7-13-2025 MY FAVES: a study on the kennedys

books of the week

 i continue to patiently await the arrival of the next book in the it girl series, but one cannot wait too long, so this week, in proper patriotic fashion (leftover from last week's fourth of july celebration), i decided to tap into the next books on my shelf, and i believe nothing ties americana with fashion more than jackie kennedy. 

i read jackie: the clothes of camelot, a style analysis of jackie's fashion from the white house days, as well as her later years - when she turned into jackie o, and defined 70s and 80s sophistication with amazing sleek wardrobe choices. a unique and honest fashion, something so natural one can only try and replicate through cheap trends and dupes. it was enjoyable to learn more about jackie, years ago i read all about marilyn, and it would only be fair to give the queen of usa her flowers. 

as if one book wasn't enough, i continued the path with another book from my collection, a huge coffee table book called looking for jackie: american fashion icons curated from kent state's museum. side note: my goal is to visit kent state's fashion dept's museum. they're often promoted online and all i can say is - wow. it's a fashion enthusiast's heaven, and only 45 minutes far. bestie nicole, shall we tour one day when you're back?

while the title of the book crowns jackie as the essential american fashion icon, this book dives into the deep and far history of america's first and most prominent fashion icons throughout the years, such as harriet lane johnston (niece of president james buchanan - who was a bachelor, so she stepped in to carry out first lady roles), ethel barrymore, joan crawford, first lady julia tyler, and many more. i enjoyed reading about these historic ladies and their importance about setting trends within society, especially during the more puritan eras, when french fashion of the bonaparte era was questionable and found vulgar, or when women wearing jeans was considered immoral.

the few women that i found extremely inspiring in the book:

gloria swanson

wallis simpson

grace kelly

alice roosevelt

katharine hepburn

onto my next book: i couldn't wait until fall to start midnight sun, edward's pov of the twilight saga. you can definitely sense those mormon values still after years of the first book coming out. this is a saga i am thankful i read after my frontal lobe developed. because being a teenager and reading this, to prompt me thinking bella and edward's romance is something healthy, would be detrimental for my outlook and expectations of a relationship. nevertheless, what an exciting and nostalgic series. i'll still be watching the movies every fall. it's a classic. could we say it is like a modern day romeo and juliet? the greatest love story of all time was also so stupid and pathetic. yet it still is one of the most remade and revisited love stories.

music of the week

sib and i went to marc's the other day, and obviously every time we go there the playlist transport you into any era between 1980s and 2005. this time, i simply had to shazam a modern meets classic blend of music, and i discovered the album aria 2: new horizon by composer paul schwartz. surprisingly, the album came out in 2013, but seems like it could be featured in an early 2000s ad for a nokia phone.

my favorites off that album are arianna, sviraj (lullabye), ave maria. sviraj - which contains croatian lyrics, actually makes no grammatical sense but it is so bizarre that i saved it for the sake of... trying? people really need to do their research better. 

movies of the week

not much has been watched, other than a late night ice cream and anthony bourdain: no reservations binge with boyfriend. we watched his tahiti and greece travels. i need a coconut crab immediately, and greek lamb roast asap!!!