Youth on Fire

So I must have been living under a rock the last few years or maybe I was having a baby I don't remember, but I just read about this young young, like not even a teenager young girl who started blogging about fashion when she was 11 years old. Her name is Tavi Gevinson and she's pretty awesome.

I have been reading through her posts from when she first started, The Style Rookie then quickly perusing later posts where she lives out her rise to fame and the starting of her own online magazine Rookie with increased amazement.
I immediately remembered when I was going to school up until 5th grade and had to wear a uniform. It used to be I would agonize over what to wear on the only on holidays "jeans day" when you only had one shot to make a statement. It was apparent to me then that clothes were this incredibly powerful and obsession worthy interest. By the time I was in Jr High  (and not having been going to a uniform school for 2 years) I would spend hours at night putting together outfits, often more than one in case the weather changed or I was feeling more or less daring that next morning.
I can't help but think if there had been blogging would I have done the same thing as this girl? Snapping photos of all those outfits, uploading all the fashion collages I made (which I do now - just check out some of the inspiration pages) or my fashion designs? Sketchbooks that I filled over the years full of of awkward sketches and agonized over color stories? Well, I didn't then but just for fun I have pulled out some of those sketchbooks and uploaded some of those drawings from my teenage years here. With all honesty most are from my later teens - I cannot bear to show the early early drawings - they are too awkward to bear.

Drew this after watching 'Butterfeld 8" for the first time when I was 16 - hence the turban.

The summer of 1995 I carried a sketchbook with me absolutely everywhere I went. I was still trying to find my style of drawing and I went through some strange phases to get there...

One of my obsessive free for all's

Getting a bit carried away with crosshatching and the wrinkle effect

It was that fall when I really stared to like my drawing style. This group is one of my favorites.

A classic color story page from 1996 - I still love these colors
(clearly right? Aren't they basically my forecast for 2103? )

The beginning of a collection I designed around the 1950's suburban housewife meets tongue in cheek when I was in design school

By December I was into a big time glamour phase ( that I've never really come out of ) and was all about the sparkle.

Here are a few clippings that I found pasted into my sketchbooks from that time that I still totally love.

Wish I knew who designed this - the dress looks like Ralph Lauren but who knows - the credit seems to say something about Marc Jacobs

This is Prada - This was the year I took notice of Prada. Love love love this!!!

This season of  Dolce and Gabanna was so so beautiful - I wish I had more pictures.

The pic on the left was the beginning or rather re-introduction of ankle socks with t-straps. A look I had rocked many times in my grammar school days...
Kate in the waterfall beaded number just kills me!

Some crazy fashion ramblings - so many pages of these. 

I saw this post by Vogue today promoting their September Issue, and couldn't help but see a correlation to this image from 1997.

Admittedly the above is like this one's trashy sister but I see a thread.

This post is all about thanking Tavi for reminding me of how inspired and awed by fashion I was when I first started looking into it from the big wide eyes of a girl full of ideas and possibilities. I love revisiting my past inspirations, it gets me excited all over again. Cheers!