going places [a night out, or not]

I was in the mood to go out and get wild last night, but the rest of the world said, "Excuse me, my parents are visiting and I'd rather not be hungover at brunch."
It was a little lame.
But I wore this anyway.

OUTIFIT

leather jacket

shirt - urban outfitters

pants - they're really just pants

shoes -  lace-up boots from zurich

purse - also from switzerland

providence sucks [rainy day style]

It rains a lot in Providence. Actually, the Swiss and Rhode Island climates are kind of weirdly similar. It's like I'm a magnet for it, except it kind of sucks and I'm definitely not seeking it out on purpose.

I do love snow though. My real problem is that it's weirdly warm here right now, so my rain jacket is too heavy, but I want to wear it anyway so as not to get wet. See?

OUTFIT

shirt - lilly

pants - um i don't know. they're pretty much black jeggings.

boots - hunter

nails - fly as shit. OPI Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous faded into clear.

clara needs to find a better way to take pictures

Because while I enjoy the way these came out, and creativity is borne of necessity and all of that, my camera was hanging from a tree during this shoot, which made me nervous.

OUTFIT

Sunglasses - Forever 21

Blazer - stole it from my sister's old school uniform

Shirt - H&M

Shorts - Levi's

Shoes - idk

leather and silk

These are things that one can find in Florence for less than they would usually cost. Of course, I took full advantage of this phenomenon.

Those shoes? Handmade. Forty euro. The tie? Also handmade, and silk, and makes a great belt, thank you. Also, note the Duomo behind me in that last picture. 

Is it rude to brag? 

I don't really care. I abandon your social conventions in favor of my new shoes.

OUTFIT

dress - brandy melville

shoes  - handmade in florence

tie - bought at the san lorenzo market

sunglasses - urban outfitters

purse - h&m

fair verona

It turns out, when we go on day trips, one needs to be dressed appropriately for a church. Long dresses and wide shoulders are necessary.
Therefore, this dress from H&M.

patriotism, delayed

Apologies for my unannounced absence this week. I've been really busy doing the America thing and the Arcade Fire concert thing and the homework thing.
(Yeah, I just slipped that in there casually so that you'd think I was nonchalant. Also, I just ruined that effect with my awkward parenthetical. Why am I so in love with awkward parentheticals?)

Anyway, celebrating the fourth of july abroad is quite a production. I feel like I actually appreciate the states more when I'm elsewhere in the world.

When I was in America, Independence day was that time of year that we'd go to a picnic and eat watermelon and see some fireworks. In Italy or Switzerland or wherever else, you get an acute awareness of how American you really are. 

some old rocks and stuff

The thing about maxi dresses is that you can take a night train in them, because they're like light portable sleeping bags in which one might curl up and flash exactly no one. 

Then, later, you can go to Pompeii and have your friends tell you you look like a model. Which is laughable, considering you just took a night train.

Maxi dresses rock.

Also, Pompeii. It's very cool. That wasn't my first time exploring the ruins of Vesuvius (my high school latin class had an Italy-trip when I was a junior), but making saucy poses in front of the brothel doesn't get old.

The thing about Pompeii jokes though is that they still feel too soon. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

met her at a backyard block party by the bar

Let's play a game called "spot the new remote." Ten points if you find it! A thousand points if you find it in the last picture!

This is my ideal summer outfit, honestly. I feel like I woke up this way (and I almost did sleep in this sweater. It's fantastically cozy), but I also feel like the swiss are going to give me looks like "wtf is the American chick doing now?"
They give me those looks a lot, but I've gotten used to it.
Anyway, this is what I'm wearing today.

OUTFIT

Sweater - H&M

Shorts - Levi's

Headband - H&M

Sunglasses - Urban Outfitters

Shoes - some outlet mall near Geneva