gen's Profile
- Londoner, music venue bod, sometime writer, on-and-off artist
Entry: Chanel Whites Out
posted by gen
Dec 07, 2007 1:45PM
for a brit girl, white nails are too essex-y. the beauty equivalent of white stilettos.
i prefer pale grey nails, but for years i haven't been able to find a suitable shade. hard candy used to do one ['pavement'] but discontinued it years ago.
right now i like super-glossy, deep forest-green nails.
Entry: Denim: Classic or Trendy?
posted by gen
Jan 08, 2008 7:14AM
I've just abandoned denim altogether for now. Skinny jeans feel dated, it's hard to find a good, non-dowdy pair of straight-legs or [shudder] bootcuts, and wide-leg denim never quite escapes the That 70s Show/Camden nu-metal connotations for me. I'm taking this as a spur to explore the other trouser-shaped options out there. I'm wearing mens' cut black cotton/wool, and very wide legged and high waisted, 1930s-cut drill cotton in indigo and gray. Both are as versatile as jeans but feel far more chic.
Entry: Big Bags - A Soliloquy
posted by gen
Jan 08, 2008 8:18PM
for work, i have a tote with my laptop, my makeup bag, travelcard, phone, purse, pins, keys, lipbalm and a pen. maybe a book as well. i really ought to get a decent laptop/travel bag, or at least a big squashy bag large & sturdy enough for my damn macbook, but i'm lazy and hate spending a lot of money on bags, especially when i know unless i spend £300 the handles will probably fall off. bags, to me, are a thing you get at second-hand stores for £15 and treasure until they break. then you get another one.
for weekends/nights out, i get by easily with a medium sized clutch [with a tuckaway-able gold chain] - travelcard, phone, lipbalm, pen, pins, tiny drawstring purse and the decanted essentials of my makeup bag - powder, lipstick/pencil eye pencil and a concealer. i couldn't be arsed with something huge, i'd just fill it with more crap and do my shoulders in.
Entry: Would You Wear Colored Mascara?
posted by gen
Jan 15, 2008 3:33PM
I don't like brightly coloured mascara, but I adore aubergine-coloured mascara. Mavala does a terrific one...right now I use YSL's one though. It sits really nicely against blue eyes, looks subtly surprising and just... works. Hate electric blue, but I'd like to find a good, warm indigo - something very definitely blue, not navy or bluey-grey [as some blues tend to be.]
Entry: Jan 25, 2008 @ 2:28pm
posted by gen
Jan 28, 2008 7:23AM
i just don't think i will ever get bored of looking at kate moss.
Entry: Open Toe Boots Are Not OK
posted by gen
Mar 15, 2008 7:38AM
i dislike them. have seen them around a lot. they have a tendency to look extremely tacky. still, i guess the 90s revival is well on its way.
but then i avoid open-toed shoes anyway - living in a dirty city like london, there is no way to wear such contraptions without getting blackened toes [or tights, if one resorts to that] - which rather kills the glamour.
Entry: Fashion Collecting: Streamlining or Splurging?
posted by gen
Mar 20, 2008 8:47AM
I collect gloves and walking-length umbrellas. I can never have enough, as long as they're beautiful. Unusual umbrellas are definitely my signature item.
The thought of having a uniform [self imposed or otherwise] and wearing the same thing every day fills me with depression and dread.
Entry: Cleavage Wins
posted by gen
Mar 21, 2008 9:13AM
Hell no. Not overly endowed but never felt the need to push em up. Padded bras are good for certain clothes [when you need more of a curve], but none of it exactly falls under 'greatest invention ever'.
Stilettos and denim [well, jeans - denim rarely looks good anywhere except the legs] are definitely in there... as is mascara.
Entry: Cleavage Wins
posted by gen
Mar 22, 2008 11:27AM
Skepchick - I'm gonna defend the stiletto here. Good stilettos are comfortable [got a pair I can wear for two days solid, day & night, without problems, and I'm no heels pro], they completely change the line of your body & your clothes, and they look phenomenal on everyone [not all women benefit from/need a push up bra, there are some beautiful flat-chested ladies around who'd look absurd with 'm' shaped boobies protruding from their chest].
I shied away from stilettos for years, thinking I couldn't hack wearing them, and only recently embraced them. Now they are my favourite thing, and always prompt compliments from guys AND gals. And they're an absolutely iconic fashion item. Damn right they're a great invention.
Entry: Apr 03, 2008 @ 12:30pm
posted by gen
Apr 03, 2008 12:45PM
David Lee Roth, by miles and miles. Prince's bottom looks quite unremarkable [who'd have thunk the little purple one was capable of EVER being unremarkable?] and Gisele looks like Porno Barbie, particularly caught, as she is, in that "this leg this way, that leg that way" moment.
DLR looks like Iggy Pop from behind, and there are far worse back-ends to look like.
Entry: Would You Wear a Tiara?
posted by gen
Apr 03, 2008 12:49PM
It's a wee bit Drew Barrymore/Courtney Love/generic Manics fan for my tastes. Perhaps there's a wearable strait between the twin terrors of little miss princess-head and screaming glitter-strewn hellbitch, but I'm not drawn to try and navigate it.
Entry: A McClintock For A McQueen
posted by gen
Apr 07, 2008 9:31AM
how very Clueless...
"I have donated MANY expensive Italian outfits to Lucy..."
Entry: Crop Tops, Really?
posted by gen
Apr 07, 2008 9:37AM
everything comes back. everything. even the really ugly styles [as championed by every fake-glasses-sporting hipster around - see every bad 80s trend ever, from snazzily patterned leggings to horrible shoulder-padded jackets - Vogue's endorsement of the 'statement jacket' a coupla months back, anyone?]. we may not like it, but crop-tops will be back, and some of us will even be cajoled into wearing them. magazines will hum with articles on how to 'tone that tummy'.
it's a sad inevitability.
Entry: Apr 08, 2008 @ 3:37pm
posted by gen
Apr 09, 2008 6:14AM
hmm. post-rachel-zoe 70s california/jarmusch cowgirl. not a fan. move on, kate. move on. you're better than this.
Entry: "Say, Ambular! Was That You Going Through My Laundry?"
posted by gen
Apr 09, 2008 1:10PM
it has more to do with the attitude than the actual copying. if me and a friend both like a style, so be it. as long as neither party is a bitch about it. it's rare that my friends and i plan clothes in advance for any given occasion, but i can't remember an occasion where i've run into a mate wearing the same thing. even if we like the same things, none of my friends share the same overall style, so if we did accidentally match, people probably wouldn't notice.
Entry: Apr 18, 2008 @ 11:31am
posted by gen
Apr 25, 2008 12:07PM
I could see Eva Green in it. It's the sort of outlandish thing that she would damn well wear anyway, and probably feel very happy in, while style councils across the world would question her 'eccentric' style.
Entry: May 08, 2008 @ 3:07pm
posted by gen
May 09, 2008 7:33AM
This spread reminded me of The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things. The third from last photo is far too Madonna for my liking though.
Entry: Rimmel Gets Another Face
posted by gen
May 12, 2008 11:13AM
First guest is completely right. Few women wear make up as adventurously and successfully as her. She's ideal. And my god, her skin.... if I don't screw up massively in this lifetime, I'm coming back as Sophie Ellis Bextor's skin.
Entry: How do you dress for cold weather?
posted by gen
Nov 15, 2007 9:00PM
always, always 2 pairs of opaque tights in winter [or 1 pair sheer, 1 pair suuuuuupermaximum woolly]. plus black trainer socks if my shoes allow it [god bless the shoeboot].
elbow-length gloves under long-sleeved tops - prevents the dreaded wrist-draught. and makes bracelet length sleeves TOTALLY doable in november.
knitwear, everywhere. wool skirts, knitted dresses, knitted tops under knitted sweaters, a practical appreciation of sonia rykiel, and a growing collection of coats that will one day mean i'll never have to resort to freezing because my warmer coat didn't go with my trousers. :(
by god, i hate the cold.