Prioritize/Awkward jeans

By Neslihan

You'd think that now that I actually have the time, I'd blog my brains out but I actually did not. It's not that I didn't feel inspired the past month but let's say I couldn't prioritize. It felt as if every topic was as important as the other and I didn't know where to start. Let's say I felt a bit overwhelmed because of the freedom. I couldn't decide whether I should continue watching my series, catch up with friends, be melancholic or blog. But I've done quite a lot of other things lately. I visited 3 museums and vacation has just started.
First I went to see the '50 Years of Migration' exhibition in Antwerp's City Museum. It tells the story of the first Turkish/Moroccan/Italian/Jewish guest workers and how they changed the streetscape with their little cosy restaurants and picturesque shops. And since I'm Turkish myself, I loved it. I felt as if it was a lost part of my personal history. I must say though that the exhibition in Ghent at the MIAT was bigger and much more thorough. So, the amount of objects was kind of a let down but we (my boyfriend and I) visited the permanent exhibition on religion, power display and the death, which was amazing too.
The second museum I payed a visit to was Ghent's City Museum. I visited the permanent exhibition, which was unexpectedly cool. There were like a bunch of objects that they had found in Ghent and its surroundings. Amongst the things that were found, there were those really old books with the city's privileges and they were so old that if you'd pick them up, they'll fall into pieces. Isn't that impressive? You're literally standing before something that has been there for atleast 5 centuries. I like me some history, what can I say?
 The last exhibition I saw was one on Feminism X Art at BOZAR (Woman. The Feminist Avant-Garde of the 1970's.) I thought this exhibition was going to be about a bunch of women opposing the artscene of 1970 that was mostly dominated by men, something like the Guerilla Girls did in the 80's but it was a lot more artsy and in your face but in a different way. It was about artists claiming their place and making feminine nudity more than sexy and biological. I'm still bummed that I didn't take a notebook and pen with me to write the names of the works that thrilled me since there was a bunch but there is one artist I vividly remember: Eleanor Antin (what a beautiful name). She had this video in which she made up her face and it literally  takes half an hour before she concludes that what she's doing is what society is asking her to do. She symbolically liberates herself by taking off her bra -which is a HUGE feminist cliché- but to me it was very significant. It really impressed me to see how dedicated she put on all the make up and looked at her face in a satisfied way, yet wasn't satisfied because this maybe wasn't what she wanted.

Watch another video on the same topic by 'Girls' star Jemima Kirke:

A W K W A R D   J E A N S

Meet my newest obsession: the mom jeans! I call them awkward since they really feel awkward looking at it. They're tight around the ass, awkwardly high-waisted (that crotch yo), loose around the lower legs and comfier than your regular jogging pants. I like mine in a slightly lighter denim colour like the first lady on the left but don't combine them in an 80's way. Vintage is good but you have to temper if you don't wanna look like a 80's housewive/soccer mom. You wanna have that casual Lady Di vibe but you don't wanna actually be her. See? Big difference. I combine mine with white shirts, quirky tees, crop tops, bodycon sleeved tees etc. I wear 'em with sneakers, clogs and sandals. It's just such a varsatile piece, so it's a really great investment. I bought mine at Bershka but they have 'em in American Apparel and Topshop as well. Make sure you check out their webshop. Forever 21 might surprize you too.

Here, a couple outfits that might inspire you to buy your very own pair of awkward jeans:

Lady Di spokesperson of the mom jeans

Miley, the grunge kid

Anna Hathaway channeling her inner biker chick on a lazy Sunday

Matching basics at Topshop

Cool chicks cut their own hair

By Neslihan

Kristen McMenamy

You remember those cool girls in high school? You know the ones that always looked effortless without even trying. The ones who cut their own hair and wore high waist 80's jeans without looking like they had been cut down in two at their middle. Those bad ass chicks who wore ugly trainers and totally rocked them. They started trends without even wanting it. They formed this unaccessible, yet accessible click and they said "You can't sit with us" without even opening their mouths. They could even make chav or homeless look glam. This post is dedicated to those girls. To all the quirky chicks who had the balls to take their destiny into their own hands and cut their own hair without even their hand trembling. 

And I respect that. I do! I've got my straight bangs for almost 5 years now and haven't seen my forehead since 2008 (a little exaggerated but you get the point). I visit my hairdresser once/2 weeks since my hair grows quite fast, or at least my bangs do. I hate that two-weekly visit. I think it's a tremendous waste of time but since I lack the cut-your-own-hair skill, I'm not risking anything. I've once tried it and it's never to be repeated again. My bangs were unequally cut and I had this wave thing going on. That was a hair disaster, say a dark page in my hair history. So NEVER, NEVER, NEVER again.
I can imagine that amazing feeling of freedom or selfconfidence when taking those scissors in your hands though. It's this "I'm the creator of my own disaster" thing but that's not always the case. Because there are a lot of successful stories aswell. Alexa Chung for example cuts her own hair too and always looks fabulously flawless after doing so. Some poeple take the extra mile by giving theirself a pixie haircut, now that is something to admire, I think. And so does Vogue UK in their November issue:

 Call it the ultimate in laid-back chic, call it recession ringlets, call it what you will - but there's a whole new wave of creative women taking hair maintenance into their own hands. "Traditionally cutting your own hair was something not spoken about, a social taboo", says hairstylist Zoe Irwin. "But now it's a sort of throwaway beauty adventure, a new way of embracing the spirit of our times." -From 'Making the cut'

 I love Freja Beha's chaotic straight bangs. Since she has different layers in it, it looks easy to cut it yourself.

GIRL CRUSH #1

Florence - I have awesome hair- Welch

Hair heroine

Hey, I'm Zooey - awkward- Deschanel

Cute pixie

Michelle Williams

Alexa Chung and her homemade haircut

Trashy glam

Belles de Banlieu shoot in Jalouse FR (November 2012)

Or the bad girls from the block

Photography by Timur Celikdag

“It’s about the bad girls I knew at school, the ones I envied”, Miucca Prada on establishing Miu Miu.

Sources: Vogue UK, Jalouse FR, both November 2012