I’m obsessed with the British brand AllSaints. In the past year, they’ve grown from a small line of perfectly draped basics to a full fledged collection of clothes I would trade several small appendages for. They’ve even opened a US flagship!

So when I recently found a perfect pair of AllSaints jeans and a stunning black draped AllSaints dress on sale for less than $70 each, I had to take the plunge. And I do mean plunge.

Before this, I was on a complete shopping ban. I bought a house less than six months ago, and all my spare cash is needed for home renovation… but hey, it’s only two things, right?

Now, shopping ban broken, I want to buy everything. With each new item I covet, I re-imagine myself as better and happier. Never mind that I’m the happiest I’ve ever been, surely there’s more, more, more! I don’t get it. But now I know that not buying anything is a hell of a lot easier than buying carefully and in moderation.

10:38 pm  •  21 July 2010  •  Comments

Lately, I’ve been talking to my sister about what it all means. The funny thing is, if we were anyone else, that “it” would be life, career, relationships, education, whatever. For us, “it” is only one thing: clothes. Choosing them, buying them, wearing them, living in them… “it“‘s really complicated.

I’ve been struggling with the concept of authenticity. Call it “style,” call it wearing that which is true to you and you alone. I find myself surrounded by trend chasers, pretty girls who put all their effort towards finding that pitch perfect pair of shoes to wear with that so right now dress.

In the end they all look the same. Who are they? What do they believe? What do they actually love?

I was one of those girls once. Looking back at photos from those days makes me cringe. “I wore that? With that haircut? And those shoes?” Embarrassment is a function of inauthenticity and failed potential, and to me, those days are embarrassing.

Currently, post-trend, I’m trapped in an enormous (I mean truly enormous) closet stuffed with clothes that mean nothing to me. I excelled at finding and buying, but the metrics I used were never mine. Everything I own feels wrong.

My navel-gazing, self-indulgent journey towards authentic style has yielded only one result: that authenticity does not come from analysis, rules, or photographs of other people. Shit.

1:09 pm  •  18 July 2010  •  Comments

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What I want to do

Bring an analytical, marketing-based approach to a creative field such as web development, fashion, writing, or design.

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Summary of Skills

Six years writing and editing experience, including brand marketing, product sales, creative non-fiction, and journalism.

Five years management experience, with an analytical, goal-oriented approach to projects and leadership.

Four years fashion industry experience, from brick & mortar to online retail. Skilled at merchandising, buying, and brand building.

Two years photo shoot styling experience, including both product-focused and editorial work.

Adept at picking up new technologies; experienced with Adobe Suite, content management systems, database and analytics software, and of course Microsoft Office.

Experienced with photography and web design. Nine years of personal website design in Illustrator and HTML, and two years of web design project management.

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Current and Past Employers

Giant Eagle

Buzzhoney

American Apparel

ModCloth

Pittsburgh City Paper

UPMC

Carnegie Mellon University

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Education

Bachelor of Science in Materials Science Engineering, focus in Communication Design, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA

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Writing samples available upon request.

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Public web presence

Photography and outfit photos, http://flickr.com/outfitphoto

Fashion blog, http://blog.looknotebook.com

Retail website, http://looknotebook.com

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9:00 pm  •  15 February 2010  •  Comments

If you need a New Year’s resolution or clothing-centric set of rules, I recommend these.

2. Before you buy, be selective. Scrutinize items for build quality, fit, finish, functionality and lasting style. If an item is not perfect, catch and release it.

12:11 pm  •  6 January 2010  •  Comments

Paris, 1962

This is my favorite image from a Flickr photoset interesting 1. primarily for its historical value and 2. for how naturally beautiful this lovely woman’s hair is.

7:49 pm  •  4 January 2010  •  Comments

criticalculture:

jhnbrssndn:

hereharehere:

“So it’s especially disheartening that their name has been reassigned, and not to any foolish but vigorous crop of tyros, but to parasites. Eric Fredericksen defines the hipster as “a consumer of (sub)culture, a person who substitutes taste for creative drive.” That sort has probably been around forever, but didn’t really become an identifiable genus until maybe the 1980s, when the vastly increased size of the market made it possible to pursue consumerism as a full-time activity. Hunting esoteric cultural kicks turned into connoisseurship; possession of items distinguished chiefly by their obscurity at once inflated the desirability of those items to others and became tantamount to having produced those items oneself. Now hipsters have gone way beyond Scandinavian psychedelia and Japanese bondage photography. They collect neighborhoods. Soon those will run out, too. You are advised to protect your neck.”

Luc Sante on ‘hipster’. The whole thing. Spot on, as always.

I don’t think that taste and creative drive are mutually exclusive for every subcultural denizen or “hipster”. Still, this is an incredibly astute series of observations.

6:57 pm  •  28 December 2009  •  Comments

I love this: an entire book of favorite dresses.

To quote the press release: “Manolo Blahnik, Jasper Conran, Tom Ford, Dolce & Gabbana, John Galliano, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Betty Jackson, Calvin Klein, Christian Lacroix, Ralph Lauren, Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen, Issey Miyake, Mary Quant, Oscar de la Renta, Zandra Rhodes, Clements Ribeiro, Paul Smith, Anna Sui, Valentino, Vivienne Westwood, and many, many more” talented fashion types share their favorite dress, and what makes it so dear to them.

Someone buy me this for Christmas!

7:00 pm  •  20 December 2009  •  Comments

If you are anything like me, you love watching Youtube tutorials of people doing elaborate and impressive things with their hair and makeup.

It might have just gotten better, though, with relooktv.com

You don’t have to search as much. It’s French. It has consistently nice production value. And it has an attractive website. SOLD.

10:13 pm  •  18 December 2009  •  Comments

Once upon a time, style was more about attitude than about wearing the new It thing.

(Bonnie and Clyde is on Netflix Instant, for those of you who need some inspiration.)

9:36 pm  •  16 December 2009  •  Comments

"Ironically, with its enabling of free and democratic dissemination, online file sharing is more true to the spirit of DIY, underground culture ethos than are the outdated distribution methods certain subcultures deign, confusingly, not to give up.
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Thus the sole recourse of the cassette enthusiast is an appeal to that vague and highly problematic romanticism: cassettes tapes, it seems to many, are simply “cool”."

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From: Reconsidering the Revival of Cassette Tape Culture

Sure, I have nostalgic connections to the cassette. It has a sort of superficial style: small and cute, and you can decorate the cover. I still have all the mix tapes boys made for me back in the day, and I still have a box of tapes of my old radio show.

But this goes beyond nostalgia; we’re not in high school any more. Whether it’s fashion or fashionable consumption: what’s “cool” is your own decision, and what makes sense has to make sense to you. Don’t let style tribe, subculture, or popular media make those choices for you.

5:30 pm  •  16 December 2009  •  Comments