Music Obsession: Tara Priya

Every year of high school, on the last day of the academic year, we sat through an excruciatingly long awards ceremony. My freshman year, at the awards ceremony, I found myself sitting next to a senior. Her name was Tara Chandra, and she was one of the smartest, prettiest, and most enigmatic seniors I had ever admired from far away in the hallway. She sang for the jazz band and once did an amazing rendition of Wicked's "Defying Gravity." She had won numerous prestigious writing awards and once, she gave a speech in front of the entire school about apathy and about political action. That was the only student speech that moved me all year. Most importantly (to me, as a wide-eyed freshman), she was attending Columbia University in the fall. She was going to New York, which seemed like the perfect place for her.

She won the English award that year, and I remember the entire auditorium cheering loudly for her, with teachers nodding their heads and smiling with pride. She was everything I wanted to be in three years.

I did end up giving two speeches in front of the school -- once my junior year, and once my senior year. And I never won a single award at school, but I did end up going to the same college as she did. And I did rediscover my passion for writing in high school, though I never won any prestigious writing awards.

After Tara graduated early from Columbia (magna cum laude, natch), she started to pursue her music career. Now, she is professionally known as Tara Priya.

It wasn't my intention to write about Tara Priya on the day of Amy Winehouse's death, but now I consider it fitting because Tara considers Amy to be one of her greatest influences.

I'm no expert on music (much less widely accepted "good" music), but Tara's EP has been on repeat on my playlist for the past two weeks. It's catchy, genuine, and heartfelt music. At the very least, you'll see why I was both intimidated and in awe as a 15-year-old freshman, sitting next to that confident senior with the brunette curls, who seemed ready to conquer the world.

You can listen to her EP and download it for only $3 here. I've also attached her new music video, "Rollin'." Hopefully it brings a bit a soulful joy to your heart amidst all the tragedy in this world.

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Miss Couturable

Refinery29 remembers us college students!

While many of my friends are jetting off to tropical islands, European countries, or back home for spring break, I'm staying in the city, where I intend to eat good food, visit museums, shop, catch up on work, and sleep all day and night. So, no, no need to pity me.

Just in time for spring break, Refinery29 is launching its new college column! The first article is about what to pack for your spring break trip.

Anyway, I'm super excited about this because I know a lot of fellow students who read Refinery29, but sometimes it's hard to relate when you're not dressing for a 9-to-5 job or you can't always afford to head downtown for an $80 entrée. Not that it stops me.

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Miss Couturable

Happy Valentine's Day!

So, while I'm spending my Valentine's Day having intimate relations with my laptop, you may have more exciting raunchy plans (but statistically not likely if you also go to Columbia).

Refinery29.com asked me to publicize their latest Reserve, in which you get two 13-pack of condoms from Sir Richard's Condom Company for only $13 -- shipping included. Also, 25% of the proceeds is donated to Partners in Health. And apparently four of the boxes have diamond earrings from Simmons Jewelry. Sweet deal.

But anyway, erm, I'm heading to the library to hook up in the stacks celebrate my singleness with other single stressed-out friends. Happy Valentine's Day! At the very least, love yourself.

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Miss Couturable

Are you Pretty Amazing?

If you've always wanted to be on the cover of a magazine (and you're between ages 15 - 22 in the United States), you should definitely enter Seventeen's Pretty Amazing Real-Girl Cover Contest, sponsored by Neutrogena.

The winner appears on the cover of the October 2011 issue, wins a $10,000 scholarship, and goes on a trip to New York City -- sweet deal, right? All you have to do is fill out a short form and write a short paragraph or two (no more than 1,000 characters -- that's like 300 words) about why you're "Pretty Amazing."

I know I have awesome (and gorgeous!) readers who have accomplished amazing things, so please let me know if you've entered! And hey, feel free to share your accomplishments with me. I'm always interested in learning more about you (and being in awe of you!).

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Miss Couturable

How bad do you want it?

Today, I was the last one to leave the office at my internship because I was frantically doing some work to lighten the load for my boss. My eyes were slightly bloodshot, I'm quite sure that my eyeliner was smeared, and I had not eaten for over eight hours. Still, I toiled on because it was the least I could do to help, in anticipation of New York Fashion Week.

When I got home tonight, I decided to skip the Friday night parties for a quiet night (er, weekend) of rest. While browsing Fashionista, as I do every night, I was intrigued by the comments on the post, "Blair and Dan 'Intern' at W Mag on Gossip Girl and We Debunk the Myths."

Someone commented, "From my magazine experience, the dumbest interns come from the most top-ranked schools." In response, someone else commented, "Because they always feel they're too good to be doing lowly intern work."

In response to that, someone commented:

The truth is that being from a top school translates in to expectations of (at times impossible) excellence and the additional pressure/drive to do well. I could argue that interns from top schools are used to hard work, more so than everyone else, and perform better; however, I know better than to make a blanket-statement like you just did.

So, speaking from a limited personal viewpoint, I don't think Ivy League fashion interns à la Blair Waldorf and Dan Humphrey (or me, for that matter) are necessarily better interns than non-Ivy League students. You don't need a perfect SAT score to return shoes to Dior -- although a sense of direction would be helpful.

However, I do think there are a lot of high expectations when you go to a "good" school -- both from yourself and external influences. If I can write a 30-page paper on German philosophy, I can properly use the Xerox machine, right? Conversely, you also feel the pressure to prove that you're not just book smarts. What's the point of acing calculus if I miscount the fashion week invitations?

And then, in academic settings, you feel the pressure to prove that you can be book smart and fashion-savvy. It's a constantly nagging feeling of needing to prove yourself which I am all too familiar with. I want my professors to know I'm serious about school and I want my employers to know I'm serious about fashion.

I do know of fellow schoolmates who have quit fashion internships because they thought the tasks were "beneath them" -- but these same schoolmates have also quit non-fashion internships with better pay, such as in investment banking. They don't speak for everyone.

The rest of us are extremely grateful for our internships, and we don't mind staying later or doing extra work or fetching coffee, as long as we get to be there. For me, at least, internships keep me sane -- they're a productive break from academia.

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Miss Couturable

Shop my wardrobe and save the world

I am somewhat of a pack rat and a hoarder, so throughout the years, I have accumulated more clothes than I can fit into my pocket-sized dorm room closet.

Luckily, I-ELLA, an invitation-only marketplace where you can sell your wardrobe and shop from other wardrobes (including celebrity wardrobes such as that of Selita Ebanks!), is hosting its College Week, in which you can shop from the wardrobes of your fellow stylish college students. The best part about I-ELLA is that a portion of the proceeds go to non-profit organizations.

They asked me to participate, and so I am selling a few select pieces from my wardrobe, from a pair of Nanette Lepore booties to a classic Lacoste polo to a never-worn-before pair of J.Crew sandals -- all at tiny fractions of the original retail price.

So, if you're a dress size 0 and a shoe size 36 or 36.5 (or you have a friend who is), shop my closet here (they also did a brief interview with me here). To join, you can use referral code COLUMBIA.

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Miss Couturable

Uniformity, not conformity

I attended the press preview of the Gilt Groupe Warehouse Sale tonight, and in between eating e.e. cookies and convincing myself not to purchase a pair of Rick Owens shoes in my size (college campuses are not the most fashion-friendly places -- not even Columbia), I picked up this Shipley & Halmos blazer with a fantastic sheer paneling on the side and in the back. Originally $545, it was now $125.

My friend picked up a giant faux fur coat (only $75) -- and as we stood in the dressing room with our pickings, we reminded ourselves that we were technically on self-imposed shopping bans. The two of us, having become close friends on the first day of freshman year because we liked each other's clothes, were really trying to veer away from impulse purchases this year. She, having lost an expensive new pair of Balenciaga sunglasses, and I, already running out of closet space in my dorm, were not in the best shape to be buying new clothes.

Additionally, we were exceptionally predictable in our picks. Amongst our friends, I am known for owning all sorts of tailored and structured blazers and jackets, and she is known for her beloved propensity towards fur -- unfortunately for her, even her faux fur pieces attract sneers from many of our fellow leather-wearing and meat-eating Columbia students (yes, I'm pointing fingers).

We finally decided to purchase the pieces, because we knew these were pieces that we would wear a lot. $125 for a statement blazer isn't so shabby when you wear blazers all the time, and $75 for a fur coat is a good deal when you wore a fur coat to the sale in the first place.

Is it wrong to know what you like and to stick with it? We think not. At the end of the night, we considered ourselves lucky in knowing what works with our style and finding pieces that fit into the formula. I wear my blazers frequently, much more than I wear any cardigans or t-shirts, and she later discovered tonight that her new fur coat was the warmest coat she has ever owned.

Experimentation should be encouraged, but there is a simple joy in realizing what your style is. I would like to think of it as a step toward growing up. Also, it was cute that we understood each other's preferences.

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Miss Couturable