spring and summer wardrobe planning

This spring and summer season I'm incredibly influenced by the 1970s. I always find myself coming back to this decade for style inspiration and for the music, therefore I definitely see it as my favorite period of time. I have always loved those wide leg jeans/bell bottoms that make your legs look a mile long. I love the turtle necks, the warm colors, the blouses and the feathery, soft and wavy hair. The wedges, the jumpsuits, the boots, even the polyester: I love it all. Normally I find myself looking to the 70s during the winter time when I can wear those sweaters and wide leg trousers. This time it's a bit different as I'm looking forward to wearing linen bermudas, wedge sandals and stripes along with the signature Jackie O tortoise shell glasses, feathered hair and the perfect brown leather satchel.

1. A.P.C.

Key pieces: mini skirts, stripes (loud and quiet), cropped jeans, the perfect brown leather satchel, mini dresses belted at the waist, round sunglasses, bermuda shorts, high-waisted khaki skirts, t-shirts, 

2. Chloé

Key pieces: billowing shorts, mustard orange, crisp white tank tops, chiffon, tan canvas trousers, khaki.

Key pieces: orange metallic pumps, Mary-Jane heels, Mary-Jane "power" flats, ruffles, more chiffon, pretty tops over crisp and clean shorts.

3. General 1970s summer fabulousness

Key pieces: wide leg light-weight fabric trousers, bandeau tops, tank tops, Mary-Jane heels, crisp white cotton shorts, over sized billowy blouses.

february films

1. 12 And Holding, 2005, Director: Michael Cuesta, Watched: 10 February, Rating: 4 1/2 , Trailer: here

12 And Holding isn't something I'd normally go watch. It's about a group of twelve year old kids living in suburbia and how they cope with their parents at such a delicate age during a delicate time (the loss of one of their best friends). It wasn't until later in the film that I realized how good of a job the story does of telling the relationship between parents and their kids. One boy, the one who's twin brother died, deals with the death of his sibling and the pain it gives his parents. They adopt another son and to the boy it looks as if they're replacing his brother. The boy has a birth mark on his face and has always seen himself as second best compared to his brother. He believes that his parents don't love him and decides to go out and kill his brother's murderer. Another boy in the envious group of tight friends is extremely overweight and during the night of his friend's murder, he falls out of a tree house and passes out. The hospital visit gives him insight on his weight issue and he makes it a mission to become healthier. Of course, one learns everything from their parents so he decides to teach his parents to become healthier as they are the cause to his problem. However, his parents just see him as rebelling to their wishes and see him as rude. The little girl in the group has a psychiatrist for a mother, a dead beat dad and a terrible crush on a hunky construction worker. She talks with him, and flirts of course, and goes one step too far with her romantic fantasies. The movie is so great because there's something for everyone in it. Everyone, young or old, can relate to each of the kid's problems. Whether you've had a similar problem in your youth or you're dealing with the same thing in the present, 12 And Holding is a film for everyone of any generation of any age.





2. Absentia, 2011, Director: Mike Flannagan, Watched: 19 February, Rating: 3 1/2, Trailer: here

I watched Absentia on a whim with my mom one night. We love watching random scary films on occasion. I tuned in not knowing what to expect and the first scene I saw was of the main character being enticed by a sound in her basement only to see her presumably dead husband as a spirit coming after her. I was hooked. The film is slow at times and I could tell it was an underground project with how the camera moved and how mediocre the acting was. However, the shots were extremely clean and there was a sharpness and an overall fresh color palette. The soundtrack was interesting, it switched between two scores that were very numbing and ominous which I thought was very fitting. The story was very interesting. It's a bit of a thinker, not too much brain power was used but my mind was working. Some things were left as if they were dropped off the edge of a cliff but otherwise everything was very innovative. For the movie being an obvious first timer, the horror elements were done pretty well. There are times when an evil spider-like creature comes after two of the three characters and the camera does a good job of not showing too much of it but just enough to leave us wondering what the thing actually looks like. I enjoyed the different story it had as far as horror goes. Sometimes it feels as if everything has been thought of in the scary movie field.





3. Doodlebug, 1997, Director: Christopher Nolan, Watched: 17 February, Rating: 5, Watch: here

I had Doodlebug on my "to watch" list for a very long time. What I didn't know was that the film is only 3 minutes long so I really wasn't putting off anything. Once I watched it, though, I felt like such an idiot for delaying it. I've now seen every one of Nolan's films and I think this one has done the most to feed the cinephile in me. Doodlebug is simple and mind blowing. It's Kafka-esque and it definitely makes me want to write and direct. Like Nolan's other "early" film Following, Doodlebug is in black and white and features Jeremy Theobald. The short film consists of these simple shots of Jeremy running around frantically with a shoe obviously trying to smash something, a bug most likely. There's only a couple of shots where Jeremy isn't featured and it's of him answering a phone and dunking it in a water pitcher showing the audience how serious and set he is on catching this thing. Near the end, the man smashes the prey and we see that it's actually him and above the Jeremy we've been following comes the shoe. It's so genius and artsy and wonderful. Doodlebug is short and sweet and it delivers. I would be so proud to have this as my first film because it has all of the components I enjoy: a twist, an interesting story, black and white and an expressive actor.





4. Paris Is Burning, 1990, Director: Jennie Livingston, Watched: 03 February, Rating: 5, Watch: here

I don't think I've ever watched a sadder film. I've wept over Atonement and War Horse and whatever else, but those weren't sad like Paris Is Burning. I wanted to watch this because I saw it on a list of films to watch if you're into house music, which I totally am. I went into this not really expecting anything except for good, early house music with some disco infusion and some drag queens. I came out completely stunned and melancholic and empty. Paris Is Burning is supposedly the greatest documentary ever released along with one of the best movie soundtracks. I can vouch for that statement now after sitting through the hopelessness of the people in the film. They're all apart of a scene in New York City that lasted throughout the late 1980s and very early 1990s called Ball Culture. They (Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey, Willi Ninja, among others) all dream of being famous; of having a household name like Chanel or Saint Laurent. They "walk" in the balls and are judged on their realness of their drag and can earn trophies. It's an uplifting moment when one of the judges is explains how no one actually "judges" you during the balls. Everyone is there to be who they really are and can feel free to express themselves. It's so depressing to see these extremely poor, sometimes homeless, transgender and queer men and women dream of shining lights and red carpets and know that they'll never get there. Half way through the film I took a breather and scrolled down to see some of the comments on YouTube and one person commented on how most of the people in the documentary are all dead. I searched the Internet for a while and found that everyone of the prominent members of the scene were all deceased. Some of them didn't make it to the 2000s and most died of AIDS related diseases. One member, Venus Xtravaganza was a sex worker and died before the film was released. They talk about in the movie; about how she was found four days after being strangled to death in a hotel room. After watching Paris Is Burning I wanted to find these two boys aged about 14 and 15 who were featured in it. They are interviewed about how they don't have a mother and are out on the street at 3am. The 15 year old says that his mother and father split on him and how he lives with a friend in Harlem. They don't get another cameo until the end of the film where they talk about how great the gay community is. I searched and searched the Internet trying to find out if someone knew about these two boys and who they grew up to be but I found absolutely nothing. Just like the Ball Culture scene, they seemed to have dropped off the face of the Earth. I found it hard after watching to see why it was on the list of movies to watch if you're a house music fan because the story and the people in it overpower the music. It's full of  heartbreaking stories of lost souls and ruined futures and it's one of the best films I've ever seen.





5. Trust, 2010, Director: David Schwimmer, Watched: 02 February, Rating: 3 1/2, Trailer: here

I came across Trust unexpectedly. I was watching a trailer for another movie on YouTube and saw this one on the sidebar. It looked interesting and I was sort of enticed by the story line: a girl becomes friends with who she thinks is a boy online but is mistaken for an older man. I found the whole movie on YouTube and watched. My main reason for watching was because I've been in a similar situation. Over the course of 4 years I had become friends with a few girls on a site called Polyvore and in the summer of 2011 I met them. It wasn't a situation like the girl's in the film, thank God, but it was nerve wracking meeting people from the Internet. It's good for films like Trust and Catfish (and its television spin off) to be around because there are so many people forming relationships over the Internet and meeting those people in real life that it's become normal. The public needs to be warned that you have to be careful on the Internet. Sure, sometimes meeting people from online can turn out great; mine certainly did, but it can turn out terribly as well like the unbelievably naive girl in the film. She meets her friend thinking he's a college sophomore and it turns out he's in his 40s and ends up hurting her. She defends him through the scandal because he sweet talked her and told her everything she wanted to hear. I was so angry at her for being so (for lack of a better word) dumb. This film certainly had an impact on me that affects something I use everyday. I am more cautious on the Internet now after watching this just like I am positive that I will never take drugs thanks to Darren Aronofsky's Requiem For A Dream.