if free things are available, snatch up as much as you can.

Last week I went to the Coterie trade show at the Javits Center. In different corners, they had a bunch of things you could grab. An issue of WWD is $3 (which is really expensive; I don't understand), and they had the latest issue lying about. There were issues of Vogue Brazil and Vogue Shopping too. Yeee free things!
The show itself was really nice. There were a lot of vendors. Many to the point that I didn't bother to go see them all.
Generally, I don't think I'm supposed to take pictures but I snuck a few.
The people who buy from trade shows are the businesses. So whenever someone greets us and asked us where we were from and someone from our group answers our school or that we're students, the smile of the exhibitors always disappears, and we get something like an "oh." When we first entered, there was a middle aged lady who passed by and scoffed, students.

Vivienne Westwood for Melissa! There were a lot of brands and designers who were exhibiting there that I recognized. More so than I'd expected, at least.
Stuffed little jeans on the wall. These were cute.

Looking around, there were lots of nice things that I would have liked to take pictures of or gone in to observe. Out of everything I saw at the show, this designer's stuff caught my attention the most.
Demoo Parkchoonmoo. I just. Really like everything. Especially the harem pants.

I didn't sleep a wink last night to finish patternmaking homework and construction techniques homework. I wish I could go to sleep right now, but I have an essay that needs finishing. Two and a half pages more to go.

Love, Kaia

some happy purchases.

I was wearing this outfit on Friday morning. In the afternoon, it was pouring so hard that even with an umbrella I was completely soaked (as well as everything in my backpack!!!). So I changed into something else by my afternoon class.

Swacket from Harputs Union, blouse from Taiwan, pants from Zara, Docs.

Mostly, I just wanted to wear these pants. You guys probably know by now that I generally don't like pants. But when I visited Zara, I found so many pairs of pants that I liked. A little on the pricy side for me, but it's rare for me to find a pair that fits well, is comfortable, and that I like.
The sizing for their pants are all different. I grabbed two different styles in my size and one of them was too tight, and this pair was way too loose so I had to size up in one and size down in this style. On the website, I think this one is called the "waxed trousers" or something like that.

Aside from the pants, I also bought a pair of Jeffries. They're not at all winter friendly, and winter is coming up. But that's probably why they were on sale for 50% off.These remind me of Urban Outfitters and springtime. I need to get a pair of high rainboots and a pair of sneakers too.

And maybe a few more tops and sweaters while I'm at it. My closet is lacking in the everything department.

This one is kind of a splurge too, but I've been meaning to buy it for months already, and the price hasn't been going down.I take instants so I can include pictures when I write letters back to my friends and family. I have the big bulky one too that takes nice sized photos, but because of its size, it is difficult to carry around.

I didn't buy this one; rather, my dad sent it to me. I'm putting it to good use.
Useful for when I have to stay in the workroom overnight to finish my work. Maybe I'll buy myself a pink one too.

Regarding the giveaway, thank you everyone who entered! The winners will be chosen and contacted later this week.

Love, Kaia

it is almost 5 in the morning and i am not asleep because i am in college.

Studio homework in the studio tonight! I didn't realize until a couple hours ago that I'm completely breaking out in acne from lack of sleep. It's pretty bad.

Taking a break to post and outfit post! I think these pictures are from a day or two. I haven't had the time to post. I went to a field trip today for fashion survey class and want to blog about that too, but I don't have the time to post that yet so that's getting put off until another time slot opens.

It's been pretty swackety weather recently. Not unbearably cold but chilly enough for me to want to wear long sleeves and layers.

So! I broke out my swacket which has been sitting in its lonesome in my suitcase.

shirt from Taiwan, lace crochet tank top from thrift, pants from Taiwan, swacket from Harputs Union, Docs.

Dozing off pretty badly. I think I really need to go to sleep. I have a full schedule tomorrow, so no nap time.

Love, Kaia

if i tried to do something cool with my hair i'd probably do something wrong and end up bald.

Hairstyle feature!! My light color design teacher, Kelly, has an incredible hairstyle. I asked her for permission to post her hair on my blog and got it okay'd! I want to share her amazing with the rest of the world.
Leopard print hair oh my god. It makes me want to do something with myself. I don't have nearly as much hair creativity and I'm pretty low maintenance. The most incredible part is that she does her hair herself as opposed to going to a salon! How she does that I don't know.
Kelly, me, and Shaelyn. I love cool teachers. I think Shaelyn and I missed the funny face cue.

I still want to dye my hair silver. After coming to art school, I think I kind of just want to dye my hair in general. No commitment, though. If I can't do it at home myself, then I know I'm going to put it off for a really long time.

Outfit post! I think this is from a couple days ago. I just haven't been able to get on long enough to post.
top, blouse, and skirt from Taiwan. tights from HUE, Doc Martens

College is a lot of fun. The workload never dies down, but I'm having a lot of fun every day. I'm so tired right now. I need to sleep but I should do homework and it's only 7:30.

I'm just going to think about it.

Love,
Kaia

out on a school night in the city.

To be totally honest, I wasn't sure if I was going to go out this year for Fashion's Night Out. I only had one destination, and both of my friends had classes till 8:00-8:30 at night. But as a fashion major, all the teachers encourage us to go one way or another.In the end, we went around 9pm, which is a little past fashionably late for the party, but better late that never.
I went with Finn and Shaelyn, and the three of us didn't have much of an idea where exactly we were going. The only destination I had was Miu Miu because I wanted to see Tavi. I think I even subconsciously threw in some Tavi vibes while putting together my outfit.I'm a total beginner with my camera, so Finn took most of my photos for me since she has the same camera. It's kind of nice to not take all my photos myself all the time; no need to look for a table the right height and running back and forth till I get a good one.
I think originally we were planning on seeing Daniel Radcliffe, but we missed the stop and went to Macy's instead. I hadn't seen the Karl line yet so I wanted to check it out.
Tempted to get the leather shorts and a Karl tee from his Impulse line, but even Macy's prices are a bit of a stretch for me. I put back that FNO tee shirt too.

We stopped by H&M after Macy's and I started trying to shield my eyes because there were a bunch of things that I wanted that I could have easily bought, but I didn't want to spend money. Which is kind of silly considering I've been needing to get new clothes.
But all the things that I wanted were things that were similar to the clothes I already had, so I didn't end up buying anything.
dress from H&M, petticoat from flea market, furry cardigan from thrift, H&M lace scarf, accessories from flea market and Forever21, Docs from Asos.

I'll make this an outfit post.
Bunny bag! The other ear is hiding. There was a guy in H&M who commented on it and asked me what it was.

Next stop was Sephora because it was right across the street.
They were doing this photo taking thing that I kind of wanted to do, but it was too crowded and the line was too long and the music was too loud so it didn't take too long for us to leave.

It took us a while to find Miu Miu. By the time we got there, it was just about 11:00, and everything was closed at that time. Bummer.
There was this gigantic sign and carpet on the streets just outside of YSL that was up for grabs. I desperately wanted to take it back to hang on my dorm wall, but there was no way that I could have taken it back. I think a few guys claimed it in the end.
Louis Vuitton window display.

After 11, there weren't many places left to go. We bumped into a big group of kids from our school, and they had a little more luck with meeting celebrities than we did.

The only shop that we could find that wasn't closed yet was the Apple store, so we sat around for a bit. I had no idea the Apple store was open 24 hours a day. It doesn't seem that necessary, though. Convenience stores I can kind of understand.
By the time we got back, it was past midnight, and I still had homework to do and a classes to go to in the morning. Being out is a good experience, though. More planning into next year.

Love, Kaia

and all of a sudden it's been a year already.

My first blog anniversary was three days ago. I took these pictures and I've been trying to do this giveaway for a while, but it's been a bit busy. For instance, yesterday was Fashion's Night Out, which I'll write about eventually. But most of the time I'm just up really late doing homework.

I remember how exciting it was when I first made my blog. I posted a lot more often in those beginning days; there was even a time I googled "is it okay to make more than one blog posts a day." I never got an answer for that but I figured it was alright.

Anyway!! To celebrate, I have a couple giveaways. Up for grabs is a black nylon bunny bag and some Majolica Majorca mascara. I don't remember what it was called. Like lash expander or something like that. The most popular one they have.The bunny bag has a zipper on the back that opens up with a bag on the inside. I took mine with me to FNO, which I'll probably post pictures of on my next entry.
And then Majolica Majorca mascara! I bought a tube of a different kind for myself, and THIS STUFF STAYS ON. And I mean. I really, really, couldn't get it off for three days. I didn't have makeup remover with me, though. There are a lot of great reviews for this mascara. Plus the packaging is real pretty. I'm a sucker for pretty packaging.


And now to the important part. I'll put it in bold to make it more noticeable.
HOW TO ENTER

1. No anonymous this time around! When entering, leave a comment and make sure you have your name in where your name should be.
2. Include your contact info! Leave your email, and your blog if you have one.
3. Write down which item you'd like to be in the drawing for.
4. You can enter for ONE if you are a visitor to my blog, or TWO entries if you are a public follower via Google Friend Connect (can be new followers). If you enter for two, you can either use your two entries to enter for both items or you can choose to enter for one item twice.

Giveaway starts today, September 10th, and will end on September 24th.

Good luck!
Love,
Kaia

brooklyn flea, maybe you and i were not meant to be.

I went to the Brooklyn flea market today because I really wanted to go last week. I can't even begin to explain how excited I was when I got there. I thought it was pretty big at first, but after a couple circles around, I realized it was only one sixth the size of my local flea market back home.
The sun was out today. And there wasn't any shade to hide under at the flea market. I brought my parasol umbrella along, but the rows weren't too big so I was afraid I'd hit people if I had it out. I went back to my dorm with sun rash. As usual.
The Brooklyn Flea has a lot of stuff I like. I mean, lots of vintage, laces, that kind of stuff. But nothing at prices I am used to! I bought a long petticoat at my home flea market for $5 plus a free poodle skirt, and I saw an extremely similar one at the flea market today for $45. The guy was nice and offered it for $35, but you know. Compared to $5? Nope.
I didn't want to walk back empty handed, especially when I feel like I needed more clothes. I only found out today that I'm really into patterned shirts. I saw a navy button up flecked with green hearts and I really liked that one. And Also a sheer Ralph Lauren shirt with some kind of cute pattern that I don't remember. I wanted that one a lot though. But it was $25.

shirt from flea market, pants from Peace Now, Victorian Flowers Docs.

I ended up leaving with this black and white squares shirt. It was $20 so more than I'd pay for for second hand clothing, but no regrets. I'm happy. I just regret not bringing along my thousand pairs of harem pants to school. I want to wear this shirt with harem pants.

Love, Kaia