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