Fashion week for the weak

from Milan to London back to Paris and NYC what did we see?

Well for starters the top trends:

1-logos
2-metallic
3-pumped up kicks
4-neon

As for accessories hair and beauty
1-nude lips
2-pointed exuberant nails
3-wet hair flat centered parts

But what does it all mean people? ...because as we all know fashion always has a deeper meaning actually though it does. As the devil wears Prada monologue on the color blue shows fashion reflects or even dictates the current social climate and this years fashion week proved that fashion though it may look weak and lazy without makeup heels or effort it is like the "me too" movement: far from it.

What fashion week showed is that women especially don't need adornment or fancy stuff to measure our worth we are worthy by being and dressing however the f we want even in the work place. If that means pairing a skirt with kicks so be it. After all, these pumped up dolce kicks were made for walking... and how's that saying go? " One of these days these kicks are gonna walk all over you."

Feeling the heat

although I don't know if we feel the heat or wear it as summer fashion reverts back to the nineties and neon. It seems the it color of summer is somewhere between nickelodeon green and floral yellow.


If you want the exact hue reference it girl Kendall Jenner and her most recent manicure: neon green. Still with a long curved tip this color isn't fading into the background even if the rest of us do. For an affordable and quick drying version try the insta drive crayons limited collection by sally Hansen at cvs for under five bucks.

However, the ultimate color of summer may be your golden tan and this man Cristiano Ronaldo adorned it and necessary to accompany it. 😉

Show up or show off

I was at an event a few days ago and it just had me speculating: is it really possible to show up and show off or one over the other?

I really don't think both can be achieved simultaneously because when you are too busy trying to show off are you really present?

For example at this event I was on my element dancing enjoying myself my hair was a mess I was sweaty and utterly making a fool of myself. My bra slipped down and I didn't care if I did I think I would have missed out on the pure endorphin rush my dancing was leaving me with and by trying to look perfect and show off I would not have been showing up for what life's all about: pure joy in living.

Further, I wonder when we accumulate goods or try to achieve bodily perfection are we trying to do it for innate validation or that social external one that separates us from the animals? Even when we achieve these elements are we ever really validated? No we seek more.

My answer lies on the dance floor with my bra. Showing off has its perks but showing up has the satisfaction. Either way you can't achieve one with the other; conondrum solved.

The invisibility cloak

I see you. You don't think I do but I do. I acknowledge you. The girl in the self service labs of the market checkout middle aged single no kids yet dressed like she has three working two jobs in an apartment still figuring things out. You eye the skinnier woman next to you with a list and full cart in her gently polished hands adorned with a shiny ring and Ralph Lauren satchel to match. Deep down you wonder how she got there and you sense you should be there but you just don't care enough to be there. You are here. After years of yoga and self care therapy you realize you are here and that's enough. Stop questioning yourself. You may get there where she's at ten years behind her and a bigger behind to follow...or you may not, and that's ok too.

As you pick up your egg salad and cucumbers to binge on at midnight you wonder if your heat in the car is working and catch a glimpse of yourself in the deli window as you shuffle on in your flip flops and leggings. You are invisible to everyone but you. No, actually that Oprah epiphany moment the light bulb she calls it. You aren't invisible to others. You are very visible with that disheveled bun and all. You are visible to everyone but you because you choose that cloak. I see you now you see you. Take off the cloak and put on Prada bitch.

Diary.a#4: the return of the puma from holiday

Chasing Myself

The fourth had feeling me festive so this Puma chose to stop chasing and it feels...well...unwell. I'm not used to lounging non movement the so called what runners call #"rest and recovery." I found myself getting OCD turning strolls on Princeton campus into Fitbit tracked walks and bathroom breaks became five minute HIIT strategies and I even forgot to pee.

A rest from what?

I know what you are thinking: you needed a rest from what? Your life's a sabbatical as I have no freelance tech writing contracts to consume my time I am consumed by thoughts..repetitive ones of movement. I eat and eat well long gone are the days I sat starving: for example currently I eat avocados salmon and eggs as my guilty pleasure but I can't sit still and even long enough to blog anymore and let the autocorrect do it's work long enough on here.
I guess the best part of my holiday was the realization I need rest from what? Maybe it's myself.

What did your holiday teach you?

Diarya 3: an open letter from anti-fem fem to the fem fems

burn that bra ra-ra:

I have been Accused of being anti feminist for too long because I believe women should be old school but doesn't that make me feminist for embracing my vag and all that it can do? It births children raises them into intelligent humans and basically keeps this world fucking turning. What's wrong with wanting to be a virgin til marriage raising kids and staying home?! How is that anti-fem?  I am sorry but the bra burns of yester year and sex capades advocated in 'cosmo' are passe like spanx and to me the ultimate feminist is the one that wears bra padding and all because we know the struggle at least I do and here's why:

Please don't burn that bra:
Yes I am talking to you the fights for equal pay works on Wall Street in a Diane von furstentberg wrap, gel nails, and tits out married working with a babe on the way acting like she can have it all.

You can have it all...

Just not all at once... how can you devote 100% of yourself three different places at once we are one pie not many people! ...back to your boobs...oh and that bra you burn or refuse to wear to "conform " to an ideal please don't burn it wear it...because that bra you burn is the one my Nonna spent hours in a factory sewing years ago after almost dying on a ship to come here so you could have that freedom to burn it. So that bra you burn I wear and guess what i don't wear a bombshell I wear faded glory Walmart un padded brands because I have pancakes but I still wear one I still want kids and I think we should have equal pay if I have to work while having kids ok if I get someone to support me so I can be a housewife even better and guess what that still makes me fem as fuck.

Is this really America? : diarya post 2

You think I'm referring to childish gambino right? Wrong! But it got you reading right?
as a fashion lover I'm referring to the re emergence of Americana in clothing.

red white and who?

With the return of the Americana trend comes the reawakening of early nineties American designers who after bankruptcy threw their labels on the latest it girls like Kendall and Gigi to reemerge a trend and a brand. From tommy to Calvin these ninety household names have not had to reinvent the wheel but remind us why they ruled it sticking to their classic designs and not compromising. Instead we compromise for the sake of fitting in.

But in the land of the free how freeing is that? We dig through vintage and our moms closers to pull what's old and call it new because Gigi does it in tommy but she's being paid or her family's better backing Tommy Hilfiger to do so to reclaim his and in return her band in the fashion game and that's what fashion has become: a game.


The real reason for the return of what was dead: American labels and subsequently the rise of models like Kendall and Gigi is down to one thing: money and it's all about who has it.

Beauty is in the wallet of the beholder:

Tommy is just an example of a revitalized dying label because what really happened is that he agreed to make Gigi the face of his line in return for backing from her father an almost billionaire it's a simple matter of investors and sponsors. In return Gigi becomes a supermodel and tommy become a super trend...again. But in the land of logos, do we really want to recycle so much? Where is the new? I mean new like new designs not just labels or names thrown on clothes for the sake of notoriety but real fashion and that includes models? Even Gigi was criticized for her great but not streamline figure and why is it that her rise is the exception to the stick thin rule? Perhaps because her fathers wallet makes them?

What is said is sad....
Almost sadder than me a broke fashion maven and as I sit here in Starbucks wearing my own gap logo hoodie I still wonder are fashion models no longer hungry and is fashion just on repeat like that bad episode of friends for the sake of money. I know we are all about recycling but should that include fashion?

Diarya #1 or should it be 2 or a 3?

Leaky Faucets

Here's my first purge...(cough)....I mean post under my diarya segment of my blog referring to my sad and did I mention very cracked version of "so called living":

Pretty sad or just sad?
Ever get that feeling? If you are approaching 30 and unaccomplished like me still small town living in a town that never called you home then you know the one I speak of: it's that side eye sad one you get every time you drop in the grocery store to grab one lonely salad at the bar disheveled and a mess nothing but hot from the other women there, those suburban housewives with a cart full of kids and groceries all pulled together in their Lilly Pulitzer gazing in you at amazement as to what your excuse is for looking like a mom when you aren't one. Well guess what I see you side eye and I raise you a three dollar legging I call comfort from Walmart.

I may not wear fashion but I know it and that Lilly has a home on your frame for good reason. You embody the label: just enough hidden crazy to pass for business casual meets weekend living attire and well frankly I don't. I may border on pretty more sad than so, but I see the loose sewed stitches on my leggings and know the breather they provide my insecure midsection is much sadder but comforting than the one your even pricier label branded Spanx provide you.

And with that this first run...pun intended brings much needed relief to a otherwise half ass leaky faucet. diarya post one leaves me feeling...flushed? Or that could just be the feeling I'm left in my cheeks from the chill suburbia brings.

A P.S. by Pina

Today I am introducing a new series of posts on my blog/diary I will call by ps by pina well because they are short blurts.

So here goes the first

PS-

Cannes Can

this past week Cannes debuted more than film. The fashion on the models killed for me and rivaled the MET in my opinion. From Natasha to Adriana the super was put in and on models as they distracted from the festival in fine form and fashion. In fact I still have no idea what films were screening but that lavender Hermes I won't forget😉 Just sayin'

Child's play

Childish gambino's new vid for America is mind blowing; art yet truth I think it says more about where we are then how far we have to go. We focus on the negative yes and it is but the simple fact that he could create a vid like this today shows how far we have come and how much freedom we have as a country in comparison to other countries. Think on that people. #swallow https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VYOjWnS4cMY

Meet me at the MET

The #metgala and the theme were epic simply heavenly Rihanna ruled zendaya shined and Diane Kruger was regal Gisele and tom were the best couple Gigi flew like a bird and so many soared including designers like donatella herself but of all these shining stars who shined the brightest like heaven? I have to give it to Kendall Jenner Kendall Jenner she broke boundaries and reigned as the future of fashion breaking gender barriers in a pantsuit ruling the heavens in white and creating new roles for humanity with gloves and flared train pants! She amazes

Meet me at the met

The #metgala and the theme were epic simply heavenly Rihanna ruled zendaya shined and Diane Kruger was regal Gisele and tom were the best couple Gigi flew like a bird and so many soared including designers like donatella herself but of all these shining stars who shined the brightest like heaven? I have to give it to Kendall Jenner Kendall Jenner she broke boundaries and reigned as the future of fashion breaking gender barriers in a pantsuit ruling the heavens in white and creating new roles for humanity with gloves and flared train pants! She amazes

blog by levacasa featuring engraved jewelry

Alexander Wang crop top
$415 - kirnazabete.com

Crafted
£10 - republic.co.uk

Alexander Wang high waisted legging
$295 - yoox.com

Burberry prorsum
€1.801 - luisaviaroma.com

Envelope clutch
£175 - lkbennett.com

Necklace
zazzle.com

Engraved jewelry
€95 - jades24.com

Lily and Lionel blue shawl
£170 - harveynichols.com

Miu miu sunglasses
$390 - miumiu.com

Burberry Sport for Women Eau de Toilette
£40 - johnlewis.com

Back to chasing....

I just turned thirty and with that comes for me far from being dirty or flirty.  In fact in celebration I think I should rename this blog diary-a of a sad white cracker because that's what I am.; an unemployed freelance tech writer who has been in and out of hospitals  broke fashion addicted despite that, never been kissed sexed up felt up or close to being a part of the times up movement unless you count the assault by my gastroenterologist during my stint at the hospital, and never danced with a boy. As you can see I have a lot to live in life considering that saying "''tis better to have loved and lost than to never have.." oh whatever! Anyways with that word vomit I am announcing the return of this puma from sabbatical just in time for my only love: this years MET gala with the theme of "heavenly bodies." Who are you looking forward to and what do you want me to cover besides the naked asses that will undoubtedly be exposed 😉

Fashion week 18