Trend to Try Before You Die: Exams Edition

Remember how I said that my outfit inspiration has, as of late, been borrowing heavily from menswear, implying a finished project in which my adult female body is transformed into that of a prepubescent teenage boy? NO? Enlightenment: right this way.

Well, as of even later, this testosterone-infused style preference has expanded itself to consist largely of XL tunics, harem pants, sneakers and loafers; a look that still traces its origins back to the average stylish male's closet, HOWEVER, it more-so finds its roots in my pyjama drawer. And appropriately so in this, the season for exams and their lounge-wear counterparts. Ah yes, it is time again to revisit that joyous period of the year when college campuses are suddenly flooded with an overwhelming population of markedly ugly people whose commitment to personal hygiene becomes questionable at best and whose assumed possession of an ass is rendered suspect following its disappearing act within the vast spaciousness of the notoriously popular sweatpant? 

And now comes that much anticipated and long awaited part of the post where I get to the point. For this instalment of Trend to Try Before You Die, I have theorized that Exam stress can be countered by strategic exam dress. How? Wear your pyjamas...kind of. I propose that you channel a combination of equal parts pyjama and sleeping bag silhouette. Simply put, as long as it appears as though you might be heading to a very stylish slumber party, both tops and bottoms appear 2 sizes too large, your shoes are of the slipper variety, and your outfit could reasonably be mistook for a sleeping bag, you get high fives and straight A's from me. 

So put away your text books and study this: 

Emma Cook floral tunic, £310

Evil Twin tunic, $70

Rick Owens harem pants, $312

Alexander McQueen suede slipper, $478

Snake skin shoes, $325

And look-ie here, even our Canadian comrades are taking the pyjama trend to a literal level.

Travis Taddeo

You may however wish to withhold on the foot clunkers and bangle sleeve. Never a good library look. 

Complex Geometries

So if you will be going into library hibernation this weekend, remember that life is short and that a couple weeks spent wishing it was even shorter does not grant you an automatic ugly card and your boyfriend's old sweatpants are not clothes, they are fireplace kindling. Try the trend and for the love of god, take that bun down from the top of your forehead.

Blogging from The Backroom

Today I snuck into a backroom and, like I regretfully confessed earlier, no scandalous sexual encounters were had there (I blame this on laundry day being synonymous with ugly underwear day). But, although I didn't find any racy/lacy number to replace the aforementioned granny panties, I did find what is the beginning of a very solid collection of unique vintage, re-worked and student designer fashion finds which will be available to the fashion-hungry style setters of Montreal when The Backroom, our city's newest fashion retail destination for both ladies and gents, opens next Friday May 4th at 1445 Rue Lambert-Closse following an exclusive launch party where the beats will be poppin', the booze will be guzzlin', and I, in my bubbly-buzzed stupor may make uninformed purchasing decisions. (I already have my eye on a grey mesh racer-back tank top and if anyone swipes it off of me, I cannot promise non-violent repercussions and/or concussions. (Think Monica in Friend's wedding dress episode circa season 7)).

Run by three College Lasalle students, Marie, Rachel and Karen, who chose not to wait until the typical after graduation "now I better get my shit together" career-launching point to open up their first retail store, The Backroom is retail done refreshingly: locally-owned, locally-shopped, and locally-designed or sourced. And in a lapse of good judgement on their part, The Backroom's owners have nominated me as their official blogger in covering the store's launch party and grand opening. 

 Follow me here, here and here for more sneak-peak posts from The Backroom next week and for a visual collage of who wore what at the launch party. And I promise to wear nicer knickers this time. And I promise never to say "knickers" again. Promise.

Details People, Details

It looks like an unassuming cropped leather jacket...

Until WHAMM! Giiiirl's got a tail.

Givenchy Bum Duster via SSSENSE

Sartorially Spiting Spring & Irresponsibly Spending

Over the next few counter-productive paragraphs, I shall proceed to show you how I chose to actively spite Spring and her tumultuous weather-pattern-trickery by dressing in a pot-pourri (synonym for mixture. Thesaurus.com says so) of winter/summer garb and thereby declare my apathy towards Spring's recently shitty behaviour. If she won't make up her goddamn mind then neither will I.

And then I will submit a visual confession of the shoes that I shouldn't have bought...and that I really wasn't gonna buy...and that I TOTALLY bought. I know, I know. But I was born at the end of the 1980s and therefore missed my turn at participating in the credit card exploitation era. So forgive me but my time is DUE. 

Winter Wear: A wool(ly mammoth) sweater
Summer Wear: A fringe-embellished semi-see-through top for economical air conditioning

Winter Wear: Pants...nuff said
Summer Wear: Alexander Wang toe-cleavage-revealing wafflestompers (have I mentioned that I truly adore Thesaurus.com?)

Oh, and here they are. I'm sorry, Mom.

Shoes: Alexander Wang & Timo Weiland for Tsubo
Sweater: Urban Outfitters Vintage Renewal
Pants: Mikkat Market
Earrings: Miss Cocotte

Country Mouse: A Photo Shoot

If like me, you have a penchant for drop-crotch jeans and ethnically-inspired bath robes cloaks and (in a funny sort of circumstance that Alanis Morissette might categorize as "ironic") you grew up in the country, you were either a) shot, b) the victim of an "accidental" tractor hit-and-run, or c) married off to one of your numerous third cousins with the intention of locking down your "charming eccentricities" until complete eradication was achieved. 

Luckily I got out before experiencing any of the above. And upon my recent visit to the country from Montreal, I was surprisingly not shot by one of my John-Deere driving, long-barrelled-gun toting neighbours, but rather, was shot through the lens of my brother's camera, being all freaky deaky fashion-y on the dock. Neighbours stared. It's okay. I am a bona fide rural reject.

Cloak - Vintage 

                   

Sexy Beasts with Potty Mouths

Well...I'm turned on.

Dressing Like Holiday Mascots: Easter Edition

 It seems I have been doing several editions as of late. Pardon this pattern, but it has only manifested itself due to the sequence of special occasions in recent days. Easter and all of its small rodent iconography, specifically rabbit associations, has inspired my sartorial tendencies this weekend in the most blatantly representational form. In other words, I have been dressing like a rabbit.

Observe:

A silly hat reminiscent of a lumberjack/Russian traditional head attire doubles as a rabbit-ear imitator. Especially with the facilitation of my hands which render these would-be ears into a floppy state. Much like our fuzzy friend above.

And although pseudo rabbit ears are all well and good, I prefer full-on commitment to holiday-specific dressing. 

Total BOSS

So whether you favour half-assed or hard-core, you too can spread the holiday cheer either discreetly or obnoxiously simply by clothing yourself. Waist-expansion, binge-eating-facilitating sweat pants do not apply.

Hat & Plaid Shirt - Vintage
Tunic Top - Zara
Rabbit Costume - Momma Power

A Style Evolution: The Birthday Edition

Now comes the part of the show in which, as if you were my newly acquired boyfriend and you were to partake in your very first and very stressful  meet-the-parents scenario chez moi, and my well-intentioned mother were to pull out the baby albums and further cement the awkwardness between the two of us when the very first picture that you came across consisted of a miniature version of me contently gnawing on my left foot. Excited? You should be. Because I was god damn cute people. And clearly, quite the contortionist.

But beyond this irrelevant introductory paragraph, there is a point to all of this nonsense. Yesterday, I aged....a lot. A full year in fact. I made the leap from 22 to 23. So, without further adieu, I give you  a style snapshot of Lisa in infant form followed by Lisa in adult form. The former rocked frilly hair bows mixed with boyish yellow rompers and infantile charm while the latter now wears weird pants and has really terrible dance moves and, because of her lack of the previously mentioned boyfriend, has no one to barrage with these pictures and must settle for showing them to her probably disinterested readers who likely have much more important things to do. 

Humour me bitches, it's my birthday.