Scholastic (Fantastic) Achievement

Subversive School Girl Chic Can Be Magical and Masterful - Not Meek

source: http://th01.deviantart.com/

Happy 2010! I'm sure that your life (and Facebook page), like mine, is being inundated with "Top," "Countdown," and "Best" Lists - not only of the year, but this time of the entire bloody DECADE. That seems unfair somehow -- as though both academia and popular culture get to come together like party guests who usually detest one another, gloating drunkenly, intertwining their fingers and breakin' it down to hook up for an epic dance-off that includes absolutely everything you could think of. A glorious amalgamation. Another decade has passed.

As for yours truly - well, I've made some strong personal resolutions. Things like, stop making bodily function jokes all the time, at the most inopportune moments ... just do the dishes without politicking along the way ... find more reasons to laugh and fewer reasons to stress ... watch more movies and read more books ....

I am a strong believer in devoting a substantial amount of the winter-time to aggressive, fervent relaxation / New England hibernation involving blankets, steaming beverages, and pajamas. In that spirit, I recently watched both Reservation Road (Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Ruffalo - made me decide to never text while driving or take my loved ones for granted ever again) and Revolutionary Road (reunited Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio - made me decide to never go back in time to the 1950s, should I encounter the DeLorean, or fight with my loved ones ever again). Both were crushingly dark, painfully real, thought-provoking, and beautifully tragic. I loved Frank McCourt's Teacher Man, so I also finally got around to reading Angela's Ashes, which was, while certainly another stunning affirmation of life and of the human spirit, terribly depressing. In summation: three works; an alliterative rush of devastation.

The reason I have all this time to catch up on my leisure activities lies in two gorgeous words: Winter Break. As a teacher, I get to luxuriate from Christmas Eve until Monday, January 4th, in not working and still getting paid. Is it a wildly productive time? Ha. (I'm writing this blog entry while warily eyeing a massive pile of grading that I get to simply refuse, like it's the smarmy, wasted guy at the bar who asks every girl about her ethnic background while breathing his SoCo garlic breath all over the place.) But it's a time where there is some time. As a result, I've finally had the spare moments to start reading Junot Diaz's Pulitzer-winning novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.

It's beyond fantastic.

Consider the blurb: "Oscar is a sweet but disastrously overweight ghetto nerd, a New Jersey romantic who dreams of becoming the Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien and, most of all, finding love. But Oscar may never get what he wants. Blame the fuku - a curse that has haunted Oscar's family for generations, following them on their epic journey from the Dominican Republic to the United States and back again." It doesn't at all begin to do justice to this sprawling, manic, sensitive, heartbreaking book.

It occurred to me that I encountered Diaz's work (short story collection called Drown) when I was that most guileless, ingenuous and suggestible of creatures: a school-girl. Granted, you couldn't find me clad in one of Gossip Girl's meticulous, immaculate and tricked-out private school uniforms or anything close. I was in college, and you would more likely find me with long, dirtyish hair and some ill-fitting wanna-be vintage "frock." Mea culpa - I was a self-styled bohemian (read: pothead).

School Days, School Days! The Original Days of Judgement! Dear old Golden Rule Days!

But seriously, there is a kind of magical je ne sais quois that surrounds schoolgirls and their untold possibility. Without wandering into the trite and inevitable porno context (I won't! I really won't!...), it's clear that this class of human (at least in the sartorial world) possesses a certain allure. They are innocent yet can be crazy-wild; naughty (girls just want to have fun) yet pristine. What I find most intriguing is the fact that school girls, and students at large, have something truly special: the vast expanse of information that lies at the mercy of their learning. Learning and intellect are a business. As Frank McCourt's old schoolmaster used to chant, "Stock your minds! They are your own. Stock your minds!" And it doesn't hurt to look rather natty and dapper while you're at it.

You know by now that I, like many Gen-Xers and Gen-XYers (and plenty of our moms), love me some GG, but this phenomenon is older than Serena Van der Woodsen, Anne of Green Gables, or Becky Thatcher. What is it about a young lady going about her learning with lioness-like ferocity (and often a good dose of sensuality) that inspires such yearning in others? How appealing is a fresh, white-collared shirt, wool skirt, and a menswear tie when you feel like the world has had its way with you, and you're ready to fight back? Right now women are CEOs, astronauts, professors, entrepeneurs - but before we broke through the glass ceiling, school was at the very least one of the only venues of fair game, where a girl could gird her intellectual loins and sally forth with all the swagger and determination of any boy. School is business time. Don't hate just because nowadays, the blouse is more flattering, the boots more fierce, and the blazer cut at a razor-sharp angle. (There's a fine line, of course, between overt sexual brazenness and cool, studied "can't touch this" impenetrability - literally. School-girl dressing past the age of eighteen is, on a style level, I believe, an exercise in proportion, intention, and restraint.)

But there are some levels of sheer cuteness that even the most hard-core Feminist Theorist could be pressed to appreciate. Anime fans will remember the mini-skirted, conflict-ridden posse from Sailor Moon. These girls were mere demerit-earners by day, but terrific crime-fighters by night. Their femininity, as you can see in the photo, belies their ferociousness.

source: www.imvu.com/.../group/SAILOR%2BMOON%2B4%2BEVER/

Let's say you hate all this cutesy Hello-Kitty fluffy crap, and you want something more gangster. (Studies show that "gangster shit" is one of the highest-ranked search

topics amongst the demograpic of median-range earners ages 17-25.) Well, look no further than GoGo. Yes, film buffs - from director Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill is the merciless 17-year-old body guard/assassin for O Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu), leader of the Yakuza clan in Tokyo, Japan. Chiaki Kuriyama played this delightfully diabolical character, clad in the classic white knee-socks, pristine gym shoes, tartan skirt, and insignia-emblazoned jacket of the School Girl.

source: redstringoffate.wordpress.com/.../

She swings a giant, lethal mace, giggles innocuously before she splices your skull open, and lets out a barbaric war cry. She seduces sloppy older men only to leave them dismembered and blood-soaked in a hotel room, then skips off to algebra class, where she also presumably kicks ass. ....... Sweet.

Gangster enough?

High fashion clearly reverberates with echoes of the past at all times, and here are some of its academic-inspired offerings in the school-girl style:

These Hermione-like, whimsical creations are from Charles Anastase, a young designer who studied Political Science at the Lycee Charlemagne in Paris. He was an illustrator before launching a fashion design career. CHARLES ANASTASE, SPRING 2009-12-18

source: http://thechicspy.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/london-anastase-schoolgirl.jpg

At the end of the day, whether it's knee socks, bright headbands, crisp blazers, snow-white button-downs or cheeky little ties, it's really the surge of nostalgia this look brings upon me. I know how hard a serious school-girl works because I've been there. As a teacher, I also know how much work I pile on my students, and I see the strong among them rise to the challenge and keep on rising. The cerebral world is a jungle like any other, and only the fittest survive. I respect the hustle of a serious school-girl. She's there to learn, pick up some business skills, apply her hard-won savvy, and pursue her most treasured creative and mental endeavors.

And what is true learning without kicking some serious ass?

Here's to all of your goals, both style-wise and wise, with style, in 2010.

xo MSW

Obsessed! Ali and Beyonce -How They're Dressed

First and foremost - a million thanks and hugs to my peeps for following this new blog! :) I appreciate it!

Okay, I normally don't cop so easily to falling prey to guilty-pleasure movies like this, but I have now ordered Obsessed (Idris Elba, Ali Larter, and Beyonce) no fewer than three times on free On-Demand. My lovely friend Nadine, who can get down with any movie, would be proud of me. (I knew an awful boy at Wesleyan who used to get up on his soap-box to spew miserable condescension at any "mainstream" entertainment. Luckily, everybody hates him.)

movies.sulekha.com/.../obsessed/pictures/1.htm

I'd like to say that I was impervious to this film's heavy-handed manipulation of the audience's emotions, that I sniffed with disdain at its thinly-veiled, technicolored mantasy (because what guy wouldn't want these two gals bangin' it out over him?), and that I found the screenplay trite and predictable. After all, this was a movie that last year's 8th graders were planning to see in groups as large as 15. I know, because I confiscated at least 3 phones being used to text evening plans during class. The explanation? "But Miss, Beyonce's gonna fight in that movie, Miss!!!"

But all I can say is that I was totally titillated. I actually pumped my fists during the fight scene, hooting and hollering for all the world like a 12-year-old as Ali delivered a fierce face kick and Beyonce used her head (literally - sick head-butt!) to teach white girl what was up. Plus Elba (sexy) is always great. (He's from television's The Wire, which I highly recommend if you haven't seen it. Great HBO police-crime-drug drama set in Baltimore. There's a whole season about kids who get into the game, how they fall through the cracks, and how they interact with their school system. My talented work mentor taught at a KIPP charter middle school in Baltimore - the show is dead realistic and true to life. A little boy who played a hard-core baby gangster on the show also did a wonderful, thought-provoking play last year at the Hartford Stage called Resurrection, all about men in the African-American community and issues that they face. The Wire itself is killer - incredible.)

Source: http://static.tvguide.com/MediaBin/Galleries/Movies/M_R/Oa_Oh/Obsessed/1/obsessed3.jpg
Back to Obsessed: Some ideas for us ordinary girls in the workplace grind! Ali's corporate-friendly, put-together warddrobe as psycho-temp temptress Lisa gives cause to laud the movie's stylist. For the work day, my own tastes as a teacher definitely run, like this look, on the more conservative-classic side. Not as sexy, but then I'm no Ali Larter. (Once I made the sad mistake of trotting in to work in some Kate-Moss-esque wannabe rock-get-up and caught my crazy-funky chains on the handle of a door as I was yelling about demerits and chasing down a student who had pushed another kid into the milk cart. Chaos ensued.) Ali's outfits were, I thought, simple, gorgeous and powerfully streamlined. Comfortable enough for the copy room, and sassy enough for the hardcore stalking she did. Most of us don't do that second part so openly. I mean, what is Facebook for? No, I'm kidding. Kind of.

It's hard to go wrong in a crisp, classic palette of blacks, whites, and strong primary colors. In the top frame, Beyonce's getting her hatorade on when meeting her husband's super-cute new temp. You can't see the whole outfit, but Ali's wearing high-waisted, slim black pants cropped at the ankle and some solid black heels. The perfect white button-down, gamine-like black vest (I love any nods to menswear), and sleek, ironed blonde hair come together in a picture of competent decorum. The next frame is my go-to ensemble when I want to feel like I can present myself to the world with confidence: again, a flawless, ironed white button-down, and then the piece de resistance, a beautifully tailored black pencil skirt. Everyone should own one. Nothing could be easier or more classically elegant. It seems obvious, but I so believe in this look. When a girl pays attention to the details and is impeccably groomed, it is perfection. Later, as Lisa starts to feel more comfortable at the scene of her stalking, she dons more body-conscious threads like the vibrant, curve-loving teal sweater at the upper right. Some days, color stands out as its own statement, without the fuss and frill of any accessories whatsover. I was told that if you put something on and don't feel the need for much blush or other adornment, then the hue adores you. Ali's working that concept here.

Beyonce doesn't look too shabby, herself. I'm a fan of the black jersey dress she wears to dinner with Derek (Elba), cinched in Sasha-Fierce style with an uber-wide, just-shiny-enough belt. This wouldn't be a bad choice for work, either. I'm trying to work belts more often into my weekly rotation ... they're smashing.

The focus of this blog is really more about accessible, day-to-day style, but I had to give the ladies props (I'm sure they spend lots of their time in L.A. stressing about my opinion...) for their GORGEOUS red-carpet looks for an opening of their movie. We can all take cues here for the holiday season - nothin' wrong with a skimpy lil' black or white mini, architectural and pure hot, with accordion folds, sweetheart necks, shiny hair, and strappy heels. (You can always make yourself some would-be Louboutins by, as the designer himself did before he got legit, painting the soles with red nail polish. What a pain, but they look *sort of* real ... kind of ... not at all.)

I read once, either in Vogue or Harper's, an ascerbic, cutting, highly entertaining interview with Karl Lagerfeld. He said - and I'm paraphrasing, but the idea is intact - that women should more often than not rock a tight, tiny, spare and ferocious mini - but we must work so that "the legs are flawless." He also feels that an appropriate reaction to the recession is to stop buying new clothes and just intelligently combine your old, as well as to join a health club and work our tubby butts into sculpted works of art.

I don't know that I can fit that bill ... but I'll definitely try to work the combination of sleek and powerful like the girls in Obsessed. But no cat-fights, please. My aim is to be a put-together pacifist. In pumps and a pencil skirt.

xo - MSW