Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Women who love sparkles too much


If there's one thing that defines my mostly undefinable style of dressing, it's that I love my fashion to be over-the-top. Strawberry jewelry, weird high-heeled tennis shoes, dresses festooned with parrots—I have it all. The one thing I don't have a lot of is the basics.

A few years ago, I basically stopped buying wardrobe essentials in favor of an entire closet full of statement pieces. Solid-colored T-shirts? Nah! If it wasn't covered with patterns and glitter (or at least multiple layers of texture), I wasn't going to "waste my money" on it. (Well, that's not entirely true; I've always kept my closet stocked with every possible style of neutral pants, so I guess my craziness craze is limited to tops alone.)

It was only this year that I realized this kind of puts my wardrobe in a severe deficit. How can I properly create an outfit with my funkiest skirts, if the only shirts I have are equally funky in completely different ways? I needed some simple pieces that could be worn with everything. So a few weeks ago, I put a new item on my shopping list: "solid T-shirts in every color"!

With my new arsenal of basics, I hoped to be able to whip any flamboyant bottom out of my closet, and instantly pair it with a coordinating and flattering top, saving me the agony of trying it on with every shirt in my closet only to find that nothing looks right.

I started on May 13 with a white T-shirt, a supposedly essential garment (according to a lot of the fashion articles that I read) which I haven't owned since I converted my last one into a shrug back in 2011. In the same Swap.com [referral link] order, I also got the brown one that can be seen crowning my outfit today.

Before I started on this purchasing mission, I had to do a lot of soul-searching. You see, at this time in fashion history, fitted T-shirts are not in style. You need look no further than the first page of listings on Polyvore (my most trusted source for shopping trends, and also frequently for the pictures that I use on my year-end fashion reviews) to see it: big and drapey and half-tucked into your skinny jeans is where it's at. 
 
But I, though I try hard to get on board with the fashion zeitgeist, just can't seem to make this style work for me (it's a big-shoulders thing). My tastes will always run to the loose-on-the-bottom-tight-on-the-top aesthetic (with shorter sleeves than are currently in vogue). Which means I had to swim against the tides of fashion and invest in a whole wardrobe full of unstylish shirts. Well, that's what makes me an Un-fashionista!

Somehow I managed to eschew my love for sparkles and all things embellished long enough to get a couple of basic and thoroughly un-trendy T-shirts for my collection—just so I could accessorize one with all the sparkles I could get my hands on! I wore a shiny new silver heart locket (get the "love" reference in my post title!?), which supposedly glows in the dark. I got it thinking I'd eventually wear it to a rave, but that never happened after over a year, so I decided to stop saving it for the special occasion that would never come. 
 
 
For even more sparkles, I wore my now-familiar batik skirt with the sequined trim, and a pair of glitter-encrusted low-heeled shoes, which I got for 20$ from H&M in late March and have been wearing the dickens out of, even though I haven't yet posted any outfits featuring them. At least the shoes are only one season out!

What makes every fashion picture cuter? The surprise addition of a dog!
And cuter still? Two dogs!

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