In my last two days I have been busily living in my black and white world of science and reports, working on homework and also umpiring basketball. The idea is that in the next couple of days and this weekend I'll have more time to myself to spend working on my biology essay and trying to catch up on all the blogging material that's been to my inbox from Acne, The Corner and Fat4. This week will probably mark the end of my attendance to my single Wednesday lecture- there's been plenty of wonderful outfits that I've put together but since I have many 7am and 6am starts and I come home at lunchtime I'm much too tired to pose in front of the camera and set up the tripod in my hallway. Although I've been mocking many Arts students this past week and take pride in my Science degree and studies I wish I had more time to myself and could create amazing drawings, develop my rolls of film and be a little more artistic in my own right. I've seen the older university students and their lack of attention to their appearance and I desperately want to avoid such a fate- there are worse things but I'm looking to balance the two sides of my brain with science and academics as well as artistic and fanciful pursuits.
With Winter just on our doorsteps for Australians, I've been searching Asos and Acne for fisherman jumpers and sweaters with brightly threaded Aztec patterns to brighten up these sad grey days. Collections along the line of digital prints and colours inspired by the natural occurrences of Aurora Borealis are what I'm looking to inject into my wardrobe but there's also the dilemma of choosing to buy simple basics to better coordinate into outfits. Dressing to eccentrically can attract some unwanted attention especially when commuting daily on public transport so I'll need to find the perfect medium between the two extremes of wearing neutral tones and bombastically bright colours and designs.
My mind feels as messy and unorganised as this illustration and it seems there's so many things I want to do that I feel incapacitated to really do anything worthwhile. Today was meant to be a bit of a treat in which I would finish doing my practical write up and get up do date with my lecture notes as well as looking at reference material for my essay and then have a long messy blog session while watching Doctor Who. It's three in the afternoon and I still have to finish my practocal write up, check it and send it off. Oh why did I choose such a difficult and long degree full of hard work; at this rate I won't be getting a proper part time job and won't be able to advance my wardrobe and add colour to it. If this is as stressful as my year gets than I'll happily deal with this as opposed to exam pressure in high school from last year.
At the start of every new year I propose to myself to join an artistic short course related to textiles or drawing but it seems that with a heavy study load as well as a hunger for fashion and jewellery I'll need to better prioritise my time into working part time, studying and making time for the other important people in my life. While I would like to feel the satisfaction of putting my own assorted artwork around the walls of my rooms in glass frames I am quite happy to share the work of others on my own little website and take them as a representation of my mood and feelings.
My thinking has been overloaded with conflict these last few days in deciding what kind of person I am, what kind of life I would like to live, if the two can be brought together or if I will always try to be something I'm not. As much as I'd like to, I will never become the young woman above as my skin just can't get that pale and if I dyed my hair blue my father would disown me- I don't fit into the world of surreal style and effortless fashion bloggers and my hair needs more work and to be maintained regularly. Instead I prefer to be kept busy with my academic work and Science studies and can't find the right balance between my social life and university study. I have to be careful not to live the sort of life I did last year when I studied far tool much and became a work-a-holic.
With my teenage years soon to be behind me, these last few months are my last to show a rebellious streak ad break into the world of punk/ hipster ties. I've come to the dim conclusion that dip-dye hair has been out of style for months now and that the only way to pull off stylishly coloured hair is to dye my entire head. This is something that would probably disturb all my close friend and family and isn't a decision to be taken likely. If I can buy some extensions from Etsy though in pink, teal, purple and blue, I can take a little bit of a break during this next holiday to catch up on all my outfits, get a haircut and add in the extensions to plaits and see how much I admire their quality. That's about as close as I'll get to having wildly and fantastically magical coloured hair and causing head to turns as I walk down the street.
If I had pursued my childhood ambitions of becoming a cartoonist or simply working as an illustrator I wouldn't need to explain things with theory and observations and nor would I be plagued with the insistent online tests of my course. Instead I'd be free to bring things in to creation using my own hand and commanding colour and shadow to breath life into two dimensions. I love knowing how bright my future is at the present but I ache for the freedom of expression once again and making time for myself in order to read, write and improve myself as a person. Things just seem so complicated and political these days...
Although I had taken the day off from my one lecture in order to start on my Biology assignment (not started yet) my plans to also document my most triumphant outfits and take some self-portraits has also been thwarted by my mother. I'm always very self-aware of my vanity and clumsy nature when there are other people pottering about the house. While I can never hope to recreate such a fanciful world of purple haired girls, shimmering walls and pink helium balloons; it would have been nice to be a show pony once again and work in front of the camera for outfit posts. It also seems that I have far too much to commentate on as it is and the mass of images stored on my hard drive is impeding my other computer activities. In order to blog as often as I see fit, get up to date with all my assignments and have enough money for each week I would like the week to be twice as long with the same amount of work so I can have a balanced life and a fair workload.
I set myself many goals each year and the one I failed to succeed at the most was drawing cute and kitsch cartoons in a stylised way to document things I'd like to buy as well as my own outfits and moods. Being a perfectionist as it were means that I always feel intimidated by a blank piece of paper since I'll only massacre it's promise and opportunity and will never feel satisfied with what I create. I suppose in an ideal world I would see a shrink and try and get that problem sorted out but I'm much too busy procrastinating and blogging with a sense of purpose to recharge my overworked and tired brain.
If I were better motivated on my life rather than my schoolwork I would also attempt to clean my room today and buy something as cute as these small, baby pink ballerinas in plastic from Etsy and try to string them around the walls of my room in a mock fairy light fashion. As it so happens, I'd rather accept the fact I'll need a week to sort out everything in my room and the rumpled piles of clothes next to the bed and I'd rather write in an archaic and curly fashion. For some odd reason, I've always been more satisfied with sentences and their quality than solving mathematics equations and my poor writing hand deserves a break from grappling with pens all day.
It doesn't necessarily take a genius to create an image in this likeness, but having access to a beautiful model to wear a digitally printed jumpsuit and thick gold chains certainly does help. Given all the time in the world I'd somehow still lose the motivation to enrol in a sewing class and never create such imaginative clothes such as this. I must admit, there is a great contrast between the brown bricks and the clouds on the sleeves of this jumper. I've also had some knitted gold chains in the style of Flava Flav on my mind and when I finally get a steady job I will make them mine (finally).
When all colour combinations fail and you simply can't afford those lovely artist quality markers, choose black and work with the best white- should your designs be bold and effective enough you are sure to deliver what can only be described as a stellar illustration. My favourite study within university has been Geo science so far and learning the basics of stellar evolution and how the solar system has evolved. I was keen to also get an iPad for a specific app shown to us in a lecture. The use of basic lunar ellipses, ringed planets and comets streaking across the wallpaper on a black background and the contrast of grey carpet and stars. It doesn't make me want to vacuum and clean my room in the least though despite such an imaginative collaboration between space and the ordinary.
Creepers from Asos as well as chic chino pants have been the top of my priorities as of late and the sharp contrast between patent leather, purple and aqua has set my heart ablaze. I'm of two minds really; to dress as colourfully as possible and suffer the slings and arrows or observers passing judgement upon me or dressing entirely in black with a sunny disposition as not to be mistaken for being too punk. While dressing in black will give me the versatility of a moody and angst-filled chameleon, but it's dressing with exuberant style and grace that has earned many fashion bloggers their great acclaim.
Susie Bubble of the Style Bubble is shown holding a modern Canon camera but looks like an Asian cover girl for the 1960s- it must be the bold and psychedelic print of the jacket that puts me in the mood for a little time warp of my own. It's the fine clashing or prints and subtle confidence that captures people's imaginations and admiration the most and while I may not like the shoes by themselves the bright pink perspex of the Karen Walker sunglasses and the use of a purple sash and green skirt to match the jacket really pulls the entire outfit together.
When flouncing around at Melbourne Fashion week I noticed that thick wedge heels in bright colours were all the rage amongst the best dressed girls and the one to gain the most following of whispers was an Asian girl wearing thick wedge heels made of wood and some 30 centimeters high. That may not have been a good thing but another girl with half pink and half blue hair channeling a Cruella De Ville goddess appeal certainly seemed to be the hero of the way wearing a crafty and geometric cubism dress with Deadly Ponies Mr Lure key chain. The point of all that pointless jabbering was that if you have bright and colourful hair as well as gorgeously thick heels and some sort of matching top then you are bound to be a hit just as this young lass above is.
Snap backs don't normally fit in with my day-to-day casual attire but how can I resist the marriage of such a cheery cherry red, blue contrasting material and the modern word 'Swag'. To wear it with denim shirt, crushed velvet leggings and maybe a good pair of Vans would be ideal when sporting it with a backpack would be great for campus life. But I'm far to content embracing all the knee-high length dresses and skirts to allure all the young men as well as my treasure trove of silver and gold jewellery to keep me company as well.
The micro-blogging Tumblr sensation of 'Sexy-Sweaters' was one of my favourite sources of punk and graphic designed sweaters imagined using photo shop including miffed looking cats in school uniforms. It reminds me a little of what American blogger Tavi Gevinson did for her feminist blog Rookie recreating school photographs featuring girls with piercings and tattoos with bubble gum and lipstick. Such edge and style all packed into a small political and pocket-sized statement available for mothers to carry around proudly in their wallets- it makes me wish there were more cheesy yearbooks with horrible school photographs from the 1960s and 1990s around.
If I had gorgeous pink hair I certainly wouldn't be doing anything as pretentious as to try and cut it myself especially the back of my head and without a mirror but I can appreciate the small beauty of having pink hair falling like rose petals over the shoulder. Maybe a short little bob would be a punchy but still, feminine way to have prim pink hair with it still delivered in a statement.
I may have sent my lovely Black Milk Galaxy leggings away to a lucky girl in Germany for a nominal fee but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy their beauty when collaborating some graphic prints together right? The fashion world was largely dominated by space themed prints last year among spandex and Lycra loving girls and I'm waiting what else there is to see in this year as far as digital prints goes. Fashion week had some lovely prints of fragmented plates from op shops and petals as well, I can't wait to see smaller scale objects transformed into beautiful pieces of clothing.