In Which I Spend the Rest of My Life Watching Rent

I was about to watch a Sundance-y indie movie on Netflix the other day (the home of all Sundance-y indie movies), but right before I pressed play, I saw Rent next to it in the queue. You know when you're about to watch a movie, and you ask yourself some variation of the question, "can I sit through this for two hours without scrolling through Instagram?" I couldn't imagine doing anything better with my time than sitting on my couch and singing-a-long to Rent for two hours. Or even four. Or the rest of my life.

I really really really most ardently love sing-a-longs. I usually conduct my own to Grease, Hairspray, and Funny Girl. I was just thinking today how much fun I had with myself not too many months ago when I ordered Chinese food from my favorite B-graded establishment, rented Hairspray and danced in front of the TV in between bites of chicken and broccoli. Things I do alone: that.

Of course the first cousin once removed to sing-a-longs is caroling, and its better half, caroling parties. My mom and I once snagged an invite to our neighbor's Christmas caroling party, where we found ourselves standing around a piano with once and future Broadway stars and the cast of an eighties crime show. I can't remember the name of the show but I know it was a hit because my dad had heard of it--a pop culture feat because he thought Beyonce was the name of a Westfield High Class of 09 graduate. The caroling party was uncomfortable for a lot of reasons, one being that tone deafness is evidently hereditary on the maternal side, the other being that my mom planted me in a conversation with a socially awkward nineteen year old boy and I couldn't figure out how to carol my way out. Worth noting we didn't get invited to the next year's caroling party.

I'm writing all of this during Marc, Roger et al's lulls in singing, and I'm dead in amazement at how this movie musical gets me every time.

I saw the movie version of Rent in high school and I remember a) crying out of the theater b) wanting to channel a cracked-out Rosario Dawson. I've decided upon rewatching though that my new style icon is a hybrid of Roger and Collins (who I never realized until five minutes ago was a philosophy professor). Grungy with a beanie but also rocker with a leather jacket and mom jeans. Mmhhmm.

My last note is this: I still resent my mom for not letting me get the "No Day But Today" Rent t-shirt that all the popular girls in chorus had. I try to remember that I didn't have Solows to wear it with and it wouldn't have looked good with the adjustable-waist Gap Kids jeans (#latebloomer) I thought were cutting edge.

Okay, TTFN.

The Oversize Button Down

I had a feeling the oversize button down was in trend status lane when I started my Tonne Goodman Fan Club (TGFC) in September (nobody joined then, but I bet your interest has peaked now).

I started TGFC when I had an interview at Conde Nast earlier this year. I had no idea what to wear, and I admittedly Googled "what do you wear to an interview at Conde Nast." Luckily, I came across a forum (I love forums, they're so random) that was dedicated to interview attire at Conde Nast. It was a little outdated and the last person to contribute had probably connected to the Internet via dial-up. She wrote upwards of 200 words about an interview she had at Vogue in the mid-nineties when "all of the editors were wearing oversize Brooks Brothers shirts and black leggings." Though that wasn't the answer I was looking for in my Google query, I pounced on it. So that's how TGFC started, because apparently Tonnie G. pioneered the oversize button down thing. I believe it, have you seen the September Issue?

I made the look my own by buying an oversize white shirt from the men's section of J.Crew and wearing it with black jeans during the day and leather leggings at night. Sometimes I looked like Michael Jackson, but that's a small price to pay for a versatile look. It worked out fine until I spilled balsamic vinegar on the shirt and got too lazy to bleach it.

I revisited the look when I went to #paris last month. I got an oversize oxford, this time from Urban Outfitters, and wore it with black and white jeans. I've already worn it this week. It gives off a cool, calm and collected vibe especially with the unruly hair my head has decided to cover itself with this week. If it looks like I didn't brush my hair, it's because I didn't.

The Cut posted a slideshow of oversized shirts and let me quote Elle Woods when I say, I concur. The oversize shirt--tunics included--is the hashtag bee's knees.

Gotta go finish True Detective. BAI!

Image via habituallychic.blogspot.com

PS. Head over to my TUMBLR! Oh yah. 

Overalls!!

One of my friends turned me on to the prospect of overalls a couple of weeks ago when she recommended I watch In A World. Lake Bell's wardrobe in the movie isn't anything to write home about, but she does sport a pair of overalls that look really comfy and chic in a late '90s kind of way.

I was also watching Mamma Mia on the plane the other day, a movie that could either be construed as the best or worst thing ever. I've seen it maybe 15 times because I own it in my iTunes (I have no idea how it got there), and each time I watch it, I get the urge to break out in song in a pair of overalls à la Meryl Streep. Worth noting that I get the urge to break out in song like, 10 times a day.

To state the obvious, I really want a pair of overalls. I don't consider them to be appropriate attire for the typical 9 to 5 work environment--although they could be at my place of work where lucky for me and the paisley printed velvet pants I wore the other day, anything goes. I feel like overalls are best for a walking the dog occasion, which happens to be one of my least favorite activities unless I have the intention of using my #pudge to meet/stalk/attract members of the opposite sex...in which case I probably shouldn't be wearing a pair of baggy overalls.

My ideal overalls outfit would be a combined channeling of Lake Bell in In A World and myself in 2nd grade when I had a different pair for each day of the week. If a pair of overalls were in my closet right now, I'd wear them to work today with a long-sleeved crewneck shirt and my new Adidas. Add a plaid shirt around my waist for the grunge effect. And an ear cuff. So into ear cuffs right now. And def a backpack.

Adidas Campus shoes, Frame denim overalls, Gap long sleeve crewneck, LL Bean flannel, Campbell ear cuff, The Row backpack

What's the difference between like and love? Because I like my Skechers, but I love my Prada backpack.

I love my Skechers.

That's because you don't have a Prada backpack.

Mom Jeans

Attention, attention: Mom jeans are coming back.

The high-wasted, straight-leg, faded and sometimes ripped look that constitutes the much-parodied mom jean is back. Jean Stories recently shot Doutzen Kroes in a pair of "a real mom's jeans," so-called because they belonged to the stylist of the shoot's mom. I've been seeing mom jeans on the racks lately, but it didn't resonate with me until after I tried on a pair of jeans whose strange cut made me question if I was in too-small boyfriend jeans or too-large skinny jeans that the 90s cut might be back. Turns out they were mom jeans that just didn't fit right.

(Sidenote: When I was in ninth grade, I had a crush on a boy whose girlfriend (spoiler alert: she wasn't me) wore mom jeans in a non-ironic way. My whole world went dark when I realized that the L of my L preferred a girl who wore mom jeans with Asics to, well, one who believed that Asics should only be worn when on a run. The boy's girlfriend clearly had more important things to do than belabor over her weekday outfits because she went on to the type of Ivy League school that prefers applicants whose extracurricular activities include fencing, not cutting cross country practice.)

Let's talk about how to wear mom jeans. Since the high waist is an integral part of the style, the pants should be paired with a top that accentuates it, like a tucked-in T shirt or a cropped sweater. A belt would bring more attention to the waist, and since we're channeling the 1990s, a thick brown belt will do. As for shoes, maybe a pair of heavy-soled oxfords or better yet, a Penny loafer? We could honestly get this whole look from the Gap circa 1995 for under $100.

MiH Halsey Jeans, Rachel Comey white top, Acne cropped sweater, ASOS Jacquard jacket, Bass penny loafers, Dr. Marten's Irene shoes , Rag & Bone belt