Little Red Dress

Could I please just pick up my Panda Express?!

This is kind of a shitty picture composition-wise, I know, but I just don't have the chutzpah to make them stand around in an airport food court so I can perfect composition. I SUCK I KNOW OKAY.

Anyway, I thought these folks looked interesting. And any flicker of life I see in BWI airport I feel is, you know, worth documenting.

InaugurStyle: The Musical!

So yesterday my friend Barack got inaugurated at the Mall and my brother and I went downtown to check it out. It was historic and all, but most importantly I got take pictures to my hearts' content. Man, I love tourists. Did you know that D.C.'s population temporarily doubled for the inaugration? If only out of towners could cise us some of their style (or earmuffs as pictured below. WHERE CAN I GET SOME?).

Below are several important, highly competitive superlatives I have decided based on the images I acquired without the subjects' notice or approval (you call it stalking; I call it guerilla photojournalism). Enjoy, and feel free to vote on pictures you deem best.

(Yes, I spent my inauguration taking pictures of ladies in fur coats. Why? Because I rule. Screw you guys.)

InaugurStyle: Best Accessories

InaugurStyle: People who look they're famous

I was standing next to these men in line for the longest time and they looked hella familiar. Readers, if you can identify (or make up a plausible identity; I will probably fall for it) these men, I will feature you on my blog!
(My brother and I also thought we saw the Mac guy, although there is no way to be sure)

InaugurStyle: Most Unpatriotic

InaugurStyle: PETA-approved

(I love you fabulous lady please adopt me)

Hey guys.

Hey guys, welcome to the Blartorialist 2009.

We have a three-pronged plan of focus:

-Continue style stalking, with an emphasis on street style outside of Blair
-Design totally rad fashion editorials with help from renown photographer Lauren P. Lauren just made Time magazine, congrats!
-Post reviews, recommendations, rants (it's Ugg season again!), raves, weekly Gossip Girl recaps, haikus about Value Village, etc. for those of you who like words.

We hope this will revitalize our neglected blog and make it better than ever before. Hope yall are having a great break.

I love the 20s...CSS show, 9:30 club

How would you like to be approached at a show by a weird girl asking for your picture? I think her expression sort of conveys this. DEAR SCOTT SCHUMAN: What are your secrets to non-creepy style-stalking?!

Ale...Blair Stadium

This is really cute but that ID is killing me. ID policy cramps style. nuff said.

All I want for Christmas is sweaters.

Lifer...Capitol Hill

Photo credit: Matthew Kocur

Like her outfit, not so much her politics.

Art Student

Circlets for fall

I've been seeing these everywhere lately. These keep popping up in Urban Outfitters, but if anyone can point me to the runway source I'd be interested.
I keep wanting to call them headbands, but they're not. They're circlets.
Who else has been watching The Amazing Adventures of Chuck Bass lately?

Birthday Gal

It was this gal's birthday today. Observe the giant cake in the background. Note to readers: My birthday is October 22.

Lady in Black

She's back!

At Lunch

mk photo (?!?!okay?)

Last Days Of Summer

mk (wut)

Pink Panther, Lunch

After Gym, That Hair

Too bad you can't see her eye makeup and bag...

We promise to step it up soon.

Yeah so The Blartorialist has been stuck in a bit of a lull for a while and, uh, we're sorry. Mostly, it's because I suck. For example, on Friday I went to the Girls Unite! concert (Blair = charity mafia) and saw Eric Shansby. He was wearing these tight as shit shoes but um, I didn't have my camera. I did learn however, that he reads the post we wrote about him every day. He said some other boring things too. All I remember is that he asked for several 8 x 10 glossies of the pictures from that shoot. Whatever.

I saw some other pretty good styles, including the mysterious QUESTION MARK SUIT man, whom I intend to track down at the next Takoma Park event.

On to more important things: Acclaimed local photographer/teen prodigy Lauren Poor has agreed to collaborate with me on a fall fashion editorial! Yeah. That's right. This is going to be kind of a big deal. Look for photos within the next few weeks!

We'll also be trying to do better at, you know, finding street style, since that is our job. We promise!

Back to Schoolio

Where are the black models?!

Um. For serious. On the plane back from Seattle yesterday I pretty much read through an entire issue of Vanity Fair (was avoiding homework), which is about 80% fashion ads. Well I would guess that of those ads, 95% of the models were white or Asian (and the Asian models were all the same type of light-skinned, delicate featured women, highly valued in white and Asian culture but hardly representative of the overall Asian population, to the annoyance of many). I swear. And of the 5% of black models, I would guess the majority were "token" blacks (in group scenes) or Beyonce.

So what gives? IN the issue, an article looking back on the late 80's "supermodel" craze (think Linda, Cindy, Claudia), quoted Naomi Campbell recalling how designers would reject her for her skin color and how the white supermodels would have to boycott the show in order for her to be able to walk. And that was in 1989. We've been through the P.C. 90's, Barack Obama is going to be President (and fabulous Michelle First Lady), Italian Vogue has published an all-black issue in light of this problem, and black people are still underrepresented in a prominent national American Magazine! Thirteen percent of America is black, and in the modeling industry the percentage is even higher. So why can these models not make it into the magazines?

I would like hear a legitimate excuse for this, though I hardly think one exists. Is it because black women are more highly valued on the runway? (Well they better be, because in my opinion they walk better than white women. See Fashion battle report 2008.) Is it because all of the black models are in "niche" publications? Is it because some design labels are inherently "white"? (Think ladies who lunch.) But seriously, in the 21st century, who wants a lily-white image? Becuase A) It's kind of creepy and Nazi-ish B) It's not representative of America and C) It's not representative of the industry. I understand that certain colors, textures, and silhouettes look better on certain skin tones, but this principle should yield a higher percentage of black models, as I'm sure more than 5% of clothes look best on black models.

I'm not saying there should be quotas or stringent guidelines for this, as fashion is a creative industry and designers have visions, but maybe they should try to expand their visions.

One man who did this, Yves Saint Laurent, died recently. In my opinion he was the unchallenged pioneer of race representation in fashion. Incidentally, the YSL ad in Vanity Fair was one of the only ads to spotlight a black model; his legacy lives on.

PS. No pictures from Seattle, sorry, forgot to haul around camera. Blartorial skills fading.
School starts soon though. Raise your hand if you know what you're going to wear for the first day (golly)!

Missed Opportunities....Cleveland Park, DC

So I'm strolling through Cleveland Park, on my way to the National Cathedral, because it is way tite, and I see this lady wearing a flowy white dress, fabulous sandals, gorgeous turquoise dangly earrings and this sort of headwrap. Very summer, very not DC. She just had this distinct aura about her (far out man, I know). I could tell she was foreign, which was confirmed when I overheard her talking on her phone, I think she was booking a gig. So she was all up in her phone and it is basic street stalker etiquette to not interrupt subjects whilst they are otherwise occupied with technology, be it chatting on the phone or texting (which is VERY dangerous, by the way). So I'm sort of lingering by her but then she turns the corner and I have to go a different way and I'm all AAAAGH and then take a stalker picture (seen above) and leave, tears sploshing upon the sun-baked city pavement.
Dear fabulous troubadouress:
I am sorry you never got the opportunity to appear in more detail on my blog, perhaps in a less stalkery context. Write a sad, sad song about it.

Silver Bean, Chicago

May I bring up Fruits, the Japanese magazine on the inventive suburbs-of-tokyo-street-fashion that is so inspiring?

Fresh Air

He had an amazing gold ring that was a deer with very long antlers.

Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago

The problem with museums is that they are both full of people with such creative fashion and so restrictive of cameras. How annoying, I must have missed a ton of shots while I was there and it just killed me! I told this guy about the website and everything, so even though the pictures I took were both blurry, I felt I should put one up. I hope you can tell what's going on there!

To Whom it May Concern

So like all blogs, there will be commenters with strong opinions. Some pertaining to the subject material and some not. However, as long as their comments remain within a reasonable sphere of relevancy I will be more than happy to accommodate them, favorable or not. After all, no good blog can go on very long without its share of angry comments. Remember: Relevance is the key! If you have something extremely nasty, hurtful, or personal to say, remember to make it tie in with the post at hand!

This might be a good time to announce that my now-semi-infamous post on how much I hate uggs has recieved a record-shattering 9 COMMENTS! Apparently it really hit a nerve. Mama is so proud.

-Tex

Suspenders... Artscape, Baltimore

Simple Things