Compromise

One thing that I've been struggling with for a while...virtually all of my college years...is the transitional "kid-to-adult" wardrobe and also dancing duds (I'm not talking about ballet shoes and leotards, mind you). I've always felt that I could only go for one or the other. While I like that I have a pretty well developed professional wardrobe that also meshes into dressy casual, what makes me sad about it is that it doesn't do much for my dancing interests.

It's taken me a while to realize that I don't have to compromise on this. The thing I appreciate most about my two day obsession with SHINee is that I can incorporate elements in my wardrobe that don't make me feel too awkward about my dancing interests. Pretty much, I'm getting some sensible hip hop gear and I don't feel like I have to get all thugged out. It's really odd. A lot of time, I find myself approaching grown up situations with the idea of how things should be, then, given time I look at the situation from my perspective and think more about how I want it. I'll dress professionally for school, and outside of school is my time - when I'm not grading, I'm dancing.

That aside, among cooler things, check out what's coming for me in the mail in a few days:


It's the "I Glove MJ" shirt by Alex Aranovich. It's up for limited purchase at his online shop on Etsy. The second I saw it, I thought it would be a good time to pay some homage to the King.

With thighs like these...

I felt it a good time to reflect upon an untouched problem of the modern woman. By now you should know my obsession with clothing organization books: coordination, what should be in a wardrobe, what colors look good on you, shapes - yes, closet self help. Every time I go to a book store, that is my first stop.

So far through my extensive skimming, there's never been a comment on how pants should fit around the thighs. I generally try to get pants with little stretch in them since more spandex allows my thighs to look like packs of polenta. Does that necessarily make less stretch better? I give a new definition to the term "sausage packing." It's always "fitted through the leg..." What the heck is fitted through the leg suppose to mean anyway?

I think I would have little trouble finding support for saying that thighs are definitely one of the more variable parts of a woman's body. They have a size of their own. mine are probably about a size 2, they'd fit most comfortably in a size 4, unfortunately I'm a size 0 everywhere else and while I know that tailors can take in waists: 1.) that's hella expensive 2.) there's no telling how it's going to look when they're done. I've been toying with the idea of getting a pair of wide legs and having the legs taken in. I'm not too sure on how that will work out, but at least the thighs will fit.

Mentor: Lucky Mag

I remember the summer of my junior year of high school. I was going through a mildly awkward phase that every girl goes through at ages 11, 18-ish, and probably 27. Am I dressing too young for my age? I felt that at 17, it was time to start developing my style, but I didn't know where I stood.

Having two elder sisters always led me to ask their advice. Essentially it would be me asking them to dress me, but at the time, 17, I looked at their styles and assessed that, not only did their styles not suit me, I shouldn't be asking them for dressing advice and then criticizing their style - I asked for it.

I still had the issue of not knowing where to go with style. When I would go shopping, I would barely find anything I liked - however, I did on occasion find things that I did like which was something I could bank on. Armed with the knowledge of what I did like and what silhouettes I liked, I ventured on to try to find a way to dig myself out of my jeans and t-shirt existence. At this time, I had already handicapped myself by swearing off of khaki and white for a while since our school uniform required us to wear khaki and white. I felt more tired of the combination instead of wanting to get creative with it.

While slothing one day on the couch (spring 2003), I saw a TV ad for Lucky Magazine. I ended up keeping the number. I asked my mom if I could get it and she said, something to the effect of 'sure it'll teach you how to dress.' I had nothing to lose, the subscription also came with a free bag and I knew I'd be able to relate to the clothes better than in a magazine like...Vogue. Soon enough, I got my first issue, March 2003 - it featured their shoe collection and also a very memorable picture of an organized closet (another blog). Being unemployed and 17 didn't leave much for me in terms of buying the clothes. I was able to better assess what styles I liked and what I didn't like. Throughout most of college, I lived a life with many style visions, but not having any money left me a little limited, so I had to work with what money I had and what workable clothes I had. While I must say, my t-shirt and jeans existence transformed into a t-shirt and trousers existence, the constant influx of Lucky gave me stronger ideas of what I wanted.

I know that magazines like Lucky are meant to showcase the trends of the season, but also, a person can't help what they like. Just recently, I was at my old house looking through 5 year old issues of Lucky - there were articles on Summer suits that were still quite relevant today; Summer suits are generally in paler colors and lighter fabrics like cotton and linen - and also pictures of clothes from back then. I noticed this blouse I would've bought on the spot at $48. I got rather depressed that I have the money now, but didn't then. At least I got an idea. It's better than nothing.

So, my first venture into determining my style was venturing into Lucky Mag. It's a matter of picking and choosing, you just have to see what's out there.