September shopping - so far

Here's how my current obsessions are manifesting themselves:

My vibe at the moment is very 90s mixed with modern internet goth.  I've started browsing through Wish and adding things to my basket throughout the month and then clicking 'Purchase' on the last day, which means that I get little surprise parcels from myself at the end of the following month.  The set of pins in the picture to the right are a Wish purchase, and so is the crystal necklace.  I'm disappointed with the necklace - it has a chip where the silver coating has come off and the 'crystal' part has kind of melted into the silver next to it which shows that it's definitely just plastic, plus it's much more translucent than I expected it to be.  However, it still reflects the light and I'll still wear it regularly.  I'm much happier with the pin set, I was worried that they would be really poorly made and illegible but they look just like the photo.  My favourites are the ghost and the 'Ugh.' heart which reminded me of The 1975's song of the same name.  I'm going to put the banner with "Sure. Fine. Whatever." on something I wear at work to point to when I can't be bothered answering someone's silly question. 
I found the Empire Records patch at Pie In The Sky in Edinburgh which has a wide range of patches, pins, band t-shirts and other cool stuff.  A lot of it is really pricey (they had some great Jarvis Cocker pins which were £8.50; other pins and patches in there are up to £20 each) but this one was £2.99 and will fit right in on my denim jacket which I've been embellishing all summer.  I was surprised to find it there because Empire Records is a totally underrated movie. 
They're all sitting on a checked background courtesy of some 'cosy' leggings I bought in Primark.  Their approach this season is apparently 'all tartan everything' - I'm not a fan of patterned trousers so I avoided those and went for the leggings instead, which I can wear under a skirt or short dress to keep warm this winter.

As everyone who knows me knows, I can't resist an armful of books, and I picked these ones up on two trips to my hometown charity shops.  Sylvia Plath is one of my favourite people of the 20th century; I've read The Bell Jar multiple times, along with her Letters Home and some of her poems, but I've never come across a copy of her Journals until now.  As much as I recognise her poetic genius, it's her letters and journal entries that enthral me the most - I don't believe there has been anyone who has written about the day-to-day experience of being a young woman as well as Plath did. 
I picked up the Oasis book to fulfil the '2 for 99p' offer that allowed me to take home the vintage copy of Lady Chatterley's Lover.  I like Oasis but they aren't my favourite of the Britpop set (more on Britpop later); I get the feeling that the best book about them would be one that the Gallagher brothers took turns writing so that it had the maximum amount of petty sibling drama, but we'll see. 
Persepolis is different to my usual reading material in that it's a graphic novel but I've heard so many interesting things about it over the years that it feels like something I should get round to reading.  I'm also looking forward to devouring the Jim Morrison story in No One Here Gets Out Alive, which I've passed over so many times but finally decided to purchase.
Finally, I can't resist old Penguin copies of classic books, even if they're falling apart, which is why I came home with a 60s edition of Lady Chatterley's Lover.  I do already have a copy as part of a DH Lawrence compendium, but this paperback is going to be much easier to handle as long as I don't lose any pages!  I also picked up a 70s copy of Franny & Zooey in the hope that I enjoy it more than The Catcher In The Rye, which I thought was a little overrated.

Now on to my favourite band of the summer, Elastica.  Even though they were active from approx. 1993-2001, I've been obsessively devouring any Elastica material I can find over the last few months.  They are the most underrated and overlooked of the Britpop 'big five' despite being the coolest of the bunch - there weren't and still aren't enough bands with three cool girls up front.  I'm currently collecting their discography on vinyl so pictured are this month's acquisitions: the 7" of their single 'Connection' and a promotional soundsheet of 'Vaseline'.  I think the soundsheet is particularly cool - it's a US item similar to the flexidiscs that used to occasionally come free with magazines over here but pressed onto a sheet of acetate rather than being disc-shaped.  I've listened to the first Elastica album so many times this summer that I feel like I know every single second of it so it's cool to have found pressings of two of my favourite songs from it. 

To jump briefly back to clothes and from one set of iconic ladies to another, I picked up this blazer in Primark yesterday which, like most of the clothes in there at the moment, reminds me of the girls in 'Heathers'.  I took it into the dressing room expecting it to look terrible on me but instead I fell in love with it and will be wearing it to work all the time from now on.  I now have a conundrum though: do I go to work on October 31st dressed as Wednesday Addams or Veronica Sawyer??

Back to the music and the pile of CDs I've bought this month.  See what I mean when I said I had a 90s vibe going on at the moment? 
At the start of the summer I began reading the book 'The Last Party' by John Harris, which gives a history of the Britpop era and how it contributed to the election of Tony Blair.  The book covers Oasis, Blur, Suede and Elastica, which occasional mentions of Pulp, Menswear and a few other stars of the time.  I've been listening to Suede since I was about 6, when 'She's In Fashion' appeared amongst the boybands on a compilation I got free with a magazine.  Their self-titled debut album is what I've been listening to on the rare occasions that I'm not playing the Elastica album and this month I felt ready to graduate to their 1994 follow-up, Dog Man Star.  Unfortunately, the only song on it that really resonates with me is the beautiful 'The Wild Ones', so I probably won't spend much time with it before moving on to the next album in their discography.  (A Suede side-note that I have to mention - their singer Brett Anderson wrote the most wonderful coming-of-age memoir, Coal Black Mornings, this year and I got to meet him at the Edinburgh Book Festival last month. It was magical.) 
I'm almost ready to graduate to the 2nd Elastica album too, but not before listening to their 6 Track EP which came out just before.  They changed their line-up a lot between the two so I'm interested to see how the music sounds.  I have, however, listened to Weekend Swingers, which is a bootleg I picked up on eBay.  It includes a 1994 festival performance, 2 of their Peel Sessions and some other demos and live bits and pieces.  I was worried that the quality was going to be bad but thankfully the sound is really good and so is the live show that makes up the first half of the disc - I wish I could time travel to see them play!
It was while I was browsing the Elastica section of eBay that I came across the soundtrack to Gregg Araki's 'Nowhere', a film I've written about before on the blog that is one of my favourite obscure movies.  I had no idea that both Elastica and Suede had songs on the soundtrack and I ordered it straight away - I wish finding a DVD of the film was that easy. 
I've also finally managed to pick up the first two Oasis albums.  Even though I said they weren't my favourite of the Britpop bands, it's undeniable that they had some really good tunes, most of which are on these two CDs.  I picked up Pulp's 2001 album 'We Love Life' out of love for Jarvis Cocker, Mazzy Star's 'She Hangs Brightly' out of love for their song 'Fade Into You', Bis' 'Vs. The DIY Corps' EP out of love for Scottish indie and The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart's self-titled just because I've heard they're good.  Reviews to come someday when I've had time to listen to them!

A couple of magazines since I've been in Edinburgh: Bust is a feminist-leaning magazine that I found very charming and interesting when I first bought it, so I always have a look to see if there are any interesting features when I see a copy.  This month's cover star plays the lead in 'Crazy Rich Asians' which I'm planning on seeing soon, plus there are pieces on cults, Michelle Wolf and Tumblr culture which are all things I'm interested in.  

I also bought Dazed because M.I.A is on the cover.  I saw her documentary Matangi/Maya/M.I.A yesterday and found it incredible so now I'm on a mission to read everything I can about it. 

One final music item to finish off: I haven't talked about Depeche Mode in this post but I still love and adore them as much as I did at the start of the year.  I've collected most of their vinyl now so I don't spend as much time in the Depeche Mode part of eBay as I used to but I had a look the other day and caught a copy of Black Celebration on cassette about to end with 0 bids.  I put a bid in expecting someone else to be watching it, but nobody was and I won.  As luck would have it, the same seller had also just listed the Suede album which I also ended up winning.  I keep a cassette Walkman in my desk at work to listen to when I have nobody in the office to speak to - or when I need to drown out the people who are talking so I can concentrate - so both of these will be joining the collection in my drawer.  

The last book I read...

Interview With The Vampire - Anne Rice

I've wanted to read this book since I was a teenage goth who liked vampires because I liked My Chemical Romance and the opportunity presented itself when I was in a bookshop in Preston stocked with complimentary literature on its last stop before the recycling centre. Never one to turn down a free book, I scooped it up and stuffed it into my backpack which was already full to bursting with tour souvenirs, where it began the next leg of a 40 year journey (the edition I have was printed in 1977, not long after the story was first published).

I saw the movie version of the book a few years ago but couldn't remember too much of the plot; I knew that Christian Slater of Heathers fame conducted the interview, Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise played the two main vampires and Kirsten Dunst was an adorable vampire infant, but aside from that I had little recollection. The story is that of Louis, who, over the course of an evening, recalls how he came to be immortal and recounts the major events in his long life. The book is broken up into four parts which relate to the four settings for the novel: firstly in New Orleans where Louis spends the first part of his life, meeting the vampire Lestat and procuring the child Claudia, then moves on to adventures in Eastern Europe and Paris before arriving at the present day.

This is the first of Anne Rice's books that I've properly read, discounting The Taking Of Sleeping Beauty which is an erotic novel she wrote under a psuedonym and which I've never managed to finish. I really liked her descriptive style, particularly in explaining the splendour of the town house the vampires inhabit in New Orleans and the articles Claudia surrounds herself with. It's not an action-packed story of gore like some vampire stories, although there are some gruesome scenes, and I think it's my second favourite vampire story after The Lost Boys. The ending has made me eager to seek out a copy of the sequel which tells Lestat's story and has the added excitement of an 80s rock'n'roll excess setting. Like Less Than Zero, the last book I wrote about, this is another book I saw the movie of first and now need to go back and rewatch.

The last movie I saw...

Behind The Candelabra - dir. Steven Soderbergh

Before seeing this movie I had very little knowledge of Liberace; I knew that he was a cultural icon, a pianist, a homosexual, but not much else. Behind The Candelabra tells the story of the last decade or so of his life through the eyes of Scott Thorson, played by Matt Damon, who became his companion during that period. Their life together seems almost too bizarre to be true - they're lovers but Liberace (Michael Douglas) wants to adopt the orphaned Scott as his son, then he pays for Scott to have plastic surgery in order for him to look like the young Liberace... it's all very weird but oddly compelling. Of course, like in all glittering celebrity biopics there is a sharp turn for the worse, in this case when the star shows signs of ditching his protégé for a younger model, and the movie kind of lost my interest at that halfway point, not picking up again until the ending. My favourite things about this movie were the performance by Rob Lowe as the creepy Hollywood plastic surgeon and the gorgeous costumes and set pieces, particularly in the stage scenes and in Liberace and Thorson's home. The whole place sparkles with so much gold and silver and gleaming white, a look that Liberace refers to as "palatial kitsch" which has inspired me to let more tacky gold and glitter into my life.

On my turntable...

Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Welcome To The Pleasuredome

I found this 1984 double-vinyl album in my Dad's collection which surprised me as dance music isn't really his scene, but I'm so glad he bought it because I'm obsessed with it. Hits 'Relax' and 'Two Tribes' have been on my playlist for a couple of years now and I was familiar with the band's notoriety for flirting with sex, homosexuality and violence, but until I heard this album I never realised how important they really were.

Welcome To The Pleasuredome comprises four sides of vinyl which each have a different feel to them - side one is more or less one long side of dancefloor music which sounds like the wildest orgy since the Roman era; side two has the aforementioned hits; side three is more nostalgic with excellent covers of 'Born To Run' and 'Do You Know The Way To San Jose?' and the final side has the huge ballad 'The Power Of Love'.

Listening to this album is like taking the most exciting journey through a hedonistic 80s paradise and the artwork fits perfectly. On the outside are the Picasso-esque portraits of the band and their vibe but the slipcases for the records are my favourite part, combining little logos of hearts and crosses and sperm and bullets with quotes and complaints and a reading list and a merchandise catalogue featuring a jumper I'm coveting despite it being 32 years old. Welcome To The Pleasuredome is probably my favourite old album that I've discovered this year and if you don't have a record player you should definitely head to Spotify and listen to the deluxe version in all its excessive glory.

On my nails...

OPI - Kermit Me To Speak

I haven't taken a photo of my own nails this week because they're not especially exciting, but I'm using this fancy nail polish for the first time today. This shade came to me for free via Pink Parcel and is from the OPI Muppets Most Wanted collection which came out with the movie in 2014. Despite being named after Kermit the Frog it's not green which seems a little strange to me; I'm not sure where the name came from at all.

It's quite hard to work out from the bottle what colour the polish was going to be but on my fingertips it's a sparkling pinkish-lilac colour in some lights and golden in others. It's a pretty colour but not as striking as my usual black or bright coloured looks and I doubt I'll be using it a lot. I can't complain about a freebie though, especially one that's worth as much as OPI polishes are.

My playlist... 

Now that it's summertime I've added some more retro 60s sounds into my playlist alongside new favourites. Highlights:

1. Are "Friends" Electric? by Tubeway Army which I've recently become obsessed with

2. Christian D'Or by Adam & The Ants which is my other obsession song right now, there's something about these post-punk boys with English accents that's doing it for me recently...

4, 22, 30, 36. Songs by The 1975 that fit into the whole 'summer of love' theme 

6. I Wanna Be Yours by Arctic Monkeys, current favourite by them

8, 19, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 33. 60s classics

9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 25, 31, 35. 50s and 60s teen idol hits

21. Blue Moon Motel by Nicole Dollanganger because even though she was on the last playlist I'm still in love with this song

34. Milord by Édith Piaf who was on my turntable last week

A random image from my aesthetic blog on Tumblr...

Ladies restroom at the 2016 Met Gala, themed "Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology". Part of a gorgeous set of pictures of ladies in sparkling silver dresses in the bathrooms at the ball looking classy and trashy and a little bit 'palatial kitsch'!

R

The last book I read...
Less Than Zero - Bret Easton Ellis

Less Than Zero is the debut novel by Bret Easton Ellis (who is perhaps best known for writing American Psycho) and I picked it up in a second hand shop years ago following an 80s movie phase where I ended up watching the superbly-soundtracked Robert Downey Jr film loosely based on the book.
The novel follows Clay, a college student who has come home to LA for Christmas and does nothing but get high, attend mind-numbing parties and listen in to the vapid conversations his Valley friends have. There is a loose plot concerning Clay and his former best friend Julian, but the book is more like a list of events detailing the lives of these teens who live a dream existence of wealth and celebrity and excess but are bored by it all.
The idea of a book without any storyline might sound like a waste of time but I loved it; the prose is immersive not only in the way it puts us in that world but in the way it feels like we're rolling around in the mind of the character along with the 'Disappear Here' billboards on the Californian highways and the Joan Jett lyrics from the café stereo.
I definitely plan to read more of Easton Ellis' books, which conveniently are often among those sold really cheap in Fopp/HMV.


The last movie I saw... 
Nowhere - dir. Gregg Araki

Nowhere is kind of like Less Than Zero in movie form - it follows bored LA teens whose only interests are sex, drugs, parties and gossip (in fact some consider it a direct rip-off). The trailer makes it look like an action-packed coming-of-age tale when in fact it's surreal, lurid, neurotic and overall bizarre. The cast of this movie includes 90s icons like Rachel True, Mena Suvari, Kathleen Robertson, Rose McGowan and Shannen Doherty, plus a whole host of other gorgeous kids with piercings and green hair and lipliner.
I first watched it a few years ago and didn't really get it but I'm glad I revisited it because I adored it the second time around. Again, I'm not sure if there's any plot to speak of but the visuals and the Valley dialogue and the casting and unexplainable scifi moments make this film so great that I'll probably end up watching it a few more times in the near future.


On my turntable...
The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses

I found this record amongst my dad's collection and saved it from storage with the intention of eventually listening to it, which I got round to doing at the weekend. I expected to find it monotonous but was pleasantly surprised and kind of didn't want it to end when the needle was getting closer to the centre.
 I was familiar with the band's legacy and their song Fools Gold (not included on this record) and song titles like I Wanna Be Adored and I Am The Resurrection. I Wanna Be Adored turned out to be one of my highlights, along with Waterfall which is one of those lovely dreamy songs that makes me want to lie in the grass and watch the clouds go by. Add that to the Pollock-esque artwork that looks great on display in my room and it's safe to say this is one album that won't be going back into storage.

Clothes

At the moment my uniform consists of ripped black skinny jeans, comfy band t-shirts, a choker, my leather jacket and platform shoes; I am a cliché.  At work I'm still all about Peter Pan collars and cute dresses with leggings which make me feel like the office princess.

My favourite recent purchase is probably this The 1975 t-shirt which I ordered from Amazon for about £5 because it turns out it's really easy to pick up cheap replicas of shirts Taylor Swift (left) has worn. It's light and sleeveless which makes it perfect for sunny days and also people talk to me about the band when I wear it - I got tricked into re-activating my HMV card the other day when the cashier told me they were giving away goodies...

Although I bought them in December to replace my much-loved creepers, I've recently discovered that there is no outfit that isn't improved by my platform shoes. They were really cheap (£7.99 on eBay and still available), add a few inches to my height, and generally make me feel like the boss in any situation. They probably don't count as workplace-appropriate shoes but they're comfy and weatherproof and go with all my outfits so I don't really care.




On my nails... 


This week I'm wearing one of my favourite looks, glitter tips. I've blogged about how much I love glitter before but I have to state once more how much it cheers me up to see it twinkling on my fingertips (and everywhere else that it lands once it starts to flake off). In this case I used w7 Green Glitter (my number one Christmas colour) on top of my all-time favourite, Barry M matte polish in Espresso, except on my thumbs which are painted in Stargazer's grey shade. They have a dark Halloween vibe which shouldn't be seasonally appropriate but it also snowed last week so who cares? I've been extra careful all week in an attempt to make this look last as long as possible but I know it's only a matter of time before the sparkle will be all gone, so I'm enjoying the compliments and glitter while it lasts.

My playlist... 

The Spotify playlist above is a combination of the music I've recently been listening to on the bus, in the shower and in my bedroom. Highlights:

2, 5, 9, 13, 21, 24, 30, 33, 38: all of my current favourite songs by my current favourite band, The 1975 (narrowed down from a much bigger playlist)

6, 10, 36: adorable love songs by Nicole Dollanganger from her Ode To Dawn Wiener: Embarrassing Love Songs EP

1, 11, 12, 14, 17, 19, 29: current pop songs by Drake, Rihanna, Zayn, Years & Years, etc

23, 31: my two favourite songs by The Sundays

7, 22, 34, 37: selections from the 60s

4: Transgender Dysphoria Blues by Against Me!, which psyches me up for work in the morning but also makes me want to get off the bus and do something more adventurous

28: Animal Nitrate by Suede which gives me much the same feeling, but sexier

3, 26, 35: favourites from Frankie Goes To Hollywood's album Welcome To The Pleasuredome

15, 16: aspirational bad bitch anthems

20: Local Roses, the newest song by Dear Boy.

TV shows I'm currently watching... 

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Love, Angie Tribeca (more on those another time)

A random image from my aesthetic blog on Tumblr...

Debbie Harry in Hairspray; an 80s recreation of the 60s and a movie I need to see.

(This is my first blog of 2016 - pathetic!)

R