A LOVE LETTER TO MARTIN MARGIELA

Vintage jacket, lucite necklace, jeans, and boots, t-shirt from American Apparel
Although a pair of leather tabi ankle boots elude me (I'm hoping to one day buy a pair, I'm pretty sure they're only for women, but I've been told I have the same shoe size of Paris Hilton, so I figure there's bound to be a boutique that caters to foot-size anomalies), I still try to express myself in as many Margiela ways as possible. Kind of the fashion equivalent of the kid who broke his arm trying to fly like superman. Even with the man himself gone from the house (I call it Maison Missing Margiela), my respect and love of his work still runs through my own. One way I pay tribute is by tucking my nude tee into my pants to create a maybe-fleshy, bodysuit illusion. I was instantly reminded of the flaking, painted boots Margiela did when I saw my paint-splattered boots in the store. Throw the nude and boots together, and assemble with other parts faintly reminiscent of elements peaking out of his ready to wear and artisanal shows, give it a good squint, and you have your own private Margiela look.

-Cruz

WINTER BREAK

Hey guys! I've been up to my ears in finals, work, and holiday duties, so I haven't had time to update. I've decided to take a brief winter hibernation hiatus to catch up. Posting will resume normally next Monday (the 26th). I may slap together some sort of inspiration post this week though, so stay tuned haha.

Thanks so much for reading, and here's wising you guys a happy and safe holiday season!

-Cruz

CHILLY CIRCUMSTANCES

Vintage t-shirt, jeans, belt, and doc martens, Converse jacket

A personal rule of thumb of mine is that just about any oversized, dark-colored, sheltering garment seems to me to go with what I have on, and reaching for such garments under chilly circumstances leads to some interesting looks. For instance this Converse jacket belongs to my dad, but I like the length and proportions on me (I enjoy warming my hands in the comfort of sleeves of unduly lengths).
I styled it with some lingering influence from my spiel on armor from a few posts back. I have to tell you guys that the tucking-in of my jean flaps came about from a misunderstanding of which side those tattered flaps would expose, I wanted to show off the buckles of these boots, turns out the buckles were on the opposite side that the jeans would expose, but I like it this way too. If you follow me?




I like this look a lot with the skin shed too. I found this shirt at a vintage store downtown, I like it a lot because to me it's the equivalent of haphazardly finding a cool piece of art at a thrift store or yard sale, but instead I get to wear it on my shirt! To me it looks like an escaped subject from Guernica haha (Don't know how many art history buffs I may have offended with that comment, I'm taking art history 101 next semester and will repent my sins).

-Cruz

SARTORIAL SURF & TURF

Vintage tie-dye shirt, plaid shirt, boots, necklace, and watch, Gap leather pants

I'm always looking for ways to get away with wearing tie-dye and leather pants out of context. One way I like to is by pairing them both together, creating a sartorial surf and turf mix. I threw on my brother's plaid shirt and some paint splattered boots for some added pattern and texture. Apart of my "ball up whatever you think is cool and make some sense of it" approach towards dressing.


-Cruz

STOOGE

Levis' jacket, American Apparel shirt, vintage iron cross, pantaloons, and boots

While trying on my dad's boots, I was stricken with the inspiration (courage? foolishness?) to explore the outer limits of male leg cleavage. To step into these territories, I had to first unite the boots with my pantaloons, which created the eye in which to pass through to enter said territories. I then played around with a few pieces from my wardrobe and came up with this outfit, which came into fruition by way of inspiration from stage outfits worn by The Stooges, like Iggy Pop's thigh high leather boots or Ron Asheton's iron cross. I figured when you're this far into such bizarre territories, you might as well have fun. I'd like to explore proportions yielding man cleavage again sometime and make sense of it, I wouldn't be doing my duty as a self-professed stylist if I didn't!


Here's a big ole detail shot of the boots for your time.

-Cruz

FROM GLAM TO TRASH II

I came up with this look when I was staying at my parents' house a while back and I realized I hadn't packed enough clean clothes, so I threw on a few things I had left when I moved to Los Angeles. Even clean clothes aren't enough to keep me from looking like trash (sTylE TiP: Wearing your hair dirty lowers any look to grimy depths!)!

If I can make any sense of this outfit myself, I'd say it has roots in the inspiration I get from rhinestone cowboys, Galliano guys , and my interest in tawdry glamour, like Jackie Curtis' stubble showing through his makeup. There's some black magic in this outfit, if you squint you might get Ed Hardy vibes from the tiger-glitter resonance!



It's fun to mix and match accessories, but it's even more fun to mix and match animals in your outfits! I don't see tiger and horse motifs paired up very often, so I thought it'd be fun to try it out myself. I'd had the button-up for ages, I'll do another post on it sometime and give it the dignity it deserves.


-Cruz

STRAPS & STRIPES

Vintage jacket, arrowhead necklace, bark tee, and Doc Martens, American Apparel jeans

I've been studying a lot of armor lately, and I think the idea of what your wearing also being able to save your skin has seeped into my styling goals. Although these vintage Doc Martens probably won't protect me from any real danger, they do shield my shins from the garbage and hobo piss ridden landscape I traverse everyday. I suppose if I ever find myself hurled into a high-speed body-to-pavement skidding situation, these boots might save some of my skin?

I think my love and fascination with armor and the armor-esque does not come from some sort of vulnerability complex, but rather from my utilitarian sensibility towards clothes. If you're going to wear something cool, it might as well actually serve a purpose! I should probably mention the fluttering nature of that sensibility, because I have my fair share of peacock feathers in my closet, but nonetheless I try my best to reflect my appreciation for the functional (but never boring) with my clothing choices, if only at my feet.

I like how the stripes of my jacket match the lines of the boots. In a fit of loose association I will mention how the color palette and vague references of my clothes evoke a motocross-rider-crashing-into-a-tree-and-burning-up-his-bike narrative.



Close up of the several strap action.


I love this speckled arrowhead necklace I yanked from my dads collection. I could divulge to you some imagery those speckles bring to mind, but I've maxed this post out with morbid text.


-Cruz

FEELING FUTURISTIC

Vintage jacket, sharkskin shirt, belt, and boots, Cheap Monday jeans

Despite the amount of vintage clothes threaded into this blog, I actually (humorously?) consider myself to be an adamant futurist. This isn't to say I reflect that philosophy everyday with what I wear, because paradoxically I'm a sucker for nostalgia as well. But even if I'm resurrecting ghosts from the world history of style and the much shorter history of my style, I always try to do it with a twist so that I'm not bored with what I'm wearing.

I'm a huge fan of designers like Nicolas Ghesquière, Jun Takahashi, Walter Van Beirendonck, Hussein Chalayan, and Raf Simons, whose collections from the past and present have evoked feelings of the future. Unfortunately, futuristic gems don't often turn up during my sartorial excavations (garbage diving) and clothes of tomorrow off the rack in my price range don't usually cut it design and quality wise, but the vintage sharkskin shirt I'm wearing in this post fits the bill. When it's not shimmering, unbuttoned around my waist during the summer months, I try to dress it up like so. I thought I'd try out the asymmetrical shirt tucking from last spring's Balenciaga show while I was at it as well.


These boots have some pretty spacey details. I like to think of them as a scuffed pair of boots a space cowboy left here on earth. It's like wearing the future on my feet!

-Cruz

MUSTARD GLINT

I took a stroll down to the neighborhood farmer's market the other day and bought... a pair of boots! I was elated to have stumbled upon this pop of yellow amongst the usual roundup of black and brown leather bores. I have a reckless insistence of trying to cram in yellow pieces into my wardrobe. Styling the color yellow can be like capping an outpour of golden rays, but in more subtle shades like mustard, yellow can be surprising easy to integrate into your day. Especially when you can stomp down those golden rays until they're just a mustard glint at your toes. Okay, even I'm lost in all this imagery - onto the details! Everything I have on is vintage, by the way!




These two buttons have joined harmoniously with my Lee jacket. I knicked the Eddie Cochran from my dad's collection, he's one of my favorite 50s rock-n-rollers. I love the green and orange combo on the Arizona pin and my love for cattle skulls is known throughout the moors and heaths.


I like wearing necklaces under really tight shirts, so that the pendant shows through subtly, but enough to occupy the negative space on my chest.


My attempt at making digital look like a photo you might scrape off the bottom of a chest in your attic. I'll take better detail shots next time I'm back home.


Thanks for readin!

-Cruz

MY FIRST STITCHES

Micro mesh top from American Apparel, vintage belt, necklace and shoes, Levis cutoffs altered by myself

I like to cram in as much art into my day as possible, even if that means drawing a crudely sketched mural on my English 101 notes. One way in particular I like to act arty, is by knitting!

I've posted some of my, uh, "creations" before. I usually start with a project, abandon it, then take the salvaged pieces and make them into something else! I knitted this mint green swatch you see dripping down my knee way back when I picked up my knitting needles for the first time. It was just a practice swatch, but I thought it was a perfect match for the split in those Levis cutoffs, so I sewed them together in DIY matrimony.






Very cool vintage medallion, most likely an Aries, zodiac medallion. I'm a Virgo, by the way, I just like rams.


This picture was taken by accident when one of my loose threads got caught on my tripod, causing me to stumble! So I guess if you're loony enough to wear loose threads like me, be forewarned that you may kiss the pavement.


-Cruz

TWISTED ORANGE

Vintage raglan, Levi's corduroy shirt, Maverick shorts, leather cuff, braided leather belt, and Stacey Adams shoes.

I decided to try twisting some Southern California vintage (Burnt orange raglan), beach (Sandy colored Maverick shorts), and skater (70's Levi's corduroy shirt) motifs. It's surprising how some small adjustments can make a familiar outfit make you go "huh?", like by coiling some braided leather around your waist. I gotta divulge to you guys that I was looking through the entire Balenciaga archive and thinking about classic aviation at the time of styling this too. Again, what makes sense to me is something you guys might be able to see, too?


-Cruz

I PUT A SPELL ON YOU

Vintage shirt and boots, Gap leather pants, Ishi necklace, and bracelet from a flea market in Big Bear lake California

Another outfit churned out through my tunes-to-threads personification mechanism. I figure the best way to capture Screamin Jay Hawkin's "I Put a Spell on You" is with African inspired apparel, black leather, and trinkets reminiscent of African, animistic religions.




-Cruz

UNUSUAL MINIMALISM

Another addition in what I'd call my quest for unusual minimalism, by which I mean throwing on a few very basic/casual items of clothing but giving it a strange twist so that you're not bored out of your mind with yourself. This time around, I've taken an outfit of cutoffs and a castaway vintage tee and tied a literal/figurative bow around it. I've been playing around with my grandpa's collection of hatbands and handkerchiefs he gave me, you combine that with my current obsession with 60s pop girl bands and you get a headband pushed ever so slightly towards the edge of my skull to try and create that 60/50's scarf-as-a-headband look. Well, the references make sense to me. This is more of what I'd call "Sart-ore-ial", which means it's a cool idea but will be much better after you have a place to shoot other than at the foot of the stairs to your apartment complex and beyond basic knowledge of photography (reasons to stay in college)!

Wish me luck in job hunting and in my math 230 class haha!

-Cruz

TIE DYE & POLKA DOTS

Vintage polka dot shirt and messenger bag, dead stock Maverick shorts, bone necklace by Ishi, Stacey Adams sandals, and Good On tie-dye shirt

Every year when the weather warrants baggy, unbuttoned shirts to flap about our torsos, I usually reach for this vintage, brown polka dot shirt I got at Out of the Closet in Atwater a few years back. It's always reminded me of something Marni-esque (other than screaming 60s) so whenever I wear it I take steps in time with the models of a phantasmic Marni catwalk haha.

I picked up the tie-dye shirt and Maverick shorts at the Long Beach Flea Market this past summer. I've been styling them an infinite amount of ways, expect to see them a lot, they go with everything, etc. etc. etc.



Trying to find a decent place to shoot now that I'm in LA, if (when) photo quality takes a nose dive don't say I didn't warn you!


-Cruz

CRAYONS AND CARTOONS

Levi's pants and shirt, Stacey Adams sandals

In a fit of impulsive creativity I smeared the nubs of my worn down pastels on a pair of sand colored Levi's I got for a buck at a local thrift store back home (The fact that the doodles will wash off is due in part to the impulsive nature of this creative venture).




I thought it'd be fun to just draw whatever came to my mind in those frenzied moments: alligators, palm trees, the letters in Mississippi, a crudely drawn tip of the Chrysler Building... at least lay down some creative groundwork for similar projects in the future. One day I'll go back and do the real deal. Believe me, these weren't supposed to be works of art or anything, I just like childish images and wanted to express myself radiating off my denim clad legs.



-Cruz

CLUTCHING TO THE BAGGY BLUES

Why not open another can of fashionably-questionable worms by toting a "man-clutch"? I yanked this vintage find from our garage back home this past summer, I'm sure it's meant to be a plain old wallet, but I think I can have more fun with it as a clutch. It's not gonna fit in any pants pockets of mine anyway. Here's some ways I've been wearing it...



Worn with an American Apparel tee and vintage everything else. In a mutation of the baggy pants blues, I've cuffed a pair of baggy Levis into a pair of parachute-pirate pantaloons.





In this outfit I have on an H&M long-sleeve tee and vintage everything else. Just some no fuss, baggy strangeness for evening summer strolls.

Here's some detail shots of the wallet...




-Cruz

SHARKSKIN & SKIRT

vintage sharkskin shirt, a random crystal necklace and tee, vintage Levis and boots

Inspiration into fruition! I scored this skirt at a flea market some time ago, It was being sold with a lot of other sartorial goods from India so I have reason to believe it's from there, but I can't be sure. It reminds me a lot of boro textiles or something that'd turn up hugging the hips of a model walking a Dries Van Noten show. Wearing it this way more grunge than Dries, it seems to have infinite layering potential so expect to see it every-which-way this fall when I build my cozy layered shells.

I've just made the move to the Silverlake neighborhood of LA to go to school for a semester, maybe longer! I'm settling in and there is so much to do, but I will try to keep blog posts as regular as possible. Thanks for reading!


-Cruz

THE BAGGY BLUES

I've been trying on the baggy pants hat lately, a style I've eased into on hot summer afternoons raking the outer limits of my wardrobe for clothes to sweat in. I call it the baggy blues, when it's too hot to wear anything else, just grab a pair of the baggiest jeans you've got! Here's some ways I've been wearing these jeans...



A great wash on these Levis, no front pockets though haha, I'm wearing them with a vintage tee, fur bangles, an A&W root beer pin, and John Varvatos converse.

Here's another pair of jeans I've been wearing...




I like to wear these under my feet, they kind of slither around like two denim slugs. They tend to pick up things along the way - just think of all the things that you're walking over that you're missing by not wearing your pants under your shoes! I've got on a thrifted tee, a vintage watch and vintage Levi's.

Here's the back of the first t-shirt I'm wearing...



These vintage cuffs are a great way to bring together creepy and casual. Picture taken with the help of my pal Tanus Spijek.


-Cruz

MAS PELICULAS

EL MARIACHI



METAL DRAGON KIRYU



KIRYU SOS



(click the pics)


Some more summer movie screen-caps I did, again in the spirit of immortalizing stylish and inspiring moments not widely available frozen on the internet. This time around I did Robert Rodriguez's El Mariachi because I've always considered the protagonist to be an iconic figure, he's what I had in mind when I wore a black suit to prom haha.


I also made screen caps of the mighty Kiryu A.K.A Mechagodzilla from two aughties Godzilla films, not fashion or style related whatsoever (Except for the badass Kiryu caps, like, the thing you put on your head, not a screen cap), but I personally envision outfits together in my head within the cold depths of Kiryu's hanger and Tokyo lain to waste.

Really, I just made the screencaps for my own use but I figured I'd go ahead and post em here in case one of you guys wanted to see! Plus, Kiryu's not campy like the 70s Mechagodzilla and not as boring as the 90s Mechagodzilla, so it'd be hard for anyone to take any interest in it besides myself so I figure it's my duty. The screencaps aren't the best quality because I used the bootleg DVDs I bought when I was 12 to make them, but if you're a big enough Godzilla fan to want to see all those screencaps (or make them...) you're probably used to putting up a lot anyway.


-Cruz

PITCH BLACK GARBAGE

Sucking up the sunshine in pitch black garbage while channeling some sort of gothic pauper or jester. I blame those harlequin vibes on the fact that wearing sneakers makes me feel like some kind of nimble pest. In the spirit of nimble pests and spider spun sheer here's a photo of me framed by some bristly critters I doodled...




I didn't start the day with the arrowhead necklace, but bought it in a pact with some friends at an antique store up in Big Bear. I love the two tone colors, it's also pretty sharp, which means you have to make sure you don't fall asleep with it on so you don't stab yourself. Friendship necklaces that double as a weapon are the best!



-Cruz