Vanity is my favorite sin.

claufirmament: actually entitled: Honey, I Am paying The bills...

Sat, 18 May 2013 23:54:00 +0700

actually entitled: Honey, I Am paying The bills being Act Famou S

A comic by one of my best friends, loosely based on my post ‘Fashion as a metaphor for sexism’, and hopefully the prompt for my next fashion article. “Or do we like to use creativity as an excuse?”

See the article in my school’s newsletter here with the accompanying illustration.

Follow her for more awesome stuff here: arbitraryblognumber0

christian dior haute couture f/w 2010, miniature version for the...

Sat, 18 May 2013 23:24:12 +0700

christian dior haute couture f/w 2010, miniature version for the harrods display

don't frown. you never know who's falling in love with your smile.

Sat, 18 May 2013 12:17:00 +0700

if only that were true, but thank you!

( ＾◡＾)っ✂❤

ming xi by dior at cannes film festival 2013

Sat, 18 May 2013 00:58:19 +0700

ming xi by dior at cannes film festival 2013

dior homme f/w 2013, runway finale

Sat, 18 May 2013 00:34:41 +0700

dior homme f/w 2013, runway finale

thank you for introducing me to some magic :)

Sat, 18 May 2013 00:21:20 +0700

and thank you for being open enough to accept it.

art and craft by lee gun ho for vogue korea march 2013

Sat, 18 May 2013 00:08:21 +0700

art and craft by lee gun ho for vogue korea march 2013

balenciaga s/s 2008 by thomas lagrange for v magazine spring...

Wed, 15 May 2013 08:24:39 +0700

balenciaga s/s 2008 by thomas lagrange for v magazine spring 2008

elsa schiaparelli s/s 1938, for visionaire spring 1996

Tue, 14 May 2013 22:00:00 +0700

elsa schiaparelli s/s 1938, for visionaire spring 1996

So random, but I read what the other user sent you about your essays. i think they are entertaining and thought-provoking, and always different. i want to pursue fashion journalism/business and I love reading your perspective. Keep up the good work!

Mon, 13 May 2013 12:35:54 +0700

Thank you very much! I don’t think I will be able to pursue fashion journalism but it is a passion that I occasionally allow myself to explore.

Hi sweetheart. I love to read your essays. They really give a perspective of fashion that isnt just superficial. Anyways i was wondering how you got started. where do you get your ideas from and what inspired you to start writing. I would love to start writing things like you do but im just not sure where to start. Well all in all i think you are so lovely and adore your page. :**

Mon, 13 May 2013 11:37:39 +0700

I saved this message for a while: Thank you so so much. It takes so much time and effort to do this but it’s all worth it when people like you send wonderful messages like this.

Fashion as a metaphor for sexism: Hussein Chalayan F/W 1998...

Mon, 13 May 2013 11:02:41 +0700

Fashion as a metaphor for sexism: Hussein Chalayan F/W 1998 ‘Panoramic’

“You’re interested in fashion?” The rhetorical question is pronounced in a high-pitched tone that makes it sound more like “faSHION?” as judgmental eyes run themselves over my clothing as they secretly assess the value (none, obviously) of indulging myself in such a superficial pastime.

When we think of fashion, we think of a frivolous, lucrative industry that prides itself in the glorification of the exterior. We think of glossy Marie Claire explorations into the meaning of the new trend of three earing holes as opposed to two; we think of the Victoria Secret spectacles of bikini-wearing models, we think of the circus of Fashion Week street style where ordinary people transform into gigantic-hat-wearing, towering-high-heel-sporting Martians for the sake of ‘style’.

But to distill fashion to ‘models’ or ‘trends’ or even ‘style’ would be on par with reducing an entire personality to one adjective. It would be calling Jay Gatsby ‘nice’, or Mr.Darcy ‘mean’. It is simplifying the multidimensional character of fashion, and the adjective this simplification commonly leads to is ‘shallow’.

Is fashion shallow? Yes. But, is fashion deep? Yes. In the postmodernist world, those two aren’t mutually exclusive. In the words of Karl Lagerfeld, “Fashion is a language that creates itself in clothes to interpret reality.” Beyond the façade of fashion as the self-serving indulgence it seems to be, fashion is our most important medium of expression. And everything is an expression of fashion: whether an acceptance of fashion or a rejection of it, its deterministic quality is simply unavoidable as long as we continue to wear clothing (and even if we don’t: I’m sure many would agree that public nudity definitely makes an unforgettable statement). Across the civilizations and eras of intellectual thinking, there has never been a more widely understood, commonly accepted language than that of fashion: the signifier of class hierarchy, the grammar of intention, the vocabulary of society and the metaphor for life.

This may seem obvious to you. And yet, the concept of fashion as a metaphor confers it some level of intellectualism that people seem unwilling to acknowledge. The high-pitched incredulity of “you spend your spare time thinking about fashion?” never fails to amaze me, considering art never faces the same censure when both are metaphors and interpretations of life and in fact, fashion – being the more accessible of the two – may have greater relevance.

Society’s denial of fashion’s intellectual side may be a metaphor in itself: a metaphor for sexism. In the language of fashion, gender roles are full stops that constrict women and men to their respective vocabularies, and it just so happens that the vocabulary of female clothing is more diverse and more articulate than a male’s. Fashion is a sign with a signifier generally of female dress, and the signified is of frivolity in contrast to a man’s more serious work ethic. The invalidation of the importance of fashion is the invalidation of the only area wherein females have a societal advantage over males, and where their voices are heard louder and given greater importance.

Now one may say that most famous designers – Alexander McQueen, John Galliano, Christian Dior, Riccardo Tisci – are men, but one must never forget that clothing is mostly made for female markets, and the range of clothing for females far outnumbers that of males – take the Met Ball 2013 as an example. Whilst ‘fashion’ ranged from Beyonce in her Givenchy strapless dress to Stella Tennant in her G.Valli pantsuit to Kim Kardashian in her flowered…monstrosity, the world’s most fashionable males were reduced to a homogenous blend of black tux after black tux after black tux. The expression of style is severely limited for men, and for them fashion as a metaphor may indeed seem to be a preposterous idea.

However, the patriarchal society is one that has seen its power beginning to fade. And to seize on the idea of intellectual fashion isn’t just a statement on feminism, or a statement on equality: it’s an acknowledgment of an existing, unavoidable concept. Fashion is a metaphor: what it means is for you to decide.

written by somethingvain

cherry blossoms in Swarthmore, pennsylvania, taken by me

Sat, 11 May 2013 10:11:00 +0700

cherry blossoms in Swarthmore, pennsylvania, taken by me

Walter Van Beirendonck S/S 1999 ‘Aesthetic...

Fri, 10 May 2013 21:38:00 +0700

Walter Van Beirendonck S/S 1999 ‘Aesthetic Terrorists’, make-up by Igne Grognard and photographed by Ronald Stoops

hussein chalayan s/s 2000, before minus now: “I think...

Fri, 10 May 2013 21:33:00 +0700

hussein chalayan s/s 2000, before minus now:

“I think often we are drawn to things that defy gravity. We think of them as more impossible. Therefore, we find them attractive because the more impossible something seems, at times the more attractive it seems—including parts of the body. The more gravity-defying something is, the more attractive you find it. It’s the same with buildings that feel like they are floating.There is that side, and then there is actually the compositional side … I think, for me, looking at a landscape and the balance you want to see there has to do with how things are set in gravity.”

- Hussein Chalayan

[for the interested fashion thinker]

yumi lambert in the day the world went away by pierre...

Mon, 06 May 2013 23:02:00 +0700

yumi lambert in the day the world went away by pierre debusschere

I love everything about your blog. I love your title, and I love your url. This blog is truly original, and your photography is great. Finally, there's a blog that posts everything I like. There are numerous blogs that post fashion photography, but I couldn't find one that interested me in all aspects. That was until I found yours! All I want to see is your blog, so it makes me want to unfollow everyone else. Theres so much more I want to say about it, but I can't seem to find the right words..

Sun, 05 May 2013 13:52:39 +0700

Oh my gosh, this is such a wonderful message. Thank you, thank you, thank you! It’s always so difficult for me to articulate just how much of an impact these messages make on me. What with the IB and everything it’s hard to find the time to do what I want with this blog, that is, share my thoughts on intellectual fashion. I feel like my followers are worth no less than my full effort, so when I don’t have the time to do what makes my blog unique I’d rather not mindlessly post things that don’t mean anything to me.

So I ask of you all now - please just stick it out until the end of my exam period! I promise I will be back, posting TL;DR essays, strange pictures you don’t associate with “fashion” (and might not want to see) and my continued attempts at amateur photography.

st.patrick’s cathedral under construction, new york, taken...

Sun, 05 May 2013 13:45:23 +0700

st.patrick’s cathedral under construction, new york, taken by me

you're very welcome, I don't know why I just fell in love with all your photography and your blog also. the first time I saw your photography I was like 'omg this may be one of the best thing I've seen in my life' it just made my day. you may not the most professional photographer ever but you obviously capture all the moments with your heart and so open-minded. so smart.

Sun, 05 May 2013 13:29:10 +0700

awh, you’re so lovely! i’m sorry i never got back to you the day you sent this as i’ve been incredibly busy (meeting CNBLUE and things…jokes, mostly doing my TOK essay and general completion of IB torture mechanisms they call coursework) but i just want to clarify that if i am any adjective coming before the word ‘photographer’, it could only be ‘avid’. But again, I thank you for your kind words and encouragement! and again, please do come off anonymous!

to someone whose blog has taken every last place in my heart, to someone whose blog is decorated by the most beautiful flower and it's all your posts, to someone whose personality even prettier than the morning skies, to someone whose blog I've gotten lose in, to someone whose blog is such a deep meaning of art, to someone who captures this sad life with the camera and make it seems beautiful, to someone whose blog is more lovely than any romantic scenes. never felt better before I found you.

Wed, 01 May 2013 20:38:00 +0700

I really don’t know how to reply to this message, and I want to keep it in my inbox forever and a day. But I also don’t want it to seem like I’ve forgotten to acknowledge this message, because I definitely, definitely haven’t.

Thank you so, so much for this message. It’s literally the nicest message that’s ever made it’s way into my inbox, and you’ve not only made my day - you’ve made my week, my month. It’s the kind of thing I don’t hear, ever, and there is nothing I have ever or can ever say now to warrant such lovely words. Thank you for taking the time to send this.