Ciao!

As you might of noticed if you're still following the blog, I haven't been quite present for the last month or so. Usually I'd feel really sorry for not posting anything. But this time, I'm not. I had a great time enjoying my last moments in high school. I wrote a play with my friends for my theater class, I got to go on a field trip to Quebec city, I celebrated the end of classes. All and all I made great memories with my friends. I also came to a realization during this "time off".

If you have known this blog since the beginning, you remember that I started blogging during my second year of high school and now that it's ending though I feel like it is the right time for me to end this blog. It was a really hard decision to make but I think it's the right one.

Small Walking Mannequin, or Miss Tutu, started in 2010 as a way of sharing and archiving my numerous outfits. Now that you've seen my whole wardrobe, I realized I don't have anything to show anymore. Some people said this could be a great way of challenging myself. They may be right, but I think this blog is a representation of my progress through high school. Now that it's ending, I feel like it's the right time to end this and to enter a new chapter of my life.

The end of the blog doesn't mean I won't have future projects. Indeed, I'm thinking of some new ones all the time. And when I do create a new project, I'll tell you guys, don't worry! In the meantime, I will continue posting my inspiration on my tumblr blog and creating music mixes.

So long!

Spring mix (summer)

Le Silence du Chevreuil

(our play)

Quebec city

Last day of class

New shoes! Woohoo! 

Last fashion item on Small Walking Mannequin

Au Revoir!

You Don't Have To Worry

This Easter weekend I did everything but celebrate Easter. On Sunday, I went to an art exhibit called The Clock and I was quite impressed. My mom and L. told me it about it, but I didn't know what to expect from it. After waiting half an hour in line, I finally got to see the show.

Basically, Christian Marclay, the artist, collected thousands of clips that featured time in a physical and mental state (e.g. a watch and people waiting for something). He then took all the movie fragments and collaged them together to create a 24 hour realtime installation.

It was so mesmerizing, I could of sat there for hours watching this movie with no story. There wasn't a narrative pattern, but that didn't stop me from wanting to see more. Sometimes it was overwhelming to see the time go by before my eyes. It made me realize how much I base my life on time. It also made me realize how time is the only international language we all understand. Everyone knows what time it is.

When you think about it more, time has only been a big aspect of our society since around the time cinema began. So the choice of medium for this project was perfect. Before films appeared, people had just started worrying about their 10 to 5 jobs and they didn't yet notice how it would affect future generations.

I'm not saying calculating time is bad. It's just something that deeply influences all of us. As I write this, I'm worrying about whether or not I'll have enough time to write this, eat dinner and then go see a play at school. All that in less that 45 minutes.

Oh no! Another minute went by. I should go eat.

How To Dress Well - & It Was You

I Found Another Way To Caress My Day

Monday, spring came back to Montreal. The sun was shining and my hairy legs were out and about. It was quite exciting. This winter was treacherous this year, so I think we really deserved this. Everyone here would agree with me.

After two days went by, everything was still wonderful, but then something happened. It snowed. I was wearing only summer clothes and some knee socks to cover my legs, and in my feet were my new summer shoes (that you can't see in the pictures really). It was saddening, but I know it won't last. In the meantime, I'll make the best of the last days of winter clothing before it's too hot.

FKA Twigs - Hide

Surrealist Yuppie, Urban faery, Aspiring Warrior Poet

I want to create a series of articles to share with you my love for many of my favorite female artists/musicians. I'll present them by talking about how they are role models to me and why I think they are empowering figures in our patriarchal society.

Grimes

The first woman I'd like to talk about is the Canadian musician, Claire Boucher, better known as Grimes. She is known for her experimental and electronic music. She started recording songs while studying neuroscience at McGill. As her interest in producing music grew stronger, she decided to focus solely on her work, thus getting expelled from university. Throughout the years, Grimes has gained recognition worldwide, making her one of the only women in the electronic music scene.

I admire her a lot in her work because, as you might of noticed, there aren't many women who actually do this kind of music. Often, women's work is underestimated in the music industry. This results in only a minimal number of female musicians to have musical breakthroughs. Grimes has had many people infantilizing her and telling her that couldn't do her own thing.

Last April though, the 26 year-old spoke up about it and wrote a manifesto dealing with how she's being treated by the music industry. In general, people reacted to it in a positive manner and agreed that this way of treating women should change.

Not only is she a great feminist role model, but she has great style. Her hair changes color like she changes outfits. And her outfits remind me of a grungy 90's look combined with her personal touch of absolute "stylishness". 

If I sum this up, I believe that Grimes deserves immense respect for doing what she wants in an industry dominated by men and that she has succeeded in standing up against the injustice that's being done to female musicians/singers. Plus, she does all this with amazing style. 

Bonus: 

I Hold Two Fingers Up To Yesterday

I went window shopping last Friday in the hopes of getting inspired by my favorite stores but I ended up being pretty disappointed. All the clothing was so cheap made and all the brands resembled each other. I only found this one dress I thought was nice. 

In a sense, it was good I didn't find anything too interesting because I'm trying to stop spending to save up for a trip this summer. Where I'm going is a secret you'll discover in July. It's going to be amazing! In the meantime though I'll continue recycling outfits and I'll be as creative as possible to show off my "swag". (I use that word way too often...) So anyways, here's a potpourri of the dress I found, my "Gangster's Paradise" performance and my latest outfit.

Two Fingers - Jake Bugg

Le P'tit Bonheur

This months seems endless but I still managed not to post anything. Honestly, I was dressed so boringly lately it wasn't even worth sharing. I'm sick of this endless weekend and I just don't feel like getting all fancy when I see the bad weather. On another note though, this months was pretty fun. I participated in a school show to finance prom. Some friends and I sang a ukulele version of Coolio's Gangsta's Paradise, and A. and I danced to You're the One that I Want which fulfilled our 7th grader dream of dancing to Grease on stage. I also auditioned to get into a dance program for next year. All and all, it's been a pretty good month and I think I'll get in to the school.

Joy (Playlist)

Your Body's Harmful

I've had all these project ideas since last year, but they all got scattered in my brain and I forgot most of them. Last week though, I finally decided to write down all my ideas and create different diaries for the different aspects of my life I want to organize. I started out by making a booklet reserved solely for lists. Lists of the music I've discovered, lists of movies I want to watch, lists of projects I want to accomplish, lists of things I have to do and many more. Then, I grabbed a nice diary for writing. I'll write anything in it; from short stories to automatic writing. The only notebook missing is the one where I write my ideas. I lost it about a month ago and I'm afraid I won't find it. So much of my inspiration comes from it and it would be a shame to have lost it.

Speaking of inspiration, I went to Value Village the other day and found a few fun items to spice up my winter outfits. I'm starting to miss the summer again so I got myself a cute and colorful summer shirt. I had to find other useful clothing for the winter though. I only have green sweaters and by chance I found two cool cardigans, a monochrome one and a colorful one. My mom also found some really cute heels that I'm wearing in the pictures below.

Lose It - Austra

I Don't Wanna Dance With Nobody

In the past, I've felt as if being unhappy and depressed was the greatest things that could happen to me. I felt as if I could be more creative and I thought it was a way of attaining a certain percentage of attention. I know this may sound ridiculous, but before you think I'm totally weird, let me explain.

When I was about twelve, I adopted the idea that if I wanted to be a creative person, I had to become a tortured soul and live a life of misery and depression. I truly believed this theory because it seemed like all successful artists had gone through a period of great pain before achieving their best work. An example that comes to my mind for this is Van Gogh. He suffered a lot and yet his art is incredible. That is why I believed that art had to be filled with these deep emotions for it to be good.

What I didn't realize though is that emotions don't have to be dark to be deep. You can be extremely happy and be creative. Being depressed is not the key to creativity. Actually, it was what made me lose my creativity. This feeling of melancholia just made me uninterested in creating anything. I just wanted to stay in my corner and feel like a tortured artist just like Van Gogh, Frida Kahlo and Marilyn Monroe.

Another important thing I realized was that feeling sad takes away a lot of energy. A lot of energy that could be put into valuable creative ideas. Therefore, I believe the key to art is not to force an emotion onto oneself, but to express the ones we feel in the present moment whatever they may be.

Don't Wanna Dance - Mø

I Was Drawn By Your Grace

I find it sad that people hardly wear hats anymore. It used to be this classy accessory that everyone would put on when leaving the house, but now it's rare to actually see someone with a fancy hat.

I used to wear them all the time actually, but for some reason, I decided I was too intimidated by other people's opinions to wear fancy head wear anymore. It's pretty dumb when I think about it. Why should I care about what people think of my appearance? The other day I got one of my hats out again and rediscovered the joy of wearing it. From now on, I want to integrate more hats in my everyday outfits.

Aah...I've been making so many promises since the year started. I hope I'll be able to fulfill my wishes.

Down by the River - Milky Chance

Why I Love You, I'll Never Know

As individuals we constantly seek to attain a better version of our selves and we do so by comparing ourselves to others. Since I was born, the media and the people around me have influenced who I would like to be and who I am. I created role models and try to imitate them using the excuse that they are my inspirations. Yes, it is true that I am inspired by said people, but I am not creating a better version of my self. I am creating another version of that person, which isn't me.

I noticed in the last few years that I got really good at becoming a person I would admire but not completely myself. Therefore, I decided to make the life resolution of becoming "me". This will be my motivation to explore and try things I wouldn't have necessarily thought of. This is also a way to stay true to myself so that at the throughout my life I can be proud of what I have become and not "who" I have become.

"En réalité, on s'acharne à devenir un parfait acteur plutôt que quelqu'un de vrai."

                                                                                                   -Simone de Beauvoir

I Love You So - Cassius

You're My Joan Of Arc

I love long skirts and dresses but I'm often scared that they're too granny-esque. The other day though, I pushed myself to wear a "granny dress" because I had bought one during the holidays and I was surprised to realize that my granny-ism was actually pretty rad. I mean what wrong with looking like an old woman? They are wise and have a whole life time behind them which is pretty awesome. Plus, the dress might look like the one of an 80 year-old, but I don't look like one.

Joan of Arc - Arcade Fire