Sunscreen and Lace

______This felt like the first time I've dressed up in weeks. I've been muraling most of the summer and my primary lük has been a paint-stiffened tank, grungy, year-old tennis shoes, and globs of paint in my hair... sweat, sunscreen, and small bugs have been the closest things to makeup I've worn. The first couple of days muraling I'd partake in my usual makeup routine, but knew it would just sweat off or I'd resort to covering my face in sunscreen, thus rendering it moot. Eventually, I succumbed to going makeup-less, and although not anything over a 4-minute regimen, it was nonetheless unnerving those first few days. But then it became easier since I grew more focused on the task at hand and less on the way I looked to potential onlookers.

______And on a day when I wasn't muraling, such as the day these photos were taken, suddenly spending so much time again on my appearance felt like a considerable transformation; regardless, I still recognized myself as me at the core of this so-called transformation. In sum, I'm glad to say I'm comfortable with both versions of myself--it feels just as acceptable for me to be slathered in sweat with my hair in a scraggly, paint-striped ponytail while I'm at work as it does spending time on picking out an outfit and curling my hair for everyday errands.




Dress: Forever 21
Lace kimono: similar
Heels: Vince Camuto (exact)
Necklace: Dolls Kill
Earrings: Francesca's (similar)

Quiet in Blue

______I once read a book where the story's main character was transported from one dimension to another; initially residing in a bustling city, cacophonous from dawn to dusk, she was abruptly transported to a time and place where the sounds of a modern city waned. She noticed, after a few weeks, how at peace she felt with herself and those around her. How every interaction was savored, unhurriedly, how every situation gleamed newness from all that did not distract her. Nothing seemed to irritate her and everything was slow, meditative, deliberate.

______My upstairs neighbors moved out what must have been a couple days ago. I recently returned to my apartment after a week at home and immediately felt the quiet, palpable as ever. There weren't any heavy feet pattering from one side of my ceiling to the next, and chair legs no longer scraped the linoleum. Usually, even into the wee hours of the morning, I'd hear water trickling through the walls, feet shuffling, cabinets opening and closing. If the way my body reacted to these sounds was a line graph, the line would surge sharply with each sound I heard. But now, it was a shallow, undulating line, at ease with the knowledge there would be no surprises in what I was hearing.

______I like the quiet. I'm drawn to the slow serenity nature boasts season to season, from twigs snapping crisply in autumn to the buzzing of bugs in deep summer. I enjoy the sounds birds make, the nocturnes of night owls and the melodies of robins, but the clamor of a metal utensil scraping against a ceramic dish or the drone of vacuuming ramps up my heart rate. I don't know why this is, but I listen to it and can't seem to shake it off as just white noise; unlike nature, it does not eventually fade into the background undetected.

______I think the quiet is an experience I try to recreate in whatever environment I'm in; at home, it's by pairing the soft, orange flames of candles with something I'm interacting with--a drawing, a book, even something on Netflix. In my studio, it's music that cancels out other noises alongside an organized space.

What is the quiet to you?

Dress: Scheels (similar)
Heels: Charlotte Russe (similar)
Earrings: Charming Charlie (similar)
Necklace: Forever 21

Button Up + eShakti

______Last week, eShakti sent me this lovely navy dress with chunky black buttons which trace the neckline, chunky black buttons that I adore. Adore, I say. The dress came swiftly in the mail--in under a week, which is astounding considering it was customized--and fit just as expected. In the past, I have selected dresses from them which use my specific measurements for a custom fit, but this time around since I had nobody to measure me (#foreveralone), I opted for my usual size and just customized the dress in the form of adding longer sleeves and chopping the skirt length to something shorter.

______eShakti offers sizes 0-36W and a variety of customization details beyond your body's measurements and height: varying sleeve lengths, necklines, adding or removing pockets, dress length, color, and more depending on the specific garment you've selected. So even if a dress seems a little "off" and doesn't necessarily pique your full interest at first, you can tailor it into whatever you'd like. In the end, that basically means you could customize every dress on their website into something you'd like. And that's dangerous, my friends.





Dress: c/o eShakti
Heels: Jeffrey Campbell
Bracelet: Lulus, probably an ancient artifact by now
Ring: from papa bee
Earrings: similar