Written Inspiration: Writing Over at Glass

I mentioned it on facebook and twitter last week, but I'm incredibly excited to share that I've started writing for a stunning UK-based magazine called Glass. I'm honored that they're including me as a contributor, and am very much looking forward to more.

My first piece went up last week, on one of my favorite topics: punk and fashion. If you don't believe me that it's a favorite topic, check out my other posts tagged with "punk" here. I still remember seeing that gaggle of punk teens in 2006 that made me stop in my tracks. And then there's my Rocker Chic(k) board. If I stopped to explain who I was in high school, you'd see me surrounded by early-90s punks (and hippies, just to round it out).

But nevertheless, keep reading Glass. There's some amazing writing, some amazing design, and a whole lot of perspectives worth reading.

John Lydon, 1976. Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Photograph by Richard Young/Rex USA

Week in Style: Shopping and Goals and Punks, Oh My!

More DayJob insanity, so here's a quick and dirty on the erstwhile style insanity...

Ready, set...GO!

1) New Nordstrom Rack in Tyson's - if you follow any of the DC style blogging set on Instagram, you saw all sorts of fabulous fashion finds getting scooped up in a sneak peek. The grand opening was last night (Thursday). My favorite shot? This one of Allie of Wardrobe Oxygen in the jacket I made her promise to buy so we could go out in our badass jacket and Union Jack skinnies together. (Here's Allie's feed, btw)

2) District Sample Sale - Duh. TravelinJames, The Chelsea Chronicles, and I scooped up crazy bargains in their first ever DSS. Since I haven't gotten to a real post on it, check out our finds over in my DC Celine facebook album, here.

3) I hit my true end weight goal and earned a big ass star on Weight Watchers. There's a lot more behind this, much of it having to do with the real results of #healthyme, trying on boutique clothes, and getting stopped by strangers, but still, that star is one I never thought I'd get. Now the real fun begins.

DSS Morning After shot at my gym, following a TrainerJen workout, and 2 days before the weigh in where I hit goal. Jacket: Nordstrom Rack (Friendship Heights); Necklace: Queen Bee Designs (DSS); Tank: Target; Skirt: Banana Republic (yes it's too big now and it's one I bought for #OperationBoothBabe); Belt: Banana Republic; Not pictured, Python Platform Pumps (Stuart Weitzman from Simply Soles)

4) The Metropolitan Museum of Art Announced a New Costume Institute Exhibit - book your tickets now. To quote the press release, which blissfully arrived in my inbox yesterday, "The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced today that the spring 2013 exhibition organized by The Costume Institute will be PUNK: Chaos to Couture.  The exhibition, which will be on view from May 9 through August 11, 2013 (preceded on May 6 by The Costume Institute Benefit), will examine punk’s impact from its birth in the 1970s through its continuing influence on high fashion today." I'm envisioning all sorts of ridiculously wonderful insanity of punk, with a dash of the Anglomania exhibit and the eye for a exhibit design that will blow our minds.

Left: Sid Vicious, 1977. Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Photograph © Dennis Morris - all rights reserved; Right: Karl Lagerfeld (French, born Hamburg, 1938) for House of Chanel (French, founded 1913), 2011. Vogue, March 2011. Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Photograph by David Sims, both via

Think I can get myself invited to the May 6, 2013, Gala Benefit with Co-Chairs Rooney Mara, Lauren Santo Domingo, Riccardo Tisci, and Anna Wintour?



The Teenager Me - Recycled

It took me years, literally, to find a pair of "riding boots" that I loved - and that fit my muscular calves (I have dainty ankles, but inherited my Pop's calves, which are great, but not good for tall boot wearing). Finally, Ginger came through at the DSS, and I scored a perfect Modern Vintage pair (thanks, in part, to a lovely lady who didn't play the mean evil shopper and let me go first). I wear them constantly in cooler weather.

Then, today, my facebook feed displayed these beauties.

Boden, a funny, sophisticated British venture that started out with 8 menswear items, had posted these. I think they did it just for me. While a small fortune at 179 pounds, they might just be worth it. There's something to be said for the English fashion aesthetic - at least the one that's not all tweed and jodphurs. In your face, snarky, and always a little twisted, the Brits have a way of saying it all - louder than you'd expect them to do in a quiet demure tearoom, of course.

I adore, and always have a soft spot in my heart for lace and bodices and refined, soft colors (yes, I devour historical novels). That's one Teenager Me, dreaming of her Gilbert (yes, yes, I know that's a Canadian story, but you get the picture). The other Teenager Me stomped around in what she thought was cool and not-like-anyone-else in her daddy's plaid blazer, her mother's "paint" jeans, and vests and blouses that should've stayed at the thrift store. That same Teenager Me hung with the theater crowd, which in our school was an odd mix of punk and hippie. (The same dear friends who post their kids' pics on fb one minute, and announce their attendance at a Depeche Mode concert the next, and incidentally, just gathered for a mini-reunion I missed at a local winery owned by the parents of one said friend. I raise a glass, my dears.)

Four years ago The Met had an amazing exhibit on British fashion - in which McQueen, Westwood, and the Royals all played a part. And I fell in love again. I should've done it then, and hopefully I'll do it now, but it's time to bring a little Brit punk to the world - if I can swing a 179 pound pair of boots into the budget.