Intelligent Clashing?

I recommend this site for some inspiration.

NEWS FLASH: A friend just sent me the link to purchase the insanely awesome pair of jeans that they feature on Intelligent Clashing (pictured below). Get them while they last. So sick.

Pollyanna and Pork Pie Hats

Every 4th of July I get super excited because it is an excuse to wear my pork pie hat. Wearing it makes me feel like I'm at the carnival in the movie Pollyanna. Best party of all time. If I could choreograph any scene in any movie, I swear it would be this one. Here's a tribute...

Dressing Like a Cartoon

My college friend Diana did this thing (intentionally) for several weeks at school where she wore the same outfit everyday (gray eighties sweatshirt and navy blue shorts). Honestly, I'm not sure if she actually wore THE same outfit everyday or if she owned multiples of these items, but she never smelled bad and looked great so I didn't ask.

At first I was so UN-interested because getting dressed in the morning is like, THE most fun creative activity. But then she made the point that not only was it easy, it was cartoon-ish. Every cartoon character has a uniform that defines them (Charlie Brown, Sheera, Doug). So Diana was sort of like, experimenting with cartoonism, which was totally bizarre but I came to the conclusion that it was THE GREATEST IDEA.

These pictures on Garance Dore are the inspiration for my future cartoon uniform: Canadian tuxedo, in EVERY POSSIBLE COLOR.

Broken Dolls

Archival print by Kate Phillips for sale on Etsy.

Broken dolls are really creepy. I had a pair of my moms dolls from childhood (arms amputated) in a little rocker in my room growing up and my friends always made me turn them around to get rid of their stare (see below). Maybe everyone is scared because of the "play things coming alive at night" storyline (think Chucky).

In any case, I like old dolls for the same reason that I like antiques and animals up for adoption— their make-up has been loved off, their arms broken, and now they need a home. It's fun to imagine the lives they've lived.

Yesterday I found this AMAZING mid-century painting of a child and her broken doll that I am in love with and hanging in my bathroom. I think it's got less of the creepy factor because it's 2D.

Nude Women

I once had a friend explain the "tattoo debate" to me this way:

A person is in one of two camps. The first camp looks at the body as a blank canvas, a place where they can create something new. The second sees the body as a work of art in itself, something that shouldn't be tampered with.

I saw this painting at a store on Dixie and fell in love with it. The woman's face and figure are so modern. They seem in many ways to contradict the traditional (draped cloth) set up of the painting. In any case, made me think of the aforementioned argument, body as work of art.

Brown Paper Packages

When I was in high school, I bought these little yellow butterfly patches and ironed them onto my backpack because of a line I read in Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years Of Solitude. Mauricio Babilonia, lover of Meme, is followed by yellow butterflies wherever he goes. The line reads something like "and she knew he'd been there, because the butterflies were there."

I was 16 and so in love with LOVE. And though the butterflies were totally heinous (in addition to the backpack and the rest of my wardrobe) I still love "fiction-inspired design" for lack of a better term. One that I still cling onto is "brown paper packages" from the song My Favorite Things in The Sound of Music. I just can't stand fancy wrapping paper with balloons and holly berries. I think wrapping things in postal wrap makes it so much more exciting- it always reminds me of getting something in the mail which is the BEST.


Scotch Kraft Postal Wrapping Paper, 30in x 15ft. Get it at any mailing center or crafts store.

It's also a blank slate for your ribbon (string). I like using rope or a really neutral gingham for thank you gifts. For good friends I like picking out a ribbon that suites their personality, and pink velvet for a 16th birthday!