Style statement

So I've been reading a lot of blogs and forums recently that say that if you have a clearly defined style statement, you a) won't come home with clothes you don't actually want to wear, and b) looking into your wardrobe in the morning will be less tragic because everything will more or less fit together. That all seems pretty logical to me, and it's more or less what I've been doing for a while now. Here's a brief summary of what I have in mind when I go shopping:



So I guess that sweet pink spot in the middle is something like "Cool French Ballerina Who Spends Her Time Off-Duty Buying Clothes From 109". It's a little nebulous. I also take excursions to "Cool French Girl Goes To The Mediterranean Coast To Summer" and "French Girl Gets A Bit Trashy" when things get summery/go a bit wrong. I guess one of my major issues is that all three of those categories in the picture up there imply a preternatually thin woman, which is something that I don't embody at the moment. (But! I'm more than 25% of the way to my goal weight! Shoop da woop!) So I tend to delay buying clothes, because I figure they're not going to fit me if I keep losing weight, and anyway, fat girls can't really be CFBWSHTO-DBCF109, so save the money for now. This means that I tend to interpret CFBWSHTO-DBCF109 as dark jeans, ballet flats and tank top, bulked out with accessories.

Accessories are my bread and butter while I lose weight, and I like to find ones that fit the category perfectly. Ballet flats are a natural fit, and I am always expanding my collection. (Just bought two more pairs from ASOS half an hour ago.) I also like Chanel-ish flap bags, scarves, and sparkly jewellery. One of my favourite pieces is a Chanel-like camellia necklace that I bought from Misch Mash in Fukuoka (thus covering both the French and Japanese aspects.)

The other nice thing about the style statement is that it tends to restrict your colour palette, which again leads to greater harmony amongst the individual wardrobe items. Mine is more or less black, white/cream, pale pink and stripes. You know what Japanese brand is all about these things? Delyle. Oooh, how I love Delyle. Chanel-inspired clothes at High Street prices.





See? Classic, but cute and youthful. It doesn't take the ballet component into account, but not every outfit has to. I get more into the ballet thing in autumn/winter, with scarves and layering. I'm quite looking forwards to getting back into cardigans again.

There's this book at Amazon that deals with this sort of thing exactly, but instead of a narrative like I have above, they help you come up with two words that encapsulate your life. Eek. That sounds a bit bit frightening to me. You seem to come away with a term like "Natural Simplicity" or "Enduring Bold", which all seems a little obscure to me. If it was available on Kindle I'd get it, but until then, I'll just be a little intimidated by it.

All in all, I like the notion of buying within a theme you love, but I think it's also important to break out of the mold every so often. Really love that long Indian-inspired skirt? No sweat. French Girl's Ballet Company Tours Mumbai And She Brings Back A Souvenir. The most important thing, I think, is just to make sure that if you buy clothes that you LOVE them. It's easy to put together an outfit when you love everything you own. It's much harder to do it with pieces you're only partly enamoured with.

*****

I'm going to go see a movie BY MYSELF this afternoon - In The Loop, as alluded to in my previous post. It's been a while since I've gone to a movie by my lonesome but I'm actually quite looking forwards to it. If anyone wants to join me, though, Paradiso at 3.15. See you there (no, I bet I won't, but never mind.)

Upcoming movies

There are so many movies coming out in the next couple of months that I am really looking forwards to!

Starting with this one, which is already out:



I like a really good political satire, and I hear this one is phenomenal. I was going to see it with Josh but evidently I am not trustworthy, because he went to see it without me. Boo! I have to get to Luna while it's still on.



This one will be a girls' outing! Ruth is going to get a sitter for Jude (and by sitter I mean that Daddy Trav will be having a boys' night) and it will be AWESOME. Even if the movie is not so good. It's full of actors I like, so it must be OK. And some Bradley Cooper-themed eye candy. (Also, I read that his character is gay.) (Also, I read that maybe this is art imitating life. And everything you read on the internet is true.)

A quick tangent - when did I start liking Julia Roberts? I couldn't stand her circa Runaway Bride, felt entirely apathetic towards her in the Ocean's movies, but by Duplicity I was nuts for her. Come to think of it, Duplicity might have been what turned me around. That movie was great. I've seen it like five times (through the joys of air travel), and I'd watch it again for Clive Owen smirking through his Southern accent.



French film festival is starting next month! I want to see almost everything showing, but most of all I want to see Gainsbourg, vie héroïque. If Serge didn't epitomise French chic, I don't know who did. (Well. Bardot and Chanel for starters. And right now, Garance Dore is just about the coolest person on the planet.) Anyway, the Gainsbourg biopic looks tres fantastique.



I think this one is already out in America. I actually read the book last year, but I have a feeling it relates to the film in more or less the same way that Queen Bees and Wannabes did to Mean Girls. Ewan McGregor and George Clooney? That is SO fetch.



Bollywood Film Festival follows the French one. I don't know anything about the program other than that Dil Bole Hadippa! is the opening night film. It looks cute! I have a big girl crush on Rani, her smile is so infectious. I think this is a Bollywood version of She's The Man, which I haven't seen. (But I have read Twelfth Night, so I think I'm good for source material.) I'm really hoping that the films from last year that I want to see are on the program, like Love Aaj Kal. (That reminds me, I still haven't seen Om Shanti Om. Fail.) (Lots of brackets in this post. Apologies. These will be the last ones, I promise.)



Again, this one is already out in the States. I <3 Kristen Bell, thus I will see this. Even though I hear it's pretty dreadful. Bring on the Veronica Mars movie! I hope there's a lot of this set in Rome. Holiday nostalgia is the best.



If only for Char's adorable family. But really, for much more than that. Fashion! New York! More fashion! I hope there's more Char in this one actually, I feel like she was a bit neglected in the last one.

So that's more or less it til May. After that, who knows? I'm glad I have a cinema concession card, that's for sure. I've more or less mentally spent all of my entertainment budget here.

*****

Watching So You Think You Can Dance: The Infinitely Inferior Australian Version. All the manufactured tension is really getting on my nerves. You're all going home! Just kidding, we just did that to give you a taste of showbiz/to give us a great ad break cliffhanger!

Oh man, the worst bit is that they just split up a husband/wife couple who were both excellent. Why only send one through? Oh right, for TEH DRAMAZ. Stupid. How much of the result of this show is based on raw talent, and how much is based on melodrama?

Changing the channel now, as I end this drivelly post.

Hair malfunction

Today I am wearing my hair in a sort of Heidi-braid crossover.  I was inspired by this (thanks to Jenny at sushi-cat.net):



But the first thing the girl who I share a bench with at work said to me?
"Oh, you have your hair like that Estonian/Lithuanian politician!"
AKA Yulia Tymoshenko, the Ukrainian Prime Minister.



EPIC HAIR FAIL.

Update:

Tris asked for a pic, so here it is:



Also four randoms at the shop told me they thought it was cute, so maybe it's not so fail after all.

PURIKURA!!!

Did a bundle of purikura in Freo with Ish and Tris after the combined meeting yesterday.  (Aside - aren't combined meetings rad?  You catch up with so many people.  Also Pastor Darryl gave really great talks both meetings.  Good day.)  So anyway, プリクラ！！ Girls, click through for the bigger sizes ♥♥

This machine was rad! Really cute, good skin tone, easy to edit afterwards. Went sort of nuts with the crowns, ears and headbands in the second one though. But, um, this other machine?

DO NOT WANT. I remember using a machine like this when I was on exchange, for goodness' sake. THAT WAS 10 YEARS AGO. Roll with the times, Perth. Love Virus indeed.

And now, if you'll indulge me, (you will, because it's my blog, dammit) I shall post some other ones. These first two are from a big-eye machine somewhere in Tenjin, during the Fukuoka outreach.

Actually, I promised Sonia that I would send these two her but then I lost her email address :( So, Sonia Swan, if you ever self-Google, I hope it leads you here. Even though these pictures are terrifying. What's going on with Stef's eyes in the second one? Scary business.

Next batch is Ant and I last Feb. I thought this was in Harajuku but the label (and all other evidence, like the photos with the same date where we're at Kinkakuji) says we're in Kyoto. Was this in one of the covered arcades? That trip is a blur now :(

Girls, when you find a boy willing to indulge you this much? Hold on as tight as you can.
(Also, I have absolutely no recollection why we chose to put a taiyaki and some oden on the front of the car, but I do remember it being HILARIOUS at the time.)

And just to show how we've learned to camwhore, here's our first ever purikura.

MY EYES. How did I ever think this was an acceptable way to leave the house? I LOOK LIKE A MAN. The date on this is wrong, too - it was late November, because I distinctly remember this was after one of my exams. Back to the point though - UGH UGH UGH.

I have some others of us with Mark and Ish but the scanner repeatedly cut Mark's head off, so I think that's a sign that they should wait for another day.