the fashion void that is DC

Here is a post of things I have done this week.

Yesterday: hit up Treasury, a secondhand shop that just opened a couple days ago on the corner of 14th and T.



I gotta say, the shops around U St are especially curated with a boutique-type atmosphere. The space, albeit tiny, seemed wide open with their carefully edited selection of clothing.







You get the idea. Not the cheapest of shops, but the space is charming and they have really adorable accessories. Didn't walk away with anything, but will definitely make a note for a return trip.

And that ends the relevant part of this post. And now here's a picture of some Russian nesting dolls I painted for a friend's birthday:



Progress shot, because I like progress shots. They are caricatures of my friend's friends. One of them is me, which one..?!



Also, here's a bizarro painting I did as a commission (also a birthday thing):



Yeah, I'm not really sure either.

I can't believe this is the first time I've blogged at work. I mean, I would think I'd have done it plenty of times by now!



Wore this yesterday, which is a slight modification of the outfit I came up for the Washingtonian shoot the day before. Less sequin-y, more, uh. Boy preschooler?!




I got this pearl bowtie at Polly Sue's some time ago. Makes things ridiculous, in more ways than one. Need to wear it more often.

H&M sleeveless shirt dress, secondhand fishnet top underneath, secondhand Rider's shorts, secondhand bowtie, H&M belt, secondhand Corsina shoes

Today I'm on the Washingtonian Magazine blog! They asked me some time ago for an interview and photo shoot of sorts, and I happily obliged. Ya'll can read my lame responses to the writer's questions there.

Chris Leaman, the photographer, came to my house yesterday to take some Juergen Teller-esque shots (not really, just when I think overexposed I think Marc Jacobs ads. T'was quite an interesting experience! I learned that a photographer better have strong arms to carry around their lights everywhere.

I asked Chris for an outtake of what I actually wore that day (the leftmost outfit) so I could post it here. Behold, awkward pose!



Secondhand Nobel dress, deconstructed top from Handmade Mart, DIY harness, pettipants from eBay, We Love Colors tights

And here's the picture from the blog. I was asked to change into three different outfits... and then poorly attempt to "work it":



I think it worked out alright!

Blahh, stuff to do just not doing it. Got some new lipstick yesterday. As usual, have to dress around it. Here are the results:



It's NARS Heat Wave. So perfectly red-orangey!



And I guess what I think of it is... vaguely space-agey-harlequin? I am really good at describing things.



Also, I feel infinitely more foolish posing sitting than standing up, though I think that had more to do with being in my house and wearing sunglasses in said house.



Good thing I had nothing stuck in my teeth.

H&M jacket, secondhand crop top, DIY black skirt, AA red skirt, mirrored aviators borrowed from sister, We Love Colors tights, Vince Camuto heels

There were some fireworks yesterday, as a few may have noticed. Decided it might be a good idea to actually go into DC to watch them for the first time. Turned out to be kind of a bad idea. BUT.



It allowed us to take cheesy, lascivious and also patriotic pictures with the Washington Monument, so. It made up for the so-so fireworks and walking around pointlessly in circles for a couple hours. The above picture was my chief motivation for going into DC, really.

Plus, this is one of the only times of year where there's a perfectly valid and endearing excuse to be one of those gross matchy-matchy pairs.



I posted this picture because it reminds me of those cracked-out children's television shows where it's all blurry and bizarrely saturated. Also my friend who took the picture said it was a good shot of the color blocking we had going on here.

On him: all H&M (what a label whore, amirite); On me: secondhand sequin jacket, Rogan for Target tank top, Cheap Monday shorts, Jeffrey Campbell sandals

So today was non-eventful in an eventful way. After napping 'til one o'clock or so, my mom decided it would be a good idea to drag our family to Sandy Point Beach near the Bay Bridge this afternoon.

So instead of napping on the couch at home...



We napped on some towels on the beach. The one in black is my sister, who I think looks like a mannequin dressed as a corpse on the beach.

Sorry, this is more of a "life" post. And by "life" I mean that we are a family of big camwhores and spent the whole time taking gratuitous pictures of each other. Like these!





Wearing out a high-waisted H&M bikini I purchased some time ago. I'm shocked that H&M is still the only high street retailer that's jumped on the retro bikini trend on the cheap. I'm looking at you, $98 Urban Outfitters swimsuits *shakes fist*.



After napping, we took some normal pictures. I think this is a good picture of the girls in my family. Except that I'm wearing boring sunglasses. Tragedy, I know.

After THAT, since the last time we went to Sandy Point Beach was over 18 years ago when I was two months old, we decided to reenact some pictures we took from that time:



I'm the one in that woman (my mom's) lap. Obviously I have gotten bigger.




Or maybe my parents just got smaller.

After we left the beach, we decided to eat dinner at Ikea for no reason:



Something about having both hands full of food makes me feel extra gluttonous. Mmm, attractive eating pictures.

And that concludes my day.

**Guest edited by martin ♥**

so... you know, blah blah blah, pretty clothing.... but more importantly, Andrew's sweet sweet delicious asian ass... ♥









Alexander Mcqueen jacket, secondhand Liz Claiborne dress, Zara belt, We Love Colors rights, H&M heels

I spent five minutes spacing out thinking of what to write. Okay, whew, now this space is taken.



And I had the clever idea of waiting 'til dusk to take these pictures! Yeah, sorry for the picture quality, the rain also helped.

Today was a "shop the closet" day -- I hadn't worn this black and white floral printed dress in... over a year? I remembered thinking the ruffled collar was a bit excessive a year ago... which obviously means that I love it now.



The blue and green diamond-print bag I almost never carry around, simply because it's too small to function as a day bag.



All in all, a day of very deliberate wardrobe choices, however mostly not captured on camera. Ooooh well.

Zara cardigan, Kimchi & Blue dress, secondhand Saramae Lingerie petticoat underneath, H&M leggings, secondhand Anne Klein shoes, secondhand Nicholas Reich bag

I worked today without distracting myself through instant messaging, went home in time for dinner and didn't reveal one of my friend's terrible secrets! All in all, a very virtuous day for me. Oh, and I also got my hair cut -- finally, the back of my head, like AstroTurf once again!



On a completely different subject: I was getting jealous of my boy-a friend-a's hot pink pants (recall this post) so I got a pair for myself. I think the only reason why it's taken me so long was that I was afraid of falling into the emo/hipster cliche. No more. Here I am pandering to the cliche, except the blazer makes it more business-like, ha ha ha.



On the subject of emo/hipster, Hot Topic is having a clearance sale, which is where I got said pants. It's funny how Hot Topic, the poser-gothy-emo store, carries Tripp NYC clothing for cheaper than Trash and Vaudeville does, a supposedly more legit goth/punk shop in NYC.

Whilst I like the pattern and colors Tripp offers, I'm continuously disturbed by the now-outdated low-waistedness of their pants. Just because you wanna be faux punky doesn't mean your hipbones have to be exposed.



(Disclaimer: I abuse the definition of the words "emo", "hipster", "goth" and "punk" very liberally in this post. I don't apologize!!!)

Norma Kamali for Walmart blazer, Violet & Claire blouse, Tripp NYC pants, H&M belt, F21 bracelets, H&M heels

**Whoops, it seems the blog has seen a bit of neglect lately. In my defense: 3 days of boring outfits + 1 day where I flat-out forgot. Whoops again. This week will be....... different!?!? Anyways, on to the subject on this post.**

I think we're in fair due for another self-indulgent coveting post. I've come to realize that all the crap I want now is pretty much the same as the crap I've wanted before but never got. The list piles on forever, until I finally devolve into a maelstrom of endless greed.

I mean, not that I'm not one now, but it's fun to put it that way. For instance:




#1) American Apparel disco slut bike shorts last January; rainbow disco slut shorts plus other random tight things now. I suppose I could never shake that disco slut feeling.



#2) Panelled stuff. Of course, my horrible DIY came way before James Lillis and his leggings label Black Milk came under my radar. I've been using broke-ness as an excuse to not get his amazing Silver Spartans, but come birthday (aka gaining money) time -- NO MORE. jL, I am coming for you.



#3) THIS skirt from Peeps. I think this post is quickly turning into the Universal Blogger Covet Post (tm). Admittedly, the rope, harness + grommet trim, zipper and floral fabric pretty much pushes all the ubiquitous buttons. My excuse is that I have no pencil skirts anyways (seriously! ....Seriously..!)



#4) THE friggin' Slow and Steady Wins the Race sunglasses, particularly the hinge and the circle frame square lens types. I think I wanted these when everyone else was talking about them a half a year ago -- though whereas people either dropped $100 for them or got over it, I lingered on like the lingering thing I am.



Anyways, lastly, and most agonizingly, HEADPIECES BLAAGH. So vaguely affordable, so many options, and hence so much indecision. My internal monologue, starting top left and going clockwise:

a) See, if these pink headphone-shaped things really were headphones, I would not hesitate. And so... do I really want non-functional, hot pink sea-anemone-like growths coming out both sides of my head? Yes...!?!?

b) Urban Outfitters always has some vaguely desirable crap, but headpieces and mass-retail-that-is-not-dastardly-cheap just... leaves a bad taste...

c) Okay, the seller's on vacation right now, but um. Yeah, money.

d) Spiky pink lacy mini hat. See above comment. Bite tongue.



On a separate-but-really-quite-similar-note, it's that time of year again. The time of year where, up until now, I'm all satisfied with summer and whatnot -- until Teen Vogue and their damn back-to-school editorials start rolling around. And hence the count towards fall season begins again, premature and agonizing.

In particular, their ed "New Balance", in the recent August issue. Sorry for the follow crappy camera pics:





On top of the outstanding styling as usual, check the shoes. Oh, the shoes! I remember Queen Michelle talking about winklepickers some time ago and being taken by the pointy toe, but the Teen Vogue ed really sold them to me. Especially in bright blue and orange. Bright blue and orange...



Hence I was disappointed that the winklepicker carrying e-shop Underground England had only these two colorful options. Still, blue or gold, here I (eventually) come. Hopefully the availability of the shoes online isn't as spotty as QM described.

...I should re-title this post "The Post of Pain" because that's all it's bringing me.

Unless otherwise stated, images belong to respective web sites