All posts tagged: featured

“Where There’s Smoke…” outfit

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Red alert. A fire in Grimes Creek is filling the Treasure Valley with smoke. When you wake, it smells of a campfire built at midnight right outside your window. Downtown turns into a hazy wilderness. As does your mind. It reminds me of the end of “Smoke,” a short story by the Boise-based writer Alan Heathcock, from his brilliant collection Volt. I went to see the film adaptation this weekend at the Death Rattle Writers Festival in Nampa, Idaho. The ending line of this story, as the film ended too, never fails to bring hot, stinging tears to my eyes, unbidden: “All that smoke was now just the air we breathe.” And then that Billy Joel song rolls through my ignited tumbleweed mind: “We didn’t start the fire / It was always burning / Since the world’s been turning / No we didn’t light it / But we tried to fight it.” Diane Freis bohemian beaded silk flower print dress (vintage 1980s) – $30, Acquired Again Antiques | Handmade Custom Leatherworks plaid wool & leather vest – $5, Idaho Youth Ranch thrift store | Frye boots – $200 | Geode gold necklace …

“Pink, Pink, Pink, Pink, Orange Moon” outfit

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“Saw it written and I saw it say Pink moon is on its way And none of you stand so tall Pink moon gonna get ye all And it’s a pink moon Hey it’s a pink moon Pink, pink, pink, pink, pink moon” But it’s orange, I told Nick Drake, annoyed at the inaccuracy of his disembodied musings in my earbuds as I walked in the dark of the Boise foothills for 2 hours witnessing the eclipse of the supermoon. Somehow, it reminded me of that knock-knock joke, “Orange you glad I didn’t say banana.” But on a cosmic level. Bill Blass Sport hot pink top $7 – Bend, OR Goodwill | Lauren Conrad flower print top $3.75 Idaho Youth Ranch thrift store | WCM New York genuine python tan belt $4.75 – Idaho Youth Ranch| Forever 21 black lace cutout leggings $20 – Forever 21 (I am not, however, 21) | Nine West gray snakeskin heels $3.95 all leather upper; made In Brazil – ReStyle thrift store | Geode gold necklace $54, Bricolage Vinyl of the Day: “Pearl” Janis Joplin (The …

“Tonight Will Be More Fun Than Last Night” outfit

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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)

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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’

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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 …