Despite the Snow

I had an induction ceremony to go to last Sunday. The attire was business casual, so of course I saw this as an excuse to wear a cute dress despite the freezing cold, haha. I froze just a little bit on the way there, and I was convinced that my heels would be the death of my in that snow, but it's okay. I survived. There were these chocolate dipped strawberries that I didn't stop eating, and some mini baked potato appetizers. Don't you just love mini food? All the flavor's there in one bite!

Jacket: Felia's Basement
Necklace: a boutique in Belmont
Dress: Mango
Tights: American Eagle
Purse: grandmother's
Shoes: Zara

You can't really see my accessories well since there were taken on Photobooth, haha. I'm so professional. Here you go:

The dress is actually my sister's. See how good she looks in it?! Photo complement of my grandmother:

xo, Alexi

RIP Alexander McQueen

So tragic.

Sick...

Hello Blog World! Oh how I've missed you!!!!
I'm sorry I've been gone all weekend. I unexpectedly got sick, so I'm doing something for myself this weekend and I'm taking Friday and Sunday off of work.





There's so much to do, and so much to say. First of all, two packages arrived yesterday :D Since I felt horribly sick yesterday, I decided to dress up a bit to make me feel better. What works for you when you try to brighten up your day a bit?




The big box was from Amy on The Bargain Hunter Extraordinaire!!!! It's this adorable pouch and it's the first giveaway I've won. The second package was 4 lip glosses from What's Your Virtue. Elaine from Clothed Much actually introduced the brand to me :-)

Earrings: Martin + Osa
Cardigan: Zara
Shirt: old, a boutique in New York
Skirt: H&M
Tights: layered combination of F21 and Target
Boots: Piperlime.com

P.S. I've received TWO more awards!!! I look forward to posting about it soon.

xo, Alexi

Nobody Else But You

They say everyone needs a signature scent. It's that indefinably feminine thing we're all supposed to have going on. As someone who takes scent very seriously (I cannot abide bad smells at all, but then who can?) I completely see the appeal in having something that is definitively yours. A friend's sister told me she purposely used the exact same perfume, hairspray, and gum at all times to maintain her unique aroma, but that seems like an awful lot of effort. I'd settle for a signature perfume, but finding the perfect perfume is so hard. I wish I could pull a Serena Van der Woodsen and mix my own (in the books at least, I don't know about the TV show) but sadly I must rely on the kindness of designers.

Above are my three favorite scents. To the left is a fresh grassy smelling scent from Gap called "Minteva", next to that is a birthday gift from a dear friend, it's very spicy and oriental smelling. Last (and my favorite) is Marc Jacob's Daisy. I would gladly wear that everyday, but I'm afraid of running out (it's so expensive!).

I was just curious, do any of you have signature scents? I could also use some perfume recommendations. In general I like fresh scents, citrus, or spicy musky vampy scents. Not so much for the flowers. Post suggestion in the comments please, I'd love to see what you think.

P.S. If Alexi gets to put up a picture of her cat, I'm doing mine. Her name is Claidi, and she's fat, fluffy, and evil.

Our First Award!

About a week ago, The Steampunk Dolls got our first award!! Thanks so sooo sooooo much to Amalia of Curly Hits You for passing on this award to us. Check out her site- she's this awesome stylish music lover and we wish our lives were as cool as hers.

So basically, we're supposed to write about 10 things that make us happy. So Genny will do five, and Alexi will do five. Sound fair?

Genny:
1) Snow faeries
2) Geeking out
3) VEGGIE POT STICKERS FROM RICE THAI CAFE (on Sheridan)
4) The scent of old books
5) CHIMPANZEE RIDING ON A SEGWAY



Alexi:
6) Cinnamon pretzels from Auntie Anne's
7) Belmont at 2am
8) How Genny types with one finger
9) Twinkle Toes (my spaz cat)
10) Avatar: The Last Airbender. I've got all the episodes.

Warner Bros

I've had this pullover since forever. I don't even remember when or where I got it, but when I got to high school, I cut off the ends so it would still sort of fit me.

Dress: Marshall's
Bracelets: old stuff, mostly DIYs
Ring: sister's
Necklace: Macy's
Earrings: Macy's

I think I like it better when I smile in pictures. I don't know- it's like I'm trying to hard when I try to do that model pout and then it just looks silly.

LAST THING!! Do you guys read Clothed much? It's a great blog and you should check it out because Elaine from Clothed much is having a giveaway!!! The prize is a set of lip gloss that's really cool. I'd rave about it more, except you should check out the giveaway yourself!

xo, Alexi

Everything That Is Wrong About Us

I'll admit it, I shop at American Apparel. They have great basics and the concept of plain block colored clothing is a great one. However, often when I'm forking over cash in that store I find myself cringing. Yes, they're over-priced and cheaply made, but more than that I find their oversexed marketing to be a turn off.

The two models pictured above are professional (in fact I believe one is a porn star). If you'd like to see an example of America Apparel ads that are nearly soft-core porn, there are plenty of those too (NSFW). These ads I don't like, but if some aspiring model/actress wants to get naked for a brand, it's her business. To me there's a difference between having a professional model signing a contract and American Apparel's amateur ad campaigns. A model is in the business, chooses to wear next to nothing, be plastered all over the US, and (most importantly) he or she gets paid and a clear stipulation of how the image will be used. On the other hand, American Apparel now encourages young women to submit their own mostly-nude photos on their own time for free. Maybe I sound like a prude but there's something about an underage girl buying see-through mesh booty shorts, then going home to photograph her nearly naked ass and hopefully submitting those photos to a company to put all over the Internet, for free, that seems exploitative. Not to mention all the allegations of sexual harassment going on at American Apparel head quarters (apparently the boss likes to get handsy with his employees).

The latest American Apparel gimmick is a "search for the best bottom in the world" where users (pretty much all female, as far as I can tell, no naked male butts to ogle) can submit photos of their ass in some form of American Apparel clothing and vote on which are the best butts. Most of the women are next to naked and seem pretty young. There's just something so sad about these women's eagerness to be pure sex objects and to have their looks degraded online. People vote on these photos, like an all ass version of "Hot or Not". I seriously doubt the girls who submit photos spend a lot of time considering what it will feel like to have strangers call their butts ugly. One could argue that American Apparel is doing a good and anti-elitist thing, allowing normal girls to get a chance at modeling. I did a little checking up on this and I have to say after surfing the site, I did not see a single heavy girl, or less than attractive, or even remotely normal looking person. All the amateur models are very thin, pretty, and have nice racks. No diversity here.

Obviously I have some pretty strong feelings about this latest ad campaign, but maybe I'm totally off the mark. Are these girls taking ownership of their bodies or allowing themselves to be used? Is it a sexy ad or just trashy? Would this stop you from buying American Apparel?


UPDATE:
Apparently others are pissed with American Apparel too
NYC Protest