Who this is

Thanks to Diana at Hot Chocolate and Mint I've been tagged! So loosely following the rules, I'll tell you some random things about me, all style-related of course. (I think this is the first time I'm writing anything vaguely personal on this blog!)

1. To me, being overdressed is a sin. Not that I'm into conforming, but I think style, or stylishness rather, has a lot to do with dressing appropriately and maintaining a certain sensibility. I feel the sexiest when I’m comfortable in my environment--for school that could mean something as simple as my ADD hoodie and CdG Homme Plus backpack.

2. I wear heels most of the time. I love my Nike air rifts and dunks (wooo team NIKE!!) and flipflops and flats and stuff but that's purely for aesthetic reasons. Honestly, heels are the comfier option for me. I run in heels. I play cops and robbers in heels. I'm wearing heels in my room as we speak.

3. I have not yet come across a single female writer whose work I can enjoy or identify with...which is curious considering I am very skeptical of men in general. My favorite authors are Raymond Carver, Haruki Murakami and Denis Johnson.

4. Since 2006, I’ve taken to getting a pair of shoes tailormade for every bag I get. I know it's passe to be matchymatchy and all but I kind of dig the way my youngish appearance counterbalances the austerity of what I wear.

5. I honestly feel people need to stop hating on American celebrities and overrating "french" and "effortless". What is so radically wrong with Paris Hilton--she has her own style, she boozes around town in hot pink with an ugly dog, it's entertaining!--whereas so many of those french it-girls and style-icon-in-the-making-s are just the same thick-browed messy-haired bores in their "vintage chanel" and whatever.

6. An overview of my closet: Comme des Garcons takes up about half of my current wardrobe. The CdG main line is everything that I am, I feel so fresh and nice in it. The rest is a mixture of Helmut Lang from different eras, bits and pieces of Rick O and Ann D that I gultily indulged myself in, an assortment of cashmere sweaters and basics from the Gap and Banana Rep, United Bamboo tailored suits, some Balenciaga denim, lots of lesser known Japa labels and etc. Lately I haven’t been wearing much vintage or second hand, or the kind of loud, fun pieces I used to love as a teenager but I still enjoy picking up quirky euro designers in little boutiques and writing about them here.

7. I'm constantly torn between the desire to look sensible and intelligent, and the desire to wear whatever the hell I want.

8. My style is very androgynous, although funnily enough this didn't occur to me until quite recently. It's not something I'm concious of when I'm shopping, but I do own a lot of unisex and boyish stuff. And I'm always wearing ex-boyfriend tees and cardies to bed.

9. The truth is that until I started ASBTM I had no outlet for thoughts on art and fashion--my friends and I don't share the same passions and besides, a part of me has always held back for fear of sounding like a snob. I still have moments when I feel vain, somehow, for writing about clothes. But I know that starting this blog and reading lots of others has made me think about fashion in ways that I wouldn't have otherwise. Though I still find some aspects of it difficult to put into words, I'm slowly beginning to understand what constitutes my style and why that is. I love that here, I'm allowed to throw around big fashion words like Ghesquiere and Demeulemeester, or ponder just how many lines make up the CdG Universe. And more than anything it's been a relief to discover that there are tons of people out there who, like me, genuinely enjoy fashion and aren't afraid to say so.

I'll be thinking about who to tag...