Don't Pull Your Own Winona

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In Gustave Flaubert’s classic tale Madame Bovary, Emma racks up debt from her excessive designer purchases. Fast-forward 150 years later and Winona Ryder is caught shoplifting over $5,500 worth of designer clothes from Sax Fifth Avenue. Thankfully Target has stepped in to help the sybarites among us with impulse-shopping problems and developed Go International, a line that features high-end designer pieces at a mass market price. Zac Posen, who created pieces such as floral brocade frocks, is the latest designer to debut his clothes at the discount retailer.

Known as one of the IT boys in the elite world of fashion, Zac Posen is following many other young, emerging designers such as Proenza Schouler, Alice Temperley, and Rodarte and throwing his hat into Target’s arena of mass market fashion. Posen’s line will feature pieces ranging from $16.99-199.00 according to the Target website.

But can Posen, whose average dress retails for about $1000.00, translate his signature aesthetic at such a low price point without comprising quality or stylistic integrity?

Roberta Elins, a professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, says that Target’s mass market lines do a good job at delivering well designed clothes at a lower price point. But she adds that it is illogical to think that the quality will be comparable to a designer’s original luxury line.

“That’s like saying couture can translate into regular, ready-to-wear,” Elins states. “There are high-end yachts and than there are weekend sailboats,” she says, making an analogy between boats and a designer’s luxury and mass market line. Both models can perform the same basic function, originate from the same brand and possess similar design, yet in terms of quality one will always have a larger cabin or more hand ruched detailing than the other.

So if you can’t afford the yacht should you even bother shelling out for the weekend sailboat?

Posen, despite price limitations, did stay true to his vision and parallels can definitely be drawn between his runway collection and Go International line. Yet whether this is a positive for the average Northwestern student will be dependent on what exactly the student is looking for.

Accustomed to designing for socialites and celebrities, Posen’s line for Target consists mostly of dresses and party-wear. From a bright red dress with tulle and ruffles that looks like a modernized version of a Molly Ringwald outfit in a John Hughes’ movie, to a bodycon cocktail dress, these items are not the average pieces you see down Sheridan Road.

This quality is seen as a plus for many college students who see these lines as a great opportunity to acquire pieces they may not normally be able to afford from a well-known designer. Yet as Elins points out, it is not necessarily the only or the most economical way to attain unconventional or branded items.

College students, who Elins says are a crucial demographic of these Target lines, have many options of recessionista dressing depending on their geographical location. Posen’s and other mass market lines may not be viewed as the messiah of cheap chic in a city like Chicago where there is an abundance of vintage stores that offer stylish clothes at an affordable price.

Elins says that most smart college shoppers will chose a combination of mass market purchases and vintage finds. She adds that lines like Go International may be more appealing to a more conservative shopper, who can see a look put together and stylized on a mannequin.

Paula Kim a social worker who is a shopper of the Evanston Target says she usually looks at the Go International lines but does not necessarily buy anything.

“The items are all very cute” Kim says while clutching a structured tuxedo skirt with an exposed zipper. “But the sizes are way too small, I feel like a giant when trying things on.“

This is a common complaint among Target customers, who on the review section of Target’s website often state to size up when purchasing items.

With pieces like a silky floor length print gown featuring intricate construction at the bodice and a red leather jacket that looks like it’s circa Studio 54, it seems that Zac Posen’s line may be the perfect distraction from pulling your own Winona.

-Heba Hasan

Will the Real Hispter Please Stand Up?

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Who is a hipster? Is it the girl at Kafein sporting the library readers and the unwashed asymmetrical haircut? Or is that boy at the poetry slam drinking a micro brewed beer in his Three Wolf Moon T-shirt? No, neither of them are hipsters, at least not according to them anyway.

No one is a self-admitted hipster, because to associate one self within the conformity of a label would be the antithesis of the hipster philosophy, analogous to a Quaker wearing a NRA t-shirt.

Yet it seems that those who fall into the hipster category are the first ones that adamantly deny their hipster status. But how does a creature of the plaid wearing species rationalize this act of apparent self-denial?

As blogger of Pop Matters Rob Horning puts it “People think of their own bids for recognition in a different way: we’re not trying to be cool; we’re just expressing who we really are. That other guy, though, what a douche.”

But what is it exactly about the title hipster that attracts so much loathing and criticism among the public and critics alike?

According to the creator of the website Hipsterwave, J. Parker Doty, hipsters attract such negative sentiments because of their attitude of superiority and pretension.

“If you walk around thinking your cooler and different than everyone else people are going to pick up on that and react negatively,” he says.

It is true that the label has come to encompass more then just a propensity for neon hued wayfarers and Wes Anderson movies. The term has come to describe, whether accurately or not, people who practice an outward effort of being “cool.”

“It designates people who are invalidating the authenticity of certain social practices by making them seem as though they are only about scoring points on identity,” says Horning.

And we’ve seen it plague the most artfully constructed hipsters, the moment they realize a facet of their subculture is suddenly deemed “cool,” diluted to the unoriginal masses of the public they drop it as quick as that Ed Hardy shirt that they “never” used to wear.

But can you really blame hipsters for being so finicky about the facets that make up their subculture. Because besides their Rushmore DVD and healthy dose of cynicism what really is the foundation of modern hipsterdom?

Many people say that today’s hipsters do not have a subculture of their own, lacking any defining characteristics. They are not like the original hipsters of the 40s that wanted to emulate the lifestyle of jazz musicians nor are they like Jack Kerouac and his fellow beatniks carrying around the “Naked Lunch” as their manifesto.

The basis of today’s hipsters is solely founded on the mantra of being different for the sake of being different. This is the reason why many critics have claimed that the hipster culture has come to an end, engulfed by consumerism and a capitalistic society.

Some individuals lament the creation of stores like Urban Outfitters and American Apparel for “capitalizing on the concept of coolness” according to Parker.

But others argue that these corporations are the very pillars that are holding down the hipster camp.

Hipsterism wouldn’t be possible without stores like American Apparel and Urban Outfitters, according to Horning. Since it is based on the expression of identity through goods that possess “cool connotations” you really can’t have one without the other, he says.

So with every other youth buying their pre-pubescent sized jeans and their worn in messenger bags at the local strip mall is there an authentic hipster out there? And moreover is there a hipster who doesn’t view the word as a complete and utter travesty to their counter culture?

The thing is, we are all closet hipsters on the inside. Mainstream culture’s boundaries have become nebulous, with indie bands playing on the radio, Cannes Film Festival winners available on Netflix and everyone owning a pair of converse maybe hipster culture has not become extinct. Maybe everyone is just trying on different facets of being a hipster.

Yet isn’t the popularization of hipster culture sacrilegious? But then again, who better to pull of a sense of irony than a hipster?

-Heba Hasan

Millinery: A Dying Art

Photo Credit: Heba Hasan

A Step by Step Process of Making a Hat

When 13-years-old Tonya Gross stepped into a haberdasher in her small town she never looked back. Like many milliners, or hat maker’s in the area, Gross’ love for hats was not something she actively sought out but rather something that found her. Though like many professionals in the industry, Gross’ love for millinery is sometimes accompanied by a growing frustration at the lack of attention that millinery receives.

Millinery is the construction of hats, traditionally by hand. Nicknamed a “dying art” millinery has been steadily declining since the 60’s to a point where most of the public does not know what the term “milliner” encompasses. Chicago has formed two major guilds, The Millinery Arts Alliance and Chapeau Guild that in conjunction with independent milliners are devoted to keep the art of couture millinery alive.

“I think we are like the bastard stepchild of the accessory world,” Laurie Kennard, a member of the Chapeau Guild, says with a laugh.

Laurie Kennard is referring to the lack of press that hats and therefore milliners receive in fashion magazines. Tonya Gross, a milliner and winner of the prestigious millinery Hatty award agrees, stating that the opportunity to sell in retail spaces is shrinking despite the resurgence of hats on the fashion runway for the past 7-8 years.

Eia Radosavljivec, former founder of the Millinery Arts Alliance and millinery professor at the School of Art Institute attributes this to America’s myopic aesthetic viewpoint.

“I do think it’s a real shame that so many people are afraid to be individualistic at all about how they look. American’s pride themselves on individualism and freedom but it’s a bunch of lemmings,” she says. Because they have to be wearing something they’ve seen someone else wear before. “

Owner of Formé millinery, Jenny Pfanenstiel agrees, commenting on how surprised she was upon entering the field to see just how dying the art really was.

“You used to be able to walk down Michigan Avenue and find couture milliner shops everywhere,” she says dismayingly, alluding to places such as Raymond Hudd’s boutique and the millinery salon at Marshall Fields, both of which have closed.

The deterioration of couture millinery in the scheme of retail is due to the lack of education that faces most potential hat buyers.

Member of Chapeau Guild Marjorie Marshall says she can differentiate between two types of women when her guild throws events showcasing and selling hats.

There are the women who, according to Marshall, love hats and know what looks good on them and there are the other women who are fascinated by hats but are too hesitant to purchase one, believing that hats simply do not suit their face.

This is one of the reasons why events thrown by the Millinery Arts Alliance and Chapeau Guild are so crucial in educating the general public.

“I like to interact with the public because I hear over and over again that from customers that ‘oh my heads too big or I can never find the right hat fits me,’ says Gross. By having a customer in front of you, you can dial in the right silhouette and the right angle for them.”

Another facet that deters customers from purchasing hats is the intimidation factor that hats present to most customers.

“Getting women not to be afraid to wear hats is probably the biggest obstacle that milliners face,” says Kennard. “Wearing a hat down the street will get you noticed she says, so it takes a certain amount of confidence to wear a hat.”

But at the same time she counters that the right hat won’t feel like a costume, it will just bring out certain facets of the wearer.

“It brings out different parts of people’s personalities says Radosavljivec, parts that they have always possessed but keep on the back burner. I know people outside fashion think that fashion is superficial but it’s really interesting to see how how good of a communicator hats can be.”

Kennard says she was surprised to discover what she calls “hat women,” women who collect couture hats the way some women collect bags or shoes.

Gross says her clients are usually women with a distinct perspective, knowing what they want and what they need.

“I attract customers who are more mature, more stylish, a fashionista. Someone who is interested in something that is handcrafted and one of a kind,” she says.

Julia Winn, a purchaser of hats since the early 90s says she grew up watching her mother wear hats and was inspired to go to a hat event that she read about in the Chicago Tribune.

At her previous job she says that “people may not have known who I was but they knew me as the women with the hat. “Some men have a power tie; I have a power hat.”

She says that it does take a certain amount of confidence and price point to wear a couture hat which sometimes associate a certain type of exclusivity with the millinery industry..

One of the biggest misconceptions about millinery, Gross believes is the elitist and esoteric stigma associated with it.

“I’m always conscience of what’s going on the price tag,” she says. “I’d much rather continue to keep headwear on the radar for most people and not just take it to the runway and make it an exclusive club.”

The waning popularity of hats is even more of a reason she says, to open it up to the masses.

Kennard dismisses the argument that a milliner’s prices alienate customers, stating that compared to what women spend on pursues and shoes, hats are not that expensive.

“It depends on the style of hat,” she says. You can have a beautiful everyday hat to go along with a great coat and it will cost you the same as a great pair of shoes.”

Radosavljevic says that the perpetuation of the stigma is both the customers and milliners’ fault.

“I think it’s both ends faults. I think milliners need to design less expensive things that aren’t cheaply made garbage but still have put quality into it and I think the customer needs to be willing to put something on their head,“ she says.

She points out that all hats do not need to have feathers and veils and that after a while the donning of a hat seems quite natural.

“When I started designing hats I started wearing them everyday. At the beginning it felt a little contrived but after a week if I didn’t wear one it felt like I forgotten to put on my underwear.”

Mass-produced hats are a point contention among milliners. Some state that mass-produced hats shift attention away from traditional millinery while other milliners argue that the more people wear hats the better it is for the industry.

“To think that one size would fit everyone is crazy,” Lisa Farrell says of department store hats. “Mass produced hats are just a travesty, because people think that’s all there is.”

Kennard agrees, stating that one size fits all hats would be like if shoes were made in only one size.

“You can have a milliner make a hat for you and it’s not going to cost much more than a hat in a department store,” she points out.

Radosavljivec says that people wearing hats, even if they are mass produced would be a good thing for millinery, since it would prompt certain individuals to seek out a couture, one-of-a-kind hat.

Many people question whether millinery hats will ever truly resurface, or whether it is fated to become obsolete, residing in fashion’s proverbial closet amongst elbow length gloves and parasols.

Kennard agrees that hats have become incongruent with the times but this, she feels, isn't such a negative quality. “Hat’s are so out of time that they have become timeless,” she says.

-Heba Hasan

New Friends May Come and Go but Awkwardness Lasts Forever

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Now how exactly do you make friends in college? As I'm going to a school that disregards the universally followed semester schedule I've taken to reading facebook quite extensively in the extra two weeks that I have on my hands. All of my friends facebook statuses resound with the same ebullient "I love College" declaration. Now besides giving me an unwelcome memory of an Asher Roth song, these statuses reiterate to me that I am not in college. The pictures of their new dorms, their wall posts about their annoyingly long homework assignments and early lectures seem completely foreign to me, like they're speaking a different language that I am trying hastily to translate (come to think about it this situation shares a striking resemblance to my french class). But mostly through by voyeurism I see how seamlessly they've made friends. Now my social skills aren't the most finally tuned instrument in the band room. I know, shocking right, considering my witty and charming disposition. But I'm really just not that friendly. Because who really wants to come across as that annoying, over eager, super cheerful girl? I mean that's usually the type of person I make fun of. I rarely even make friend requests on facebook because I don't want to come off as too eager or a person who check facebook constantly (albeit I have been doing just that in the last couple of days). Facebook, it seems, has been a breeding ground for pre-college friends yet I recoil from this form of friend making. Wouldn't it be pushy and a bit creepy to friend someone or write on their wall just because we're both in the Northwestern 2013 group? Yet I don't think my "eradicate eagerness" tactic is really going to be beneficial in this scenario. Of course I am going to try to force friendliness on my usually subdued temperament but how do I attain this without becoming pushy or scaring little children, or myself for that matter? Someone once told me that I was a bit of a loner and I'm starting to believe them. I mean I'm not going to pull a Salinger and move away to New Hampshire or anything but I just don't make friends that easily. Throughout high school I made a handful of great friends. And that was in place where I was reasonably comfortable and familiar with my surroundings. Which brings up another unnerving question.

Where exactly do you find these friends? Are they in your classes or your dorm or the clubs you join? How do you go about making friends in classes? I imagine there's no time to have a conversation while the teacher is giving a lecture and striking up a conversation about your interests in life in between your professors breaths about Tolstoy may just attract dirty looks. And what if the people in your dorm aren't exactly complementary to your character. Which seems like another hurtle. How do you go about making the right friends and not just ones for convenience sake. People say that they've made their best friends by chance. But what are the odds that you end up dorming next to your potential platonic soulmate or bump into them on the way to the dining hall? And this may be just be my paranoia but I think people get intimidated by me. And as much as I like to think it's because of my undeniable intelligence or my stunning good looks I think it's actually because of my name. People actually get scared of pronouncing my name wrong. Which is now that I think about it is understandable. When you pronounce someone's name wrong it's probably a bit disconcerting. Throughout my 13 years of public education teachers rarely called on my the first week. Mainly I think it was because they were apprehensive of saying my name. Now eventually people will become comfortable with my name. Though the usual curious/confused, wide eyed look on people's faces when I first introduce myself is to be expected, the obstacle isn't insurmountable. But do I really need another injury in my already handicapped friend making abilities? Hopefully I will make friends like a normal, socially balanced freshman. If not, well than at least I will be comforted knowing that New Hamshire isn't too far away.
On a Side Note: Aren't the outfits that the students are wearing the in picture just 80's-tastic?

What Rubbish!

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We all love the serious implications that fashion holds. We love hearing how Vera Wang's collection was actually a reference to the Bolshevik revolution and how Dior's expertly crafted dresses were actually inspired from Madame Butterfly. Fashion is said time and time again to be rooted in world much deeper than the planet of cocktail dresses. It is said that fashion acts as art history, a cultural meterstick of our times, a way to connect our vanity with self reflection. This is all very moving and touching but there are some days when you want to cut the Fidel Castro speech and exclaim, "People, they're just clothes." For those days there's rubbishmag.com which is like fashion's cheeky, flippant cousin that reveals all the silliness that is weaved into fashion's dignified seams. Because when you strip away the bombastic adjectives and the cerebral analysis fashion is just a whole lot of fun.

Absence Makes the Heart go Fonder

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Well atleast I hope so. I know I have been MIA on the blogging circiut as of late. But now that I have my laptop posts will become much more frequent. I hope I haven't lost the handful of readers that I had. Becauase well there's nothing sadder than a girl talking to herself. Until than I offer a peace offering in the form of a beautful Richard Avedon photograph

Braless Revisited

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To me the word braless is usually synonymous with Hedi Montag and wardrobe malfunctions (which coincidentally are tantamount to each other). Yet when Bottega Veneta did a version of this "loose" way of dressing it came off as erotic yet tasteful. When flipping through ads in a magazine I stopped and glanced twice at the Bottega Veneta spread. There was something almost carnal about it that dared you to look twice. The girls in the spreads looked in control and refined yet suggestive and cheeky. In the words of Harry Potter "mischief managed."

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The Lady of the Pink City

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I first remember reading about Gayatri Devi in 7th grade in a profile of her in Departure Magazine. She was the embodiment of everything that a young girl imagines a princess to be. She was beautiful and refined yet not completely tangible. It was almost as if she was ethereal somehow, leading a life that has long since rusted away in fairy tale books, unable to be fully captured through a story or a picture. They say that her wealth was "beyond imaginable" with a childhood filled with exotic adventures. According to a New York Times article, Devi shot her first panther when she 12, had a flock of trained parrots that could ride bicycles and pet turtles that had emerald encrusted shells.

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Despite her lavish life, which included shopping sprees at Harrods, Devi was not resented by the public for her extreme wealth and beauty. Unlike Queen Marie Antoinette and the Duchess of Devonshire who were ridiculed by there subjects for their ostentatious nature Devi symbolized a beacon of hope for women of lower castes. She created a school for young girls in Jaipur that focused on eradicating the traditional notion that girls should be uneducated and take purdah. Devi led the life of a traditional princess yet reached her hand out to get a firmer grasp in her surroundings. She was elected in Parliament 3 times and spend 5 months in jail.

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People often said that Devi was memorizing. With her French perfume and shimmering saris Devi was a socialite, splitting time between New York, London and Jaipur and entertaining the likes of Jackie O. Vogue voted her one of the top ten most beautiful women in the world. Yet this beauty was just as closely associated with Devi as it was with her city of Jaipur. And to me that is what is really alluring about Devi, her city. With it's beautiful palaces and ornate jewelry it seems like anyone could be a princess there, that everyone could live in a state of opulence. An opulence not defined by designer handbags but by a rich history. In Jaipur it seems that one gets a feeling of magnificence, a feeling that one cannot receive in a Waldorf Historia. It is a feeling of a culture, of a life that is hanging somewhere between obscelence and modernity. When Maharani Devi left our world a few days she left with us a city that is the one of the last of its kind, quite like Devi herself .

The Price of Being Wise

Oh the price of being wise

It's not so nice
I look like a chipmunk
The medicine puts me in a weird funk
I don't think my doctor was very good
He didn't do the things he should
I miss solid food
And I'm developing a bit of an attitude

Home of the Future

Where in the World is Azzedine Alaia?

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Where in the World is Azzedine Alaia? Not in the spreads of Vogue or on the runways of Fashion Week that's for sure. Every time I would come across his name an interest would spark. Here was a designer who was one of the emblems of 80's fashion and known as the master of female form yet you couldn't look at works on style.com or search his name in WWD.

Alaia is one of the last couturiers of the old world, a world of Cristobal Balenciaga and Christian Dior. A world where strong relationships were forged with clients and models, a world where the designer had a hand in every seam, a world not so binded by commercial success. One of the reasons why Alaia is so enigmatic is because he doesn't design on the protocol schedule. He doesn't design for seasons instead he only designs when he is truly inspired, inspired he says, by the evocation of certain materials. In an age where muses are diluted among celebrities Alaia keeps his close, his strongest supporters such as Naomi Campbell and Stephanie Seymour refer to him as Papa. It is to be said that Alaia's house at any time of day is always filled with artists and he is known to have one the greatest haute couture collections in the world. His clothes, his life and his aesthetic seem to be steeped in some other world, a world richer, saturated with more culture.

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Known as the "King of Cling" Alaia, who studied sculpture is said to make clothes that flatter the women body, unparalleled to anyone another designer. It is strange that in a time where fall runways are filled with Alaia influenced designs his name is absent from mainstream fashion. His clothes are rarely featured in Vogue nor are any of his work featured in the "Model as Muse" exhibition, despite the fact that Alaia is known for having a particularly strong relationship with models from Tatjana Patitz to Campbell. He blames this absence on Anna Wintour who also rarely features his clothes in editorials.

So where is he? Tunisia? Paris? His clothes seem mysteriously to be appear at Barney's every so often and people are known to collect his clothes as treasured pieces of art. Alaia seems more elusive than Carmen herself who, with her red trench coat and matching fedora is pretty easy to spot. Yet I guess when your clothes are so beautiful you really don't have to be center stage to get the recognition you deserve.

Sometimes All You Need is a Little Imagination and a Pair of Headphones

The Women Behind the Bangs

The September issue, a documentary by R.J Cutler follows Anna Wintour and her team for nine months as they construct and deconstruct the September issue of Vogue. The question on many people's mind's is why now? Why after so many years of mystique and carefully constructed enigma is Anna Wintour opening her glass doors to the media. Could it perhaps be to tether the rumors of Carine Roitfield replacing her as editor in chief? Or could it perhaps be to bring the spark back into Vogue? The spark that many critics have lamented has been extinguished at Vogue along with its avant-garde edge. Well Maureen Callahan of the New York Post seems to think that these to occurrences are not just a matter of a timely coincidence.

It should be interesting to see how this documentary, shot in 2007, will fit in today's less than opportune economic and journalistic climate. As magazines are closing down their publications how will the "September Issue" compare with the actual September issue of 2009. A dearth of advertisers and profit will make this upcoming September issue a couple of thousand of Lanvin dresses difference. Yet whether you view Wintour as a dictator or messiah of fashion, a creative genius or a clinical businesswomen, a fashion enabler or anorexia advocate one thing is for certain, the September Issue displays Anna Wintour as one intimidatingly powerful women in tough skin. And I'm not just talking alligator.

Cult Lit

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Browsing though the book store you will come across chick lit ( anything with pink stilettos and/or martinis), lad lit ( anything by Tucker Max or Maddox) and Cult Lit. Many subdivisions of pop culture have donned the label of "Cult Status" from Fight Club (before they started showing it on Fx every weekend) to the Rocky Horror Picture show to virtually anything with Edward Norton. Yet it's not just the provoking dialogue or the moving metaphors that make people attracted to these Cult items, they also serve as a tool of superiority. A way of feeling a cut above the less esoteric masses. Yet just because something isn't transgressive fiction or a Kurt Vonnegut novel doesn't mean it isn't worthy of acquiring the ever so elusive legion of cult followers. So if your getting sick of watching Trainspotting, here are three books, in my so humble/self indulgent opinion (I do have a blog after all) that I think deserve a shot in the not-so-obscure hall of fame.

1. Youth in Revolt: the Journals of Nick Twisp by C.D Payne: It's part Catcher in the Rye and part Confederacy of the Dunces. Nick Twisp is precocious, smart and has just the right amount of self deprecation to make this book funny, awkward and realistic.

2. King Dork by Frank Portman: If you've ever seen someone with a "Sam Hellerman is a Genius T-shirt" they probably know what I'm talking about. Don't let the YA label turn you off, this funny and almost painfully realistic novel is, as a fellow reader states, perfect for those of us who are "still mourning the cancellation of Freaks and Geeks."

3. Stuff White People Like by Christian Lander: Okay so this isn't technically a work of a literature and majority of people have already read it but in case you haven't you should go out and buy yourself a copy, prefebaly on your way to Whole Foods while listening to NPR in your car.

Ice, Ice, Baby

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Picture this: It's January and snowing in Moscow and you're walking across the Red Square to the Saint Basil's Cathedral. As the image is taking shape somewhere in the walls of your mind what exactly do you picture yourself wearing? Is it a luxurious wool skirt topped with a bright red cashmere turtleneck along side over the knee boots and a fur caplet? Or, is it a sweatshirt elegantly juxtaposed with snow pants and Ugg boots? Even in our most nebulous dreams (I bet a lot of us pictured this scene without even knowing what the Red Square looks like) our mind meticulously chooses our wardrobe for that particular moment (if you've never pictured yourself walking along the Champs-Elysées in a beret than you are just depriving yourself.) Yet our mind does not actively take in the windchill factor (a skirt in a Russian winter?) in these moments of delusional reverie, but the question is should they?

In photographs across the blogosphere (The Satorialist and Garance Dore for example) you see pictures of youths in Berlin in punkish streetwear, refined ladies in Moscow in skirts and elbow length gloves and Parisian coquettes in ankle booties and a bodycon dress. Despite the fact that it's winter, these nameless subjects dress for there mood. The weather plays a key role in the process but not the sole role. It is more of an adviser than a dictator. Which is why I find people's response of my going to Northwestern slightly surprising. I think at least everyone who I've told that I'm going to Northwestern has elicited a response similar to "You know, Chicago get's really cold!" I used to believe that my irritation to these predictable responses was just part of extensive collection of neuroses, like the way I can't stand people touching my hair or my utter aversion to feet. But I have recently found out that I am not alone, on Facebook there is a whole group (case in point, they really do serve cathartic purposes) devoted to my neuroses felicitously titled "Yes damit, I KNOW Chicago gets really cold, now shut the hell up about it!" Now these meterologist-esque and informative responses seem to be perfectly acceptable segways to a conversation, except when they go on how it gets so blood freezing cold that the winter becomes dreadfully unbearably, that one must stay inside most of the times wearing Northfaces and Ugg boots perpetually.

Now this is where my irritation starts to turn to a light simmer. I mean must cold weather be synonymous with the "It's Sunday and I've got a the flu" outfit? Can't there be a balance between the ever famous duo of fashion and function? According to a former U Chicago student and a present Michiganite resident the answer is no. Upon asking my cousin if wearing skirts with tights was pushing it in the winter, she started to laugh. She looked at me seriously and said, "Heba, if you dress like that in Chicago you will die." This to me sounds like an exaggeration. I mean how do those statuesque Russian residents dress so elegantly while strolling through St. Petersburg? I bet Anna Karenina wasn't wearing a Puffy Coat and a face mask that's for sure.

vs.
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Now which one would you choose?

To me it seems like a question of mind over matter. Wearing a skirt with wool cable knit tights doesn't seem completely ludicrous to me. But from the bemused looks I was receiving from my cousin and my sister you would think that I was suggesting making snow angels in hotpants. If Anna Karenina can dress alluringly in a Russian winter than I think we all have the potential to, even in the windy city. After relaying these thoughts to my cousin she said, "It's going to be Chicago vs. Heba and Chicago's going to kick your ass." And well, I can't say that I'm not excited for that face off.

Well, My Therapist Told Me...

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When people get frustrated, infuriated and pushed to their limit what do they do? Back in the olden times people would complain to an ear in the nearest vicinity, deface public property and passionately march in rallies and protests. What do people do now? Create Facebook groups of course. You didn't need to hold up and anti war poster to join the eloquently titled "Bush is a F***** Idiot group" nor do you ever need to donate food to join the "Feed a child with one click" group.

Yet Facebook groups have a unifying effect, they give people that "so we're really not alone" feeling. Now you know that you're not the only one who flips their pillow to get to the cool side and thinks that Dora the Explorer is an illegal immigrant. Not only do Facebook groups unite people with their common cyberspace kinsman but they also make people feel angry about happenings that they never consciously knew bothered them. I mean, I never knew that I wanted to "Punch slow people walking in the head" until I joined the group, nor did I ever consciously recognize my wrath for crocs until I affirmed with millions of others that "Crocs make you look like a dumbass." Just like a therapist, Facebook groups bring out pent up emotions, the struggles and inner demons that we battle with everyday, whether it be our yearning for 90'a Nickelodeon or our fuck this, I'm transferring to Hogwarts attitude. So the next time you have the uncontrollable feeling to punch that elderly lady in the walker in the back of her head don't blame on your anger issues. Simply explain to the elderly lady that you're working on your dark childhood with your cyberspace therapist, on your way to the ambulance that is.

Sorry for the Abnormally Long Hiatus

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It's been all parties and confusion.

Immigrants Returning Home

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Oh America, the home of Hemingway, airplanes and reality television. At one time it was also the birthplace of boat shoes, seersuckers and button down oxfords. It seems though that these elements of Prepdom have migrated to land far away, becoming warmly welcomed immigrants to Japan. The New York Times ran a a very interesting article on how the WASP uniform has become oh so very Japanese. After it's outburst in the 80's Preppiness in America has been viewed as boring, cookie cutter and circumscribed to a certain stratosphere in class. Yet according to Coleman, the Japanese have embraced our thrown ot style and worn in it extremes, from head to toe with vivacity. And well it doesn't look boring or unoriginal on them.

Looking at the photographs in the 1960's Japanese book "Take Ivy" is almost surreal. It's strange to see college kids dressing so thoughtfully and put together. But the paradox is that though the outfits seems polished and orchestrated they seem simultaneously unassuming and nonchalant as their owners walk across the lush green lawns. And I guess that's the appeal of the sartorially preppy way of life. There is this innocence and naivete to it but at the same time a security. While the leather pants and the bomber jackets may make us feel like we are living life on the edge we feel safe and secure buttoned down in our collar shirt and madras shorts. I guess the streamlined clothes make us in turn view life more simplistically, or as simplistically as clothes can make us feel. In these times the decadence of the 80's nightlife is coming back, with neon colors and exaggerated silhouettes. But as the one side of the fashion rope pulls the other side must as well. Which is the prep style is coming back into play with brands like the Band of Outsiders and magazines such as Prepidemic. Both of these looks provide us with an escape but with two entirely different mindsets. Seeing pictures of the preppy collegiate students one gets a sense of confidence that is entirely different from the 80's nightlife look. A confidence that everything will be fine, that life is always peachy through Rayban wayfarers. So take out your boat shoes and your navy blue blazers, the immigrants are finally returning to their homeland.

Oh Long Island How I Love Thee

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Wilde 'N Out

Usually when I think of the of the word Oscar visions of packaged cold cuts come to mind. Yet even though Oscar Wilde does not have a snazzy commercial about B-O-L-O-G-N-A he stays in the forefront of my mind with his everlasting supply of witticism. Here are a few that I particularly love:

"Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination. " (pshh what's a little credit card debt? Imagination is priceless after all).

"It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious."

"A man's face is his autobiography. A woman's face is her work of fiction. " (You know a man is clairvoyant when he can predict the face of botox).

"Only the shallow know themselves."

"I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying. " (Alas, it is a curse, but we must learn to live with it.)

"I like persons better than principles, and I like persons with no principles better than anything else in the world." (Perez Hilton's motto)

"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone elses opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."

"Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast." (The self justification for the not-morning- people across the globe, of beds .)

"The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about." (The philosophy of rehab bound, African baby adopting celebrities everywhere.)

"Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about. "

Now even though Oscar Wilde was imprisoned, ridiculed for his dressing sense and accused for having an affair with an underage boy toy you must admit, the man's got style.