August 10, 2018

Maybe!

Yellow Windbreaker–Thrifted. Crossbody–AARP Swag. Black Tank–UO. Lace+Mesh Bralette–Aerie. Tilden Pants–Brandy Melville. Sneakers–Converse.

WYSLTWRT: Tyler, The Creator and A$AP Rocky “POTATO SALAD”

On the morning of this shoot, I wanted to get a summer look in the books before I had to return to Atlanta and, regretfully, an aesthetically scaled-down version of myself. I put on some white shorts with nautical button details–“Another discomfort series maybe!” I thought. I could speak on how to confidently wear bright new bottoms without also wearing on your face the incumbent and ever-present fear of surprise flash floods in your nether-lady-region! Or, maybe, a tip for my fellow ladies and lads with mid-range skin tones: orange underwear doesn’t show up under thin white shorts! I put on a bralette that was two sizes too small (courtesy of an undergarment drawer that has never been filtered, only added to) tied a thin and billowy short sleeve button down Daisy-Duke-style at my waist, and skipped downstairs to shoot, triumphantly, a kitchy, bitchy, summer camp-style outfit post.

It was raining. Just the gloomiest, sprinkly-est, cutest little melancholy rain you could imagine.

Like a “my-dad-only-gets-me-on-weekends-and-he-said-he’d-take-me-to-the-park-today-but-now-we-can’t-and-I-resent-him-unfairly-for-that:/” kind of rain.

Like a “this-rain-is-good-for-the-flowers-I-planted-last-week-but-also-I-was-hoping-to-go-outside-and-plant-some-basil-this-morning :/” kind of rain.

Like a “my-dog-won’t-piss-outside-because-he-hates-being-hit-by-the-droplets-so-he’s-definitely-going-to-piss-inside-the-house :/” kind of rain.

So I went back upstairs, changed into the outfit you see here, and went on with my day–where it never rained afterward.

You work with what you can.

SO, here’s an “it-was-eighty-two-degrees-out-but-I-also-thought-it-was-going-to-rain-all-day-but-it-mostly-didn’t-and-I-had-to-make-the-most-out-of-a-warm-and-steamy-afternoon :/” kind of outfit.

A big ‘ole “maybe!” to every weather question of the day.

You think I look natural and relaxed in this photo but my left foot definitely isn’t resting on anything, so.

If you believe this yellow jacket is waterproof, you are sorely and soggily mistaken. The yellow number is the thinnest windbreaker known to man and definitely would not protect you from any weather whatsoever, but at least it protects the world from seeing that the shirt I’m wearing definitely shouldn’t be allowed to call itself a shirt.

We need to talk seriously about the pants for a second. These are from Brandy Melville, which has a “one size fits all/most” system–“one size” fits a traditional small. The brand has flourished in owning its exclusivity, associating itself with one body type and claiming it as a trademark of youth, fragility, and beauty. The pants pictured are in fact my favorite pants, and I have worn them a lot, but not without stretching the elastic in the back and losing the safety button on the inside of the pants. Other styles of Brandy’s trousers are impossible for me to wear because of the calf or waist size; the tag line “one size fits all” is more suitable as “some styles fit some.” Or, Kit Steinkellner writes, “what Brandy Melville means when they say ‘One size fits all’ is ‘One size is welcome in our store.'” I recognize that while Brandy Melville markets (barely) to me and other women, they do not and don’t mean to include all of us in the process or the final product. I still wear Brandy, but with conflicted feelings; let me know if you think I should boycott or go on my merry ignorant way.

Moving on to the bag–there were some exercise weights in this bag before, fresh and untouched, except for when I took them out so I could use this bag as a crossbody tote to hold my compact umbrella and other essentials. The AARP detailing strikes me as very unintentionally sports-luxe.

I just threw my unbrushed (and newly silver-ish??) hair into a ponytail and put on–just–so much highlighter. I also didn’t wear earrings because I always forget to wear earrings.

So maybe it sprinkled and steamed and grogged on all day, but at least I was able to stay cool and pseudo-prepared for downpours. Maneuvering disappointment into new opportunities.

A “not-that-bad-a-day” kind of feeling.

Here’s the lookbook!

Sometimes people try to walk by but don’t want to walk into the shot and they’re just so cute and awkward and I have to encourage them to go ahead and walk in front of me. These people made me do a set of shots before they would walk through.