I enjoy a good tie dye shirt but can any of us really pull off a tie dye dress or pants? And by any of us, I mean those that do not look like Brooklyn Decker or sell necklaces on Venice Beach. The tie dye look is sort of part of this whole patterned pants trend happening which I was originally against but am now very into thanks to these Ann Taylor Loft patterned pants that I have that make me feel like I am in 1987 when I wear them and it is awesome. And this pair I intend to get.
But back to tie dye? Is this something I am supposed to consider. Yes Fergie can do it but she is a rock star and Lauren Conrad has that great long blond hair and just looks like she was born to rock the dye.
But somehow Olivia Palermo managed to make tie dye look polished and prim. It's a talent she has.
On June 25 my world changed. Katie Holmes, our beloved Joey Potter turned sophisticated leading lady turned Stepford scientology wife to mother of the most fashionable child in the world, divorced her husband of five years, Tom Cruise. And it has been a wild ride of feminism, going to Whole Foods wearing awesome outfits, museum trips and the most brilliant PR strategy ever since.
What I really can't stop reading about is all the scientology stuff. The reports truly make it sound like Katie found herself starring in a updated version of Rosemary's Baby. In case you don't (which you really should because it is an awesome movie), Rosemary's Baby was a movie that came out in the late 1960s starring Mia Farrow. She plays a newlywed whose actor husband decides to sell his wife womb to a bunch of devil worshipers in exchange for a better career. Basically she ends up being impregnated with the devil's child. But the actual scary part is that her husband abused and lied to her in this way and made her be a part of the deal with the devil.
Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby
Scientology does not involve devil worship, that we know of, but there is something scary about the fact that when Katie Holmes married Tom Cruise her entire life changed and she did seem like the innocent wife who got taken over by this powerful man. She went from being an actress to being the celebrity wife of the most famous man on earth. She went from being an independent New York single girl to having to take black sedans everywhere and giant bodyguards. He also got her pregnant quite fast which tied her down.
Katie on The Creek
Katie BT (Before Tom)
Though honestly, Katie Holmes was a smart woman and I don't think she did this strictly for her career (which it didn't really help.) She did obviously fall in love with this man at some point and who can blame her? Katie was fully a part of the TomKat media campaign back in the summer of 2005. She was doing the interviews too sounding like a complete zombie. Read this W Magazine article. It is seriously terrifying. She was a walking robot.
The beginning of TomKat
Who can forget this cover?
And yes Tom is far from the hot guy dancing in his underwear but if he came on to you can you seriously say you would turn him down? But obviously shit got weird and even though it looked like Katie was fully in support of only feeding her daughter cupcakes and candy and letting her wear dresses in 10 degree weather she actually did have some qualms. Especially when it came to Suri's religion. Even though Katie started out embracing Scientology, the Catholic-raised girl obviously didn't want to send her kid off to something called Sea Org where there is something called 'The Hole.' We cannot have our little Suri putting up with that. That child drinks more Starbucks than an Olsen twin.
So Katie decided to get out and became the ninja of divorces. The woman managed to secretly move out, hire three lawyers and take Suri to the museum (thanks in part to Papa Holmes.) But the real showmanship came after Katie filed as she managed to become the victim turned escape artist turned feminist. That's right Katie Holmes is being called a feminist. Her PR campaign has been amazing. God damn't, those bangs on the cover of Elle Magazine this month just scream liberation! Most celebrities would lay low after a bomb like this. Even the media whore that is Kim Kardashian took a few days off. But not Katie.
The evolution of her fashion is contributing to that feminist reputation as well. According to the press Katie stopped caring how she looked when she married Tom which I absolutely disagree with. She is somebody who often goes sans makeup and with wet hair (okay the boyfriend jeans weren't the best but she inspired a trend) but she certainly had her glamorous moments as well. Since announcing the divorce though she has been wearing leather leggings and orange dresses, the uniform of a young divorcee.
But anyway this is a Hollywood romance gone wrong that is truly one for the ages and we are obviously going to continue to find out more creepy stuff and I can't wait.
Happy Independence Day everyone! I have one of those awkward summer colds that I'm pretty sure I gave myself just from sleeping in freezing AC and then going into disgusting 100 degree heat. Ahh, the joys of living in New York City. Plus who decided to put July 4th on a Wednesday? It just made everything ridiculous and pointless. So I decided to just write it off as a sick day since I felt pretty icky anyway.
One thing that made me feel pretty good though was when I woke up (my puppy even let me sleep until 9am. He only likes to get up early on Saturday and Sundays because my life is just awesome like that) I discovered that there was a Hills marathon on! It was like Uncle Sam decided to reach out and give me a little pat on my shoulder. Yes, I may actually own Season 1 and Season 2 of The Hills on DVD and I believe the entire series is available on Netflix (which I may or may not have watched recently while hungover.) But there is something special when a marathon just appears on television.
And yes, it is sad when they call a show like The Hills "retro MTV." It makes me feel like I am 50. Same as when I watch Friends on Nick at Nite. But it really is retro television because this was a reality show on MTV where no one was pregnant and everyone was over 21. No one lived in a trailer.
But does anyone else remember how big The Hills got? Like President Obama spoke about the fight between LC and Heidi. This was a fixture of pop culture. Remember that club scene when Lauren confronts Heidi? "You know what you did!" It was like straight out of a Scorcese scene except with way less blood and more pretty dresses. And after all, this was the show that introduced the world to the enigma that is Justin Bobby. Enough said.
And now the big question. Why do I love The Hills so much? Well The Hills was on right around the time that I started my grownup life and on some level we were going through the same things except that instead of having an awesome pad in LA, working at a fashion magazine, having a ridiculous wardrobe and being followed by cameras constantly I lived with four boys, made no money, worked at Fox News and may have worn fake Uggs at that point still. So just a few differences. But there was something appealing about Lauren Conrad and her idiot friends. Even though there was a ton of drama it just was so relaxing to watch them deal with their non-problems. It was kinda like the predecessor to Girls except everyone was attractive and Lena Dunham's Hannah would in no way be friends with Lauren though I think it would have been hilarious if she just showed up in an episode wearing a flannel and tights.
I had also liked Laguna Beach for the same exact reasons though I do blame that show for every picture of me in college in capri jeans, a bright top and fake Chanel sunglasses. It was fun to watch Lauren and her adventures with her other cute blond friend named Lauren and then all those less-interesting brunettes they hung out with.
I mean you have to love Lauren Conrad. She is like a modern-day Gidget and she pretty much brought back headbands before Blair Waldorf and never gets the credit. I also like that she left the series when it started to get ridiculous and has legitimately made a career for herself.
Her style tips are good and she has a good head on her shoulders. I may or may not own her book of style tips and one of her novels. We watched Lauren grow up. We were there for all the tears, all the laughs (that she chose to share on camera during the 6 months of filming per year) and all those stares that looked like they meant something because of editing. When she rolled her eyes, we did too. We did too LC.
As for the others I won't even go into Heidi and Spencer because they are gross. Except it is so sad to watch the early seasons when Heidi was normal. Audrina was so blah and Whitney seemed smart but was clearly not captivating enough to pull of her own series. Kristin Cavallari is an idiot but has great style.
My favorite episode may have been the one where everyone screwed over Lauren and then there was almost a fashion crisis at Teen Vogue but then there wasn't and everyone stared. This amazing MAD TV parody pretty much captures the essence of the show. Except it's not letting me embed that video so this one is good too but definitely watch the first one:
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