Splendid | Frivolous Universe

#hashtagstateofmind

By: Kim Philley

27-03-2012

Kim

#CauseYouBeStaringAtTheScreenSoLongYourEyesBeBleeding

#AndYou’reOneThosePeople

#ListensToTheSameSong

#overandover

#I’mLikeThat

#withclotheson

#highwaistedjeans

#ItalianScubaTops

#cheapshirts

#cheapthrills

#Topshop

#Leggings

#Splendid

#TransformingWayfarers

#irepeatmythemes

#damnimissthosesraybans

#ShadySteppedOnThem

#noworries

#ZARAskirt

#shortread

#iheartwesternshirts

#BCBGonsale

@Dillard’s

#PeopleWhoDon’tNeedGlassesButWearThemAnyway

#WesternShirtsMadeInBangkok

#FlyNow

#chaps

#allkinds

#andofcourse

#tealgreen

#Parasols

#RihannaHasANewSong

#mostofall

#GiveItToMe

#whiskersonkittens

#WhiteLevi’s

#AnthropologieVest

#FauxConverse

#cherryshirt

@LincolnNebraskaThriftStore

@AngryBirdsAreUnstoppable

@tight,

tightjeans

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PONCHO SAUSAGE LEDERHOSEN: Comfort clothes for those days when you just don’t give a damn

By: Kim Philley

20-12-2011

Kim

Kim Jong-il is dead, it’s cold as a witch’s tit outside, and I haven’t commenced my Christmas shopping. I’m craving comfort food and comfort clothes, and even Julia Green’s mural of a flying sausage in downtown Boise has me jonzing: I want to eat bratwurst; I want a personal shopper; I want a return to bustling health; I want to rock the lederhosen.

Poncho: Anthropologie (Boise, Idaho)

Leggings: Splendid (Fancy Pants, Boise)

Instead, I content myself with padding around in extreme comfort wear. (As long as one owns a poncho and a pair of Splendid leggings, I believe, there is no excuse for sweats.) Mere hours after this picture was taken, I wore this same outfit, sans poncho, to Body Jam—a.k.a. fantastically dorky hip-hop dance class—at the Downtown Y. If depression involves taking yourself too seriously, Body Jam is a tricyclic.

Cece suede ballet flats in wild berry: J. Crew (Boise Towne Square)

I have high arches and bad feet (nails in my left ankle and torn up cartilage in my right toe), so I’m very careful about shoes—especially ballet flats—but this new model by J.Crew is a delight to wear. Made in Italy, they have plenty of padding as well as an arch-hugging, hidden wedge that makes feet feel happier and calves appear sexier. No more web-footed duck walk when I’m wearing these hot pink tamales.

Gloves: echo (Marshall’s)

I am always cold. I love elbow length gloves. ‘Nuff said.

Long wool coat: Donnybrook (Made in Ukraine)

After a few minutes of freezing my butt off, I changed my look to Delhi Duty Free meets Perestroika. I bought this coat at Burlington Coat Factory when I was 16. I now have a healthy aversion to most things I liked when I was 16, but not the Velvet Underground and not my Dr. Zhivago coat.

Faux fur trapper hat: North Face

Earrings: My dad brought these back from Luang Prabang, Laos

Only five more days till Christmas . . . . I will definitely be shopping local.

Dear Photographer:

Thank you, Spiderwoman (a.k.a. Kelly Lynae)! xo xo xo

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ENDYMION: These are a few of my favorite things

By: Kim Philley

15-11-2011

Kim

Some shape of beauty moves away the pall / From our dark spirits.

–John Keats, ‘Endymion’

Blue velvet Cecilia stud pumps: Kat Maconie (London)

I have Keats on the brain today: A thing of beauty is a joy for ever: / Its loveliness increases; it will never / Pass into nothingness ….

Most days I find myself trying to balance my love of the material world with my awareness that spirit runs the show.

Earrings: pearl, bottle glass, and silver (Portland street market)

Wearing pearls reminds me that we live in paradise.

…but still will keep / A bower quiet for us, and a sleep / Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.

Jacket: Kenar (Marshall’s)

Leggings: Splendid (short of cashmere, these are the softest leggings in the world; I order two new pairs each winter from Splendid.com)

I often marvel at the world of things: pearls, pills, motorcycles; blue velvet, Stetsons, lotus flowers; silkworms, vodka, Alfa Romeos—why were they given to us, and what are we meant to do with them?

Lotus flower scarf: Loom-woven entirely from the fiber of the lotus flower in Inle Lake, Burma. (The artisans of Inle Lake are the only people on earth with the painstaking knowledge of lotus flower weaving. In Burma, robes woven out of lotus are reserved for the most venerable Buddhist monks.)

Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing / A flowery band to bind us to the earth.

I have a hunch that some things, say vodka and pills, are meant to bring us closer to spirit through chiseling a separation—when we abuse them, it brings us to our knees. Other things like pearls and lotus flowers are pure shapes of beauty—worldly gifts to remove the worldly pall.

Plain black leather bag: handmade (Bangkok)

Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth / Of noble natures, of the gloomy days, / Of all the unhealthy and the o’er-darkn’d ways / Made for our searching: yes, in spite of all ….

These are the things that bind me.