Wild World

This spread shot by Ellen von Unwerth for Lula combines floral prints, dreamy over-exposure, and bit of whimsy to make one of my favorite editorials as of late.

(all images via Fashion Gone Rogue)

Happy Accidents

I trekked down to the river bed to snap some photos of my outfit. I thought that maybe this pathway would be less populated by runners and pedestrians, but I guess it's impossible for one to avoid inquiring questions and looks while wielding a tripod and posing for no one in particular. Whenever a curious passerby asked what I was doing I simply told them I was an art student, and so they just nodded and smiled and continued on their way. Not exactly a lie, even though this has nothing to do with my design coursework...

Most of these shots are simply accidents that turned out for the better. I had to sift through a lot of shots that were out of focus or overexposed. I have a lot to learn when it comes to wielding a camera, but I know that I'll pick up some tricks as long as I stick to it.

Black lace shirt - Charlotte Russe

Pink skirt - Forever 21

Brown leather boots - thrifted

Polka-dot tights - Target

The West Steps

While not as iconic as the East entrance, more commonly referred to as the "Rocky steps," I think the West entrance to the Philadelphia Museum of Art is just as stunning. I hadn't even realized before that the tall Romanesque pillars are adorned with colored mosaic tile.

I ventured to the museum with my design class today. Who ever said college students can't go on field trips? But I fell victim to the bummer of the century when my camera battery died only seconds after I took this photo. 

The museum is less than a twenty minute walk from campus, and as an art student I have free admission, so I plan to go back within the next week to photograph some of my favorite pieces.

(boat house row)

I decided to wander through Fairmount Park instead where I thought I could find a quieter, less populated place to take outfit pictures. Today is only the first of series of warm, spring-like streak that is supposed to last until the weekend. I think I'll plan some sort of excursion for Friday so that I can continue to get used to my new camera.

The Chronicles of Keira

Kiera Knightley's shoot for US Vogue back in 2007 remains to be one of my all-time favorites.

I think it's the harmonious way the earthy colors of her clothing relate to the naturalistic environment. Or just because I adore this ruffled Marc Jacobs dress paired with heavy boots.

(images via vogue)

Who am I?

Why hello there! It appears as though you've stumbled upon my blog. I'm Courtney and I'm a student currently living in Philadelphia. I'm away at school and was starved of a creative outlet; at home I had the time to draw and paint and sew. But here I don't have enough time to do all of that in addition to maintaining a social life, exploring, and completing some assignments in between. So I thought, what better way to keep myself occupied than to document my days? You could call this blog a reflection of myself and my interests.

Here's a little bit about myself:

Name: Courtney (some people include my middle name, Elizabeth)
Age: 18
Home: Bucks County, PA

 I'm a first year Design & Merchandising major at a private university in Philadelphia (you could probably guess which one). Most people don't know what exactly this major entails, so I like to say it's 50% graphic design and 50% fashion merchandising. We don't design clothes, we just design ways to sell them. I happened upon this major completely by accident and luckily it turned out to be a perfect fit.

 I like to think that one's personal space is strong reflection of one's self, either in the decor, organization, or lack thereof. I feel the same way about the way someone dresses. Of course I don't mean to imply that I'm prone to judge people based on their choice of clothing, I just feel that it has the potential to be a strong form of expression.

I'm a big fan of DIY. This scrolled frame, for example, I found on my neighbor's curb waiting to be thrown away. I salvaged it and painted it to match my room. It actually used to  be a mirror, but earlier in the year it fell off of it's hook and shattered. :(

Here's a preview of my (currently extremely messy!) closet. As the weather gradually gets warmer, i'll be easier to force myself to snap pictures of my outfits.

Here's my small collection of perfume and trinkets that adorn the top shelf of my desk. What I realized the other day is that everyone else in the dorms uses this shelf to store the textbooks and notebooks that I pile underneath my desk. We can obviously see where my priorities lie...

The ceramic tea cup and hand-painted wooden comb are both gifts from my roommate. She's originally from China, and I couldn't have asked for better roommate for my first year.
And of course, I have both Vampire Weekend albums on display. I'm a huge indie music fan. I saw VW live last April and it was a phenomenal show. Some other favorites are Ra Ra Riot, Beirut, Peter Bjorn and John, Cold War Kids, Franz Ferdinand, Delta Spirit, Paul Simon, Local Natives, Dr. Dog, and the list goes on and on.

My wall is covered in concert posters and some of my favorite fashion editorials and advertisements.

I started following style blogs religiously two years ago, and it was last winter that I developed a serious interest in starting one myself. I looked into purchasing a higher quality camera and just last week a brand-new-to-me gently used Nikon D40 arrived in the mail! I chose it mostly for its ease of use; I wanted a step up from a point-and-shoot but I'm a complete amateur. I'm so excited to play with it, I've already read a dozen articles on how ISO, aperture, and exposure affect a photo so I'm ready to see it in action.

Why Coloured Theory?


I'm in my second term of design class, which happens to center around color theory. I picked up concepts of subtractive, additive, and complementary colors pretty easily and I've already started to see my environment differently. So I chose this title partly because it's relevant to my life and partly because I thought it was memorable.

If you made it all the way through, then thank you for reading!