383. MW’s 2010 Recap & Also Outfit Photos
December 20th, 2010 § 5 Comments
Someone asked in a previous post if my new hair color affected the way I dress. The answer is yes. I wear buttery shades now. I wear a lot of blush-colored hues, and I have never had so much pink in my closet in my life. I wear black, my go-to color to the point where my friend NM used to say that I was the Queen of Monochromatic, much less often now. The idea of wearing cream-colored eyeglasses all the time makes much more sense now that my hair actually matches those cream-colored glasses. Last night I went to a pop-up shop in San Francisco and bought an assortment of cream-colored things that filled me with joy.
These are the things that 2010 awakened a great and fervent love for within me, sartorially: faux and real vintage fur, cream- and blush-colored anything, organza, chiffon, the 30s and 40s and sometimes the 50s, the 20s sometimes but only if wearing it doesn’t make me look like I’m trying to go to a lawn party, platinum blonde hair (which was a big deal to me, and only happened towards the end of 2010), ribbon bows (including a ribbon bow belt that I loved so much that I stained it in several places and wound up leaving it in a GAP dressing room by accident when I was trying on some “perfect black pants” that were way too small for me, being a Size 00, which I will never fit into in my entire life), ribbon bow belts, lace, crochet, Tabio tights (which no longer ship to the US, those bastards — I’m sorry, I’m kidding, I love you), 120 denier tights that don’t itch, fancy vintage lingerie, cat-eye eyeliner every day, Bare Essentials powder foundation because I’ve reached that point in my life where I feel like I look worse without make-up than I do with it, etc.
Did you know that February 2011 will mark the third anniversary of FFW? We remain without sponsors, and neither Jenny nor I have been invited to a big fashion house opening of something or other, but we are proud of what FFW is and we are lucky, no, beyond fortunate, to have the readers that we do.
Here are some other things that I learned in 2010: stop reading fashion magazines, seriously, because they make me feel badly about my body and the moment I pick one up in a hair salon while I’m getting my roots done, I automatically feel unattractive, even though most of the time I feel good about my attractiveness; it’s rarely worth it to buy something expensive with the caveat that I will “get it altered later” because it is so likely that I am not, in fact, going to get it altered later; having a pared-down closet is an excellent way to feel a sense of control over one’s life; waiting and waiting for two seasons for something you love to be sold secondhand on eBay sometimes actually works.
xo,
mw
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375. outfit post: snowflake spectacular
November 9th, 2010 § 4 Comments
Photographs taken by the ever-talented Erin. Cardigan and silk chiffon dress from 1385. Rhinestone earrings from an antique mall in Ann Arbor, MI. Stockings from Tabio (which no longer ships to the US — at least, for now). Shoes from ShoeBiz on 24th St.
Goodness, an outfit post? I thought those went out with the dinosaurs! As in, we were going to be spouting politically-minded smarts from our giant brains for the rest of this blog’s life! (Tongue firmly planted in cheek, you understand.)
Well, I do still like clothes. Have to admit it. And when Erin H. asked me if I wanted to help her out with her photos, which led to her snapping some of me, I jumped at the chance. My tripod is broke as hell, and any of you who have tried to find places to balance a DSLR know that it’s not grand. Also, the autofocus is broke as hell on my DSLR. It’s just a mess.
In other news, I hit a milestone (200 pages) in the first draft of my novel. It isn’t a milestone that’s anything but psychological, but I was compelled to throw myself a party anyway. Right now, I’m bidding on something exciting on eBay that may or may not pan out. Rest assured that I’ll post about it if I get a chance.
Enjoy your Thursday!
xo,
mw
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374. the implications of blonde
October 31st, 2010 § 9 Comments
I went to visit my parents this weekend. I hadn’t seen them in a few weeks, and seeing them was an orgy of familial ecstasies: eating Chinese food (Taiwanese beef noodle stew, man tou, Shanghai dumplings, drunk chicken, etcetera, etcetera), chatting with my folks about my new job, and having late-night Scotch-fueled talks with my father about Zen Buddhism, which is his new passion. Don’t they look young as all get-out? I am regularly confused for my father’s girlfriend (creepy! but funny), and my mom and I don’t look anything alike, but are confused for sisters by arch saleswomen who are impeccable at flattery. Above are some snaps taken in front of a pearl milk tea shop.
Something that you may have noticed from the about photographs is that I have gone blonde, blonde, blonde. As in, platinum. As in, whoa lady, did you really spend two days in a hair salon to have your hair bleached and toned three times so that your dark as pitch black Chinese hair could become blonde as cornsilk? Yes. And, as with many a non-white person, I’ve been thinking a lot about the politics of going blonde — or, at least, the implications.
I’ve been wanting to do the platinum thing for a long time. I’ve had my hair many colors in the past. (Unsurprisingly, I have a riot grrl/grrrl history.) Still, the idea of going blonde wasn’t quite the same to me as going, say, blue, or neon red. Having blonde hair is something that I didn’t have to get used to. After I did the deed I looked in the mirror and think, I like this. This is how I want to look. Right now, I want to be blonde for an indefinite amount of time. And: does that mean anything?
I think about this in large part for two reasons. 1.) Blondness is one of the themes of the gonna-be-ultralong novel that I’m working on (I think Jenny is also working on an ultralong novel, and y’all better buy copies of our tomes someday!). For whatever reason, a father (Polish) and his son (Polish-Taiwanese) are both captivated by female blondeness. So I’ve been exploring that a lot in my fiction. This also has to do with 2.), which is the fact that ever since I was in eighth grade, my taste in the ladies has run towards girls with short, blonde hair, which reached its peak with a certain Clash-loving girl who sent me into fits of rage and tears at the notion that she would never, ever love me, which is a story for another day.
For me, going blonde doesn’t feel like a fashion statement, or a “punk” move (although it’s been interpreted as such). I had no aspirations for adventure by doing it. Truth be told, I feel like an improved version of myself — a notion that makes me uncomfortable by its implications. Am I erasing my racial identity? Or creating something else altogether?
Such are my thoughts on Halloween. Everyone’s all dressed up and I’m blogging, indoors, in a 1930s slip while watching reruns of “Law & Order: Criminal Intent.” And this is the first year, as someone suggested on Twitter, that I could have gone as Edie Sedgwick for Halloween.
xo,
mw
363. FFW and new directions
September 14th, 2010 § 12 Comments
Hey, all of you lovely readers. I’d like to start right off by acknowledging a big shift in my life, which has been impacting my presence on FFW — namely, that I’ve started working at the fabulous company ModCloth as a Fashion Writer. My hours, when I have them, are spent writing in the ModCloth offices; I’ve actually ducked into a break room during my lunch hour to handwrite this post on a piece of notebook paper, and I’m planning on typing it out when I get home. Other things I’ve been doing include flying across the country, reading loads of books, taking two e-courses, working on my big ol’ novel, maintaining friendships, and making dinner with Chris. It’s a full life.
Jenny, as you all know, has been doing a fantastic job as co-blogger in my absence. She makes me (and, hopefully, you) think about things I probably wouldn’t spend a lot of time thinking about otherwise. In the last month we’ve heard from her about protests, heteronormativity in fashion blogging, criticism of the IFB conference, and, of course, the infamous Dior post. Thank you, Jenny, for being so awesome both online and off.
For my part, I can’t really tell anymore how I see my role as a “fashion blogger.” It seems ironic that I would have this miniature crisis of blogger identity right as our blog has started to help me get NYFW invites and a job doing something I really love. But I no longer — as you’ve probably figured out — enjoy taking photographs of myself in different outfits. First off, I don’t have a tripod anymore, and second of all, I don’t enjoy the vanity that it arouses in me. I don’t like sorting through Aperture for my most flattering photos. I don’t like trying to stand so that my belly, which I am constantly trying to accept, doesn’t show.
Does this mean that I’m not interested in fashion anymore? No. Not at all. Actually, I’d say that I’m more genuinely interested in what I consider to be the role of style in my life than I’ve ever been before. I made a 2010/2011 style guide for myself recently, which was incredibly relaxing. I think a lot harder about my aesthetic — in fact, it’s only been since I turned 27 that I’ve felt secure in that aesthetic. I stopped buying fashion magazines. I’ve become increasingly less interested in the high street. Etc.
Jenny is, to be frank, the more astute social critic of the two of us. I believe she’s mentioned her college major here before (mine was psychology). I am fascinated by what she writes about the politics of fashion. In conclusion (this roundabout conclusion, as I have seven minutes left before I have to go back to work), I’m going to start reviving my role at FFW not by taking photographs of myself (although I can’t swear you’ll never see my face again), but by writing about clothing and how it impacts my personal experience. The red wedding dress I wear of my mother’s. The fear I have of wearing anything “Chinese,” including the gorgeous linen qipao I found in a vintage store in New Orleans. A childhood of uncomfortable tights. A narrative about Chris’s fear of buttons. My love of red lipstick.
I think that that’s what will happen here, from my end. I love this blog, and I love what we’ve done with it. And I love you for reading.
xo, mw
357. first day on the job
September 1st, 2010 § 6 Comments
Marc by MJ dress
Today is my first day on the new job, and I’ve been looking forward to it all week — this morning I’ve been eating curry and drinking a latte and filling out the last of the paperwork that I’m supposed to bring into the office. And, of course, changing in and out of outfits. I was wearing a 40s silk blouse and black pencil skirt combo, inspired by Francesca’s gorgeous blouse collection, but somehow it just didn’t feel right. Eventually I changed into this Marc by Marc Jacobs dress that I bought in 2006. At the time, it was the most expensive dress I’d ever bought, and still is (with the exception of my wedding dress, which really wasn’t all that more pricey than this one). But it’s held up well, and most of the time putting it on makes me feel like a winner.
As you can see, our apartment is still in disarray. We don’t have all of our furniture in yet, including the two Ikea bookshelves we ordered in an attempt to keep our library in check. (The entire right half of the living room is filled with boxes of books.)
FFW seems to be going through a stage of transition, as well. Jenny’s going to France soon, and I’ve been working on my own blog, which deals more personally with issues of writing, as well as thoughts on living well with mental illness. We have more readers now than ever, and comments that make us oh-so-happy. We’ll just have to figure out where to go next with it all.
Thanks for being rad.
xo,
mw
352. Our San Francisco Apartment
August 20th, 2010 § 17 Comments
Chris and I just moved into a new apartment, which has meant nabbing wireless from neighbors — it’s only yesterday that we got some Internet of our very own. My apologies for the quietness around here, which has been driving me stir-crazy as well; I finally got some writing done yesterday, which was better for my brain than I ever could’ve imagined. Not that these days haven’t been pleasant enough. I’ll be glad, though, when my apartment is actually a place where we can invite people over. I’d like a love seat. Maybe two.
xo, mw
