BOOTS USA








Fluxus jacket, American Apparel shirt, vintage Levis, bracelet, bolo and boots.

I picked up these boots on one of my shopping trips to Little Tokyo in LA at a shop called Kimski Makes. I was instantly taken by these boots because, well, I'm not sure I can think of a less cheesy way of saying "I love America" without saying "I love America", but I do. Because once you get past the George Bushes' and Westboro Baptist Churches, there are some really brilliant and beautiful things about the home of the free.

I love the red, white, and blue American iconography and I think the composition of those colors on these boots works really well, since the dominant color is navy and the red and white stripes are left for subtle detail flashing and to be mostly your secret. I personally like wearing them with a lousy pair of jeans because they give the most banal look a shot in the arm. Not that you couldn't get flashy with these and tap into your inner Evel Knievel.

This time I styled them with a few more American things, such as a bolo and blue jeans, paired with some Lou Reed sensibility left over with the chipped black nail polish from my last post.



Thought I'd take some shots with the Ray-Bans. I hardly ever wear sunglasses aside from driving - I mean I try to where them during the collective 20 minutes I'm outside a week. I guess they're not really my thing, I do like to channel Warhol or Debbie Harry every now and then though.



-Cruz

TENEMENT FUNSTER


Antique military coat, American Apparel scarf, Jean Paul Gaultier button-up, Levi's jeans, vintage boots

Thought I'd trot out my calvary jacket for a spin while the weather was cold enough - no one wants to be sweating, on top of crazy, in an antique wool military coat.
This time around (in case you'd like to know more about the jacket, here's a link to the original post), I was mostly inspired by all of the major players who have shaped my personal style over the years: Keith Richards, Jimi Hendrix, Brian Jones, David Bowie, just to name a few, and, believe it or not, myself. I was looking at older pictures of myself with smudged kohl eyes and chipped nails and thought it'd be fun to take another crack at it (I was the most awkwardly glamorous 14-year-old you ever saw).

There's some carnaby-mod influences thrown in - I picked the clunky shoes to weigh the look down and I'm always up for draping my venomously acid green scarf over anything. The shirt is a Jean Paul Gaultier from the early 90s I got from Out of Vogue. I thought the shirt would be perfect to wear with this jacket- I plan to wear it a lot this summer so you'll definitely see more of it.




This picture reminds me of a sassy gesture that Mick Jagger might make on stage, the acid green and red remind me of his costume from the Stones' infamous Altamont show.



Just got back from LACMA on a school field trip - I'm inspired as I am exhausted!

-Cruz

ACCIDENTALLY SEVENTIES





Upon an arbitrary trip to the local shoe repair shop to take a look at the shoes long forgotten (and up for grabs), I found these Doc Martens! The shop owner said they were custom made, even came with tags attached. I instantly drew parallels to the shoes from Balenciaga's spring 2011 collection...



I was quite taken by that collection, if you guys remember, so of course I fell hard for these shoes. I usually shy away from frowny, clunky looking shoes, but every once and a while (and lately, more often than not) a pair comes along that changes my mind.

I thought I'd post these shoes for the first time with an outfit in the same spirit as the aforementioned Balenciaga collection, but instead I just kind of pulled random garb I've been into lately into a sort of goony guy look. I titled this post Accidently Seventies because I didn't realize how 70s my outfit was! Star Wars, punk influences, More Songs About Builinds and Food... hey it was a jammed packed decade - no wonder every season the 70s seem to be in, you can pull so many references.


I thought of this pin when I got the shoes as well because of the colors. My dad got this pin when he saw the Talking Heads at the Roxy back in the day. What I would have given to see them then and there! The Talking Heads have been one of my favorite bands since I was a kid, and More Songs About Buildings and Food is one of my all time favorite albums. The map is from the back side of the record. I also understand my dad has a vintage David Bowie shirt from a concert from around the time Heroes came out, which has yet to be unearthed from storage! It's great to have a dad who passes down vintage artyfacts to you and makes you jealous of concert experiences.


-Cruz

HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN





This is one of my favorite outfits to wear lately because it has so much stuff I love crammed into a singular look. You got The Stones, Japan, Tie-Dye, muted white stitching etc. I got the shirt at Pop Killer in Little Tokyo in L.A. I'm really into pairing red and green together in a non-christmasy way, so the logo buddied with an olive green tee-shirt is spot on.


I got this critter at Anime Jungle in Little Tokyo as well. I'm not entirely sure where he's from, because the tag was in Japanese, but when I saw him he really caught my eye (HA!). I was originally gonna string him up on my messenger bag like I often do with similar cutesy anime paraphernalia, but to my dismay it appeared as though that would bring a world of dirt to its white coat. So I strung it up on the zipper of my jacket where it hangs from time to time.


I've been meaning to get these American Apparel pants for ages. I love them in every color they have, but I settled on the orange and brown because I've never seen tie-dye like that before. Plus I think the brown has a sordid quality to it, which I was drawn to. While I'm at it, challenging the realm of preconceived ideas of what constitutes holiday color combinations (i.e. red & green), I thought I'd step up to the challenge of orange and black. I don't think it really reads Halloween as much as it might read creepy - but that's alright with me.


Click here to help Japan!

-Cruz