JEN’S TOP 10 FAVOURITE BANDS OF ALL TIME

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Alt Fashion, alternative, Alternative Fashion, bands, Blue, bow, Classic, colourful, design, Fashion, Fashion Design, frills, j fashion, lace, list, Mint, Music, otome kei, top 10, Vintage

So yesterday I briefly mentioned that I have a top ten favourite bands of all time list tucked away in my head. I thought I would share it because what’s the point of being a music fan if you don’t spread the love of your favourite artists!

SO IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER, JEN’S TOP 10 FAVOURITE BANDS!!!

10: The Crooked Fiddle band: http://www.crookedfiddleband.com/ These guys were first introduced to me through my current band. Both Tim (bass) and Jake (guitar) were (and still are) huge fans at the time that they linked me to the wonderous sound of Crooked Fiddle. What really cemented them as a favourite band was the first time I saw them live. (Incidentally it was also Vanishing Shapes first ever proper gig) They are absolutely nuts in the best way possible.

9: System of a Down: http://www.systemofadown.com/ I stumbled upon this band in year 9 after growing bored with Linkin Park and various other not so fab metalish hardcoreish bands. If I had to choose a favourite album it would definitely be Toxicity

8: Panic! at the Disco: http://www.panicatthedisco.com/ I was 13 when I first heard this band. Their first album A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out was a life changing album for me. I’m not one to listen to music over and over again, but, this album was on repeat for all of my major heart breaks in high school. This band was also a catalyst for my next band…

This is Sundays outfit yo!

7: The Hush Sound: http://www.thehushsound.org/ Do you guys remember last FM? In high school it was the way I found new music. Anyway, the way it worked was that you typed in a band that you liked, and it would play you a bunch of music similar to said band. Of course the first band I typed in was Panic! at the Disco. Once my super slow internet started the streaming process, I heard this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFjw4IAkQEQ fabulously orchestrated snazzy tune. I then proceeded to download the rest of their discography. What can I say? I was hooked!

6: Oren Lavie: http://www.orenlavie.com/ I’m pretty sure this man is the only solo musician on my list. No words can do the beauty and mastery of his only album justice. Every song is perfect, with amazing orchestration, and silky smooth vocals.

5: The Cellar Door: http://findthecellardoor.org/ One of my favourite Youtubers Abb3rz07 https://www.youtube.com/user/abb3rz07 introduced me to this band. From the very first listen I was deeply in love with this band. They are very folky, but not in an antiquated way. They also have a cello in their band. It’s a well known fact that cellos make everything better!

4: The Decemberists: http://www.decemberists.com/ This is yet another brilliant folky band! They have such a vast and varied repertoire, one can listen to them for hours and not get bored (which is no easy task for me!) If you’re going to start with one of their albums, I suggest their concept album the hazards of love.

3: Dead Letter Circus: http://deadlettercircus.com/ This alternative rock band captured my heart with their infectious beats, and beautiful melodies. Like SOAD, I found this band after becoming bored with Linkin Park. I’m so glad I did, because their music is brilliant!

2: Fair to Midland: http://fairtomidlandfans.com/ I have a large Fair to Midland shaped hole in my heart, which I doubt I’ll ever repair. This band has produced the most perfect music I’ve ever heard, and the fact that I’ll never get to hear them live again devastates me. Their official genera is prog rock, but they also sport a very heavy folk influence.

1: The Gorillaz: http://gorillaz.com/ I’ve yet to meet a person who doesn’t like the Gorillaz. I have quite a long history with this band. I first heard them when I was about 5 on Rage. After seeing the video 19-2000 I fell in love with the music and art style. Being so young, I didn’t have the resources to track down the rest of their music.  My next encounter was not until I was 12. There was this website, take 40.com, which was really big with the year 6 class. Feel good inc. was in the top 40 at the time. I used to listen to this song on repeat, until it eventually drifted out of the top 40. When this happened I purchased my first ever CD, demon days. Since then I have been a hardcore Gorillaz Fan (except for plastic beach. Lets forget that ever happened)

Manic Weekends

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Alt Fashion, alternative, Alternative Fashion, Blouse, bow, casual, Classic, colourful, design, Fashion, Fashion Design, kei, knee high socks, Music, nautical, otome kei, pleats, socks, Vintage

This weekend hes been slightly manic. It started friday when I attended my friends bands album launch (They’re called Valko http://valkoband.com/, and if they keep heading the way they are, they could find themselves with a spot in “Jen’s top 10 favourite bands of all time” list.

On Saturday I found myself faced with two long gigs with two different Orchestras: The New Empire Ballroom Ragtime Dance Orchestra, and the Central Coast Symphony Orchestra (Which will be called “Symphony Central Coast” from next year) Both gigs were so much fun, but today I found myself feeling quite dead.

Unfortunately I didn’t get to relax. I had my music schools end of year concert. Although it was very long (5 hours D: ) It was lovely to see so many children (and a few adults) enjoying music so much.

Misogynist teenage bogans: AKA Why I maintain tunnel vision while in public

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Alt Fashion, alternative, alternativefashion, apple, beach, Blouse, Cape, casual, classy, Coffee, colourful, Dr Martins, feminism, I won't stay silent, kei, lace, layers, otome kei, socks, tights, womens rights

Please excuse this pathetic shoe shot. It was taken during my rehearsal tonight.

Today was quite an eventful day. It started out with having coffee with Ro and Adam, which was very lovely, then followed by an awful afternoon full of teenage misogynist bogans, and then topped off by an Orchestral rehearsal which left me tired and Hangry.

I was verbally assalted by 3 separate packs of teenage boys this afternoon within the space of an hour. The first event was when I was getting out of my car to take outfit photos. Two boys no older than 14 yelled out various versions of “hey sexy” and “nice ass”

The second event was at a local Mc Donalds, where I was greeted with more “hey sexy” and variations thereof by slightly older boys.

The third was when I was buying a drink from the servo. This bogan was probably about 17ish 18 ish. He was wearing shorts, and one of those racerback singlets with the huge armholes and low neckwhich shows off all the “alpha male muscles bro ha ha footy”ness of their physique.

Finally, to top off these three events, I was told that I was asking for it because of the way I had dressed that day. I can 100% guarantee had I been male, wearing shorts and nothing else , I wouldn’t have heard a peep from the young lads in woy woy.

So, After that word vomit, this is what I wore today.

This outfit may be unusual, but in no way is it provocative. I’m wearing long sleeves for goodness sake! My shorts may be short, but the length still has a good 5 cm’s on the current lengths of store bought short shorts.

I don’t even know why I’m trying to justify why my outfit shouldn’t be commented on in such an inappropriate way. I am not an object. I am human and should be treated as such. The behavior displayed by the bogans this afternoon is inappropriate and dehumanizing. Their behaviour aims to not only put me down, but to make me feel less than, and to make my gender feel less than.

I suppose I just can’t believe that such uncivilized people still exist in today’s society. I think the saddest thing is that these boys will probably have children one day, and these children will be taught that this behaviour is ok. The only way for these children to ever have a chance at not continuing the sexism cycle is for people (especially women) to come out and talk about these experiences.

The next time you experience sexist behaviour, I emplor you to speak out publicly against it. It’s the only way to create a safe an equal enviroment for ourselves, and our future generation.

This

Pioneer Park

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alternative, Alternative Fashion, altfashion, Animal, bow, Cardigan, Classic, colourful, cute, Dog, fox, lace, nature, otome kei, park, Red

I found a “new” park is Gosford yesterday.  It’s a small park called Pioneer Park. As well as being a beautiful park, it also houses some really old graves (Mostly from the mid 1800’s) I didn’t take any photo’s of the graves. (It felt a little disrespectful. Also, what if there was a ghost!?)

Anyway, this is what I wore. I whipped up this fox pleated skirt Sunday afternoon because that’s the way I roll. I was going to use the fabric for some shorts, but I decided last minute that shorts were too much of a hassle to make on a Sunday afternoon.

Cardigan – Hell Bunny, Shirt: Thrifted, Belt: Alannah Hill, Skirt: Home made, Stockings: Coles, Socks: Ebay.

It amazes me that one can live in an area for so long (I’ve been in the same house for 19 years) and still not know all of its secrets.

You could say this is a foxy skirt (ha. ha. ha. I would make a great father)

Big Green Bows

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Alt Fashion, alternative, Alternative Fashion, altfashion, Beret, bow, Classic, colourful, cute, design, Fashion, Fashion Design, Green, lace, sewing, Skirt, spring, Vintage

This is the last item from my weekend sewing binge.

I bought this fabric about 5 or 6 months ago, and I originally intended to create a pair of pleated high waisted shorts out of it.

Obviously that did not happen. Instead I made this skirt. It was partially inspired by a grey polkadot drop waisted dress with a giant bow by Alannah Hill.

The skirt is a 3/4 circle skirt with a gathered section in the lower portion of the dress. I made he skirt super flouncy (Because that’s the way I roll.) I’m thinking maybe I’ll have to compile a video of how swishy some of my skirts and dresses are (Comment or whatever if you want that to happen) because when I have a swishy skirt on, literally all I want to do all day is stand in front of a mirror and swish.

Also, just quickly, I reached 100 blog posts the other day (I totally missed it. I think this is post 103) so there’s that. Thanks to everyone who reads/supports my blogs 🙂 It means a lot 😀

The skirt

Fairy Dress

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alternative, Alternative Fashion, alternativefashion, altfashion, blazer, Blue, bow, Classic, colourful, cute, design, Dr Martins, Dress, fairy, Fashion, Fashion Design, floral, flower, Flowers, Green, lace, Red, sewing, spring, Velvet, Vintage

I sewed a dress yesterday. Today I wore the dress that I sewed.

This is the first dress I’ve made out of a non stretch fabric. I also drafted the pattern myself. I’m quite surprised it turned out this well. The last time I attempted to sew a dress from cotton, it didn’t end to well (which is part of the reason I hardly sew dresses)

Hair bow: Alannah Hill, Choker: Home made, Velvet blazer: Thrifted, Dress: Home made, Tights: Myer, Shoes: Dr Marten.

I suppose you’d call this type of dress a ‘skater dress’. It has a fitted top, and the skirt is a 3/4 circle skirt. I’ve made the dress out of two layers of material. The inner layer is a floral printed cotton, and the outer layer is a sort of netting.

The frilly bits around the base of the dress were hand gathered, and then hand stitched around the base of the outer net layer of the dress. (never. again.(Although, in saying that, the gathered net frill is what turned this dress from an nice dress into a really nice dress))

If I had the choice, I would have used the machine to stitch the frill onto the bottom of the skirt, but unfortunately the net was super fragile, super stretchy and super uncooperative.

Close up of the fabric.

Close up of the bottom layer of fabric.

Welcome to the 60’s

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60's, 60's fashion, Alt Fashion, alternative, Alternative Fashion, bow, Classic, classy, coat, colourful, cute, Dr Martins, landscapes, lense flair, macro, photography, Vintage

As well as being a loving mother, my mum is an enabler of my crazy fashion adventures. She went shopping on the weekend, and bought me these fantastic shoes. When I saw them, I just had to pair them with a vintage outfit I’ve been meaning to try for ages (But never felt game)

The coat I’m wearing is one half of a yellow two piece my dad found at a vintage shop in Sydney. The dress is one half of a pink two piece my mum and I found in the best shop in woy woy (shop 55 yo!)

I don’t wear this type of dress very often (I think it’s called a shift dress?) If you’ve followed my blog for a while, you’ll notice that I tend to go for form fitting dresses, which come in at the waist, and almost always with a full skirt. This dress is the exact opposite, but, I kind of love it.

I took my outfit photos on the board walk near a local park. While I was strolling around/looking for the perfect railing to attach my camera to, I found myself reminiscing.

At the high school I went to, we had to participate in thursday afternoon sport. Myself and my small, but close group of friends used to choose what sport we’d do as a group (because unless you took sport with friends, it was a lonely and painfully boring experience)

Anyway, when we were feeling particularly cheep, we’d choose “powerwalking” (which was really walk around at a leisurely pace around Gosford) Often the path would intersect with the board walk.

The boardwalk was always my favourite route. It’s such a serene place. I don’t get to go as often as I like, but whenever I go, it’s always so very quiet, and I’ve never seen another person there.

Speaking of memories, it’s weird how they can change over time. When I used to think back on boardwalk fun times, I always remembered there being a bench here. There is no evidence of a bench. I’m entirely sure my mind created a bench, and now I am questioning my sanity.

Butterflies

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Alt Fashion, Alternative Fashion, butterflies, butterfly, Classic, colourful, Fashion, insect, nature, rainbow, water colour

This is what I wore Friday evening!

I went out to dinner with my boyfriend, his mum and his grandmother and had a fantastic time! It was lovely to catch up and the food was delicious (we ate at a place that predominantly serves pizza, pasta and hot stone food.)

I always love having at excuse to wear this dress. It’s such a classic cut, but has a quirky side, which is perfectly for when I need to be semi formal but don’t wish to be dress normally.

Gone Green

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Alt Fashion, alternative, Alternative Fashion, Blouse, bow, Classic, colourful, cute, design, Green, ladypetrova, Skirt, spring, tartan

I didn’t have the best day friday, but at least I looked fab!

Casual Tuesday

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Alt Fashion, alternative, Alternative Fashion, casual, colourful, cute, Fashion, rainbow, rainbow socks, Shorts, squirrel, stripe

I dun goofed and forgot to take a picture of my shoes. Have a majestic photo of Ro Dogz instead (sporting the kitty shorts I made for him sunday)

I sewed a new pair of shorts on Monday. It’s the first time I’ve ever bothered to match patterns correctly, and it’s the first time in a while I’ve bothered to sew pockets!

I actually had a reason for sewing these shorts. I’ve got this pair of black and white stripy shorts, but they don’t fit well (they’re wayyy to big in the waist :() I find it incredibly hard to find shorts that fit correctly (hence why I’ve been sewing by own!) Anyway, I sewed these shorts to replace my beloved but I’ll fitting stripy shorts.