Just a Few

A few things that I've been craving lately & that have been constantly on my mind as of late.

I've been looking for a pair of combat boots for a few months now. Scoured the stores, tried on a few pairs and nothing has been the right match.

But in my search I did stumble on these two very different pairs of boots.

John Varvatos, Brighton

Econte, Country Boot

The black studded, stomper beasts are John Varvatos Men's, $200 (marked down from $400) & the the silver are Ecote Country Boots from Urban Outfitters, $80.  

I'd never thought I'd even consider wearing light shoes, no to mention boots, but when I noticed them at the store, they just kind of grabbed at me, and stayed with me.

and while the Varvatos are leather and the U.O are faux leather, the style is completely different, the Varvatos are considered designer, and most of all they'e men's. This means that they'll probably fit and look like clown shoes on me.

The other deciding factory in the purchase of these boots is the price. Yes, a two hundred dollar mark down is a big deal, especially for a beautiful shoes like this one. But, two years ago I purchased a pair of these babies

FRYE's Engineer 8R

and even though the styles differ, I'd feel sort of guilty spending the same amount on another pair of boots. Yes, I have a closet full of different, wonderful footwear ranging in prices, but that's just it; different footwear. Of course I understand that these are very different styles and I can achieve different looks depending on what I'm in the mood for, also taking into account, as my mama pointed out that, the more expensive, leather pair, will last longer, and that there's really not that much of a difference in deciding on a pair of great boots, if the price range varies from $80 two $200.

So I'm stuck deciding on what to do, but it will probably be very much clear once I stop by U.O and try on a pair of the Country Boots. If I love the way they fit and look over jeans, that means I will more than likely decide on the silver pair. Since I really would rather not getting into the hassle of ordering something that, I'm betting about 80%, won't fit properly.

Another item my mama and I both adore at the moment, is the very practical, but oh so chic, leather Bodega handbag. (Bodega is a Spanish word for winery or convenience store, which exactly the type of bag, this handbag was modeled after.)

Mom absolutely loves the tan, or as Baggu has named it, Leather Bag M, in Nutmeg. She really likes how the color is almost identical to the average shopping bags you get at the grocery store.

I can't stop thinking about the Leather Bag M, in Grapefruit.

They come in two sizes. The Leather Bag M, being slightly bigger than the Leather Bag S.

Leather Bag M

Leather Bag S

Size comparison of the Leather Bag S, $120 & the Leather Bag M, $160

I'm much in love with it, because I've been on a look out for something of this style ever since I first say Emma Watson toting this Chanel Graffiti Hobo (Resort 2007)

I just absolutely fell in love with the shape and structure of the bag, and the ease of access to the inside of the purse. And ever since, have been looking for something similar.

Everyday Hair

Since I have just cut myself some fresh new bangs, the 60s were the reason for this time's cut,  I can't stop oogling these gorgeous faces and pretending this is exactly how my hair turns out after styling ;) 

The look is so overly feminine. Very Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! Very femme fatale.

Anytime Priscilla Presley pops up on my dash I just can't describe how gorgeous she looks. And I think it's time to pile on the eyeliner and tease that hair, even more so now than when I styled my hair into victory rolls. I feel that this is just a perfect look for everyday, since it's not very hard to maintain and is more fun than modern hair styles.

Britt Ekland & Peter Sellers

Gillian Hills

Inspiration & Fatigue

I have always been inspired by fashion. When I was younger my sources were Coca Cola and Elvis; as I got older the appreciation for vintage has always stayed with me, but the hunger for new and modern was developing as well.

I have always had this indescribable thirst, a very ravenous craving for anything that is fashion. I would get extremely giddy going to the grocery store with my family, because that'd mean I would be able to receive the newest issue of one (or sometimes few) magazines. I would flip through the issues, trying to see which magazine would have the most worthy pages, but being careful enough not to divulge all of the juicy contents of my soon to be possession. It felt like Christmas each time, walking out with that brand new, glossy stack of pretty pictures. I'd get home and start the flipping again. I felt bursts of euphoria just quickly scanning the entire thing, later returning to the beginning and really going through the content.

As I got older, I became a bit wiser. In high school I joined an Environmental Club, later becoming the president, the most important thing that stuck with me is that how much we, as a population, waste. Almost everything that we call "garbage" can and should be recycled and decomposed in the compost. I became a very strong advocate of recycling, and that passion for recycling sort of brought me to the treasure trove. I loved magazines so much, that when we'd make drop offs with the materials that we've brought either from school or home, I noticed A LOT of magazines in the recycling bins. Words cannot describe my elation. Now, of course they weren't all fashion magazines, and I'm not trying to hint at anything, but most magazines we're very green-wise and educational, meaning that fashion folk weren't into recycling....in this area ;)
During one of these drops, I was 17 and I found a magazine that I'd never noticed on the stands before. The title of that magazine was JANE. I say was because a few months after  I found that first issue, JANE had ceased it's production, because of poor sales. JANE was one of the best things I've ever experienced. I grew up reading Cosmo Girl, which (coincident?!?) stopped being published...because of poor sales, meaning that I had to search for alternatives to get that fix.

Funny thing was that JANE was like the adult version of Cosmo Girl, not identical but extemely alike. Both published beautiful fashion spreads, truly important stories, were never afraid of providing girls and women the motivation to be the best that they could be (Cosmo Girl had a very meaningful message- Project 2024-when Cosmo Girl readers could run for president) and wrote in a way that it seemed you were talking to a friend at a sleepover. Not a reader and and editor. It didn;t feel like a publication that was only after your salary, but felt like honest tips and advice. I for one enjoyed both of them very much, and have kept all of the copies that had accumulated over the years, of both of the magazines.


I moved on to Seventeen and Teen Vogue as a teen, and had read just about everything as a young adult.

My point being is that, it's not that I was missing the intelligent part of Cosmo Girl and JANE, it's just that the clothes and everything in those pages has started to bore me. I can't recall the last time that I even looked though a magazine. And just today it kinda hit me, I think think that my constant state of lethargy and apathy might, possibly be due to the fact that the zeal that magazines once held for me was lost...and I haven't found a replacement that would feed that craving.

I have always had a very special place in my heart for the 1950s, ever since I "met" Elvis and viewed Hairspray for the very first time (I KNOW it's the early 1960s, but the STYLE is still 1950s). Always enjoying films that have a 50s vintage vibe, like Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Dennis the Menace, The Sandlot, The Little Rascals, and Now and Then. After graduating high school, I spent my summers watching Hitchcock's films (not to mention all of those "B movies") and becoming even more infatuated with Bettie Page and Dita Von Teese, all while spending countless hours over all of my accumulated stacks of magazines searching for vintage inspired modern wear to clip out and use as inspiration for everyday. Later I became enthralled with the 20s, thanks to Buster Keaton, after I watched The Navigator and Sherlock Jr on one of the TMC Silent Sunday Nights, and Angelina Jolie, in The Chnageling. Once Mad Men premiered, I coveted everything 1960's, and went on to view classics like, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Bonnie and Clyde, and Sex and the Single Girl, all thanks to the drive to view more 1960s apparel.
Now that everything seems to have lost it's appeal...even the once very chic and stylish street fashion and models off duty....it seems that film, and not magazines, is where my inspiration is seeping from.  I'm constantly reminding myself to watch more movies, very vintage, very classic, everything that is not in the now. But I'm not getting around to it, and that is possibly the reason why I have been so apathetic to fashion as of late. I've also noticed that when I read a book in a certain time period, my favorite are of Victorian and Edwardian time periods, the characters appear before my eyes in the clothing of their time period. And the novel stops being a story and becomes a play, with sets, costumes, accessories and amazing hairstyles. It seems that purchasing a magazine and trying to spark some sort of inspiration out of the inspiration of the designer that he used in something that they saw or imagined is sort of hard to come by. The by product of a by product, a copy of a copy of a copy. It seems easier to go straight to the source. Films and books it is.

In the Mood for BANGS

I haven't had a proper haircut until I was a senior in high school. And by proper I mean anything that was different from the look I've had since I was 10. I was 19 and still and still extremely weary of doing anything major. This is also the time that my love for everything vintage and amazing  took over me and I grabbed the scissors and never looked back. I've never even considered going to a salon, because if the hair style won't come out the way I envisioned it, then I will sulk until my extremely forever taking hair grows out.  I chopped of almost everything in the back and gave myself some Bettie (Page) bangs.

The best part of having short hair is that it drier immediately and I never had to use a hair brush.

Inspiration for the big change

The amazing & legendary, the only Bettie Page.

 

Freja Beha Erichsen & Abbey Lee Kershaw

I can't explain how absolutely liberating cutting hair feels.

This was three years ago. Since then I've maintained the bangs, either letting them grow a bit past my lashes or snipping them back into place. I grew out the back to match the rest of my hair, and just as my hair was getting to a proper length, I saw a photo of a girl with half of her head shaved.
I've seen Alice Dellal and kinda of laughed it of at first, but it's just one of those things with me I can see the same thing over and over again and then something will push me, and the timing becomes perfect. I'd say Cassie was the one to blame, because she looked absolutely flawless. So beautiful, even though she was missing half her hair, she was still so girly. So I shaved the right side of my head. My family didn't really appreciate my appreciation for trying different things for myself.

Marceline Abadeer, The Vampire Queen

So now, I had an undercut AND bangs. A few months later, after maintaining the undercut, I got annoyed at how the right side of my hair would look disastrously thin, no matter how it was styled.
This is when I stopped the upkeep and set out on growing out my undercut and my bangs.

The reason that I'm putting so much emphasis on the part that I was through with my bangs, is because I never felt that I looked my best with plain, split down the middle, wavy hair. So that summer after high school when I was "reborn" after I gave myself a big girl hair cut...that's a big deal , because I understood that smartly placed bangs make me look beautiful.

One of my all time favorite pictures of myself. Thanks to the bangs ;)

As always, my changing tastes were ahead of me, so I let the hair grow.
In addition to my many interests, thanks to the fact that I was bored with everything on the radio and was seeking something that I wasn't exposed to enough, I took more notice of death metal. And I fell in love. Hard. (Thank you Black Sabbath for steering me in the right direction!) So me growing out my hair felt right in sync with the style that is prevalent in this genre of music. Now my hair couldn't grow out fast enough. My mama has started asking me how long would I go until I got a hair cut, because my hair was too long. NO my hair is still not long enough.

The day I became one with Abbath

Inspiration for BANG FREE

June Carter Cash

Sheri Moon Zombie, Sid Haig, & Bill Moseley of The Devil's Rejects & House of 1000 Corpses

Frost of Satyricon

Vampira

Laura Stone & Frida Gustavsson, Peter Lindbergh for Vogue, July 2011

Anyway I was trying to fight the overcoming urges and maintain something for a little while, but again, the moods are changing. I love A LOT of types music, so constantly seeing one of my favorite girl groups plastered all over tumblr was definitely not helping me kick the habit of craving bangs (former url). 

That's the problem with me. I love so many things that when I try to follow a lifestyle, it doesn't go so well because my interest clash. As in I'm a sucker for anything Vintage, 1940s & 1950s are my soft spot. How do you mix 50s housewife with combat boots. You don't, or rather you don't when you're trying to emulate a look. That's sort of the point of the url. My never ending battle with myself. The things I want constantly slipping away from me and hiding and reappearing inconvenient times. But maybe I'm just being an annoying prick going on about nothing of point.



Anyway enough with the pointless ramblings..............I'm weak, I constantly give in, but that's life. Bangs, to me, mean being carefree and absolutely fabulous. You don't have to worry about having a "look" or being unmade, because the bangs are the look.
How could you not want bangs after seeing something like this???????

Always Inspiring

Kiki's Delivery Service

                                         Маша и Медведь (Masha and the Bear)

Tara Satana's Memorial Web Site

A dreamy Blythe doll

Bersarin Quartett album cover artwork

Maria Montez, 1947

Paz Vega as Flor Moreno in Spanglish

Audrey Tautou as Amelie Poilain in Amelie

Anna Karina

Present Day

Cousin Itt & attracteeve