My best friend Kate Spade has created this little business card holder JUST FOR ME, can you believe it? You can’t? I don’t even…fine. Anyway, I just finally got business cards at work after everyone learned my name a year and a half later, so to celebrate this exceedingly minor professional development I bought this little treasure for myself. Because of course.
Do you really mean it, Kate? Because I’m totally available, like tomorrow and then all the other days too.
So here’s the lowdown, people: I read a lot of blogs. Roughly a million. Roughly, I said.
I read blogs on a variety of subjects, ranging from writerly blogs to DIY to cooking to fashion and personal style. All of them are my favorite. I love the blogs. I really enjoy exploring personal aesthetics, so I find myself especially drawn to personal style/outfit type blogs. The creativity that can be infused into the simple act of dressing oneself is fascinating.
But, you know, every up has its down. Style blogs have a lot of ups for me, but they also have some downs.
For one. ATTENTION style bloggers, your feet are not the center of the universe. Stop looking down at them in all of your pictures. I know it’s got to be hard to come up with interesting poses day after day. But still.
“Up here, Michael. Up here.”
Is there a bug crawling out of your shoe? Did you step in gum? Have you suddenly discovered a freak sixth toe? No? Then stop it right now. It wouldn’t be so bad if everyone wasn’t doing it, but everyone is doing it. It looks so damn contrived. In a magazine? Ok. I give it a pass because of the part where it’s a magazine. But if this is your “real life” style blog then it’s kind of like we’re hanging out in real life and I say “Hey, cute outfit!” and you just stand there looking down at your feet. Not ok.
Also, the foot-stare combined with the Mona Lisa half-smile. That has to go. Your shoes did not just whisper something wry to you. You may not smile at your shoes that way in public. Sometimes I too have the urge to smile at my shoes. But, privately; inside my house. Follow my lead.
All of that aside, the thing that really makes my skin crawl is how overly branded some style bloggers are. It’s Tory Burch this, J. Crew that (good god, the J. Crew). I like J. Crew and I am by no means opposed to brands, but it feels devoid of creativity. You saw it in a J. Crew catalog and then you wore it. I may love the look, but I’m left wondering where the personal style came in. I look at those pictures and all I see is $$$ and plug-and-play trends, and I’m left feeling like I’m looking at yet another advertisement.
That being said, there are loads of great style blogs out there that may or may not succumb to these pitfalls. Besides which, given the choice between reading blogs that sometimes annoy me and no blogs at all, I CHOOSE BLOGS ALWAYS BLOGS.
Yeah. It’s a picture of my feet. I’m that kind of blogger, I guess.
Oh, and I suppose I should mention my hideously dirty floor. It’s…hideously dirty. Because it’s a floor and that’s where feet go. And because I can’t find my mop? Or I don’t own a mop? Or something?
Anyway, let’s focus on the cute shoes, shall we? The polka dot thing – I’m into it.
I used to avoid polka dots because I thought they looked childish/Minnie Mouse Chic, but it’s all about how you wear them. The size, the color, etc. make a big difference.
Apparently I’m into pattern mixing too, because this ensemble’s got everything – stripes, floral, dots. I’ve never been shy about patterns. Some people find my choices strange, but then again maybe they’re the strange ones.
Ever thought about THAT, normal people?
The weather has been unbelievably lovely lately. And by ‘lovely’ I mean ‘it’s Summer now.’ In honor of Summer, I’m wearing as many obnoxiously bright colors as I can, all at once. That’s what Summer means to me.
Or there was a sale on brights and I was there.
The Miscellaneist 