Happy New Years!

A lot happened to me in 2013: a death in the family, a birth in the family, ended a job (THAT was some drama), started a job. I also got my cosmetology license reinstated (purely for the pro products--I'm not going back to being a hairdresser). I did a bit of traveling despite being very broke: Florida, Boston, Philadelphia.

My husband and I have shared new year's "resolutions." Instead of giving something up, we like to take something on. This year it was learning how to do Tarot readings. I think we succeeded. Seems fitting I'd do a reading for next year. I'll just do a one-card reading (from the Deviant Moon deck), since I've got a party to go to.

The confident queen of wands stands a dominant personality in the forest. Her self-assured energy radiates from her soul, attracting everyone she meets with inescapable charm.

Trend Predictions: 2014

So I did a post about trends in 2013. thought I'd modify them to predict next years trends.

1. current trend that will continue next year: crop top with high-waisted something. 90s trends are going to continue and I feel this look can be dressed up (to the office, etc) and down (streetwear). 

lol never DID do this outfit post

2. Goth trend. I think nu-goth will win over pastel goth

3. trend that will die next year: printed leggings. looking at you, black milk. I think the social media that made these so popular is choking these fads. With cheaper brands doing these too, it's completely oversaturated.  

i still love these leggings

especially:

merry christmas!

Hope you've all been good.

2013: trend recap

2013! what a year! here's a trend recap

1. Favorite trend of the year that will no doubt be out of style next year (ex-cybergoth me is weeping at the awesomeness of these): Hologram

drooooool. someone buy me these! 

2. Favorite trend that will continue next year: shapeless black thing

3. LEAST favorite trend of the year: flower crowns. please let this trend DIE already

Favorite hairstyle

Read more about the challenge here.

This is easy: the undercut/sidecut/bilevel cut. It's had a number of names over the years. Most of you bloggers have it, and it's easy to see why. It's as easy to take care of as short hair, but it's got the benefits of long hair. It goes with every style and with every color. I've NEVER seen this hairstyle look bad on anyone. It's the easiest haircut to DIY too. and you don't have to style it! 

me in college, over a decade ago. my acne's gotten better, but otherwise I don't seem to age, lol. A blessing and a curse.

nu-goth music? else, bands I like

Here I am, posting stuff without doing any research. What do people consider nu-goth music? No idea. I don't think there're and bands billing themselves that way, no matter how many times they show up on my tumblr feed.

I made a nu-goth playlist, and this is what I have on it. I picked these songs based qualities that the fashion has, which is:

minimalism
90s throwback, lo-fi
irony/humor, especially dark humor (hipster influence)
New (no old school)

Crystal Stilts
Local band out of Brooklyn (though they ARE just doing a world tour, so I guess not so local anymore. BTW best music = Brooklyn). The singer's voice is just so beautiful, I want to weep. The band doesn't bill itself as a goth band--it's quite indie, but very dreary. If nu-goth had a sound, I would definitely say this is it. Minimal, dark, grungy. Magnetic Moon is and old song and easily the most trad goth. and Star Crawl is just beautiful...and the video is cool too.

In another time, in another place

read about the challenge here.

What would I wear if I didn't wear dark fashion? Well, I don't always. I just go full-out Williamsburg hipster: ridiculous glasses, plaid shirts...something between art school and lumberjack. stupid sweaters.

What would I like to wear if I didn't wear dark fashion? That's a different story. If I could think of a perfect, happy version of myself, I'd picture some prairie girl homesteader living in some cottage. Or out in the field. Whatever. So I'd probably say Mori.

Jean Paul Gaultier exhibit

Just came back from the Jean Paul Gaultier exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum. It was pretty cool. I know you guys know all about him, but if you don't, he's the guy who did Madonna's famous corset. (btw all the photos here are photos I took at the exhibit). I went with my mom (who's in town), who's a huge fan of his work since the 80s.

Cool Tumblrs

Yes, it's true I've been MIA for a while. I'll be back in full blogging force sometime mid-December. I'm still on the interwebs, looking at your blogs. And tumblrs. Here are a few tumblrs that I love:

Polyvore Gore

Nothing too deep here: just goth polyvore sets. These outfits are all so awesome. 

Psycho Disco

This tumblr directly inspired my television editorial in this post. This tumblr has a lot of stills from films and some of the most amazing photos I've seen. Lots of weird and a really unique aesthetic I haven't seen anywhere.

Ethnic-inspired Septum Jewelry

I'm deciding to forgo my vow of only wearing pincers in my septum (pierced earlier this year) and saw these vaguely ethnic Tawapa septum clickers on sale at various sites:

I'm categorizing this as "cool, but not for me," especially when I saw that some of these were almost TWO INCHES long. What would that even look like?

Horror in Dark or Goth Fashion: The Uncanny

heady post today: the uncanny. Freud's uncanny, which I'd argue is the cornerstone of dark fashion. The Uncanny is also the cornerstone of Horror as a concept+theory. The definition:

an instance where something can be familiar, yet foreign at the same time, resulting in a feeling of it being uncomfortably strange or uncomfortably familiar.

Corsets do this to some degree. Yes--she looks like a woman, but something seems slightly off. Even a basic corset is uncanny. Oh, her waist is exaggerated. "Cool! I love it!" says the dark fashion fan, who enjoys the uncanny more than most. But then you get to the more extreme corsetry, which becomes a form of body modification. Beautiful? If you like the uncanny, yes. If you're terrified of something appearing human and not at the same time, then probably not. 

When we talk about how "hardcore" someone is, we could be talking about where in the Uncanny Valley this person stands....literally:

Procession of the Ghouls

So, last year we came across a random website detailing how awesome St. John the Divine is. By that I mean some "Vigilant Citizen" ranting about how the Episcopalian church is actually a satanic church with satanic rituals. (It's a good read: http://vigilantcitizen.com/sinistersites/sinister-sites-st-john-the-divine-cathedral/  )

So this year we MADE SURE to go to one of the satanic rituals: The Procession of the Ghouls. AND it was awesome! My camera died, so I managed to get some shitty cell phone shots, but here's some photos from the internet. The costumes were super elaborate, and some of them were these half-puppet, half-costume costumes. Before the procession, they played The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, which I wasn't a fan of. Guess not every silent film could be as good as Metropolis. But it was awesome. If you're ever in NYC you should check this out..

expensive shit

stupid expensive shit that's been sitting in  my polyvore stash for some time. enjoy. I don't think I need to elaborate.

Tarot Advice

tarot at the cloisters, one of my favorite places for readings

So, my husband and I had a mutual New Year's Resolution: learn how to do tarot readings. He's got some ways to go, but I think I've got the hang of it. I can pretty much work with any deck and know most of the card meanings by heart. Most of my friends are getting into it too. So, another thing: I'm only doing this for fun and entertainment and not for spiritual reasons/actual divination.

The worst readings are the ones that go this way: Draw a card. Look up the meaning. Say what the card means. "There are unequal relationships." Next card. Look up the meaning. Say what the card means. "Nostalgia." At the end of it, you just get a bunch of abstract, confusing images. What the hell?! You wanted to know how your vacation was going to go!

My advice:

Tell a story: Personally, I think this may be the only advice to being a good tarot card reader. The cards already have everything you need to tell a story: a cast of characters (suits), conflicts and action (the pip cards), and events/themes (major arcana). I've heard of writers turning to the cards to combat writer's block. As you go through the cards, make the person the star of their own drama and walk them through their story. This is way more exciting than just "Five of pentacles: Poverty. Next card is The Fool: a new journey. Next is Strength: means 'strength'" Instead read: "You're about to start a new journey you're not prepared for: poverty. But don't worry, because you possess inner strength, you'll overcome it just fine. In fact it'll make you stronger. Let's see how...[turns next card over slowly, building suspense]" It's like telling a story with some props and showmanship.

A good way to practice this with your friends is with completely bogus, made up situations. For the Steampunk tarot deck, we did a bunch of readings like the following: "How will I manage my airship?" and "Tell me about my life in Steampunk Town--what will I do, who will I date? will I be wealthy?" When we did my reading, I was going to start a travel business (we just said airship..of course) with someone, then I was going to be betrayed, then then I'd spend my days in poverty. Sigh. We also pretended to be gang members for another set of readings....those were interesting cop-thrillers. I think this was excellent practice for storytelling with the cards and a great way to build confidence when telling.

Always relate it to the original question: Don't get caught up in the meanings of the individual cards and miss the big picture. Relate the meanings of the cards to each other and to the original question. Remember, people want an answer. Sure, there's times when the cards do reveal something that's more important than the question. Or maybe you just can't think of a way to relate it to the original question. Try harder.

How about you? do you have tarot advice for readings?

Etsy Review: Little Sister Designs

So, way back in June I did a post on moonstones. Most of the rings and necklaces were from this etsy seller based out of New Zealand, Little Sister Designs. lol I broke down and got this moonstone necklace with raven claws (not actual raven claws) in the shape of a moon (come on! how awesome) despite the $200+ price tag. The seller was nice enough to accommodate a payment plan and was really responsive. The piece itself is really well made. It's probably my favorite necklace right now. And now... picture dump...more after the jump:

cool box! and chocolate?

On storytelling...

 So, I've taken more of a leadership role in our tabletop gaming community. One of our members reached out and asked me for storytelling/GM/DM advice...and I wrote the long long email below. I know some of you guys game, so it might be useful to you. Feel free to comment if you agree or disagree!

It's cool that you haven't STed before in a tabletop setting. Everyone's got to start somewhere. 

First off, run a game YOU want to run. You said you already have a game/story in mind. That's great. Write a good description and boldly state "new players welcome!" For some reason, people will only join a new game if those magic words are uttered. I don't know why. Also include any parameters/restrictions you have for the game: no Tremere, no Moros mages, 70 freebie points for all, etc. In case anyone wants to fill out their sheets ahead of time. 

I recommend that you have some kind of system in place that explains why the characters would be adventuring together. Players want to play whatever characters they have in mind and won't fit neatly into whatever story you're writing. So you'll have a gunslinger, a rabbi pacifist, a workaholic banker, and a sexy cat boy as your PCs with contradictory goals. As an ST, their constant bickering will burn you and your story from both ends. I recommend you lay down some ground rules. The longest-running, successful games had some kind of unifying code or pact built into the story: a team of detectives, an elite group of mercenaries, one side of a war, a cult...whatever.  

One more thing about inter-character relationships. The Dresden Files game I ran, imo, had a great solution to "why would these random PCs be adventuring together?" by forcing other characters into each other's backstory AT CHARACTER CREATION (the first session). We used this for Shadowrun with great success. It unifies the group and fleshes out people's backstories. One player wants to play Princess Cashmere, a steampunk heiress. Another player wants to pay a ninja assassin who is hiding a Dark Secret. The ST made these two create a backstory...story... together during character creation. The players came up with the Ninja social-engineering his way to stay with her parents while he was on the run. Her parents liked this charming man and now try to set her up with him at every chance. Setting up these kinds of relationships between characters allows the players to interact with each other, in addition to interacting with the ST. The best sessions are when "the game runs itself" and oftentimes it's because the players interact with one another. It's easiest to set this up from the get-go. 

All this would be done during the first session, which has basically been half character creation and a short, simple adventure. While some players will come with their sheet filled out, you'll need to, at the very least, learn character creation. If you don't feel like reading the entire rule book, that's fine...but you DO need to read about character creation. 

All that advice was for setting up the game. As for actually running, well, everyone's got their own ST style and there isn't a right or wrong way. Some STs (me included) run anything-goes free-for-alls while other STs highly-structured, rules-heavy, complicated dramas. The former STs say yes to everything and don't have linear plots,  which infuriates structured/rules-heavy players who are then left unsure what to do. The latter STs make you roll dice more, police your stats more, (and like battles more, for some reason) which infuriates players who want to roam free and raise hell. Maybe you already know what kind of ST you are.  

Biggest ST problems: 

1. Overplanning: I can think of a certain game where an ST had everything detailed out, spent hours and hours planning, and was very disappointed when he had to throw out everything in the first 5 minutes. One of the STs in the group has a saying to combat these inevitable derailments: "All roads lead to Rome." Just start steering the story back to where you want to go. Be VERY careful this isn't too heavy-handed. 
2. Somewhat related...a paralyzed ST: I don't know what causes it, but sometimes the ST gets too possessive of a NPC or plot point, or there's a PC who's driving you insane and you just freeze up. Fights over rules. These are worst case scenarios that you fear. The best solution is "say yes or roll dice." An overpowered mage who always ruins your story wants to cast a fireball that blows up the mansion you spent hours stating out? Say yes to the player or make them roll dice. Put a difficulty. Justify it. If you don't agree with the rules in the book or want to make this a "special case" it's perfectly ok to make up your own roles. You'll see how your table reacts to this...It's ok to poll the table and ask, "does this sound fair?" most PCs side with the ST in the interest of moving the story along.
3. Running out of ideas: probably your other biggest fear, right? when everything's derailed in the first 5 minutes and all your planning is out. It's perfectly fine to stop the game and go off alone and collect your thoughts. I one time did the worst thing ever. I said "well, you killed my boss in the first hour. that's all I got. see you next week." Uh oh. People weren't happy. I ended up stepping aside and reworking stuff that wasn't used that session and added some antagonists. 
4. Not knowing ALL of the rules: Don't worry about this. Your players will help you. My experience is that the best STs don't necessarily have eidetic memory of the rule books. We've run games new out of the box and learned along with the ST. 

haha, didn't plan on writing you a novel here. Hope I covered what you wanted me to! If not, feel free to ask me to elaborate on anything!

Goth-ing things in my everyday life

Read more about the challenge here.

I'm interpreting this as physically "gothing" things up...like putting bat stickers on your phone or something (a goth decora phone WOULD be awesome, btw).  But I don't actually do this, or haven't done since high school. I decorated a few journals and put a NIN patch on my backpack and that was it. Reason for this: my DIY skills kinda suck.

But if YOUR diy skills don't suck, NOW is the time to hit the magazine racks and check out Halloween crafts from the Queen of Darkness herself, Martha Stewart. You know, crafts for Halloween...aka ALL YEAR ROUND.

btw, Martha Stewart is awesome

ootd, and photo fails

Well, it's one of the busiest times of the year for work, so I've been work home...working on the train... staying late... sigh. Everyone in our department has the thousand-yard stare. The temperature dropped significantly, so I was like, why not wear my new suit jacket I bought over the summer? and then satanic t-shirt. you know: work friendly. lol yeah I'm bold during these busy times, when I generally don't see anyone except my manager. sorry for the shitty photos, point-and-shoot cameras are really finicky.

ugh why does my new camera get blurry ONLY when I'm taking selfies

Purses that I love

Read more about the challenge here.

I REALLY don't understand purses. This is an area where I never, ever splurge. My mother and sister love purses and they spend hundreds of dollars for something that...just looks like a purse. It has some purse-y hardware like knobs and clips and buckles and studs. Some pockets. Straps, some useful, some not. But it just looks like a purse. BORING. Whenever they ask if I like their new purse, I have a hard time not saying "it looks like ALL of your other purses"

So, these are the purses I like, arranged loosely by price.

Best Places to Wear Goth/Dark Fashions

Read more about the challenge here.

All dressed up and nowhere to go? lol leave the web cam and head out to the real world. There's plenty of places to wear your dark fashions.

1. club nights and concerts. this is obvious. All goth styles are welcome...and a perfect time for peacocking.

2. but you don't like loud music, expensive drinks, or being out till 5am. you like to start your nights at 6pm-10pm, quiet, and FREE drinks. Small art galleries are your best bet. If you have a gallery district in your city, there's usually a day of the month when the galleries have an open walk. In NYC, there's 2nd Friday in Williamsburg and 1st Thursday in DUMBO. There's also special exhibits that attracts more goths: I went to a Lovecraft exhibition a few years back. The gallery crowd--especially the "regulars"--tends to wear shapeless black things. plenty of dark art and dark types. No corsets/corset tops.

New Goth Challenge: The Everyday Goth

Hey everyone,

Announcing a new blogging challenge from The Everyday Goth that I'm joining, in addition to the one I'm currently finishing.

1. Post some pictures of a style you might wear if you didn't dress in Goth fashion, and talk about what attracts you to this style. 
2. Do "a day in the life" of you. Take lots of pictures.
3. What has been your biggest hurdle to overcome on being a Goth? Talk about who or what have made being a Goth difficult for you. 
4. Post a link to something you're saving up for. Threaten people so that they don't go buying it before you can.
5. Write some goals for the coming year, blog or wardrobe or life related. Or, if you've done that, write about how they're coming along.
6. Post some music you've been listening to lately, or make a playlist.
7. Plan a meet up. You don't actually have to host it, but write about what you'd like to do if you could. Where would you go? How many people? What would you do?
8. Plan a photo shoot. Who would model (you?) and what would the theme be? The clothes?
9. How do you blog? Write a post on how post on your blog posts come about. What tools do you use, where do you find your visuals, how do you come up with your ideas?
10. Ask for help with inspiration or problem-solving your in-progress DIY projects.
11. How do you store your clothes, jewelry, and accessories? Does it work for you? Are you looking to make a change?
12. Write about why you blog, and what it has done for you so far.
13. Feature some other bloggers. What posts are you loving? Who is especially fabulous this week
14. Confess: what stereotypically Goth things do you not like?
15. Make some themed Polyvore sets, or sets based on life events. (What would you wear to go on vacation in Maui? What do you want to wear to your wedding? What would you wear to a job interview?)
16. Give Babybats some advice you wish you'd had.
17. "This Day in Goth History."
18. Post about the little things in your life that you've "Gothed up."
19. Make a Goth Bucket List. What Goth-related things do you want to do or see with your life?
20. Write about the interests that seem to "clash" with being a Goth, and how they do or don't.
21. What's in your DIY "to-do" pile? Or, what DIY materials have you still not found a purpose for?
22. Name the stupidest piece of advice anyone has given to you about being a Goth. Counter it with some good ones.
23. Post about your Goth-related collections. What are some things you want to add to it? Which are your favorites?
24. List some of your Goth Idols. Who are they and why do they inspire you?
25. Post your everyday make up routine, with product names.
26. Do a "Lately" post of what you've been posting on other websites, like Pinterest, Goodreads, Twitter, or Tumblr.
27. Dedicate an entire post to your favorite Goth song. Post a link to it, transcribe the lyrics, or talk about why you like it so much.
28. Share plans for Halloween or another holiday.
29. Take a stance: what makes someone a Goth? 
30. Write about an article of clothing you've been wearing a lot lately. Post pictures.
31. Review an old DIY you did. Is it still holding out? What, if anything, would you change if you were to do it again?
32. If you're feeling creative, write some haikus (5-7-5 optional) about Goth things and share them. Bonus points for funny ones.
33. Post some pictures of you (or your room, or your hobbies, etc.) at your least-Gothy. 
34. Make a list of some things that, while they aren't Goth, you associate with the Goth subculture.
35. Write a review of a particularly good book you've read recently, album you've bought, or movie you've seen. Or tear apart a bad one. 
36. Take fashion inspiration from something you love (it can be as big as a historical period or small as a photograph you found on deviantArt.) Post about it. Include pictures and links.
37. Talk about a political issue, make a case for why Goths should care.
38. What are some of the things you consider essential for Goths to own?
39. Post some recent reader mail or comments that have made you smile, and say thank you.
40. List some blog topics you'd like other bloggers to post about. What issues do you want their opinions on?
41. Talk about what kind of Goth-related Business you'd own if you could. Fashion, music, wedding planning? What would you do?
42. Post a haul of things you've bought lately, or if you've made a haul lately show the items in action. 
43. Write a bunch of funny responses to common Goth cat-calls. 
44. Confess: What trends in Goth do you not like?
45. List several silly Goth-related pet names, bonus if they're the actual names of your pets. 
46. Write an open letter to someone, or groups of someones. It can be funny or serious, sweet or scathing.
47. What traits in other Goths do you admire?
48. Do you remember the first Goth song or band that you listened to? Did you like it? (Confession: I hatedSiouxsie and the Banshees when I first heard them...oops...)
49. Post items of historical clothing or jewelry that you wish you owned.
50. Describe a Goth-related website or blog that you wish existed. What is it, what features would it have. Is there anything out there that is close, and if so why isn't it right?

Trend: shapeless black things

You know what I love? For real. Shapeless black things. looks great on men and women. if you're into unisex styles (I am).

don't know who the designer is. alas tumblr with nothing sourced.

Macabre Gadgets

Holy moly, did you see Ukraine-based designer Macabre Gadget's newest rings? The top-left one is my favorite. I love how HUGE these are.

 Ring, $400 / Vyhor Ring, $240 / Kryksy Ring, $400 / Vovkun Ring II, $400 / Viy Ring, $400 / Vovkun Ring II, $400

thoughts?

Leather Harnesses--still cool?

Remember the Alexander McQueen Fall 2011 show, with all the harnesses?

Amazing that was 2 years ago, right? 

and then came the imitations

Friday night!

Eh some personal blogging--I prefer to keep this blog fashion-focused, but I don't know. I guess some personal blogging doesn't hurt here and there.

So, I wanted to see this band, the Crystal Stilts, but both shows were sold out in NYC. They were opening for Deerhunter, which I guess is a popular band. I wouldn't know. The Crystal Stilts are a local Brooklyn band, so I'm like NBD, they'll play again.  Well, apparently, they're going on a world tour. Who knows when they'll be back. Friday night, they were playing in Philadelphia, which is about 2 hours away by bus from NYC.

Of course, after the show, there'd be no place to stay, so we'd eventually just have to sleep outside somewhere until the bus left in the morning. We've done this gutterpunk BS before (this is how I know I married the right guy... only he'd say "yeah sure! sounds like a great idea!"). It wasn't about the band--they're good, but this isn't like NIN Woodstock '94--but an adventure! But the show was in a dodgy part of town and we'd be spending the night outside in one of the worst 'hoods in Philli, unless we wanted to take like a $50 cab ride to somewhere nicer. So much for that.

Well, if I couldn't see that generic brooklyn indie hipster band, I want to see SOME brooklyn indie hipster band. So I headed out to underground Bushwick music venue Shea Stadium. I haven't been there for years--Is the place still cool? Are all the kids going somewhere else these days?

Anyway, pictures of my friday night:

DIY pentagram garter! Elastic leg garter tutorial

lol so obviously simple you don't really need a tutorial. One of these days I'll get my sewing machine out of its box!

Pantone Fall 2013 Colors

So, NYFW's covering spring looks...but summer hasn't even ended yet! For those of you in the southern hemisphere, you might want to look at Pantone's newly announced spring colors. (sorry: colours)

But I want to talk about fall. Here are the Pantone colors for fall 2013, and there'll be some looks after the jump.

What's Pantone? Well, it's basically the, um... only color company? Every that uses colors uses Pantone colors. You need something printed at a commercial printer? they're going to ask you for a Pantone color number. Ordering fabric from a textile manufacturer... going to need a pantone color for that too. I don't understand how they make their money.


Pantone Fall 2013 colors by ahp259 featuring a red sweater

Corsets?

Read more about the challenge here.

Who doesn't love the corset look? Who doesn't love wearing them? Well, if you don't plan on eating that night, lol. I'm not going to bore my knowledgeable readers with facts about corsets (history, kinds of boning, etc) they already know. I'm going to cover how I, personally, wear them.

Corsets are feminine and look good with the more classic goth/aristocratic looks. They provide an almost armor-like structure to your look, which also looks great for industrial styles. Personally, I think they look better on curvier girls, but I do what I can with my no-curves.

First off, for my more traditional goth looks, this is my favorite stuff to wear underneath a corset. The shirt is from forever 21 (I think I got it in 1999ish) and is my favorite! The skirt was a hand-me-down from mom, from the 80s.

What's in my bag?

Read more about the challenge here.

Well, the original post was to write about what's in your MAKEUP bag, but I don't carry around a cosmetic bag. Everything's just floating around my bag. I also don't carry much makeup around... just a tube of lipstick and an eye pencil. I've got some foundation and a "foundation brush" aka a paintbrush waiting for me at work/home. Here's what's in my bag:

Septum

So back on 8/2, I finally didn't chicken out and went ahead and got my septum pierced (12g, with a retainer) at Pure Body Arts at Sacred Tattoo in NYC. It's one of the best piercing places in the country, and they do some pretty heavy mods there. Chris did my piercing. He had a great bedside manner and was completely professional--also the poor guy was hit by a car not too long ago and was limping around.

Recent Hypes

Just wanted to share a few looks I liked. 

http://lookbook.nu/look/5321808-Bike-Polo

I love how her hair matches her bike...and how (except for the hair...too vivid!) Brooklyn-five-years-ago this is.

Yellow and wine

Her red hair and that yellow-orange really look nice together for the fall. And I don't think berets got enough attention last fall!

I've got an eye on you

This is awesome. I love these eyes! DIY denim was the rage early spring as were the denim shorts. Can't summer last a little longer! also love her makeup

White definitely

If you haven't heard of Zana Bayne, I don't know where you've been. He's wearing a Zana Bayne necklace harness, which looks great. One day I'll save some money and get a piece. I'm also inspired by a lot of the goth boys and what they're doing... and I absolutely love this look

Boy under the rain

Another look by the same dude. Those pants are awesome.

Elevator Love Letter

crop top and chiffon skirt.... this was my favorite look for work this summer

Photoshop of horrors: long beautiful legs!

If you're short like me, you probably always dreamed of long, beautiful legs. Well, you can with photoshop, but it's good to be mindful of a few things...skeletal proportions, for one thing. This photo came up on my tumblr feed. The photographer had an editorial vision and photoshopped accordingly, which is cool and all, but the bizarre proportions make this completely surreal and confusing. 

As you'll notice, class, the femur (thigh bone) is the longest bone in your entire body:

but through the magic of photoshop....

Trend: Clear/Hologram

So, you probably know by now that I'm pretty much ex-cybergoth/industrial, so naturally I'm loving the hologram trend and the clear trend that's been going on during summer. Now summer's over.... maybe some of this stuff will be on sale soon!

not my polyvore set... but why reinvent the wheel when someone's done it. click through to see the user's other sets.

I've got a pair of real beetle wing earrings that I got from Evolution in Soho that fit well with the trend: 

I don't know why exactly I'm liking the clear trend. I think because it's so odd. Like those clear platforms. Also ghostly.

Whatcha guys think?

outfit post 20130829

Boston

Sorry I've been gone! I just came back from Boston. I was kind of ho-hum about going at first, but the city won me over pretty quick. My midnight walk through the cobblestone streets of Beacon Hill was probably my favorite part. This section of the city is so colonial...you just feel instantly transported.