NOOOOOOOO!

mooka kinney have supposedly split. i am SO sad.

(p.s. i am not even giving that whole rachel ray/dunkin donuts/michelle malkin controversy the time of day. michelle malkin is a self-loathing asian american who thought japanese internment camps during ww2 were a good idea. 'nuff said.)

this dress...

feels so swedish. from the second i saw it, i knew the designer was scandinavian (i was right! house of dagmar is a swedish label.)



{available at adele}

iden-diddy crisis

today, as i wrote my thank you notes to friends and family for various things (including graduation), i realized that i am at a point in my life when i have absolutely no clue what i'm doing. much like puff daddy, p. diddy, diddy(?) i have no idea who i am or even if i prefer to go by "ally" or "allison". how dated is that reference?

this is related to fashion and not. nobody is living a life completely synchronized with their beliefs, but i have so many contradictions within the way i want to live my life. in a material sense, i want to live as sustainable a life as possible, and yet i can't deny that i get impulsive and buy overpriced things that were probably manufactured under less-than-ideal situations. who knew that even expensive dresses are made in china? the things i do buy, i'm not even sure i like. there are so many different styles i admire and i don't know which one i'd most like to integrate into my wardrobe.

in a broader sense, i have no idea where i want to be. i can't stand virginia, and yet i'd really like to intern at npr in DC (anyone else as obsessed as i am?) i'd also like to live in portland, but the competitive job market and weather make me wary. and i'd like to just be bold and move to california, but i'm terrified of making an awful mistake.

when i get moody and melancholic, there's nothing better than a good song to listen to on repeat. i know i haven't posted music in weeks, which means this blog is undergoing an identity crisis of its own. but finally! a break in the clouds, and a song! it's already all over the internet, but i like it a lot. cinematic, smug, and a little bit sad. i hope you enjoy it, too.

ratatat - shiller

speechless

any self-respecting woman should feel like crying after watching this compilation of sexist comments from news anchors and guests.



Sign a petition against sexism here.

this blows my mind.

{vintage oscar de la renta dress, on ebay. current bid: $464.08}

friday night lights

i love these chalk-outlined shadows by michael neff. they look as if they're glowing neon.



see more here.

mayle order

i love mayle's vintage inspired clothing, but it is undeniably out of my price range. still, everything about it is divine (their shoes, their shirts, and most notably, their dresses), so i don't mind window-shopping.


mayle patchwork top, $470 at bird

silly things.

i like to harp on urban outfitters and yet i am a sometimes-buyer (why do i do it? the CEO is an uber-republican, and i'm not wishy-washy on politics. i snapped at my sister's new boyfriend when he asked whether either of the democratic nominees was any better than mccain, and now i think he's terrified of me.)

i wasn't impressed with either of these items on the site, but other girls have made them look so desirable that i bought them. i guess i'm a sucker.

1. hawks by geren ford sailor dress

on the site (looking meh):



and yet...:


{via no good for me}

2. skinny feather headband

on the site (making me nauseous trying to see the picture straight):



and yet... (what a cute little hipster she is!):


{via chic clinic}

maybe urban needs to enlist some new models?

yellow is...

the "it" color of spring 2008. at least that's what i got when i googled "yellow is". (also, it's "the new black" and the color evoked by light that stimulates the long- and medium-wavelength cone cells of the retina about equally, if you did not know!)

i own a lot of yellow, specifically mustard. obvs.

today:

{h&m top, AA skirt, steve madden flats, sabina bag}

(psst...that spot is not a nipple.)

my sunday graduation-party outfit, chopped into bits and washed out by the lighting:





{church and state dress, rachel comey belt, seychelles wedges}

(dear sotto shopkeeper, these are NOT the promised pictures for you. i'll get a friend to help with that!)

begrudgingly supporting AA

i couldn't resist. some of their vintage stuff is adorable.

admittedly late to the game...

the fabulous heather armstrong of dooce was on the god-awful 10am - 11am stretch of the Today show, which is aimed at women (and what a condescending view of us they have!). needless to say, kathie lee was a complete wretch to her. doesn't it seem a tad hypocritical for kathie lee to say it makes her uncomfortable that heather talks about her daughter when that's exactly what kathie did when she was on regis and kathie lee?

watch the clip here: heather "dooce" armstrong makes kathie lee uncomfortable

{via jezebel}

today

{blood is the new black tee, a gift from sotto!; siwy jeans; vintage boots}

p.s. today my cat and a squirrel made friends through my kitchen window. sookie would follow the squirrel on her hind legs as she perched her two front feet on the window sill, and the squirrel would come up, sniff at her, move a bit, and follow her around in turn. i chalk this up to the squirrel being pretty dense and my cat having absolutely no hunting instinct at all!

graduaaaation

this is the only clear picture from my camera, but i'll get more from my parents. i look tired and uh, slight cross-eyed?

kismet kate

i know my affinity is probably highly colored by the top shop/kate moss label, but i love this floral print dress in kate's new capsule collection. do you?



well, too bad! it sold out immediately. i'm sure it's available on ebay for three times its original price. i guess it's for the best, given the awful british exchange rate, questionable labor practices of topshop, and the fact that the dress will be everywhere this summer.

{image via katemosstopshop.com}

m.i.a.

i'm feeling a bit out of sorts lately. not only am i completely exhausted for some unknown reason, very strange things are going on in the internet world, such as:

a. what happened to agathe of style bytes? susie bubble just posted about this, but i've noticed her monthlong absence for weeks. people say she's accepted facebook friend requests in the past few days, so presumably she's alive and well, but what happened to her blog? it is sorely missed.

b. when oh when will the mooka kinney girls ship their spring 2008 jumpers/rompers to boutiques? i'm dying here! do i need to post them for the third time on this blog? i think i do.



{image via mooka kinney}

i wish i could dance this well.

ohhh how charming is this? it's a girl all grown up dancing in synch with a video of her at four dancing to "it's hip to be square". she had great taste at four!

oh my god.

i'm not very maternal, and i don't know if i want kids, but this little french girl (capucine! adorable.) is the cutest thing.


Too much candy from Capucha on Vimeo.

{via heartthrobs & villains}

priceless

as a self-professed francophile, i'm always on the lookout for charming french films. this one looks so sweet (if not a bit trite) and it has the ultimate french darling, audrey tautou, in it.



i have to laugh at this quote from a movie reviewer on eFilmCritic.com, "'Priceless' is a film that appears to have been made to answer the question 'How far can a movie get along with nothing going for it but the irrepressible charm of Audrey Tautou?' The answer, it turns out, is 'pretty far.'"

it's only playing in bethesda...maybe i can convince someone to come with me with the allure of audrey and a free ticket!

boogie, boogie, robo boogie

the pattern of this perks and mini dress is so delightfully weird but the shape is still perfectly flattering. and it has pockets!



{available at creatures of comfort}

read panda

panda head, the dc fashion blog written by morgan hungerford, just launched an online zine. it's lovely and probably very popular now that susie bubble has written about it! congratulations morgan! she makes dc a more stylish place and i know it's something she loves to do.

the first issue makes dc look much more glamorous than i know it to be, which isn't a bad thing by any means! the fashion editorials are gorgeous.

see it here.

{photo from panda head magazine, via stylebubble}

fringe is in!

oh how i love love love this eden fringe dress by with hearts in my eyes. i love it so much that i bought it with my remaining store credit from bona drag (thanks heather!)

i never thought i'd be so crazy over fringe, and i'm even meh about phillip lim's navy t-shirt dress with the black fringe (even in person, it was very underwhelming.)

but this dress? this dress is divine.







{available at bona drag}

it's over (time for presents)

graduation was good, but a little awkward. i technically finished in december, so i didn't know a soul graduating (save for a few, but they were conveniently hard to find that morning while we congregated before the rotunda.) but the ceremony was really lovely and historic and all that.

i don't buy much into school spirit, but i am a sap for historic importance (this is thomas jefferson's school! whee!)

anyway, pictures will come soon! my parents were too inept to operate my camera, but they took some with their own. thank you SO MUCH to everyone who came! it made me feel special!

time out.

i graduate from UVA tomorrow. wish me luck!

and the winner is....

after ordering three shoes on endless.com (because of their fabulous selection, free overnight shipping and free returns), i have finally decided on the shoe to go with my graduation dress.

i ordered two blue pairs and one silver, but i just could not bring myself to wear the silver shoes. technically they matched, and my dad said "ooh! that looks lovely!" but they looked and felt cheap. i have a thing against silver shoes that aren't almost-bone or space-age/mod.

so here are the shoes i'll wear! they're a tad dark (very navy, not smokey blue like i had hoped) for my dress, but hopefully they'll look appropriately light in the sun.

{ak anne klein foxie pump}

fashion rules

i generally hate hard rules about anything, including fashion, because there is so much gray matter in the world. but one that i have yet to be convinced does not hold true is that linen is EVIL. every gorgeously constructed piece of linen fashion looks good on hangers but terrible on living breathing bodies after about 10 minutes. why? it wrinkles like a beast! it looks messy, sloppy, unkempt, just all-around bad.

that being said, i guess i could be convinced otherwise. anyone have any evidence to the contrary?

{photo via flickr}

low budget

this is uber-ghetto, but i wanted to share a song with you without getting sued by apple. yelle is my current obsession, with her fun french pop, and her song "tristesse / joie" has a playcount of about 500 on my itunes.

unfortunately, i couldn't find it for free online (i had to purchase it myself!), so all i could scrounge up was this low-tech youtube video of the song set to the cd art of yelle's cd.

it's the best i could do, and yes, my methods are lame, but listen to the song! you'll wind up thanking me.

simply amazing.

this woman rescued a lion cub, raised it until he was too big to handle, and then arranged for him to stay in a zoo.

this was the first time the lion had seen her since living in the zoo, and this was his reaction.

third world country justice

MTV has a new show coming out called "Exiled", where past super sweet 16 girls are sent to third world countries to live with families and do some actual work. all i can say is HA! serves the little brats right. i'm excited to watch this show:

click here for a trailer

pretty plumeau!

this manoush top is a little grannyish, but in the hot blanche-from-golden-girls granny way. wasn't blanche the coolest?



{available at shop}

i know, i know...

everyone is obsessed with louise, and so am i. she's gorgeous and stylish. the black frames should look contrived, but they don't.

bookmark et!

pixie market is my new shopping obsession. cute clothes from under-the-radar designers, and not too expensive, either!

i love this pony scarf, although doesn't the color suggest they should be little fat piggies?:

some outfits

sorry outfit posts are so spotty. there is simply NO good place to take outfit pictures in my dad's house. it's wretched. oh, and the mirror is FILTHY. but i received my graduation dress and adore it!


{today: forever 21 shirt, siwy jeans, sam edelman gladiators}


{graduation dress: ADAM by adam lippes - worth more than my life!}




{yesterday: steve madden flats, siwy jeans, ruby republic zebra shirt, nordstrom BP cardigan, urban outfitters scarf}

i hate cvs.

"Anderson Brothers Building owner Terry Vassalos has confirmed that a deal to bring a CVS pharmacy into the space currently occupied by Satellite Ballroom, Just Curry, Higher Grounds and Plan 9 has now been signed and made official, NBC 29 reports. 'I'm sorry,' Vassalos tells NBC 29. 'I like the Satellite Ballroom. But they will find a home.'"

The Satellite Ballroom was the one place in Charlottesville where I felt comfortable. Damn the man.

{c-ville article}

the littlest birds sing the prettiest songs

{frenchie dress}


{head scarf, ten skirt}


{ten skirt, varsity blouse}

i love love LOVE these pieces from michelle nguyen of quail's fall 2008 collection. the tailoring is perfect and feminine, evoking the 50s and 60s, but the colors are so fresh and modern. i want!

pretty as a peacock

{via shopbop}
i already have a fabulously sparkly and gaudy cocktail dress (via ebay), but i love this one too.

no logo

how great are these stickers from debranded home that you can put on refillable bottles? i hate having logos screaming at me everywhere, and yes, i am so anal that it bothers me when my toiletries don't match. the irony is that debranded home will become a known brand in itself if its stickers catch on.

{via design*sponge}

see his pug-nosed face! pug, pug! pug, pug!

how cute is this commercial for cell phone company vodafone's indian market? the little pug is a much preferable companion to verizon's annoying "can you hear me now?" guy.

one last purchase

Okay, this is terrible, but I NEEDED a dress for graduation. So I splurged. I promise, after I buy a pair of shoes that match, no more purchasing. Don't get mad!

(i wanted the purple one but it was sold out in my size...sadface!)

adorable.

{via ffffound!}

copycat

sometimes i see things on other people and i just have to replicate their look, regardless of the ethical pang i feel in literally ripping off someone else's style. so it goes.

here are two things i just bought because their presentation on others just floored me:


lee cooper high-rise shorts

as seen on:

{sally jane of sally jane vintage}


rachel comey double buckle belt in cognac, as seen on the church and state dress, via sotto boutique

and that is all i will purchase for the next month! i promise!

a french revolution

how hilarious is this picture from the set of marie antoinette? i absolutely love it.



{via ffffound!}

recent buys (a.k.a. materialistic exhibitionism)

(vintage 60s dress via ebay)




(jeffrey campbell gladiators in brown AND black)



(rotter and friends linda rondstadt tank)



(blood is the new black milano chow "hair" tee)