Festival Style: Coachella 2014, A Practical Guide

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(hypothetical outfit & essentials for day 1)

(yeah i forgot 7, whoops)

I think we're all aware by now that unfortunately Coachella has become this parade of "look at my cute outfit" instead of "my favorite band is playing at noon so we have to get there early!" Everyone and their mom knows blogs and big time street style photographers and your favorite clothing companies hang around the grounds to take photos of stylish kids. what you don't know is that most of these people always hang out in VIP during the actual festival so your chances of getting on Refinery29's coachella "best dressed" list is preeeeettty slim. 

I highly suggest that you throw all notions of being photographed out the door and focus on having fun and fine tuning your schedule so you can see as many bands possible. Not to mention think about the p r a c t i c a l i t y  of what you're going to wear. 

so, you're going to Coachella with all your friends and you're so stoked you don't even know what to bring. So here a few tips of what NOT to bring to Coachella:

• expensive jewelry (you'll be crying when you lose your expensive Vanessa Mooney cuff bracelet)
• heeled booties (you'll be walking on grass and DIRT all weekend. heeled booties need not apply)
• rompers (do i need to remind you about the porta potties? put two and two together)
• leggings (you do know you're in the desert right? you don't care? okay. enjoy your tan)
• leave your expensive dslr at home. bring a point and shoot instead
• expensive hats (they will get crushed and you will be sad)
• expensive sunglasses (you're probably going to lose them)
• okay well expensive anything because odds are you WILL lose them or they will get completely wrecked

take the advice from a four year coachella veteran. 

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(hypothetical outfit & essentials for day 2)

(obvi the sweater is for night time you guys)

If you're not camping I highly suggest you rent a locker. Bring all the goodies you would want when the sun goes down like a sweater or a blanket, extra water. Plus if you bring a hat or something you can always put your stuff away so you don't have to carry things with you. I rented a locker the last two times I went to coachella and I dont regret it! Super helpful and I only really paid $30 for it for the whole weekend (you get your deposit back when you turn in your key). 

And probably my most important tip: 

If you're going with friends odds are your schedules are going to have conflicts you wanna see band X but your BFF wants to see band Y. Don't compromise! Go see who you wanna see you won't regret it. It would be wise to compare schedules with your friends and find a meeting spot. Have a gameplan! I know I'm a stiff and I like plans but I kid you not having a plan at a festival helps out the most. obviously know that it's just a gameplan because you guys might at the last minute decide to go see band Z. 

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(hypothetical outfit & essentials for day 3)

(add a top if it gets chilly and you don't actually want to wear a sweater at night)

On a parting note, if you're not going for the music and you're just going to be seen, just.don't.even.go. 

If you are going for the music, then i hope you have a great time. stay hydrated, don't forget your sunblock and remember to eat. Please have a frozen lemonade and giant slice of pizza for me and go see Neutral Milk Hotel. 

xo, Leeds.

Red Blues

riding a bike is so hard you guys. i know i said this before, but i'm gonna need to say it again. I NEED A LOT OF PRACTICE. seriously, a lot. we went bike riding on sunday and everything started out well, until i figured out that i actually am not as good as i thought balancing my body on a bike. i gripped the handlebar so hard my hands were hurting. but i'm not sure if that was just because i always get pain in my hands (sewing forever destroyed my hands) or because i suck at riding the bike. i think my basket is far too heavy for me right now because i have a feeling it's what is throwing the front of the bike off balance. so i'm going to have to remove it until i can figure out what is wrong with the front and why i have such a hard time balancing it. also, i'm more out of shape than i thought.  sunday's ride kicked my butt and we only did a short bike path. 

sigh. i sound like a whiny baby, but that fear i get, it's really scary. i had to stop riding because i felt like i was going to throw up and i felt dizzy. it was just awful. my body tensed up and i felt the same way i felt when i got in that scary accident in december. i don't know what's wrong with me and i don't know why the fear is so real. i can only take it one step at a time i suppose. here's to trying!

details:

hat: anthropologie | top: urban outfitters | jeans: kohls | shoes: urbanog | bracelets: vanessa mooney, erica weiner, vintage | rings: erica weiner, vintage | necklace: erica weiner | backpack: fjallraven kanken (now at urban outfitters) | glasses: derek cardigan via coastal | lip color: make up forever no.9 copper pink, laura mercier lip glace in opal

that birthday life

What is it about my birthdays never ever going as planned? At least I found the humor in it this year and I'm actually not upset at all. It's super silly though, how literally ALLLL my birthday plans foiled. All! But regardless we made the best of the crazy and I still had fun. I even did a few unplanned things and they were so much fun. I suppose I had forgotten what it was like to be totally random.

One of those unplanned things was go to the Orange County Museum of Art with my twinsie, Marla. It even worked out for us because it just so happened to be the second Sunday of the month which was their free day! It was a really small museum but they had a good collection.

A few favorites:

(so bad i can't remember who did these except for bottom right: Llyn Foulkes)

one of my favorites was this rad room with projections and lights. it totally made our reflections look like we were in a cool 90s music video. (i believe this installation was by Diana Thater, but i could be wrong).

Outside of the building was a peeing dog. Yes. A peeing dog. Hilarious and ridiculously surprising for conservative Orange County. "Bad Dog" by Richard Jackson.

And because it was my bday celebration I had to wear a cute dress! Here's this Dear Creatures dress I got from Ruche during the major winter sale and I won't tell you how much it cost me because then you'll be suuuuuper jealous! ;)

Outfit Details: Dear Creatures dress via Ruche, Tulle sweater (old), betsey johnson shoes  (sold out, similar here), fjallraven kanken mini (now found at urban), wet n wild purty persimmon lip color

Also we had lunch at Lemonade. I def broke paleo for that and it was totally worth it. Yes, that is mac and cheese and pot roast in that sandwich topped off with a very refreshing mint cucumber lemonade! Ugggghhhh I want one now!
x

Witch Baby

annnnd i'm finally getting used to having black hair. for a while there i was having a hard time recognizing myself in the mirror! lol.

so this top is hilarious solely based on the fact that its shape is a square. it seriously looks like a tablecloth...but i like it. i like the flowy-ness of it all, especially when i extend out my arms and it looks like i've got bat wings. plus i feel like a total witch baby when i wear it--especially now with the witchy hair! 

top: threadsence, jeans: kohls, boots: vagabond via urban (on sale!), necklaces: erica weiner & threadsence, bracelets: vintage & vanessa mooney, rings: vintage & erica weiner, bag: fjallraven kanken mini (now found at urban!), lip color: make-up forever rouge artist intense no. 48

i need more days at the park with D. now that our schedules don't coincide with the same free days we hardly ever have time to spend together during the day, hence the lack of outfit photos around here. oh, adulthood!

Festival Style: FYF Fest 2013

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...and the weekend of Summer everyone in LA | OC has been waiting for has finally arrived! Saturday kicks off FYF fest's 10th anniversary and it looks like some fun times. I'm going to sound like a broken record here and admit that the line-up is not really super impressive. Yes, they did manage to somehow get My Bloody Valentine but i'm just going to humble brag right now and tell you that i already saw them! and it was amazing and everything i ever dreamed it would be. so really after that, what could possibly impress me? oh my god that sounds snobby! i can't decide if this festival indifference i've been feeling is because i'm getting older (and crankier) or because i just truly have seen most of the bands on the bills. thats quite an accomplishment though, if i do say so myself. my goal of attending every big music festival at least once is still on though, come on, i have yet to make it out to Primavera, Glastonburry, Roskkilde---ONE DAY, one day. 

oh damn! i'm just realizing that one thing i forgot to add to the guides above for fyf was a bandana and/or scarf! the dust/dirt at the Los Angeles Historic Park is NO JOKE. what is a joke is calling that little piece of land a park! seriously the amount of plain old dirt is crazy. and does anyone ever visit that park other than the craft fair, HARD, or Fyf? whatever, at least we have someplace to have a little festival--i'm not complaining...entirely. haha. but yes, back to the dirt, it is very important that you protect yourself from this nasty ass dirt, because it WILL fly in your face, trust me if you gather a bunch of excited folks about to see their favorite band and they start moshing, or dancing, or what have you, that dirt will fly in your face and if you dont protect yourself, you will be blowing your nose a week after and wondering where that nasty ass dirt came from. serious, true story. and while i'm on the dirt rant, i read some article earlier in the week that was like "bring your fashion game to FYF, this isn't roskkilde, your shoes won't get messed up"...UMMMMM. YES. ACTUALLY, THEY WILL. so bring boots or sneakers you just don't give a damn about. And please, please, for the love of god, leave your heeled booties at home. 

okay okay, i'll step down from my soap box now. but just don't forget to catch Glasser if you kids go. Cameron Mesirow is amazing! just AMAZING. you will not regret it. 

leeds out!

Adventure Time!

you guyssss! sorry i've been a terrible blogger this month. i would be lying if i said life was just happening....it's not really. well it is, duh, but nothing truly exciting has been happening as of late. i mean the most exciting thing was probably i've started taking the bus to work--but that's another story for another day. hehe.

honestly, i've been spending my time reading lurking cooking blogs and watching old movies and adventure time. If you haven't seen Adventure Time then i just, i dunno what to do with you. Turn your netflix on and watch some episodes, then we can be friends. haha. last year of college, when adventure time first was on the air, Marc & Mikesauce were watching it all the time and quoting it all the time and i thought they were nuts, until they forced me to watch it and then i became obsessed. pretty soon we were all walking down the halls of the theatre building laughing and quoting Lumpy Space Princess all day. Because you know, that's totally normal for college super seniors. lol.

tee: target, skirt: thrifted (express / similar), backpack: Fjallraven Kanken, boots: thrifted (timberland), necklace: erica weiner, cuff: threadsence (similar), glasses: derek cardigan via coastal, lip color: nars in scarlet empress

Had to pair this of course with my trusty yellow Fjallraven Kanken backpack! Can't go on any adventures without it. It's excellent for music festivals because my pals can always spot me if i get lost haha. i have this silly picture of me creepin on someone with the same backpack as me at Outside Lands two years ago--i'll have to show it to you guys sometime, it's hilarious! By the way, do any of you college graduates feel this affinity towards backpacks now that you've graduated? it's ridiculous, i assumed that maybe once i got older i'd get over backpacks and invest in a real handbag, but i just can't steer away from backpacks. And sometimes it's just weird because it's like well, what do i actually carry in there? I always end up carrying too many books and journals and my computer. And since i downsized to have a tablet with me everywhere i can leave my backpack at home, but noooo i'm still eyeing backpacks like crazy. oh dearrrr

sorry is my nerd showing? hehe. 

i bought  this Finn Mimobot flash drive at work and it's my new favorite thing everrrr. i sure wish we had carried the Princess Bubblegum one instead but ohhhh well. maybe i'll get it one of these days from the internetz. lord knows i dont need it right away, i dont really need a flash drive haha. i mostly needed a new one to transfer powerpoints and moodboards at my internship since i lost my vader flash drive somewhere. i swear to god, now that i'm out of school i find myself always wanting to buy things that really i'd only need/use if i were in school. is this a sign? maybe i should just go back to school...you know, so i can complain about how much i hate it. hahaha. it's a love/hate relationship, it always has been. 

okay i'll shut up about adventure time for now and let me tell you a funny story about this skirt. so i thrifted this skirt back in high school and it was floor length and at the time, just not in fashion. so i cut and hemmed it and then i would just wear it high waisted with a tee shirt tucked in and belted. buuuuut now, i sure wish i hadn't cut it because i really want a black maxi skirt! haha. such is life. 

Festival Style: Outside Lands 2013

I know i said i would update this week buuuuuuuuuut i've been lazy,  let's be real. But anywayyyy, let's talk about Outside Lands! Outside Lands kicks off today and although this year has a rather unimpressive lineup if someone had handed me tickets i would not have said no! haha. Here's what i would deem appropriate to wear to this year's Outside Lands Festival in foggy San Francisco:

| dress | sweater | jacket | necklace | ring | sunglasses | sneakers | bracelet | socks |

| dress | backpack | sunglasses | bracelets | socks | rings | jacket | boots |

| parka | top | sunglasses | rings | boots | pants | necklace |

If you couldn't tell, I'm all about comfort at festivals. I know most girls want to look super cute and they like wearing really cute things like rompers but let's be real, you're probably going to be trippin on something and then you gotta go to the bathroom. SO you're trippin and trying to get out of your romper in porta-potty. That sounds like fun! Also, heeled booties? You know you're walking on all grass right? GET REAL LADIES! You can still be cute AND dress for comfort! Think about that for your next festival. Oh and don't forget your jacket and long socks for Outside Lands, it may be August, but it gets pretty chilly! Also, a good idea to wear some shorts under your dresses, like some lycra ones help out a lot, you know, unless you WANT people to see your undies. 

Ahhhh i wish i were going only so i could hang out with my sf bestie Mark-Adrian! I think a visit is overdue. 

p.s. if you're going do NOT miss Dublin folk rockers Little Green Cars. They're not really ideal for festivals but their music is so good anyway, just go see them. I'm pretty much girl crushin' on faye so bad!