book lernin

Jez's Anna N (the grande dame) writes on a WSJ piece regarding what appears to be the spate of dark YA novellas (wintergirls, if i stay, hunger games are cited) and makes great assertations in response to the OG WSJ. What neither article touches on however, is that teens today, on the whole are BUYING TRUCK LOADS OF SHIT all by themselves. Not to mention, are a viable market for despondent, weepy, crushing paperbacks that mirror the tumultuous vortex of suck called 'being a teen'.

When I was a teen, I had no income source of my own and had to get clearance to buy anything off the internet from my mom and use her card, meaning, i could not buy half, nay 1/32, the illicit shit i was reading/pining for. Au contraire, ma souer, has her own job, her own cash account, her own computer, and frankly more money in her checking account than yours truely. If i had those means at that age my bookshelf would be far more stacked and the Appalachian county library wouldn't have been half as creeped out by my requests.

Both articles point out that there is nothing wrong with writing/posing novels to teens with what an adult my perceive as risque material and both point out that teens aren't idiots; they know that shit sucks, why wouldn't they, they are teens. I am just glad that (a) more compelling books are being put on the market (i'll fucking read the shit out of wintergirls) and (b) that those lay-about kids are readin' at all.

micro post

returned from travels across the country:

thank you critical shopper for summing up my LEAST favorite parts of what was otherwise a killer sojourn:

"One $75 T-shirt bore the word ARTIST across the chest in a bold glitter font. Now, any artist I know who’s worth his salt would print the shirt himself if it cost more than $22 — and it would never say ARTIST. It might say JANITOR, or IDIOT, or possibly HOOKER. But wearing a $75 T-shirt that says ARTIST suggests that the most artistic thing about the wearer is the T-shirt itself, much as you know that anyone who actually uses the word “classy” probably isn’t. Even if they could afford it, real artists wouldn’t wear such redundancies, any more than raccoons would buy themselves $75 T-shirts that say RACCOON."


see u soon gurlizzz

american apparel brand extention that EXCLUDES hitachi magic wand

American Apparel has a new money makin' outlet that is neither vibrators (they've got that, obvs) nor overpriced thrift store sunglasses (ditto)! I'll give you a clue, it's what the average american apparel consumer wears with their glitter hot-shorts and tube bras. Give it second to sink in...IT'S RE PURPOSED THRIFT STORE GARMENTS! Is my usual curmudgeon-y self angry, irate, or even minorly peeved at this? No, because yours truly loves a good cash cow and that, my BFFs, may as well be a license to print money. The micro-offshoot is called 'California Select' and is an ebay store that contains hand selected cleaned up garments sourced from salv. armys and thrift outlets across the globe. The clothes are modeled on the spaced out ladies of questionable age that we have grown to love/loathe from AA's current ads and conveniently one can also buy sample AA garments. The items for sale are mostly dresses that appear to have been shortened, which makes sense as changing the skirt length is the fastest way to modernize a vintage garment. While they have quite a few items worth watching or even bidding on, don't expect to nab a stellar deal. A vintage Chloe dress just sold for over 250$, but most items can be had for under 50$ before s&h. It still begs the question, wouldn't you rather just get your own thrift store jams and alter them for 3$ total? Though, I would wear the above dress from Cali-select to it's and my own spotty death bed.

money shots

You have 60seconds to make a good first impression and half of those opinions are culled from looks alone, make that nine tenths if you are making fashion impressions. The same holds true for fashion product as well as fashion people. The presentation of the object/item can intimidate or endear the intended user. In ye olden days, personal shoppers at lux shopping outlets started throwing couture pieces on the floor in front of the customer. Laying all the hundreds of thousands of dollars of product at the clients feet. This stripped the clothing of its perceived in-attainability, which as you can guess, ended with a large ka-ching and the clever sales staff gaining some mad commission. This is still done and now, with some boutiques relaxing their employee dress code, carries over to the employees combining the ultra premium with something that may or may not have been pulled out of a sewer grate. The same effect is achieved by breaking down that regardless of cost, it is still clothing; it is meant to be worn. First impressions can be whatever you want them to be. Which is why I appreciate when full advantage is taken of situations. I am mainly segueing into product photography. Great product shot can make your (maybe just my) mouth foam and my hands itch while I am digging around for my credit card. When done well, really well, it is akin to sorcery with insanely good lighting. The shots that I am salivating over presently belong to OAK. They look like they belong in an editorial or better yet are photo-realistic illustrations of the product. The wearer is not totally removed from the shot, but they are instead used as an animated prop to high-light the details of the item. Is OAK necessarily a cheap store to begin with? No, but the impression lended to their target consumer more than just makes the product seem attainable, it makes the product seem like it is already integrated into the wearer's wardrobe and that it is the great mystery of the 21st century that they don't own it already. Which is invaluable in it's own right and extremely valuable to the mind that chose to go that creative direction.
(photos obviously from OAKNYC.com who are incidentally having a big sale right now)

pretty leather

a growing trend in the norse regions is the application of pretty leather. red leather skirts paired with white button ups whose peter pan collars are buttoned demurely all the way up. capped off with a loosely draped skirt-hem-length cardigan, ankle socks, and flat shoes. juxtaposing what could and should be tried and true street walker pieces against strongly young and chaste garments makes for an outfit mind fuck akin to an adult lolita; all grown up and legal but still inherently bad to the bone. acne will show you whats up: