Hairs the thing

Movie Night

be sure to wear some flowers in your hair

I am having a lot of fun in Photo Booth these days. Here is a look at my outfit today, well my outfit from the neck up. The ivory lace high-neck blouse is a recent purchase from Zara. The garland is a chiffon flower headband by Jane Tran. The details are kind of hard to see in the pictures, but it's a stunning piece. Not visible are a pair of blue skinny jeans, a silver feather wraparound cuff from Free People, and classic brown Frye boots. 

In the background you can see my stunning (sarcasm) cork board of recent magazine clippings to brighten up my room. It was much needed - those bare white walls made me feel like I was going mad!

a real bang up job

I've long had an obsession with bangs, or 'fringe' as they say here in the UK. Last year I took the plunge and gave myself bangs - a decision born out of the stress of exams week at university. I immediately regretted the decision (the decision to use eyebrow scissors and Fiskars as my hairstyling instruments wasn't my finest choice) and pushed the bangs off of my face for the ensuing weeks until my hair grew out enough to push behind my ears in embarrassment.
I have been feeling an itch in recent weeks to do something different - I am contemplating Debbie Harry levels of blondeness or going back to my tried and true ombre look. It was Friday morning when I was scrolling through pictures of Taylor Swift in a recent issue of Vogue that I decided what my change would be: I would get good and proper fringe.
I went to the Rush Salon on Oxford Street after begging to come in for a lunchtime appointment. Upon arrival, I sat down in a comfy swivel chair while my stylist Georgia and I discussed what I wanted. I desired something thick but not heavy across my forehead - something that could be worn messy and wavy as well as stick straight. I told her about my Taylor Swift revelation and showed her pictures of Emma Stone, Kate Moss, Felicity Jones and Zooey Deschanel that I pulled up on my iPhone.
After twenty minutes and inches and inches of hair had fallen to the floor, I had myself a new pair of bangs. I had mixed feelings - on the one hand I loved them because they were fun and edgy, on the other hand I didn't know how to style them nor did I think I had the confidence to pull them off. I am still struggling with styling them - I am trying to do sideswept bangs, braids, and the full-on blunt fringe look, but I still get a little nervous going out into public with the full-on bang look. I'm sure it will come with time - everything takes some time to get used to, at least for me. But hey, I'm having fun taking modeling pics of myself on Photo Booth.

The inspiration: 

The result:

I am kind of obsessed with my fringe at the moment, especially when I am by myself in the bathroom primping, but I lack the confidence to really own them when I go out in public. Does anyone with fringe have any tips or suggestions for a newly banged person such as myself? 

summer romance

This is my first attempt at personal style photos, and I am going to offer up a disclaimer: I am not trés chic. I enjoy fashion, but I do not fancy myself to be a bohemian Glamourai, nor a gal who can dive into a Sea of Shoes (though, in all honesty, I could dive into my shoe collection... it's just not as enviable as that of my fellow Texan). I love photography, but I'm never done selfies so please don't judge the (low) quality of my pictures. Hopefully I'll improve in time. 

I found this fantastic white macramé fringe piece, dubbed the 'Gypsy Rose' vest, by Winter Kate during a recent visit to Neiman Marcus (the vest can be purchased here). Nicole Richie (the designer of the line) has an excellent 70s style and her penchant for vintage-inspired looks is perfectly channeled into her clothing line. 

I paired the vest (which I took the liberty of spinning around like a six-year-old in) with a red paisley tunic from Winter Kate's debut collection. It's not visible in the photos, but the tunic has a super deep v-neck so a camisole and clever styling is necessary in order to maintain my modesty. I love the tunic's light billowy feel made from vintage silk, the long drape-y sleeves, and the rough unfinished edges at the cuffs and hem. 

With the two Winter Kate pieces, I completed the look with a pair of my beloved Hue jeggings, some trusty chandelier earrings in colors of pink and red, and a pair of Deco-inspired shoes by Minna Parikka. I love the combination of red, purple, dusty rose, muted gold, and chocolate brown - it is so romantic and summery to me. The overall look was inspired by the 70s-meets-30s soft photography of David Hamilton, whose models are always the embodiment of vintage and modern. With the 70s-inspired bohemian Winter Kate pieces, with the Deco-style shoes and modern-day jeggings, the look was aimed to reference both past and present. I wanted the colors to reflect the romance of seventies summers. 

I am still in the process of figuring out what I want to do with my hair. A couple of months ago I took the plunge and darkened my blonde locks so that I could try the ombré look. After almost six months, I think I am ready to try something new - I'm not sure if I want to go back to full-on blonde (so boring to me after twenty towheaded years) or try a redder strawberry blonde, or something completely wild altogether - like peroxide Debbie Harry blonde or something. 

My hair is naturally wavy, and I lucked out that the waves were somewhat presentable that day. I've become less and less of a fan of brushing my hair over the years, which usually isn't the best on days my hair looks full-on Carrie Bradshaw during the early years (... and I've learned from personal experience what works on SJP doesn't necessarily work on little old me). One of my favorite looks for my hair is to twist the front pieces back and clip on the sides of my head - it's incredibly easy to do and it looks so cute, and it has helped me out on many occasions when I simply don't know what to do with my still-growing-out fringe. Plus, I think it looks better as the day goes on and pieces begin the fall out of the clips - it looks so effortless and hippie fab. 

So, what do you think? Should I continue with personal style posts, or should I abandon this fashion foray? Is there any missing - or have I rambled on too much? I would love any and all feedback, except comments that one eye is smaller than the other. I am already paranoid about that. 

pigtails and freckles, braces on your teeth, who would have thought they'd become so sublime? i would have thought, for i thought so all the time

I don't know what's wrong with the world these days - somehow one of the most innocent of hairstyles (pigtails) has turned into one of the 'sexiest'. I use that term loosely because this is according to various mens magazines and action flicks, as I think the cast of Sucker Punch took all of my elementary school yearbooks and mimicked my plaid skirt-and-pigtails look, though I wore comparatively fewer (i.e. none) bustiers than they do. 

That's something best not thought about - I prefer to think of pigtails in the way that I used to wear them, before they were taken over by whorish Catholic schoolgirls (the ones in costumes, not the actual girls!) every Halloween. When the style was sweet and innocent, and the girl wearing them looked like she smelled like daisies and pet kittens all day and drank apple juice on her swing set. 

And yes, I think that all of these things are connected in some vast mutually inclusive phenomenon. 

So here I celebrate the bygone innocence of the pigtails. I hope you all whip your hair back and forth in fond remembrance 

Brooke Shields was quite the 'pretty baby' in pigtails as a young teen model (Was that allusion creepy? My b.)

Pigtails go high fashion

One of the official arbiters of pigtailed cool, Judy Garland as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz

The adorable Natalie Wood gets back into touch with her former child starlet roots when she does the look in the late 60s

Always one to try every trend (and do each look completely over-the-top) Veruschka rocks waist-long locks

A young Brigitte Bardot in braids - it's such a treat to see her so carefree and goofy here!

Zooey Dechanel often pulls her hair into low pigtails for a cute carefree look on the red carpet, though always manages to blow all the other primped girls out of the water

Drew Barrymore is probably the only thirtysomething woman in the world who can still pull off pigtails and a peace sign and still look adorable

Britney Spears (my role model in the late 1990s) first made it big in the video for "... Baby One More Time." While wearing pigtails. Coincidence? I think not

Anna Karina in two different films (Une Femme Est Une Femme and Bande a part) sporting not just similar expressions but also similar hairstyles

Audrey Hepburn got all the men while in her pigtails - George Peppard in Breakfast at Tiffany's and Gary Cooper in Love in the Afternoon

Marianne Faithfull does little to dispel that former convent girl image while holding daisies and sporting pigtails

Brigitte Bardot pairs her pigtails with ribbons and bows - how cute!

A scene from Sedmikrásky (aka Daisies)  

 

Pattie Boyd poses in braids alongside Samantha Juste, and strikes a pigtailed pose by herself

Kate Moss channels a late 90s Lolita in this Ellen von Unwerth photo shoot

Perhaps her penchant for adorable pigtails was among the reasons why Serge Gainsbourg named France Gall the 'French Lolita'

Nastassja Kinski first shot to superstardom as the teenaged love interest of Roman Polanski. Which has nothing to do with her wearing pigtails here

Pigtails were the go-to style for Marilyn Monroe on the set of The Misfits

  

Françoise Hardy makes a rare change from her usual muss-free style, ditching her long hanging locks for them tied back in ribbons

Raquel Welch works the look throughout the sixties

Sucker Punch starlet Emily Browning

She doesn't look old enough to be a 'Mama' - Michelle Philips sings with her band in an innocent look

Sylvie Vartan makes the style look somehow more badass than one would think bright blonde pigtails would allow (I think it's her crossed arms and slight resting bitch face)

Penelope Tree makes the 'do look anything but plain

Both Theodora Richards and Lizzie Jagger are equal parts Rolling Stone and supermodel (Theo by dad Keith and mom Patti Hansen, Lizzie by papa Mick and mama Jerry Hall), so of course they'd look rock'n'roll hot in pigtails and Terry Richardson-style glasses

Title: from "Pigtails and Freckles" (Perry Como)

when i'm down and i feel like giving up, i think again, i whip my hair back and forth

It's much more than just a hair flip (that would be too Bieberesque) - it's a hair whip. Apparently it's quite hard to master, because there are instructions how to do it properly. If you don't feel like reading (and really - who ever does these days?), then just take some pointers from the women who have done it right

The supermodel spawn of Keith Richards and Patti Hansen, the uber cool Theodora Richards

I don't know about y'all, but whenever I'm nude from the waist down in the middle of a meadow, I love whipping my hair

Jane Birkin, who possessed the most lusted-after locks of the sixties, put her enviable head of hair to good use

The lovely Lauren Hutton in the pages of Vogue during the sixties

Amanda Seyfried is cleverly masked behind her cascade of blonde curls

Dakota Fanning tries her hand (or head, more precisely) at the whip

Like Theodora Richards, Georgia May Jagger is the daughter of a Rolling Stone (care to guess which one?) and his supermodel spouse (his former wife Jerry Hall)

Kate Moss whips and flips effectively in her Topshop campaign

She's portrayed Brigitte Bardot and been the Marianne of France, but Laetitia Casta faced her most difficult challenge of her career when she was asked to whip back and forth

The fashion house Lanvin certainly knows what the modern day woman wants - ferocious dresses and headbanging good fun - as revealed in their Spring 2011 campaign

A beautiful photograph by Lina Scheynius

Patti Hansen, alongside her then-beau Keith Richards, attending one of Bebe Buell's concerts

A strikingly non-short haired Twiggy, captured by Richard Avedon, in one of my favorite photographs ever

A young Jane Fonda does her best bombshell impression

A Janis Joplin-inspired shoot for Fashion Rocks Magazine

I was on the search for the "unbelievable" (according to a Facebook group dedicated to it) hair flip made by Gaga in the "Video Phone" video. Alas, I could not find an image. But, as you can see, Gaga hair tosses are not an uncommon phenomenon. 

The lovely Jane Birkin, in the book Birds of Britain

Gossip Girl starlet Leighton Meester (with locks like that, is it any surprise she's a spokesmodel for Herbal Essences?) 

Ann-Margret shows off her moves - and catches the eye of all the fellahs - in Bye Bye Birdie

The woman nine-year-old who started it all: Willow 

I love this dreamy video of Lily Donaldson, captured by her father, photographer Matthew Donaldson. A two-second, 360 degree hair spin is slowed down to a hypnotic degree, turning the brief moment into a 1,000-frames-per-second work of art. 

Title: from "Whip My Hair" (Willow Smith)