Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Lorde of the Land

You may have (probably have) heard the song Royals by newcomer Ella Yelich O'Conner aka Lorde.
If not, it's here.

I've read several quotes from this girl and she's just really awesome. Did you know she's 16 years old? 16!!! THAT'S AWESOME. Proof that you can do anything at any age if you work hard enough. She's a New Zealander (more proof that it's a perfect place??) and from this interview in Elle it seems she's pretty down-to-earth. I like that she's straightforward and is in creative control for her look and everything. Her voice is so good and her lyrics totally raw. You can listen to her upcoming album Pure Heroine here on VH1's website

I don't know about you but I'm a big lyric person. There is nothing better than listening to a song, hearing a lyric and all of a sudden your situation just becomes so crystalized it gives you butterflies and just is like an icicle to your heart it's so amazing. And even better, when the lyric isn't about love but about something really deep, ah, it's just so good. 

Which is why I like Lorde so much. Her music is just really straightforward. You can tell she thought about these words after a bad party and maybe a walk alone in the street, or when she was leaving a movie or whatever. The point is, the lyrics are awesome and I'm really excited for her album to come out, which, by the way, is September 30th.


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Monday, September 23, 2013

Current Obsession: Jour d'Hermes

So after reading my book (see previous post) I've become obsessed with luxury goods and fashion in the sense that I am now constantly checking the quality of the items I'm using, checking the "made in" tag, and constantly looking for new and independent labels that make high quality goods.

What I also took away from the book was a desire to smell Hermès perfumes. Because they still have a nose who knows a great deal about perfume. And because they still use very fine packaging and aren't trying to constantly cut costs. And also because it's a company that intrigues me as I think they still desire true luxury in a world of homogenized fashion and goods.

I went and smelled one and fell in love. Well I did with all of them, but especially this one.


This perfume is so clean and so perfect for every day as well as nice events. I can't describe it. It's clean in the sense that you can tell there aren't too many scents in it, but it's not necessarily a "clean" smell. It just smells very high quality. It isn't powdery or cloying. It's very much luxurious and I very much love it!
You can buy it at Sephora, Nordstroms, and of course at Hermès. You can also buy a re-filler and reuse the bottle, which is awesome.
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Monday, September 2, 2013

What I'm Reading and How it's Changing My Life

So my insane trip is over, I have so many pictures to show all of you, and, as I'm cramming months of work to finish up my degree in two weeks, I'm a little stressed out. But in between all this, I'm currently reading a book that is putting into concise words why I've been frustrated and underwhelmed by the fashion industry lately. The book is called, "Deluxe How Luxury Lost it's Luster."


This book is hitting home a lot of ideas that have been driving me crazy about the fashion industry. I'm only a few chapters in, but Dana Thomas (the author) describes the way in which women used to buy items and it makes me so frustrated I can't believe it. What I life! Listen,

"... shopping for clothes, be it couture or read-to-wear, was a pleasurable affair. you chose what you liked, often during a fashion show or a personal viewing, retired to a spacious, comfortable dressing room, tried on the garments leisurely, and had the seamstress on hand to do whatever retouching was necessary. Couture and high-end department-store saleswomen were counselors and confidantes. They knew who was wearing what to which event, they knew what suited you, and they advised you accordingly."

It wasn't about being a certain size or fitting into an image that everyone around you adheres to. It was about you shopping in a personalized and safe way. She continues,

"Today, by contrast, shopping for luxury brand clothing is an exercise in patience. Usually there are only a few pieces of clothing and only in the smallest sizes. This is where the slim sales assistants come in: they scurry into the back storeroom for ten, fifteen, twenty minutes to find your size, or perhaps another style that isn't on the floor, or even a dress that no one else has seen. If it doesn't please you, they scurry off again for another ten or twenty minutes. and so on." (page 5).

This is so true. Even if you aren't buying couture, shopping in department stores was so different. Luxury and wealth was so different. And it didn't feel like you had to prove something either. Wealth used to be more refined. After World War II and fashion became a business that was publically traded, things changed. I think for the worse. This quote says a lot,

"In the old days when luxury brands were privately held companies, owners cared about making a profit but the primary objective in-house was to produce the finest products possible. Since the tycoons have taken over, however, that objective has been replaced by a phenomenon I call the cult of luxury. Today, luxury brand items are collected like baseball cards, displayed like artwork, brandished like iconography. Arnault and his fellow luxury tycoons have shifted the focus from what the product is to what it represents ."

Now we are wearing the companies logo. Do you ever think about that? How we are advertising an item, for free, that we paid an exorbitant amount of inflated money on, for a company that doesn't care about quality so much as profit? Isn't that strange?

So this is what I'm reading in my downtime and HIGHLY recommend it. More posts soon, about products I actually love that are actually worthwhile!
What are you all reading, anything good? Ever heard of this book?
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