New stuff here.

I've picked up a few trinkets worth mentioning in the past few days. Number one is some sort of cold/illness which is making life very unpleasant right now. Number two is this ruffly shirt that was $3 at Old Navy. Yes Cindy, I definitely copied you!

Number three are these two elastic waist belts. I used to have a butterfly belt like this in black, but the elastic was shot and waaaay too big for my waist. But I've never seen this kind of peacock belt before! Love it.

Oh yes, and I ordered the Misshapes book from Chapters and am patiently awaiting its arrival. It better be good. I miss wading through Misshapes party photos, as the website seems to be permanently defunct.

Phish no more.

For many, tie-dye is the domain of 40-something Grateful Dead fans who own a Volkswagen bus to prove it. This is not so! The masses need to reclaim tie-dye from the burnouts and learn how to wear it in a fashion forward way. It can be done, I swear! Just look at Agathe from StyleBytes, who DIY tie-dyed this shirt. AND she's wearing it with acid wash jeans and still manages to look amazing.

Consider yourself warned of the tie-dye revolution.

EDIT: Might I add Susie Bubble to the list of stylish ladies in tie-dye?

Back when Blur was #1.

I had an interesting thrift at St. Vincent de Paul's today. I unearthed what might be the most bizarre sweater on the face of the earth - of course, I had to have it. It's like 90s incarnated in sweater form. That might not sound weird enough, so here's a picture of the grungy patchwork thing. Probably not going to be a fan favourite among you readers, but that wasn't what I was going for. The only time I could ever wear this out in public would be in another country, preferrably Scandinavian.

Then there's this tuxedo jacket. I suppose its nothing special, but I thought it was kinda hip and tuxedo jackets are supposedly "wardrobe staples", right?

Oh excuses, excuses. The money was just burning a hole in my little pocket, and thrifting is the most environmentally-friendly way to get rid of it.

come as you are!

Okay, here are the pleated ankle pants in action. I wore them to school today and they were really quite fun. There's nothing like a break from skinny jeans.

I originally tucked my t-shirt in, but I felt like a bit of a tool and was too tired to pull off anything outrageous, so I untucked the shirt and it looked much better anyways. This outfit made me think about how little I actually spend on clothes. My friend gave me the Nirvana shirt, the sweater was an old present, the pants were $10 and the shoes were free as well. Funny, I always seem to be shopping! There was a category on 'shopping' at the "Reach for the Top' game last night, and I got every single question right. The school trivia team pretty much owns my life.

I'll have to remember to cuff them next time!

Mixing business with leather.

Great news on the flood pants front! I went to Value Village today, not even searching for a pair in particular, but came out with these fabulous Ralph Lauren high-waisted flood pants. Jeez, they even have front pleats! Have you ever seen anything so naff yet awesome at the same time? I even wore the high-waisted, pleated pants with a sequin cardigan for the outfit pic. This is about as 'business-casual' as I get. The 80s have come back to kill us all!

Oh Christ, I look fat in that picture, so here is a cardigan-less picture to prove that I'm really a size 2. I swear!

I'll probably end up not wearing thsi outfit in public and pairing the pants with a band t-shirt, a scarf and Keds just to mess it all up. Oh yeah, I also found a pair of Eddie Bauer (oh God, am I secretly preppy?) high waisted navy shorts that remind me of something my fashionable friends would wear. But its super cold inside so I'll take an outfit pic when I'm not completely freezing.

How risque!

It's definitely not a trend yet, but one style I've been gravitating to lately is the exposed ankle. How risque! And I don't mean in short skirts, either. For some reason, flood pants are really just pushing my buttons the right way. This is rather strange, as in public school I thought it was the worst look ever and promised myself never to be caught dead in pants that didn't brush the ground when I walked. Oh, how naive I was!

The 'short pants' look first caught my eye when reading about Thom Browne suits in an issues of i-D magazine. I thought, 'Oh, how interesting. I've never seen a man dressed like that before.' But now that my eyes are open, I've been spotting exposed ankles literally everywhere: from the girl who owns the organic coffe shop I frequent, to candid pictures of Michelle Obama. Even the beloved Piksi of wardrobe_remix knows how to rock it!

White socks and short black pants ain't just for Michael Jackson anymore...

Happy Easter

I have a joke for you. What's the difference between Rachel Zoe and a blow-up doll?


Absolutely nothing!!!

Happy Easter everyone. In other news, why the heck is the sidebar at the bottom of the page? Sidebar migration should be made illegal. I'll give you chocolate if you're able to help me fix the problem.

Big City

Hmm, I was cleaning pictures off of my school computer account and came across these photographs of a lovely shop. I don't know where the shop is, or where i even got the pictures from but my heart longs to visit there.



On another random note, getting anonymous comments has really opened my eyes. Most comments are fairly positive, but sometimes you just get the weirdest comments ever. For example, on my recent post about American Apparel leggings, I got these.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Cover your butt, American Apparel.

Being a guy, I really dig the leggings trend. Waking up to girls on the subway wearing skin tight clothing is awesome. But srsly, the hype surrounding white tights is killing The Freedom of America©.

That being said, I'm not sure why I'm on here.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Cover your butt, American Apparel.":

How nationalistic of me! Seems like this is a Canadian blog. Should I say "Freedom on Canada©"? And when did Canada get hipsters?
I should've known though, New Yorkers are way too ironic to name a blog "hipster musings". It would be called "deer latern" or something nonsensical. Nothing so obvious.
And no offense guys, just give up and become the 51st state. You know you want it!

What the heck was that? I don't even know. Is he trying to say that I'm totally lame because I chose 'Hipster Musings' as a blog name instead of something nonsensical? Or does he respect me more because this blog doesn't have an ironic name? Perhaps 'Hipster Musings' IS an ironic name, since I'm not even a hipster. Either way, if Canada wanted to be a part of the US it would've happened by now. Manifest Destiny is just never going to happen...

Bowie's Law

I got this music notes shirt at the Swap Meet of a few weeks ago. On its own, it is cool but a little bit juvenile. As I refuse to be seen wearing the same shirt as 12 year olds who shop at Delias, a little DIY customization was in order. I found this 'Bowie' patch lying around and sewed it onto the shirt, because it fit perfectly with the music notes. Almost too perfectly.

Sticking with the 'music' theme of this outfit, I wore my Sid and Nancy earrings. Unfortunately, they're not all that visible in the picture. That doesn't make them any less badass, though! David Bowie and the Sex Pistols are love.

Jazz Shoes?

I would like to introduce everyone to my new thrifted shoes! I’m not sure if they’re slippers or dance shoes, but I do know that they are fabulous! They remind me of jazz flats a bit, but I’m not going to assume that’s what they are for fear I might be wrong.

Here they are, in outfit action! Planning on wearing this to school tomorrow.

P.S. -My favourite thing right now is doing Bob Dylan impressions. I think I'm getting pretty good, too.

How Yvan got his groove back.

Last year, the quality of Face Hunter pictures really went downhill. It must have had something to do with Yvan moving from Paris to London, but he just seemed to lose his groove. Very depressing, as Face Hunter was one of the best street style sites out there. But while going through recent pictures, I felt inspired again and am compelled to believe that Yvan Rodic got his groove back! Finally! Behold...



Oooh, I especially love this picture because the girl slightly reminds me of me. It's the short brown hair and the fact that I already own a blue striped jacket AND a leopard scarf, but never thought to wear them together!

Why did I never think to mix the two patterns together?? Genius style tip.

Scarf: Thrifted
Jacket: From the swap meet!

Cover your butt, American Apparel.

The weather is finally coming out of a deep freeze, which I am completely ecstatic about. Now I can skip about town wearing dresses tights and jackets - no hat or mitts! Oops, I just jinxed it.

For now I'll focus on spring-ifying my outfits with colourful tights/leggings before the weather turns nasty again. Everybody's legs have turned into every colour of the rainbow and I'm not one to deny it. I quite like the colourful legs trend, as it injects some colour into my predominantly black/grey wardrobe. A trip to American Apparel seems in order.

Royal blue!

Purple! I already have a purple bodysuit, but leggings would be much more comfortable and convenient!

Red!

White! There is massive hype about the ethereal innocent fairytale look of white tights for spring. I already own a pair of white tights and will tell you straight up that the tights feet become a gross brown after a couple wears. The solution to this 'dirty' problem is to remove the tight's feet from the equation - just wear white leggings!

Whoa, American Apparel makes 'winter leggings'? Why didn't anyone tell me that earlier! That being said, they were probably designed for L.A. winters and not Canadian winters.

Sentimental Clothing

As previously mentioned, I am going to New York City for the first time in a couple months! Whenever I am bored or apathetic (a little too often), I think about neat outfits to wear because my friends and I made a pact that we have to look our absolute best at all times during our stay in the city. A worthwhile and rewarding challenge, it seems. Through this pursuit of 'cool', I have come up with what might be my 'favourite outfit ever'. Yes, ever. For now, at least. It consists of my old patchy punk jacket, which just so happens to be my favourite jacket of all time. I bought the jacket in a discount store 5 years ago and all the patches myself. The jacket itself should be shredded to bits from wear and tear, but the fabric has been worn to softness instead. Then there is my prom dress, worn only once before, last June. The look is finished off by regular dark tights, cashmere legwarmers that used to be the arms of a sweater that I cut up and my favourite green leather pixie boots. Or elf boots. Or Robin Hood boots, whatever strikes your fancy.


I can't wait to wear this in fabulous NYC. Can you say Sartorialist?

Band patches: KMFDM, Bad Religion, Nirvana, Operation Ivy and Adam + the Ants. I would kill for a Minor Threat patch.

Hole is the greatest.

A hearty, wholesome and home-cooked thank you to everyone's encouragement on the last post. It was by no means the last post ever on Hipster Musings, just an exploration and explanation of how I feel right now. I'll keep chugging away for now and see where the wind takes this little train. Your comments, playing violin and certain people truly keep me sane. I've baked you all cyber brownies and will try not to be bitter about not looking like this or getting as many comments as this.

Blog changes:
-Anonymous comments are now allowed, but I reserve the right to revoke this in case of incessant spam.
-Perhaps candid pictures will be posted more frequently, but it might be hard since I'm not exactly a regular on the party circuit. Unless you count the Rattlesnake...

For the first order of business, I would like to discuss yuppies.
Yuppies are awful people. They make lots of money, have no kids and eat at expensive restaurants. I waited on a table of 6 yuppies last night, and it made me sad to be human.

Dramatis Personae:
-two non-descript yuppies wearing black framed glasses (male and female)
-a French Damien Hirst lookalike named Frederic, who kept swirling his wine and then sniffing it.

-A gorgeous but anorexic blonde woman who barely touched her Coq au Vin and said things like ‘its good to deprive yourself of certain things, because then you remember how much you miss them.” It was painfully obvious she was talking about food.
-An unshaven neurotic man who probably hasn’t slept for days. It figures that he ordered an espresso at 9:30 p.m.
-A chubby ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ type, who came an hour later than everyone else. Is the comic relief without trying. Not saying that “Everybody Loves Raymond’ is actually funny, just that this guy was so sad to look at you had to laugh.

The meal for all six came to a cool $400. I think they split the bill.

The reason behind this yuppie tirade is: I hate rich people. I never want to be rich, because I’d just end up as a yuppie asshole who drank too much wine and said things like “I usually only eat sushi”, “I won’t see you until Okanagan [Valley]” or “let’s party old school”. Those quotes are dead serious, too.

Let's Cut to the Chase

So I've been thinking about quitting blogging. Its not the end just yet, but I'm not sure if this is an accurate representation of who I am anymore. I feel like I'm trying to hard to be cool and fit in with other cool fashion blogger. How lame is that? In actual life, status isn't a huge thing to me but I've been blogging for 2 years (the same amount of time as Susie Bubble!)and feel completely underappreciated in the blogosphere. I have a lot of readers but rarely get any comments! I know I'm not half as cool as Susie Bubble, but surely you have something to say?

All of my opinions seem shallow and topical lately. I'm sure I could be a lot funnier, but how? Also, the pictures of me are really bad quality. Being unphotogenic sucks, because I'm sure if people got to see what I look like in real life there would be a lot more feedback/discussion.

Generally I hate when people tell me what to blog about ("Hey, you sound cool, I'm going to Chicago in a month, do you think you could tell me any stores to visit?" NO. I CAN'T. I've never been to Chicago and I don't care about your trip), but I really need some encouragement here. Show me some love. Raise me cyber-self esteem. I really need it right now. If you don't appreciate me, then I'm outta here.

'Thrifty-grunge-chic'

Discotheque of wardrobe_remix has perfected the look I want to achieve for spring. Its like Chloe Sevigny for Opening Ceremony, minus the three-figure price tag. Rip off!

The 'thrifty-grunge-chic' look is just screaming my name. Now that the weather is starting to warm up, I can pull out my favourite little prairie dress and wear it with a cardigan, tights and leather pixie boots.

Smurf Head

I am completely obsessed with blue hair. It just looks cool, badass and daring, no matter wheter you're a boy or a girl.

Jeez, I want me some blue hair. Curse my dark, undyeable roots!

Just look at Gala Darling, lifestyle blogger extraordinaire. She is just ROCKING the blue hair. This should fend off all assumptions that blue hair is the antonym of classy. I want her vintage dress and her hair! (Though I don't so much envy that stuffed dog she is holding).

Jealousy...overwhelming...

I call her Vivi.

Remember fashion week? Yeah, me neither. But even though I'm late to the races, it would almost be a crime to not dissect Vivienne Westwood's Gold Label show in Paris. After all, it was wonderful. Apparently, Vivienne got school children to draw their vision of the post-Apocalypse and then smattered the drawings all over her designs.

I don't think I'd like to walk around wearing kiddie art, but its a novel idea. In other thoughts, this model's hairdo just caught me off guard. Wouldn't long braids be a bit tedious when you're trying to run away from space aliens all the time?

Deconstruction seems to be a huge part of Vivienne's post-Apocalyptic vision. This bizarre silver jacket/ripped tights outfit is much more my style than the fridge-art patterned stuff. Space warriors are hot.

More sexy deconstruction. Prom dresses of the future, take note!

I am in LOVE with this jacket. I don't even know what it is, but it has utterly fascinated me since first glance. The whole outfit is engrossing. Leather shorts? Why not?!

Thanks, Vivienne. The whizzing gizmos inside your head must never stop. Dystopia has never looked so hot.

P.S.: Vivi, Do you have Malcolm McLaren's phone number?

Ultimate Swap Meet

Last night, I got together with five of my friends to host an Ultimate Swap Meet. Swap Meets are honestly the greatest. Especially when you get rid of clothes you don't want and go shopping in someone elses closet for free! Fun times and pizza were had by all. I got a ton of stuff, but these are definitely the highlights:

The slouchy casual look, done with a grey babydoll dress, nubby knit sweater and tweed moccasin-esque shoes that totally remind me of Lala.


The classy chic look, done with a houndstooth jacket and black sweater dress.

Then, a seersucker American Eagle jacket that I actually like. Here ends my American Eagle boycott of 5 years. Okay, not really. I'd just never pay money for anything from AE.

By the way, the skirt I'm wearing was not swapped.

Concert T-Shirt Etiquette

I also bought this Against Me! t-shirt at Value Village for $1.99. Against Me! isn't my favourite band in the world, but I just had to rescue it from the pits of thriftdom. I always shudder to think about what happens to cool clothes I see in thrift stores and decide not to buy. Like the Flinstones t-shirt I mentioned a few posts ago.

Anyhow, buying a band t-shirt reminded my of this hilarious article on 'Concert T-Shirt Etiquette'. Who knew?

1. When wearing another bands t-shirt, try to keep the same genre or influence.

2. The ironic concert t-shirt is the big exception. If you wear a Culture Club or Michael Bolton t-shirt to a Cure show you will get many compliments.

3. There is a sliding scale of the obscurity of the band vs. the genre.
for example: A Tapes ‘n Tapes shirt could be worn to any rock show.

4. When wearing a old concert t-shirt to a newer tour by the same band, it is prefered to wait at least eight years. too soon will show you to be lame, but to follow this guide will give you street cred as a long time fan.
~It should also be noted that a shirt purchased off EBay can break this rule, therefore a stain or hole of some sort is required.

5. It is also a violation to wear any shirt of any band members former band or side project to the current incarnation of that band members show.

6. It is a violation to wear the shirt you just bought at that same concert. Especially when it is over whatever you had on before.

7. You may not wear a new concert t-shirt for 2 weeks (especially the next day)
~The exception to this is when you saw a show out of town and wear the shirt at home the next day.

8. It is a violation to wear a concert t-shirt you purchased from the band at a second show on the same tour.

9. No Beatles, Bob Marley or Jimi Hendrix t-shirts, unless you actually went to one of their concerts.

10. It is a violation to wear a concert t-shirt that has been signed by any member of the band.

Honestly, SO FUNNY. I completely agree with #9. I hate seeing 12 year olds walk around in Jimi Hendrix or The Doors t-shirts that their mommies bought them at Bluenotes. I always break rule #6, though. Its almost a status symbol of coolness to wear your concert t-shirt the day after. Oh, and I definitely broke rule #1 when I wore a Bad Religion t-shirt to a Coldplay concert. (My friend made me go, I swear.)

Wolf Attack

Yesterday was great. At Value Village I uncovered the greatest sweater in the entire galaxy. Then I helped my boyfriend sort out his t-shirt drawer. Behold the wolf mania!

Sweater = Value Village, $7.
Shirt = Ryan's, free!

He also gave me this dinosaur t-shirt. I can finally dress up as Enid from Ghost World in this t-shirt, plaid skirt and combat boots. Now all I need is a blue wig!