Jet-lagged

My first experience with having to deal with Euro jet lag has been made more interesting with the onset of a killer cold and the need to pound out one last attempt for a scholarship to cover my 2nd and last year of this degree. All I really want to do is find the perfect t-shirt and then sleep in it until my body resets. The latter is self-explanatory, given the 8-hour difference between home and where I was for a week and a half (and wish I was still). The former stems from the realization that I have only managed to accumulate 2 perfect t-shirts in the last 4 years of this blog (I slept through kOs' 4th anniversary, which was a couple days ago!), though truly the wool content of those 2 (identical) t-shirts make them imperfect for the summer. I seem to have come up dry on good affordable basics labels with local/ethical production, now that complexgeometries has moved their production to Japan (*tear*) and the ridiculous customs fees incurred by my first kowtow purchase means I simply cannot buy another piece from them. I'm quite intrigued by the above pool-side worthy t-shirt by JACQUEMUS (found via Fashion156), a label which reminds me (as did being in France and Belgium) that I need to brush up on my French. Though, I'll admit, the trompe l'oeil effect does come across better in the two-piece look. Where was I going with this? Oh yeah, Queen Elizabeth, please give me money so I can learn all of the things, and someone please direct me to the perfect t-shirt store. Also, if you go to Bruges, stay at the Hotel Van Eyck. This is the staircase you'll climb every night.

It's not easy being green

The first thing I noticed before even touching down on European soil is that at least the parts of Europe we saw are much much greener than it ever gets here. Of course, things here are just starting to bud/flower, but the difference in humidity makes such a huge difference even in just the colour of the grass that has managed to grow here. So, back at home with a flat of greenhouse-grown herbs in front of me waiting to be potted, I'm imagining that I'm back where it's proper green. And you'd think that with green being my favorite non-black colour, I'd have a green dress (that isn't my wedding dress). But I don't, so here are some green looks from the A/W 12/13 collection of Berlin-based Polish designer Dawid Tomaszewski. I'll have to also take some photos later of the prized possession I brought back from this trip, being my very own green spring jacket from kOs favorite Dusturbance. A spring jacket! I'm a real adult now. Also, I got to touch that wonderous Dusturbance piece (which is green, of course) that led me to meet the wonderful kindred spirit who is Dust. Life makes sense again.

(Photos via NJAL)

Spatial reasoning

I feel like I'm arriving quite late to the party, but I just came across a London-based designer (via Fashion156) by the name of Aitor Throup who makes (among other things) amazing pants. I.e. pants with built-in (but optional) spats. I wonder if Gary Fisher knows about Aitor. There's a lot more to be said about Aitor, but I'm off to Europe for the first time ever, and I can't concentrate on one thing for more than 5 minutes. Take care of each other, and see you in a couple weeks! Also, wear some spats if you can.

The Travellers

I wanted to post this yesterday morning, as it set the soundtrack for my final bout of Italian studying. However, I couldn't seem to find a website for the label/collective responsible for these looks, The Travellers, and had to shoot off an email to await further information. Fast forward a few hours when said email had arrived, but my brain had completely shut off. The Travellers website (at least as my checked-out brain read it) does not provide too much more information, so all I know is that its a collaborative effort, its unisex, it likes Joy Division (or I'm assuming, based on the 'Love will tear us apart' t-shirt, not pictured here), and it involves a lovely designer named Maria Manrique.

Anyone else want to know more? Or at least wear all of the above? I'll see what I can do...

(Photos via NJAL)

Yiqing Yin, S/S 13

As I'm sitting here, putting off making the dreaded cup o' instant coffee (I'm desperate!), I was scrolling through some old posts and noticed that my wee post on Paris-based designer Yiqing Yin is one of the most viewed posts on kOs. And, since my brain is not yet working this morning/has already flown to Europe, I couldn't remember anything other than the name, so I added one more view to the post. Which led me to Yiqing's website and her S/S 13 collection. I will definitely be dreaming of that teal dress (the colour and drape of which reminds me of the sadly now defunct Verlaine, R.I.P.), and probably of that multi-lapelled/draped-shoulder jacket too. So, thanks to my unfortunate coffee situation, let's raise our mugs to the good things that can come from someone forgetting to tell you we're out of coffee beans. Even when those good things are frightening and impressive at the same time, like this piece...

...and these pieces. I'm not sure what is going on, but I like them. They also remind me of Stacey Grant's brilliant MA collection.

Remember kids, friends don't let friends drink instant coffee!

(Photos by Shoji Fujii, via Yiqing's website)

In Memory of Elizabeth Howe, Salem, 1692

I've been having a bit of trouble lately with being able to write the words I'm meaning to say, as I've been working on my last paper of my first year of grad school and I've pretty much used up my word bank in the 100+ pages of (English) writing I've produced in the last eight months. So, I'm not sure I can connect these two things together, but I'll try. Around the time Alexander McQueen's A/W '07 collection went down the runway, I was finishing up what I thought would be the last I wrote on Sulpicia, supposedly the only female Roman poet who's work survived long enough to reach us. I quite vividly remember handing in my 60+ page manuscript to my advisor and, as I walked away from her office back down the long hallway, as I was on the verge of tears. I had lived and breathed Sulpicia for the last year, and wasn't sure what to do with myself when that was taken away from me. I also remember feeling quite depressed for the following summer, feeling like I had absolutely no direction, sure that I was permanently separated from a great love, namely university. Now, 6 years later, I feel like I've reversed time somehow and am walking backwards in that same hallway, about to take back my manuscript, return home and un-write it. Of course I'll have to stop rewinding the tape soon, as I now have another 100 pages on Sulpicia to write. At least. Anyway, these two looks from the McQueen collection came out at the time I've now re-arrived at, so their strange ancient history/sci-fi hybrid aesthetic fit both my time traveling experience and area of study.

Funny thing is though, the collection was actually inspired not by sci-fi, but by the women that were killed in the Salem witch trials, including some of McQueen's own distant relatives. This subject speaks to me on a different level, having just completed Damien Echols' book, Life After Death. Some of you were probably more aware of Damien's case than I was since I was too young/sheltered when it began, and too self-involved/in a daze when it came (somewhat) to a head. Due to my reliance on Henry Rollins' show to get me through some of the tough 'in a daze' nights, and then through the healthier 'translating a lot of Latin/Greek' nights, Damien's name at least entered my subconscious, and so I thought I knew what the documentary West of Memphis was going to be like when we saw it was playing at our local indie theatre. I didn't. I immediately bought Damien's book after watching the film and devoured it within a few sittings. Damien's book contains some of the most beautiful passages I've ever read, as well as some of the most heart-wrenching ones. I have not been able to get it out of my head in the last week since I finished it, though I truly don't ever want to.

Here's the runway video of the McQueen show, if you're interested. It has some NSFW material playing on the screen above the runway, so proceed with caution.

(Runway photos via Style.com)