Photo by Dandy Prof. Charlotte Ronson blouse (I know, again), Urban Outfitters jeans, Jeffre Campbell Lita's, Melville House tote
I admit that when I brought my Jeffrey Campbell Lita’s I had no illusions that they would be the most practical shoes in the world. I secretly asked myself, “How much are you really going to wear these?” And, yet. I find myself wearing them often! Even to work! My co-workers have asked me, “Are you going to wear your cat shoes tomorrow?” And why not? In my opinion, the idea of fun fashion is to bring levity to the everyday. I have found, however, that the cat Lita’s cannot be worn with any other pattern. The supporting outfit has to be super basic, all black, or all neutral. Voila, here are just a few of the ways I’ve worn them.
American Apparel dress, Hue tights, Jeffrey Campbell Lita's
I used to wear my avoidance of sport as a badge of nerd culture pride. In high school after I quite the field hockey team I was allowed to take an “individualized athletic program” where I could practice the sport of my choosing for 3 hours a week. That amount of time seems like nothing now, but as a teenager it seemed like torture. I came from a place where long legged, blonde haired, soccer and lacrosse playing girls ruled the school. The rest of us just didn’t count quite as much. I wanted nothing to do with this culture. So the activities I chose to complete my sport requirement for high school graduation: horseback riding, modern dance, and roller skating.
I know the classic New Year’s resolution is to “loose weight and exercise.” As you know if you read this blog regularly, last year I lost 20 pounds and became a lifetime member of Weight Watchers. I don’t need (or want) to keep loosing, but I want to maintain and find a “new normal” for the level of activity that I do. While I’ve practiced different sports intermittently for a long time: ballet, yoga, biking and swimming, I was never consistent about exercise. I’d do something for awhile and then stop, but I know I need to stay consistent to keep the weight off (I also need to keep tracking food as most of my weight gain or loss came from changing the way I ate).
Activities that I like both have some skill to them, so they get better with practice, but are open to anyone. I also like when they can be practiced independently, but have the potential to be social. The high school nerd in me still hates the idea of sport, so I have to trick myself into doing something that’s fun (ballet! swimming!), or useful (biking! It gets you places!).
Low and behold, in my determination to exercise regularly, I’ve come across a few classes in the New York-area I absolutely love, as well as some helpful resources I want to share in case you too have a resolution to get out there and get in shape.
I had the time of my life in the adult beginner ballet class at Mark Morris‘ studio in downtown Brooklyn, which I took with four other friends. It’s extremely motivating to know you are practicing at a school with some of the best modern dancers, and they also have life music in every class! Now that I am done with grad school I can’t wait to go back.
The class that changed my relationship to fitness was my friend Emily Kramer’s Spirit Boxing workshops. Open to women and trans people, these classes combine boxing conditioning with yoga stretching and centering. I found myself engaged on a physical, emotional, and intellectual level and felt supported, despite how out of shape I was. This class showed me I could do things I never thought possible, like run around Prospect Park and learn how to throw effective punches.
Lately I’ve been hitting up the Punk Rope class at the Greenpoint Y with my bandmate M. There’s classes in different parts of the country, but Tim and Shawna, the punk rope originators, run a high energy class with a new theme, sound track, and special exercises and drills every week. They call it “recess meets bootcamp” and I think that’s accurate! It’s so fun to jump to punk songs I don’t even notice how much I’m sweating. Plus, they got me to do sprinting drills, something I have not done since middle school!
I also want to add that what is so great about Tim and Shawna of Punk Rope and Emily of Spirit Boxing is that they are all activists dedicated to promoting health and fitness for kids who may not learn the value of exercise and healthy eating at school or home for many reasons. Learning from these teachers is inspiring on a deeper level.
Finally, for learning to train on your own (and getting over fear and inertia) I found the site Stumptuous.com to be really helpful. While it’s geared towards women interested in lifting weights it’s got great advice for anyone who wants to pump iron, do it safely, and is dubious of gym culture.
What are your New Years resolutions? What have you found is the exercise for you?
I’ll also leave you with a little extra inspiration:
Wishing all of you sparkling celebrations for the end of 2011 and start of 2012. May the new year bring your health, happiness, love and laughter. Thank you for reading, for your comments, for sharing little bits of your life with me and reading little bits of mine. I am really looking forward to this next year. There are adventures planned, thinking and reflecting to do, and a big surprise on the way (no, I’m not pregnant or getting married). There will hopefully be great outfits, fun shoes, and great places near and far to explore and share it all with you. Bisous et bonnes fêtes!
Modcloth dress, Gap cardigan, Hue tights, Robert Clergerie heels, Modcloth headband
This is just a quick entry to wish all a very festive and lovely season, whatever holiday you may or may not be celebrating. I hope that in this week leading up to the new year you will take some time to rest, reflect, regroup and spend time with the people who matter most do you and remembering what makes your life good. I am home in Maine for a few days to do exactly that, as well as be completely spoiled by my family and enjoy their incredible cooking. 2011 has been a banner year for me and I feel it has set things in motion for an even more rewarding 2012. We never know what the future will bring, but may it be merry and bright!
Cozy by the fire in my Built by Wendy sweater dress
Charlotte Ronson top, Urban Outfitters jeans, Jeffrey Campbell Lita's
I promised there were more heels coming up, et voila! As a graduation present to myself I caved into temptation and, after a bit of internet searching, I found the shoes of my dreams. At first I didn’t want to admit it, but I was really smitten with Jeffrey Campbell’s Litas. Especially the ones covered with cat tapestry fabric. Because I love heels and I love cats. It’s as simple as that. But when I finally decided to go for it, after getting over the fear that I had lost all common sense, I found they were sold out almost everywhere. So, I was a little dubious of ordering them a from a shoe store I found after an incredibly precise Google search of “Jeffrey Campbell Lita Cat Tapestry,” but Eilatan Shoes, in California, had them (granted only in size 8.5, my size!) and they arrived within a few days. So here I am, on the streets of DUMBO, with my the cat platforms of my dreams. Tell me, does having a master’s degree and wearing platform heels with cats on them cancel each other out in terms of being taken seriously? I certainly hope not.
Two footnotes: I figured that pairing my Lita’s with plain denim and black would make wearing them seem less crazy. On Friday I picked up this Charlotte Ronson top at a sample sale at Angel Street Thrift Shop for $20. Not bad, eh?
Also, a question was posed to me: Are Lita’s really as comfortable as everyone claims? Answer: Yes. Take it from a New Yorker of shorter stature who rides the subway and walks fast with a long stride. I’m smitten. I want a pair in every color and pattern. Anyone out there want to be my shoe benefactor?
On Friday I handed in my thesis and completed two and a half years of study toward my Master of Public Administration degree. (In case you are curious, it is entitled “The Creative Fabric of the City: The Relationship Between City Governments and Arts Organizations in New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia.”) One thing I learned in my MPA program was not to be afraid of math. In fact, while I entered a math skeptic, I emerged a math enthusiast. After required courses in statistics, budgeting and financial analysis, economics and an elective in the economics of public finance (yes, I really did take that out of my own free will) I am constantly channeling my budgeting professor and telling other math skeptics (especially artists), “Don’t be afraid of numbers! Numbers tell a story! A budget is just the story of your project told in numbers!”
So, in that spirit, here is the story of my Master’s degree, in numbers:
Total number of months in program: 27
Month GRE was taken: February 2009
Month I was accepted to the program: May 2009
Month program began: September 2009
Date I turned in my thesis: December 16, 2011
Age when I began my degree: 28
Age when I completed my degree: 30
Total number of courses: 14
Total number of credits: 42
Length of a weeknight class: 2.5 hours
Total number of hours spent in class: 560
Approximate number of cups of Earl Grey tea consumed before or during class: 150
Approximate money spent on Earl Grey tea: $250
Total tuition and fees paid to the City University of New York: $14,229
Total student debt incurred: $0
Total library fines incurred: $30
Number of citations in my thesis: 177
Number of pages in my thesis: 146 (includes full interview notes)
Number of inane power point presentations by my fellow classmates I had to sit through: 70
Number of inane power point presentations I had to give: 9
Times I went to class with the world’s worst hangover: 1 (it was a Sunday class, after a CHERYL dance party, forgive me)
Maximum number of flights of stairs I had to climb due to broken escalators to get to class in the “Vertical Campus:” 12
Year the broken escalators in the vertical campus were supposed to be repaired: 2011
Year when the broken escalators will actually be repaired: ??
Pairs of shoes that I bought this fall to deal with the stress of working full time and completing my degree: 11 (oh no, that’s embarrassing, I might have spent as much on shoes this semester as I did on tuition, with graduation comes a rethinking of my financial priorities)
Number of Master of Public Administration degrees earned: 1
Winter cool with my Miista boots, Monoprix studded leggings, Built by Wendy sweater dress and jacket, American Apparel beret, the leopard scarf I bought on the street and my lovely Nola bag from Les Composantes
What are the effects of regularly reading fashion blogs? I estimate I’ve been a regular fashion blog reader since the summer of 2010 (yeah, I know, I’m a little late to the party) and I started to write more fashion oriented posts on this blog soon after. I’ve always loved fashion and style and never cared much for labels and trends. I think that clothes are an expression of personality and being able to express myself through what I wear has always been important to me. (If you ask really nicely I’ll show you pictures of my from high school with pink hair, wearing sparkly purple lipstick and a feather boa – yes, the original Killerfemme). Discovering independent fashion blogs is a big of a revelation because it allows me to connect with and admire others who feel similarly about dressing up and getting on with their lives.
So after a year and a half of reading fashion blogs I noticed something. Blogs are changing the way I dress and impacting my aesthetic. Let’s take, for example, shoes. I love shoes. I cannot get enough of them. But one thing I was very skeptical of was the platform shoe trend. “Impractical,” I told myself. As much as I admired Jeffrey Campbell Litas I aked myself how would I ever pull them off? Too glam rock, too disco, too 70’s, and I’m not so short that I need 5 extra inches of height, I told myself. So I resisted. Even while my fashion blogging friends rocked them and looked fabulous.
Built by Wendy Sweater dress, headband from Modcloth, Les Compsantes bag, Monoprix leggins and yes, my Miista boots!
I even went shopping one day this summer with S.G. who told me, “I just can’t embrace the modern shoe,” as we fondled some black strappy chunky platform number in a precious Greenpoint boutique. I concurred.
Then one day, I cracked. I was walking to band practice along Smith street and I walked by the drool-worthy (and wallet emptying) boutique Dear Fieldbinder. I have never bought anything there, but I loved the whole experience of the boutique. Suddenly I wanted everything in the store. And then I saw them. Black, platform, strappy, with a huge heel. The boots that had to be mine. I tried them on. Light. Comfortable. Walkable. Sold.
I could not believe myself. Was I really going to wear these? I showed them to my bandmates. They swooned. A. started calling them my “Kiss boots,” and the few times I’ve trotted them out I get nonstop compliments. I even wore them to work and nobody flinched or threw me out for being unprofessional.
I did a little research into the brand, Miista, and found out they are a small, independent company making “fashion forward footwear and accessories in Hackney,” in London. They even mentioned how excited they were to be carried by Dear Fieldbinder on their blog! With my Miista boots feel like I have something truly original, like a piece of art that I can wear. And isn’t that the whole fun of fashion?
And watch out, now that I’ve embraced the modern shoe there may well be some Litas in my life that take my fashion forwardness (or insanity) up to a whole new level.
Also, psst psst, I’ve just joined lookbook.nu, so I get a double extra fashion fix. If you are on there please “fan” me and maybe if you like this give it some “hype.” I hype back, promise.
In lieu of showing you a list of all the ridiculous glittery shoes that I dream of and the stupid expensive perfume I want, I thought I would tell you about how you can become a philanthropist, a patron of the arts, and a contributor to social change this holiday season. Instead of being a period of extreme conspicuous consumption, for me the holidays are a time when I really think about how my limited money can really give back to the world and create value that goes beyond its monetary worth. While I contribute to charitable causes here and there throughout the year, the holidays are when I take the chunk of my income that I would usually allot to holiday presents and give it to charities and causes that are close to my ethics, interests and values, as well as those of my family. Nobody needs more stuff, even stuff that sparkles, and I think my small contributions go a lot further helping these organizations and causes then to buy another glitter goo-gah.
Printemps dressed up for the holidays, 2010.
On Christmas morning I give my family members small things, like an eco-friendly ornament or some delicious, artisanal snack produced in Brooklyn (shhh… I’m not telling what I’m giving this year) and a card that tells them about the cause I donated to.
Located in Portland, Oregon the IPRC has computers, work space, a letter press print shop and library for all things zine and independent comic related that also offers classes and workshops. They do fantastic work around supporting young people, media literary and empowerment and provide an important touch stone for the independent publishing community.
Because this community radio station introduced me to independent music and is a vital source of alternative news, local issues, and music programming in a rural area.
Because I use this resource almost every day and I don’t want to be a free rider. They provide vital programming and resources to people of all ages in Brooklyn and have the most dedicated staff of librarians.
Because by giving people living in poverty animals and skills that can help them secure their livelihood they support empowerment, not a cycle of dependency on aid.
I buy local produce whenever possible and am a member of the Sunset Park CSA. The hurricane left NYC unscathed, but seriously effected our neighbors upstate. It left fields under water during one of the key points in the growing and harvest season, ruining farmers crops and livelihoods. Put your money where your farm to table ethics are.
Because homelessness in NYC is at an all time high of at least 41,000 people and without a secure place to live it is almost impossible to build a secure life.
I will also be looking to donate to the artist projects and organizations on Artspire, the website for the New York Foundation for the Arts’ fiscal sponsorship program (full disclosure, they are my employer and I co-run this program). The great thing about Artspire is you can make a tax deductible donation to an individual artists project. What about this one, which will showcase young dancers and composers and benefit Central Park? You could also look through the many great projects on RocketHub, Kickstarter and Indie GoGo (though in most cases you can’t get a tax deduction for giving through those sites), like this one supporting 131 Washington, a DIY show and art venue in my hometown of Portland, Maine! Or how about helping out Booklyn, a Brooklyn-based book artists alliance which provides key representation for artist book makers?
Also, this holiday season you can be a patron of the arts by buying handmade products. I know venues like Etsy, the Brooklyn Flea, and the Bust Craftacular (which is this weekend) have popularized this option, so you have many options for discovering the perfect handmade item. What about something like the recently released Remedy Quarterly full of recipes and stories about food and feeling good? Perfect for a cold winter evening. Or how about Alejandra O’Leary’s new CD? Supporting independent musicians is always in style.
Remedy Quarterly by Kelly Carumbula
You can also learn a new skill with a friend. Like beer brewing at Bitter and Esters, a new, friendly brew shop in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. Or what about a membership to your favorite local cultural institution? While the big guys like the Met and the MoMA are always popular, what about something like the Brooklyn Historical Society or the Queens Museum of Art (or you can adopt a building on the NYC panorama, the most affordable NYC real estate you could own!)? Discover an amazing cultural institution you never knew was as cool as it is!
There are just so many ways to contribute your hard-earned catch to holidays gifts that have deep meaning and will be worth the investment. They are so much more gratifying to give then something from a chain store. Giving back is my favorite thing about the holidays, even more then pretty white lights everywhere, and something I look forward to all year.
What charitable causes and organizations will you be giving to this year?
Walker Teen Art Council, 2009-2010. Photo Cameron Wittig.
Since graduating from college I have made my career in arts institutions. I’ve worked as a museum educator, public programmer, and now work to support artists in their fund raising and teaching artists about services and resources that can help them grow their practice. In my studies I’ve focused on the arts in the realm of cultural and social policy and thought about the kind of quantitative research that can be applied to arts organizations to better understand and articulate the value of arts and culture in society. I’m excited to announce that for the next few months about I will be blogging about some of these topics as a blogging fellow on the new website ArtsFwd. ArtsFwd examines innovative practices in arts leadership and is a really exciting place for sharing ideas and about adaptive strategies to create dynamic change in the arts sector and move it, well, forward.
Life in NYC is not always easy. Sometimes its downright trying and exhausting. And that’s why a girl needs (that’s a relative term) good shoes that support her arches and add a little spring to her step through pretty details. This year I acquired four pairs of Dolce Vita shoes, not bought because of the brand, but because of their looks and comfort. I got them online at Endless.com and Modcloth, as well as at a fantastic clothing store in Bushwick that I forgot the name of (it’s right off the Morgan stop!). I think this brand is on to something by being fashion forward, yet classic, well made, and fairly priced. I may be a long way from Carrie Bradshaw’s endless budget for Manolos and from living in the European capitals I pine for, but at least I have some fancy feet.
Dolce Vita Polly glitter flat
Dolce vita Polly glitter flat with Nola bag by Les Composantes, leopard scarf, Brooklyn Industries coat
Build by Wendy blouse, Gap pants, Dolce Vita Polly glitter flat
Dolce Vita Aisha ankle boots
American Apparel dress, Antoine et Lili scarf, Brooklyn Industries tights, Dolce Vita boots
Brooklyn Industries blouse, Urban Outfitters pants, Dolce Vita Boots
Killerfemme 