Rock Your Wings - Oshkosh Air Show!

i was lucky ducky enough to go to the Oshkosh Air Show yesterday - my geekdom was at an all time high!  i learned a lot of interesting information yesterday while attending this legendary airshow...

1.  i am no where near the biggest dork/geek/nut out there.
2.  i'd beat someone over the head for my own military flight suit.
3.  crosswinds make an already super tense approach/arrival procedure even more intense.  (this is
     obvious, but i was really seriously reminded of it)
4.  Arriving and landing at Oshkosh potentially gave me PTSD.
5.  people have really interesting ways of dressing to beat the heat.

since i was totally obsessed with dressing like Mrs. Captain America, i went with a red & white thing, leaving navy blue out of it, so i wouldn't look like a flag.

shorts & slub cotton tank, J.Crew.

i started off wearing really cute J.Crew flats but then really quickly changed over to my leopard print TOMS.  it was hot, it's a lot of walking, and i just couldn't deal with my feet sweating in somewhat expensive leather shoes all day.  whatever.  compared to the people who were camping there all week & uhh...yeah.  my 2nd shoe choice was just fine - i felt perfectly cute and perfectly Mrs. Captain America.

okay - so...the arrival procedure.  this was my first time flying into Oshkosh, and i also learned that during this week of the airshow, Oshkosh is the busiest airport in the world.  they land something like 140-160 aircraft per hour (O'Hare lands about 110/hour) - so just LISTENING to ATC/Tower on approach was incredible.  they handle so much traffic that when given instructions upon approach, no one is allowed to respond...if you are clear on what was just said to you...you ROCK YOUR WINGS back and forth.  i'm sorry, what?  no, that's correct.  don't respond, just rock your damn wings.  omg.  and then upon final approach, you are assigned a runway and a "dot color."  HUGE dots are painted on the runways, and they land two planes at once: one on a close dot, one of the far dot.  ............RIGHT?!  omg i was freaking out.  oh, also, we had a wicked crosswind that was throwing the aircraft around like a rag doll.  but...nonetheless, we landed with no incident, taxied with ease, and had the BEST TIME!

ok some sick planes...

 i was overly obsessed with this airlifter (obviously since i took 11 million pictures).  i could not get over how MASSIVE IT IS.  like the wheels were bigger than me.  i was in AWE.

 BIG jet engines. um. yes.

 F-16

 such a cool, perfectly restored, vintage plane.

a beauty.

and a few of my spoils...i got a really sweet new Telex headset for flying (duh)....and since you can take the girl out of the sorority but you cannot take the sorority out of the girl....i got the t-shirt because i love event t-shirts!!!!!!

that's how i felt when we landed. like spirit fingers! we're alive!

i know it's backwards but it says "Rock Your Wings - and land on your dot!" - a cute shirt making light of the scariest landing of my life.

well - i survived & lived to tell my tale.  it was the best day i've had in recent memory (for real), and i already can't wait for next year!    maybe next year, in an effort to avoid the sweet tan lines i got yesterday, i'll just wear an American flag bikini.  why not, right? 

she was an american girl...

i'm going to Oshkosh Air Show on Wednesday, and for some reason, i'm completely obsessed with looking the part of the all-American girl.  i really can't explain it, other than lately i've just been 100% into all things all-American and Wild-West.  i've literally spent the entire last week completely dying over what i'm going to wear to this air show...as if anyone but me cares? but no seriously!!  what defines an All-American gal?  for me, it's all about a free spirit, a great pair of jeans (and a denim jacket), a little grit in your hair, a long white skirt, and maybe a cowboy hat...if you can step up to that plate...

Pamela Love is like..my favorite tried and true American girl.  

so how do you dress like Mrs. Captain America for the air show?  dresses are a no-go..i'll be climbing in and out of planes...and while having no shame and letting it all hang out is kind of the American way... it's not very lady-like.  so it has to be shorts....

from bottom right: Superga sneakers, Pamela Love for Jcrew belt, Toms classics, Pamela Love ring, Ksubi 'The Roadie' short, Splendid vintage whisper slub cotton tank, Karen Walker Anywhere sunnies,  Chicwish crochet fringe top, Alexander Wang Diego bag, Joie Soft Dillion top, Rag & Bone cut-off denim shorts, Quicksilver cruiser shorts.

it's all about the easy, casual sexy.  denim cut-offs (or red shorts...so cute), a breezy tank, stripes, the messy/slouchy tuck into your shorts, chic shades, a slouchy throw-over-your-shoulder-bag, and shoes you can just put on and not be messing with later.  top it off with a western-inspired belt and a turquoise ring... born in the USA, baby!

wait, i even made an All-American girl playlist!  it's definitely all over the place, but it's 100% fun and 100% meant for drives with all the windows open...feet up on the dashboard....wind in your hair... you know.

a couple of things on thursday....

a couple of things....

1. it's British Open Weekend. oh wait...The Open, excuse me.  this is my favorite Majors tournament for a myriad of reasons, but the biggest is that the British Open makes golfers its bitch EVERY. YEAR.  every year it's like... 138 mph winds, 539 sand bunkers, driving rain, potentially with a high of 61 degrees, even in high July.  and i just love that.  the course is always gorgeous, always in some Scottish or British Highland, like a scene out of Game of Thrones/Lord of the Rings, but with..golfers and not Gandalf.  but it's not even about that.  it's just about The British Open bringing the worst possible conditions to the plate.  every year.  without fail.  and the best golfers in the world show up and are like...bend me over, British Open.  i will struggle to even shoot par.  i am your bitch.

the Claret Jug is pretty fierce though.

i looked for a picture of mah boo Phil Mickelson holding it, but oh wait..he's never won.  i just don't think Phil is really that into like... inclement weather conditions.  the rain & wind probably just isn't great for his hair or his sexy pants he's been wearing lately.  

2.  it's the middle of July & i start school in 32 days.  it's been 3 years since i left college, and in this fast-movin' world we live in...3 years is like an eternity.  but i digress.  as a mostly organized person (i say mostly because i have moments of serious chaos), however, i LOVE back to school supplies.  notebooks. binders.  post-it notes, filing folders.  highlighters. day planners. omg i love it.  so i've been slowing amassing my collection of SUPER CHIC binders and notebooks.  because HELLO i will need them for school! 

aren't they so cute?!  and then someone laughed and me and was like "everyone takes notes on their computers now." please reference above. out of school 3 years. 3 years = i guess notebooks/binders aren't happening anymore.  i don't care. i'll be the dinosaur who takes notes on paper and still uses binders.  this person also pointed out that it's a very serious possibility that none of my graduate level engineering peers will 1. care about my chic binders. 2. notice my chic binders. 3. be impressed with how i'm not falling subject to Boring Binder Syndrome.  i pointed out to this someone that i didn't buy chic binders for anyone but myself.  duh.  god life can be complicated.

3. in a frenzied three days, i read 'Gone Girl' by Gillian Flynn and it's SO GOOD and everyone must read it.  it's a scary, poignant, literally jaw-dropping view into the terrifying lives of a married couple whose twisted love has morphed into something neither could have expected and is completely exposed when Amy, the sweet, patrician wife, goes missing.  i couldn't put it down and it left me so unsettled, so uneasy while reading it that it actually gave me an upset stomach.  it's BRILLIANT.

4.  i got this great sheer blouse from Alex + Alex, and i love it!  i wore it out with these cute white shorts and it was so cute.  but in an unforeseen event, i then later had to meet someone fairly important and you know what i was thinking?

it's great to meet you, sir, but i really wish you couldn't see my belly button ring right now. and the outline of my entire body.  and my bra.   

lesson learned.  save the sheer blouse for date nights ONLY.  no day time activities.

ok last one....
5.  my genius friend Rachel wrote the BEST article for Four Pins about why girls do style blogs.  it's so funny and so dead on.  i know i'm throwing stones while sitting in a glass house, as i write this..on a style blog (a mostly style blog), but i always can't help but laugh when i browse most style blogs.  all the posing, the looking down at the sidewalk with a smirk, the posing in fields.  as if life is really just that quaint and quietly fabulous.  it's no secret i take my outfit pictures in the mirrors with my iPhone.  i don't have the time or patience or desire to like... have someone take pictures of me staring at the sidewalk with a rueful smile on my face.  i'd be mortified and horribly embarrassed to do so, but really the reason is because my life isn't like that. i don't leap through fields in my skirts and i don't think there's anything worth smiling about on the sidewalk.  people say they like how i dress, and are interested in how i put things together, and that's fine, but let's get real here.  my life is not in a sepia filter and it's not Valencia either.  i really struggle to not spill things on my white skirts....i would never be able to leap through fields in them.

the best part of her article, though, is when she waxes poetic on the amass-ing of followers...

You probably know 100 people who use Twitter, and you only need like 200 followers before someone will send you something for free, or at least invite you to a cool party.

Suddenly it feels like you’re making it. In reality, nothing is happening at all.

so true, girl.  so true.

//rants.

girl, you'll be a woman soon

i'm watching Pulp Fiction and oh my good lord, Mia Wallace dancing with Vincent Vega is EVERYTHING.  like..the end all, be all.

the haircut.  the white top.  the bustier.  the black flared crops.  the bare feet.  the pointed nails.  the cigarette.  the way she moves.  i want to BE Mia Wallace.

chic. as. hell.

all for one, one for all - a jumpsuit love affair

anyone who knows me knows there are two unequivocal truths about me:
1. i am terrified of tsunamis.
2. i love love love one-piece outfits.  rompers, jumpsuits, bodysuits, etc.  if it's one piece, i fall to pieces for it.

i am also obsessed with workout clothes - if lululemon had a frequent shopper card, i'd be gold status.  last week, they dropped the "One for Om Bodysuit" - which is a cat woman-like one piece yoga leotard.  when it first came out, i was like...as if.  then i actually went to the store and i was inspired to try it on.  and i fell in love.  obviously.

so at first i was like...how will i wear this? it's insane.  a yoga leotard? i can't think of one situation where i'd be like "yeah, my skin-tight, open back, one piece leotard/catsuit is the perfect outfit for this!" but whatever, i bought it anyways.  Purdue, get ready to experience a chick in a catsuit.

so there it is - in the dressing room. i am NOT joking when it say it's skin tight, as you can see.  so this morning, i actually did yoga and wore it, and it's awesome.  and then i experimented with how to wear it off the mat.  and i came up with this.

tank & bodysuit, lululemon

so i threw the "wandering yogi tank" on over it, which is a burnout material, super loose 'n breezy tank, and much to my satisfaction, i look somewhat normal!  i mean it is still definitely a cat suit...but with at tank top over it.  so moral of this insane story - it's okay to buy cat suits, just be prepared with a somewhat normal accessory, like a tank top.

in the same vein, i also busted out my fav roller-girl-esque red-velvet-with-pink-piping romper.  this is straight out of the 70's/Studio 54 with a level of skank that only American Apparel could manufacture.  nonetheless, i f'ing love this romper!

i even wear it with heels. eat your heart out, Babe Ruthless. romper, American Apparel

and my piece de la resistance - my Bianca Jagger full length jumpsuit.  this baby comes out as evening wear or maybe even for class in the upcoming semester.

jumpsuit, Eight-Sixty

so engineering grad school - prepare yourself.  i'm taking this love affair on the road with me and me & my rompers/jumpsuits/catsuits will be in full force down in West Lafayette!

style file - what i wore

so i did it!  i have officially left New York City and i start class for my professional degree(s) in IE/Human Factors in Air Transportation Systems in 43 days!  moving was, naturally, a nightmare, but i survived, and now it's 6 weeks of vacation and relaxing before the real work begins.

mornings consist of going to Starbucks, eating a slow breakfast, playing with the dog, and then maybe taking a nap.  then i work out, lay out...and whew. that's it for the day!  rough life, right?

off to breakfast. shorts, J.Crew. swingy crop top, lululemon.

last good work outfit before i quit!!!!  skirt, J.Crew Collection. kimono top, Stylemint. flats, J.Crew.

Fourth of July cookout - i was on my hostess game.  shorts, J.Crew (can't get enough of them). top, Target.  braids, me!

so i officially accomplished all of my New Years Resolutions!  each & every one of them.  check!

in really interesting news, i found this "style column" for "college fashionistas" recently and there was an article concerning my upcoming collegiate destination.  and i've come to the conclusion that i'm going to be....different.  to say the least....  :)

all right - off toWhole Foods to gather dinner ingredients! 

xx

Happy 4th // it can be better

i've had a really wonderful Fourth of July with my family - we had a really great cookout, played with the dogs, had a great iced latte from Starbucks... and then before my parent's lunatic neighbors begin their completely over-the-top & dangerous display of fireworks, we decided to sit down and watch the first episode of "The Newsroom."

blown away.

the punch line of the pilot episode is "America is NOT the greatest country anymore, but it can be."  how appropriate on this extra steamy 236th birthday of America?

it really made me think.  in it, Jeff Daniels' character tells a stunned college student that America is "seventh in literacy, 27th in math, 22nd in science, 49th in life expectancy, 178th in infant mortality, third in median household income, number four in labor force, and number four in exports....None of this is the fault of a 20-year-old college student, but you, nonetheless, are without a doubt a member of the worst-period-generation-period-EVER."

this is what resonated with me.  i am also a part of this generation.  this generation that has made Kim Kardashian relevant.  a disgusting, uneducated, shallow, sex-tape-making, will-hawk-any-product-for-a-paycheck woman with no talent other than paying people to put make-up on her and blow-dry her hair.  and then my generation....has given her so much power that she makes millions upon millions of dollars to star in a television show about her mundane everyday life where she complains and bitches about things i honestly cannot even tell you about because i've never watched that show.  but know it's bad, because look at the state of our union.  we know who Kim Kardashian is, but i bet 90% of the people in my generation don't even know who the Speaker of the House is.  or could even tell you what MAJOR scientific discovery was also released today (CERN, Higgs boson particle..i mean...come. on.  we're literally on the brink of discovering what gives everything mass.).

so i'll keep the fashion thread here.  people have asked me time and time again - why don't you go work in fashion? you love it so much. you have so much passion for it.  so here's my real, honest to God answer.  because it embarrasses me.  i'm not slamming anyone who works in fashion.  because i do love the art of fashion.  but what embarrasses me is that Anna Wintour went to Kanye West's fashion show his first season, which was the biggest joke in the entire world, but yet she doesn't go to some of the incredibly talented up-and-comers in New York Fashion Week who have slaved their entire lives for their craft.  but she goes to Kanye's.... there's no integrity there.  and that's embarrassing.  again...a generation that idolizes an egotistical rapper with no talent outside his original craft...not people who DESERVE the attention.  not people who are giving the industry a backbone.  when i saw the most powerful woman in fashion sitting in his front row, two seasons in a row....honestly, i kind of threw my hands up in defeat.

so no - i cannot work in fashion.  the industry doesn't put it's faith in the right people.  not in the talented folks who deserve it, but in false idols.  and they promote these false idols on magazine covers & editorials.  and then the younger generation starts idolizing these false idols and suddenly...we're in a bigger hole than we started in.

instead i'm going off to pursue my passion and continue my education in engineering.  i still LOVE fashion. i love everything about the clothes in my closet and how they make me feel.  but i think there's a bigger mission in our country and that's to help girls see that being Kim Kardashian isn't something to aspire to.  what they should be aspiring to is getting a college degree, getting a job that makes them feel like they're contributing, and then continue to inspire younger generations of women.  we've come so far with women's rights in this country and this false idolization is 15 steps backwards.

so on this day where we celebrate how great our country is...let's make a new kind of pledge.  let's pledge to teach the next generation of women that we can be smart AND fabulous.  we can be Louboutin wearing engineers, dressed-in-Dior mathematicians, and red-lipstick wearing journalists with integrity.  let's give honor to those who have worked hard and deserve it, not those who come into our viewfinders because of a sex tape and their fame-whoring ways.

i am part of this generation.  my peers are the ones who make those abhorrent women relevant.  but again..i AM part of this generation so i'll take it upon myself to try and be a better part of it.

because this country can be better.

first look - Raf Simons for Dior Couture

Raf Simons unveiled his first collection for Dior today - a couture show nonetheless, and the first images are rolling around on the internet.

John Galliano for Dior this is not, but isn't that the point?  his first collection, from what we can see so far, looks modern, glamorous, sophisticated, grown-up, not overdone, and CHIC AS HELL.  it's Raf's taken on the New Look, as opposed to Raf trying to be John Galliano.

this is Dior at it's best.  no, the 5000 yards of tulle isn't there for a massive ball gown, but the statement of "this is my Dior, this is how i'm going to make this house mine" is.  pantsuits? YES.  a strapless bustier gown, cut up the front, shown with pants?! YES.  flawless construction, tea length, cocktail dress made of feathers? YES.  a red drop-waist, smooth as ice ball gown? YES.

they picked the right man for the job.  Raf Simons is killing it and this is a new chapter for Dior.

this is Raf Simons' Dior.



photos via style.com instagram.