going to glastonbury is my ultimate summer fantasy. obviously, as it involves just a few of my favourite things;
• the somerset country side (even if it does get a bit muddy) • an amazing array of fabulous british music acts • an excuse to wear wellies - fashionably • putting that stash of polaroid film to good use • retreating to a rented wennebago to make tea inbetween gigs • & the exciting off chance of bumping into one of those (good kind) of hipster celebrities. par example; these two
this year was especially hard - it seemed almost everyone i knew was going. at least theyve promised to bring me back loads of photos...
above is just an idea of what i might be wearing ala glasto/necessities i think perfect for the occasion.
glastonbury 09 - here i come!
x
edit : you didnt think i could leave this post as is without at least one goldfrapp at glastonbury mention did you?
my love for polaroids will never die, & they are even better when paired with one of my favourite bands.
to do like me & waste away a bad morning - just make yourself a nice cuppa, set the ipod to midnight boom & sift through more lovely polaroids taken by the kills.
this year, june 21st is extra lovely for not just one but two reasons; today not only marks the beginning of a much anticipated season but also the beginning of a much anticipated tour - the goldfrapp 'seventh tree' summer tour.
& who better to wish us a happy summer than alison goldfrapp herself...
swoooooooooon.
the video was released just yesterday & i hurried to get it on youtube so i could make this special summery post today - the first of summer.
(i guess you could say ive got connections when it comes to alison & will)
& if youre lucky enough to see them both live this summer in europe the dates are on goldfrapp.com; most of which are already sold out though.
heres hoping they'll drop by nyc again before they head off to australia! i am absolutely dying to see them again...
a celebration dinner for my mum last night, a stop by my favourite coffee shop downtown for a chocolate macaroon, a last minute meet up with my over 21 mate & one too many glasses of champagne lead to a late night, a massive headache & forgotten coursework, which meant, of course, that i had to spend today making up for it. add in a few extra hours sleep, a million cuppas later & all is seemingly back to normal.
a big merci for all the early birthday wishes, suggestions & ideas. i promised i would deliver soo;
the outfit i wore last night is actually one of my newest favourite creations. it consists of my dads old denim jacket (which he loved too too much - its perfectly worn in), an aa tee shirt dress, vintage belt & those shoes (!)
in terms of fashion what were you like as a child? as a child i can remember hating it when i would receive clothes at christmas or whenever, not because i didnt like them but because what they got - i would never wear. i think it was mainly due to my extreme pickiness & even then i favoured vintage & secondhand. i was always playing dress up in my mums closet, which was filled with so many amazing pieces from her modeling days. (sadly its all gone now, when i could have fully appreciated it) though, the real turning point i had into the fashion obsessed happened when i was eleven. we were on our weekly weekend shopping trip to the "big city" with mum's best friend & her family; traffic was horrid & i remember being so bored waiting in the backseat when out of desperation my mother's friend handed me a copy of W with kate moss on the cover. by the time we arrived at the shopping center of all shopping centers - i just wanted to stay put, still in the car, & oodle over the gorgeousness that lay in my lap. it was love at first sight & its been that way ever since.
& to july stars who suggested an interview - i absolutely love the idea! im afraid though that interviewing myself would end up quite conceited & boring, so if anyone out there wants the honours - you know what to do.
keep the ideas/suggestions coming. they give me a good excuse to post when my minds gone completely blank & im feeling uninspired.
i cant believe 10.17 is already a year old! ive met so lovely people (you know who you are), got to visit so many lovely places & got to buy so many lovely things & post all about it here since last june. ah, time goes by too fast.
heres to another fabulous year *clink clink*
my glass will be full of sparkling grape juice though, i think ive had enough bubbly the past 24 hours
i had seen these (quite like those nine west wedge gladiators) popping up everywhere on my favourite bloggers feet, including a few chic patrons on tFS. & as soon as i saw them - it was love. i was already dreaming of dressing up in my most androgynous of outfits, with these on my feet, only to channel miss lanphear, of course. & now i can. imitation is the highest form of flattery, no?
xx
ps. seeing as its my one year blog anniversary tomorrow, i had to think of a perfect way to celebrate. so, i thought why not make a special sortof "thank you" post for all my lovely readers. any questions you might like to ask, suggestions on what youd like to see more (or less) of in the blog, etc, etc. nows the time for you to say anything, darlings. see you tomorrow...
pps. the kind people over at lensshopper.com sent me a lovely email asking if i could post a link up to their page. im feeling all nice & in the birthday mood so take a look around & click here for their contacts.
the video for goldfrapp's newest single 'caravan girl' is everything i hope my summer to be except i'll more than likely be riding around on a bicycle instead of a skateboard & there (sadly) wont be a palm tree or an ocean in sight;
ive already got the wardrobe - although i think i will opt for my UO trainers instead of the vans;
trainers : urban outfitters deer men tee : goldfrapp.sandbag.uk.com plaid shirt : topshop denim shorts : forever 21
i dont think ive ever wanted it to be summer more than i do right now, just laying out on the grass with my transistor radio...
i awoke very early the following morning at six thirty am, which is very odd for someone like me (i hate mornings) but seeing as i knew there would be pretty much nothing to do that early & also knowing that i would absolutely have to be up & alert for most of the next 24 hours, i decided it best to fall back asleep until the iHome alarm set to goldfrapp would wake me again at ten.
with liz still fast asleep, i rushed over to my macbook so i could scour the internet for any review or mention i could find of the fabulous night before. mostly though i was excited for my possible villagevoice.com mention & to see all those photographs that were taken of me with all those fancy cameras. (thank god for flickr - now if you search 'alison goldfrapp' guess who's photo pops up?)
after a good hour of searching, a few posts to all my fellow goldfrapp friends letting them know i was still alive & a new myspace default later, it was time to get dressed & get packed up again for a final day in the city spent vintage shopping in the lower east side.
the moment we stepped foot in our little hotel room at the pod, we both gasped at the incredible view we had. classic nyc style, fire escapes & all. we decided then & there that before we left we absolutely had to take at least a few photos in front of it.
after that lovely early morning photoshoot we finally cleared the room of all our clutter & once again threw it all back into our balenciaga motorcycle carryon bags for the final journey home. we then said a sorrowful goodbye to our room & headed downstairs for check out.
i knew only after about a minute of standing in line at the front desk that the concierge was definitely staring at me in a really strange way. when it got to the point of almost being too weird, i see him slowly stand & still looking directly at me, he says - "i took your photo at the beacon last night - the goldfrapp concert?" & immediately i knew. i was not lying when i said that at least a hundred fans took my photo that night & funny enough one of them just happened to be the concierge of our hotel. we, of course, go straight into a typical goldfrapp conversation, asking how long we'd been fans for, how much we adore alison, how fucking amazing the show was - the whole bit. he then went on to say that i was the highlight of his night, with that fabulous costume no less (aw) he said he had even gone into work that morning telling everyone about the girl who dressed up. how funny that suddenly - here i was. besides being just the concierge he also has the task of managing all the photographs taken & used for the pod hotel's city life blog that scans through multiple photos on flat screened televisions hung behind the front desk. as we chatted he uploaded mine, so if you ever find yourself staying at the pod hotel in midtown, nyc - keep a look out for yours truly, up on the screen, clad in a pirate hat of course.
since he was, after all, our concierge we proceed to ask him about some cafes in the area for a quick bite to eat before all our shopping madness. he directed us to PAX, a whole foods cafe just on the corner.
there liz & i shared a delicious honey granola & blackberry yogurt parfait, the perfect thing to hold us over just until our planned stop at a cafe, a few hours later for afternoon tea.
sadly, due to lack of remembering & the sheer awe of all the loveliness that then surrounded me, i have not a single picture of what is now my most favourite vintage shop ever. it's name? fox & fawn* lower east side, manhattan. owned by two californian girlfriends who have such a bloody brilliant eye for all things old & fabulous.
the quaint shop sits tucked away on suffolk street & is absolutely filled to the brim with designer shoes (think ysl), old cameras, sunnies, jewellery & what seemed like a million & one floral playsuits. i loved that the place was so teeny & quiet making it feel like youre either attending an exclusive trunk show or just aimlessly browsing through your dream closet. liz & i were the only ones there that whole two hours, sans the blonde half of the fox & fawn duo, who was always there to give us an insight or suggestion, a few friends of hers quickly dropping off things theyd found for the shop & one girl that came back in for this amazing seventies maxi dress. i had my eye on it the whole time but apparently so had she, because she came in that day especially for it, saying she "could not live without this dress". but all was fine because i did not leave empty handed, instead i left feeling quite satisfied carrying with me a brown paper bag filled with snakeskin ysl heels in my exact size (a five & a half is not easy to find), a lightweight denim skirt which has only the slightest flair & white buttons running down the front, an oversized grey suede clutch, ysl mens wallet for my brother & my absolute favourite favourite favourite - a floral playsuit who's print reminds me a lot of the ones chloe did for opening ceremony. if only i lived in one of the many ivy covered apartment buildings scattering that street & the lower east side, im sure id be in there everyday & my ikea closet storage system would hate me for it.
so, after the completely horrid task of sifting through racks of vintage what else are two hip girls to do but pop into teany* for a nice cuppa, some currant scones & tea sandwiches?
the afternoon tea special gave us a lovely array of choices & in the end our teapots came filled with my choice of vanilla citrus rose tea & liz's choice of lavender tea. the three tired cake plate arrived full with vegetarian tea sandwiches; ham, mustard, and cucumber, goat cheese and tomato, cream cheese and avocado & cashew butter and apple slices, currant scones with clotted cream & jam (my most favourite thing ever) & finally set atop were two dark chocolate cupcakes with raspberry frosting.
teany inside is just lovely, as is most everyplace in nyc. (everything there just has that something, that certain coolness about it, no?) to one side of us was a white washed brick wall that had tea lights placed & glowing in its many holes & on the other side hung a mirror lined at the bottom with cake plate after cake plate, displaying all the delicious (vegan) desserts.
we sat there for a good while, slowly enjoying our last moments together, eating & chatting about everything from our to die for recent purchases, that amazing concert (!) to how long we'd have to wait until we could be back in nyc again. but once the teapots were empty & our stomachs were almost too full to stand, it was already time to get liz back to the hotel again so she could pick up her luggage & head to jfk for her early flight back home. we were running very close on time but after a slightly panicked rush back, liz & i took a few last photos together outside the pod & said our goodbyes on the street corner where she hailed a cab & drove away.
i immediately grabbed for my ipod to listen to the song that had been stuck in my head all day, monster love*, which actually quite perfectly fit that exact moment as i turned & walked the other way back into the city streets alone, my head filled with lovely thoughts of those past two days.
"everything comes around, bringing us back again. here is where we start and where we end..."
i continued walking & found my way over to a little corner shop where they sold postcards, so i could pick up a few & send them, like i had promised, to my closest friends. our hotel had a lovely rooftop lounge, & since we hadnt the time to suss it all out before hand i figured it the perfect place to sit & write to all my mates from afar.
i lay there atop one of the giant red cushions, alone again, with alison still singing in my ear, writing away trying to ignore how freezing cold the air was. the view was absolutely gorgeous & when i got done with the postcards, i opened up the little box i had with me & got out the cupcake i was too full to eat earlier at teany & sat just staring at it.
it was a beautiful moment & i could have stayed there for a million more but i too had to get myself all the way back to jfk & figured, since i wasnt taking a cab & didnt really know my way that it would be best if i left early. so once down eight floors, i grabbed my luggage, made room for my new vintage & made sure my directions to the airport were correct - they were & off i went. it was a dreary one hour ride there just sitting on that subway. all i wanted to do was curl up & fall asleep but thankfully i had my ipod set to a playlist of strictly uptempo tunes to keep me from doing just that.
once that ride was finally over, i then had to board the airtrain to get to my terminal. i guess i had arrived at a not so busy time because i was strangely the only person in the entire station except for a few employees. i suddenly felt as though i had stepped into goldfrapp's 'pilots' video as i walked down that long idle hallway. it was the coolest thing ever. & as always my ipod was right there at my side, or in my chanel 2.55 rather, to play 'pilots' & help further that surreal feeling.
i definitely would not have been surprised if the few employees that were there suddenly came out of nowhere, following me further into the terminal, all whilst dancing, kissing & riding on scooters. ahh, if only!
finally at jfk & after a quick cig break & a long wait in the security line, i realized that i hadnt bought a single magazine my whole trip, so i quickly stopped by one of the many newsstands en route to gate 12 & bought, quite fittingly, a copy of 'new york look' for the aeroplane ride home.
& quite like i began, i sat flying high in the sky, diet coke in hand, macbook on my lap & while watching the goldfrapp 'wonderful electric' concert dvd i shed a silent tear & felt absolute honour & luck to have now experienced it all first hand - no dvd player required.
photos of purchases to come next...
i want to lastly say a huge thank you to everyone who has read & will read these blogs. i know they are both incredibly long & take forever to read through, but i just wanted to make sure i would have a place where i could come back from time to time, read it & instantly feel all those feelings over again. it takes a lot to read paragraph after paragraph of my writing & only slightly annoying goldfrapp insanities (wink wink), so thank you darlings. it means a lot.
XOXO, A.
*i was only able to visit these amazing shops - including pippin from day one - because of the fabulous stevie of discotheque confusion & all her lovely suggestions. so if you ever find yourself with a plane ticket to nyc - shes the girl to ask. *polaroids of fox & fawn taken from their myspace page. *the last photo of teany taken from flickr. *monster love is now my featured song here on 10.17. you could quite possibly be listening to it now. thats sortof the idea...
"The previous Sunday, her and a bunch of London-based friends had awoken to a gloriously unreasonable February day and disappeared to Brighton where they sat on the beach, drinking champagne."
