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oh goodness me. if we rock any harder we’re going to be sea-sick!

Rockin' Girl Bloggers we’ve been tagged as Rockin’ Girl Bloggers again by Susie at Style Bubble (!!) and Beth at The Vintage Society! Like WOAH. I am overwhelmingly honoured by the tsunami of virtual love and admiration. Thanks 5 million!!
that means i get to nominate at least 5 more wicked blogs…

see dorkas run - we love you!
Mad Glam - Canadian girls rock! i’ve seen bumper stickers that prove it.
Izzy & Leah at MTL Street - one of my absolute favorite streetstyle blogs. Izzy, you’re taking me thrifting when i come east. that’s just the way it’s gon’ be.
Gnarlitude - for your daily dose of wicked rock chic
Stylesightings - i want Ashley to be my new best friend

So Eve and I are meeting halfway between Vancouver and Sacramento with friends from Chicago (and Portland) for a quad-city reunion of sorts in beautiful Portland, Oregon for the Labia Day Weekend so we won’t be posting again till Tuesday. I won’t apologize because you should get off the computer and get the hell outside! Summer doesn’t last forever, you know. Jeez.

LOVES!



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tag, i’m it. and a bag of chips.

we fashion bloggers are a playful bunch. we giggle and spam, chortle and comment, chuckle and trade links. and now we play virtual tag. wednesday i was tagged by Shopalicious and yesterday by PinkRockCandy. so at the risk of being a virtual party pooper, i better choke up 7 extremely boring personal facts about myself. enjoy.

1. i work part time at a sound studio for tv and film. they call vancouver “hollywood north,” but its more of a mecca for bad movies. i’m sure a few great movies have been made here, but besides the Neverending Story, i can’t think of one. it’s a fun job, especially when i get to meet famous people. since i’ve worked here i’ve crossed paths with Jean-Claude Van Damme, Nora Jones, Evangeline Lilly, Pam Grier, Sarah McLaughlan, Jennifer Beal, Peter Greenaway and Douglas Coupland, to name a few. i started here a week or two after Chloe Sevigny came in. my one true regret in life.

2. i get mad crushes on the most random celebs. Brad Pitt? meh. Clooney? blah. in junior high i was completely mad over Robert Sean Leonard who i’m pretty sure is gay. Eve and i later ended up meeting him at an off-broadway venue in NY when we were 17 and i nearly lost my shit. after that it was Tim Roth, a hawk-nosed badass brit who mostly plays creepy assholes. right now my absolute favorite actors are Phillip Seymour Hoffman and John C. Reilly. LOVE THEM. more than anyone else (oh except for Gael Garcia Bernal, i do have a sex drive after all), if they walked into my work, i would probably pee myself. ok, take out the probably and replace it with MOST DEFINITELY. guess i just have a thing for really good acting.
1amberscrushes.jpg

3. including Eve and 2 step-siblings, i have 6 brothers and sisters. needless to say, i know how to pinch my way out of a chokehold, but i will lose in a tickle fight every time. btw, my older sister Summer has an awesome parenting blog! check it out for adorable photos of cute kids doing good deeds!

4. i ain’t afraid of no creepy-crawlies. i love frogs most of all, snakes are wicked, mice are adorable and spiders eat up all those damn mosquitos. when Eve and i were in jr. high, our science teacher got us to scrape the rotting snakeflesh off the bones of a dead 8 foot burmese python. we did it and were paid generously in pizza.

5. yoga is my favorite. i’m lazy as a bump on a toad when it comes to exercise, but i adore a good yoga class. i was always a completely unflexible klutz up until last year, but now i can touch my nose to my knees and do full upward bow like no-buddha’s business. still klutzy though.

upward bow pose

6. i’m a complete music and movie geek. i will watch movies and listen to music all day long if i could. my favorite movie of all time is Magnolia and i’d name off a long list of all my favorite directors if it wouldn’t bore you to tears. i discover new music that i love on an almost a daily basis. right now my iTunes playlist is consisting of a lot of Jeff Tweedy, Grizzly Bear, Chad VanGaalen, Odetta, Otis Redding and Vetiver.

7. i’m pretty good at cutting hair. i cut hair for my friends, my siblings, my parents and myself. it all started when i wanted a pixie cut when i was 15 and no matter where i went, nobody would cut it as short as i wanted. they just kept giving me shorter and shorter bowl cuts. so i took matters into my own hands.

mia farrow haircut

my 7 tagees are: art of the steal, (into) the fray, stylesightings, kingdom of style, life in a venti cup, design toaster and candid cool. you guys rock!

(photos from catwalkqueen.tv and imdb.com)

hazardous runways (aka: models eating it)

nothing makes me feel better on a rainy day than watching The Perfect Ones eat runway. repeatedly and thoroughly. but seriously though, modelling is HARD. here’s a great video of the entertaining humiliation from my favorite canadian fashion reporter, Jeanne Beker and her show, FT Fashion Television!

well, i shouldn’t say NOTHING makes me feel better than model humiliation. a good DISCOUNT is right up there:

the gorgeous Fabricio over there at Waterloo is offering all of you beautiful hipsters a 10% discount (coupon code: PAINFULLYHIP) AND a buy 3, get one FREE offer on his badass t-shirts and shortshorts! Hallelujah!

i’m loving these Pet Sounds shorts:
pet sounds shorts
HAWT.

now if only it’d stop raining…

also, happy birthday to ambika! everybody take advantage of her new age AND her talent by purchasing her already sensationally-priced pretty things on Etsy for 15% off (today only) with coupon code BIRTHDAY!

ah! i think i see a sucker hole forming in the sky already!

lovers of fashion: another beauteous photo blog

sorry about the lack of posts in the last couple days, and also in advance for the next few days, but yesterday i flew to california (well- car, greyhound to seattle, citybus, plane and car- shuddup, it was $225 cheaper than flying non-stop from vancouver) for my brother’s wedding in san diego. went straight from the airport to a backyard party/laughathon/twin hammock relaxation amidst the candlelight on a 70 degree evening. after a morning of homebrewing and sitting in the sun listening to Caribou with my favorite brother-in-law, i’m in an excellent mood. when i’m in a mood like this, i only want to look at happy things. like giddy, fashionable couples, squinting in the lovely warm sun.


have a fantasmic day.

i’m taking turning 30 as a dare.

we’ve been loving all your comments this week, but we hope you’ll all bear with some rather meager postings next week…

mine and Eve’s birthday is on wednesday so the hubby and i are taking the dog on a (what, what?) ROADTRIP! woohoo!
we’re staying in portland, or the first night, and then on down to stay with eve and her hunny in california (it’s right back where i started from). after a day of shopping for birthday presents with mum (who taught us everything we know), we’re heading over to the coast for some bbq-keg-beach camping with a big group of friends! after another night of beach camping in oregon, i’ll be back posting with a vengeance next month. it’s going to be madness. about 2,500 miles all told. expect to see lots of check me outs of new birthday outfits (no, not nudity, you perv)!

beach party

Thirties, you’re not approaching. you’re not waiting in the corner, ready to pounce. i’m clawing my way into you on my terms.
in the meantime, check out some of our favorite and most popular posts from the last few months:

    beautiful photos of young, hip runaways - i can’t take the credit for this beautiful post, it was actually Eve’s husband’s idea, but it turned out to be stupidly popular (received over 5000 visits via Stumbleupon) and has been quite controversial. really, they’re just photos, people!

    going commando in painted-on jeans
    - another uber-popular (and also completely ridiculous) post, thanks to Stumbleupon.

    Painful or Hip?
    - Eve’s snarkiest post to date. love it.Go Jane: go get some glasses - my snarkiest post to date.

    fashion revolution! power to personal style! an argument against trendspotting.
    - my call to arms to the fashion-oppressed.

    Sneaker Peeker
    - Eve’s homage to the sneaker. this post was featured on Elle.com!

    check me out: chanel-chic on a budget
    - my most popular check me out and my wicked $12 jacket.

Squatting Lovelies

Remember Amber’s railway kids post? Well I just found a feature on Vice Magazine about girls who squat in London. Although it’s pretty silly to dress them up in American Apparel and Marks and Spencer and Topshop and brush their hair before snapping them in a studio with a fucking HOUSE KEY around their necks, I think it’s a cool idea.
4eef.jpg

And I’m all about getting off the grid. Nice work, ladies.

Isabella Blow: Fashion Muse of the Unapologetic, Brash and Bold. Rest in Peace.

Isabella Blow died yesterday. She was an amazing artist of color, form and unabashed flamboyance. She discovered Philip Treacy and Alexander McQueen. She was painfully HIP!

As things go, she was also very sad.

We shall miss her.

Sidenote: Isabella had a cameo in one of my most favorite movies, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.

fashion revolution! power to personal style!an argument against trendspotting

I have been so in love with and inspired by clothes lately. I think it must have to do with the fact that I’ve been buying only clothes that I love and will flatter me, shopping more vintage, and lingering longer at sites like Wardrobe Remix and Hel-looks which feature uber-creative streetwear looks and less at sites like Go Fug Yourself (which is irresistibly hilarious, mind you) and Style.com (an almost daily browse).

I’ve decided that I don’t want to be told what to wear anymore. I could care less about what the industry says is cool. I don’t want to be afraid that I’m trying too hard, or not hard enough. I love what I love and bullocks to trends. I can wear socks with open-toed shoes and black leather with brown. I’ll look in the mirror one more time before I walk out the door and put ON another accessory if I feel like it. I think people shouldn’t worry so much about what’s in or out. It should be more about what flatters your body and makes you feel happy and confident. I want to scream out to the world…

“WEAR ANYTHING YOU LOVE! PLAY WITH YOUR CLOTHES, BE INSPIRED!
GIVE YOUR PERSONAL STYLE ROOM TO BREATH & THRIVE!
DRESS WITH ABANDON AND CONVICTION!
BE FEARLESS! BREAK THE RULES. TRENDS BE DAMNED.”

Such is the case when I look at the photostream of Leibemarlene, a long-limbed lovely from the Chicago ‘burbs…

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Granted, this girl could make anything look good and she is following a few key trends and owning them, but her genius is in her fearless layering, shape variation, color combos and most importantly, always highlighting her best assets. And she does it all with thrift finds and a few alteration skills. In the following photo she layers a striped t-shirt under a vintage wool shift and then throws on 2 belts - a skinny over an obi AND sunglasses, a headband, a brooch, a purse and white shoes (i believe this photo was taken sometime, ahem, after labour day). She’s breakin’ the rules, but in a decidedly feminine and flattering way. I’m loving the idea of “excessorizing.” It makes me happy. So c’mon, if accessories are your thing, then try keeping your clothes simple and making your outfits all about bold accessories, and lots of ‘em.


null

Of course, not everyone has this much style instinct (and really, it is all about instincts), so I suppose some people need rules. And trends for that matter, to inspire them and give them confidence to change things up. I know I depend on that devout little rule-follower in my head to sometimes keep myself from walking out the door in some disastrously ill-conceived ensemble. But then, there’s Leslie Hall

leslieleslie hallleslie hallleslie hall

…who can literally pull off anything (and i do mean anything) because she has more than enough unrepentant attitude to pull off The Ugly Sweater.
that’s some seriously impressive conviction.

ALL. RULES. OFF.
pass it on.

*****

While i’m at it, here are a few uber-inspiring reads on similar subjects. Vive la revolution!

“I’m not cool:” An Argument for Safety and Finding your own Personal Style by Gemma Cartwright for Catwalk Queen (thanks, Scarlettholly!)

“Let’s, once and for all, Bash the Trendbashing.” by Tricia Royal for Bits and Bobbins

To the Style-Mobile (wishing Kate Bloody Moss would just disappear…) by Meg for The Apathist

Everyone’s a Professional: Debunking Fashion Rules by Amanda for Art of the Steal


the greatest invention of the 21st century

as you can see, we have a new feature here at painfully hip. its called visual search technology. i know! i kiss you!

if you see a little star icon on a photo on the site, give it a little tease with your mouse cursor. you can click on the piece that is outlined, et voila! hundreds of similar-looking products. and it gets better. you can use the slider in the upper right to designate exactly how much you want to pay for said product. there are also sliders for color and style importance too. superfancy!

i did a visual search on these gorgeous gold ankle strap sandals, turned down the color preference and the price range, and look at the stunners that came up:

anklestrapthong.jpg

um. love them. want them. have to have them. the perfect simple sandal with gladiator flair. and so effing cheap at only $21.99!

going commando in painted-on jeans

now you CAN. for serious. all those days i dreamed of putting on my favorite jeans without the tedious worry of finding a clean pair of underwear are now over. i can’t believe it. chafing be damned. and it gets better! i can now show off my pasty hipbones and encrust my pubis with rhinestone studs!! this is the best day of my LIFE:

sexjeans.jpg
sexy_japanese_jeans.jpg

they only cost only $80 USD!
(and your dignity)

EDIT: god help us all, apparently these also come in white.
for more snarky bad fashion reviews check out these posts:
Go Jane: go get some glasses
Painful or Hip?
Forever 21: forever an 80 year old toddler

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