Fall Fashion Candy

Steven Alan did everything right for fall. As I sit in the muggy, humid heat, my mind drifts away to crisp autumn mornings and train rides upstate to see the leaves change; in my head I am wearing everything from this collection. The navy military inspired jacket and those red tights are my two favorites, and I am going to start hunting now for them!

The play on proportion and the perfect pops of bright color have left me drooling; I may add some pants to the very last look for good measure but it is New York, and Lady Gaga does it, and I once saw a homeless man in the Salvation army in nothing but pink ruffled panties... but that's a whole different story and I won't go there.

Gingham and Glasses

I have many visions of what summer should look like, but the look below from Lula is my favorite. The 50's styling and giant glasses really do it for me. Sorry for not posting for a while, I was busy playing with my camera and buying Photoshop (I feel like such an adult now that I actually bought it and not pirated it!)

I was saving all of these glorious things for a good outfit post, and I think it turned out just how I wanted it to! I think the most surprising thing is that everything except the shoes came from major chain stores.

Here is the Lula spread that I fell in love with:






And here is what I came up with:

Hat and Glasses: Forever 21
Top: H&M
Skirt: Target
T-straps: Vintage

Eva Mendez

Who knew that Eva Mendez is probably the most attractive female on the planet? I mean, I noticed her before but it wasn't until I recently saw her in Lula that my adoration of Eva was forever cemented. In fact, I barely noticed her until I saw the editorial below from Italian Vogue a while back. Everything about it is so perfect; the orange lipstick, the lingerie, the beehive and the muted color palette. My favorite ones are definitely NSFW but you can find the rest here.






I never would have pegged her for a Lula girl, but she proved me very wrong with her lilac dress and infinite varieties of cute facial expressions.




The Vogue Italia spread sent me on a wild goose chase for that orange lipstick, and last week I finally found one that is pretty darn close! I will follow up with a post as soon as it's not raining anymore.

Dear Fashion, I am bound to you.

Dear Fashion,



I found myself unable to tear my eyes away from the editorial above from French Vogue above today, and it made me think.

We live in a world that despite modernization combined with the dissemination of knowledge and globalization, largely still treats women as property and second-class citizens. Human trafficking and domestic violence are still alive and well in our own country and all over the world.

It is no big secret that advertising in your world is geared primarily towards women. So why is it that the you persist in advertising your products through imagery, subtle or overt, saturated with undertones of bondage, domination, submission and hypersexualization? Are you just hell-bent on subjugating the entire sex?

No, you are just hell-bent on selling, and you would not repeat yourself if it didn’t work. So why does it work, and why I am strangely ok with and attracted to advertisements with underlying themes like the one above?

I feel that when themes of bondage and submission manifest themselves in the form of a glossy and deliberate image in a fashion editorial, they are subversive and transformative in ways we might not consider at first glance. Ultimately, the model takes away power from the gazer because she leaves them in an untenable state of longing or cathexis. A hypersexualized, well-lit fantasy world in which a beautiful woman can be dominated is created and yet it is not. It is artifice, it is deception, and it is perfectly acceptable because as a sane admirer, we ultimately understand that these images have been simulated and that nobody was actually harmed or forced to take these pictures.

I think that images like these let us get lost in our deep-seated, guilty attractions to violence and vanity, and I think that’s why we love them so much. These visually stimulating fantasy worlds allow us to vicariously explore unacceptable desire without actually becoming sadomasochists, and we are so gratified by the transformative experience it provides that it makes us buy unnecessary shoes and handbags.


So cheers to you, fashion for understanding our needs and exploiting them solely for the purpose of getting at my purse. It works so well, and I love you all the better for it.


Yours Always,

Giana

Spring Lust

It seems like all the women of Manhattan rejoiced at the sunny weather and humid heat today, because everyone had on their very best things for spring! I on the other hand got up late and had no idea what to wear so I haphazardly put together an unadventurous outfit not anywhere near worth a picture. However, I feel really inspired by the weather to try some new things... these are some of the trends I want to try and items I have been drooling over recently:




Some round glasses that I found on Billie Jean's blog



A beautiful liberty print floral skirt by Cacharel that you can buy here



Ok, I know I am not as cool as Chloe Sevigny but I would TOTALLY wear socks with sandals (maybe some with lace at the ankles) and now that she's done it I can too!

I think all of these looks put together would be really great. Once I hunt similar pieces in my price range and get some ankle socks, I will follow up with a post!

Retro wedges

Well spring is finally here and I am ready to show some toes! Though I love to put on a stilletto for about, um, 20 minutes, I really am all about the comfy shoes. However, I am only 5'2" so I need a little lift! Wedges are the perfect solution. I am particularly enamored with 1940's and 50's style ones like these:

However, I since I can't have these same ones I have been searching for a suitable stand in and think I have at last decided on a pair of Kork-Ease that have a really similar profile. This company has been around since 1953 and still makes very retro, comfortable styles. I think I am sold:

I am also a big fan of German made Worishofers; some of their shoes are old-ladyish but others are downright flirty and retro! They have also been around for quite some time. I own the pair below in cherry red, and I have to say they are the most comfortable, buttery soft thing that ever graced my feet.

As much as I love these I still cannot stop lusting after this pair from Remix Vintage Shoes - the tooled leather is just too perfect:

And last but not least, this versatile, demure little grey pair I found on the Anthro website:

A bit more modern but still retro enough to wear with a cotton 50's day dress. My toes are nearly frozen as we speak, but they should thaw out by Saturday because it's supposed to be 70 degrees in New York City!