Calidandy.tumblr.com

In case you haven't noticed from the lack of posts, I've finally made the move to Tumblr (address here). Picture uploads are much easier, and the preset layouts are much more design-competent.

I'll still use Blogspot here and there for posts that call for pictures to be spread throughout the text, and not as a gallery/slideshow format. Onwards and upwards...

Making up for lost time

Quite possibly the most interesting box I've ever received an order in. This just in: Gilt Groupe is still killin' it in the online retail game. Bluefly who?

Blazer are tie are vintage. Polo shirt by RVCA. Watch by Kenneth Cole. Khakis by Polo Ralph Lauren. Sneakers by Common Projects.

The past few days have been on the slightly insane side--for the first half of the week, I was half-working through lunches, and hurrying off somewhere after or during work for Craigslist purchases. On the upside, I finally came up on some furnishings to make the rental box a proper residence -- sofa-check, dining set-check, coat rack-check.

Shirt by ASOS. Jeans by TheProportionofBlu. Sneakers by Adidas SLVR.

It's a party tonight, and / ooh she's so excited / "tell me who's invited" / you, yo friends, and my dick.

A Lesson in Priorities

eBay's always been pretty good to me. Sure, there was that time sophomore year when I paid about $50(?) USD for an Adam Copeland/Edge t-shirt from the UK that never materialized, but generally it's allowed me to cop great stuff for a fraction of even retail on-sale prices.

On the selling side, I've never had much issue either; the last hiccup I recall was a pack of photo paper for printing headshots (for acting gigs) that never turned up; even though the seller was one of those dubious entities with 99-something % positive feedback but hundreds of Negatives due to the sheer numbers they move, I messaged them and got my refund.

Recently, I procured this lovely pair of raw selvage denim jeans by the French fashion house A.P.C., in the Petit Standard cut--an exceeding bitch to find even in retailers that carry APC, and highly sought-after in the online denim hypebeast community.

It was one of those rare Crossroads Trading finds, brand-new, untarnished, yet selling for 25% of retail price. Unfortunately, even given A.P.C.'s notorious stretch factor, I decided that the crushing pressure the tapered legs put on my track-star calves were not worth the dashingly slim silhouette, and decided to flip'em.

Listed, 7-day auction (during which I endured multiple haggling offers, including one for $140 that I probably should've taken in retrospect), and winning bid ends up being $130. Typically, though you have 4 days before a seller can open a dispute case against you, people pay right after so you can get their packages on their merry way. I was a little annoyed, then, when no money turned up that evening...or the next morning.

Since I clearly posted the listing with a "pay within 36 hrs" notice, I decided to send a friendly reminder:

Friendly reminder--it's now been 36 hours since auction's end, please send payment. The sooner you do so, the sooner I can get these to you. Thanks.

Wednesday came, 3 days after the auction ended, and still nothing. By this time, I was more than a bit miffed, and decided on a stronger bit of rhetoric:

Hello again. Please send payment by end of day today. If you are unable, at least notify me of how long it will be before you can send it. Otherwise, by tomorrow I will have little choice but to open an unpaid item dispute and relist to make sure I haven't wasted my time and money.

一般eBay的规矩是： 无法付钱，不要出价。I hope you understand that. Thanks.

I added that last bit with inference from the winner's name, in case my English vocabulary had been sailing over his head like so many Exocoetidae.

That evening, o ho! A response:

hey, im sorry but i realized i do no have enough money to purchase this item. would you like to cancel this auction and set up a private auction for the jeans for 100 dollars? that is what i have in my bank account and it is ready to be sent. you can waive the auction fee by a mutual decision to cancel it. i am able to send 100 dollars through paypal if you agree to this. im sorry for the inconvenience but things have been busy lately. thanks again

Fair enough, I thought. So you're a style-conscious guy, but the pocketbook's hurting as of late. I can relate. But, that doesn't mean I'm gonna take a L on some misplaced sense of empathy. Here's what I had to say:

I appreciate the response. However, selling for $100 shipped means I'd be taking a 1/3 loss on these brand-new condition jeans. Not acceptable.

I will cancel this auction and relist the jeans, at no penalty to you. In the future, please do not bid if you're unsure whether you can pay.

A little more background: eBay sellers are sometimes a testy lot, and frequently--especially in the case of actual businesses, pawn/consignment shops, and the like--have very little patience before they lay the smack down with rep-destroying negative feedback or unpaid item strikes. In light of that, my response was already more than reasonable--especially since I was going to be paying another $2 in relisting fees, having lost out on my initial $2 investment.

To my surprise, I get this Thursday:

would you take 110 shipped with a private auction then?

Cheeky bastard, I thought. A minute ago, you barely had two Ulysses Grants to rub together, and now all of a sudden, you've pulled a Hamilton out of your ass? What did you suppose this is, e-Open Air Market? I decided not to dignify this with a response.

Sunday relisting time came, and I realized that my eBay fees balance had skyrocketed--even though no money had been received, eBay already charged $11 in Final Value Fees to ty account! Shit, I thought. Apparently I had to go through the bureaucratic channel of formally canceling the transaction, which requires the other party to agree.

I sent the request, and this is what came back moments later:

i still very interested in this pair of jean. can you set up a private auction for 110 for them?



A little glass dial broke in my head. Oh, you still interested? You still likey the jeans, you cheap sniveling wanker? Even I had enough common sense not to drop money on clothes around the time of the month when rent/student loans come due. This had to end.

Frankly speaking, it's unfair to both the other bidders and myself for you to haggle like this for a price lower than your winning bid. You're wasting your time as well as mine, especially since you claimed to have only $100, then $110, of cash on hand. If money is an issue, perhaps you should consider another purchase besides an $100+ pair of designer jeans.

I have already relisted the jeans. Please do us both a favor and agree to cancel the transaction, before I carry the dispute further within eBay's system. Thanks.


At the end of the day, there's a certain comfort in knowing there's somebody out there whose priorities are even more topsy-turvy than mine.

What a 13-hr self-edifying workday looks like.

Trenchcoat by random Korean brand. Vest, vintage. Shirt by ASOS. Silk ascot by eBay retailer. Pants by Levi's. Boots by Nunn Bush.

Pretty good, actually. Better than most of y'all look on a fly day.

*Not pictured: Blackwatch sportcoat by Fink and galoshes by Swims (which I took home earlier in the day); comped Mediterranean dinner of scrumptious falafel/shawerma/kebab.

Self-Absorbed and Vaguely Lovable

Rugby shirt by Carpe. Shirt by American Eagle. Pants by H&M. Sneakers by Adidas Originals. Watch by Kenneth Cole Reaction. Silk scarf by Calvin Klein.

After a season-long absence that saw GG take its agonizingly long winter hiatus, I'm finally back on my narcissism beat on this blog thing.

It is said that the key to successful blogging, somewhere on the hierarchy near incessant cyber-d*ck-riding and insanely prolific output, is the adoption of a consistent, targeted theme. Hence, why most users--like me--who are still using this thing like a glorified LiveJournal, typing away the inanities of our daily go-abouts, recording our breakfast cereal of choice and fleeting moment of profound shame at passing a paraplegic bag lady on the street, will never have much of a followship to speak of.

But that's okay.

Not every day has to be a groundbreaker. Not every post has to be a masterpiece. In the end, Kanye West was the same guy when he was folding pants at the Gap as the guy selling 2 million records. What happens in between is experience, learning, and practice. A lot of practice.

So, until I start watching sufficiently style-conscious movies and resurrect the Film Fashions columns, here's a massive outfit dump of stuff I wore these past few months.

Sportcoat by Uniqlo. Vest by random Korean brand. Jeans by G-Star. Shoes by Aldo.

Sportcoat by Fink. Shirt by Ralph Lauren Purple Label. Hat by H&M. Gloves by Armani Exchange.

Jacket by ASOS. Jeans by Levi's X Damien Hirst X Warhol Factory. Shoes by Gravati for Bergdorf Goodman.

Jacket by H&M. Shirt by Ralph Lauren Black Label. Watch by Movado. Bow tie and cufflinks, stylist's own.

Wait.

"You're special enough on your own, you don't need some group to say you are"? Excuse me, did Chuck just become the show's moral compass?

Addendum to yesterday: An (old) Message from KW

Just found this on Dress Like Kanye West archives. One word: Priceless.

A message from kwest on Vimeo.

No joke, it reminds me of those promos professional wrestlers (WWE) who played heels/"bad guys" would cut for no other reason that to show, hilariously, how exaggeratedly douchey their personas can be.

Hey Kids! It's Stunt Like 'Ye Day!

Perusing industry news at work often leads to some strange, strange stuff.

Exhibit 1: Diesel promo for helmets. Includes a very un-PC moment that may surprise American viewers a bit -- then again, considering that Diesel's print ads feature anything from a bald fat guy licking a model's sneakered foot to a mostly-naked dude with a stuffed kitten in his briefs, an idea like this isn't so much of a stretch.



Also, because I can't seem to stop listening to "Baby By Me" -- only for the synth sounds in the background, mind you -- here's Fiddy teaming up with Steve Nash in a pretty funny Vitamin Water promo.

More hip-hop fun:

No Homer: 10 Hip-Hop and Rap Icons Simpsonized

See how many you manage to recognize -- without cheating by checking the picture file name.

Productive day today -- civil service exam, license renewed, and a few more extra hours in the afternoon to enjoy away from work. Kinda like a 2.25-day weekend, hah.

I'll close with this for the haters -- say what you will about his filter (or, lack thereof), but no matter how much he stunts, there's no denying that he puts in work.

Fictitious Fashion: "Mad Men" 's Duck Phillips & the Frankenstein three-piece

New idea: style-spotting for film/tv characters I come across. Once GG starts again, that will be plenty of reason for me to do a bunch of Chuck posts, unless the show's stylists continue to go down the drabbing-down route.

To kick things off, we have Herman "Duck" Phillips, played by Mark Moses on AMC's Mad Men, which--at its third season--just wrapped up a huge social-media and cross-promotional campaign in order to rise above the label of "the best show on TV you're not watching." This included not only a fashion tie-in with Banana Republic, but also oodles of interactive content on the official site, ranging from an application to build your own romping '60s MM avatar, to a hit-or-miss "Which Mad Men Are You?" quiz. (On my first try, I got Jane Siegel, who was like Don's third secretary or something. Go figure.)

Anyways. Marketing synopsis aside, here's Duck:

...and as you can see, Duck has a rather peculiar sartorial motif. Of course, everybody in the main MM cast has their trademarks:

• Don: Two-button sack suit in numerous shades of gray; dark skinny tie; all-in-one troubled/determined/I'm-hiding-something expression
• Roger: Dark three-piece, tie pin, permanent smirk of entitlement
• Pete: see Don, but substitute navy for gray
• Bert Cooper: bowtie, argyle socks, perpetual old-man wackiness

...all of which are agreeably classic looks. Then, you've got Duck and his...er...contrasting waistcoat...thing.

I suppose it's the same as wearing a cashmere sweater under a suit or sportcoat nowadays. Still, it's probably the only Mad Men look the major magazines have yet to condone....which only means the first to try it out will get added cool-kid bonus points. Go on, I dare ya.

Audition + " (500) D.o.S." + MoMA = Kind of a crazy day.

The Audition

I've always heard about two dueling generalizations about the personalities of those who work in showbiz/fashion. 1) They're supremely self-confident, thick-skinned people; they have to be in order to put themselves out there day after day. 2) They're some of the most insecure wrecks out there; who else needs or wants the kind of validation that only a camera can offer?

I shouldn't pretend to know any better; this morning was my first real, non-theater class/indie film school audition, but I didn't spend any of the waiting time networking with my fellow aspirants. Instead, I sat focused on concealing my awe of the roomful of 1) guys without a skin condition in sight, and 2) girls that were above my pay grade 5x over. And all for a Nintendo Wii commercial (there were maybe five people in the whole room of about 40 that look like the type who'd play video games).

I'd read up on some articles the night before, before realizing that--as much as I wanted to avoid it--I won't be able to look like I know what I'm doing. Instead, from the commute to the moment I stepped out of the studio, I kept a smile on based upon the fact that what I was doing was, by any stretch of the imagination, ludicrous. I had only two headshots, neither of which had my resume printed, and both putting my litany of acne-related scars on prominent display.

Despite leaving with a plentiful time cushion (for navigating the unfamiliar part of SOMA/bus route) and arriving 15 minutes before the scheduled time, there were already a good 20 models ahead of me. I'd read about the importance of networking at these things the night before; sure enough, friendly chitchat could be heard all over the room, and even though there were a handful of patiently-silent waiting types like myself around, everyone seem to know each other, from a million other studios and waiting rooms in some other nondescript warehouse. Even when I stepped up to the CD's table when I was called, a girl half-greeted me before politely realizing she didn't know me.

The go-see itself was only about 45 seconds; the girl nearest after me on the call sheet (thankfully, more pint-sized than me) and I stood up on Wii Fit pads and shadowboxed at the camera while laughing like it was the time of our lives. When we left, we were going the same way for a good block before she turned the corner. No small talk. No acknowledgement. No indication that we've just shared a common experience except for our identical, mandated tank top/shorts/flip-flops uniform. All the friendly chatter doesn't change this fundamental fact:

At the end of the day, everyone else wants what you want, but not all of you can have it.

"(500) Days of Summer"

I had only planned to walk through the Metreon & Yerba Buena Garden to get to the MoMA. But I was ahead of schedule on the day's itinerary, and I'd heard plenty about this movie being the romcom "for guys", "for real people", "for people who hate romcoms", all the usual indie press. Plus, it was still before noon; when else was I going to be at a theater this early & able to get in for only six bones? The previews, incidentally, showed quite a few projects with cute casts coming up, Drew Barrymore's "Whip It!" being tops among them.

I can see how this movie spoke to people, specifically the Gen-Yers whose insecurity-checkered and ambiguous relationships that pass for modern romance the movie encapsulates. Do real-life relationships start that awkwardly? Yes. Do they deteriorate, decline, and eventually crumble because of the same undiscernible, indescribable, and ultimately ridiculous-on-paper reasons? Yes. And though it highlights all of these things that should reinforce my half-serious resolution of not attempting to involve myself with anyone until I find a real job, it still managed to make me feel like I was missing out on something. (And it wasn't the dialogue, since the sole example of witty romcom banter I picked out was using "I'm unemployed" to describe the state of not getting any).

Still, aside from that setback, I enjoyed the fact that all the laughs in the theatre came at times that could only suggest they were laughs of the knowing, of those who realize they've been down that road of awkward before. Oh, and Joe Gordon-Levitt looks great in skinny suits and cardigans. All in all, not a bad two-hour investment.

MoMA/Avedon

By the time I finally walked across the YB Garden, my body was beginning to remember that it had only slept about 4 hours the night before last. A huge line wrapped around the block to the left even though it was Free Tuesday; I found it strange that there were that many people who would know whow Avedon was, before realizing that another special exhibition of Georgia O'Keefe and Ansel Adams was also running, and that - hey! - people who would come to museums in the first place probably know a famous artist or two.

My ticket wouldn't let me in until after 3, so I had a solid hour to wander about the other floors. The following realizations/thoughts came to in pretty quick succession:
1) I don't really "get" modern art.
2) There are a LOT of attractive, nervous-*gulp*-warranting girls here.
3) How am I supposed to contemplate and fish for inspiration with all the hot women around?

Fortunately, I was still thinking clearly enough to pick a few things out. (I claim no ownership of the following photos, don't sue me pretty please.)
Things I learned at the museum today:

• In the spirit of the afternoon's film: the heart is a chaotic yet splendidly colorful place.
• Damien Hirst's butterflies can be just as showy as his crystal-skull stuff, just on a smaller scale, and without dominating an entire room.
• Even if he's a drifter, a man can put on a well-cut shirt & jacket, and achieve instant respectability. Those pockmarks hidden away in the freckles could've easily come from syphilis or something similarly distasteful. but combine it with the outfit, and the distinctive eyes, and you can easily get away with some melodramatic characterization like "a lifetime written all over his face."

Don't know if I can even enjoy this ironically.

Take 1 part of the worst of early-millennial, trashy-materialism hip-hop, add 1 part Christian metalcore/screamo? band, and you get...a most "inconceivable!" combination.

Carpe the moment...or rational sleep.

As much as I've been trying to push myself towards a "early to bed, early to rise" schedule, I find more and more that I do my best work near or after the midnight hour. Often, I have some sort of breakthrough epiphany around 1 am, try to jot it down in bullet points for the sake of later elaboration, only to lose the excitement of the inner discovery the following morning. Maybe a flash of brilliance, or what may be confused for it, is worth a frantic scramble with five minutes to get to work the next morning.


Miles by jmniu featuring g-star jeans

Outfit post for the time being...I'm secretly hoping that the middle school kids I'm helping to teach this afternoon will at least have some silent appreciation of the color use.

Beginning of an End

Ah, first day of the last two months of undergrad. Highlight: squeezing cardio and lifting into the two hours before class. Not cool: going in for a haircut that I didn't even really need, and leaving with basically the Mao Zedong Mushroom minus the male-pattern baldness. -_-bb

But, I did find time to pick up my Gilt.com purchases--namely, a Hyden Yoo sweater and a pair of A. Testoni loafers that, while being too good a deal to pass up, are far, far too nice for my age and surroundings. I'll be worthy in 3-5 years, maybe. In the meantime...maybe the market value will appreciate.

Here's the outfit posting of the day, as inspired by the catch-up Gossip Girl I watched last night & its sheer abundance of shawl-collar cashmere sweaters.


"Welcome to the Next 30 Years" - by jmniu on Polyvore.com

Polyvore Experiment

As the days of cleaning out sophomore-year homework and pondering over my fledgling portfolio comes to an end, I've finally gotten around to fiddling with the nifty collaging tool millions in the blogosphere are already taking advantage of to add more visual punch to their posts. I'm not terribly impressed with it so far--it often fails to import photos I want for no apparent reason, even when it's static and not one of the numerous Java-enabled product photos that zoom in and out you see on so many shopping sites nowadays.

For that matter, the outfit I chose to do isn't anything revolutionary--I've done better at the summer-prep thing before. Still, it's a simple start, and the red works well for both attending a Chinese function and for pairing with Jack Purcells & skinny denim for a look that's all Rob Lowe circa 1985.

Incidentally, I found out that the JP's I got at Jeremy's on sale--as a spare pair of white sneakers--are actually current-season. What what?


American Minimal - by jmniu on Polyvore.com

Ralph Lauren F09

Just as prime-time TV's poster boy of prep has steadily shed his earlier propensity for loud, punchy uses of color, the bastion of prep design seems to continue its back-to-basics approach to reconciling inherently colorful prep design with the somber tone of our times.

As a matter of fact, the collection as a whole was a trifle *too* monochromatic for the tastes of yours truly--an abundance of earth tones and black/dark navy, with nary a gray-and-pastel combo in sight. Guess I'll have to check elsewhere for matching suggestions for my forthcoming new gray cardigan.

In any case, here are a couple of the very few items that carried on the proud prep tradition of always wearing exactly one item that says, "go to hell." I have yet to figure out a way to pull off the cardigan-as-blazer trick without it looking gimmicky--the main thing is finding a sweater that will still be functional enough to work in ensembles where it is not the main component.

Reading: A. Cicolini - The New English Dandy

Inspiration: it always strikes when one least expects it, and when one is least predisposed to exploit it. So I discovered, to my pleasant surprise, this 2005 gem of a coffee-table book right here at the university Main Stacks library over the weekend whilst searching for something else to do a history of business paper on besides 19th-century industrialists compared with Russia's oil/mining oligarchs.

It's got a lot of interesting things to say, as far as drawing a more accurate picture of dandyism in the modern age than what most could presuppose on their own. It articulates something I've been meaning to express: in an age where casual streetwear has become the de rigeur uniform of the young, it is those who are looking to classic staples of tailored jackets, shirts, and the like, who are interpreting them anew through unique combinations of colors and patterns, that are infusing creativity into daily aesthetics and rescuing us from monotony.

Here in California, where the cultural emphasis is on a careless, relaxed attitude, the propensity for hoodie-and-jeans banality is even more clearly visible. What most accept as "dressing up" here at university is usually a joyless effort, entailing a boxy, bland three-button jacket cut too high, paired with an unremarkable printed tie, thick-soled square shoes, with no more texture than a sheet of copy paper. Add a backpack, and you begin to get an idea of the campus' approach to suit-wearing.

[This is where I might articulate a grandiose bit of self-justification for "rebelling" through blackwatch plaid jackets and bow ties, but putting such sentiments into words, locking them in, would ruin the purpose of outfitting in the first place.]

I think I'd rather leave the capricious critiquing of "bad style" to the GQ and Details editors; as much as I love their work, their constant jonesing for a new phenomenon to define, elevate, and subsequently critique in three months' time does wear on my patience. There's nothing wrong about trying things you identify with or aspire to, so long as you know to move on when it begins to bore you or clash with how you see and feel about yourself.

LA Express

Sugarcult - "Los Angeles"

Been listening on this one for a while...haven't been to LA in some time, but this song, to me, captures the mystique of it all, the vague patheticness of standing in lines and waiting rooms to pitch headshots to crap-shoot gigs, the heat, the knowing, doomed, world-weariness that completes so many people's sense of what it's all about.

Resonance

"In an era of stress and anxiety, when the present seems unstable and the future unlikely, the natural response is to retreat and withdraw from reality, taking recourse either in fantasies of the future or in modified visions of a half-imagined past."

3-pc Debut!

This is rare for me, but I'm extra-excited today because in just two hours, the KMJ Group--our mock consultancy--will be making its debut presentation on Burt's Bees in our Marketing class! To suit the occasion, and because I'm loaning the jacket of my darker suit for one of the other group members, I'm finally wearing the grey 3-piece I bought back during winter break (and I finally found a suit-tie combo that doesn't look awful). Can't wait! Now, back to rehearsing.

YES.

Apparently, this 88 Keys guy -- Brooklynite musician, Kanye collaborator, and self-proclaimed "Lo-Head" has worn nothing but RL Polo blue label for something like 8 years.

...needless to say, I feel much better about my RL obsession now.