bleh

 

Hello! These two pictures basically describe my day and sort of how I feel right now. That is all. 

ALSO: 



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89cole_Polytechnique_massacre

It's the anniversary of the École Polytechnique shooting, which I am considerably torn up about. If you don't know about, the above link should help (I know, I know, Wikipedia isn't  the best source for information, but I am currently half-asleep and that is the best that I can do right now.) 

-Britney

marlena and the pastels

LIVING IN A PASTEL WORLD: AN INTERVIEW WITH MARLENA POPE

(I originally conducted this interview a few months ago for my zine, now defunct, and thought that it would be nice to post here.) 

 

Britney Franco: I understand that you have a blog called Self Constructed Freak. What inspired you to start your blog?  

Marlena Pope: At the time I started my blog I had been a follower of the style blogging community for a few years (around ‘07, I believe). By ‘09 I really just wanted my own little corner of the interwebs where I could talk about clothing and music and diy’s that interested me. The one person who really inspired me to start blogging was Isabel of Hipster Musings. Her blog was the very first fashion and feminism-focused blog that I ever read and it definitely made me want to start one of my own. 

BF: When did you first begin creating your DIY crafts? 

MP: I’ve been a bit DIY-obsessed ever since I was little! I started making stuff like clothing and accessories as a ~serious~ hobby when I was around 11 or 12 years old. 

 

BF: What first got you interested in fashion/pastel things/zines/everything lovely on your blog?

MP: I think I’ve always been interested in fashion, as far as personal style goes, since I was young. Putting together outfits has always been my favorite thing to do! But as far as actual ~fashion~ goes, like designers and stuff, I think all the great designers of the ’60s (Rudi Gernreich, Betsey Johnson) are what got me into that sort of thing. My pastel obsession came about in 2008 when I discovered Tavuchi Sayuri and the Spank! shops in Tokyo. 

BF: How would you describe your style? 

MP: I suppose I’m a bit of a pastel punkette. Though, I don’t consider myself to be ‘punk’ in the least bit! ;)

 BF: Who inspires you the most? (This can consist of multiple people) 

MP: Tavuchi Sayuri (she is my queen ♥‿♥)

BF: Where do you usually get your amazing clothes? 

MP: My wardrobe is made up of mostly thrifted items and handmade stuff. I buy new pieces occasionally, but not too often! 
BF: Favorite websites/blogs?  

MP: My friend Kailey’s blog, Mermaidens, is my absolute favorite as of right now (and forever, tbh.) I’m also really loving http://thoughtsfromanotherkook.blogspot.com/ and http://spookypuke.blogspot.com/ too! ^.^ 

                         

Marlena Pope is an expert on all things pastel and DIY. She has a blog called Self Constructed Freak, where she posts lovely outfits complete with lace, glittery socks and tights, & basically everything amazing. She also contributes to  Rookie Mag. 

tulle addicts anonymous

Hello! The above cassette greeted me when I woke up. It just came in the mail and is fitting for a first cassette, don't you think? (NIRVANA>LIFE) In my opinion, cassettes are better than CDs. Sure, they require a bit more work, but they feel more personal to me for some reason. 

This week I imagined having an ultra-cool feminism club at school called 4th Wave Femmes. Unfortunately, the feminist population at my school is most likely 1 (this here blogger) so I'm afraid that I will most likely have to wait until high school to start it. 

Earlier this week, I was on a feminism-focused episode of Nick News with other teenage feminists and...Gloria Steinem! I sat next to her during the taping and she was incredibly nice, but she still voiced her opinions when she needed to. 

For some reason, whenever I take a group picture, my mom goes to the side and decides to take a picture with the rest of the people, resulting in a picture that looks like someone crept up and took a random picture. These are the other really rad teen feminists who were on the show (some people aren't there because they'd left already.)

Me & two super cool friends of mine/fellow feminist members of SPARK , Sariel & YingYing 

Me & Dana Edell, executive director of SPARK, who is another rad feminist that I'm glad to know 

I don't know, man, I don't know. I thought I looked cool and SHUT UP DON'T JUDGE ME. I don't want to turn into a person who takes random pictures of myself. 

I went shopping on 34th Street today after ballet class. I went to Uniqlo, in which I encountered A VERY IMPORTANT DILEMMA. I found two dresses that I liked and couldn't decide on one, so I tried them both on and wasted about half a hour. I ended up getting the corduroy sleeveless one because 1. I was only biased towards the first one because there was tulle attached to it and I am a tulle addict) and 2. the stripey part was weird and droopy and made me look like a toddler. They only had it in a large, which explains a lot. 

I like this one because it reminds me of a mod '60s dress. It would look nice by itself or with a turtleneck (seen below). 

It looks much nicer in a picture than in real life, trust me. 

THIS DOESN'T COUNT AS RANDOM BECAUSE IT'S DISPLAYING A VERY IMPORTANT DRESS. 

I have to go to sleep now (you probably noticed that already) but I'll leave you with this picture that I took of the Empire State Building today. I saw it and it was just sitting there in all of its glowing red evilness. It was dark out, so it just disappeared into the sky, which made it even scarier. (The Wendy's sign in the corner just ruined its intimidating look, though.) 

-Britney 

winter youth revolt

[Source-Internet K-Hole]

    Well, hi. For the past few days, I've been back in school. My normal school is located right near the water & the basement was flooded, which damaged some things, so until everything is fixed, everyone has been relocated to a different school. It's been pretty great so far; we still have lessons from our teachers, we stay in one room all day (which is sort of good), and my friends and I made zines. This week, we'll still be at the relocated school, so MORE ZINES. And maybe Nutella. 

      My new favorite months are now November/December (and sort of early January), a.k.a the months in which holidays are over-advertised and everything spells like cinnamon. Right now my apartment smells like dough baking for some reason, but I have no problem with that.  

*Note-the text above was written about a week or so before everything below.* 

We're back in school, which is okay so far. I'm one of the assistant editors of the yearbook now, and next week is when my school's elections are; I'm running for treasurer. I'm finally reading A Clockwork Orange, which resulted in hours of me looking at tumblrs dedicated to it. Seriously, I'm obsessing over it, which is fine by me. 

(last two images are from A Clockwork Orange)

I cannot express my feeeelings for this. For one, I like the 1960s/1970s vibes of it, mixed with the laid-back college professor. The colors remind me of summer & November, which is odd, I know, but I feel like summer is all about vibrancy and November has colors like yellow and brown and gray, which are brought to life here. 

These pictures basically describes winter for me. Mysterious and getting lost in a pale, snow covered forest like in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, basically living in a fantasy world. 

Lana Del Rey

The above picture is from the Trash & Vaudeville website, and it reminds me of the title of this post (minus the winter part). 

[Source] 

I'm now an official maker of flower crowns! (I made one before, but I feel like this is the one that really counts because it radiates amazingness.)  

I feel like everything outside is blue and silver and brown and gold. It feels like a silvery dusk. 

[Source]

(ALSO: my favorite post on winter and all of it's vibes: http://aestheticfeast.blogspot.com/2012/11/early-winter-vibez.html )

I think that these holographic pictures are very interesting & intriguing. They

re very reminiscent of the 1960s/70s. I'd love to learn how to do this. The tint makes it even better. 

I was reading a magazine yesterday and there was a page on holographic fashion, which is just really great. I feel like the first picture captures the feeling of it more. I don't feel like it's futuristic, but more...outer space feeling. It's not too "in your face" like clothes with pictures of planets and stars and galaxies on them (I don't have anything against those, though; I actually like them).  

Well, then! I'll leave you now. May the force be with you. 

-Britney 

lonely teen refuge

I'm your lonely teen refuge/Hidden beneath hopes/For strange magic and notes
You wish and you want/You drown in nostalgia/I have no help for you/For you, or for me
The moon is so bright/Let us go and ask him/To teach us both/How to love
I'm your lonely teen refuge/The one in the sky/The one you can't/Wait for to die
No one can keep us apart/No one but/Both of us/No one can kill this spark
Of nonsensical reality/You wished for the stars and the moon/I gave them both to you
Our diaries are full of/Of nonsense and fools' gold and/Tidbits of love
That will never exist/Among you and the world/Because I'm always there
Holding you back by your hair/You'll never see the light/Of reality 
I'm your lonely teen refuge/The one you see/The one you don't/Want to be 
Helter skelter/In our minds/Let us break/From this world/And twirl and twirl and twirl and twirl
Until we both lose our minds
Lonely teen refuge/Helter skelter/Lonely teen refuge/In our minds/Lonely teen refuge/Apologize 
Let's go twirl and twirl until we sometimes move/And then we'll twirl and twirl and twirl and twirl
Until we lose our minds 

This is basically the draft of a song that I wrote while waiting for my internet connection to come back on. The post was originally going to be about something grunge-y and angsty and full of teenage blues, but this came out and I was glad for the change. I guess it's a different kind of teenage angst, which makes it better. It's meant to be a light, airy song that still is a bit weighed down. It's hard to explain, but it's meant to be something like this. I really like the rhythm of it.It's sort of slow/average at first and then at the end it speeds up.

Basically, it's about the lonely teen refuge that exists in all of us. Sometimes we want it to disappear and stop weighing us down, but it can end up controlling some of us, which may not be so bad. The vibes are basically how I feel right now which is just a mix of so many great things. 

  I'm actually thankful for Hurricane Sandy now. Staying inside for a few days will help me catch up on my writing and DIYs, but mostly writing. I know this sounds so lame and corny and like one of those motivational posters, but I feel really in touch with myself right now. Because of this song, my day got even better. I'm up watching reruns of Castle, which is undeniably one of the best shows ever, and working on playlists for Rookie. Everything just feels so beautiful right now. (I may sound like a stoner right now but I swear, this all makes sense.) Also, the amazing vibes that I have were added to by my discovery and new obsession of Witching Hour.  

             

       [source]

[source unknown]

[source]

[source unknown]

i want to live on skull island (a.k.a randomness)

                 

(source)

This pictures make me want to go camping/hiking so much. Listening to this song while looking at this picture just intensifies that feeling/all the vibes attached to it even more. 

              
This outfit is just incredible. Her skirt reminds me of one of those huts that you see in one of those old movies where people go to a mysterious island and find a tribe living there (like Skull Island in the original version of King Kong). 

That tribe honestly scared me when I first saw them and a couple times after that. I first saw King Kong (the 1933 version) when I was in kindergarten (or around that time), which would explain a lot. 

How classy. 

See how terribly off topic I can get? Wow. 

Anyway, I took the SHSAT today, and it was surprisingly the most fun test I've ever taken. Not really the test itself, but I got to sit with most of my best friends and there was a ton of laughing included, as well as a mind-boggling "How many hips could a hipster stir if a hipster stir if a hipster could stir hips?"  

                 

This is one of my favorite set of pictures EVER. I only knew about the first one, but I found the other three on tumblr and have since fallen in love with them. 

                 

So this has just descended from hiking/camping to street style to King Kong to the SHSAT to Courtney Love to Debbie Harry to Tate Langdon. Okay. 

-Britney