Handsome Girl Modeling School

Late last year I was asked to model for my company's catalog. This is not something I tried to let get to my head, as they generally do ask whoever in the office happens to be reasonably thin, tall and who has a pair of shoulders to hang a garment on. I'm not in the extreme department of these features that allows me to go out in the real world of modeling, but it was fun for a day to pretend.

One of the best parts was just showing up at the loft space of the photographer before the shoot started to have my hair and makeup done. Walking through the loft building, it did feel like I was part of this other world for the day. It certainly wasn't the corporate environment I usually schlep through to get to my cube and Aeron chair each day. What I found out was that modeling - it's harder than you'd imagine.

Even getting my makeup done was an experience. I've had my makeup done a time or two before, once as a secret shopper at Henry Bendel (fun + free stuff!), but those times it was for my enjoyment. This time, I could tell that when you have it done enough, you learn what to do. The makeup artist was clearly having to slow down to my pace as I didn't know that after she smears something here and sprinkles something there I'm supposed to look straight up so she can get right in there under my eye or pull at my lashes. There were many little things like that. And then she painted my lips. She really painted them. Now that the catalog is out, that's all anyone can say - "Wow, those lips!" I've also never had anyone put eyedrops on a qtip and jab into the corners of my eye. Good trick, though! Gets any last sleepy stuff that the finger or face washing won't get out of there and makeup looks flawless.

Posing was another challenge. One that I wanted to take on with gusto, a la ANTM, but once up there... it's easy to become deflated. What, no mirror so I can see what I'm doing? If you're in profile, you find that the photographer loses your far shoulder. So while it would have been nice to act all natural like, moving from one look to the next with ease, what I thought looked good sometimes didn't show off the garment I was supposed to be displaying in a way that made sense to the viewer. So I learned all kinds of tricks about "cheating" your far shoulder forward.

In the end, what felt like a very contorted, strange pose, looks normal - I think. I've looked at these soo many times (is that me?), I've lost my sense of what it looks like.

Enjoy!!

Getting to know my wardrobe. Spring cleaning.

Many bloggers out there have posted about doing a major overhaul of their wardrobes. Of course to do this there should be a method to the madness, or you may end up tossing things that you're sick of at the moment, only to yearn for them again some day in the distant future. I think the most important part of the whole thing for me is trying to figure out what flatters my figure, what is easy to wear, what needs to be paired with what. Styling a wardrobe takes effort and a good amount of time devoted to just trying one thing on with another.

I'm doing a bit of that myself right now, and it's been a slow process. I took everything that wasn't an obvious winner, whether that means I never wear it or I wear it all the time but hate it, out of my closet and stacked it on my chair. This stack has been moved from my chair to my bed and back for.... weeks now. A sad state of affairs. But I'm hacking away at it slowly, trying to figure out why I don't wear certain things, and trying to convince myself to part with the items I do wear because they're TOO easy, even though they don't look so hot. I've found some interesting combinations I quite like because of this, and hope to debut my Dries Van Noten hand-me-down ruffle shirt one of these days. I've had it for three years!!!

Also, I'm trying to find a way to like a cropped vintage Biba jacket I got on eBay for not much more than a tenner. If I had a camera, I would ask you peeps to help me figure out if it is real. That day is coming sooner rather than later!! I hear word that there is a hand-me-down camera waiting for me at my aunt's. Oh family.

Post edits to come - pictures and links to the lovely ladies who inspired this closet overhaul.

Force of Habit

Today as I was starting up on what I fear will be the return of one of my worst habits, I thought about my blog. It's been with a lot of consideration that I decided to actually start writing, and sadly, it's been a week since my first momentous (in my mind) post. This, too, will need to become a habit or it will never go anywhere. Note to self!!

Onto the fun, my persistent habit that has resurfaced against my better judgement. Shopping. It is no surprise I'm sure that I enjoy shopping - this here's a fashion blog, no? But what seems to be the problem is that as soon as the weather becomes bareable and it's still light when I leave the office and find myself spit out into Midtown's hustle and bustle, I get the urge to do something. Anything, really! Without plans I find myself sucked into Rockefeller's Anthropologie. Oh, all reason goes out the window. I try not to be tempted, but while everything in the store is perfectly fine, easy and girly, it only really has me locked in when it's in the sale room. My rule against fast fashion gets grey and fuzzy when I'm in that room. I wouldn't call that fast fashion, exactly, but once everything is suddenly sort of affordable (I stress 'sort of' here), I start to feel like I'm adding something lovely and pricier to my wardrobe at a great discount.

And suddenly I'm spending $250!!!

I'm still trying to think up my best excuse for keeping the Tracy Reese dress I've been drooling over and finally purchased. Meanwhile, I'll keep the receipt safe and sound.

Hello

I finally realized what it was that was causing my rather serious-feeling wardrobe break-down.

I've been reading blogs, fashion blogs and design blogs in particular for over a year, obsessively. It started out feeling like a hobby, but it's started to feel like it could spur some serious bouts of creativity if I have a way to interact more directly. Just lurking is no longer enough. Plus, being so embedded in it, I've grown this vocabulary and knowledge of smaller designers that I might not have otherwise. It's meant that when I talk to my friends who are not such cyber girls, they don't have the same frames of reference, and it's a lonely fashion world without someone else with whom I can try to justify the hours spent pouring over beautiful things, not to mention justifying dollars spent. How did it happen that the people I love have never heard of Acne jeans, never heard of Vena Cava?

We're not just talking about a love for the above mentioned brands and wishing I had more to spend on such things. There's plenty of that, but what really gets me going is an appreciation for being able to dress up in, essentially, the "costume" for the day to express your mood or tell a story. The fashion blogging world is like a community of my soul sisters (and brothers) who also feel that the perfect shoe holds within its sole (haha!) much more than meets the eye. It's a way of life, man.

Finally, as a former minor dabbler in fashion, now feeling much more entrenched in all of it, I know that there are trends, and trends inform what we will see on the racks at most of the stores out there. Now, I feel that part of my dissatisfaction with my current wardrobe stems from the fact that some time ago I saw the trends each season and was tempted in, no matter the poor quality. Lately, my mantra has been more along the lines of "Quality over Quantity." This is not anything new, and is the general idea behind the much touted change that needs to happen worldwide. This, strangely enough, is largely according to some of the very people who are creating the goods that we are so eagerly snatching up. It is manufacturers, designers, who are taking on the green way and trying to use that to appeal to a customer. Thus causing us to buy more, to help us feel like we're part of a cause. A bit hypocritical and this could spur a blog of its own entirely!!! I'm not here to do that. But being in product development myself, I am accutely aware of this dilemma and hope to explore it further.

I do believe though that I would be happier wearing a simple classic set of what could almost be described as uniforms, though, rather than having a closet (and half of my boyfriend's closet) stuffed to the brim with "nothing to wear." It's going to happen. It's got to happen. Not to the extent of a uniform because that's no fun, but I need a change for the better. I like to think of this as a part of growing up and refining my tastes, a way to express what I hope will be some creative moments as it happens, and a way to legitimize some of this and stop making myself feel like this is a fruitless obsession I've entrenched myself in.

Clothes. Sigh.