Skipped Breakfast

taking notes

2013-04-16T21:54:00.000-07:00

A few quotes I read to end my day on a good note:

"It’s all like a dream. Everything is ecstasy, inside. We just don’t know it because of our thinking-minds. But in our true blissful essence of mind is known that everything is alright forever and forever and forever. Close your eyes, let your hands and nerve-ends drop, stop breathing for 3 seconds, listen to the silence inside the illusion of the world, and you will remember the lesson you forgot, which was taught in immense milky way soft cloud innumerable worlds long ago and not even at all. It is all one vast awakened thing. I call it the golden eternity. It is perfect. We were never really born, we will never really die. It has nothing to do with the imaginary idea of a personal self, other selves, many selves everywhere: Self is only an idea, a mortal idea. That which passes into everything is one thing. It’s a dream already ended. There’s nothing to be afraid of and nothing to be glad about. I know this from staring at mountains months on end. They never show any expression, they are like empty space. Do you think the emptiness of space will ever crumble away? Mountains will crumble, but the emptiness of space, which is the one universal essence of mind, the vast awakenerhood, empty and awake, will never crumble away because it was never born."

Jack Kerouac

‎”I have in my own heart a world that is deep, dark and rich. And you, in your heart, have a world that is also deep, dark and rich. So in that sense, even if I’m living in Tokyo and you are living in New York, Timbuktu or Reykjavik, Iceland, it means that we each hold inside ourselves something that is the same in nature or quality, regardless of place. And if we trace that quality to a much deeper place, we will discover that we live in a common world."

Haruki Murakami

"It is part of our culture to judge, to express opinions about anything and everything. It almost seems like it’s our duty to judge, as if we are not being discriminating if we don’t point out the flaws of something or someone. However, the truth is that pointing out flaws, criticizing, and having an opinion are the easiest things in the world to do. What’s difficult is being loving, accepting, and moving beyond our judgments, beliefs, and other conditioned ways of being. That is our challenge as human beings—to become more loving, not to complain, judge, and try to change others to suit our preferences. Loving is a matter of moving beyond our personal preferences and judgments enough to let love flow to another, enough to allow ourselves to see another’s beauty, not the flaws."

DailyOM

make misteaks

2013-04-15T00:29:00.000-07:00

“I want to say something about bad writing. I’m proud of my bad writing. Everyone is so intelligent lately, and stylish. Fucking great. I am proud of Philip Guston’s bad painting, I am proud of Baudelaire’s mamma’s boy goo goo misery. Sometimes the lurid or shitty means having a heart, which’s something you have to try to have. Excellence nowadays is too general and available to be worth prizing: I am interested in people who have to find strange and horrible ways to just get from point A to point B.”

Ariana Reines

I've felt this way for a really long time now. Not just about writing, or art, but about everything. I feel like it's good to be proud of your mistakes. Mistakes in your art and mistakes in your life. Not to say all "bad" art or anything else like that are necessarily mistakes. Besides, no one masters something the first time they do it. You kind of have to fuck up to get better at whatever it is that you're doing.

Old friend

2013-04-11T16:20:00.000-07:00

So, I've known Josh since I was about 12-13 years old. We basically have seen each other grow up in so many ways since then, and I'm just overall really proud of where he is right now in life. We've both been through a lot together, and I'm really glad he's still a really close friend of mine. It feels good to have someone there for you as solely a friend who knows you so well, is respectful, and is just overall inspirational as a person. He's really into health and fitness now, among other things, and I think that's awesome. He's super passionate about what he does and the way he lives his life, and he genuinely wants to help people do that for themselves as well.

For some reason I can't seem to upload the video directly, but check out his first video here.

99% pure

2013-04-11T01:28:00.001-07:00

"The idea that girls are supposed to stay “pure” is a trap designed to keep you from getting out there and exploring the world—because, you’re told, it will only rough you up, dirty up your soul, sully you, make you less. But learning is not a trap. It means that you’re standing in front of failure and embarrassment and disappointment—and joy, and surprise, and all the good things that come with experience—and you’re ready for them. That you’re not afraid to explore. It means you’re ready to grow up, even when that process scares you. I can’t think of anything braver, stronger, or more badass than that."

Sady from RookieMag

This idea of 'purity' in women is pretty juvenile. Not only by the men in our society, but it has trickled down to the women as well. I can't even count how many times I have heard in the hallways of both my high school and college, and on the street, a random girl saying something along the lines of "yeah, she's fucked like 20 guys already. what a slut." It's ridiculous to think that men came up with this idea in their head that women are supposed to be these inexperienced humans (compared to them) in order to be desirable, and it's even more ridiculous to think that now women think that about each other as well. I feel badly about this because 1) Why are men (and women) so concerned with what is going on in each other's lives (particularly in their sexual lives) to that degree? 2) If inexperience is considered pure, then in actuality shouldn't we all be considered pure in different aspects? Not everyone has experienced everything there is to experience as a living human being on planet earth, and this obviously is the case throughout your entire existence (and beyond depending on what you believe in), so why are only certain experiences more closely associated with the word "pure" or "innocent" than others in our society?

I don't really know where I'm going with this, but these are just a few things I've been thinking lately.

Lily Allen

2013-03-12T22:56:00.000-07:00

Something I wrote about Lily a while back that I still feel strongly about:

I loved how Lily expressed herself through her music while she was growing up. She got signed when she was only 16, and she openly expresses not only through her music but in her interviews that she was, you know, going through extremely lost and hard times without embarrassment at all. I love how direct her lyrics are sometimes to her life experiences, she literally invites her fans in on her life and I think that’s a really hard thing to do when you’re an artist because of all the judgment you may face along the way. Granted, when she was growing up she was a bit of a party animal and she made some direct judgements at other artists and their work, however she expresses how much she has learned from that, again very openly and admittedly throughout her career. She is a wonderful expression of how young women ought to not be afraid of who they are while growing up. (Young) Women especially are all evidently faced with being judged on so many levels: about sex, about appearance, about drugs, about politics, about relationships, about education, the list goes on and on. I feel like Lily gives such a raw and real representation of someone who went through all of these things first hand: she went through sleeping around when she was younger, she went through the struggle of becoming possessed by material objects, she went through good and bad relationships, and she’s not afraid to express these things. She’s not afraid to show anger when shes angry, or sadness when shes sad, or happiness when she’s happy. She’s literally not scared to say “Yeah when I was 15 I held out flyers in a bikini on the street, it was bad,” but she also doesn't turn it into a sob story where she claims be a victim of her choices, and that I respect so much. Yeah, she’s not some virgin saint but she doesn’t really care, because in the end she still keeps a very level-headed, non-judgmental, and humble outlook on life and that’s great. She can still go in front of the camera looking great and confidently talk about her sex life, for instance, or what shes wearing, but not be entirely consumed by these things.

I also love how in her songs she sometimes tackles such serious topics like politics or what have you but then in the background you hear like these cheerful beats to create that sense of irony and contradiction.

french music and sailor moon

2013-03-04T22:37:00.000-08:00

OK so this is probably really cheesy but my love for french music has rekindled this weekend on a road trip I took with my friends. My step-dad has this corny french CD (among many other corny European CDs) but I actually REALLY like it. I stole it from him back when I was a freshmen/sophomore in high school and listened to it every morning while getting ready for school, until he decided to take it back, and I haven't been able to find it or any of the songs online since, until I found it in his car this passed weekend. My friend Michelle was laughing at me and said if I heard the lyrics in English, I probably wouldn't like the songs as much. That might be true, but, in the mean time, I can't deny how cool these songs sound in french. I also probably really like them because I grew up to my mom throwing parties to this kind of music and her teaching me how to dance to it. The videos I found on youtube are really low budget and extremely bizarre, but some of the best things are, right?

My favorite on the CD is Milord by In-Grid:

Non Randez Vous by Natasha St-Pier

In Tango by In-Grid is another one I like. Here's the original song:

THEN I found this cool remix with some Sailor Moon graphics. I'm not a huge fan of the Benassi remix, but I love Sailor Moon and this song so I thought it was still pretty cool.

Taka Taka by Joe Dassin:

Tu Es Foutu by In-Grid

commonalities part 2

2013-03-04T21:28:00.000-08:00

So, like I said in an earlier post, I've been thinking a lot about people's interests and what some of us may or may not have in common, and a few quotes popped into my head about the subject. I read an article on RookieMag a while back called What's Mine is Mine and something Tavi said in it really stuck out in my mind:

"I think one reason people of all ages get so territorial is that when they first were interested in more obscure things, they didn’t yet know anyone else who liked them, and it became kind of isolating. And then when they finally DO find other people who like the stuff they do, they want to invalidate those people’s reasons for liking it and claim that it’s not as deep or real. I realized that people aren’t just products of their tastes. We saw the same movie, but we each focused on different parts, and gave the same parts different meanings, etc. I have some friends who like stuff I hate, and I have met people I hated who had my exact same taste. I’d like to believe this stuff really matters—probably because so much of my life is just being obsessed with stuff—but in the end, people see what they want to see and hear what they want to hear, so it all matters way less than we think."

This quote from 500 Days of Summer also popped into my head:

"Just because she likes the same bizzaro crap you do doesn't mean she's your soul mate."

where I've been drawing inspiration from lately

2013-02-25T11:52:00.002-08:00

Taken from Rookie, Colossal, and Fashiontoast

sudden fascination with Denmark

2013-02-25T03:08:00.000-08:00

My curiosity for Denmark is skyrocketing right now. A few weeks ago I watched the documentary Happy and I found out one of the happiest places on earth is, statistically, Denmark. If not thee happiest place. Coincidentally, I found out from a customer at my job that my name (Dagmara) is actually Danish! And apparently it means sunrise or sunshine? I don't know how true that last part is, but I was super happy to find out my name comes from such a cool place. Tonight I also found out that in the Museum of Modern Art in Aalborg, Denmark, they have room in which you can swing covered in a thousand reflections of yourself! It's called The Phoenix is Closer Than it Appears. Watch these videos to understand better:

Okay seriously I am too excited right now, but HOW cool is this?! Visiting Denmark is without a doubt a must for me.

Commonalities

2013-02-23T14:44:00.001-08:00

Maybe it’s just me, but lately I’ve been feeling like much of what I have in common with people matters less than everyone makes it seem. Yeah, it’s nice to talk about things that you both know about that you both like, but isn’t it more intriguing to talk about things you don’t know about with each other? To not only introduce each other to new concepts and ideas, or even little things such as songs and t.v shows, but to explore entirely new (to the both of you) things together? I want to meet people I have absolutely nothing in common with, because I can learn the absolute most from them.

Sitting here for 10 mins and I still don't have a title

2013-02-23T14:11:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I'm doing this again. HI. I'm blogging again. For the first time in ages. I guess I fell off the map there for a while. Originally, when I started this blog I was very excited about making it a (somewhat) personal style blog. I guess since then I've realized personal style blogging isn't really my thing because I have too many thoughts up in this noggin to not write about them on the world wide and very public web. (I feel sorry for the secret government agent that has to track my internet history). So I guess in the midst of trying to figure out where I stand as a blobber (blogger) (thanks Tavi), as a student, as a writer, and as a human (lol unfortunately I'm serious), not blogging for a really long time seemed reasonable. But alas! Here I am again.

I had a falling out with fashion, ironically. I still love it in many ways. But I guess the materialistic aspect, my own need to find something more personally meaningful, and the fact that I started getting interested in other things like interior design overwhelmed and discouraged me at the same time from doing anything fashion related for a while. Even the word FASHION itself can be hard to take serious sometimes. Or maybe I've just said it too many times throughout my existence thus far? I don't know.

Anyway, there are so many things like quotes I hear in class to random things I make that I kind of want to organize in one place, and right now this blog seems like the best outlet.

I'm taking a sustainability course in school right now and last week we had an amazing guest speaker. Her name is Amy DuFault and she writes for Ecosalon.com. This woman is incredible! She is so dedicated to making the world a more sustainable place, it's ridiculously inspiring. The things you can learn about outsourced workers and how they're being treated, to how your food is being treated on farms, to global warming, to plastic bags, in one sitting with her is mind blowing. Almost literally. Some of her articles on the site under the "behind the label" section are really interesting, they take known companies like Chipotle and expose both the good and the bad about how they're handling their products, and how it effects you personally.

Here's a quote I wrote down of hers from class. I can't say it's word for word, it's hard to write down every single word someone is saying, but more or less this is the message she was trying to get across about becoming more sustainable (but I also thought it was just good general advice):

"Don't go nuts, don't shame people. You're not a part of a cult. Change starts with you. We're all hypocrites in some ways. I think it's smart to be transparent about what you're doing. You're going to make mistakes and if people want to call you out on them, let them. You've got to be happy about the little victories, you know? You're not going to be a magician and change minds over night."

This kind of stuff can get overwhelming when you get into the real specifics of the factory workers over in China for example, but everyone should really touch base on this, I think. Doing little things like not taking plastic bags at the grocery store or recycling properly sounds silly but really does make a change in the long run. And it really is interesting to learn about how things like recycling connects to the environment, which connects to the climate, which connects to animals, etc.

Amy's being as a whole is just so inspiring. She tries to dedicate every aspect of her life to this sustainable lifestyle because she believes it makes the world a better place, and I think that's amazing.

And yes, I do still skip breakfast.

Not planning

2012-06-23T13:31:00.000-07:00

(Defiant shirt, thrifted skirt, Aldo bookbag, All saints sneakers, secondhand white dress, Mishka Jean Jacket, forgotwhereIboughit silver-jewled shirt, Mishka tie dyed flannel)

So basically this is what I've been up to lately: not planning ahead and just going with the wind. Me and my friend Alberto just decided to get out of the house on a beautiful day and take some shots, spur of the moment kind of thing, and they turned out pretty cool. I've been wearing sneakers and accessorizing a lot more lately, so I guess that's how I came up with the outfits. The majority of my bracelets were given to me from family/friends, and my ring is from a street booth in Chelsea.

My birthday just passed and my friend Michelle drew me as her gift:

Thank you Alberto and Michelle, I'm very lucky to have such talented friends, and thank you to my friend Josh for lending me some of his Mishka clothing.

Photos by Alberto Vargas: http://www.albertovargasphoto.com/

Drawing by Michelle Jimenez: http://www.nuttersofsavileroad.tumblr.com

Bucket List

2012-06-08T17:44:00.001-07:00

I left my internship today and started a new job. Well, technically, I told my internship I would leave precisely when I made 6 months (the 13th) if they weren’t willing to compensate me, and start my new job. But I didn’t go back after work today. Although I love fashion and that internship had been the closest I’ve ever been to the industry, if not in it, I guess I feel good about myself because I was able to walk away. I was able to walk away because I knew the amount of work I was doing shouldn’t go unpaid or unappreciated the way it had been for the past six months. I knew that although I was getting a tiny bit of exposure and I was able to attend cool events and meet people, the company didn’t treat their interns, or rather unpaid employees, with respect or value at all, and I knew that that is not the kind of company I want to represent down the line, even if the company does eventually become big within the industry. One day if I see the company making millions, I won’t respect how they got there, and if I was up there with them, I would be full of regret. It’s a weird feeling to leave doing what you love because the people giving you the capability to do so take the love you have for it and kill it by creating such a vicious and unfair working environment. I’m grateful, though, for all that I’ve learned- within the industry and out- from it. I know that I can make my dreams come true ~ , as cheesy as it sounds, the right way and with the people. That being said, I was compelled to make a really random bucket list. See below:

1. Walk shirtless in public in another country.

2. Dress up as Margot Tenenbaum and go see The Royal Tenenbaum House.

3. Tell someone, no, convince someone, that I am the MTA voice over.

4. Jump off a mountain into water.

5. Read a book that will dramatically change my life.

6. Build a tree house.

7. Meet someone who resembles me enough to be my twin.

8. Visit Egypt.

9. Lick a butterfly.

10. Survive a zombie apocalypse. To be continued...

In other news, I received a post card from my step-grandmother in Poland today!

How cool! I would translate for you guys, and by translate I mean I would ask my mom to first translate for me, but to do that I would need her here, and she is not, so sadly, I will not. But it's just cheesy grandma stuff anyway.

In other other news, I did a photoshoot recently for a newly launched street wear clothing line called Highborn Society. It was a really unexpected and last minute shoot (for me), but I really enjoyed how organic and natural it all was. It was inspiring to shoot without all the make-up and glamour. It makes the creativity of the shoot so much more authentic, and solely based on the clothing.

Here are some of my favorite shots:

Check out their site if you're into street wear at all.

Photo Credit:
Gabrielle Do
Awni Mosa (http://panic-awni.tumblr.com/)

Karl Lagerfeld x I LOVE DUST

2012-06-01T10:16:00.002-07:00

Yesterday I was lucky enough to attend the Karl Lagerfeld x I LOVE DUST party where the new line of t-shirts that was produced with British label I love Dust was on display. The night consisted of staring into Arizona Muse's beautiful face that was massively blown up on one of the walls, sparkly biker jackets and shorts, and Karl's face all over cookies and accessories. Also, me wearing all black and white was a coincidence, I promise.

(Dress: h&m, Shoes: Urban, Bag: Kenneth Cole)

Thanks to Susan for the pictures!

Summer Vibes via Youtube Videos

2012-05-22T14:10:00.001-07:00

Some videos I've been getting my summer, and overall, inspiration from.

Miu Miu- The Woman Dress

This honestly freaked me out a little (then again, I jump and squeal when Scream jumps out from behind a door or something in old Scream movies), but I really can't help being weirdly attracted to how spooky and dark this video is, and in contrast how pretty, subtle, and not scary the dresses are. It makes me excited for spooky summer night sleepovers, or camping and sitting around the camp fire telling scary stories, or just lighting a candle in my room by myself and hiding from the monsters under my bed.

Matilda- Send Me on My Way (Breakfast Scene)

So my parents recently left to Canada for a small vacation and left me alone in my house right when finals week ended, aka feeling exactly like this. This song really makes any situation, like having to clean the entire house in under two hours before your parents get home, a thousand times more relaxing and hopeful~ And who doesn't love everything about this movie?!

Rusted Root- Send Me on My Way (Actual Video)

Well, the innocence I associated this song with earlier completely went out the window once I looked up the actual video to it. My hopeful heroic song that I depended on to make miserable situations better just turned into what seems to be an acid trip in a desert?

Friendly Fires- Hurting

On my last day of my intro to television studies class, a girl in my class did her final presentation on this video and I've been replaying it constantly ever since. As she mentioned during her presentation, I'm surprised such a cool video and song doesn't have more views. If only it were true that men had mechanical cubes as heads and hearts popped up when women walked by them, instead of the kissing-dog-mating-call I-dont-even-know-what-to-call-them sounds they use on women in the streets (in nyc, at least). But still! this video does make me want to put on short shorts and shamelessly prance around in the street.

Karl Lagerfeld- "The New Mix"

Okay, despite the really awkward ending, I really love this video. For a change, I really like the futuristic theme and how its portrayed so well with the special effects and music, and not to mention Arizona Muse and Abbey Lee look flawless. The clip-on collars (especially the silver ones) and the cut-off studded gloves are genius. The clip-on collars would be really cool to wear during the summer to avoid actual shirt collars that would be a lot more uncomfortable to wear (I think?). And silver pants are never not cool.

That being said, greetings Summer! We missed you.

Fashion Satire

2012-05-09T02:48:00.000-07:00

Hey guys. So this is the Ghassan Yazbeck collection preview I attended a while back. I decided to pull out my mom's old vintage skirt and pair it with this bow-tie shirt I got from a little shop in my neighborhood.

In other semi-recent news, I got bored one night and decided to sort of bejewel one of my snapbacks.

Kind of silly but I like it.

In other other semi-recent news, I wrote this article about this really awesome artist who is also a fashion designer that I wanted to share with you guys! Here is some of his work:

Don't get me wrong, I love and respect Anna Wintour and Karl Lagerfeld and their work, but this is just too ballsy and funny not to admire! I couldn't not write about it. Much respect, Palombo.

Photo Credit (for event photos):

Awni Mosa (http://panic-awni.tumblr.com)

Moey Hoque (http://moeysphotography.tumblr.com)

Earcuffs

2012-03-25T21:22:00.002-07:00

After years of barely putting on earrings (or accessories in general for that matter), I thought it would be fun to finally start playing around with them. This was a result of feeling like earrings that were sold in most retail stores were repetitive and tacky-looking, along with being too lazy to actually go out of my comfort [shopping] zone to look for a nice pair. But! I've stepped foot back into the accessory world once I found this earcuff on Etsy a little while ago. I know, it's not an actual pair of earrings, but it's a start, right?

I bought this Free People top last summer and haven't worn it much since. Now that the weather is getting nicer, it seriously deserves to see sunlight.

(Skirt: h&m, Shoes: Urban Outfitters)

Photo Credit: Dagmara Wasilewska (http://dagmara-foto.blogspot.com/)

Bow-ties&Ghassan Yazbeck

2012-03-07T19:22:00.003-08:00

Here I am again, new hair color and all, about to apologize to my followers for being so absent in the blogging world. But I won't! Because I have a lot of exciting news. I wanted to share with you guys, first, a dress I've recently pulled out of my mom's closet (shhh) that I fell in love with. If you're thinking that my mom's closet is some black hole in the universe where clothing just keeps accumulating, you're right. And trust me, I'm just as freaked out by it as I am thrilled.

A sheer floral beige maxi dress that is too perfect for words and too delicate to wear without docs or heavy boots. Oh, and my hair is black now. Here are a few silly pictures me and my friends took, in which I'm wearing the dress.

Also, updates on my February fashion week underneath.

BTW, my friends did not plan to dress alike at all this day. My friend made fun of us saying that we looked like a girl band, so I edited the last picture to fit the bad-ass girl band look. But seriously, how awesome are their bow-ties?

I know what you're thinking, "another jumping picture, real original." It's not, I know, thank you very much.

This fashion week I got to assist a photo shoot for designer Ghassan Yazbeck's Fall/Winter 2012 Editorial look, and write an article about it! Check it out here:

Ghassan Yazbeck: Behind the Scenes of [first-ever] Campaign Photo Shoot

Here are a few behind the scenes photos I took as well:

Ghassan's clothing is simply beautiful. It was truly a pleasure to help out with his shoot.

Needless to say, this fashion week has been a blessing. I also got to help coordinate the Yazbeck's show and got to attend the fashion coterie, which I will have more pictures of later!

Photo Credit: Awni Mosa

So I decided

2012-01-17T23:21:00.000-08:00

That I'm not going to limit this blog anymore. I'm just going to post whatever I want and stuff. Ever since I've started it I've always waited 'till I had something "blog worthy" to post. Meaning, I always waited until I got some really nice pictures taken of me, or 'till I went to some kind of fashion event and took really cool pictures at it to actually post on this blog, but I realized that there's a lot of other things I'd like be posting in the meantime.

Anyway, here are some random pictures I took the passed few weeks.

A random collage I made. This isn't scanned so I do apologize for the bad quality. All magazine cut outs were taken from one of my favorite Vogue issues (Vogue Paris August 2010), and the other random things I sort of just found in my room.

I got a new internship for IfashionNetwork and Fashion Trend Magazine, and the other day I was flipping through the pages of the Fashion Trend Collections Edition which is the one they put out twice a year for both fashion weeks, and I loved the collages on the fist few pages.

New velvet black shoes I got from Urban Outfitters the other day, they were on sale.

Also, I'm addicted to braiding my hair now.

And a not-so-fabulous picture of me. My jacket and jean/tights are both thrifted from Buffalo Exchange and my sneakers are from All Saints. I really love this jacket because it reminds me of M.I.A.

And by "reminds me of M.I.A," I mean:

Patterns, bright colors, and shoulder pads. Oh yeah, did I mention that I really really love M.I.A? I can't even begin to explain how I excited I am about her collaborating with Madonna soon! Check out a video here if you're interested:

I am so stoked that today I actually caught myself singing the chorus to this song that's playing in the background of this video and doing the arm movements to it like she is...... A little scary. (Thanks a lot, Nakul)

And I also promised myself to stop looking at how many page views I'm getting and stuff. That stuff really does take away from the fun of running a blog. (Thanks, Tavi) I will however still acknowledge your comments and always try to comment back!

Thank you for reading my very long out-of-nowhere post!

My Room: Before

2012-01-02T23:55:00.000-08:00

First off, Happy New Year! New Year, new me! ...Joking, but I figured for the new year I might as well redecorate my room since I've been meaning to anyway. Initially, I spent the majority of my time living here in a reeeaalllyy huge room in the upstairs portion of my apartment, but a little less than two years ago I moved downstairs into my mom's [now] old room because my little brother was born. That room was really too good to be true to have for too long anyway. (sob) Anyway, I thought I'd post "before" pictures of my room before I redecorated so you guys can see what it looks like now, and so I can get an idea of what I really want to change.

Now, despite the fact that my room now is a lot smaller than my past old rooms, and has no windows, it has it's perks, too. First: the closet! I was always jealous of my mom's closet, and I must admit that I was really excited about moving into this room for this sole reason.

Here's one side of my closet. I decorated the first shelf with patterned paper (lol) and a poster of Audrey Hepburn. I used the very top shelf only for shoes. My family makes fun of me that I dedicated a whole shelf in my closet for shoes, but I think they deserve it?!

When I redecorate, I definitely want to finish decorating the rest of the shelves (and take out that really boring and dirty wallpaper that's there now) and possibly change that poster.

Next, the other side of my closet where I hang my jackets and dresses up. I really want to paint the inside of this black. And lord please, new curtains! Another perk: the cool-looking door. My step-sister always laughs and says this door looks like an entrance to a dungeon or something, but I like that. I like you dungeon-door, you can stay. I might just shift around what I have on those shelves there. (Peep my Christmas decor) ... (the teddy bear by my TV... toooo cute, ugh)

My long mirror and quite sucky "inspirational" wall posters. I like the collage I made and everything, but I should replace those printed out pictures underneath with some new ones since their corners are now curling up. Can't really see it in the picture, though.

My "make-up area." I'd like to replace the bigger black shelf with something different (perhaps and actual chest of drawers or something) and I want to find a different way of displaying my jewelry.. Although I really like the wine bottle set up I have going on now.

The part that needs most change: My bed and "work" area. As you all probably already recognize, yes, I have that bed "that looks like a crib and has hearts in it." And for those of you that don't know, its a bed that very commonly shows up in the back of a lot of teenage girls' mac pictures. (sigh) Had I known this tragedy of me possessing the same bed as 50% of the rest of the girl-teenage population, I wouldn't have gotten it. Okay now I'm just being stupid. But seriously: a possible bed change. Oh, and new sheets, too.

Another dilemma: Why does everyone and their mother have this same painting as me? (Because it's from Ikea) Oh. Right. So, I definitely want to put up new art. I also would like a new chair to sit on while doing my homework and stuff... this one really isn't as comfortable as I thought it would be.

The last picture I took couldn't be a polaroid since I ran out of film, sorry guyz! But here's the other entrance to my room: my door where I unfortunately hang all my bags. There literally cannot be anymore stupid, unless you like your entire collection of purses falling almost every time someone opens the door to your room. This was not supposed to happen, okay? My mom was supposed to move out and this was only supposed to be "temporary."

So, someplace new to place my bags. Also, I have so many polaroids just lying around in my room.. Does anyone have any cool suggestions of how I can somehow put them decoratively around my room, without framing them? I'm also open to any suggestions you guys have about anything I want to change in my room, or even about things I haven't mentioned.

I hope everyone has had a good start to the new year!

Calm

2011-12-24T22:47:00.001-08:00

(All clothing is from American Apparel, besides plaid jacket and stripped sweater from Express)

So here are the results from that 'Bombay' video-like shoot. Turns out by the time we (me and my friend Htat) met up, it was dark out and we really didn't think the pictures would turn out the way we wanted them too, but some of them are still blog-worthy! We practically had to work with street/car lights outside due to lack of equipment and what not, haha. I actually really like how calm and simple the photos came out. I also just really love this plaid jacket.

Merry Christmas to all of you!

Photo credit: Htat Lin Htut (http://www.flickr.com/photos/htatlinhtut, http://vimeo.com/htatlinhtut)

Free People

2011-12-15T23:49:00.000-08:00

Okay, wow, hi. Good news... this is actually me writing, which means, I haven't died. Just, lost my motivation to blog for a while, I guess? Miraculously I've still been gaining followers, so thank you new followers for following me! Now that the semester is over I feel like two crying babies have been surgically removed from my shoulders (joking, I don't hate college that much). But I can finally find time to do other things.

So a brief update on my life because I know you, my loyal followers, are ohhhhh so curious: my name day just passed (some Polish holiday where all Dagmaras celebrate the fact that they posses the name Dagmara and get presents for it... totally not joking..), I've stocked up on Marc Jacobs Daisy perfume, finished the all-too-short My So-Called Life series, cut my bangs and dyed my hair, AND bought my first pair of docs. *loud gasp*

A while ago I also attended this Nylon Mag/Bloomingdales/Free People event in the city where I got to make bracelets with the bloggers from the Honestly WTF blog and obtain lots of other free stuff with my friend Rachel. Fun!

(A close up of my pants)

(Top: Buffalo Exachange, Pants: Mom's closet, Shoes: Forever 21)

When I said some of my favorite pieces of clothing came from my mother's teenage closet, I wasn't lying. How cool is the detail on these pants? And the flowers are all suede!

Thank you for those of you who have been patient with my sporadic blogging.

And about that shoot I mentioned before, it didn't come out exactly in the style of those videos, but still came out pretty cool so I will be posting those pics soon.

Photo credit: Rachel (http://lestylechilddd.blogspot.com)

Bombay

2011-11-21T10:22:00.000-08:00

I've been super preoccupied lately, but I have exciting news. I will be doing a shoot this week that's inspired by these two videos. I also have a million pending posts that I've been meaning to finish; perhaps I'll post them before the shoot. I hope you guys don't mind phone-quality pictures.

Bombay- El Guincho

SYNDROMES - a short film by Kristoffer Borgli & The Golden Filter

Rayanne Graff

2011-11-08T00:06:00.000-08:00

So, among all the costume parties I've been to in the passed two weeks, I'm going to blog about the non-halloween one only because I'm extremely mad at myself for letting this legendary show go over my head in the 90's, and I must blog about how awesome it is now. Thanks to my friend Billy, I put together a last minute Rayanne Graff from My So Called Life costume for a 90's themed party we were invited to. (Warning: This post will consist of consecutive Mac webcam pictures)

Close ups of the accessories:

(Snapback: Mishka, Floral-print dress and Socks: TopShop, Flannels: Club Monaco and h&m, Leaf Earring: Stand in Soho, Rest of outfit: Courtesy of my mother's infamous closet)

Basically, an outfit that consists of a lot of my favorite things (floral print, flannel, accessories that I love but never wear, converse, a snapback, and a fur coat) all worn effortlessly at once. Ironically, I've been putting random braids in my hair and (embarrassingly enough) putting little effort into what I've been wearing for the passed few weeks, so when Billy introduced me to Rayanne the other day, naturally I fell in love.

Entering college (especially one like FIT), any person would assume that I, without a doubt, stomp around the halls with my nails polished, outfit carefully planned out, and with the wind blowing through my perfectly done hair. When in fact, college is having the exact opposite affect on me. While the majority of the girls (and the small percentage of guys) in my school look amazingly flawless every single day, I think my urge to look "amazingly flawless" was left somewhere in the dirty and old hallways of my high school. Its kind-of a paradox, I guess. I went to a rather ghetto high school, so I woke-up early every day to fix my hair and murder my feet during school days wearing heels. Now everyone in FIT looks undeniably gorgeous, and I barely care that I leave my hair curly most days (and let's just say that 90% people I went to high school with probably thought my hair was naturally straight). And I'm not trying to be the "I must be different and ~uinque~ from everyone else" type, but I guess since I grew up being convinced that only what is socially acceptable is beautiful, I'm realizing that that's not true. Beauty is generally conceived with the idea of perfection, but things that socially are considered ugly or weird can be really esthetic, too. Now, not that Rayanne is ugly (she's hot!), but in my opinion she's a great representation of this socio-realism concept.

And this doesn't at all mean that I'm losing interest in fashion, because I still have my days where I want to put on my Jimmy Choos with a fancy dress and lust over the newest Dries Van Noten collection.

Now please excuse me while I attempt to feel better about the fact that I missed out on this show years ago, and watch every single episode and inevitably become obsessed with Rayanne and Angela...(and Jordan Catalano, of course!)

Polaroids

2011-10-26T17:19:00.000-07:00

Random Polaroids that I have been sitting in my room. I figured, why not upload them? Anyway, the most recent ones are probably the ones of me in the plaid skirt and leopard dress. The others are quite old and some include random pictures of my friends. And a few from London. Please excuse the messy-ness of these photos. I know they're not the same sizes and what not, but bare with me.

(left) Me, Billy, Soon Ho, and Teresa (right) Soon Ho and Teresa.

Billy and Sergio.

(Leopard dress: h&m, Hat:h&m, Belt; Ralph Lauren, Plaid skirt: Used-to-be-Mom's, Bookbag: Buffalo Exchange, Brown boots: New Look, Brown Scarf: h&m, Fur coat: Mom's, Sweater: Forever21, Leather shorts: Forever21, Brown Bag: Delias)

The plaid skirt that I'm wearing in the first few photos has been my most recent obsession. I love it. It's very Clueless-like.

Check out my new blog, metropolitantrendyauthority.tumblr.com.