my united states of whatever

Petra visited during spring break a few months ago to take these photos for Oyster and we were way in our own world and it was so pretty and kind of like Heavenly Creatures without the murder and stuff. You can see the spread here, where I also wrote a little bit, but these are my favorites, and I happen to be looking down in almost all of them! It was just really satisfying to make a thing with someone whose brain is similar when it comes to colors/the various subcategories of suburban homes' doors' windows/points of inspiration/etc. and feel slightly less crazy for being obsessive over all those details. In general, I guess, it can be isolating to realize your world is very different from that around you and it's easy to decide whenever there's some conflict that it's because you yourself are too strange and your point-of-view is too twisted, but it makes it all the more comforting and exciting to find someone who kind of feels or sees the way you do in some way or another. Man, whoever invented friendship was really smart.

And, as it goes without saying, Petra is ridiculously talented and makes everything look 2903x prettier. Normally I don't post press stuff on here (especially since I rarely post here at all anymore) but I feel that I can take credit for more than just standing there this time and I am psyched at how it turned out.

Also, HAPPY ROAD TRIP KICK-OFF! If you don't know what I'm talking about, read this, and then look at this!
(Here's the poster for it. Also of me by Petra from when she visited. It felt a little weird making it MY FACE but it's blurry and sunsetty and American and a pretty photo so shrug.)

she had to get out

These are some photos I took a while ago for MAC's MacZine that just came out, so here I am now, posting them, online, on the internet, on my weblog!!!!! The theme of the issue was "Wanderlust," so I did a Los Angeles-inspired moodboard and outfit, which is not surprising to readers of this blog. (This is also basically the outfit form of next month's Rookie theme!)

Weetzie Bat, postcards from a Peter Max paper airplane book, Joan Didion, Elle Fanning in Rodarte in A Magazine Curated by Rodarte, postcards and photos from an antique store I went to in Pasadena with Autumn and Arrow, a tapestry my mom made a long time ago, daisies from the craft store, and Joni Mitchell's Song to a Seagull, which ends with my favorite Joni song, "Cactus Tree."

My top is vintage, my eyelet skirt is from the dress-up box my sisters and I used when we were little, my platforms are by D&G, my necklace was a gift from Chris Habana, and I made both my crowns from craft store flowers and joke shop houses.

Every time we visit I'm particularly delighted by all of LA's pastel houses and surrounding floral life.

I added the necklace for the spooky side of LA and Hollywood Babylon-type stuff, and for the weird psychics that are everywhere and other mystical things Weetzie Bat is obsessed with. I just like that something so sunny and colorful with pastel houses and flowers everywhere can also be so dark and David Lynch-y. But I should probably stop talking about it before it becomes too obvious that I'm trying to justify to myself that time that I murdered a person wait what?

IN OTHER NEWS, I saw Moonrise Kingdom yesterday thanks to a screening set up by their PR for me and my friends, and it was EVERYTHING I'D HOPED IT WOULD BE AND MORE. During the school year I usually avoid watching movies that I know will make me that emotional and inspired because I'm left with all this energy that school doesn't allow for and then it has nowhere to go, but it's almost SUMMER, so soon I get to run away and read fantasy novels and play records as much as I want! (People rolling their eyes right now might like to know that I thought the movie did a good job of not being too self-indulgent on the montage-of-cute-people-doing-cute-activities part. Just enough for me to be like, "Oh Wes, that is so you! Typical Wes! Wes, you aesthetically-defined bitch! =P I heart u so effing much!!!!" before complimenting him on his shoes and throwing my yogurt spoon in the air, but not so much that it stops actually helping the story move along. Also the main kids were so absolutely perfect, and too witty and dark and confused to be cutesy, too. The other kids were also absolutely perfect. So were the grown-ups. Oh my god it was all so good. I may have liked it more than Royal Tenenbaums, which is my favorite Wes Anderson? Oh my god I don't even know I just want to go back. I plan on seeing it at least four more times once it's out in theaters.)

sixteen and spring

Oy vey, I've given up on collecting all the images/playlists/collages/stickers/diary entries/etc. necessary for my usual all-encompassing VIBES posts. The task has suddenly become really daunting! And tedious! And a blog is probably not the best format for being retrospective and examining all the music/movies/outfits/etc. I was into at a certain time and looking at the colors and motifs and things they share and finding the conceptual parallel. Rookie's monthly themes are a good place for that, on a less personal level, and my tangible diaries have been good for that, but they don't want to be shared. Also, the herds of sheep I've enslaved to form tiny colonies, each one themed according to a certain vibe. That's been a great outlet for this kind of obsessive organization, too.

But I still like having this outlet, and so, my spring so far:

Claire and two friends both named Alex and me performed at V-Day, a good, loud celebration of vaginas. Autumn took those photos. The last one is me in the last hour of my 16th birthday a couple weekends ago. I am wearing my friend's sweater, a skirt I got to keep from the Wren shoot, and a jacket gifted to me by Risto.

A car Petra and I found, a sundae Grace and I shared, a crown of real roses that Ella gave me for my birthday, and the view from my angst-gazing/Say Anything-worthy window.

Apple blossoms I put in shampoo bottles from the Chelsea Hotel, where most of the initial Rookie meetings between Anaheed and me took place last summer.

(Vintage collared shirt, tye dye top gifted by Proenza Schouler, necklace gifted by Pamela Love)

These photos are by Lauren Dukoff, styled by Ashley Furnival for Vogue Nippon. We shot in January, but they fit in so much with what I've been feeling for spring -- the '50s/'60s jumble, the beehive, applying the bright, pink/green/orange/sky blue colors I normally associate with Los Angeles (see: these posts) to '50s shapes I normally associate with being home in a suburb (see: fall vibes). I was really lucky to get to work with friends who understand my loyalty to my personal style (see: inconvenient pickiness over VIBES and COLORS and HOW THEY FIT PERFECTLY IN REFERENCE TO ALL OF THE THINGS THAT I LIKE) and wanted to create looks we would all love. That last picture is of Ashley and me, and it's so dusty 'cause it's been on my shelf.

Petra and her boyfriend visited during my spring break and we basically lived in a bubble of our own vibes and references and color associations for days in a row and it was MAGICAL. Like Heavenly Creatures, only instead of writing and molding intricately designed fairytales, we just tried to wear relatively nice things while watching Dazed and Confused and found ways to call junk foods aesthetically pleasing.

Hangouttimez, and my room's constant state for the past couple months.

Claire and I saw Hunx and his Punx and it was many many kinds of amazing. Our underagedness got us seated at a counter behind the bar and it was actually really nice because we had room to dance and were elevated so we could see and people-watch. I wore my Twin Peaks best friend/rosary necklace and kept my Hunx comb in my sock like a switchblade and Claire's skirt looked like the red room floor in TP. Hunx and all of his punx were so NICE and ALIVE and then when we went home and watched Community we kept pausing it to be like, "Wait, THAT SHOW WAS SO GOOD."

Here I am attempting to channel Wanda Woodward with a pout-bitchface hybrid. My coat is also from the Wren shoot and Rachel Antonoff gave me the spiffy saddle shoes and my top is vintage and my hand-me-downed pants are made of lace and I think it's like the one time I've ever worn pants other than when I had a bad week where I wore jeans every day.

Olivia with her talented tendencies took these when she visited and we saw Amish people at Ed Debevic's and they wore the paper waiter hats on top of their own and that was pretty great.

Drinks at the bowling alley, Petra's situation, a day I spent in the treehouse reading Chris Ware comics and listening to Fleetwood Mac and sleeping, and FRIES.

For my birthday I had friends over for dancing and hugging and waffles made out of cake batter. The waffles were a huge hit, and I highly recommend the recipe for your next social function, or just your next meal, or every meal ever. Grace and I decorated our dining room like the high school movie prom of my teen dreamz, with bubblegum colors like this shoot Petra did for Rookie and banners that said SWEET 16 (not pictured) and POOP (definitely pictured). I wore that Wren skirt again 'cause I guess it's perfect for everything, and a baby blue embroidered top, and sandals I got at a vintage fair. I was prepared to be all mopey and Samantha Baker about it just in case it was underwhelming, but it was honestly the bestest day of my life? A song like "Blister in the Sun" kind of reaches a new level when a bunch of people who are used to dancing to it alone all go at it together. Meagan is responsible for these lovely photos. Also not pictured: the love notes "Justin Bieber" (Grace and I -- don't tell anyone!!!!!!!!) left sitting around.