and for a time I was branching out into colors — as you can probably see in my archives. But lately I’ve been retreating back into black, which is so comforting and easy. I’ve been inspired by Camile Childhood Flames, mostly, who seems to pull her outfits together so chicly and easily. 

And of course, the star of that shot is the Ozetta cowl! I love this thing and it keeps me plenty warm in this MI winter.

There’s something very satisfying about making a headful of rag curls while watching infinite episodes of “Law and Order.” While wearing a bathrobe. And drinking peppermint tea. Also, it is very cold outside — but hopefully it won’t be so cold outside tomorrow that I’ll have to wear a hat and obscure the resulting curls. (I’ve never done this before; hopefully they’ll turn out well.) The rags are strips cut from old curtains. You can learn how to do this (here).

I came across this very dear present on Etsy — they are two matching Friends Necklaces, like the ones you used to get from Claire’s when you were small, except these are much classier. ($50, Forest Bound) (here)

I used to have this (perhaps ill-advised) All-Skirts-No-Pants! policy when I lived in California. Note the phrase “in California.” Now I live in Michigan and I’m still wearing skirts and dresses. At least it’s not below zero yet. In fact, it’s downright balmy today at 36 degrees. (Outfit here consists of a faux fur coat from Etsy, UO booties, the best leggings ever from Beijing, skater skirt from Etsy, vintage cardigan from Effie, and my favorite necklace.)

I’ve been really baffled by my hair these days and can’t seem to get it to do anything that I want it to do. This feeling was compounded by getting it professionally done by a stylist a few weeks ago. So I spent three dollars on wave clamps. We’ll see how that goes?

See the results of the photoshoot by my amazing wedding photographer, Tara Arrowood, (here).