Into the darkness

One of the hallmarks of my style is "all bright colors, all the time." Even on those rare occasions when I anchor my outfit with something dark, I almost always use splashy accent colors to balance the look. Case in point: When I decided to build yesterday's outfit around my navy blue palazzo pants, my first instinct was to look for a pale neutral sweater to wear on top. However, as I was pulling a few tan and ecru candidates out of the closet, I began to feel the inexorable pull towards the dark side.

When my eyes lit on this forest green blouse, I knew my fate was sealed. I was descending into the shadows, and there was no hope of returning!

You might remember this blouse from its debut appearance two years ago. Back then, I had recently purchased it from Swap.com, and the tag had contained detailed instructions on how to preserve its "crinkled" look. Well, it was definitely wrinkly, but I wouldn't go so far as to say it was crinkled, and I decided I'd much rather have a nice smooth surface than an imperfectly crinkled one, so I ironed it into near-submission for its first few wears. Since then, though, I've decided near-submission wasn't good enough. If it was going to have any texture at all (as it did), it would be better to have a ton of it! I made an effort to re-crinkle it (the challenge is in avoiding strangely angled creases in the armpit region), and the result is what you see today.

 

It also happens to perfectly match this new pair of sparkly green high heels that I just bought. I already wore them once this week, so you know that I really felt that the combination had promise, if it was enough to make me re-wear a pair of shoes after just one day!

My moody theme was going along swimmingly, except that I didn't have any earrings that really spoke to me (a necklace was out of the question, given the embellished neckline of the blouse). But not to fear! When I opened my bracelet box to see if I could find something appropriately somber, what I found was even better: something sinister!

I've had this snake-shaped bracelet for years. I bought it because I thought it might make a good addition to a Halloween costume, but I never did use it that way. I think I might have worn it once or twice, as an insignificant part of some inconsequential outfit,* but never has it served such a role as it does here! The slithering serpent with its evil emerald eyes was the perfect add-on to my emo ensemble...and also the perfect storm of alliteration and assonance, thank you very much!

* Digressive side note: The bracelet almost featured big in my Garden of Eden outfit, but I decided I really wanted to wear the snake earrings, which I had only recently bought because I thought they would go well with the bracelet. In the end, I did not wear the bracelet with them because I figured two serpents were already technically too many to be true to the story.

Going sleeveless in November

Yesterday, my boyfriend and I went to Emporiyum, a food vendor fair in DC. I knew I wanted to wear something a little more exciting than my usual Sunday uniform of jeans and boots, but I didn't know what to expect from the climate at the event. It was supposed to be indoors, but it was also supposed to be pretty cold outdoors. Vendor fairs are often held in cavernous drafty halls, and if people were allowed to come in and out at will, it could get quite chilly! On the other hand, it could also be very crowded, and the combined body heat of hundreds of attendees could make it quite toasty!

How to prepare for the equal possibilities of too much heat and too much cold? Well, how about this interesting garment?

 

 

When I found it on Swap.com (for 2$), it was described as a "sweater," so I expected it to be hip length or shorter. I thought it would be loosely knit, and the perfect tool to achieve a boho vibe on summer days.

Wrong! The solid portion cleanly covered my butt, and the fringe extended down to mid-thigh. It was clearly more of a dress than a top, and it was way too thick and heavy for a summer outfit. But with huge armholes and no sleeves, it didn't seem very practical for winter either. The one thing it might be ideal for was the uncertain temperatures at Emporiyum. The heavy fabric would keep (most of) me warm if it proved to be cold, but the lack of sleeves could be a saving grace if it proved to be hot.

I layered the dress over a brown camisole, to cover up under the gaping armholes. For my legs, I went full-on winter with heavy knit tights and some brown flat boots (the "story for another time" I promised isn't really much of a story, but in case you were wondering, these are the boots I bought at the thrift store in Nashville).

To accommodate for colder temperatures, I wore a pair of floral arm warmers my mom got me for Christmas last year (one of my all-time favorite gifts, even though they were both left-handed, and I had to detach and reattach the thumb of one of them before it was wearable!) My outrageously large teal dangle earrings just happen to match the leaves on the gloves!

For the final removable layer of warmth, I picked a light denim jacket. It wouldn't be enough to keep me warm if I ended up standing outside for long periods (so I kept a wool coat in the car just in case), but it ended up being just right for the event. The fair was held in a building, but one of the two rooms was semi-outside (enclosed in the heavy clear plastic walls that are common at winter events). When we arrived, it was crowded but not too crowded, and cold but not too cold, and my jacket and arm warmers were just right to keep me warm. By the time we'd been there for 20 minutes, it was packed, and I was quite comfortable removing my jacket and stuffing it into a bag.

I noticed almost everyone else in the fair was dressed to the nines in their winter gear, so I'm actually astonished I was able to stay comfortable in a sleeveless dress. But then again, my thermoregulation has always been unpredictable, and maybe, when my body wants to be free of confining sleeves, it finds its own way to make it work!

No Repeats

One of the principles that guide  my fashion life is that of consistent inconsistency. I won't wear the same main color two days in a row, I won't wear the same main garment type two days in a row, I won't wear the same shoes two days in a row. Anything that is more noticeable than a basic staple has to have a rest period (varying from a week to a couple months, depending on just how noticeable it is) before I wear it again. If I can remember ever wearing a certain combination of clothes, I really, strongly hesitate to wear them together again. Ever.

Fortunately, I don't have great recall (Usually I struggle to remember what I wore one day prior), so I can happily re-wear a lot of outfits since I forget them in the meantime...but once I blog one of my outfits, it's game over. The photographic evidence is out in public, proving that it's been done before. Which makes me even less likely to forget other non-blogged outfits, featuring the same primary items. Even this usually isn't a problem, because I tend to retire most of my clothes after 2-3 years, so then I don't need to worry about re-wearing them any more. But there are some garments that I am loath to part with.

One example is this blue and white caftan top. It's a funny thing for me to want to keep, as it's not really terribly flattering on my body (tending to accentuate my broad shoulders and make me appear top-heavy), but I just can't resist its inherent versatility! It's got the perfect sleeve style for a transitional-weather-day like today, where it's too cool for summer clothes, but anything too wintry would make me feel stifled. It's loose and breathable, but provides ample coverage against a chill in the still air. And also, I really just like the pattern!

The problem is that since I've had it for 3 summers and some change, I've basically run out of new ways to style it. I've worn it with black leggings; I've worn it with white pants; I've worn it with navy blue pants; I've worn it outside my color comfort zone and paired it with yellow shoes. Since I'm incurably matchy-matchy in my personal style, you know that once I start adding bold accent colors, I'm running out of ideas.

But today I wanted to wear it again. And I needed a novel color pairing for it.

To choose this color, I used a technique that I might as well give a name—we'll call it Stare & Pair.

Stare & Pair—the catchy name for a technique that probably doesn't need one!

Simply take the piece that you want to find a mate for (in this case, it was my blue & white sweater), and set it down as close as possible to the collection of candidates for pairing with it (in this example, my stack of colored skinny jeans). Then allow yourself to take in the whole picture, all the colors and possibilities, and just gaze unfocusedly. At some point, your eyes should be drawn to one candidate in particular. In this example, it was my purple jeans. There's really no difference between this technique and just trying on tons of outfits in sequence, except it takes a lot less time!

So I'd selected a new and untried color of pants to wear with the sweater. Great!

The next step was finding the third piece—the accessory or shoe or jewelry to finish everything off. I used the Stare & Pair method to narrow my options down to a couple pieces of lavender jewelry. That was a rather exciting development, because it introduced a new layer of complexity into my color palette! If I were to wear lavender jewelry, that meant I could also wear lavender shoes, which would be much more interesting than the white or blue I almost always combine with this shirt.

By the time the outfit was completely assembled, I was pretty delighted. Usually my first wear of an article of clothing is also the most inspired, and all my subsequent outfits go downhill from there. But in all the years I've been wearing this caftan top, this new combination of clothing is probably my favorite! Sometimes, refusing to allow yourself an outfit repeat can really have unexpected benefits!

Dogzilla vs. Mothra

I grew up in a household steeped in Godzilla. My dad was a huge (big? moderate?) fan, and had several Godzilla figurines that were fun to play with when I was a kid. Beyond that, however, and a theater viewing of Godzilla 2000, I didn't develop much interest of my own in the movie monster.

Until I decided to do a Bridezilla costume for Halloween in 2013. I watched a couple of Godzilla films to help me get into character, and once I saw Mothra vs. Godzilla, I fell in love. With Mothra, that is! A giant monster, who also happens to be a moth, who is in a team with twin singing fairies, who also happens to save the earth? What more could a wannabe geek girl want?

Later that year, I tried to make a T-shirt with Mothra's likeness, using the last of my opaque T-shirt transfer paper and some permanent markers, but the effort was a failure, and I was forced to leave my public declarations of love for Mothra unspoken. Until, several years later, I thought to make her into a Halloween costume. A way better option than a tiny image on a shirt!

I started construction of my Mothra costume last September, but it was becoming clear to me that despite my infatuation with the greatest movie monster ever invented, not many other people even know who Mothra is. I hesitated to bring her to a party where she would not be recognized. 

 

 

So I finished painting the wings (laboriously, on both sides of an old shower curtain, which I do not recommend as the paint flakes right off), sealed them with a clear rubber coating to hopefully keep the flaking to a minimum, and rolled them up, never to be seen again until the next year.

 

 

It was sometime in between last Halloween and this one that I realized Mothra might have a higher recognition rate if she appeared with her nemesis, Godzilla. But since I'd stupidly thrown away my human-sized Godzilla spines, I really wasn't keen on making another version of them. Maybe in a smaller scale it would be OK. Maybe in a dog-sized scale. Maybe, my companion in Halloween tomfoolery would have to be Dogzilla.

It was settled. When October rolled around this year, and I learned that the annual Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard Howl-O-Wine party (the one where Jack Jack and I won a prize for our spider/web costume!) was three days away, I decided (rather belatedly!) to get cracking on a couples costume for me and Kodiak.

I made his spines out of a yoga mat that he himself had conveniently torn to shreds, and painted them with some rust-colored paint I had lying around that almost matched his coat.

 

I found an old T-shirt that I'd partially destroyed already for another sewing project, which happened to fit the dog fairly well, so I dyed it with a watered-down mixture of the same paint, and made a jacket to which the spines could be attached.

 

I sewed the spines on in alternating rows, bracing them against each other so they would stand up straight (spoiler! They didn't!)

 

I also made Kodiak a Dogzilla tail with more of the yoga mat, which I attached around his own tail using a couple of rubber bands (word to the wise: a dog who likes to wag his tail is not going to be wearing a tail accessory for very long!)

With Dogzilla finished and just one day to go until the festival, I set out to make my Mothra costume more complete, starting with the furry antennae. I have a few fur scraps left over from my Rabbit in a Hat costume, so I wrapped two of those around lengths of wire and attached them to a headband. They are removable and reusable!

 

A pair of blue sunglasses look remarkably like Mothra's glowing eyes.

I had to find some way of supporting the wings, so I made some elastic bands for my fingers and wrists and carefully threaded them through slits I cut in the shower curtain. I used a metal snap to hold the center of the wings to the back of my shirt.

Mothra has legs sticking out of her chest, but I am not that crafty, so I ignored that rather important feature and focused on getting the general color scheme right. A black underside with a furry back could be accomplished with a white fur-textured sweater (it happened to be one I bought but didn't use for my rabbit in a hat costume) with a black strip glued to the front (black strip being another part of a previously cannibalized T-shirt). 

 

Black shorts, because it was a gloriously warm day for October, and orange sandals just because I could, and I was done, ready to save the world from my adorable foe!

This was a complicated costume, but it cost me nothing except the paints I used on the wings, which probably totaled around 16 dollars. Sadly, it won me no prizes, but I guess defeating Dogzilla is accomplishment enough.

Until he comes back from the dead...

How to wear summer boots (in fall!)

 

First off: what are summer boots? I wouldn't be shocked if you haven't heard of them. I have only seen them one place: on eBay, where I bought mine.

The boots in question were crocheted calf-high boots, with wide shafts and lots of holes for breathability. I hesitated to buy them for a long time—could I trust shoes from a Chinese seller? did I really need summer boots? Did I really need to spend so much on summer boots? And if I bought them, what color should I buy? There were so many options, I felt paralyzed by choice! I waited at least a year before purchasing, and what finally swayed me was a discount if I bought two pairs. So I did, at $15.10 each—one purple, because I was still looking for purple sandals, and one pastel pink.

I wore each pair one time during the summer – I was holding them back for truly worthy outfits – and each time, something prevented me from photographing the outfit, worthy though it might have been. When the weather turned cold last Friday, I thought that was it for my summer boots.

But then I thought again. A boot is a boot, and the only difference between summer boots and the boots that make fall bearable is the amount of holes in them. Summer boots become fall boots when you insulate them with a pair of socks!

My crocheted boots have opaque linings at the toe and heel to help them keep their shape. The purple ones are lined with black, so I wore black socks underneath, which possibly made them look better than they ever did when I wore them unlined! Score! I now foresee all kinds of possibilities for these formerly one-season shoes. I can't wait to try them with skinny jeans!

But that will have to be another day. For their first autumn outing, I went as summery as possible with a short skirt, a light beige tee, and a pink and white striped cardigan. I vowed that since I'd missed my last two opportunities to blog about my summer boots, I'd do it today, even though it's not summer any more. So here you go!

Go Western

 
Saturday, the plan for the evening was to go to Opus Merriweather, an outdoor art event. I was excited to attend, but totally bummed about how to dress. I wanted to wear something appropriately artsy, but the weather was going to necessitate wearing a coat, so practically any outfit I could come up with would be all but completely covered up. The only part of me that would be reliably visible was my feet, and I didn't have anything I could wear on my feet that would be suitable for walking around in the probably – thanks to rain the previous night – very muddy woods. Anything... except ... (it took me a while to remember them even though they were sitting in plain sight on the floor of my closet) ... my brand-new pair of very artsy-looking rubber cowgirl boots!

I literally cannot think of a better pair of shoes for such an occasion, and they happened to have popped into my life at just the right time!

When I was in Nashville back in April, I tried and utterly failed to acquire a pair of Western boots. I was dead-set on only buying a used pair (so as to not directly support the leather industry), but the shops that were selling used boots were not selling any that fit both my feet and my style. I left Nashville with no boots (except a non-Western pair I picked up at a thrift store, but that's another story for another time!) and a slightly heavy heart.

My mild disappointment turned to full-on dismay when I later learned that Western boots are trending for fall 2018! Always an Unfashionista, I was so close to having been ahead of the curve, but now, as usual, I wasn't even on the curve at all (I did have a pair of cowgirl boots once, but I grew tired of them and sold them).

Fortunately, my dearth of Western boots was recently remedied, when I went to the Columbus Day sale at the thrift store. I struck gold when I found these ones.

Although the shape says cowgirl through and through, they are actually rubber rain boots. I've been declining to buy rain boots whenever I find them for years now, opting instead to slosh around in my ancient, not-so-waterproof-any-more hiking boots, because rain boots honestly have a very short usable season (too hot in summer and too cold in winter) and they take up a lot of space, and the last pair I had sprang a leak after only a handful of wears. But when I can get some rain boots that also happen to help me fill a different void in my wardrobe, I'll take them!

So I got my cowgirl boots, I got my rain boots, and I got artsy boots! The snazzy green damask-like floral design was icing on the already scrumptious cake! These shoes were truly a jackpot find for me—on-trend Western boots, but with a practical yet gaudy twist! And only $2.75 after the 50% discount!

OK, so I was wearing them for Opus, no question about it, but what to wear on the rest of my body?

I hunted around in my possessions for something else green to mirror the green on the boots. There wasn't much...a slightly off-color camisole, a too-bright green scarf, and, um, yeah, nothing else. Nothing else... except... the green corset that I'd just put in my to-sell closet!

I'd had pretty much enough of this corset. I've worn it with a couple of Halloween costumes, but it's much too campy for everyday use. It's also a little too large, and the laces are only pretty on one side. It is, however, specifically labeled as "Western Fashion" right on its tag, and I was wearing Western boots, so I figured I might as well do a modern take on the old-time saloon girl aesthetic.

A black undershirt and black skinny jeans were next, and earrings that quite perfectly matched the pattern on the boots.

Knowing that I would need help staying warm, I picked a winter coat in a complementary shade of burgundy. The coat has ridiculously wide lapels that put me in mind of a sheriff's coat in a Western film.

From utter despair a few hours before the event, I switched to being completely thrilled about pretty much everything I was wearing. Even though it was cold, I got to spend the first hour or two with my coat open so the corset got to be seen. I did get a few compliments on the boots over the course of the evening, and they protected my feet admirably from the mud that I had correctly predicted! All in all, I was pretty happy with how this outfit turned out.

Out of the frying pan, into the fridge

Yesterday, the temperature outside reached 81 degrees. Today, it was forecast to top out at 62, and stay there for the foreseeable future.

This 20-degree shift meant I was forced to switch from a summer-clothes mindset to a winter one, without any kind of transition period. But that didn't go over so well. I love my summer clothes, and I wanted to wear a sundress!

So today I decided to try one of those styling techniques I always see on fashion sites but never in the real world—the strappy-dress-over-a-sleeved-shirt look!

When I layer my clothes, I usually want them to be easily removed and replaced, like a cardigan over a tank top, so I can adjust to fluctuating ambient temperatures. When the layers are reversed so the garment with the most coverage is on the bottom, that ease is lost. I'd have to completely take off the dress and shirt, then put the dress back on, if I decided I wanted to go sleeveless in the middle of the day. But with a forecast high well lower than I'd ever want to be in without sleeves, I felt like today was a good day to give this layering style a whirl.

Oddly enough, I railed pretty strongly against this look in my 2016 fashion review, claiming, "I don't like the look of ugly T-shirts stuffed under beautiful dresses." I still don't. The difference between what I complained about and what I'm wearing now is that my T-shirt isn't quite ugly, and my dress isn't quite beautiful. Both pieces have the same middle-of-the road, feminine-but-not-gorgeous, casual-but-classy kind of air to them, that makes them look like they belong together.

Do I love this outfit? No, not really. Wearing what essentially amounts to a jumper dress, I feel somewhat like a first-grader in her school uniform. Do I hate this outfit? No, not really. I like the idea of adding a little longevity to my summer dresses, without having to resort to my stale trick of throwing a blazer on top.

Maybe I'll work with this styling technique again sometime. Or maybe I'll just check the "tried it" box and move on with my life.