THE CITIZEN INDEX

Tuesday, November 30, 2021

OUTFIT POST Grunge Girl

GOT GRUNGE? 

What to do when FASHION comes back to the 1990s style you never left. 

I'm pretty sure I came into my personal style in the late 80s, early 90s, and so, still feel pretty fond of the spirit, and the aesthetics of that time. Whenever lately, I put together an ensemble that I'm feeling pretty sassy about, I'll get the backsided compliment that I'm "looking so very 90s today," LOL. 

My personal style includes an undiminished love of plaids, of old things chippy and holey, and a constant mishmash of vintage on vintage on vintage. Never true to any one decade or era, but savoring so many elements about each. Which, when I think about it, is very much an ethos taken from the 90s.

This past year, I've been rededicating my wardrobe to my personal style- and to DRESS TO EXPRESS. After a year or so of constant lounge and sweatpants attire, I've committed to upping my style game- and to do so, I've been focusing on adding FOREVER STYLE elements to my closet. 

Case in point, every single item in this outfit is something that would have been fashionable in the last decade, and will be stylish still, in the next. 

1) A SHADOW PLAID FLANNEL SHIRT: perfectly classic 1950s teen attire, and it reminds me of my favorite cholo uncle who wore shirts like this over a crisp white Hanes t-shirt, with his oversized khaki Ben Davis or Dickies work pants and Converse high tops throughout the 1970s. Flannel: top button buttoned only. Whenever I do a top button only, it is an homage to my late Uncle Johnny. 

2) THE SIMPLE SOLID COLOR TUBE TOP DRESS:  personally, I LOVE tube top bodices on summer dresses! It accommodates whatever boob size I happen to be sporting at the time, and it works so well as an under layer in the spring and fall. This one is made from linen, so it has definitely been on high rotation since I bought it on sale last spring.

3) WOODEN HEELED CLOGS: the OG of clogs and so very Swedish, so very seventies and so very noisy when strolling well, anywhere. But there is an outsider chic to them - librarian, Bergman, and permanent boho wrapped up in one. While the ugly-cute factor might not be for everyone- for those that do appreciate their appeal, will do so regardless of shoe trends. 

So with the shirt, I felt I could style it one of two ways: Cholita or Grunge, and for this day, I chose an updated Grunge'ish look. First thing I did to the shirt though was rip it up, to add a bit of raggedy to the shirt, because it isn't vintage and I wanted a more vintage look. I added some personalized elements to it too- an old vintage grosgrain ribbon, a silk flower petal sewn on with a button embellishment. I'm looking forward in adding more personalized elements to the shirt and feeling it reflect more of my personal style over time.

The clean ivory white of the linen dress adds a bit of modernity to the look- while inspired by the 90s, I don't want look to be stuck in that decade. The dress is actually a skirt- it's a Uniqlo score from their JW Anderson collection and while it works OK as a skirt for me, I really find it suits me well by raising it up to my chest and wearing it as a dress.

The clogs look to be a vintage pair but I don't know for sure as there is no label inside the shoes. The heels are wooden, and the leather uppers are a pretty good quality. I like the low heel but don't like the loud noise they make with my walking. They may not be forever in my closet, regardless of their eternal appeal.

NOW WEARING: 

  • Plaid cotton shirt, Xhilaration (Target label) THRIFTED from Goodwill
  • Linen Skirt/converted dress, JW Anderson, CLEARANCE, Uniqlo
  • Black leather, wooden heel clogs, label missing, THRIFTED from Goodwill

 

Tell me, how would YOU style a plaid shirt to harken the 1990s?


Monday, November 8, 2021

Generic YOU

 

 THE TRUE YOU MAY BE SOMEONE YOU HAVEN'T YET MET.

She had
A heart—how shall I say?—too soon made glad,
Too easily impressed; she liked whate'er
She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.

 


In English grammar and in particular in casual English, generic, impersonal, or indefinite you is the use of the pronoun you to refer to an unspecified person, as opposed to its standard use as the second-person pronoun. Generic you can often be used in the place of one, the third-person singular impersonal pronoun, in colloquial speech. 

 

What does it mean to be you?
Will any you, just do?

 

"First, we need to think a bit more about what we mean by identity.

If identity provides us with the means of answering the question ‘who am I?’ it might appear to be about personality; the sort of person I am. That is only part of the story. Identity is different from personality in important respects. We may share personality traits with other people, but sharing an identity suggests some active engagement on our part. We choose to identify with a particular identity or group. Sometimes we have more choice than others. This chunk will address the relative importance of structures, the forces beyond our control which shape our identities, and agency, the degree of control which we ourselves can exert over who we are. Identity requires some awareness on our part. Personality describes qualities individuals may have, such as being outgoing or shy, internal characteristics, but identity requires some element of choice. For example, I may go to football matches on Saturdays because I enjoy shouting loudly with a crowd of lively extroverts, but I go to watch Sheffield Wednesday because I want to identify with that particular team, to wear that scarf and make a statement about who I am, and, of course, because I want to state that I support one Sheffield team and not the other (Sheffield United). We may be characterized by having personality traits, but we have to identify with – that is, actively take up – an identity.

This example also illustrates the importance of marking oneself as having the same identity as one group of people and a different one from others. Think about a situation where you meet someone for the first time and, in trying to find out who they are, ask questions about where they come from and what they do. In such situations we are trying to find out what makes up this person and also what makes them the same as us – that is, what we have in common – and what makes them different. If you see somebody wearing the badge of an organization to which you also belong, it marks that person out as being the same as you, as sharing an identity. Or consider a situation where, traveling abroad, hearing the voices of those who speak your own language, you feel both a sense of recognition and of belonging. In a strange place, finding people who share our language provides us with something and someone with whom we can identify. Or imagine that you are on a train, and a stranger in the compartment is reading the local newspaper from the town where you were born. You might strike up a conversation which includes references to what you have in common. This presents a moment of recognition and of having something in common with another person who shares an identity with you. Identity is marked by similarity, that is of the people like us, and by difference, of those who are not. There are other examples which are less reassuring, where the appropriate identity is not established, and where, for example, one may be denied access to credit or hire purchase, pension or sickness benefits, or entry to a club or restaurant, or, even more significantly, to a country.

How do we know which people are the same as us? What information do we use to categorise others and ourselves? In the examples above, what is often important is a symbol, like a badge, a team scarf, a newspaper, the language we speak, or perhaps the clothes we wear. Sometimes it is obvious. A badge can be a clear public statement that we identify with a particular group. Sometimes it is more subtle, but symbols and representations are important in marking the ways in which we share identities with some people and distinguish ourselves as different from others.

In this sense, although as individuals we have to take up identities actively, those identities are necessarily the product of the society in which we live and our relationship with others. Identity provides a link between individuals and the world in which they live. Identity combines how I see myself and how others see me. Identity involves the internal and the subjective, and the external. It is a socially recognized position, recognized by others, not just by me.

However, how I see myself and how others see me do not always fit. For example, individuals may view themselves as high achievers, worthy of promotion, yet be viewed by their employer as less than successful. The young people noisily returning home from a club in the early hours of the morning may be seen by others as troublemakers. Think about some of the ways in which how you see yourself may be at variance with others' perception of you. This could be at a more personal level, in the context of family and friendship relationships, or at a more public or even global level, where particular characteristics are attributed to specific national or ethnic groups. A sense of conflicting identities may result from the tensions between having to be a student, a parent, and an employee at the same time: these are examples of the multiple identities which people have.

The link between myself and others is not only indicated by the connection between how I see myself and how other people see me, but also by the connection between what I want to be and the influences, pressures and opportunities which are available. Material, social and physical constraints prevent us from successfully presenting ourselves in some identity positions – constraints which include the perceptions of others. Criminal identities are often produced through the exaggeration of stereotyping, where newspaper reports reproduce the notion of a criminal identity as young, male and black (Mooney et al., 2000). Criminality can be produced by others who construct this category of person. This process of stereotyping certain groups as criminal also illustrates some of the imbalances and inequalities in the relationship between the individual and the world outside.

The subject, ‘I’ or ‘we’ in the identity equation, involves some element of choice, however limited. The concept of identity encompasses some notion of human agency; an idea that we can have some control in constructing our own identities. There are, of course, constraints which may lie in the external world, where material and social factors may limit the degree of agency which individuals may have. Lack of material resources severely limits the opportunities we have; as in the case of poverty and economic constraints. It is impossible to have an identity as a successful career woman if one is without a job and if there are no employment opportunities. Other limitations to our autonomy may reside within us, for example in the bodies which we inhabit, as illustrated by the ageing process, by physical impairments, illness and the actual size and shape of our bodies." (source)

Do you own
your persona? Or, did you

sell your mystique?


That melts to a shriek.  

 


How + when do you present your generic you?


When you drop the name brand bland,

and go as dew?


San serif, without the teeth,
without a whisper of queef.


The best behavior you,
stomach all sucked in,


not a butter pat of sin.
All bird and no beak.

Is this
the you, 

you seek?



 

 

Wednesday, November 3, 2021

OUTFIT POST Accio Mah Assio

 

 

THE UH, SUMMONING CHARMS

These glasses aren't perched on my face to help me see- they are the useless but fashionable sort with blanks for lenses. But cute, eh? They remind me of Harry Potter. So to uh, cast a spell of enchantment, I posed with them and they did manage to add a bit of something to my outfit, don't you think? 

These photos were taken this past summer, when I first moved into the BT/W studio. The light in the space has such a nice quality- these are taken with just natural daylight coming through the windows. 

I've been attracted to garments that have a timeless quality to them, and this blouse is a case in point. While it's a no name cotton blouse, I like the vague ethnic quality to it, and think the floral embroidery on the front is a quiet call-back to the bold floral print on the skirt. Nothing fancy here, just a solid, comfy separates that can mix and match with a variety of other items.

I'll admit, I love the Harry Potter books but CONFESSION:

I've somehow NOT managed to watch all of the Harry Potter films. I watched the first 3 I think and just forgot about them. BUT- that does not stop me from being giddy about the upcoming LE GRAND OPENING of a wizard bar in my neck of the woods! 

More specifically in Ballard. Which somehow seems oh-so-appropo that SEATTLE IS SOON to have a wizard themed bar in our city! It's called The Splintered Wand, and you can learn more about them HERE.



NOW WEARING

  • Non-prescription round black framed glasses, a FREE PILE grab
  • Unbranded cotton blouse, thrifted from the GOODWILL
  • Shein colorblock floral pleated skirt, AMAZON 
  • Checkerboard chunky leather sandals, ALOHAS 

Monday, November 1, 2021

ADVICE FOR LIVING: black cat edition

 

ADVICE FOR LIVING

ADVICE #1

 
DON'T be a ghost. 

Don't go through your life as if you don't matter.
Don't let the world push you around as if invisible
You have every right to be here. YOU ARE HERE.


ADVICE #2

SEEK OUT your kindred spirits. 

Keep an eye out for them, see them for who they are,
and cherish your time with them.

ADVICE #3

DON'T feed the ghosts. 

Do not give your energy away
to the past, or to those who are no longer present.
FEEL the past, but do not FEED it.


 
ADVICE #4

OWN the journey. 

This is your adventure. Own it.
It's on you- so get a good road map
and get yourself to the port of call of YOUR choosing.

While you may not be here for a reason,
there's a good reason why you're here.