the fashion void that is DC

...When my eBay watch list is comprised of this:



Sellers, 1st row (L to R): the family vintage, doorag24

2nd row: FUNKIN JUNKIE, holmesisdope, Style Rookie (good cause!), Kingston Avenue Vintage

3rd row: Oou Vintage, DJ Sales

Nope, not sure at all.

Due to further camera difficulties (read: forgetting memory card AGAIN WHAT THE EFF), have an assorted random post instead! Apologies if I've spoiled your secret eBay picks, but hey, I put my own bidding strategy on the line to "spread da love" -- so to speak.

On a completely different matter, anyone out there a fan of typography? ......*crickets* Wellll, in case anyone's curious of my "professional interests", here is the graphic design project that I've been periodically complaining about and FINALLY finished last Monday. It's a 24-page booklet on the typeface "Akzidenz Grotesk". Have no idea what that is? Here's the front and back cover:



Perhaps one might endeavor to read all about it? Oooor not, since the writing is really bad and there are typos littered about (I wrote it in one go at 3 am, okay?!) For all the non-snooping-around people, that links to my "personal" homepage/portfolio, where basically I throw up all my school projects and shiz. Oh man, now I'm really putting myself out there.

Oh, and before I galumph away into the sunset, here is a link to my robust list of vintage/consignment/thrift shops in the DC area. Because I realize, based on the e-mails I've been getting, that new readers are not aware of it! Well, there it is. Freshly updated and everything! Hopefully it's been coming in use for some people.

Yeah, sometimes it's hard to tell because almost nothing I post about on here is typically DC-related! *cough*

Whilst I am busy running around in boring outfits and not studying, have some pictures of the National Mall! Typical of someone who lives around here, I rarely actually meander over there, though I went over Thanksgiving break to show some friends around. ...Yes, this post has no real purpose.

Oh, and by the way, the thing at Vintage No. 5 on Sunday is from 3-6 pm. Note that when I mean "party", I mean more like... old ladies milling around, most likely. Think of it more as checking out a shop than a social event... haha. So it's okay if you go alone, after all, shopping is best done alone!







I'm pretty sure that was the president/some high ranking official's helicopter, because there were three in succession. Yeah, that's the indicator, man.



Somewhat-recently finished WWII memorial.







The neglected Jefferson Memorial. It's funny because the ponytail on the statue of Jefferson in there looks like a carrot. Tee hee.



I really like the Korean Memorial. It's just... very cool.

Some less landmark-y photos:



This bicycle was submerged in the Tidal Basin. Looked ghostly.





Proof of DC's pedestrian-unfriendliness -- we only had L time left to cross!



lol tourists lol.

This also confirms to me that my camera is not as crappy as I thought it was -- not taking boring self-portraits against the door, its pictures actually come out quite nice!

I just love the weird stuff Rachael Gibson of Fur Coat, No Knickers posts about. For example, this "Fuck the Rain" umbrella:



Hah! That bird's-eye view shot is priceless.

And these t-shirts:



Both from Print Liberation. I find these bizarrely covetable, especially the McCain one. See, I'm conflicted: on one hand, in a couple weeks, these shirts will be rendered obsolete, on the other hand, I can already picture myself in outfits revolving around the McCain shirt... gah.

This doesn't reveal my political affiliation at all! No sir.

Anyways, I don't want to COMPLETELY steal from her blog, so here are a few more of my own novel finds, off Etsy:



Haha, oh man. "Stinky Bomb"! There is something playful and quite sinister about this grenade soap, but at least the pun works beautifully.



And some .."interesting" clocks. The queen silhouette one (from nakeddecor) is pretty normal, actually, but the exit sign one... *WANT*. From IMOTIME.

And this has been your novel news of the day!

The Metro station THIS crowded:


It's like London on Boxing Day. Someone's head actually got stuck between the Metro doors -- I was instantly reminded of the story of the guy who got his head chopped off by an elevator. Luckily 10 hands immediately flew to pry open the door -- ahh, the power of teamwork!

A "Metro Variety Shop":


Selling Ty Beanie Babies, no less.

And, finally, Payless having insaaaane shoes?!



I almost never go to Payless, but today, I coincidentally meandered into the Metro Center store to find that the alice + olivia collection had just dropped. I had actually been following the designer collabs with Payless, from Abaeté to Lela Rose, but so far had been unimpressed by the work. I'm surprised to say the alice + olivia one is quite, dare I say, unique and covetable? I applaud their risk taking, since Payless isn't exactly known to be even a trendy vendor. They're definitely not for everyone, but I'm seriously digging the front-zip wedges with the attached front-piece thingy. I usually dislike wedges, but these have this hugely appealing futuristic vibe. I can just imagine wearing them with silver shiny leggings... oh man.

Unforunately (and maybe ironically), you have to pay a lot more for these shoes -- $48, in fact. No longer can the store be called Payless... more like, Payamoderatelypriceyamount. Hopefully, most people will be turned off by the shoes' craziness so that they will go on sale soon.

Yeah. I'm bored. One of my graphic design classes is pretty much just teaching you how to use Photoshop. So for an exercise, we were supposed to make a college from web images of some kind "mythical creature". And so since I have homework nothing better to do, and feel like posting, here it is.



I used Kate Moss's face from the September issue of Interview Magazine as the head of this "sphinx". And then... badly Photoshopped lion's mouth, with a cheetah's body and overlaid leopard spots. Like what Kate Moss would wear, haha. So it's vaguely relevant?

Yeah, I dunno either. I'd like to call it "abstract"

Link via Dinosaur Comics.

Luckily, my roommate is just dandy, but you know, just in case for all those college kids out there.

Yep, totally random, just felt like sharing.

Well, it's midnight, and I'm bored again. And so with nothing better to post about... again, have some doodles I did on the back of my sister's college paper!

Actually, there is relevance -- I was thinking it'd be fun to do a little "fashion 'illustrations'" (I have to encase "illustrations" within more quotes), and interpret some looks from the Fall 08 shows:



Hooray for themes. You can't have Balenciaga and not think robots. All red is Iceberg, I dunno, I just wanted to draw a leaping pose. As for YSL, I loved the styling of the whole collection, which somehow reminded me of futuristic, post-Apocalyptic Japanese anime. Like the cool, gun-toting assassin. Or maybe that's just me.


Zac Posen and his disturbing Minnie Mouse throwback; Rodarte, well, it should be obvious.

And because I like to post images as much as possible, here's the extremely rough, doodle page before I colored it:

I've been out about or at home, doing non-fashiony things. So since I'm hard-pressed to find relevant topics to post about, here is a card I drew for my art teacher today:

She really likes fashion, and a long time ago she showed me this Janis Lives! editorial in Fashion Rocks, starring Raquel Zimmermann in huge, colorful furs and statement necklaces. So I just used one of those images as a reference.

Here's the line-art (pencil first, then in Copic Multiliners, which are a godsend)...



Some progress markering (really, this is just to fill up space):



In full color glory...



I use Copic Markers, which are the best artist's markers out there, in my opinion (eat that, Prismacolor).

Aaand finally, on the card:



Don't we all love pixellated names?

I will have something more relevant to post about soon (perhaps).

Recall my choice of footwear today (post below).



This much.

Suffice to say, with the weather being 97 degrees sunny, with no breeze, it was HOT HOT HOT. SWELTERING. Even sitting under a tent, it still felt sizzlin'.



Anyways, this is a totally random/off-topic post, but as I mentioned yesterday, I saw some car racing today in a parking lot in FedEx Field (home to the Redskins, Nationals, etc). More specifically, Autocross, which is a motorsport that basically involves maneuvering around traffic cones in a parking lot in the fastest time possible. Some family members were racing so I was dragged into watching. I rode in a car too; felt like you're sitting in a roller coaster, which was kinda fun.

So, the only reason why I'm posting is that I found it interesting that most autocrossers customize their cars, most of the times internally (as in, faster engine, etc), but sometimes, externally. Some cars that I thought were kind of cool:



Especially the second car, originally a Volvo. Here's a closer look



It was altered to look like Domo-kun! It was so adorable. The Mini Cooper next to it is the car we drove.

This ends my random post of the day.

I got a manicure for the first time today. And I ate at PHO for dinner.



Therefore, I got my nails painted to match the silverware.

JUST KIDDING, my family and I just thought it was a funny coincidence. A-and they told me to post it here. ;;