The Next New Thing

Trends are your friends.  

They keep me busy creatively in a positive way.  Which is usually better than most friendships go. Almost all of us have some sort of interest in pop-culture, so I'm going to share with you how I created a hobby that freed me and allowed me to post my ideas online and share ideas with others with out falling into the rabbit hole of perfectionism.

Awkward beginnings.

My non understanding of "fashion" that my mom dressed me in during the prepubescent phase of budding breasts, and feeling singled out in an elementary school full of Adidas and Umbro clad kids who got to play in those expensive soccer clubs on the weekends.  Hometown weekend sports weren't in my agenda:

"Sorry, but i have to go to my Dad's." 

I gotta thank her for it. and by her and it I mean my Mom teaching me about fashion trends. Thank you, Momma, for giving me an eye for fashion and all things that involved marketing and design.

Next on to my "wow that's loud" polyester psychedelic 7th grade phase of chunky rings on every finger, combat boots, but ultimately putting on the same exact hoodie from my locker every single day. Things I heard from fellow classmates included:

 "you do you realize that's the 3rd day in a row you've worn that, right?"

and

"are you seriously wearing, *gag*, PINK?"

and being referred to as the catch of the day (which I had no idea what meant) because I was holding hands with a kid for the first time like- ever (sorry I didn't get to come out with the rest of the 10 year old debutantes who bragged about how many times they have "tongue kissed" their "boyfriend" in their 2 week history of "going out". eye-roll so yes maybe my hand holding display was noticeable because of that. but I hardly doubt it.

There was this poor little orphan child-bully at school from my neighborhood who was after me. Aww. Baby's first bully. (cringe)  I knew her beginnings (adopted from a abusive home and her parents set us up on playdates. seemingly normal) and while I certainly didn't care what I knew about her, she viewed it as potential black mail which she waged war against with cold shoulders to stupid makeup accusations, to chalk board caricatures of accurately pimple complected interpretations of my face and asking the entire class,

"who is this? who did i draw here?"

I blushed behind the already red and irritated acne plagued cheeks and waited for the spotlight to swing my way. Thankfully, I was "saved" by random football player who answered her question,

"I don't know...crater-faced K*****?"

I'll leave the name anonymous. I'm not trying to track down, please god no, or "publicly out" this poor girl that i haven't seen in a hundred years.  Just reminiscing awkwardly funny yet relate able tales of yee old adolescent days. 

Anyway that jock guy blurted this out, taking the attention away from me, and everyone laughed. and so did she, of course, and she was done with her art lesson and sat in her desk possibly miffed by losing a chance to take another jab at me. or not? who knows?  maybe this particular incident really wasn't about me (my 13 year old self says of COURSE it was about ME. DUH.) That's the joy of being this age..."everyone is staring me" is a constant thought shared by everyone and then, hopefully, that paranoia fades away with age and you realize no one gives a flying fuck. and that sounds kinda sad but somewhat freeing at the same time...ANYWAYSSS

doesn't have to be a picture perfect life through the lenses.

This is where my handbags hang

This is where my cat does her THANG

Yeah. This is where my cat does her thang but it's also where my handbags hang. Deal with it. or not. The world of take it or leave it.  Ahh yes, the freedom to spend time on what we are actually into instead of following the crowd like a bunch of early aught's buying the same shirt in every color from American Eagle.

Finding inspiration.  

Supporting other's who I appreciate their work and aesthetic.  but yes there are those days when you see your favorite instagramer post amazing put together outfits and photo shoots 7 days a week. Where do you get your time??

Scratch that.

I have time to do exactly the same thing.  but on a daily basis it's not going to be where I invest all of my energy.  so it becomes- inspiration that you choose to admire, help yourself to brainstorm your own ideas, and not become obsessed with obtaining their exact M.O.

magazines. 

I have to go through all of these- before I'm done with breakfast- says my internal dialogue

cut and paste; IRL

paper or plastic- or digital? how my magazine infatuation lead to shit tickets.
In short: I rip out the pages I want to keep around for ideas.  They eventually become the throw away pages on the bottom of my birds cage.  The 3 "Rs".

how I've utilized forecasting, and trend recognition into hands on activities.

this is not a test

no! I destroyed my hoodie from the "The Icing" for this?!

the pair of sneakers I glued a grill onto....yeah it was CRAZY glued- and I wore it in public- PROUDLY

magazine poster board- as shown above
Instagram photos
crazy random ideas i post with no fear- like the pair of sneakers I glued a grill onto, or the doc martens i decoupaged keepew dolls and glitter confetti (and then wore them to work and subsequently got fired...oops) adding old pink fur from an amazing hoodie i destroyed from the "icing" in 1999 and used it for staging a quirky accessory that kept appearing on runways.

Forecasting for business- such as all things hair style related- to keeping up with the most eye catching logos and the ever changing eye gravitation of millions of fonts, to business branding for others, while completely neglecting my own website or "brand".

"trends" are ever changing. as am I. I am a million different people from one day to the next.  yes I follow industries leaders such as high end designers and fashion mags and companies like Pantone but i also always have my own trending line of inspirations rolling throw my mind like a conveyor belt sometimes moving too fast for me to keep up- depending on how much caffeine I've had or how my depression is doing- hence circling this back around to....mental illness!