90s Inspo...TOO SOON

I haven't ranted about fashion things for a while now because nothing has completely blown me away or inspired a rant. Until now.

90s fashion.

I noticed this picture on A Beautiful Mess, which is one of my favorite blogs, and they described the photo shoot as 90s inspired? Uh... what?

I'm sure everyone in the fashion world has been noticing all the studs, purple dyed hair, and upside down crosses that are trending. That which people call “grunge” (I've ranted about it before: here). I'm all for it. It's modified grunge per say, “neo-grunge” as I've heard it called. But what has been irking me lately is that this return to grunge style has been beginning to return a lot of other fashion collections to the 90s. Or at least, they say that the 90s are their inspiration.

I need to drop a TOO SOON here. Yes, I am one of those kids who grew up in the 90s who misses the cartoons, the Disney channel original movies, and eating Flinstones Push-pops at the park. I am learning to accept that the 90s weren't actually ten years ago.  

The 90s I remember are Spice Girls and Clueless. These are the 90s clothes that we saw in mass media. They were loud and tacky and we loved them. There was also the opposite side of bubblegum pop-culture: Nirvana (if we're talking grunge).

And these styles are kind of coming back. Fashion looks back most of the time. Designers are inspired by Marie Antionette, Victorian architecture, their homelands, etc. Fashion is beginning to evolve by repeating itself. And that's okay... but looking back at the 90s seems TOO SOON to me. Honestly, if they keep looking back to an era that is within the last 20 years, what are they going to look back to next? Last year?  

Just imagine... a collection next year inspired by last year's take on 90s fashion. Not ok. We need more innovation. Remember Zenon: Girl of the 21^st Century? That was the future to 90s kids. (American Apparel has taken that route so far... tight spandex.) We should all be wearing our hair in pigtails on top of our heads, stretchy chrome boots, and fabrics should be entirely synthetic-based by now. 

Moral of the story is... let's look towards the future and not to the past.

Back to the Chi

I'm back! I have finished with Spoleto coverage in Charleston and can officially say that I have my Master's degree. Want to read a few articles I wrote for the paper? My costume feature is here and my story about the Young Artists series is here.

 

Press Party south of Broad St!

I got a week to "relax" and tomorrow I'm moving to downtown Chicago for 5 weeks. I'll be working as a chaperone for the summer intensive programs at the Joffrey Ballet. I get to live on State Street (but in a dorm, as I'll be supervising 15 year olds) and I'm really excited to experience downtown living while working for a major arts organization. I hope it leads to good things!

Walking around by the Battery, new silk Indian wrap dress!

Now that I'm not in school anymore (!), I hope to get back on track with blogging, stay tuned!

Charleston Update

Hey y'all. I'm getting into the swing of things in Charleston, but am still finding some time between shows and shooting pictures to do some walking around and hanging out. I basically love walking around because the city is SO beautiful and full of history. I'd love to do a huge photodump for the place... maybe once I'm back home.

Today, I saw some ballroom dance and went to a one-women play. I wasn't terribly impressed by either, but I'm not a huge theatre person and the venue for the style of dance wasn't in their favor. I'm excited to see more of the College of Charleston's young artist series tomorrow, which I wrote about the other day (read here). I know a bit about 2 of the piano players, one of whom is extremely young and talented. So that'll be amazing.

Here's a picture of my new bright dress:

 

And because it matched my dress so perfectly, giant macaroon!!

 

If you would like to read my biggest feature article that printed, you can find that HERE. It's about dance costumes, specifically for Alvin Ailey and The Radio Show by Abraham.In.Motion. I even got the skybar on the front page! And in other news... I have an interview with the Joffrey Ballet on Friday for being a summer chaperone... oh yeeeah.

Beard and Mustache Competition

See, I knew I'd neglect this while I'm churning out photos and stories in Charleston. I just got back from watching Alvin Ailey perform (which was amazing), and I'm taking time out to photodump these pictures because they're too rad NOT to be seen. The possible best use of my press pass ever came last night when I attended a beard and mustache competition at Music Farm.

Best. Photo opp. Ever. No one denied me a photo, but the lighting was terrible, so the photos are mostly out of focus. But these guys were the friendliest people ever, and I only wish I didn't look like a lame journalist while they looked super badass (I can picture what I'd want to wear: my black pinupy romper and that sheer overdress, yeah? It's in the Chicago closet, boohoo.). Anyway, here are some of the most fabulous beards of the evening.


WELCOME TO THE SOUTH!!!! (more after the break)

DIY: Bleach Splatter Tank

I'm sneaking in one last DIY before I leave for Charleston tomorrow (!). I always end up with a pile of Hanes beaters that my brother doesn't want, so I basically experiment on them. I dyed one black but it came out a charcoal gray color and wasn't evenly dyed at all.



Since it looked a little grungey already, I decided to bleach splatter it and make it look like a complete hot mess instead of half a hot mess. All you need is a shirt, liquid bleach, a cup to put it in, and a paintbrush you're willing to destroy.

 

The best advice I can give for bleaching technique is swish and flick. Wingardium Leviosa, baby. Load up your paint brush dripping with bleach and fling it. It's best to work outside or on some newspapers so you don't speckle everything within a 10 foot radius.

 

I now know what it's like to be Jackson Pollock. It's not as easy as it looks and there is a slight technique to it, unless you just want bleach globs everywhere. Make sure you do the sides of your top as well as the front and back. You want the whole garment to be evenly splattered.  

 

Here's the finished product!

 

I wasn't kidding about bleach destroying paintbrushes. Bleach is dangerous stuff; it ate most of the bristles off of my beautiful bamboo calligraphy brushes (not that I ever used it...). Be careful!