Showing posts with label film. Show all posts

Far From the Madding Crowd: scarves

"Far From the Madding Crowd" is a perfect movie for many reasons. One among them is the perfect selection of scarf looks. Here is a sampling for your viewing pleasure and fashion reference points. Bathsheba Everdene forever.

This double bow!! This movie also features many beautiful and exquisite hats; Ms. Everdene's milliner has perfect taste. I limited this post to only scarves, but there are a few crossovers, including this hat-bow look.

(the fern hollow! that hair bow!)

And a scarf look from the final scenes of the movie (spoiler alert). I'm long overdue for a reread of the novel, but an online viewing in tandem with a few friends and a digital chat thread was just the ticket.

What, like it's hard? | Halloween 2019


This might be my favorite Halloween costume to date (do I say that every year? If so, I suspect it's because every year, I don't think I can top my last attempt). This idea came in the form of lightning-quick inspiration about a day after a conversational tremor preceding a recent breakup (to be clear: pre-breakup, I asked my ex-bf if he wanted to plan something for Halloween. For me, someone who dresses up and goes all out every year as I am wont to do, this didn't seem like anything major—I'd never been dating anyone at Halloween before, so finding a joint costume felt like a normal extension of my life. He, apparently, read more into this than I, and wasn't too keen on the idea. The next day I had my stroke of brilliance for an Elle Woods costume. And the day after that, I broke up with him [for a number of other reasons, but for all of these reasons and more, this costume felt and feels especially poetic/fitting]).

Upon rewatching "Legally Blonde" a couple of times recently, I have come to appreciate it even more. So much about this movie stands as a metaphor for women of all types, who are too often labeled to fit in a prescribed box or category. To see such women defy stereotypes that would otherwise limit them and prove their nay-sayers wrong is nothing short of inspiring. The film was released in 2001 and I consider it a classic; it holds up so well and I never tire of watching Elle take Harvard Law by storm.

For the unindoctrinated (how???), the look I recreated is Elle's outfit on the first day of school. Here are a couple scenes to jog your memory.


The captions in the photos above share insight into how I pieced together my costume. I sewed the skirt (and now I am convinced I need 1000% more crushed velvet in my winter wardrobe) and the sweater is a conglomerate of several pieces thrifted from D.I., deconstructed and refashioned into Elle's sweater. I made the plaid tie from a button-up shirt, and sourced the perfect accessories (mostly from my own closet) (bless you, Dollar Tree, for that fluffy pen). I still can't believe my good fortune in finding the perfect sweater and shirt to use for this costume—it goes back to the oft-touted advice for thrifting to go often and peruse quickly; by doing so, you can easily skim and when you come across what you've been looking for, you'll know it when you see it.


Obviously had to take costume photos at the Provo Library; I needed some kind of fitting institutional stand-in for Harvard Law.


(reposting this party snapshot from my friend McKay because the gif she used of Elle saying "What, like it's hard?" is TOO GOOD. And I think that brings us to the end of Gratuitous Photos of Liz and Her Halloween Costume (mostly the several photos are to account for capturing all the details, but it feels like A Lot).


Our office staff in costume—my boss dressed as Mr. Rogers and his costume was my absolute favorite. Besides Mr. Rogers, we had two Pokemon costumes (of which I am not the target audience, so that is about all I can tell you), BYU football coach Kalani Sitake (our coworker Bryce handed out fake resumes that he made, which were quite hilarious), a witch, and Elle of course. I demonstrated my best 'Bend and Snap' for some colleagues in other departments, who were delighted.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

a wrinkle in time

I loved it so so so so so so much.

file under: looks I love

I have a folder in my email titled ".things I sent myself to read later" (a period preceding the label to ensure it appears first in the alphabetical list!). This is what I affectionately refer to as the no-man's-land-black hole of my email archives. I usually have a sludge of emails towards the bottom of my inbox at any given moment that are destined for this folder unless I intervene before brazenly archiving everything I am sick of scrolling past in my inbox which was, ages ago, sent to me, by me.

I went on one such archiving spree and email inbox cleanse last night and and am tidying up some loose ends this morning. I read & loved these two posts ages ago on Man Repeller and rather than gather dust in no-man's-land, I am sharing them with you here. You're welcome.

"I'm Bringing Back 'Gossip Girl' One Outfit at a Time" aka three outfits inspired by Gossip Girl.
Two pictured here for reference. I didn't love the Serena vdw look as much, but I thought these two were so great. I particularly love the multiple plaids for Blair's look, as the GG costume designers always did the best things with the characters' creative and ever-changing twists on the Constance girls' uniforms.

Post two: "The Style in 'The Parent Trap' is Even Better Than You Remember"
Just go read the whole post! 'The Parent Trap' is one of my favorite 90s movies and a walk down memory lane of my elementary school hairstyles if there ever was one. I thought this post was right on the money.

what would Blair wear

I am about 10 years late to the Gossip Girl party, but making up for lost time splendidly. I have a blogpost drafted in my head about why I love GG; so many of my friends have been surprised when they heard I was watching the show. That post is still very much in the idea phase, but it is forthcoming (as it involves a bit of research/backlog of getting the necessary screenshots to accompany said post).

In the meantime, I tried to take a screenshot today of something irrelevant to this conversation/important, but my computer informed me that I 'did not have permission to place a screenshot where screenshots are stored.' Okay, I can take a hint. My desktop is currently littered with dozens of screenshots from GG (mainly of my favorite Blair Waldorf outfits). Consider this some technological housekeeping and also a reference point for some of my favorite Blair outfits. All of the heart eyes.

(I think Leighton Meester looks so good in this color family—mustards, chartreuse, and moss greens)
(front & back of the same look; the back of this dress is so lovely!)
(again, a front and back of the same look—her hairstyle here is perfect. I have a series of screenshots about Blair's school uniforms, too, which I am saving for another post)
(Blair's costume design was strongly inspired by Audrey Hepburn and some of her hairstyles really capture some of Audrey Hepburn's iconic styles. I love the red and green combination here, too—that plus the subtle beehive style evoked Pushing Daisies' Charlotte Charles's stunning wardrobe design)
(This outfit is one of my very favorites to date—I love Blair's hat, her gloves, her green kerchief, and the tailored sailor-style dress; multiple angles were obviously necessary)
(In the summertime episodes set in the Hamptons, I love Blair's casual laid-back looks: this darling one-piece swimsuit and print, plus the strap detail; her green floral dress and a backdrop of greenery; and her playful prints and hair scarf)
(some of these screenshots are horribly grainy and poor quality, but I loved this combination—a poppy red skirt and gauzy white blouse with chartreuse tassel details)
(queen of the hair scarf and headbands)
(polished neutrals)
(Blair Waldorf has the same effect on me as J.Crew, at making me want to use things I didn't like or wouldn't have worn—lip gloss in Blair's case, baseball caps in J.Crew's; I hate the tackiness of lip gloss, but she always looks so polished and put-together and pulls off that look) (although, J.Crew just stop it already with the bucket hats. That was a regrettable trend that you can't fool any of us with)

If you were a Gossip Girl fan in the late 2000s, I hope you have enjoyed this walk down memory lane. If not, I hope that you, like me, have found some style inspiration in Ms. Waldorf's very expensive UES closet. xoxo, gossip girl

• W O N D E R • W O M A N •


** may contain spoilers ** (but not major ones)

I saw Wonder Woman last night. It was amazing and empowering and I need to find the words to express how much I loved it and why it meant so much to me. I'm sure many of my thoughts are not original as I have already seen many a think piece about the new Wonder Woman film (though I haven't read any yet, wanting first to see the film for myself and then allow my thoughts to percolate). My fellow feminists and I likely notice and applaud the same types of things but I still have so many thoughts and feelings of my own which I wanted to get down in writing.

I've never been much into superhero stories. Sure, I love Emma Stone's Gwen-Stacy-business-casual as much as the next girl, but given a choice between an action movie and something else, I'd likely settle for something else. I have a Wonder Woman mug (a gift from M for a visual pep talk), but before then I had known little to nothing about Wonder Woman. I commented to my sister about this present and she launched into a fascinating briefing on the history of Wonder Woman—the creator, William Moulton Marston, was inspired by matrilineal and matriarchal cultures and created a superhero based on some of these traditions. I love this quote from Marston which captures it all: "Not even girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype lacks force, strength, and power. Not wanting to be girls, they don't want to be tender, submissive, peace-loving as good women are. Women's strong qualities have become despised because of their weakness. The obvious remedy is to create a feminine character with all the strength of Superman plus all the allure of a good and beautiful woman."

And that's just what this story did. Diana, princess of the Amazons, was raised in an idyllic paradise, surrounded by a matriarchy of strong women, unafraid in their strength and power, unabashed to show love and nurturing. The relationships between these women were beautiful and remarkable (a Bechdel test shoo-in) and there were several heart-breaking moments early on in the film.

It was powerful to me that Diana was called by her name throughout the movie—beginning to end, no titular line to be found. Women are so quickly and easily marginalized by omitting their names or focusing on the periphery—a woman's appearance or name-dropping of her significant other. Notable, recent examples (unfortunately) abound. The Presidential Inauguration coverage in January included photos acknowledging several U.S. Senators—the men, named; Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota simply noted as "a woman." Amal Clooney, after delivering a powerful speech at the U.N. about genocide, was featured in headlines only noting her outfit choice and baby bump—all good things, but ultimately distracting from the crux of the matter and undermining of women in general. Obviously things like pregnancy and wardrobe choices can be used to make powerful statements—Michelle Obama is a powerful example of this. She holds two Ivy League degrees, has an impressive resume, and as First Lady, championed significant and important issues, but she is also savvy to the political statements which can be implied through her clothing choices. 'Fashion diplomacy' doesn't end with Michelle; Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, is known too for her sartorial statements which underscore her public service and diplomatic relations. I wholeheartedly support acknowledging and celebrating women's unique accomplishments—like Serena Williams's Australian Open win as she hit the 20-week mark of her pregnancy!!!—but when the acknowledgments are limited to only the superficial, or fail to do justice to the amazing women they celebrate, these are the moments where I take issue. That Wonder Woman as a film celebrated Diana as a character and not her character's title underscored so many other messages of the film in a subtle, significant way.

Wonder Woman was not just any ordinary superhero[ine] movie; this film gets down to the nitty gritty truths and portrayed them in such a beautiful manner. One of my favorite books is East of Eden by John Steinbeck; I love its allegorical nature and Steinbeck's treatment of agency as a major theme in the novel, among other things. I felt Wonder Woman echoed many of the same characteristics that draw me to those types of stories; the film addressed agency and choices in a similar manner. The Biblical themes and the parallels to the story of the creation were so moving—Diana is quite obviously an Eve character. LDS theology teaches about the nobility of Eve and the many parallels to the familiar story of the creation were so beautiful and empowering.

Most moving of all to me were the moments in which Diana spoke an assertion of her identity and destiny: "I am Diana of Themyscira, daughter of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons." The similarities to Moana's mantra, "I am Moana of Motunui...," an element in another powerful female story which moved me deeply, are no mistake. For both of these characters, particularly Diana, when she reminded herself and others of her identity and asserted her place in the world, she was untouchable. Gal Gadot/Diana is stunning, but her self-worth and her identity came from within—from her inclinations to help those in need, to notice others, and to fulfill her mission to defeat the god of war. This reminded me so much of a favorite rupi kaur poem (below). I think most women, beyond the widely acknowledged artificial and unrealistic societal expectations, want to be beautiful and loved, but women are so much more than that—our worth and our knowledge of ourselves runs so much deeper. Women are strong, resilient, loving, trusting, searching, unstoppable—wonder women.


P.S. DID I MENTION THIS IMPORTANT TRIVIA BROUGHT TO YOU BY IMDB?! COSTUMERS MADE A GREEN SCREEN FOR GAL GADOT'S BABY BUMP SO SHE COULD DO HER OWN STUNTS AT 5 MONTHS PREGNANT. GADOT IS ALSO TRAINED IN MARSHAL ARTS. AMAZING. All caps for emphasis because this just puts it over the top. AMAZING, I tell you.

A Series of Unfortunate Events


My family are longtime fans of the tales of the Baudelaire siblings (ten years ago, we attended a lecture by Daniel Handler, a.k.a. Lemony Snicket, at the Philadelphia Free Library and he signed our books (his notes still make me laugh)). I adored the "A Series of Unfortunate Events" books for so many reasons: Brett Helquist's illustrations, the alliterative titles, the unabashedly far-reaching vocabulary, the on-going mysteries, and Violet, Klaus, and Sunny, of course.

I haven't seen the Jim Carrey film for years (this part never gets old), but of course we were disappointed when they didn't finish out the series in movies. Now for the good news: Netflix recently released the first season of their take on "A Series of Unfortunate Events" and it has exceeded all of my expectations!! The children actors are phenomenal (they picked the. cutest. baby. to play Sunny) and the entire cast of the show is great—Count Olaf's troupe is sinister yet comical, Mr. Poe is bumbling and concerned, and each of the guardians are as eccentric as their literary counterparts. Lemony Snicket is a great narrator; Daniel Handler was involved in the production of the series and it has transitioned from the page to the screen seamlessly in so many regards. The production design is stunning—it reminds me so much of Pushing Daisies and has even filled some of the void left in my heart by Pushing Daisies' long-ago cancellation (don't worry, not all of it; I will always be loyal to the piemaker).

That snake wallpaper! This episode ("The Reptile Room") was one of my favorites as far as set-dressing.

I mean, Sunny couldn't be cuter! (Also the Baudelaire children have the most darling clothes despite their dire circumstances.)

In sum, if you've read the books, watch it; and if you haven't read the books, watch it.

edit: I just finished the first series covering the first four books, and after finishing I was reading more about the production. Barry Sonnenfeld was one of the producers of the Netflix series, which I'm sure accounts for the obvious similarities to Pushing Daisies!!
p.s. further reading here and here.
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