ElephanGirl

 

Yesterday, my boyfriend and I went to a big gathering on a beach. I wanted to wear an easy breezy dress that could double as a simple cover-up should I decide to go swimming. Fortunately, I had an unworn dress practically made for beach-going. It was one of those tube dresses with a smocked top that you can find at beach stores everywhere. When I was trying it on, it kept sliding down, so I decided to try to wear it as a skirt instead. I selected a solid chartreuse top to wear over it, and I thought I was done...but the top kept sliding down, too—the same elastic problem I had with my first choice of tops in my last outfit! Why does this keep happening!? I would complain, except that, once again, my wardrobe malfunction turned out to be a stroke of good luck, in that my backup shirt ended up an even better choice than the original.

In today's case, looking for a replacement top, I suddenly remembered I had the perfect shirt to go with an elephant-themed skirt—an elephant-themed shirt! I had just recently received it, and since it had puffed sleeves (the horror!), I had naturally set out to remove them as soon as I got it. Originally, I'd planned to cut off the sleeves, fold under the raw edges, and sew them down for a classic, smooth-edged armhole. But I ended up really liking the ruffled look on the fragment of sleeves that were left, and returned the shirt to the Projects Box so I could clean up some of the more ragged cuts. So on the morning of the gathering, in another last-minute alteration (these are becoming my specialty!), I did just that, then put the shirt on, and marched out the door.

But before I did so, I selected some sunglasses (blue to go with the blue on the shirt, rimless with a vaguely hippie aesthetic, which, incidentally, is something I could also say about the elephant skirt!) and a pair of black flat sandals.

The sandals are — surprise surprise! — a recent refashion as well. The fabric insoles had started falling off, so I cut my own insoles out of a piece of T-shirt and glued them to the shoes. I had only put the finishing touches on the shoes earlier this morning, and I was really curious about whether the fix was going to hold. Well, the best trial is a trial by fire, so I put them to the test by making their first outing a sandy, messy, beach. By the end of the day, they didn't look beautiful, but the glue was still holding! Pro Tip: If you're ever deciding between Tacky Glue or E6000 to replace the insoles in your shoes, choose the E6000. I did Tacky Glue on one foot, E6000 to the other, and the E6000 was much less prone to peeling—though the downside was it also showed through the fabric more.

It should be worth noting that the skirt came to me from Thailand via my boyfriend, the shirt came to me from Sri Lanka courtesy of my Sri Lankan friend, and the event to which I wore them was for Indonesian Americans! I am fortunate to have a lot of worldly associates, or this outfit would not have been possible. I might also note that I'm not usually drawn to elephant motifs, but I got such a big kick out of being able to wear two of them brand-new in one outfit, that I might just become an elephant fangirl. Ele-fangirl? Ah, now you finally understand my title!