sea siren chic

felicity brown. cap sleeve ruffle dress. $6,700. (image via polyvore)

doesn’t this oceanic confection remind you of mermaid and the deep blue sea? with waves of ruffles and pops of bright coral at the shoulders, it’s simultaneously alluring and playful–the essence of a sea siren.

it reminds me of a few lines from one of my favorite poems, “the love song of j. alfred prufrock” by t.s. eliot.

I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.

I do not think that they will sing to me.

I have seen them riding seaward on the waves

Combing the white hair of the waves blown back

When the wind blows the water white and black.

We have lingered in the chambers of the sea

By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown

Till human voices wake us, and we drown.

need a time-waster?

i saw this activity on my friend’s facebook and i thought it looked fun. but i am one to believe in the mystical powers of internet fate, so there you go. give it a shot and let me know how it turns out! this kind of requires the honor code because you can’t pick and choose what you want; you just have to go with what you get! kind of like life.

1. Go to Wikipedia and click “random article.” The FIRST random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

okay. mine was “hoplit.” this is where i start to doubt the mystical powers of internet fate.

2. Go to quotationspage.com and click “random quote.” The LAST 4 or 5 words of the very LAST quote of the page is the title of your first album.

my quote: “suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of congress. but i repeat myself.” -mark twain.

3. Go to flickr.com and click on “explore the last 7 days.” The THIRD picture is your album cover.

I was lucky. [image via flickr]

4. Use a photo editor (picnick.com is a free online photo editor) to combine everything.

voila! not too shabby. list of tour dates forthcoming.

modern fashion, medieval conflict

have you heard the latest controversy in the fashion world? elle turkey photographed a fashion shoot in the city of ani. ani, now in turkey, once belonged to neighboring armenia, and was taken by a turkish army in 1064. ani was known as “the city of 1,001 churches” and was a major religious center during the medieval era.

however, many modern armenians see ani as a symbol of turkish oppression, and the images of carefree models posing in the ruins of the ani cathedral seem a little more than sacrilegious. it’s undeniable that the photos have a haunting, dreamy look that’s sublime for editorials, and that the clothes are perfectly complimented by the background, but is it going too far?

click the link at the bottom of the post (or any of the pictures) to see the rest of the photos from the shoot.

(images via fashion gone rogue)

would cinderella approve?

watch out ciderella, your glass slipper has been updated.

while i’m not so much for the “i’m going to smash this blackberry with my spiked glitter heel to show the angst and jadedness of my generation” angle of this shot, i am ALL about these shoes. do you think this is a diy job or have my prayers been answered and there’s actually a place that sells these beauties?

if you know where to find these, let ME know so we can all get a pair. who cares if you’ve got prince charming as long as you’ve got these!

fashion + cartoons = surprisingly sweet

here’s a cute blog that i came across today: fashion from old people. the 2 women who run the site look at clothes from the 1800s-ish and interpret them in cartoon form; i think it’s one of the cuter ideas i’ve seen lately! the artists have really different and distinct styles and it’s nice to see these old costumes getting a modern twist.

(image via fashion from old people)

my newest vice

sorry it’s been awhile, but such is the life of a grad student at the end of the semester. however, amidst the stress and paper deadlines, i have found time to explore the internet (shocking, i know) and i have found the best website ever. as soon as i found it, i knew that i had to share it with everyone i know. are you ready? (drumroll please)

www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com

the ladies over at smart bitches, trashy books write hilarious reviews of romance novels. it literally makes me laugh out loud. i even ordered some romance novels online (for just $0.01 each) so that I could join in. everyone needs a vice, right?

(image via fantasticfiction)

UPDATE: i didn’t call this my newest vice for nothing. i think it’s now a full-blown (no pun intended) obsession. i’ve read 3 books this weekend alone, and i’ve even got my cousin in on it. she called me from a bookstore exclaiming about all the romance books she was buying. and you know what, although i wasn’t expecting stellar writing, i’ve been pleasantly surprised thus far. final exams, who?

helloween

nope, that’s not a typo. i said HELLoween.

i hate halloween. i really do. i have lots of reasons (ex: orange and black are ugly colors, apart and especially together) but one reason is that the majority of costumes for women are “sexy.” i want more options than being a sexy witch or a sexy nurse or a sexy baseball player. but sometimes i wonder: do other women want those options, too? i mean, why would EVERY SINGLE COSTUME in the halloween store be some version of a sexy ___ if that’s not what women are buying? i don’t think it’s a case of the patriarchy forcing women into sex-typed roles; come on, they’re too focused on money and profits to not give us what we want. of course, maybe we’re getting the message that the sexy firefighter is what we should want to be for halloween, but this argument could go in circles forever (and it pretty much has, already). i think there’s something more that’s motivating all the sexy sailors and referees.

so what is it that drives us to skyrocket our hemlines and plunge our necklines every october 31st? in most of the country it’s COLD on halloween, and sometimes icy or snowing, but we still totter out in fishnets and six-inch heels (i too am guilty of this). but seriously, what’s up? i have a theory.

halloween is all about dressing up. it’s about experimenting with alternate personalities, lifestyles, and occupations. little kids dress up as princesses and cowboys and doctors, and i think that adults do kind of the same thing. obviously we do it a little differently (aka xxx) but for adults, halloween is a once-a-year opportunity to dress up in the ways that we never get to in real life. female sexuality is still pretty taboo, but if it’s expressed in the spirit of a holiday where dressing up is a norm (say, halloween maybe) then it’s welcomed and accepted. i think this says a lot about what women need and what they aren’t getting the other 364 days of the year; namely, accepting their own sexuality and feeling like they can express it on a daily basis. maybe if they could, they wouldn’t have to do it as a joke on halloween and maybe halloween wouldn’t be such an explosion of sex. maybe.

 

(images via spirit halloween)

vintage tech

it’s a macbook pro case that looks like a vintage book. need i say more?

click the link below to visit the website.

(image via twelvesouth)

petite paintress

autumn de forest is a little girl with a big passion for painting–and quite a talent for it, too. at only 8 years old, autumn is an accomplished painter whose paintings sell for as much as $25,000 (which her family is saving for her college fund). she comes from a long line of artists, and her parents insist that she has had no formal training, but rather displayed a natural talent since the age of 4. and when they switched out her pre-k paper and watercolors for high-quality canvas and paint, a talented and sophisticated artist evolved.

her style is versatile (surrealism, pop art, and abstract expressionism) and she has been compared to such greats as andy warhol, salvador dali, and pablo picasso. that’s pretty impressive for a girl who’s age hasn’t even reached the double digits yet. i can’t wait to see where she’ll go.

here’s a link to a slideshow of her work. click the link below to access the full story.

(image via the today show)

bi wu zhao qin

two sisters in china are turning to a traditional and unconventional dating method: bi wu zhao qin. the sisters, xiao lin and yin (22 and 21, respectively) claim that it’s how ancient warrior princesses found their men. i haven’t been able to really find any other information about it (if you do, please let me know!) but apparently the potential suitors must compete in an archery task, navigate a spiked bamboo course, and then battle the sisters one-on-one. if the suitor wins all 3 challenges, the sisters will remove their masks and the suitor can propose/ask them on a date.

xiao lin and yin, both martial arts experts, say that they have turned to bi wu zhao qin because the men they met through traditional dating services were too weak. resurrecting warrior princess dating techniques might raise a couple of eyebrows, but if it works for them, then great. personally, i’m a little skeptical that a mob of men will beat a track to their door to fight for two armed and dangerous masked girls who aren’t princesses. but for their sakes, i hope i’m wrong! good luck, ladies.

click the link at the bottom to read the full story.

(image via orange news)