Fashion

So. This might be the most shallow, least Scotland-related post I'll be posting while I'm here but after studying extremely hard this week, I need to think and blather about something inconsequential. Not that looking nice is inconsequential, as we all know first impressions are the basis of a lot of relationships, but it often has less immediate and dire consequences if neglected than, say, writing lab reports. Which I did last night, and it turned out beautifully and very professional-looking. I had to reinstall MarvinSketch onto my computer to draw some structures, which I hadn't done since my harddrive crashed, and it's making me feel so hard-core and chemically oriented. Does that even make any sense? Probably not, but neither does this post.

Hopefully my mom is going to send me a few things from home soon (please Mom?) but there are also a few things I want to add to my wardrobe. Every time I do this, I inevitably have nothing to pair with whatever trendy pieces I add, so I guess I'll end up either buying them and not wearing them often or I'll have to buy more things to wear with them.

What:

1. High-waisted skinny jeans.

2. Flowy tank tops.

3. Knit, baggy sweaters.

4. Everyday skinnies, because my other ones have a huge hole in the knee :(

5. A pair of shoes that's dressy, yet casual. I'm thinking some sort of ankle, oxford-inspired boot but I really haven't seen anything that I'm super in love with yet. Any suggestions?

6. Long socks I can wear under my Uggs, outside of my leggings.

Where:

Have I mentioned all of the charity shops along the main road in Edinburgh? They're everywhere! And actually inexpensive! I recently found a coffee shop with a Motley-esque called the Bean Scene and I kept getting distracted from my studies by a charity shop for the prevention of heart disease that's across the street. They had some legitimately cute items.

Also, there's this store, Top Shop, that has some extremely cheap sale items. I haven't been in the actual store yet, but if it's anything like their online sales I'm going to have a hard time finding something in my size. Unless I get lucky and get there the day they put new things on sale. I think my luck is running out, though. After some kid threw the entire contents of his piggy bank out of his 3rd floor (American 3rd floor, not the British 3rd floor which is actually the 4th floor) window onto Sam and my heads, I was finding a coin on the street at least every day. Granted, it was usually only a 1 or 2 pence coin, but sometimes I'd find a 5 p and once I found a pound. This all changed when I left Edinburgh for my homestay. Although, I am going to the Highlands (to see the Harry Potter train and hopefully the Loch Ness monster) so maybe leaving the city again will bring my luck back.

Who:

... are my role models? It seems like a lot of people I know have great fashion sense that I feel like I could never pull off.

My mom, for one, has a great sense of style and routinely dresses me much better than I would dress myself. Unfortunately, she's not here to reassure me when I ask, does this look weird? Because I know she's telling the truth, whether it's what I want to hear or not, and she just wants me to look my best. Kinda like when we're skyping and she always points out my breakouts. Yes, Mom, I know I'm breaking out, thanks for reminding me that everyone else does too. I say this in the most loving way possible, by the way. That's kinda like how people always say "No offense, but..." As if saying that activates a ward that prevents people from taking offense/getting hurt by what follows, because "No offense, but" is never followed by "you look really nice today" or "I love hanging out with you." But really, Mom, I mean it in the most loving way possible and I don't want you to be embarrassed, or anything. I mean honestly, how many people besides you reads my blog anyways? That's what I thought.

Going back to my original point, I would describe my mother's fashion sense as, ironically, much edgier and younger than mine. While she's all metal buckles and leather jackets, I'm very much a cardigan-aholic, although I don't own very many of them. So while I admire and wish very much to emulate her style, I'm not exactly sure how to.

My other role model is my friend Natalie. Natalie is a definite hipster/trendster who is always meticulously put together. Her style is much more similar to mine but I don't know how she does it. Part of it is that she just has SO MANY clothes to work with. I literally brought 5 everyday shirts and thought, these are all the shirts I wear anyways so this will be no problem. Needless to say, I was literally bored of them within 2 days, which if you can connect any dots means that I hadn't even worn all of the shirts yet. I guess I wear different things than I thought I did. Natalie is in London this semester (well, actually this whole year) so when I go visit her in 2 weeks I'll make her be personal shopper for me.

I'm not exactly sure why I thought that UK fashion was going to be so different from US fashion. Everyone here is wearing leggings as pants (which I have totally bought into, even after I think I posted on facebook that I would never understand why leggings could be considered pants) and similar boots and scarves and everything that's also trendy in the US. Hence, my mom is sending me some of the things I'd left behind. There is one trend here that is WAY bigger than in the US that I really think I will never understand: denim shorts and miniskirts over tights. I could imagine (perhaps better than I thought) an outfit that utilized some high-waisted linen shorts over patterned tights with a button-up flower-print blouse and oxfords, and I would consider that to be trendy. HOWEVER, cutoff jean shorts over black not-quite-opaque tights (although I can't decide if opaque tights are worse) with a t-shirt and cardigan is NOT classy, or even edgy. It just looks silly, and slightly trashy. To be completely fair, some people definitely pull it off better than others, ie nice jean shorts instead of cutoffs, but still. That being said, if this trend continues long enough, I may or may not get pulled in.

On a tangential to fashion, I'm trying to decide on a Halloween costume. Actually, I think I just decided on my Halloween costume. Unfortunately for you, my dear readers (aka Mom), you will have to wait until after that date for me to post pictures. Trust me, though, it's gonna be good.

Wow. That ended up being way longer than I thought it would be. It was also less unrelated (more related) to my trip than I thought- there were some gems mixed in with the pyrite. I'm off to pack for my weekend excursion- I must remember to make sure my camera's fully charged this time...

LeeAnn xx

PS I'm really sorry about how long this is and the lack of pictures.