272. Love bursts for Prince/ the New Power Generation//Apollonia///St. Vincent////feet stinkers and a nice row of teeth
February 17th, 2010 § 4 Comments
Why does anyone do anything, I don’t know but I love this Prince poster. I had a framed version of this photo in my apartment in San Francisco–we led guests into the kitchen to admire it and when we had writers’ block, we stared at the poster until we grew five new brains, were clothed in one-shoulder paisley coats, and somehow manipulated our hairdos into the perfect asymmetrical side-parted mullet.
I went and saw St. Vincent today in a glorified sports bar turned music venue. I was hoping she might play “Now, Now,” and she didn’t, but she played loads of other great songs–slow jams and loud jams a-plenty. I was also hoping the show would be as small as the Beach House show Michael and I went to last year (I hugged them afterward and said really silly things into Victoria Legrand’s ear, oops.)
This is the little instant camera my cousin gave me that I use to take lots and lots of adoring photos of Michael.
Topshop dress (I think,) tights with sheer holes because they are so old, very old Topshop over the knee boots.
Love always,
Jenny
271. Cold Cold Hearts
February 16th, 2010 § 9 Comments
This isn’t really an outfit post, but hints at the Myne dress that I think I’m wearing to my reading. Also, a lot of it is a very real representation of the fact that it’s snowing buckets outside and I just want to lounge around in the sunshine while wearing a skimpy dress with a really low and open back. Why is that so much to ask?
My new Thing is making a folder of inspirational, big pictures (mostly culled from Flickr), calling it Wallpaper, and setting my Mac to rotate through the images every half-hour. You can also set it to rotate every day, every five minutes, etc., but every half-hour satisfies my hippity-hoppity eyes/brain. Miriam likes to tell me that I have new desktop wallpaper every time she sees me, which is true.
By the way, if you’re ever interested in getting a large version of one of my photographs for your own desktop, feel free to email or Twitter me and ask. Especially if you’re a photographer and want to trade!
xo, mw
270. The last letter R is that she taught me Respect (By the way An Education blows) and for the room up in heaven that I know she’ll get
February 16th, 2010 § 5 Comments
February is worse than ever. All I want is to wear playsuits and write monologues in the park and pretend to be embarrassed when a gust of warm wind blows up my dress (once, a random dude on the street clasped his hands together, bowed down and said, “Thank you,” when my skirt blew up, and I said, “Um, you’re welcome?”) Unfortunately, none of that is going to happen for a long, long time. My sweet, sweet cousin gave me a mini-instant camera and these are the mini photos that I took this past summer.
Clockwise from left to right: My dad pretending to be enthused about doing something hideously stressful and boring for work; my surly brother in a Hurley T, who happens to the best person in the world and I wouldn’t lie about greatness; Michael & I at Jones Beach; my beautiful mother (in a Built by Wendy tent dress, no less!!) and my beautiful cousin waiting for twelve little plates of pickled vegetables at Korean barbecue.
~~~
Okay, I know this movie has been love-stroked and fashion-love-stroked to death, but I finally saw ‘An Education,’ and was disappointed. I found the film to be uninspired, expected, passionless, humorless, joyless, banal and riddled with cliches on all levels (narrative, character, story arc, dialogue, and emotional/psychological acuity.) The ending was both predictable and unnecessary (as opposed to inevitable and surprising/Hi Flannery O’Connor, my hero!) And why did all of the women have to be depicted either as: idiots (Rosamund Pike’s character,) weak and impotent (Olivia Williams’ teacher character,) petty and vindictive (Emma Thompson as headmistress,) or worse of all, a total blank slate on which we were supposed to project bland ideas of intelligence and prettiness (Carey Mulligan’s main character.)
I was very disturbed at how blatantly this movie equated femininity, beauty and caring about one’s appearance and clothing with being stupid, reckless, naive and shallow. Is it because women cannot both be smart and wear make-up? Or because the female population at Oxford University would never wear a fancy, pretty 1960′s wiggle dress, and because only unambitious, superficial, educationally-stunted women would bother to blow out their bangs and wear an Audrey Hepburn style updo? So lame. I also really react negatively when movies use the mother and father characters as devices to further a totally contrived plot. Why did the parents suddenly go from being believable, interesting, complex people to spineless, easily swindled, conveniently unsympathetic caricatures?
And to be totally honest, I wasn’t all that inspired by the clothing, although the one cream and red color blocked dress is pretty dreamy. The rest was very, very pretty, but like the film, sort of unexceptional and uninspiring to me.
Movie stills from here.
All right, I think I better end my hate-fest here. I’m sorry to be such a hater! I still have love in my heart for Carey Mulligan and Peter Sarsgaard’s acting and love in my heart for all things exceptional, beautiful, and interesting.
Love, Jenny
269. Happy Chinese New Year and Etsy Store Sneak Peak!
February 14th, 2010 § 14 Comments
Fifties sundress (L) available soon at Unhappybarber Vintage
“The mythic element resembles small pieces grown with grass and flowers, and can only be discovered by the most far-seeing eye.” -Wilhelm Grimm.
I’m teaching fairytales this week in class, which I once misspelled in an text message as DAIRY TALES, which makes me think of DUCK TALES, which makes me think of quack tales which reminds me of quack tails. My dad gave me recipe advice all yesterday for my Chinese New Year’s Eve’s feast, and Michael and I somehow managed to make six dishes–cold fungus, cold sesame-garlic-scallion-spice noodles, chicken and celery stir-fry, tofu-sprouts-carrots-celery-pickled vegetable stir-fry, ginger-scallion fish, and a cilantro and pickled mustard fish soup! Electric-blue drinks and potato chip cookies were also in attendance. Rolling Rock straight outta China/not was in attendance.
I’m also really excited about this upcoming Etsy store update–lots and lots of spring sundresses (and in all sizes from extra small to extra large!) and some of my favorite tops ever, like this guitar top that should really go to someone with a 100 kilowatt level of sass.
80′s nautical dress (s/m)
80′s lace collar dress (s)
90′s floral and polka dot dress (xs)
50′s Victorian blouse with button-up back (s)
50′s eyelet dress (s/m)
50′s little flowers house dress (s/m)
50′s woven sundress (m)
Most of these items should be available by Monday in my etsy shop, but if they aren’t there by tomorrow, or if there’s something you’d like to place a hold on, please email me or let me know in the comments.
There are little arrow shaped post-it notes all over the floor that say things like, ‘he he he’ and ‘hee hee hee’ and ‘ha ha ha’ and ‘he he ho ho ha hee ho,’ and I think I’m going to follow them and see where they lead me.
Lots of love,
Jenny
(And I suppose I should wish everyone a Happy Valentine’s Day, even though I’m way more excited that today is the first day in the year of the tiger. My friend Harry says it’s the year of the white tiger which means a white-out bliss year, so here’s to bliss and great things and existing in a bubble of love so fortifying you hardly flinch when a steel ray of bad feelings comes hurtling at you.)
268. a two-block vacation
February 13th, 2010 § 8 Comments
Random white cloche bought at a kooky convenience store, American Apparel crew neck sweater dress, black leggings, We Who See booties, vintage bow necklace
I’m taking a two-block vacation, by which I mean that I’m currently residing in Hanna’s apartment, which is two blocks away from my own apartment. She’s home with her parents, and I needed a change of pace, so I asked her if I could take a weekend holiday at her place. Sure, she said. So here I am, using her massive desk to grade papers and write my Monday lesson plan.
I’d planned on going on a shopping moratorium, which went completely out the window this week; it started innocently enough with a tulle-and-gold cocktail dress ($25) at my local vintage shop, spread to the purchase of the above sweater dress (“I need something warmish to wear that’s not itchy as all get-out!”), and culminated today in the purchase of an undeniably sexy, but hopefully not outlandishly so, dress for this Friday.
What’s going on this Friday? Thanks for asking. It’s my Webster reading; every graduating member of the MFA program gets a one-night reading at the art museum. People show up. There are introductions. We read for twenty minutes, usually something from our theses. Chris and Dominique are flying out from New Orleans for it, and afterwards there will be a party. I’d planned to wear this gorgeous, lacy, vintage gown-type thing, but now I think I’m going to go grungy-glam. And, of course, there will be pictures.
Thank you so much, by the way, to all of you who expressed well-wishes as a result of my last post. It means a lot to me.
xo, mw
267. Poll and Giveaway Results
February 12th, 2010 § 7 Comments
In our never-ending quest to make FFW bigger and better, we’d love it if you could take a bit of time to fill out the above poll. We wanted to ask a lot more questions (e.g., What would you like to see less of? What do you enjoy about our blog in particular? Are you a writer? Feel free to answer these things in the comments — PollDaddy isn’t exactly the ideal forum for the questions that we want to ask).
As for the FFW Gift Certificate Giveaway…
First, I put your crumpled names in my Bee Box–excuse my rat-bitten nail polish.
Then I picked a crumpled name.
And the winner is STARR!!!!!!!!!!!
We’re so glad that Starr won because we love love love her blog, A Thought is the Blossom. Her outfit photos are divine, especially when she channels Chaplin. And she regularly posts about beautiful, otherworldly photography, video, and art. And we not-so-secretly think she’s well on her way to becoming an art-star herself. Congratulations Starr!! We’ll be in touch with you on how to redeem your gift certificate.
Love,
Jenny & Meggy
