All posts tagged: featured

“Tonight Will Be More Fun Than Last Night” outfit

Published by

Tonight, someone said my look reminded her of the actress and activist Jean Seberg, wearing a New York Herald Tribune t-shirt, in the Jean-Luc Godard classic French New Wave film, “Breathless.” I replied with compliment-triggered paroxysms and (only in my head in a terrible accent), “Bien. Merci.” Hugo Buscati Collection red silk circus jacket, $8, Restyle | Cheap ass black leggings, $25 for a 2 pack, Costco | ‘Tonight will be more fun than last night’ silk-screened t-shirt, $3.75, Idaho Youth Ranch | Guess stilettos, $11, Idaho Youth Ranch | Geode gold necklace, $68 @ 20% off (I can’t do math, OK), Bricolage Then we danced frenetically to the Boise-based Basque rock band, Amuma Says No. Because this place is awesome. And there is an afterlife. Tonight will be more fun than last night. You called it again, t-shirt. Even if it means your house still remains a sty 4 days post Story Story Night. Vinyl of the Day: “Treasure Island” by Keith Jarrett Cheep!

“PARADiSE” outfit

Published by

Every outfit speaks volumes. Sometimes right on the tag. On the front, this one says in a sexy 1980’s cursive: Sophistication. On the back, a fantastical creation story: MADE IN INDIA  Congratulations on your new purchase. This dress from our sequin and beaded collection has been entirely handcrafted. It takes a team of 5 skilled workers 15 to 20 days to complete one dress.  All those hands. All that meticulous stitching. All for a sophisticated $99.50 American dream. Yet there the tag hangs, still attached to the dress, like an albatross on an unforeseen 30 year tour. Over time, this vision of sequins and silk—trapped in a closet, beautiful and unworn— turns into nothing but a missed opportunity, then a waste of space. So it spends a brief purgatory in a thrift store in Boise. Before it arrives at last at PARADiSE: Stories of Buying a Stairway to Heaven. For $18.75. This is the fortune I gain from the tag story: You can find immeasurable beauty and riches that cost you next to nothing. But you will have to dare to look in unexpected places. Sometimes, you …

“Generic Landscape Hotel Art” outfit

Published by

It speaks of bland escapes. Vacations hinged on chain hospitality. The birds of the beach and the brushstroke green of the backcountry as seen on the walls of a Motel 6 in the middle of nowhere. I can blend in anywhere. I’m a total wallflower. Who put a bird on it. Collective Concepts green & gray dress, $15 (LUX). Black Rainn sheer bird shirt, $14 (Serendipity Boutique). Kate Spade nude wedges, $70 (ROSS Dress for Less in Portland, originally $300). Gold & glass landscape necklace, $5, Idaho Youth Ranch. Gold bracelet combo, gifts from sisters. Album of the Day: “Inner Space” by Chick Corea Cheep!

“PURGATORY” outfit

Published by

I have this sick green neon sign in my bathroom that inspires serial killer queries from dates. It’s by Boise artist Wil Kirkman. I bought it at Visual Arts Collective a few years ago when in the suck, because it illuminated the darkness. It also gives off great mood lighting for pooping and showering (but not in that order, because ew). vintage Roper acid blue jean skirt, LUX, $18.99 vintage Liz Claiborne puke green tank, LUX, $7.99 Cindy Says green-gold hells, Piece Unique, $I can’t remember but they were half off 1920’s Afghanistani silver and glass necklace, Armor Bijoux, $$$ I wore this outfit to Story Story Late-Night‘s PURGATORY: Stories of Being Stuck in the Middle with You, the adults-only black sheep arm of the live storytelling show I co-created and artistic direct. Something about the high-waisted, acid-colored denim split skirt speaks to all the weird fashion trends I am stuck forever craving, to my ultimate detriment. The sickly, silky green top brings to mind my sign. In bleaker times, I read those three words as a concise summary of life itself. The …

“It’s Business Time at the Circus” outfit

Published by

I hope you get that chorus from the Flight of the Conchords song stuck in your head when you see this get-up, because… it’s business, it’s business time (if you happen to work in a circus).  Yesterday’s outfit made me think of this weird art deco-ish dress I bought at Eyes of the World like 5 years ago for $35 and never wear because it’s very breast exposing, turning the ensemble into a XXX circus peep show (which sounds like a profitable business venture/reality TV concept, now that I think of it). Anyway, pair it with a pin-stripe vest and pearl/metal dangle earrings (both from the Idaho Youth Ranch for like $3 each), and look who’s now only slightly inappropriate in your corporate meetings. Then put on a pair of suede black-and-white DKNY platform wedges (purchased at the Idaho Youth Ranch for $20), hit the streets, and enjoy all the pratfalls and awkward stares of a stilt-walker. Vinyl of the Day: “Symphonie Fantastique” by Berlioz. Cheep!

“Happy Short Circuit Phoenix Birthday to Me” outfit

Published by

Have you ever thought, “There is something seriously wrong with me”? Say, since you were 12 years old? This birthday is a big birthday for me, not only because I am officially super old, but because I just realized there has been something seriously wrong with me. For about 23 years. An easily-fixed glitch in my system that until now has wreaked havoc on my entire adult life. Like a Tasmanian Devil tattoo on your forehead. It’s been that hideous. [Outfit breakdown: Silk & sequins phoenix top $15 (Serendipity Boutique; No brand name on tag—made in India circa 1980). Lace cutout leggings $20 (Forever 21). Salvatore Ferragamo orange suede boots $45 (Idaho Youth Ranch; Original MSRP=$1500). Thinning hair, acne and angst (courtesy of an endocrine disorder called PCOS).] I don’t know why I can’t just post a “Yea, it’s my birthday!” Cheep note but I can’t, because it’s only been 9 days since it’s really sunk in (along with the hormones). I have Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), and I likely have since puberty. Like 1 out of 20 women. This basically means my ovaries don’t …

“Ms. Claus on Cormac McCarthy’s The Road” outfit (Story Story Night special)

Published by

Have you ever wondered what Ms. Claus would wear if trapped in the apocalyptic landscape of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road? Have you ever wanted to get precision shopping details from someone who gives long, comedic titles to her outfits? Behold. Dreams—or nightmares—coming true: I call these pants the Apocalypse pants, because, made of pleather and purchased at Forever 21 for $20 (half off, original $40), they would outlast the cockroaches. Fitting for the Story Story Night theme PLANES, TRAiNS & AUTOMOBiLES, if you’re dark like me. The Laurence Kazar (est. 1960s) shirt, if you can call it a shirt as it surely is something far more spectacular than a mere shirt, was purchased at my favorite thrift store, Restyle, for $7. It was also half off (original $14), because I roll dirt cheap in vintage silk, sequins and beading, bitches. You are not really bitches. That’s the pants talking. Erm… The Salvatore Ferragamo orange suede boots I found at the Idaho Youth Ranch for $45 mother-bleeping-fucker-dollars. (OK, now suddenly our tone of voice has shifted to a badly censored …

[BREAK-UP DIORAMA III] Living Room / ‘Shelter From the Storm’

Published by

Make some sense of this. Read the Museum Plaque Introduction» It was in another lifetime, one of toil and blood When blackness was a virtue and the road was full of mud I came in from the wilderness, a creature void of form “Come in” she said “I’ll give you shelter from the storm.” —Bob Dylan, Shelter From the Storm (Blood On the Tracks) [Figure i: Overview. The carpet wars. It was their first relationship standoff. She hated the carpet. It seemed to have existed there for 30 years to collect intractable dirt, fray at the hallway to reveal only a naughty tease of hardwood, and eventually annoy her to hell. Besides, carpet was plastic and she despised plastic. She eliminated it from her environment like a pogrom. She was a decor dictator. She dispatched her enemies, no matter how ruthless and cunning she had to be.] And if I pass this way again, you can rest assured I’ll always do my best for her, on that I give my word In a world of steel-eyed death …

[BREAK-UP DIORAMA II] Bathroom / ‘Buckets of Rain’

Published by

Why’s Bob Dylan in the toilet? Read the Museum Plaque Introduction» Buckets of rain Buckets of tears Got all them buckets coming out of my ears Buckets of moonbeams in my hand You got all the love honey baby I can stand. —Bob Dylan, ‘Buckets of Rain‘ (Blood On The Tracks) [Figure i: Overview. She had been in man bathrooms before. She knew what they could be like. But this was another story. This bathroom was bar none dis-gust-ing. The ceiling and walls were splotched with blights of mold. The bathtub was potentially unsalvageable—the white of the porcelain unseeable, caked brown. She felt dirty after sitting on the toilet, after taking a shower. Before she moved in, his friend Scott took a razor blade to the shower walls, then rooted out and replaced the moldy caulking, telling her, “I just couldn’t imagine you living here like this.” It was certainly the worst of it. It took her two days of solo painting. First a few layers of Kilz. Then the cover up. She choose deep purple …

[BREAK-UP DIORAMA I] Bedroom / ‘Visions of Johanna’

Published by

What, pray tell, is this? Read the Museum Plaque Introduction» Ain’t it just like the night to play tricks when you’re tryin’ to be so quiet ? We sit here stranded, though we’re all doin our best to deny it And Louise holds a handful of rain, tempting you to defy it —Bob Dylan, ‘Visions of Johanna‘ (Blonde On Blonde) [Figure i: Overview. She remembers that last night here, which was not the last night here, not by a long shot, but that last of the long lonely nights waiting for Godot, or him, as it was. It was the night she had decided. And when such a thing has been decided it was decided. It was over. She just needed to say the words. And when she did, he shrugged. It was decided. She just needed to say the words.] Lights flicker from the opposite loft In this room the heat pipes just cough The country music station plays soft But there’s nothing really nothing to turn off Just Louise and her lover so entwined And these …