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we party patriotic | Fashiolista

I just discovered Fashiolista. You should follow me if you're into that kind of thing, because it gives me an excuse to online-shop for things way out of my price range.

Fourth of July is coming up. For some reason, the italians don't seem all that excited. Pish-posh.

jacket

A haiku.

aeropostale

is not where i buy my clothes

except just this once.

sorrento

posing in pompeii

running around the ancient temple

caroline navigating to the brothel

erika at the beach

my hair in the wind

lusine and caroline waiting for a cab

a caprese salad in capri

... and oh hey, mediterranean.

fringe groups

I'm back from Sorrento. I'll post about that in a little bit. Meanwhile, hey look, I wore fringe the other day.

things i am enjoying (sick day edition)

say yes to the dress on netflix instant

chicken noodle soup

powerade

taylor swift binges

mangio

Yesterday, we in the apartment D'Azeglio had a cooking lesson. Also, I left my camera on manual focus because I'd been taking videos (read: footage of us all dancing around to Taylor Swift songs). Please interpret the blurry quality of those outfit shots as artistic and not sloppy. That would be much appreciated.

Both of these dresses are from H&M. A ridiculous amount of my clothing is from H&M, actually. I'd like to think that I make it look more original but maybe everyone likes to think that.

i just keep on making shit

I've decided in the internal sunshine-rebellion style guide that I'm totally okay with cursing in post titles.
Today I made a fringey tanktop.

This is what I started with. A large t-shirt. I bought it for pretty cheap in a tourist shop. It's huge though.

I put a loose-fitting tanktop on top of it to figure out the fit, and decided where I was going to cut. I decided the fringe required a crop-top type cut. After that all there was to do was sit on the floor with Taylor Swift blasting and scissors in my hand.

God, I love cutting things up.

my suitcase

My suitcase for the next six weeks, more or less. Yeah.

things i am enjoying

these shirts, which are trying to end human trafficking.

stalking other people's weddings.

my new vintage fixie bike because i'm such a hipster.

this mashup by Old Boys' Club (tweed blazer is the man)

this book, which is not in fact about a pretty girl who loses her cat, as I had imagined.

the cynical farmer's guide to the middle east.

Today, Caroline told me I looked like I was in a movie. I like that feeling. Also, today I discovered that my new dress from Zara is shorter than I thought it was. That's okay too.

This bag is an interesting one. In Bern, there's a little artisan shop where they make leather bags like this. You can customize all of it, and they're hella expensive but also hella high quality. My mom got me one for my birthday, and I went into the store and picked everything out. Light blue leather, navy blue stitching, a floral design on the inside, all of it.

It's an investment piece, clearly. The sort of bag that I'll have when I'm fifty. It's only been a year, and the leather is already starting to feel soft and well-loved.

Also, I'm the worst vegetarian ever. Two of my most cherished sartorial items required the slaughter of an animal. However, because technically my vegetarianism only limits my American dining (we really do terrible things to our produce, before we kill them), I suppose I could apply that same principle to leather items. 

I mean, the cow who I must have killed for my bag probably had a nice life roaming the Alps beforehand, right?

Oh, morals. What a troublesome thing.

feeling like a domestic goddess

I finally properly decorated my apartment. Get this. I made curtains. That's right. I made curtains.

It was actually remarkably easy. It couldn't have taken longer than fifteen minutes. Here's basically what happened. I bought two relatively cheap scarves from a nearby thrift store (matching scarves, at that, which happened to be the perfect length), and cut a couple holes in the top, and tied ribbons through them.

Seriously. And then I put them on a curtain rod. Which was already there, senza curtains. Literally the easiest thing in the world.

They're a bit sheer, which is fine by me because it lets the light in somewhat. I just needed something to

1. Keep the neighbors from seeing me naked.
2. Keep the sunshine from punching me in the face at 6:30 in the morning.

Mission accomplished, my darlings.

While on this domestic kick, I bought a sunflower and stuck it in an old wine bottle (and tied it with a matching ribbon, for the sake of class), and I taped some stuff up on my wall. It's been a good day for the aesthetic appeal of my living space.

Ciao, ragazze.

simplicity

This is a salad I made. There is no way to dislike the combination of tomatos and mozzarella and basil and olive oil.

This is an outfit I wore. Most of it is from H&M because that's how I operate.

This is a necklace I kept, after the boyfriend who gave it to me broke up with me. This was in tenth grade, so my wearing the necklace now no longer has emotional implications. I just think it's nice.

if you want to be cool, buy this expensive shit

This is ridiculous.

you do not need a designer ping pong set.

Elle has a list of "future classics." If by "future classics" they mean "ridiculous overpriced things that are not even all that attractive," then sure. Reading through the list, I wasn't sure whether to feel repulsed, amused, or just really broke. It's nonsense.

No one needs Elle to tell them that there is a "new must-have engagement ring" with a big colorful rock like Princess Kate's. The fact that something as personal as an engagement ring would be a fashion item in general is ridiculous to me (shouldn't engagement rings be timeless?), and then there's the fact that the example Elle gives is a "sapphire stunner from Harry Winston."

Oh, yeah, I'll just get my boyfriend to run out and buy one of those real quick, he won't mind.

(I don't actually have a boyfriend. Also I'm nowhere near getting engaged. Also rings make me feel antsy so I don't wear them all that often.)

The list also features a $20,000 pair of reversible earrings. Pearl on one side, diamond on the other. How convenient!

This is why I have historically disliked fashion. It's always trying to sell you something you don't need. My communist friend and I have had long conversations about how the industry changes the ideals every few seasons so that we have to buy a new wardrobe, and with that a new "lifestyle," or even a new identity. 

Can we stop that now please?

things i am enjoying

learning to become a runner

this dress from zara

kinder eggs!

this fred farrugia bronzer

the conversation i had with my friend thomas on facebook the other night

me:

WET RAIN AND YUMMY PASTA

THAT'S MY LIFE

thomas:

yeahhhhh

i want that to be my life

instead i have clouds and average pasta

-.-

me:

PASTA IS SO YUMMY

ALSO NUTELLA

I JUST ATE SO MUCH NUTELLA ON BREAD

YUMMMMM

i'm going to sleep.

when you're with us you don't have to be quiet

I've discovered that my iphone, while I don't get service in Italy, makes a handy digital camera when I don't lug my DSLR around. These photos of Bologna are courtesy of Hipstamatic.

long live all the mountains we made

We walked around all day and now my feet hurt a bunch. White girl problems.
On the bright side, I've bought all the ingredients to caprese salad. I literally bought a type of cheese typical to Switzerland (Emmental), Italy (Mozzarella), and the states (Philadelphia cream cheese) at the grocery store. The three places I could say that I reside. And their cheeses.

OUTFIT

Cardigan - Nordstrom

T-Shirt - American Eagle

Jeans - BDG

Necklace - someplace

Shoes - Max Shoes

it's my only offer

I've been busy and on my feet all the live long day. I saw lots of churches, for which my shorts were entirely inappropriate. Luckily someone had a sweater I could borrow and wrap around my waist.

Anyway, this is all I've got today. Some photos of my closet.

OUTFIT

Sunglasses - Urban Outfitters

Tank top - Aeropostale

Blouse - stolen from my sister's school uniform

Jeans - Levi's

Belt - Abercrombie & Fitch

Shoes - I haven't the slightest.

another traveling song

This is the kind of shit I wear when I travel. It's comfortable and it has little else going for it. That is, until I decide on a whim to look cute with a flower in my hair.
Fun fact of the day: I wasn't going to take an outfit picture today (because, really) but then I felt distinctly anxious and I figured fooling around in front of the camera for a little while would loosen me up.
Anyway, now I've survived my seven hours of train travel and now I am here:

What an adventure this will be.

OUTFIT

Flower - H&M

Jacket - Burger

Tee - Urban Outfitters, via my sister's closet

Jeans - 7 for all mankind

Shoes - TOMS

sometimes i pretend i go to art school

Getting dressed this morning was fun because all of my basic staple-type items are in a big brown suitcase in the middle of my floor.

This shirt is from American Apparel, but I bought it at a thrift store, so I think that makes me a double hipster. Anyway, I refer to this as my art-school-shirt, because I feel like kids in art school walk around in oversized button-downs all the time.

OUTFIT

Sunglasses - Urban Outfitters

Necklace - Tiffany's (a graduation present)

Shirt - American Apparel

Tank top - BP

Skirt - Forever 21

Shoes - ROSS. (I bought them for a costume and they're not very comfortable.)

Purse - Urban Outfitters