Grateful Dread

All I want is for this Elizabeth and James jacket to venture further into the realm of sale-dom.



Just a little bit.



I have been keeping tabs in this delightful little monstrosity (and I mean that in the best possible way!) since it appeared in Lucky months and months ago. It stood out from the endless parade of buyable things that the magazine crams into every issue, and it has stayed in my heart ever since. Now I see that this jacket, having been a little too real for everyone, has gone on sale - which further cements my belief that it and I were meant to be together.



It's called the Dread Jacket, dudes. How delightfully twisted is that? Literally and figuratively?

Update! On a hunch, I did some digging - it was actually this cardigan that appeared in Lucky. Still amazing! Still creepy! Still desirable!

Euphemisms

Then: shoulderpads.

Now, via Cathy Horyn: "extreme shoulders."

Full disclosure, y'all - the Cache bodysuit that I got from Listopad has seen the light of day - the light of a huge party, no less - with shoulder pads intact. It's because these particular pads are sharp, literally and figuratively - instead of the puffy, rounded monstrosities that get snipped out of many a thrift-store find, these are small and to the point, and give the shoulders edge instead of bulk. Reasonable iterations of this structural touch do exist.



For example: I love this! Hats off to the styling, of course, but the jacket is doing its own good work: I think the exaggerated shoulders create a lovely counterpoint to the wide leg of the trousers. All this plus a classic white t-shirt and really fucking dramatic headwrap? Yes please! These shoulders are so wickedly pointed that I cannot help but fall in love.



This is fucking badass and you know it. Yes, bulky shoulder, but the nipped waist and tight sleeves reminds you that the Evil Stepmother is still on top of her game. (Full disclosure #2: I have a sweater that is an exact replica of this dress.)

R. I. P., Vintage

Hi guys! Allow me to hijack the blog today in order to air personal grievances.

We like vintage because it's older and wiser. One of the downsides of older things, however, is that they sometimes die. It's always really sad when this happens with clothing, especially clothing that you've become really attached to despite knowing that your time together would inevitably be short. It is also sad when this happens with housewares.


R. I. P., miniature dog mirror!

Backstory: I have a really bad (good?) habit of buying those screenprinted mirrors whenever I see them at thrift stores.


This one has plants on it.


This one says "Tragique D'Hamlet: Prince Du Danemark."

But the one with the little dog on it held a special place in my heart - it was so tiny, so adaptable! It followed me through my life, from Philadelphia to DC - just like a real dog! I am really sad to see it go, but I think that these two huge cracks render it a little too unpredictable to continue perching atop my dresser. I will no longer see it's furry little face staring back at me when I am attempting to apply mascara (or white eyeliner - my most recent Beauty Island impulse buy).

Word Association

I was going to make a post about Chanukah today, but then I found this picture in New York of Cher at Studio 54 and got really distracted. Her outfit is slightly confusing but it appears to be the tightest jeans ever and an open button down which reveals piles of slinky bling. Don't even get me started on the suspenders! Her cascading waves of hair! Her hat! Do you like how she's all, "Oh, we're going to the most famous club ever? Let me just put on my jeans and my insane gold necklace."


I check our site-counter obsessively (hello, German readers! Thank you for searching Christine McVie and finding us here), and in the last week or so, an inordinate number of people have arrived at Listopad via Google searches for Bobby Trendy, the late Anna Nicole Smith's interior decorator. This prompted me to re-read Simon Doonan's 2002 New York Observer column in which Trendy asks if Diana Vreeland is "a new type of strep throat," which in turn prompted me to look up photos of Diana Vreeland. I found this one at Wessel + O'Connor Fine Art; it was taken by Andy Warhol. This is how I want to be remembered - as a pair of penetrating eyes punctuated by knotty, gesticulating hands, painted nails, and big jewelry.


"We're stormy, and that which is ours breaks loose from us without our fearing any debilitation," wrote Helene Cixous in "The Laugh of the Medusa," which was published in L'Arc in 1968. "Our glances, our smiles are spent; laughs exude from all our mouths; our blood flows and we extend ourselves without ever reaching an end; we never hold back our thoughts, our signs, our writing; and we're not afraid of lacking." Olivier Roller took this photo of her in 2004. I can't wait to be old and have crazy short hair and do whatever the fuck I want with my makeup.

Edgeward Scissorhands

Sometimes I become very irrational and want short hair.












I blame the recession. It encourages austerity and frowns on frippery. The flow-y locks of the bubble years now seem frivolous and impractical; I'm really inclinded to take a hacksaw to my shoulder-length mane and sport a look that's more - I don't know, severe? Industrial? Avant-garde, maybe? Short hair always seems like the hair of the future, even when it's the hair of the past.



Although the past makes a convincing case for long hair, too.



(photos via Gatochy.)

Packing Heat

Holiday packing! What a conundrum. I know that it’s impossible to make generalizations about people’s Thanksgiving plans, so the following scenario may not apply to you, but – I find myself torn between the inclination to pack a single pair of jeans and a t-shirt in preparation for several days of hibernation interspersed with bouts of overeating and remembering that I should pack at least one slamming outfit, lest my out-of-town friends whom I haven’t seen in a while think that I’ve gone soft. Add to this contrarian pile the possibility that I’ll be going shopping on my vacation and you basically have a full-on Monet of a suitcase, informed by far too many sartorial scenarios to have any sort of cohesion.

My secret weapon? The statement necklace. Throw this bad boy on and your outfit is suddenly outing-appropriate.


I love this sick, Brutalist-inspired Alexis Bittar number.

PS: Thank you, fashion world, for giving us a legitimate-sounding term for what I always used to refer to as "huge, crazy, fucked-up necklace." Speaking of fashion world - have you guys noticed that Anne Slowey has worn a statement necklace in


almost


every


episode of Stylista?

What More Can I Say?

It's Narciso Rodriguez.



Well played!

I'd just like to take a moment to congratulate Michelle on her consistently dope familial ensembles.





I know our city gets a bad fashion rap, but that's only because it's much more challenging to dress well in DC than in "anything goes" cities like New York or L. A. (Don't even get me started on Baltimore. Shine on, you crazy diamonds!) With such a stringent and relatively conservative template for dressing, we gypsies have to be much more innovative and even subversive with our little sartorial weirdnesses - a feat which Michelle consistently accomplishes. She favors clean, simple silhouettes but really goes for the gold when it comes to pattern and color, never shying away from bold hues or kooky prints.

The way she dresses is really similar to the way her husband has campaigned for (and won!) the presidency. His promises of overhaul and change are always posed against the backdrop of our country's time-tested founding principles. There's even a parallel in the way Michelle dresses her daughters: their outfits are never matchy-matchy, simply coordinated - in agreement, even. Kind of the like the way her husband professes to foster individuality united by a sense of American identity.

Brutalist Dilemma

(reCyclorama.)

Yesterday morning, NPR featured a story about the Richard Neutra-designed Cyclorama, a commemorative visitor's center in Gettysburg located smack-dab in the middle of the battlefield. When the building was erected in 1961, everyone was like, "Yes. Let's pay tribute to this old shit with new shit." Present-day purists, however, are puking at the presence of the poured concrete palace.


(s/a)

This building is tight. My dad is a Civil War freak, and I spent many a 4th of July weekend during my childhood running around these hallways and wondering why the lettering on the Cyclorama's signage was so small, silver, and sans-serif-y. Could it be credited with inspiring my obsession with vintage, and in turn, my posting on the blog? Neutra: the father of Listopad.


(s/a)

JK, obviously: Cath and Kata started this blog. But if I may hop on my soapbox for a moment - I know that this building is totally offensive to people who see the battlefield as a hallowed historical ground, and who feel it should be kept as pristine as possible in an effort to honor the serious business that went down way back when. Maybe the Neutra building was a mistake. But the fact remains that it's there, and it's just as honest a testament to the past as the battlefield itself. Like it or not, the last three decades has infused the structure with valid historical significance. I'm a big hippie, I guess, because I don't see the point in ignoring that. Or maybe I'm selfishly upset that my nieces and nephews might not be able to see the hugeness that was the Civil War through the weird, fascinating mid-century lens that is the Cyclorama.

Love to Love You, Baby

Friends, we had such a delightful time at our Saturday salon. Gregarious guests grabbed gorgeous garments and gabbed with gamines and gentlemen. How better to spend a humid September afternoon than surrounded by beautiful clothes and friends? Seeing everyone filled our little hearts with joy. Let's swoon over vintage again sometime soon!

Peep more transcendent photos and kind words at The President Wears Prada and the Anti-DC.

Goodwallop

I sidled up to Maria when the fashion show ended, weaving my way through the throngs of beauty-hunters turned loose on what was probably the first pop-up Goodwill store to grace the French Embassy. My eyes were trained on the beaded confection dangling from her arm. "Ooo," I murmured, "you got it." I pulled back the collar to look for evidence of its origin. "Handmade," she asserted, reading my mind. Peering inside the dress, I examined the nude expanse of its lining, unadulterated by the mark of a mass manufacturer. Of course, I thought.

Five minutes prior to this, I had encountered Svetlana among the racks - "I'm just looking for that beaded dress!" she'd exclaimed. "Me too!" I cried. "I just want to see it up close!"

Five minutes prior to that, the show had just ended. Cath and I were still in our seats, taking in all in. Maria, sitting behind us, leaned forward. "Which look was your favorite?" Cath didn't hesitate for a moment. "The beaded one. With the sleeves."

It had been about 20 minutes since we'd all seen it for the first time.



Can I even verbalize how gorgeous it was up close? The fabric hung perfectly; the beads were iridescent, tiny, and painstakingly applied. By hand. What is this dress? It just appeared out of the ether - unique, artful, universally stylish, its origin a permanent mystery. This is why we hunt, folks. This is what we are hunting for.



The blogosphere salivates. (Check out the pretty and sweet Ms. Anti-DC in the background -- we are working on making her Ms. Pro-DC;-)

Many, many thanks to Em for the invite, to Mark Silva for the photos, and of course, to Goodwill for the incredible, indispensible service that they provide to the community.

Get To It

Get scholarly on Monday during the Graduate and Professional School Fair at GW. Dorksville, you say? Whatever. If you're just tuning in, I am an avid nerd and legitimately excited for this event.

Get serious on Tuesday when Dan Higgs plays at the Velvet Lounge. Never have such scary songs been so soothing.

Get wild on Wednesday when These Are Powers play at Civilian Art Projects with the Apes and Food for Animals. See above flier for further vibe details.

Get on Facebook on Thursday and join the Listopad Facebook Group! We are so very plugged in.

Get hungry on Friday at the St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church's Greek Festival outside Baltimore. There will be FOOD.

Get the most excited you've ever been on Saturday because Listopad is having a party! Jiggle that!

Get crafty on Sunday at Crafty Bastards. (Keep your eyes peeled for a more extensive post on this later in the week!)

America's Next Top Fodder

Guys, quick emergency reminder post. America's Next Top Model premieres tonight! 8 pm! Two hours! Two glorious hours!


(Fourfour.)

Vintage Maz

Today is a very special day.



Happy birthday, Martha! Like a fine wine, you only get better with age! (Note her prescient Big Love-FLDS steez. I am so into these massive, sculpted waves of hair and the Precious-meets-dowdy vibe. It's so aggressively matronly that it's basically punk.)

Constanzas make me nervous.

You guys remember Bobby Trendy, right?


(Evil Beet Gossip)

He was Anna Nicole Smith's interior decorator.

"I tell other people what is wrong with them—I teach lessons every day." Mr. Trendy bragged of dining nightly on filet mignon; does he fear mad-cow disease? "I repel all diseases."

This quote is from a 2002 NY Observer column penned by the fucking hysterical Simon Doonan after an extensive interview with Trendy (I am trying to be journalistic by using his last name, but ... yeah), in which the decorator drank champagne and "implored the cameraman to 'photograph my beautiful butthole.'"

Please read it!

Love Letters

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend Listopad your ears. We're plotting a new feature that we're really excited about.

We're obsessed with all things vintage and secondhand. This should be obvious by now. We shop a lot and we find a lot of beautiful things, both for ourselves and for our shopping parties. We're assuming that if you read this blog, it's because you like shopping for beautiful things, too, and you freak out as much as we do when you come across them. We're shoppers that appreciate the challenge of finding genuinely cool and interesting things in an economy where cookie-cutter looks are served to the masses, and we want to celebrate the fact that individuality is accessible—if you know where to look.

We know that you guys know where to look, and we know how exciting it is when you find something really unique. Why not use us a platform to shout it to the world? We want to see what our readers are finding. The next you're at a thrift store, flea market, vintage shop, or consignment boutique, and you find something—an item of clothing, a weird little tchotchke, a full set of La Fonda del Sol Bandas Goblets, anything—take a pic and send it to us along with a description of the item. Tell us where you found it, why it caught your eye, how it's going to change your life, or any other information that you feel is pertinent. Send us your love letters, kids! We love hearing from you!

Winter Beauty

Now that a wintry breeze is a-blowin' you'll be intermittently battling the elements and spending more time indoors. Is it time to indulge in some cheap, easy beauty treatments at home! I'll share with you a few of my favorite ways to relax, look good, and seal in all the moisture that the wind will soon try to whip from your skin.

First of all, its amazing how many natural laxatives can double as beauty products! I have heard that you can make a mask out of milk of magnesia but haven't tried it yet. But here are two products that will make your skin very happy (I can't say what they will do to your digestive system, but take a wild guess.)


Epsom Salts
Dump about half of a small carton of epsom salts into a big bath, swirl it around to dissolve, and hop in. Epsom salts melt the tension from your muscles. However, don't soak longer than 15-20 minutes. Did you know that long hot baths and showers can leech nutrients from your body?
Available at any drugstore, about $2.


Swiss Kriss (flake form)
This herbal laxative looks like green tea mixed with moss and does quite well as a facial steam. Put a tablespoon in a bowl and pour boiled water over it. Cover your head with a towel and steam--careful not to burn yourself!
Whole Foods, about $4.


Since dry indoor heat and icy winds can sap the moisture from your face, you may need a heavier moisturizer for winter. I recommend Jason Vitamin E Moisturizing Creme, which comes with either 5,000 or 10,000 IUs of E. A little dab will do.
Buy at Yes! about $6 for the 5,000 IU version.


If you overdid it with your moisturizing and wake up with an oil slick on your face, act swiftly to correct the problem with Humphrey's Maravilla Lotion.
It's really just Witch Hazel in beautiful packaging that is well worth the trip to the Botanica on 18th Street, where you can pick up some machetes and other voodoo items while you're at it. Also available in any store that sells wigs. $5.


Winter brings on holiday parties, and holiday parties bring on excess. After a night of excess, I like to spray Heritage Orange Flower Water all over my face and hair. It has a subtle scent and has been said to help depression, insomnia and nervous tension. I say it is a hangover helper. It also has slightly astringent properties and smooths the skin, which makes it a good preparation for facials. I like to keep mine in the refrigerator to provide an extra-bracing wake-up effect as I reach for my soy milk.
$4 at Yes! or Whole Foods

Don't forget your lips!
Babies know best:

Kielhs baby lip balm, $5 at Blue Mercury


Last but not least, LADIES, cleansing from the inside out is easy with Woman's Moon Cycle. If you get PMS you may suffer more in the winter, when there's less light and things are generally more yin. You could single-handedly keep Yogi Tea in business by drinking their recommended 4-5 cups a day of this nice herbal blend, which features Dong Quai, Chaste Tree Berry, Raspberry Leaf, Parsely Leaf, and Chamomile, among others. Or you could simply enjoy a steaming mug before bed-time when you are feeling your "moon days" hardest. This relaxing concoction is sure to put you to sleep.
$3 or $4 at health food stores.

Travels Abroad

Warning: picture heavy post. Not very fashion-y I know, but I have to make excuses for why I didn't post for two weeks.











Can you guess where I was?