I haven’t written an “I Like Her Style” post in awhile. Lately, I haven’t been felt like there is anyone in the public eye whose style has been too inspiring lately. However, this “I Like Her Style” has been long overdue since I’ve been an admirer of musician Janelle Monae and her style for quite some time. The pompadour, her “uniform” and unique musical sound are a bit different from what you might see or hear daily, but you can still pinpoint some of her inspirations. Her style is simple and usually remains the same: black tuxedo pants, a dinner jacket and her Charlie Brown shoes.. And although I don’t personally subscribe, I love her take on uniforms:
“I have always taken to uniforms,” she explains. “I loved watching the guys and the girls in their post office uniforms. And I was obsessed with Colonel Sanders.”
For me, her style and music are always inspiring to me. From my failed pomp’ that I tried on my own hair (and it was bad) to listening to her music for stimulation while writing or even cleaning around the house, Janelle Monae never really fails to inspire me.
And if you haven’t already, check out my favorite video of hers, “Many Moons”. Tell me it doesn’t make you move in your seat.
I’m not someone that tries to make things symbolic when there really is no need. However, I thought I’d write this post on this date, August 26th, a week shy of my 26th birthday, with a list of 26 tasks that I want to complete. I know I won’t complete them all anytime soon, but I was inspired by the 30 things To Do list by YesandYes to make good on my own list 26 things I want to start at 26:
1. Learn my mother’s recipe for pound cake and perfect it.
Image Source: kimberlykv
2. Be able to successfully defend myself physically if a situation arises.
3. Dress up and go to the opera.
4. Read the entire works of Shakespeare.
Image Source: We Heart It
5. Learn how to box.
6.Take a dance class and go to the highest level that I possibly can.
7. Move to another country and live there for at least a year.
8. Throw a fabulous cocktail party.
9. Run a marathon.
10. Learn how to box.
Image Source: bfurnace
11. Become absolutely dedicated to a cause I care about.
12. Go to graduate school.
13. Volunteer at a soup kitchen on Thanksgiving.
14. Learn how to belly dance and become damn good at it (not the same as #9).
15. Learn how to appropriately apply false eyelashes.
Image Source: tinywhitelights
16. Perfect my skincare regimen.
17. Ride my bike along the Chicago lakefront.
Image Source: Amy Guth
18. Designate one room as my library when I purchase my first home.
19. Write a book.
Image Source: We Heart It
20. Dress up in my most fab dress, best jewelry and throw on my favorite shoes and go to brunch, browse/shop and or peruse a museum–alone.
I know I’m late for this one, but I recently met up for a fun evening out with a couple of friends and we decided to check out the movie 500 Days of Summer starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel. Overall, I thought the movie was cute and a fun, romantic comedy to take your mind off things.
What really caught my eye was Summer’s (Zooey Deschanel) wardrobe. I loved the fact that her wardrobe looked very attainable and fitting for the character. Very carefree, yet still polished and put together with a vintage feel.
When looking for a store that would allow you to perfectly emulate Summer’s look in the movie (if you so choose), I immediately thought of ModCloth.com. For most of the movie, I kept wondering if some of her clothing was from ModCloth or at least I felt I could recreate some of the looks from there. Here a few pieces that inspired me from Summer’s wardrobe:
Another semi-lazy Sunday, but I’m doing a bit of work here and there. Today is filled with cooking, cleaning and True Blood anticipation. Here are some thoughts and musings on this beautiful (but hot) day:
What I’m Listening To: Esperanza Spalding’s Esperanza seems fitting for today. Inspiring and chill music for a chill day. Check out this vid below from Jimmy Kimmel:
I’ve always had a strange obsession with masks, although I’ve never had anywhere to wear them. I don’t really dress up for Halloween and there are no Masked Balls that I’ve been invited to lately, so I’m left just…admiring. I found the website for Aardvark K Masks , a brand of wearable facial sculptures designed by Spanish artist Kepa Rasmussen. The paper mache and mixed media masks are one-of-a-kind pieces and used in fashion editorial shoots, film and photography. Still, I’d like to get one and wear it on the street like it’s an everyday occurrence. Check out these cool masks:
I’ve traveled through many states in the South in my youth, so when it comes to vacation, there aren’t any places that I can think of that I would choose to visit.
However, there is one sure state that I would love to visit and perhaps live someday: Louisiana.
Watching the HBO series, True Blood has only intensified my romanticism of the Louisiana culture and increased my desire to visit the state. Yes, even if it is a show about brutal, blood sucking vampires.
But, the movie that started the fascination with Louisiana culture and cultivated a wish to retire to a swamp is Eve’s Bayou. It’s a cult film that stars Samuel L Jackson, Lynn Whitfield, and a young Jurnee Smollett. Here is the synopsis of the movie as given by IMDB:
The story is set in 1962 Louisiana. The big Batiste family is headed by charming doctor Louis. Though he is married to beautiful Roz, he has a weakness for attractive women patients. One day Louis is flirting with married and sexy Metty Mereaux, not knowing that he is observed by his youngest idealistic daughter Eve, who is there by accident. Eve can not forget the incident which is traumatic for her naivete and shares a secret with older sister Cisely. Lies start to roll.
The movie is moving, thought-provoking and stirring. I highly suggest running out and renting it at Blockbuster or Netflix it if you haven’t seen it already.
However, the fashion and style of the movie is also what always captivated me. The costume designer is Karyn Wagner, who has also served as costume designer for “The Notebook” and episodes of “Friday Night lights”. For Eve’s Bayou, I’d say she did a great job of capturing the style of an affluent family in rural Louisiana in the early 60’s.
Now, whenever I watch Eve’s Bayou, I’m always inspired to put on my Sunday best instead of throwing on a typical pair of jeans, T-shirt and flip flops. Instead, I feel like I want to put on a pair of pearls, a nice floppy hat and a pair of white gloves. Okay, maybe not the white gloves.
Another post where I will veer off of the fashion/beauty talk for a second. Yes, this is a tribute to Michael Jackson post. I’d actually gone back and forth about writing a tribute post since others have eloquently written on this subject matter. However, I thought it would be quite fitting since I can say that Michael Jackson was one of my first introductions to music.
I was born shortly after the release of Thriller and the now groundbreaking Motown 25th Anniversary show where Michael showcased his moonwalk for the 1st time. Some of my earliest memories include me trying to imitate the dance at the end of the “Beat It” video–I never could get through “Thriller” until I was older.
When Bad came out, I was a little bit older and I remember my dad taping all of the music videos on his Betamax (we were old school) and him showing me how slick and smooth MJ was in “The Way You Make Me Feel” video. Once again, I was in awe of the moves from the “Smooth Criminal” video.
And when “Dangerous” came out, my dad bought two cassette tapes–one for me and one for him, because he knew we wouldn’t share. I played that tape out until it was broken. The music videos, like “Black or White” and “Remember the Time” were full scale productions and the premieres were treated as such. We’d be abuzz in class the day after the premiere about seeing the videos and how cool this move or that move was.
And I still liked his later music from his HIStory and Invincible album. Plus, his Off the Wall album and Jackson 5 songs were always mainstays in the home. I’d listen to my mom’s “Off the Wall” record and dance by myself in my room as if I were at a disco on a Friday night. Good times, indeed.
Last night, I went with a couple of friends to a small memorial at Johnson Publishing Company, the home of Ebony and Jet magazine. It was a small group, but there was singing and Johnson Publishing hung their Ebony and Jet poster-sized covers in their windows:
So I will not only bid adieu to Michael Jackson, but to a part of my childhood that I will always remember from listening to his music. From trying to pop-lock in my yard with my friends to anxiously waiting for his video premieres. I’m glad that I grew up in that generation to know what good pop music really, truly is. I can look back fondly of those memories of his music and the influence it had on me.
A few days ago I was going through a backup drive and I found some images from my old computer. I thought I’d lost these images and I vaguely remember rounding them up from various sources a couple years ago. They were going to be printed and they were to be added to my “mood board”. Well, the mood board never happened and the images, until now, have been mostly forgotten. However, I wanted to share because I think it’s interesting to look back at what inspired me at that time (and just a quick note, please don’t laugh at my faux-Photoshopping skills. Thx):
These adverts and images are at least a couple of years old or more, but I can still find inspiration from some of them and I remember why I savedthem. I will say this, I must have been in a romantic reverie, because these images come off as incredibly romantic and idyllic in my mind. Soon, I hope to update this and show what imagery currently inspires me.
Sometimes we all need a little inspiration. Whether it’s writing, fashion or photography, imagery or examples are necessary for helping us trudge through For me, I am always looking for hair inspirations. Yes, for my hair. When I became natural during my Sophomore year of college, I was happy that I was done with my harsh relaxer and I was determined to embark on a new adventure. I was going to stop depending on salons and I was going to see what my natural hair texture was really like. Well, let’s just say that those first few months were a bit awkward. Here I was, liberated from my relaxer, but now what? I had no points of reference for being natural and didn’t really understand all of the work that went into maintaining natural hair. Most of the pictures of celebrities and models (looking at you, Naomi), I saw were of models with stick-straight hair or contrived Afro-wigs that never looked quite real.
In the past four and a half years, I’ve sought out many inspiring images or celebs that portray natural hair. I have also found blogs like Mane and Chic, Honey Brown Sugar and Afrobella. I’ve also perused communities like NaturallyCurly.com. These sites have helped me immensely in feeling uplifted when I decide to wear my hair natural with their tips and stories.
Also, here are some fabulous natural celebs (models and singers) that I’ve found. This by no means covers all of the fabulous and natural public figures.
So I’ve been a bad blogger in the past couple of weeks. Lack of anything to write about and nothing inspirational to me right now. I haven’t been shopping or even looking in the past few weeks. Maybe it’s the Chicago weather that keeps me down. I briefly went on a rampage trying to find the perfect handbag to carry going into the Spring, but I came up empty. I had a beautiful Tanner Krolle handbag that was on a serious sale in my online shopping cart that was sold when I finally went to check out. And yes, somehow, that crushed my little shopping spirit. I went into withdrawal and I carried my beat up MJ bag that really shouldn’t be allowed to exist anymore. Then, I was at my parents house and went through my old closet to help my mom throw out things I didn’t want anymore and I found them.
Yes. My old school Dr. Martens. I’d had them since I was about 13 or so. I’d actually had a pair when I was in 2nd grade that were the lace-up high top style boots. I quickly tired of those and by third grade, they were out. However, the other Dr. Martens were the 5 Eye Cap Lace to Toe style shoes. Yellow trip and the thick sole I always felt looked like gristle. Those shoes got me through Jr. High School, but I only wore them sometimes on weekends. However, high school is where it counted as these Docs (as I called em) went perfectly with my wool skirt and white monogrammed shirt and tall knee socks. In college, the shoes were always a fall back and a comfy alternative for walking around on campus.
Over the past couple of weeks as I looked at the scuff marks and the wear and tear, I noticed that first, the shoes held up pretty damn good for all of the trauma I probably put them through. Then I reminisced about chance meetings with new friends, reconnecting with old friends, going to the pizza place after school and the joyrides around town. After sitting there and looking at my Dr. Martens for 15 minutes, I realized that I couldn’t throw them away. I put them back in the corner of my old closet and threw every other meaningless Express T shirt and NY and Company pair of jeans away. I can only hope that I find more items Dr. Martens that actually mean something to me.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=54356d01-8af4-4d15-b962-0faf94c16de8){kind=small}
Erykah Badu
Wakeema Hollis
Bre
Jordan Richardson
Amel Larrieux
Jill Scott
