There’s been quite a bit of chatter in the blogging world lately, and it has centered around the rather sensitive issue of fashion bloggers and body image. Without delving into that argument, I decided this would be a great time to profile my five favorite fashion bloggers, all gorgeous women of varying shapes, sizes, and styles who inspire me on a daily basis. I look forward eagerly to their posts and I find myself learning new tips and trying new things after reading their blogs each week. These women look like my friends, my sisters, and me, and they feature clothing that I, as a stay-at-home-mom on a budget, can afford. I truly appreciate their authenticity and I hope that you will check out each of their blogs. I know you will be inspired by their beauty, too.
Melina of The Caffeinated Closet
I first found The Caffeinated Closet while looking for reviews on Ruche clothing, and I was instantly taken with Melina’s stunning style. Daily, she features a mix of some of my favorite stores (Ruche and Anthropologie) and creates looks that are truly wearable. Melina first inspired me to try the hi-lo trend, and I’ve come to love stripes and patterns because of her outfits, too. She will soon be heading to Ireland, and I can’t wait to follow her style adventures there!
Mary Ann of The Dapper Bun
I’m a new reader of The Dapper Bun, and I first fell in love with Mary Ann’s elegant style and her precious bunny, Bandit, who is featured in many of her posts. Mary Ann has exquisite taste and can easily transform a vintage dress or consignment store purchase into a stunning piece, detailing the process for her readers along the way. The Dapper Bun is a lovely blog that offers a fresh take on affordable clothing.
Cambria of Jupe
Cambria is a girl after my own heart, and her outfits truly reflect a nostalgia for the treasures of the past. She reminds me of myself in my young adulthood, back when Victoria Magazine and Fried Green Tomatoes inspired my style and choice of outfits. I love her fashion sense, and I’m especially enjoying her current accessories trend. She also includes a poem in many of her posts, and that makes her blog extra special, in my opinion.
October of October Rebel
I first discovered October on Ruche’s blog, and instantly fell in love with her classic, playful style. Often compared to Louise Brooks, October is truly unique and I have honestly never encountered a blog that is so much fun to read and gaze upon. October herself is a bit of a mystery, and that is only enhanced by her gorgeous, vintage-style photography. Reading her blog is like watching an old movie, and you will not be disappointed in her regular posts. October is newly engaged, and I am excited to read about her wedding preparations.
Alison of Wardrobe Oxygen
Alison has been a huge source of both information and inspiration for me, and I first discovered Wardrobe Oxygen by googling, “How to be a stylish mom.” Since Alison has been blogging since 2005 and has a fashion background, her post by that title appeared, and I’ve been hooked ever since! Wardrobe Oxygen is a fashion blog, but it’s also a style handbook for every woman, and I have truly benefited from reading it daily. My body has most definitely changed after having two babies in two years, and because of Alison, I know how to dress it properly. Like Melina, she also inspired me to try the hi-lo trend, and now I’m convinced that I must own a pair of dark denim jeggings! Her fashion and style knowledge is simply amazing, and you will learn so much from her gorgeous posts.
I encourage you to visit these wonderful blogs and find fashion inspiration within them! Do you have a favorite fashion blogger (or bloggers) you’d like to share? I’d love to hear about them.
(Thank you to all five lovely ladies for your willingness to participate in this post!)
(The Pflugerville Water Tower.)
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape has always been one of my favorite movies. It premiered in 1994, in the middle of my high school years, and captured Johnny Depp at the height of his adorable, grungy angst, right after Benny and Joon and Edward Scissorhands. Probably because I was a broody teenage girl at the time, I always identified with Gilbert, Depp’s character, and his inability to escape his surroundings for something beyond the fields of his small town. Isn’t that what every teenager dreams about? My sisters and I would watch the movie again and again, quoting the hilarious lines of Leonardo DiCaprio and thanking our lucky stars that we weren’t growing up in Endora, Iowa.
After our recent back-to-back trips to Lockhart, where several of the movie’s scenes were filmed, I decided to watch What’s Eating Gilbert Grape again. I immediately felt that old connection, but this time, I noticed something truly bizarre. In the scenes featuring Mary Steenburgen, playing Gilbert’s older, married, sometime love interest, Betty Carver, I began to recognize landmarks and streets, places that I drive or walk on a regular basis. It took me days to actually watch the entire film on Netflix because I kept pausing it to study the scenes. While I knew that What’s Eating Gilbert Grape had been filmed in Manor and Lockhart, both small towns near my little city of Pflugerville, I didn’t know that some of the most pivotal scenes (and the steamiest) took place right around the corner from my house!
If you’ve seen the movie, then you know that Gilbert delivers groceries to the bored, but attractive, Betty, and let’s just say that his visits don’t end at the front door of her house, the one up the street from mine. There’s an especially hilarious scene involving a carton of melted ice cream and a trampoline, and that was when I first recognized the neighborhood set. I did a bit of research and found no mention of the house and the film, so of course, I had to write about this. While the house is a rental property, I’m acquainted with the woman who currently lives there, because she operates an in-home daycare and her children play at the park with my boys. I haven’t seen her recently because of the oppressive heat, but I’ll have to ask her if she knows about the history of the house.
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape was made in 1993, two years before my current home was built, and it’s fascinating to get a glimpse of the neighborhood twenty years ago, when things were much more rural out here. I was able to capture a few shots of the house, as well as a few from the movie, just for comparison. And proof.
Ryan confirmed my suspicions and also recognized the house, but while Manor and Lockhart are mentioned in the movie’s credits, Pflugerville is not. It is listed online as part of the film’s setting, but no specific locations are mentioned at all. I’m planning to ask my dentist, a serious movie buff and long-time Pflugerville resident (he used to live near the house in question), to see what he knows, but my next appointment isn’t until the fall.
Also, a water tower similar in design to our local tower features heavily in the movie, as DiCaprio’s character, Arnie, climbs to the top on several occasions. The tower used in the famous scene is widely recognized as the Manor tower, but I believe some shots were also filmed here in Pflugerville, since the tower is visible from Betty Carver’s house (and my backyard).
This is a screen shot of Betty Carver’s house, as Gilbert walks up to the door with groceries and Arnie waits in the yard. The tower is visible in the background.
And this is the house at it now looks, twenty years later, with an added porch railing, fence removed, and a paved road.
Here it is in the evening sun, with the Pflugerville tower visible behind it.
A screen shot of the trampoline scene. I first recognized the locale here, with the brown apartment building and blue house in the back.
A view of the background today, with trees mostly covering the side of the apartment building, though the house is still painted blue.
Another screen shot of Betty’s house, with the yard in view. The location of the trampoline moved after her husband bought their boys a “swimming pool,” which later plays a part in the movie’s plot. The dirt road leads to the field where my neighborhood now stands.
Two corner photos of the house today, with a paved road leading to the newer homes where I live.
I can’t shake the irony of this story, and the fact that a little piece of my past resides around the corner from me, and has, for all these years. I am now fascinated by this house and can’t believe there isn’t more information available locally. I’m going to dig a little deeper to see if I can find anything, and if I do, I’ll be sure to let you know.
(Aerin Lauder photographed by Sebastian Kim, August 2012 Vogue, via Cakewalk.)
August’s issue of Vogue features a piece on Aerin Lauder, the granddaughter of Estée Lauder, and the Style and Image Director for her family’s cosmetic company. I’ve always kind of followed Lauder and admired her minimal style, and was pleased to learn that she recently created her own product line, based upon the items she uses on a daily basis. Aptly named Aerin, the collection features a selection of “Weekday” and “Weekend” products, including lip gloss, lipstick, and two separate color palettes for fall, with more pieces to be introduced each season.
But after checking out Aerin Lauder’s website and her new line, I must admit that I’m a little underwhelmed. While the site is gorgeous and has a bit of a blog-type feel, it seems more thought went into that aspect of the launch, rather than the collection itself. Vogue’s article describes Lauder as moving out on her own, but the collection is for sale on the Estée Lauder site and, frankly, it looks just like the other Lauder cosmetics we’ve seen in the past. (Remember the “Mad Men” collection that contained just two pieces?)
Maybe because my grandmother used Lauder products until she passed away, I’ve always associated the company with older women, and the cloying smell of Youth Dew, is, for me, inextricably linked with my memories of greeting elderly church members before Sunday morning services.
I had high hopes for Aerin Lauder’s line and anticipated a more, um, youthful approach, but the colors and shades seem lackluster to me. Still, I’m staying tuned to see what she plans to release for spring.
Oh, and it seems Lauder and I both share a love for a certain SUNO print, which she’s wearing in the first picture in the Vogue article.
