Talk is Chic | What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger... Right?

ET: So my life is a little different than I expected it to be. Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited to be hanging out with you in my quaint hometown but why are we not backstage at some fashion show right now?

http://www.fashiongonerogue.com              cabletv.com

(Why aren’t a handful of handsome men handing us Versace bags? Why aren’t we taking shots with our BFFs at some trendy NYC club?)

GO: I kept telling myself (and other people - whoops) that I would have a job now, and a glamorous life made up of episodes similar to those of Sex and the City, or Girls, whatever’s more your pace.

ET: I at least thought I would be living in my own in a city. Instead, I’m living with mom and dad, lovely people, but…

GO: It’s hard not having the freedom we’re used to, and not to mention the awful commutes.

ET: I’ve had a lot of time to think on the LIRR (it’s basically the Jitney, right?). Sometimes I think about what I am going to wear tomorrow. Sometimes I think about checking out one of those face mask stores in Koreatown. Today, I was thinking about my gut. Fashion is about having the guts to follow your gut. I can’t properly describe that feeling of knowing something is perfect but you know what I mean.

GO: Sometimes I think understanding your gut can be difficult. Mines not always so sure - especially right now. Sometimes it screws me over a little bit, but for all the times I’ve ended up in a mess I’ve also ended up in something beautiful, whether it is a new project or a new relationship.

ET: Looking back, I never really asked for permission to go to Cornell or to go abroad. I knew what I wanted and said, “I’m going.”

GO: Well, isn’t that a luxury we took for granted? The privilege of not being a real adult is that we actually have a lot of freedom. Our parents take a lot of pressures for us so we can follow our guts without dealing with the consequences.

ET: I wish I could say my gut is satiated but that’s not true. I’m not 100% happy with my life at the moment but I am learning to love even the ugly. Vetements is like the first time you try spinach…gross but as you continue chew on it you see how revitalizing it is.

GO: Still not onboard with Vetements, but I do understand not being 100% happy with your life.I wish my gut knew the solution and that I had the freedom to follow it, but it doesn’t and I don’t. Rather I think just like the best collections (ask me about my paper on Alexander McQueen - cover page pictured below)...

...I need to learn how to make these dark times- okay I’m being dramatic - bleak times, into something beautiful and exciting. It is a hard task but it adds depth to life and art.

ET: It’s true, most “fashion people” are unhappy. It is remarkable that designers are able to create such beauty from misery. Maybe designers are neo-optimists? Like Marc Jacobs and Popeye I really need to chew and enjoy spinach. It may not be as immediately satisfying (or over-instagrammed) as artisanal ice cream sandwiches but it’s making me stronger.

GO: There is a kind of odd comfort of embracing our blues that allows us to eventually feel the warmth of happiness in an explosive, obvious way like Sophie Rask flouncing in floral to Rufus Wainwright singing Judy Garlands “Get Happy” at the Michael Kors show yesterday morning.

ET: You know my heart pitter-patters for a flouncy dress. I’ve been consistently described me as a “sunshine-y yellow kind of happy” person but I can be dark and twisted too. For awhile I really wanted to leave New York, thinking nothing exciting in fashion was happening here. But the most recent fashion week filled with intense color and playful print, technique, young talent, and a side of politics makes me more optimistic about the future of fashion in New York. If you don’t believe me look at the Altuzarra and Monse collections for proof.

3.1 Phillip Lim - Vogue.com           Anna Sui - Vogue.com              Delpozo - Vogue.com

This article is for our parents.

Thanks for letting me, Greta, cry to you despite the fact I am seriously the ugliest cryer EVER and then telling me I am your favorite twin (I see what you did there -__-). Also, pretending to care when I talk about how Delpozo has rejuvenated architecture in fashion in a way that is magical and wearable.   

Even though I, Eleni, talk about moving out every single day, thanks for not making me pay rent and for having dinner ready at precisely 8:06 P.M every night. More importantly, thanks for being mostly supportive except of my most recent crazy plan to move to the Philippines to research sustainable pineapple leather. Please?

Talk Is Chic | Back to the Future

Sitting at an overpriced biergarten in the Meatpacking District the price of the real world is hitting us. After catching up on a week and three days worth of uneventful unemployed (keep positive, #funemployed) life we discuss the mutual feeling that we feel that waiting for something but what?

ET: I’m not allowed to buy anything (except a sundress, sandals, and maybe a cute beach coverup) until I’m employed. I guess you can say it’s a devil’s compromise of sorts

GO: My parents definitely wish I made that compromise, but to be honest even without a compromise I don’t know what to shop for right now…

ET: I know! I can’t commit to anything, let alone a t-shirt. I desperately want to travel or even work like our fellow recent grads but right now I’m living the life of a Long Island housewife-- grocery shopping, cooking, working out, attending school recitals, or the beach if I’m lucky.  

GO: At least you're doing semi-productive activities. I'm sitting in my bed texting people weird questions for fun (and attention) - shout out to the 13 people who got my text "if you found out you were going to die next week, how would you spend the rest of your time?"

* I highly recommend you text everyone this question, but especially Elana Kuppermann for a really detailed and exciting answer*

ET: I’m living my life not as if I am going to die next week but as if I am going to work next week. Not that work = death but I can’t quite ride my bike to the beach everyday or write letters to Anthony Bourdain (Parts Unknown: The Finger Lakes Region).

GO: Ah being able to read and write for leisure, what a concept! I (we) feel like we aren’t really doing anything but maybe this weird period doing nothing is an important experience, even if it doesn’t feel the same as our other, more grand experiences.

ET: I feel like I have my best, okay maybe not best, but most ambitious ideas when I’m bored. Maybe being bored isn’t the worst thing, but important to our creativity?

GO: You’re totally right. At Cornell we were taught that good ideas come from solving problems, taking on new research, etc. but hasn’t all great fashion come from boredom and everyday inspiration? The need to make even the most average day a little exceptional? Turning the ordinary into extraordinary?

ET: Fashion isn’t inspired in office buildings or the breakroom. It comes from the streets, the cracks in the sidewalk, the skies, the tributaries, and the plateaus of the world. Speaking of Le Plateau, I’m glad we got to take our first trip to Montreal together. Not only did you get to meet my friends there but we got to ogle at chic French girls. Merci beaucoup to Sarah, Aude, and Barbara for teaching me how to “live.” Sarah once offered me the best advice, “It’s not about the four year plan but the four month plan.” It’s no coincidence that fashion happens in seasons!

GO: As per usual us Americans are so behind. I mean the French have always been so much better at fashion: CoCo Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Dior, Hubert De Givenchy, Pierre Balmain… I can keep going.

ET: Fashion is about trends, the future but…

GO: … The future doesn’t exist yet and it can’t exist until you’ve lived it in the present and you might as well take inspiration from that - even if your present seems to be standing still.

You can’t get rid of us quite yet. Until we’re working 9 to 5 (or 6 AM to 11 PM) or long distance (gasp!) we’re going to continue talking. But let’s follow our own advice and not overthink the future.