BIRTHDAY WEEK IN ROCHESTER NY (DAYS 4 AND 5)

 Hello!

After my birthday, we had a couple days left in Rochester to take it easy and explore new locations. 

The first stop on our 4th day in New York was Artisanworks, an event space and art gallery inside of a warehouse in Rochester. We got coffee first, at a big cold empty shop in the same building that only had hot espresso drinks (in the 90 degree heat). 

Walking into Artisanworks, I immediately fell in love with the maximalist eclectic vintage feel of the space. With high ceilings, bright walls and colored lights, the space was absolutely packed with beautiful art and vintage items. 

BIRTHDAY ON THE ST LAWRENCE RIVER

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I was so excited to spend my 20th birthday out in the world. It had been so long since I had traveled beyond just going back and forth from school and it really gave me new life.

    On the day of my birthday, we drove out to Alexandria Bay, New York to visit the thousand islands and the castles that live on them. We left really early and stopped to get coffee, and the lovely baristas made me smile by giving me a free drink and wishing me a happy birthday. When we got to the bay we boarded our ferry, which took us on a boat tour down the beautiful St Lawrence River past many historic islands, eventually dropping us off at Singer Castle on Dark Island. 

BIRTHDAY WEEK IN ROCHESTER NY (DAYS 1 AND 2)

 

Hello!

I wanted to share some pics and stories from the first couple days of the trip that I took to New York State with my lovely boyfriend and his mother. My boyfriend and his family are from Rochester, so they try to get up to visit as much as they can. 

Rochester is an unlikely vacation destination, (as my boyfriend's mom likes to joke, 'no one vacations in Rochester on purpose') but I've grown to really love this off-beat city nestled on the Genesee river. There is a lot of natural beauty in the state parks and lake-beaches in the surrounding area, and a lot of character in the different neighborhoods and in the people who reside in them. 

THREE END-OF SEMESTER LOOKS

 

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The end of my semester was a little chaotic, I've had a lot of changes with my living situation, job, classes etc. I'm home for the summer, so I plan to write more (gotta keep my fans happy). I'm happy to report that I've made the Dean's list for the third semester in a row, and I got an exciting promotion at my job. 

FEMINIST ANALYSIS OF 'LIKE A BAD GIRL SHOULD' BY THE CRAMPS

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This is a bit of a departure from my usual post topics. However, I got the opportunity recently to write a critical media analysis of a music video from a band that I love, and I thought that it would be fun to share here. 

The Cramps, headed by married couple Lux Interior and Poison Ivy Rorschach, were a raunchy, rockabilly inspired band that were part of the early punk scene in New York City. Nearly every Cramps album cover pictures guitarist Poison Ivy posing suggestively and scantily clad. Having had experience working as a dominatrix, Poison Ivy had no problem falling into the role of the band’s powerful sex-symbol frontwoman. The Cramps’ music video for ‘Like a bad girl should’ uses elements of suggestive imagery subversively within its camerawork, imagery and lyrics to create a message of sexual control and empowerment.

STYLING A LITTLE BLACK DRESS!

 

Hello!

I put together a little video to show one way that I like to style a little black dress-- by adding vintage and gothic inspired accessories to give it more interest and glamour. 

The dress that I started with is from BooHoo (link). It has a square neckline, sleeves that puff at the shoulder, are tight mid-arm and then transition into a lantern sleeve towards the wrist, and an empire waist with a mid-length mid-volume skirt. This little black number has some interesting influences in its different parts. The empire waist, puff shoulders and square neckline almost remind me of a regency dress, like this example:

STYLE DIARY: 3 VINTAGE LOOKS FROM FEBRUARY

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This past month I've been very busy, so I've been taking a lot of time to create vintage looks to kind of force myself to focus on myself for a little while. I've been home in NC for a few months with a limited wardrobe, so it's been a fun challenge to create era-inspired outfits with what I have. I'll be back in Philly soon with all my clothes and accessories, and I'm excited to have better lighting and more to work with. Here are 3 vintage makeup looks and outfits that I've pulled together in February.

THE STORY BEHIND THE NAME "CASTLE CARRA"

Me at Hearst Castle, 2019

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When I started this blog in 2019, I was in my senior year of high school. I had been accepted to attend Temple University in the fall, and was planning a cross-country road trip for the upcoming summer. I had the arrogance and ambition that only an overly-romantic 18 year old coming off of a mental breakdown could possess. 

ROARING 20'S TRENDS THAT COULD COME BACK IN 2021

Sally, Irene and Mary 1925

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In the era of fast fashion, it's easy to feel far removed from the trends of the past. But we have a lot in common with the style priorities of the 1920s, when women began to explore more revealing, androgynous, and comfortable clothing for the first time. Flapper fashion, the most shocking and new style of the time, is what tends to stick out at people when they look back at the roaring 20s. However, flappers weren't commonplace or widely accepted by any means. As iconic as they were, there were a lot of trends beyond beaded fringe embraced by the modernist "New Woman" that we can take inspo from in 2021. 

Looking back on style eras, it's always important to have a sense of perspective about the negative cultural aspects of the time, keeping in mind that we must always prioritize vintage style, and not vintage values. 

Here are my picks for trends from flappers, silent film stars, and everyday women from the 1920s that should return in 2021!

ON GROWING UP (SO FAR)

Me in 2008

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I used to think that the epitome of 'growing up' was leaving everything behind— Moving onto bigger and better things in bigger and better places, and adamantly denying that you could ever be reduced to a box as small as where you came from. That's how I functioned for my first year of college, as a product of a person, far removed from the factors that made me who I was. As well as I did socially and academically that first year, I found myself confused when it came to my values and self concept. When I tried to fulfill my commitment to myself and change for the better, I didn't know where to start.

REFINISHING: A KLIMT INSPIRED SECRETARY DESK

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I spent this past summer gradually collecting pieces of furniture for my first apartment in Philadelphia. After living in a dorm for a year, I was eager to move into a space that was uniquely my own. (It's a rite of passage for people around my age) Part of my room planning process was figuring out how to style the things I already had alongside the pieces that I picked up from thrift stores or inherited from relatives. To take part in the quarantine tradition of starting new hobbies, I decided to refinish the pieces that I found within my budget to create personalized items that I could love. Refinishing is always a great way to give new life to old things instead of creating more waste. What better place to start than the place I'd spend the most time during my college career? 

STYLE HISTORY: AMERICAN TOURISTER RE-INVENTS LUGGAGE

 

1965

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    There are certain accessories, brands and garments that are so iconic to a style era that they can evoke the feeling of a decade just by making an appearance. There are definitely instances where our culture latches onto items after the fact and overstate the stylistic importance of them during the time, (I'm looking at you flapper dresses.) However, there are just as many pieces that were equal in popularity during their heyday and in our attempts to recreate the style era. My favorite example of this is American Tourister Luggage. In this post I'm going to discuss the rich history of the brand, and in the next I'll write about my affinity for spotting these pieces in media and how they can be symbolically meaningful depending on where and how they are used.