please excuse my internet absence

for the past few weeks or so i've been looking for a new apartment. i usually like to look at 10-15 places before i decide/settle. i'm really picky, and i never settle, so this trait tends to get me in sticky situations. for example, the pickle i'm in right now: today's the 29th, and i still don't have a place! stress stress stress. i wish i could be one of those people who looks at the first apartment and says, "i'll take it." but i'm the type who's believes there's always something better out there.

please forgive me for the next few days while i move (to where?) and get situated. aren't you curious to know how i'm going to pull this off?

i feel sorry for the gap

they haven't put out anything good in years and their trendy ads featuring celebrities obviously don't work. so, i was wondering what was up with this:


that guy from fall out boy? oy, they must be really desperate.

to make it worse, when i saw the latest ad on tv, the one with the leggings-clad ladies dancing like there was no tomorrow, i honestly thought it was an old navy commercial.

maybe if they focused on the design of their clothes they might be in better shape. even improving the shopping experience would help, i think. whenever i walk into their store i don't feel excited or compelled to buy stuff, not like when i go into anthropologie. whenever i enter anthropologie there's so much to look at, and i'm immediately drawn in. works like a charm every time.

also, i think one of the successful ways to sell is to make it seem like the clothes will look good on the consumer (regular people with normal bodies), when in reality, the garments will not. that's where models come in. but, whenever i see those lovely models in the posters (and of course, they can make anything look amazing), i know that whichever gap clothes they have on will no way in hell fit the same on me. no way in hell. i'm a pretty gullible consumer, and even when i can't get tricked into thinking things will look good on me, you know it's a bad sign.

however, i do remember being hypnotized by the late 90s commercials where everyone lip-synched to madonna songs. but then again, that was probably because i had a big crush on alex greenwald from phantom planet. those were good ads.

pork chop girl=model?

while i was working on a project at school i got grabbed to model some outfits for another class. i'd like to think i was used for my incomparable beauty, but really, it was because i was the smallest girl around, since no one else could fit into this one dress. the designer led me to the changing room and then said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, "okay, now take off your clothes." just then i realized that i had unsexy underwear on, you know, the 6-in-a-pack kind you bought in the kids department, which ended up being too big, therefore sagging in the crotch and butt area. "umm," i said, "don't look." then another model came in and started getting undressed like it was no big deal. she had a cute body as well as matching underwear on, the sexy black kind: her bra pushed her boobs up (which mine didn't), and she was wearing a thong (i don't exactly agree about this part). anyway, i felt like she was checking me out the whole time because her eyes were in my general direction, and then she said my bra was cute. i have not felt like this since 6th grade gym class, when i was still wearing undershirts and everyone else had moved on to training bras.

it made me wonder: how many people wear nice underwear sets on a regular basis? i was honestly really surprised to see such fancy underwears under jeans and a t-shirt! months ago, in an effort to start wearing nicer, more flattering bras i went on a brassiere-buying rampage. they are still sitting in the plastic bag with the tags on them. sigh. i guess i'm just not a va-va-va voom kind of girl.

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here's are some projects i made for class. pretty boring--they're not my designs, and we weren't allowed to use prints or anything cute. these are NOT meant to be worn, everyone made these in size 8.



the skirt is heavy wool, almost like felt, with lining, two hip pockets, hook and eye closure, back zipper and some darts. i made fun of this to my roommate's girlfriend but she really liked it.


i just sewed the buttons on the blouse today--rejoice! but now i have to get started on the final, which is due tomorrow.

i'm trying my best to update and sew my own clothes, but this as well as apartment-hunting has taken up most of my time.

it's been a while

last week my favorite cousin was nice enough to drive me all the way to chicago from michigan. like true tourists, we went to the top of the sears tower, which was the world's tallest building until 2004. according to the brochure, on a clear day, you can see michigan, indiana, illinois and wisconsin just by walking around the skydeck. not like i was looking or anything. adorning the walls of the skydeck were cute, little historical factoids and pictures of kids from the early 20th century. i was definitely more interested in what the children were wearing more than the view outside!

inspiration can come from the strangest places. the kids in the pictures were wearing the most fabulous clothes--and i'm not talking about formal school/church rich-people clothes--they were working-class kids, in their playtime clothes, i gathered.

-the bathing suits for boys looked like t-shirts in thick black and white stripes. these were paired with black knickers.
-girls wore brown granny-type boots with long dresses. when will this look come back?
-delicate white cotton blouses, suspenders and caps.
-everything high-waisted.

here's my lackluster attempt at finding visual aids:

Source: Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ) archive
Source: Ralph Freudenberg (1903-1980) collection

from 1913, chicks in bathing suits:


since i couldn't find any good pictures online, the next time i hit the library, i'm definitely going to check out some photography books that showcase the 1910s. i'm in a collage-making mood.

i'm so out

ugh, i have to leave for michigan in a few hours and i still have not showered or packed! i'm not a slacker, i'm just exhausted. i've been getting 4 or 5 hours of sleep lately and i feel like a zombie. so, i'm excited to have a relaxing week of no working.

see you on august 9.