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