Model: Ireland O’Leary
Makeup: Sarah Douglas
Photograph/Edit: Me
Current. Defined as belonging to the present time; happening or being used. Habitual, yet steady my nothingness has consciously streamed along a numb pathway to an uneventful lifestyle. Living in an area blessed by family and burned by cut ties and long lost friends. My hometown has slowly drifted into something unfamiliar. We long for what gives us growth, the friends that are current and strong, the boyfriend that entices you with every move; the constant beat of spontaneous drafts to an electric charge of something bigger. Home is not current, home is away, uncertain, yet the uncertainty is what forms the picture. My picture has yet to be drawn.
As a child, fashion never came as easily to me as learning how to ride a bike and conquering my backyard did. A tomboy at heart, how I dressed myself was last on my list but one thing that always took my heart were colors. I loved how they worked together and pairing unique combinations. This subtle admiration is in fact one of the key elements towards styling trend-setting and complimentary outfits, yet I had no knowledge of it. Looking back on my high-water bootcut jeans and mud-engrained t-shirts, I could say a lot has changed but one thing that has stayed for the long run is my unique interest for color schemes; I think that one trusting element has kept all my projects relevant. So if you feel like you may not be the best wardrobe stylist or you just are not that adequate to put together your daily outfits, start with the basic color wheel concept. It will be your best friend through this process. Choose the colors across from each other like you would a cute guy across a coffee table (complementary colors), and choose the two next to you like your first friends in preschool (analogous colors). Lastly, if the guy in the coffee shop just isn’t your taste and you were a little socially handicapped in preschool, no problem, choose one color and two shades to match it (tri analogous). Everyone has a chance to be fashionable and tasteful in what they wear, it just takes a little educating. I hope this helps!
Stay colorful and beautiful gals!
xoxo
-A
The neat but simplistic stoke of aquamarine blue watercolor. It took its time to show how serine and tastefully it could bleed on to a page. Only to be interrupted by the hand of a minimalistic elementary-schooler. With a tight grip onto a tampered and well-abused wooden brush. It bristles becoming more and more wispy with each stroke. Like the delicate soft fuzz that blows in your mouth as you take a joy ride, head out of the window with your beloved dog. The smell of his cute fur. No one can ever describe the smell of, “cute” but we are all familiar with it. That cuddly smell that every blanket, couch pillow, and seat obtains all throughout your cozy house. I took this all into consideration in the span of a millisecond to realize that I was extremely infatuated with the artwork of my fellow classmate. To the point where I jolted to the nearest blank slate to with great failure, produce an image that wasn’t even near the effortless scribble he had constructed. He had painted a simple fish in a bowl, his pet. My fish bowl was twice the size with an uneven circle housing a sausage-looking orange buoy. The buoy made heads turn as I passed the sheet around looking for answers and approval from others. Was it fair? How could he make such a unique drawing when mine took effort? The effort I exerted on my sausage buoy was effort non-the-less but a conflicted and upset effort. I couldn’t do this on my own but at the same time I needed to.
You are a ghost if you carry around other people’s opinions and try to mold yourself into something that is not unique to you. Beating myself up to no avail I reconstruct my thoughts and huff a sigh of self-pity. The picture had become clear in my mind: watercolor painting of a fish bowl. So simple but why hadn’t I thought of it? The persistent streak of sound peeled through the air, art class had come to a close and I hadn’t even graced my sheet to make my final assignment for the day: your favorite pet. I’d never had a fish but the color in itself intrigued me into telling myself I had had one. Gathering my red sloppy-threaded Jan Sport I stumbled out of the room, leaving black shoe skid marks as I descended down the ramp and into the “pod.” Showing all my watchers I was on a mission to prevail.
“Morning,” my mom said as she warmly grasped my wrist. Still pondering my thoughts and reviewing my dream of the fishbowl. A clear bulbous big and clean glass circle. A large droplet of blue water sitting still to acquire a friend. A friend covered in orange scales simultaneously placed with a wavering yellow eye to welcome all into his glass home. Perfectly visible with not a moment of privacy, but content with the lifestyle. The dream had me unconsciously eating my hot oatmeal, burning my tongue with every spoonful. Concerned with my lackadaisical attributes, my mom asked me about what was on my mind. Speaking with my chipped eight year old-teeth I reply with a mumbled, “nothing.” The involuntary answer to almost every question my parents asked. Knowing that I was distraught, she patted away in her slippers across the cold morning kitchen tiles to leave me to my thoughts.
Art. I was in art again. Same struggle. Same question: what do I paint? Looking around the classroom to see all the other eight-year-olds nonchalantly crumbling papers and making art in itself, I realized that I could be possibly taking this assignment too seriously. Taking a simple and easy deep breath with a brisk eye blink to clear the excess drops from my eyes, I began my piece. A lonely black line boarding a stable surface, partnered with a soft light sand-colored puffball. Two circular strokes the size of pebbles and a big black nose. Beans, my beloved dog, soft and simple, just as minimalistic as I wanted it. It wasn’t my imaginary fish but it was my best friend I forgot about the entire assignment. His smell embracing my nostrils involuntarily and his cute idiosyncrasies dancing around my head as if I was just bonked in the head in a cartoon. In a cartoon for most of the week, I was trying too hard to mold myself into what was not unique to me and in turn creating a lackadaisical ghost that shovels hot oatmeal into her mouth. Turning in my artwork with great confidence had my art teacher gleaming at me. Gracefully handling the piece of art she took it into consideration that I was surely churned at the assignment but could tell I had regained life. It took twice as long but was worth the wait and contemplations. Beans, in my mind had surpassed the fish and even the pet turtle someone carved up with broken crayons. I wasn’t better than anyone else and neither was my drawing of Beans, I had just realized that I needed to be unique. We go through our lives with the mind-set that normal is something that is socially accepted and we should follow these set of disguised rules. These rules are implemented in our culture but that barrier can be climbed and broken by one thing. Uniqueness isn’t acquired through grazing off other people’s papers nor is it obtained through comparing yourself to other individuals. I was a patient to the inevitable curse of being compared to my identical twin but through one art assignment, steered myself out of the dark predisposed mindset. I felt free. Free of judgment and free of the imaginary fish.
Trying out some new simplistic accessories all available at H&M.
Social media is a puppet of the marketing society. Strings are pulled and gears are always being turned for a certain product to be chattered about in the social media outlets of the world. This movement creates revenue and revenue creates likes. Yea, we would all love the pleasure of having a thousand likes on one picture but that would be super hard. This is the age of alienating the social media kings.
Stay relevant gals
Xoxo
-A
Met these fabulous twins in NYC at the LIM campus dorms the other week and I am absolutely obsessed. Twins present a perfect example of how a certain look can be worn in a million different ways from your wardrobe. They both obtain a sort of Aldo/high fashion look but one is more bohemian.
Stay twinning gals!
xoxo -A
I question my career choice everyday when I scout models and fashionistas on the streets of New York City. I found this lovely at the recently built H&M in Times Square and had to get a picture! A taller carbon copy of Rachel Zoe with dyed hair.
Stay scouted gals
xoxo A
I can not express how much I love Forever 21 and their new “look”. It’s sharp, chic, and on point. I bought a huge loud of their new apparel and it has left me with a facelift to my wardrobe.
Stay chic gals
Xoxo -A
heelsinthehallway.wordpress.com 