white girl problemz

Sort of my favorite outfit I have worn in a longggg time. Too bad I stepped out of my apartment into psychotically oppressive waves of soul-suffocating New York City heat. In case you were wondering, I wish desperately that I was escaping right now like I did last summer...I MISS YOU, PORTLAND!

IF MY HEAD IS TILTED MAYBE YOU CAN'T TELL MY BANGS ARE CROOKED AS HELL? 

NICE SMIRK, NOT FOOLING ANYONE CROOKED FACE.

Thrifted French Toast (!) little boy's denim jacket (from the recent Connecticut superhaul), grey tee, Peggy Noland highwaisted-dropcrotched-kneepatched cheetah print pants (with a second set of pockets at the knee), thrifted hippie straw bag that I dig cause my grandmother had one.

I had a lil meeting that day with my girl Kate Fleming..who was wearing her Céline wedges. I DIED. I was wearing Jeffrey Campbell Snicks, TWINS MUCH?

The color discrepancy in our skintones is appalling. I am such an indoor kid. What's a "tan"?

this is so important

Um. UMMM.
Mark Ronson posted this picture of himself from 1992 on his Twitter.
I present without comment, except to say that I am DYING.

I.
MEAN.
IS THAT A SOME KIND OF A BAJA & A BOWLCUT?*

Uh, DREAMWEAVER MUCH?

*clearly i lied when i said it was presented without comment

TONIGHT

I AM VERY MUCH EXCITED. HENCE MY USE OF CAPS.

TONIGHT! At the 92YTribeca. The FIRST KISS Happening!!!!!
Tonight's reading will feature:
Gavin McInnes, Jon Caramanica, a video from Tavi & Spencer Tweedy, Zach Baron, Doree Shafrir, Emily Gould, Leon Neyfakh, and obvi Marisa & I.

PHOTO BY FK CONTRIBUTOR KATIE NOTOPOULOS

It was sold out for weeks, then yesterday they gave us a bigger room! So no more of this bellyaching..GET A TICKET! You can buy them at the door, or order them online.

I better see you there..I mean, my PARENTS are coming, you guys !!!

(un)TIMELY: met gala!

Whenever I get on a roll with other writing stuff, I get way inspired to write on THIS BLOG and then I drop everything else and just write here and then...I never get anything done. I am not, as they say, SPECTACULARLY TIME EFFICIENT.

Sue me. (You'd probs win about $600 USD, a few choice issues of RAYGUN magazine and more vintage polyester frocks than you will know what to do with. I hope that's ok with you)

I never did a Met Gala post. I want to do a Met Gala post.
HERE WE GO.

CATEGORY 1
BEST EVER OR I DIE OR FUCK THAT LOOKS SO GOOD

C SEVS IN PROENZA SCOULER

Fuuuuuuuck. This is perfection. Wait, this is beyond that..this is life goal. 

It's the kind of thing that shouldn't look good on like, anybody and you can't tell anyone about, they just have to SEE it on you ("Um, it's like..a long-sleeved teal lace dress, with kind of a mock turtleneck?"). World please note: The night of the party it was about 98 degrees, raining and humid as hell- a lovely RAIN FOREST LIKE evening. HOW DOES SHE LOOK SO UN-SWEATY?

BONUS SEVS LOVE (also in lace!):

If wearing eye make-up didn't make me look like a 13-year-old trying to sneak into DA CLUB..I would go for this weird eyelid stripe.

Anyways, back to the GAAAAAALLLAAAAAAA

CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG IN BALENCIAGA (bien sur, doy doy doy)

Ok, at least SHE looks like what I would look like- and that is to say sweaty as fuck. I could personally care less what happens on her head, body, hand, neck, ears, WHATEVAH. Let's have REAL TALK about her below-the-ankle situation: That shit is BAY NAY NAYS increds. You know when I miss not working at a fashion magazine anymore? When I have the need to just HOLD a shoe like that. E.G. RIGHT NOW.

GRACE CODDINGTON IN...A FORMAL SANDAL

Hey, commit to your look..Whatevs it was a WORK party, basically I applaud it and I applaud your hair. Fuck those gowns! It was hot as hell that night!

THE ZOE IN MARC JACOBS

 

This is glorious. I want it. I wanna pet it. Gimme that.

CATEGORY 2

BEST USE OF A MOGWAI

CHRISTINA HENDRICKS IN SOMETHING, I DON'T WANT TO LOOK IT UP.

Rough night for a smoky eye. Um..why is Gizmo on her shoulder? JUST WONDERING.

At least she had this to entertain her throughout the night:

CATEGORY 3

I KNOW THIS IS A VOGUE PARTY, BUT I KINDA WANTED TO GET BAPTIZED AS WELL...CAN ANYONE OUT THERE HELP ME?

ALT & WHOOPI G

Oh, score. Thanks guys. Meet me at the fountain?

i mean

So..confused..WHAT EXACTLY ARE YOU GETTING AT HERE?

This must be a thinly veiled sexual reference 4 billion times over, but..I'm missing it?
Please, be more EXPLICIT next time, Mr Jacobs. Subtlety is for lightweights !

some bands I like to name check

DID YOU KNOW:
When I was in the single digits, MTV used to play music videos almost exclusively? True story!
This song was HUGE.



Did you also know that Michael Stipe used to have hair? A LOT of hair?
Well, now you do.
SIDENOTE: I am wondering how many of you had to Google "Michael Stipe" (Don't tell me).

I used to really dig REM! Is that TMI? Who knows anymore.
You know who else likes REM?

PAVEMENT!
This song says so.



Time to dust off NO ALTERNATIVE (Why am I lying, I never stopped listening to this.)

I was so into this record!!! Iris by The Breeders, Glynis by The Smashing Pumpkins. Such key songs to my teenage angst.

Steve brought up doing a deejay night where we only play this &DGC Rarities Vol 1 (I say WE because I invited myself to be co-DJ). You guys would come, right?!?!?!....right? WHATEVER, we can hang out ALONE and sing along to Jamie:



Aaaaaand that concludes 'Another Trip Down the Rabbithole of Youth Jamz with White Lightning'. Thanks for playing along.

HAPPY FRIDAY.
ALSO!!!!
COME TO THE HESTER STREET FAIR ON SUNDAY!!!! 
Hester & Essex, 10 AM-6 PM.
I'm selling vintage clothes/bags/shoes and some designer stuff (Marni, Chloe, Doc Darcies), copies of First Kiss.
See you there!
EDIT: I canceled due to the fact that it's sposed to rain ALL DAY LONG. Bummertown USA.

what a week it was

Some key moments from the week(s) gone by:

Raowl Julia (Laia, you genius), Hunter, HDS- my three favorite guys.

Everything you'll ever need.

Circle circle, dot dot.

Cats!

This cake is a donut. (I know)

Hunter's portrait of my janky thumb. It looks like a doll hand. Or a 90s album cover.

Denim on denim on denim! New favorite. Plus the ever present red clogs, obvi. Which I realize NEED their own post! Ew, my legs look terrible here. Like a pigeon toed troll. WHOOPS.

sale is my fave 4 letter word

This is very much APPEALING TO MY INTERESTS.

When I went to Mara's studio to pull things for my shoot with MNDR, I saw the full gorgeous mystical DOPENESS that is Mara Hoffman clothes..so much cool stuff that I didn't even know about. The images above don't even really give you the sense of what cool treasures there are to be found

You have 3 days to acquire some really good summertime shiz at 80%off.

Also V V IMPORTANT:
Mention WHITE LIGHTNING when yr paying and you will get another 10% off. I mean...

PS I pulled that beaded harness (pictured over the bikini) for Amanda and it was realllllyyy good.
PPS Any sample sale that takes credit cards is a sample sale I need to know.

it's here!

Our zine is here! It's a real thing! You can buy it and hold it and read it and love it and tell it secrets and take it places as your +1 and hide it in your textbook during AP History and give it to someone you have a crush on!

All these things are possible because the world is your oyster.
And also because I learned how to add code for a paypal button to my blog! (PLEASE LOOK TO YOUR LEFT.)
Also!  
We have a zine blog! You can buy it here, too!

Thank you so so much to everyone who sent in their stories. You are all awesome, but we only had so many pages we could fill..!

Our fantastic contributors are as follows:
Carlen Altman, Loulou Androlia, Lesley Arfin, Aurora Armijo, Zach Baron, Sven Barth, Christine Cantera, Jon Caramanica, Kat Clements, April Starr Daniel, Michael Dempster, Jocelin Donahue, Brendan Donnelly, Elisabeth Donnelly, Claire Evans, Sean Fennessey, Hallie Fryd, Julie Gerstein, Tavi Gevinson, Martin Glenn, Emily Gould, Rockwell Harwood, Shayla Hason, Kelley Hoffman, Sunshine Hurlburt, Aya Kanai, Mat Keel, Shelby Keyser, Katy Martineau, Gavin McInnes, Marisa Meltzer, Ashley Merriman, Bayla Metzger, Reza Nader, Leon Neyfakh, Katie Notopoulos, Caitlin Ogilvie, Marianna Ritchey, Yasi Salek, Doree Shafrir, Elisa Sheehan, Isabel Slone, Laura Spinella,Elizabeth Spiridakis, Hunter Stephenson, Louise Sturges, Spencer Tweedy, Jaimie Warren, Fletcher Woolsey, Aviva Yael, Diana Zapata

Marisa & I are so proud of this...The stories are magical.
Get one!

PS..thank you Hunter for making our Tumblr all linked up and profesh...

eye dios mio

Hey gals n pals! Happy Tuesday!
Time for FUN WITH PHOTOBOOTH! FUN WITH PACKAGES! FUN WITH EYEWEAR!

Maybe you wreck-a-nize theeeeeesssseeeeeee:

FROM A LITTLE AD CAMPAIGN THAT LOOK-A-LIKE THEEEEES?????!

Oh, yeah. JUST SOME S/S 2010 PRADA NEON EYEWEAR, ALL UP IN MY REAL LIFE.

What can I tell you? I have some really amazing friends.
Who messenger mystery packages to your desk in the middle of the day.
And inside is something as delightful as THIS.

I sent him this jpg and he wrote back, "Don't leave the sticker on!"

what is love?

I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING.

DEEEGORGEOUS

JOHN FLUEVOG, my teen years dream label (Remember the old store on Prince Street?), has re-issued their Munster flare heel suede buckle shoes.

THIS IS SO MAJOR FOR ME, YOU GUYS.
NOW I CAN LIVE THE DREAM.

What dream, you ask?  Good question!
A simple dream: to be Lady Miss Kier, posing mystically in the Milky Way, while enormous blurry daisies float by and an Asian deejay in striped pants slomo  speedskates on by.

I can't. I mean. I have waited for this for YEARS!
Do you realize I have a permanent eBay alert for Fluevogs?! But no one ever sells that shit! At least not in my size! WTF, world?!?
If you are an avid reader of White Lightning, you know how I feel about this.

Please refer to this post from *2007*, in which I declare the 90s are back (just saying but I was ahead of the 90s trend in that I NEVER LEFT THE 90s)

What took so long, Fluevz???!

I NEED to have these.

Sadly, I just spent a how do you say, fuckload of money on this here twitter&blog machine and so ALAS there is approximately 37 cents in the "lifetime shoe dreams fund".

...But what if I can't live without them? I must figure out a way.

PS I posted these and a bunch of other things I am loving right now over at StyledOn..check it out if you're feeling clicky.

a post i never thought i would do

"Stefon" is the funniest thing to be on this show in YEARS (this and the first time he was on Weekend Update a few weeks ago. TEDDY GRAHAM PEOPLE anyone?)



DJ Baby Bok Choy.
I can't. Tiny ravioli hands? I CAN'T.
Brb, choking laughing.

PS...Did I really just post an SNL clip?
PPS...holy shit, you can make yr own clips out of clips on hulu!
PPPS...A Teddy Ruxpin wearing mascara

new beginnings

A few of my current favorite things.

New dress from Opening Ceremony (I have worn it almost every day since I bought it..TMI? WHOOPS), yellow tights, perfectly broken in 70s clogs (2 dollars at the Sals in Connecticut, during our set visit to The Innkeepers- more on that later), mini leather backpack (another 2 dollars at the Sals).

The entirety of my thrift haul:

Light blue hard shell circle suitcase (with violet interior), the afore-photo'd clogs, a red Donna Martin-esque boob-cupped crop-top, a purple LL Bean crazy patterned anorak that is verrrry O.Ceremony, the perfect little boys denim jacket, leather backpack, top-handle purse, blue leather coin pouch (my new camera bag), a slouchy linen blazer thing, 2 light denim button downs and a striped romper.

$29 bones for all of it.
Good lord, I love a good day at the Salvation Army.
Note: Good thing I bought a suitcase cuzzzzz....there was no other way to get all this crap home.

BLOGNOTE:
I HAVE A NEW LAPTOP YOU GUYS! This is wildly exciting.
But until Tuesday-ish, I have nothing from my old hard drive.
So posting may be sparse, but there is SO MUCH TO COME.
I CAN'T WAIT !

come hang out with me!

Free show tonight, you guys!!!

Black Keys + free entry + open bar 

= 

win/win/win 

9pm

Classic Car Club

250 Hudson St. (Hudson & Broome) 

18 & over (oh, so i JUST made the cutoff, GREAT!)

Early birds get the booze, brahs.
I will probs be wearing my gold platforms..come say hello!!!


xo
WL

never been too good with names but i remember faces

Remember when Johnny Depp did music videos?
I would say that his role in The Lemonheads It's A Shame About Ray is nowhere near as epic as his role in Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' Into The Great Wide Open although Evan Dando's dreaminess in the former makes it almost tie for overall hotness with the latter.

...What?

When's the last time you watched this?
I must admit...not so much happens. Dando is a babe. The girl looks like an Urban Outfitters catalog model. Depp is a ghost? STILL...so great!



IMPORTANT:
If I could only listen to 5 albums for the rest of my life, this record would be one of them. It is 12 perfect tracks (fuck that added-later "Mrs Robinson" shit). The puzzle piece behind the couch that makes the sky complete!
Listen and love, young grasshoppers who were born when I was buying this at Sam Goody with a gift certificate from my rollerskaing birthday party, listen and love.

Nostalgia Bonus, deeper into the rabbithole:
The song that made Ben Lee (then in Noise Addict) famous, I Wish I was Him. It's about Evan Dando and my favorite line is "He's got 6 different flannel shirts, Airwalks not thongs, he even understands the words to Pavement songs." He was 13! This video is a sort of revamped version of the original, and I don't like it as much, but it's still pretty rad.



And for all you newly minted riot grrrls, here is a cover the aforementioned ode to my early teens years love by Kathleen Hanna.


Are you having a 90s braingasm yet?
HAPPY FRIDAY!

showroom visit: be & d

A couple weeks ago (I told ya, BACKLOGZ!!) I stopped by the Be&D showroom to peruse the PreFall and FW2010 collections. I had already poked around during press days but I was late (poor form!!) and had forgotten my camera (profesh!) and so...they were nice enough to let me roll through again, this time much more prepared.

I have new favorite bag. And it is the Be&D Dallas.
It was the missing component to complete this new favorite outfit that consists of: my now-constantly-worn under.ligne dress (thanks again Doo-Ri!) and resurrected Chloé docs, Surface2Air jangle, Black Sheep & Prodigal Sons brass plate ring.

THE GENESIS IN RED

It's like..a soft semi-hippie-ish PS1. Does that make sense? It's a top handle satchel, with a longer strap, but it's all in squishy supersoft leatheryloveliness.
It is basically a perfect bag.

Runner up for my affections:

Animal printed soft suedeyness plus messenger bagness plus a metal chain. I'm a sucker for a metal chain.
I want to wear this with a pea coat and bellbottoms and my new clogs and be like Cher Horowitz channeling Ali McGraw in Love Story except I don't die and I keep my bangs and the part of Ryan O'Neal is played by Ethan Embry in Empire Records. He was only ever that cute again in Can't Hardly Wait and then..what happeend to him anyways?!?!

Um sorry, where was I?

BAGS. RIGHT.
I was really feeling this one as well.

I sat down and had some talk times with the man behind the line, Mr Steve Dumain (read: he nodded and laughed politely as I talked talked talked...as I am unfortunately WONT to do. Oopsydoops.). He digs bloggers and old movies and liked my new shoes. WHAT'S NOT TO LIKE?

One of the coolest things about Be&D was that they make all of these bags here.
I went back behind the showroom where it's like a leather wonderland old school workshop!
People making the bags by hand here in the Garment District! Pretty rare these days. Very cool I would say.

Thank you Steve for taking the time to chat it up. And thank you Courtney for letting me photograph and try on everything in the showroom for probably way too long.

catch up

So much to blog!!
Showroom visits, new acquisitions, delightful gifts, set visit to a horror film and our zine is ready to order (email firstkisszine at gmail! email us with an order!).

Let's take a breather and admire my personal own personal spirit animal and guru of bangs, color and accessories: Ms Peggy Moffitt.

The next few days I will be posting up a storm..but now I am going to have high tea with my mom and sis to celebrate my mom's birthday!

L8TR SK8TRS
xo
WL

i was thinking about your record collection

SOMEONE IN THE UK HAS GOT GREAT TASTE IN TEE SHIRTZ !

THE SCEPTRES

Yesterday I got an email from a reader named Bryony (pictured above!!) telling me that I might like to know that my tee made it to the "english punk rock dingy pub DIY scene". Why, YES I would like to know and I am DELIGHTED. That's her in the pic! With her band The Sceptres! In my tee!!! EXCLAMATION POINTSSSSSS!!!!!

Seriously...HOW COOL IS THAT?

I checked out their site and I am reallllly feeling it. My favorite song is Flatline Generation..Bryony, send me some 7"s!!!! 

Listen to them here..come play in NYC!

gold soundz

I forgot to take a pic of my outfit for the Hole show a couple weeks ago. WHOOPSY, bad blogiquette.

 60S DRESS (HOUSE OF VINTAGE) // SEQUIN HOTPANTS (H&M) // GOLD PLATFORMS (D&G). NOT PICTURED: THRFTED WHITE FUR

I really went for it. And by that I mean I not only wore fur (it was freezing) and sequin hotpants, but I have recently acquired some truly DELIGHTFUL D&G wedges that are almost beyond description. All you need to know is that they are GIANT and GOLD.

PERHAPS YOU NEED A BETTER LOOK?

I. DIE.
The wedge is GOLD WOOD! They make me tall as hell, they are crazy easy to walk in and I feel a little bit like Bootsy Collins.

And why is that a bad thing?
SPOILER ALERT- IT ISN'T.

PS. Hole concert was good but WAY TOO SHORT..like 10 songs, INCLUDING the encore? C'mon Court! That's a little bit unfair. It was so fun though. A shining sea of tiaras and baby barrettes!

Apparently I was SPOTTED when we were walking out?! Kara & Doree overheard girls behind us saying "Omg, hey that's White Lightning!" OMG HEY PLEASE SAY HI NEXT TIME! Amazing!

giveaway: stand up comedy x whitney totes !

A few weeks ago I wrote about the limited edition handmade/screened/numbered art book totes that Portland's Stand Up Comedy made for The Whitney here in NYC.

Well sometimes life is good, brahskevitches. The very cool people at the Whitney sent me a S.U.C.xWHITNEY tote of my very own, and I am complety in hearts with it.

YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN YOU MIGHT HAVE TO JAM

This is essentially what I carry around on my person most days:
Magazines, various composition notebooks, my hideous wallet (anyone have any recs on a new one? I'm desperado), flash drive, comb (the only way to keep your bangs like Peggy Moffitt's), Karen Walker sunglasses, my keychain with Miu Miu ribbon and "self-defense kitty" that I bought when I was 15. (Your fingers go through the eyes and you stab with the ears! DANGER!), tiny red notebook from Kiosk (I love notebooks from Kiosk. I love anything from Kiosk!), felt tip pens, business cards (WERK), Dior Skin Sculpt concealer, Marc Jacobs mirror, Bobby Brown cheek color, Mustela hand lotion, a stamped leather vintage..ciagarette pack holder (???) that is perfectly iPod shaped, my iPhone (aka my siamese twin).

This is a pretty normy day. Sometimes there is weird random shit in my bag..recently some of the weirder things have been: Korean ice cream sammies (shaped like fish!!), the first season of Beverly Hills 90210 on DVD (so key), Ouzo flavored chocolates for my dad and about a thousand paint chips from Home Depot.

You can fit a LOT in this lil tote and since it was designed to carry heavy monographs, you can really pack it in there. Or at least I do. Which is an easy way to give yourself a gangsta lean. Which is why I recently invested in a backpack.

BUT I DIGRESS.

HERE COMES THE BEST PART:
The Whitney also gave me 3 totes to give away to you, dear White Lightning readers ! I have one in each color and I really want you to have them.

 

Leave me a comment with the weirdest thing you've ever carried around in your bag. The 3 best answerersss get a tote.

GOOD LUCK & GET WEIRD!

makin it happen

Some sneaky peeks at the shoot I styled a few days ago for my favorite breakfast partner Ms Amanda Warner aka MNDR. We did her press shots and some editorial shiz for a Weiden+Kennedy magazine.

She looked so fucking good...if I do say so myself (and I just did). Here are just some randoms i had a second to snap...

Karen Walker sunglasses // Nicholas K FW10 jacket // Sophomore NEW YORK tee // Mara Hoffman leggings

Kris Van Assche sheer blazer // Mara Hoffman bathing suit (as shirt) // OAK sheer +lycra bike shorts // Pamela Love lattice bib necklace & rings // Pipertree Jewelry crystal necklace (a gift made for me that I ADORE!) // CHRISHABANA cross necklace // Amanda's signature glasses

Mara Hoffman metallic wool moto jacket // my own crocheted vintage crop top // Mara Hoffman bathing suit (as shirt) // Pamela Love sacred heart necklace // Nicholas K FW10 pants

SO MUCH JEWWWREE: Beaded Mara Hoffman harness, a hangtag necklace that Sunshine made and sent me, some of my own crafts, some of my own sunglasses, borrowed metal Karen Walkers, Black Sheep & Prodigal Sons solid gold honeycomb necklace, lots of Pamela Love, some CHRISHABANA, my neon Guatemalan scrunchie from last summer's Vision Quest.

Karen Walker sunglasses // Nicholas K FW10 jacket // Sophomore NEW YORK tee // Mara Hoffman Leggings // my own SOCKMAN socks // my own Jeffrey Campbell Snick platforms // my own Black Sheep & Prodigal Sons knuckleplate ring //Amanda's own necklace

Random street vendor sunglasses // Electric Feathers jumpsuit // Black Sheep & Prodigal Sons knotted leather necklace & braided horsehair piece (worn as belt) // Amanda's own bracelet

I am sooooo happy with the shoot. Tim Saccenti, the photographer, was incredible and Amanda is a fucking star.
Can't wait to show you all the real deal holyfield photos...coming soon!