210. post-thanksgiving wrap-up
November 30th, 2009 § 4 Comments
I don’t have any good outfit photos of my Thanksgiving break, but doesn’t Chris look spiffy in his ensembles? I meant to take some outfit photos of him, but these will have to do. The coat that he’s wearing has giant pockets; one day we were walking around and he was carrying four books in them. The vest is from the suit he had tailored from Bookster for our wedding. He didn’t wear it then (it was a sweltering day in July), but he’s getting a lot of wear out of it now. My favorite part of it is the bright yellow satin back, which you can see a little bit of in the top photo.
All of this is me just warming up to say that I miss Chris a whole lot, and having him around was nicer than nice. Having a week to ourselves meant watching An Education and Still Walking, the former being OK and full of eye candy and the later being totally beautiful both emotionally and aesthetically. I told Chris, on our way out of the theater, that I’d like to write a novel like that someday. Not necessarily in subject matter, but something with that same, intimate, gorgeous touch that is particular to Hirokazu.
Chris and I made his mother’s sweet potato casserole recipe at Hanna’s family’s Thanksgiving. Look! Pecans! (It wouldn’t have been Southern without them.) The piece of paper next to the cutting board is from Chris’s Gmail. The subject heading, from his mom, is “Potato!”, which I loved, and constantly referred to all day.
We also had Friendsgiving on Sunday (endless food!) at Katie and Grant’s, which was an absorbing distraction after Chris left for the airport that day. The hat on the left is new to me, and has ear flaps. (Don’t you love that Jumbo plate?)
Finally, I got a haircut. It was supposed to keep the curl in, but so far I don’t see any curl; it just reminds me of the haircut that Joanne gave me all those years ago in her bathroom while we listened to Edith Piaf (one of the happiest days of my life)! I miss my curls, but I do feel a little bit more mischievous and brave with super-short hair.
Other things that I did over the break included getting lots of hugs, finishing Anna Karenina, not thinking about school at all (okay, well, hardly thinking about school), turning in one of my pie-in-the-sky fellowship applications (gulp?), working on my D.H. Lawrence paper (I lied about not thinking about school), eating lots of brunch with Chris, trying on that pink sequined dress featured in my article about the Get Up (it’s a bit too bit in the bust, plus the zipper’s broken — but I might still get it), and being mostly so happy that I could’ve burst.
A great big thank you to all of our readers, commenters, and pals.
xo, mw
209. My mandate of heaven/ the places I’m going / our imaginary home
November 24th, 2009 § 17 Comments
Yesterday was one of those unexpected warm November days, so warm I think I was having febrile dreams all night–the kind where I’m bounding across inflamed terrains searching desperately for water and I keep finding huge gallon jugs of water everywhere and pouring it over my face but not a single drop makes it down my throat! How nice it is to wake up to sun and my Mandate of Heaven playsuit that I’ve been nuzzling every morning and night since it arrived in the mail (…just kidding?) I had to take it out for an outdoor romp, seeing as how I’ve already been needlessly traipsing about indoors (which reminds me of the time I kept confusing ‘trapezing’ with ‘traipsing’ and told my friend Anna that I was ‘trapezing’ all around Europe with pretty boys, and one day, she finally corrected me. Which reminds me to give a big hearty congratulations from both Meggy and I to our dear friend Anna, who just sold her amazing novel to a wonderful publisher! Congratulations! I won’t spoil the details just yet, but I can’t wait for her novel to come out.)
Michael and I ended up driving down Prairie du Chien road, which is my second favorite street name in Iowa City after B’jaysville Lane, which I will only refer to as ‘Blowjobsville Lane.’ My last blog post about city names was a angry one, but I have only the most wondrously marvelous feelings about the towns of Intercourse and Blue Ball in Pennsylvania’s Lancaster county.
Puerile hyuks hyuks aside, we ended up parking the car by some cornfields that were engulfed in billowing smoke from a combine harvester. Michael made a mildly panicked joke about us being destroyed by a combine while snapping vanity photos.
Mandate of Heaven playsuit, F21 flower headband, red peep-toe wedges from Minnie Wilde, heart tights from Miss Selfridges
I thought the combine was still pretty far away.
We reconfirmed I’m a clumsy walker.
Which was only exacerbated by walking backwards.
At one point, the billowing smoke behind us seemed to be creeping nearer and the sound was getting louder, and I wanted to make another joke about about being eviscerated by a combine, but then felt too lazy to make this joke (does that ever happen to anyone else?) Of course, SECONDS after we climbed out of the cornfield, we saw the combine demolishing the rows of corn I had just tripped my way through. Oops.
So I give you my risked (and Michael’s) life in order to share my Mandate of Heaven playsuit with you! Next, I’ll lay down next to a tree that’s about to be cut down, and jump up and down next to a building that’s about to be razed to the ground…
But first I have to show you the best part of this playsuit: the heart pockets in the back!
They remind me of this dress from the Luella 2010 Spring collection:
Even though Luella gets a bit of a frothy rep (is it rap or rep? Anna, help!) for being a celebrity label, I’ve always loved Luella, and am a little sad that this collection won’t be appearing in any stores. I wonder if it’s really the end for Luella? I hope not. I loved these pieces from her Spring 2010:
How amazing are these silhouettes? I love especially the polka dot cropped pants, puff blouse and high updo with a bow look. My little stumpy legs could never look good in such an ensemble but I love love love the cropped pants and heels look.
All screencaps from style.com
Oh well, I wouldn’t have been able to afford any of these pieces anyway.
I don’t really want to mention Thanksgiving or any other holiday, because I don’t love celebrations, and I don’t love holidays, and I don’t love rituals and ceremonies, especially ones that obscure the violent histories behind their origins, but I am happy to have this entire week off from school, and I am happy to have the opportunity to visit my beautiful cousin in Chicago tomorrow! We’re going to a ‘swanky party’ first thing, so I’ll be bringing along my capulet, and probably a thousand other outfits for her to photograph with her fancy camera and her amazing photography skills. Then it’s back to Iowa City for two weeks before going to New York, (can’t wait!!) and then Michael and I will be in Lisbon for two weeks, staying with our good friend and amazing poet/writer/teacher Geoff—hopefully writing up a storm, taking lots of trips, and eating all of the good food that Lisbon has to offer.
I’m especially excited for Chinese food in Chicago, and every kind of food in New York, because not only do I miss ethnic food in general (Midwest: can you please learn what SPICES are?) but yesterday, Michael brought home a cookbook filled with recipes of street food around the world. Like chaat with green chili and pomegranate, hot and sour quid and green mango, summer rolls with prawn, crab, ginger, and mint; coriander marinated fish, and chard soup with rice and turmeric! Can you tell I’m also really craving some fresh seafood? And I’m craving southeast Asian food more than ever. Like this penang assam laksa for example (hot and sour noodles in fish soup!)
Photo and recipe (if you are lucky enough to live somewhere that has all of these ingredients, in which case, I’m insanely jealous) from rasamayalsia.com
Anyway, I wish you all the best for the upcoming holidays, even if it’s slightly antithetical to my grumpy nature to do any well-wishing for the holidays. The last thing that moved me was the last line of Bolano’s short story, “Dance Card:” “our imaginary home, the home we share.” See you all there.
Love, Jenny
208. Estate sales, colonialist myths in 2012, revulsion, my vintage secret, and I’ve got it all
November 23rd, 2009 § 11 Comments
First, the good stuff. I’m talking big cumulus clouds floating above your head for one minute in the middle of a dead week good stuff. I’m talking dreaming of infinite feasts in your sleep and waking up to eggs, coffee, and banana bread already set out on the table good stuff.
+ Giveaway! See post below to enter for your chance to win one book from YOU ARE REMARKABLE.
+ I found this skirt in my closet after looking for months. It used to be my mom’s. I feel tender toward the combination of the purple flowers and white polka dots. I also found two pretty ice blue bracelets from the vintage store in town, but one of them broke immediately. The last time my mom was in town, she bought me this necklace that looked like a torture chamber for miniature aliens and I loved it fanatically for one week and then it broke.
+ Here’s the bracelet, and here’s a ring Michael got me in Istanbul, and a ring Michael got me from a vending machine at the World’s Largest Truckstop:
Black keyhole blouse from Minnie Wilde, mom’s skirt, pink bow belt from Catherine’s, bracelet from Artifacts.
+ I went to my first estate sale last week and my second one this week. I think my standards are now set way too high. A seven year old girl wearing a unicorn sticker on her cheek gave me a soda as soon as I stepped into the yard, and then this lovely elderly lady (dressed immaculately in a silk-wool cardigan skirt two piece and a pair of heels with little cut outs at the toe!) grabbed my arm and showed me these amazing jackets from the turn of the century, including this beautiful Victorian silk jacket that her husband’s mother used to wear to tea parties on their lawn. It’s available for purchase here.
+ Here’s a lovely wool sailor top from the 20′s (at least that’s what I was told) available for purchase here:
+ And also this darling little 60′s hand-knit cardigan, and this amazing Victorian cape, which I’m calling a capelet, and pronouncing ‘capulet’ like the Capulets and the Montagues.
I already wore the capelet out for no reason at all, and felt weird walking around in a mini-cape.
The estate sale I went to this Friday was terrific as well. I think I scooped up more than twenty dresses from the 1950′s, but a lot of them are summer dresses so it’ll be a while before I add them to the store. There were a few wool cardigans and one lovely black jacket with embroidered flowers that I’ll show you soon enough, as well as these amazing sheer nylon blouses that I took a gamble on and bought without stopping to think how difficult and even ridiculous it would be for me to incorporate sheer nylon blouses into my wardrobe.
I was so excited by these estate sales that I immediately started searching for more estate sales I could go to and flea markets (none are open until spring,) which led me to discover a town not too far from here called Coon Rapids. I’m sure there’s someone reading this who is from Coon Rapids, or someone who is thinking, “What’s wrong with that name? Why should anyone be offended by it?” and I can’t even get into that without becoming violently agitated, but I will say that this line from the wikipedia entry for ‘Coon Rapids’ encapsulates everything that makes me sad about the way we understand ‘racism’ and ‘offense’ and ‘political correctness.’
A proposed name change suggested by the Councilman sparked an uproar among local citizens, and the proposal was dropped. (From wikipedia.)
Uproar? Really? It made me think immediately of this excellent Racialicious article that so astutely discusses entitlement, misplaced outrage, and the dishearteningly frequent situation where the person who feels he or she has been unjustly inconvenienced or offended or insulted is the same person who denies others their right to feel insulted, offended, or oppressed by racism and other systems of oppression. Which reminds me that I like Kim Deal, but did she really have to tell everyone that “Gigantic” is about a white woman falling in love with a black teenager and his gigantic–you get me.
Which also reminds me that I went to see 2012 (please don’t ask me why,) and not only was it awful, as expected, although I appreciate the opposing bombast of this review (thanks Tony,) but the ending was a COMPLETE COLONIALIST ALLEGORY. Actually, it’s way too transparent and superficial to be an allegory. Can I just spoil the ending, seeing as how there’s no way anyone could possibly reside in the conjoined oval of the two Venn Diagram circles– ‘I like the blog Fashion for Writers,’ and ‘I like the movie 2012?’
Firstly, the movie does not mention the continent of Africa at all, and it seems that not a single person from Africa makes it onto this big stupid steel ark, which is supposed to protect everyone from the end of the world, except that the ark has huge GLASS WINDOWS, which somehow are not damaged even though the entire sea floor rises up and rains down on these GLASS WINDOWS, and then 180 days later, the people on the ark learn that Africa has not been completely destroyed and then a roomful of Americans/Europeans jump up and down because they can go ahead and settle that land for themselves. Sorry. It’s too easy to hate this film.
Why bring up this vile movie at all? Because I wore my sailor dress to the movie with my new favorite Hansel from Basel pom pom tights, and the lovely Kaitlin from My Vintage Secret was sweet enough to feature me and my sailor dress on her blog with four other far more stylish than me ladies in vintage. It feels extra nice that she choose the very first picture I ever posted of myself on Fashion for Writers. Her blog is super cool–she recently just blogged about the Cosby sweater! Although personally, I prefer how Biggie styled his Coogi sweaters. I’m kind of in the mood to watch Notorious, even though the movie, as a whole, isn’t so good, but it has some nice moments, and Jamal Woolard has such potential and talent as an actor.
The only image on the internet I could find of Biggie in a Coogi sweater?
Left: Jamal Woolard playing Biggie Smalls; right: Biggie.
My sailor dress isn’t nearly as cool as a pastel paisley Coogi sweater, but here it is again:
Have I ever shown you the back?
I’m listening to Throbbing Gristle in my car so much that I end up sitting in parking lots waiting for the track to end and walking out of my car in a daze. I also stared at this photo of Tracey Emin and felt maybe seven different things, but I can’t even explain even one of them right now.
“I’ve Got It All” 2000 from the Saatchi Gallery
Michael wants me to credit him as the photographer of my outfit shots. Thank you, Michael for taking the outfit photos. But he didn’t take this picture. My timer and a pile of books and my index finger and my running in ankle boots with cut outs that you can’t see to the other end of the room took this photo:
Yellow cardigan from Shanghai, h&m t-shirt, shortened vintage silk skirt with pockets
Listen, I promise I do get Vitamin D from time to time and am not always indoors. I just don’t have a tripod, and Michael is not always available during that sliver of morning (9 AM to 10:30 AM) when there’s actually some sunlight in this cockamamie place. I went snooping around the other day in my new cape and my many sheer nylon blouses, and I just got my Mandate of Heaven playsuit in the mail (the fastest package ever!) and I love love love it to death. I’ve been romping and tramping around the house in it–wearing it makes me want to be a professional gadabout (who never needs to pee because boy is it hard to get in and out of a playsuit.) More details forthcoming. All I’ll say for now is that my playsuit has heart pockets!
And enter the giveaway!
Love, Jenny
207. FFW Giveaway: You Are Remarkable Book
November 22nd, 2009 § 10 Comments
WHAT: One book from YOU ARE REMARKABLE. Photos, words of inspiration, lists to make of things you love, encouragement when you’re feeling down (and even when you’re not).
HOW: Post a comment here describing one thing that YOU find remarkable about yourself. Bonus points for more than one remarkable thing!
DEADLINE: 12/4/09
Good luck! Spread the word!
xo, mw
206. Etsy store update
November 21st, 2009 § 3 Comments
I finally updated my Etsy shop! There are some really amazing 50′s dresses that I think will melt even the most gelid hearts. Goodbye Ice Queen, goodbye Auntie Toothache. Hi cutes.
My favorite dress is not a 50′s dress, but a very 80′s dress that I want to wear to all the upcoming holiday festivities (even though I loathe holiday festivities.) I love the sleeves, the shininess, and the shape of this red dress. I tried valiantly to put it on and attempted a series of centimeter long steps to my to my bedroom mirror. Unfortunately, it’s really meant for a smaller, more petite, tinier girl than me.
80s red cocktail dress with puff sleeves
I’m really excited about these three dresses from the 1950s. I think they are beautiful and meant for ladies who don’t have 1996 hair like me.
1950′s black and white polka dotted pin-up dress
1950′s black dress with scalloped collar, crinoline, & a bow (in back)
1950′s plaid day dress with ruffle sleeve
1960′s cornflower blue wool skirt with front pockets and arrow darts
Dusty blue wool cardigan with jeweled collar
And here are some from my last update that I never posted:
Beige viscose secretary shirt with dolly collar & high waisted floral skirt
80′s off the shoulder lace dress
60′s green jeweled shift dress
Multicolor chevron secretary blouse & high waisted pencil skirt
80′s black and white cocktail dress
And here’s my lovely model in her natural state, aka BIG SMILES:
There’s tons more I need to put up before I leave for Chicago. I became a crazed person at the last estate sale I went to (in a good way.) There was a walk-in closet full of beautiful dresses from the 40s and 50s that drove me into an excessive state of fanaticism. Thankfully, most of them weren’t in my size, but that didn’t stop me afterward from dancing up and down the street like I had been afflicted by St. Vitus dance!
For more, please visit my etsy shop: Unhappybarber Vintage.
Love, Jenny
205. The wrong kind of consumerism + my love for Mandate of Heaven + my not love for so many other things
November 19th, 2009 § 10 Comments
Photo from Mandate of Heaven’s Spring ’08 American Dreamers collection. Will you look at that vintage lace?
Surprise, another random jumble of pictures and thoughts blog post. Or, in other words, the only type of post I know how to write. Now that the weather is dreary again and the sun is only around until noon, I can’t stop dreaming of short shorts and halter tops and bared midriffs and sunglasses and peep toe sandals. Whenever I start feeling this way I always end up spending way too much time ogling the clothes on Mandate of Heaven’s design blog. I first heard of Mandate of Heaven when I went to the–are you ready–WARPED TOUR in 2008 with my brother. I promise you I wasn’t there to see the bands: The Devil Wears Prada, Gym Class Heroes, or Me and You and Everyone We Know. I was there with my brother so that he didn’t have to go with my mom. (Love you, mom!)
My brother didn’t want to be seen with me at all, understandably, so I spent eight hours walking around, staring at fourteen year olds wearing shirts that said, I LOVE EMO BOYS or, HATE EMOS LOVE METAL GRLS, which made me giggle/feel depressed all at once. My only savior was waiting to see Gil Mantera’s Party Dream (one of the best live bands ever and here’s the evidence) to come onto this tiny little stage next to the skate rink. I was maybe one of five people there who had actually heard of them. (Hey Gil Mantera’s Party Dream, how did you end up at the same Warped Tour as me?) Gil Mantera was a mindgasp of goodness, of course, but even more amazing? The posse of girls in adorable rompers dancing to the band that played before Gil Mantera. This one girl was wearing a cornflower blue romper with a HUGE hood, and this other girl was wearing an accordion pleated silk pink romper with a tiny halter and green chucks. I was only able to get a back shot, but don’t they look wonderful? I found out later that they were wearing Mandate of Heaven.
(Photo credit: me & I’m sorry for lecherously taking a photo of your outfits!)
My favorite fashion blogs are the ones that focus on pretty or extra cute vintage clothing, or blogs that feature high street and affordable brands remixed with vintage, but it’s rare to find a (good) fashion blog that showcases–should I use this slightly gross word–sexy clothing. I kind of love over the top, obscenely revealing clothing, and it’s not that I like dressing that way all the time, or that I have places to go in such clothes, but I just love the idea of stepping out and baring your legs/arms/shoulders/midriff/butt cleavage/regular cleavage for no reason, or going out in a pair of flimsy shorts that might accidentally fly up when you’re running errands, and not in a sad, planned, trainwreck celebrity type of way, but in a joyful, it feels fucking good to wear what I want kind of way.
I think that’s why I love Mandate of Heaven’s clothing so much. I love their flirty, generously short playsuits (all made from recycled vintage fabrics!) Like this gorgeous long-sleeved playsuit with a floral Peter Pan collar from their Winter 08 collection:
I love the materials they use. I never thought burlap, feedsack and old bedsheets could be so lovely:
Right: Burlap, cotton and nylon tulle minidress with boned bodice and removable straps; left: Cotton feedsack and iridescent cotton recycled bedsheet playsuit with removable grosgrain straps.
I’m also loving the stop motion videos on their blog, like this one, which begins with the Neutral Milk Hotel song that, ever since Meggy’s wedding last summer, will always remind me of the double doors opening and seeing Meggy dressed like a dream maiden in her wedding gown, walking down the aisle towards Chris. These stop motion videos have such a homemade, endearingly flawed quality to them that I can’t help but adore them. Although, I’m also equally charmed by the beautiful video Rhiannon recently posted on her blog, which contains the perfect symbiosis of impeccable professionalism and surprising whimsy.
I’m blister-crazy for the new Mandate collection. Will you just look at this!
(All photos from Mandate of Heaven’s Spring Ten Opiate collection, which according to their website was “produced in a fair wage environment in the USA from fine organic fabrics.” YES!)
When I checked my email this morning, I reconfirmed that my daily Refinery29 emails are kind of useless. Their 19 Holiday Party Dresses list was so uninspiring to me. And that’s how I often feel about fashion magazines and a lot of the really big fashion/style blogs (too wimpy to drop names here!) I’m just bored by how expected all of the photos and outfits and ideas and inspirations are. Even though these are three steps above polished turds, I would never really covet or desire anything like these dresses:
(From refinery29)
I’d so much rather wear a tiny playsuit constructed from vintage blue eyelet with a velvet peter pan collar, the shortest shorts, and a crown of flowers on my hair for the upcoming holiday parties.
Two years ago, I was obsessed with wearing one of the playsuits from Mandate of Heaven’s American Dreamers Spring ’08 collection. Like maybe a ruffled button-up silk playsuit with pink scalloped tap shorts?
Or what about a low ruffle-back playsuit with mustard yellow booty shorts?
Or maybe just a simple tuxedo-front black and white playsuit with a Chaplin hat?
I never got one (didn’t happen to have hundreds of dollars at my disposal,) then freaked out the day of prom, had no idea what to wear, and ended up digging out a pink ruffle dress I bought ages ago at a vintage store in San Francisco. Anyway, could the whole point of this post really be to tell you that I finally ended up buying a Mandate of Heaven playsuit? You know, since winter in Iowa is just starting and in about a month this place will transform into a frozen tundra.
Love, Jenny
