Inflammatory Writ

There is just the best antique/vintage shop downtown. It's called Boretski's and reminds me a bit of a wackily curated museum, with sparkly things, lavish furs and old musical instruments just laying around. In short, it's freaking awesome.

I found a houndstooth tail coat and a silver sequin cape (both vintage), that Susie Bubble would die for. Of course, if Susie Bubble covets something than it would be a crime not to own it, if only for the sake of having an e-famous style icon covet your wardrobe. The tail coat was only $25, but the cape was $40 and despite it being expensive (for me), delicate and not terribly versatile, I might just have to buy it and pretend its an early Christmas present. It's that wonderful.

I then went to a thrift store across the street that I've never been into before and found a sequin skirt that Susie Bubble would probably also be rendered speechless by and a Moschino bag for $2. I didn't buy either, because I have my fair share of weird skirts and had my doubts about the bag's authenticity. But the important thing about this all is that I love sequins. A lot.

A few notes...

Everybody play the 'Best in Blog II' competition, because a post of mine is featured in it. Don't vote for me unless I'm actually the best, though.

To Andrea who commented on one of my posts talking about my participation in Mayor for a Week...I'm not going to lie. I don't actually live in Toronto, so instead of lunching with David Miller, I lunched with his esteemed worship Neil Ellis, Mayor of Bellfuck.

I don't think I have anything else to say for now, If I do I'll just edit this post so keep checking back. Or something to that avail...

Do the twist.

I haven't discovered a new blog that I love in a while. My links list is getting so long that I barely have the time to check up on my old favourite! But when I read Strawberry Milkshakes, it was blog love at first sight. She is my kind of girl: funny, gorgeous and totally fash. Need proof?


This girl rocks denim overalls and sheer blouses like they're going out of style. Which they're not and never will be so long as they're worn by anyone as awesome as her.

Mixed bags are not always good.

Patterned hoodies have never been too much of a bother to me. Not for a lack of ugliness, mainly because I never noticed anyone actually wearing them. All of a sudden, I walk around small-town Canada and notice hordes of people who shop at Wal-mart wearing them. I blame Pharell Williams.

Just because a cartoon printed hoodie looks good on some rap guy (or hip hop, whatever), does not mean it’s going to look good on a geeky white guy. Or girl for that matter. Have you seen the terrible things Delias is selling these days? I only went there to find a picture of printed hoodies for girls, but did not expect to be so horrified.

Mixed tapes? The person who buys this sweater is probably in the age range of 10-12 and couldn't tell the Violent Femmes from the Cocteau Twins. How terrible.

Mmm, hot chocolate.

Waking up to snow put me in a brilliantly festive mood this morning. It was the perfect time to break out my fair isle sweater for the first time in the season and add sparkly headband (which was the armhole of a thrifted sweater set in its former life. Crafty, eh?). I feel pretty like a present.

Though I might be a prettier present if I was less spotty...

Woman

Yesterday was Buy Nothing Day, and I hope everyone partook. I did. I had to go to lunch with the Mayor of the city (part of the Mayor-for-a-week program for students)at a fancy restaurant. I was planning on wearing this...

Until my mom said "My God, Isabel. You're having lunch with the mayor". I succumbed and put a black velvet blazer overtop the cozy green sweater and changed the handknit scarf for a silk one. The mustard scarf was the first thing ever handknit by ME, I might add. That's why it's so imperfect. I must have been 9 or 10 at the time!

P.S.: I have lots of ideas for posts swirling around in my head right now, so prepare to be bombarded with blogs!

Why are The Dickies stuck in my head?

No sooner do I complain about the day's lack of sunlight than I get a SNOW DAY to enjoy it all! Hooray, a day where I can relax and get a head start on my copious amounts of homework! Or take pictures of my new leather skirt in the outfit I verbally described in the post below...It's not very weather appropriate, now is it?

Schoolkids, Winos and Heads of State

One crappy thing about winter is the lack of sunlight. Though its somewhat romantic to watch the sun to set at 4:00 p.m., I can't get decent pictures of my clothes to post.

Sunlight or not, I must have been unconsciously inspired by Eli's ability to wear latex leggings in public, because when I found a leather skirt at a thrift store I just had to have it. It's genuine leather, very high-waisted, and just above knee-length. In a nutshell, it personifies the 1980s. I created a great outfit involving the skirt, a white bodysuit, layered necklaces and Ferragamo shoes but alas, I couldn't take a picture in the mirror because it was so dark outside. I'll post a picture whenever I get a chance, but I just thought I should let you all know that I bought a badass biker chick skirt. Hell yeah.

Just to note, that picture is NOT of me. I would never wear those shoes.

This is just for you, Lauren

It would be criminal to talk about Wardrobe Remix without acknowledging that leila_ann is the cutest contributor ever. Even if cute isn't your thing, you've got to admit that she does it exceptionally well. I don't even like creepers that much, but this pink panda outfit is fantastic. Maybe it's just the facial expression though.

I have no idea who the band on her shirt is, but the black skirt sure looks hot with ripped tights. Ripped tights too often look contrived, but not on leila_ann.

I am rather confused by the action figures taped to that guy's pants, but don't let it distract from the awesome curtain dress she is wearing.

Really...wtf is with those action figures?

Junkie Business

I didn't know there were American Girl Scouts in Nuremberg, but I sure like the t-shirt. While I'm at it, the shoes aren't bad either...

Pardon the anecdotal post, but I'm really quite busy right now. I'm sure you all understand. November is the pits.

Curtain Dresses

Autumn seems to have reawakened my love of all things lacy. Curtain dresses would be the perfect example. Remember the part in Gone With the Wind where Scarlett O'Hara makes a dress out of her curtain? It's like that, but way better because I didn't like that movie and have never attempted to read the book.

But anyhow, what I really mean to say is that I quite like lace minidresses a.k.a. curtain dresses as I am so fond of calling them. They are beautifully demonstrated here by Mary-Kate Olsen when she was still anorexic and...

...a random Misshapes-partygoer when Misshapes was still cool.

My prom dress was a lace minidress. I might just have to don it more casually this fall.

Tim, Wish You Were Born A Girl

It seems every time I put on this particular cardigan with this particular dress, I am blessed with Herculean confidence. I have no idea why, but I think this outfit is really adorable. Especially the black tights/grey thermal socks/ Chloe inspired shoes combination. I just had to get a picture before I ran out the door to catch the bus.

Since everyone is holding their breath for a picture of my pixie cut, I present an inferior “OMG-the camera is partially obscuring my face” Myspace-esque photo. Wow, Myspace-esque makes an awesome adjective. The picture was taken in my mom’s sewing room.

UO Lust

After reading Susie Bubble's post on what she would buy from Urban Outfitters with a 20% off discount coupon, I was pretty impressed with what she found. Then I got to thinking "what would I buy with a UO discount coupon"? Though the name of this blog is Hipster Musings, I have only been in an Urban Outfitters once, which was four years ago in Montreal. I browsed through the website, not very impressed with the sweaters or dresses. However...

Croc bags are essential, and I love this one. It's so classy.

I need these outrageous leopard print jeans NOW. I think I would wear them everyday, because they suit my style so darn well.

These sparkle tennis shoes are out for my heart. I love them, I covet them, I worship (?)them.

This adorable swingy button skirt is only $20!

I need a good sturdy pair of men's oxford-style shoes. These would suit me well.

It is times like these when I lament and rejoice my lack of credit card. I might buy all this in a fit of weakness and feel horribly guilty about it until I receive the package in the mail and think about how wonderful it is that the Canadian $ is worth more than the American $.

Are you there Agyness? It's me, Isabel.

Hey Agyness! What's shakin'? Nice glasses! I got my hair cut in a demented pixie style today, much like yours. Except mine is brown. But I guess your hair is brown now too, so never mind. I like it a lot, but I feel pressured to wear cute dresses and girly designs so I can avoid looking like a tomboy or a butchdyke. Maybe I'll start wearing bows in my hair?

Bye Agyness, it was nice talking to you. And by talking, I mean mindlessly blathering on.

Smiles!

radio live transmission

I shall write this post in diary form, because I never do that and I had a pretty nice day, so it might be interesting. Nothing happened until 3rd period set design, which I frittered away on the computer. My friend was trying to track his long lost sister down by googling her, and he found her blog and her name mentioned numerous times in romantic linkage with the Black Crowes' lead singer Chris Robinson. This was bizarre because she's a pretty big Black Crowes fan and had a celebrity crush on him at least five years ago. This led to a mad search of celebrity gossip blogs, which didn't turn up anything conclusive but it was fun so I don't care. Then I walked for twenty minutes in the brisk November air to the bank, deposited a massive paycheque and then went thrifting. St. Vincent de Paul's was awesome as usual, and it turned up ridiculous things. I passed up a "Bob the Tomato" from VeggieTales sweater and a silver flashdance sweater too, but I did buy this lacy slip, perfect Italian-made vintage Oxford pumps (yes, I broke my shoe ban...)and a pinstripe suitvest. The first look was inspired by Liebemarlene vintage.

Finding the pinstripe vest was quite a coincidence, because my friend with the Black Crowes' sister was wearing one today. It looked great and I mentioned that the perfect navy pinstripe vest has always been on my thrift wishlist. Then an hour later the perfect one simply revealed itself to me. Destiny!

I still had time to kill, so I bought a coffee and then went to Giant Tiger to buy winter socks and found out they sell bad quality metallic leggings. Nothing against metallic leggings, but these were an awful discount American Apparel knockoff that noone should ever buy. Then I spent 15 minutes talking about the school Reach team on the bus and now I am at the computer typing this blog post.

That was my day, take it or leave it. I'll never do diary-style posts again. My life is simply too dull.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Cory Kennedy and Agyness Deyn. Regardless of whether you love them, hate them or want to be them, you've got to admit that you've never seen anything so quintessentialy "hipster" in your entire life.

I thought it might be fitting to post the picture.

P.S. For the record, I'm not a huge Cory fan but I do love Agyness with all my heart. Especially when her eyebrows are shooting stars.

The Minneapoline: Underrated?

It comes to my attention that the Minneapoline is a very underrated street style blog. It is a blog you have probably heard of and maybe even visited, but gets very little attention in the mainstream media, compared to big guns like Face Hunter. This makes little sense when the picture quality is arguably better than FH's (considering Face Hunter shoots all over Europe and the Minneapoline doesn't) and certainly better than the Cobrasnake's.

Why not see for yourself. There's something for everyone!
From large frames + metallic leggings...


...to arty floral dresses

...to colourblock, tights and flats

...all the way to ridiculously ripped jeans.

Liebemarlene Vintage

In the perfect world, every girl would dress like Liebemarlene vintage. I have a total girl crush in her fashion sense. Wearing cardigans, lace baby dolls, tights and leather boots seems like the no-fail way to pull off the “ethereal nature princess” look that so many of us strive for come Autumn.



Of course, the best way to get this look is to buy vintage from her Ebay store. If I had a little more cash (and hair, all ethereal nature princesses need long flowing hair), I wouldn’t think twice about shopping anywhere else.