janet’s tied her kirtle green a bit above the knee

sunday morning cephalopods

2011-07-31T20:34:00.001-04:00

Much of July has been viciously humid and I have been stumbling about miserably in wrinkled cotton dresses or appallingly normal t-shirt and shorts combinations (or they would be normal if my t-shirts weren't 90% geeky), and have been too lethargic to take pictures. But today I put together an entirely new outfit in about ten minutes in the scramble for church and -- really loved it? Usually I stick to previously worn combinations for church, on account of not having a lot of time in the mornings, but something obviously clicked this morning.

I love this weird little waistcoat thing so much. I've had it for years and it's quirky and useful! Back before I amassed a collection of wide belts it cinched all of my too-loose dresses. It also has attached suspendery bits which I usually just tie off in the back because they only sometimes look good on me. (It has to do with my incredible bosomosity.)

I ordered this octopus ring (and an identical one in bronze) from eBay for two dollars recently and have been wearing them a lot, because of adorable. I am not a Cthulhu cultist, I just like octopodes! (She protested a little too glibly. CTHULHU FTAGHN. I mean what.)

shirt, boots: thrifted
skirt: Wet Seal
hat, earrings: Claire's
waistcoat: Rue 21
ring: eBay
necklace: Fred Meyer in Alaska

only slightly wicked

2011-07-08T22:45:00.000-04:00

Today's outfit: sort of hastily thrown together, and then I looked in the mirror and decided that I loved it.

Hmmm. Evil secretary? Then I remembered that I had spent the afternoon working on a YA boarding school paranormal fantasy. There you are, then.

blouse, shoes: thrifted
skirt: Maurice's
necklace: Hot Topic

bigger on the inside

2011-06-28T01:04:00.000-04:00

Yesterday morning I got a package. Or rather, my mother got a package that was for me, opened the package, re-wrapped the contents in three layers and about enough packing tape to circle the house thrice, and then gave it to me. The package said "muahahahaha" on top.

Me, groggy, un-makeup'd, and desperately in need of a shower. LOOK NOW, IT'S NOT A SIGHT YOU'RE GONNA GET ALL THAT OFTEN AROUND HERE.

I have a friend named Bethany who enjoys being evil around my birthday.

Anyway, what was in this cruelly wrapped package was something I have desperately wanted since before it was purchaseable: Threadless' new TARDamask t-shirt. If you haven't noted that I am the massivest of massive geeks, you haven't been reading very carefully, but if you missed it, well: here's your warning! Anyway, I fell headlong in love with design when it was still in the voting stage and really hoped it would get to be a t-shirt, and then it did! and it was much too expensive for me to splurge on. CUE SNEAKY EVIL AWESOME FRIENDS. It is the best t-shirt ever, on account of being elegant and extremely geeky, and therefore all of my favourite things in one place: Doctor Who and Victoriana and a fetching shade of blue.

My four-year-old sister, upon examining the shirt, exclaimed, "That's Doctor Who's house!" WE HAVE TRAINED HER WELL.

shirt: Threadless, from Bethany
skirt: Bon Ton
shoes and stockings: Rue 21 (whoo $1 clearance stockings! also YES I WEAR OTHER SHOES SOMETIMES)
bow necklace, the closest thing I have to a bowtie: Claire's
almost Amy Pond's wedding necklace: Christmas present from Anna
pearl droplets: WHO KNOWS; there was a pair in one of the sets of earrings Anna sent me but these are not them! my mother probably found them at Goodwill. Pearls are my birthstone; I like them.

summer simplicity

2011-06-24T14:25:00.001-04:00

Hot, stormy summer days are upon us, and here am I in unheard-of garb: shorts. I haven't owned a pair of shorts since I was eleven, most likely, having spent an overly long time self-conscious about my legs, and then, once I'd stopped being silly about that, having no end of trouble locating shorts that I did not actively hate. I am still seeking a high-waisted pair with rows of lovely bright buttons, but ah well. These slip on comfortably, lace up (and zip, for practicality's sake: the laces are just decoration), are a nice dark colour, do not look like denim underwear, and do not have any ridiculous holes or spots of bleach on them. I approve! So, on a hot, lazy day, I pulled them on along with a favourite loose cotton blouse and, for once, didn't bother a bit about shoes. (I thought of finding a suitable pair for photography purposes, but that would be cheating: and anyway, you'd miss the pretty toe ring my friend Sarah got me for my birthday!)

Attempting to prettify my feet with nail polish and jewellery: I hate them slightly less! I'm not insecure about my specific feet -- I'm an equal opportunity foot-hater! Feet are weird and sort of creepy! But this helps. (Oops, apparently I made a worse bungle of my nail-painting than previously suspected. IGNORE THAT.)

Amy Pond necklace!

My dear little typewriter necklace has become something of a writing charm, or a "go write stuff already, Jo!" reminder: hence the reluctant face I'm pulling. Write all the words?!

blouse: Dress Barn, thrifted
shorts: Rue 21
jewellery: gifts from Anna and Sarah

birthday shenanigans

2011-06-19T23:35:00.001-04:00

On Friday, I turned twenty-one. I mostly celebrated quietly at home, enjoying simple pleasures, and then went picnicking in the graveyard the following day. As one does.

As a sentimental creature of ritual, I like to wear things on birthdays that wholly represent me -- which is a tall order, to be sure, but I mean: things that I feel most utterly myself in. I've actually worn the same little white dress (styled very differently) several years in a row, and forbade myself to wear it again this year, despite it still being one of my favourite and most oft-used clothing items. Instead I found my other favourite dress (pretty and incredibly soft and cosy), my black bodice for some added edge, and the floor-length skirt I've taken to wearing under the grey dress lately. And those ever-present green boots of mine: I can't help it!

This utterly exquisite necklace was a present from my dear friend Anna, and while I don't usually wear new things for birthday outfits, this was so brilliant and perfectly me that it was beloved immediately.

The clock earrings were also in Anna's package, and they suited nicely. Though wearing clocks and a typewriter proved to give me a peculiar deadliney feeling. I think I should wear them a lot come NaNoWriMo...

And my wee owl was an early birthday present from my best friend Kyra when I stayed with her last month. Have you noticed my fondness for owls? It isn't very apparent, is it?

I trooped out into the yard and set up a picnic under the apple tree -- bacon and cheddar on garlic bread, sugar snap peas, red wine, and the mint chocolates my sister gave me. (They're from the local candy shop, where they make their own chocolates -- fabulous.) Then I spent the next hour basking in the sun, listening to Linford Detweiler, reading Jane Eyre, and fending off bacon-hungry cats. It was a good afternoon.

dress, skirt, bodice: thrifted
shoes: Rue 21
feather clip: a boutique in Philadelphia
jewellery: gifts from Anna and Kyra

an english country gentleman

2011-06-14T22:28:00.000-04:00

It's uncharacteristically chilly today, so I'm taking advantage of the weather with layers and trousers to suit the brogues I cannot stop wearing. (I went back and bought a black pair, too, which I am sure to wear all the time.) And I've been unable to stop wearing my flat cap lately, under no circumstances related to my recent habit of watching too many things with Michael Fassbender in them. (He does wear one so charmingly. WE WON'T DISCUSS THIS; IT WILL ONLY LEAD TO ME COMMITTING ACTS OF SEVERE INDIGNITY.) Anyway my dad wore flat caps a lot when I was growing up so I've always had an immense amount of nostalgic fondness for them.

This blouse is pretty great. It always makes me feel I ought to be heading to a 1920s garden party populated by sprawling bright young things.

blouse: thrifted
trousers: Ross Dress For Less
waistcoat: Maurice's
shoes: Rue 21

hat: Claire's (I actually paid full price for it as it was so marvellous and there was only one left)
jewellery: Claire's

marvellous wine-coloured shoes

2011-06-07T18:08:00.000-04:00

Today was a more than usually victorious Goodwill day. I've barely been since I got home from Alaska, but Mum wanted to go today, and clearly it was Fate, for I've a number of new treasures that are sure to be cropping up here by and by. (Also a pair of boots I won't be wearing much for a while as they are fur-lined -- but they are powder-blue and lace up and are perfectly mori-girl; I couldn't help myself.) Even with the cape, the brand new J. Crew sweater, and the boots, the absolutely most delightful find was a pair of wine-coloured Newport News pumps, which I had somehow missed on my first go-round (maybe someone was trying them on?) -- fortunately my mother found them and called me over excitedly. They are EXQUISITE and you know I've the massivest weakness for coloured shoes. Also: ribbons. I am so excited to wear these regularly and only wish I had a proper party or event to which to take them.

dress, skirt, jacket, shoes: thrifted
necklace: pendant from Michael's on an old chain
feather clip: boutique
earrings: Kyra, from Claire's

brogues!

2011-06-01T20:58:00.000-04:00

Today's a beautiful, windy summer day -- after two days of oppressive humidity, the gently warm sun and wild breezes are a boon. I pulled on an old favourite white dress and -- oh yes -- my shiny new brogues. :D I've been hunting for an inexpensive and pretty pair of brogues for a year or two now and stumbled on a pair purely by chance at Rue 21 yesterday -- on clearance for seven dollars. They must have got them in while I was away, because I hadn't seen them at all, much less had time to lust after them before they went on clearance. They aren't the best quality, but they're pretty and comfortable, and I am never taking them off.

dress: thrifted
lace scarf: Hot Topic
necklace: Claire's; an early birthday gift from Kyra (I'd just missed snatching it up at my own Claire's and was delighted she fetched one for me)
earrings: Forever 21, also from Kyra
shoes: Rue 21

you can't take the sky from me

2011-05-30T20:31:00.000-04:00

Hello, internet! I have been busy being Away: Merlefest Bluegrass Festival with my father the last week of April, after which I came home long enough to collect my suitcase and an hour of sleep before taking a bus to Philadelphia to hang out with my friend Anna for several days -- and from Philadelphia I flew to Anchorage, Alaska to visit my best friend for two and a half weeks. She'd just graduated from grad school at UAA, so we celebrated by... drinking a lot of tea, watching a lot of films and television, playing video games, destroying the lives of fictional people, and exploring abandoned buildings, among other things. My last week there we went to see geekfolk artist Marian Call, and ended up getting free tickets by volunteering. I took tickets and Official Photographs! And had lovely conversations with a lot of geeky people who spoke the same language of references and multisyllabic words as I. All in all it was rather a fab evening.

And this is almost exactly what I wore! Kyra snagged me TeeFury's shirt of the day several weeks ago because clearly my life would not be complete without it (she has one too, naturally), and as Marian Call is a huge Firefly fan and references it in several songs it seemed like the thing to don.

I've been wearing the marvellous hat Charis made for me rather a lot the last few months, but it has a tendency to slide off -- so I clipped it in place with this feather clip, and the effect was quite charming. (I've wanted one of these clips for some time, and accidentally stumbled on one while in Philadelphia. Hooray!)

My friend Sarah had a welcome-to-summer party on Saturday, and did this henna design on my hand (after I kept forgetting the ones I did and squashing them before they'd had time to set).

shirt: TeeFury
skirt and vest: Rue 21
necklace: skeleton key from my house on an old chain
earrings: handmade, from a Russian shop in an Anchorage mall
boots: thrifted
hat: made by Charis
feather clip: an odd little boutique in Philadelphia

rainy saturday adventures

2011-04-16T22:29:00.000-04:00

I spent today -- a rainy, windy Saturday -- with my four-year-old sister reading all of the books at the library and then dashing through the downpour across the street to the library for muffins (she: wildberry; me: chocolate). So: cosy, quirky, and bookish was the order of the day!

blouse, skirt, (probably) stockings: thrifted
belt, boots: Rue 21
necklace, earrings, gloves: Claire's
hat: my marvellous friend Charis made it for me!

I do own other shoes! I'm just madly in love with these, especially after having watched them patiently for three months till they went down to seven dollars. Plus they're green and buckley and pull on easily and add a nice bit of quirk to any outfit. (They look lovely tucked under my jeans, too.)

I managed to snag both necklace and earrings (on different occasions) for a dollar apiece -- Claire's has the best clearance racks, especially if you're super vigilant. I've got earrings that are a miniature version of the necklace (also a dollar!), but felt like wearing these great trinkety ones today.

My friend Charis makes a lot of wonderful hats, and as she is making crafts for people every month this year, she sent me this amazing hat for February (also a drawing of a tentacle lady with pull-away skirts, because she is the coolest). It's a skeleton key pattern, which is perfectly me, and I adore it.

carry on!

2011-04-14T15:42:00.001-04:00

It may be difficult to tell from the pictures, but it's blessedly warm again today, after several days of damp chilly greyness; I am therefore obligated to blind everyone with colour. At least a little!

Keep Calm And Carry On t-shirt and coffin ring: Kyra, from Walmart (mine didn't get either!)

trousers: Ross Dress For Less (several months ago I finally acquired my yearly Jeans That Actually Fit! whoo!)

shoes, blazer, beret: thrifted

apple necklace: Christmas present from Anna

I've had these fetching green pumps for a long time, but have barely worn them because they were slightly damaged -- they turned up at Goodwill brand new, but with some slices and irregularities in the decorative fringe (like a machine slipped or something). Finally about a month ago I found them in my closet, chopped off the fringe and bows, cut the bows to the same size, and hot-glued them back onto the shoes. You can hardly tell they were meant to be otherwise! I call that a win.

I am overly fond of my purple coffin ring and enjoy wearing it with otherwise non-gothy outfits. And the necklace! It's very similar to the one Amy Pond wears with her wedding dress in the Doctor Who Season Five finale, which is exactly what Anna had in mind, cos she's awesome like that.

i'd say spring brings out the goth in me, except that everything does

2011-04-10T19:51:00.000-04:00

I'm going to gracefully pretend the long hiatus away for the sake of my dignity -- mostly it equals "winter sucks" and "I get miserable and barely wear real clothes under my six quilts anyway". Today is warm and lovely, however! I celebrate by... wearing fur? Okay, Jo, you may be unclear on the concept here.

New favourite skirt! From Maurices, which is normally out of my price range -- even at half off several months ago this skirt was $25... but a couple of them hung around the shop so long I managed to snag it for four dollars, and was delighted. It's the perfect combination of gypsy-wear and gothery.

My twenty-nine cent thrifted leather jacket is the funnest possible thing to wear bicycling about town; it flaps magnificently behind me and I pretend I'm in a film.

And you see, it really is spring. There were flowers and cats in the yard.

blouse: Rue21, quite long ago
skirt: Maurice's
stockings and boots: Kyra, on separate occasions
pendant: Michael's
gloves: Claire's clearance rack (a dollar!)

fur collar: Hot Topic
coat: thrifted

cheer in february

2011-02-23T13:42:00.001-05:00

My bff sends epic packages, and I got one today, mostly full of socks, books, and geeky trinkets. And this shirt and skirt, which, as I was in my pyjamas when the package arrived, I donned immediately.

So, not only is it A T-SHIRT WITH AN ADORABLE BESPECTACLED LADYOWL, but I kind of have spectacles exactly like those. And my passion for quirky t-shirts is as fierce as ever. Also the little button-down folds on the skirt are darling.

COFFIN RING. PURPLE COFFIN RING. Yeah, okay, it is possible to know me too well, perhaps.

Now these shoes I have been admiring for months now at the local Rue 21, but they were originally $35, which is a) more than I have ever paid for any single item of clothing in my life, b) far too much to pay for shoes that, while pretty, are hardly quality craftmanship, c) ...uh, yeah, LOTS OF MONEY. Shoes don't always stick around long enough to reach the super-clearance levels from which I typically buy things, but these finally went down to seven dollars and I snatched up the last pair and have barely taken them off in the week since. They are flat buckley boots and they are green; I've such a weakness for coloured shoes.

The gloves are, of course, my beloved Rue 21 gloves from last winter; the hat from Claire's, the stockings from goodness knows where (I tear my black stockings too often to remember when and where I got the most recent pair), and the fetching wool blazer thrifted last summer.

this is my winter song to you

2011-02-21T13:29:00.000-05:00

Lost pictures taken just before Christmas (!!!), or Jo wears mori-girl to fetch Christmas trees.

Note ALL OF THE LAYERS. Winter is cold!

These were my grandfather's combat boots when he was in the Korean War. Apparently he kept them as snow boots for decades. A few years ago my grandparents were moving out of the house they'd lived in since my father was a kid and we spent a few days helping them clean things out of attics and closets that had barely been visited for a very long time. The boots were going to get thrown out until I, to everyone's puzzlement, claimed them. My grandfather has very small feet, so they're actually a lot less huge on me than one might expect.

I fell in love with this coat (real leather, originally from Maurice's; found at Goodwill, of course), but wasn't going to get it, because... I do have a coat. I have more than one coat. But my mother fell in love with it, too, and insisted on buying it. Guilt abated!

Honestly I don't remember what I was wearing under the coat that day. But look, delightfully silly furry hat! (Curse you, mori-girl fashion; I never would have been drawn to a furry hat were it not for you!)

Fantastic military vest I found on clearance at Rue 21 -- I have a lot of black and dark brown vests, but I really wanted something lighter. Ta-da!

The hat: also a December Rue 21 purchase, and since then a wardrobe staple. It has a cheery striped bow!

Best Walmart shoes ever!

I BET YOU CANNOT DISCERN HOW COLD I AM IN THIS PICTURE. I BET YOU CAN'T.

winter brightness

2011-01-23T15:12:00.001-05:00

Ah, more bitter cold. How delightful! (The sarcasm keeps me afloat.) Between frigid weather and catching various small maladies my fashion sense of late has been dis-coordinated and usually hidden under a quilt anyway, but I feel better when I dress better -- and anyway it's Sunday; I can't go to church looking like I'm cosplaying a 1930s hobo. In a cartoon. Um. Anyway, this sweater dress (Goodwill, of course) has been something of a lifesaver this winter, as it is unimaginably warm and cosy, though slightly too large -- but a belt fixes that. (This corset-laced one is from Kyra's Christmas package.) It's also knit to be a biiiit see-through for both modesty and cold, so I wear a lacy dress underneath, which gives it an extra touch of whimsy as well. Bitter weather calls for COLOUR, and LOTS OF IT.

I bought this hat and matching gloves (we ran entirely out of gloves!) on ruthless clearance at Claire's last week. Annnnd it's totally poofing wrong in the first picture; LOOK IN THE MIRROR FIRST, JO. I promise I can wear it while not looking absurd.

Miscellany necklace from Claire's, and warm stripey gloves from same, two years ago.

I've been mostly wearing the same two or three pairs of boots for the last month, on account of the PILES OF SNOW, and have finally had it, so pulled out my long-beloved orange heels for church this morning. I bought them at Goodwill three years ago or so and am still charmed. Stockings also thrifted, worn because they're one of two or three pairs I have that are actually really thick and warm.

shiny new old things

2011-01-13T10:38:00.000-05:00

A recent Goodwill run with my mother scored some true gems! Huzzah for sales! Oh dear I really am terrifically spoiled with my Goodwills; I don't know what I shall do when I live someplace else where they are normal and haven't got regular manager's specials and things.

Pictures taken shortly after arriving home, in a dark house -- apologies for grainy, weird quality!

Basically, we got home and I immediately changed into some of my new items. I'm especially delighted with the lovely goldenrod sweater: Vera Wang, for twenty-nine cents! And the cape is Montgomery Ward. Shoes also thrifted; skirt from Rue 21 some weeks ago ($3!), stockings... I don't know where my stockings come from half the time; they are just in my drawer; gloves from Ross.

Pretty buttons!

Like many a lass, I have a bit of a thing for red shoes, though ones that suit me are difficult to find. And red t-straps add a certain amount of vintage sass; huzzah!

casual gothic

2011-01-04T23:56:00.002-05:00

Dear readers, winter is really a dreadful time for a fashion blogger. And my house is dark and full of things and my tripod is long broken, so there isn't much hope for indoor photographs on cold days. And, worst of all, I was sick or recovering from being sick or busy or busy and sick for most of December, woe -- so my poor blog got rather static. But 'tis the season for resolution, and I resolve to be back here, chronicling my eternal struggle to find pretty things to wear when I am freezing nigh unto death.

It is very difficult, you see, for me to put on things in winter that consist of more than jeans and a sweater and maybe another sweater and six pairs of socks. And then a blanket. And then I don't feel like myself and am even more out of sorts all season. But here I am, trying my best! Only the next series of photos is half a cheat because 2011 started out rather startlingly warm.

Yes: 1 January was warm and rainy, and I welcomed the new year as myself-ly as I could: in an outfit that was equal parts rustic and gothic. My favourite dress, a lovely lace blouse that was a Christmas present from my friend Sarah, the boots I haven't managed to stop wearing every other day even yet, a belt and gloves (why did I not get close-ups?! self, you are ridiculous -- oh well I was about to go on an errand) from Kyra's Christmas package, my bat necklace and oldworld headwrap.

P.S. This is my new haircut before I dyed it: hence, it actually resembles my new haircut a little more closely. The first few days post-dyeing my hair falls rather less loosely.

The key was on the tag of an M Is For Mad Alice in Wonderland shirt Anna sent me (I ended up wearing it Christmas with a black tulle skirt and of course got no pictures siiiigh), and at the moment I quite like it dangling from the crook of my arm.

A kiss for you! in the hopes that you will forgive me for abandoning you for so long. Or perhaps to show off my headband. WE MAY NEVER KNOW.

Then I bicycled to buy hair dye and speakers and came home soaking wet and muddy, so that was the end of that, alas.

Sunday I was sick in bed much of the morning (I read lots of Madeleine L'Engle, so it wasn't all bad), and didn't get dressed till noon, and really didn't want to bother with anything -- but I had this pretty new t-shirt I'd got at Goodwill on the 30th -- all of the girls in the family went to Another Town to get our hair cut and visited a Goodwill we don't usually get to -- and that made my well-worn black jeans a little less boring. The necklace sort of found its way around my neck on its own somehow. I only threw the shoes on for the picture, though, really, and had to go with boots to conceal my clashing argyle socks.

Do I appear to be freezing in this picture? BECAUSE I AM FREEZING IN THIS PICTURE.

Ohhh, I have had my eye on this magnificent vampire necklace since long, long ago -- early October, I think Claire's got it in, but it was about twenty dollars which is absurd for something I Do Not Actually Need. But the drops, and the faceted red heart all covered in chains, and the little bit that has vampire scribbled on it, because clearly this necklace is meant to portray someone who is researching vampires because their beloved has either become one or has been kidnapped by some and basically it is is ostentatious and delightful and everything that I love, and I thought I had lost it, as it disappeared without going down in price some time ago, but One Last Necklace showed up on Claire's bargain racks for four dollars: why yes, yes, I will take it, thank you! So now I have a werewolf necklace and a vampire necklace and I could not be pleaseder. (Have I even shown you lot my werewolf necklace? I AM ASHAMED. I also received a similarly thematic necklace which you lot shall see soon.)

But also and more importantly: my hair has been properly cut by a real live hairdresser for the first time in two years, and I am delighted. I promptly dyed it very, very red because winter, o readers, grim grey winter is exactly the time for ridiculous hair.

It is very layery and much more tameable and looks very sweet and almost bobbed when I pull it back: an excellent combination of punky modern and classically pretty. And no I do not foresee the blue going anywhere in the near future. (And check out my darling cluster of bows from Hot Topic, c/o Kyra!)

snow and red lipstick on the first of december

2010-12-01T15:23:00.001-05:00

I love snowy days. Even in February when I am sick unto death of the cold and the snow the sight of snowflakes tumbling through the air is still a beautiful one: and the sweet snows of December are magical. Today I have been curled up with sweater and guitar and my favourite tea and some beautiful choral music, welcoming the winter.

T-shirt: Kyra, from Hot Topic / sweater: Mum picked it up for thirty cents at Goodwill, but it is originally from J. Crew / skirt: Goodwill, originally from Target / stockings: Goodwill / gloves and necklace: Claire's.

I recently purchased some red matte lipstick with which I am very pleased this far. I've never been able to find a shade of red that wasn't too pink or too orange till now. Also it stays well and doesn't come off all over my teacup.

Why yes, I am wearing a Hogwarts t-shirt.

And with all of this loveliness, I believe that my Christmas spirit has bloomed brighter than ever.

braving the weather

2010-11-30T15:37:00.000-05:00

Alas, dear readers, the onset of winter is a very awkward time to try to keep up a fashion blog, especially when one has a rather sub-par camera and a dark house: I can only get decent pictures in natural daylight, and of late there isn't much. I start thinking "oh, I like what I'm wearing today; I'll take a picture when I'm finished with this other thing", but when I have done that it is getting dark. The nerve of this planet! Ugh. But I persevere, as I will stubbornly show you: today it is raining, but I still ducked outside to get a photograph, for it is high time.

My mother found me a lot of these little Elvish-y blouses that lace up the front and back at Goodwill for a dollar or less -- I have four now, in ivory, burgundy, and two shades of pink (the burgundy one above is shaped a bit differently from the others, however), and they are most excellent at dressing up an outfit.

Blouses and boots are thrifted; socks from Kyra last winter; dress from Ross Dress For Less; belt and earrings from Rue 21; gloves from Claire's (a dollar!).

Notice: I am freezing. I love rain, and in the summer I quite like being out in the rain (Dad and I always laugh at people at music festivals who huddle under tarps and plastic bags when it rains: you guys, it's summer and humid; the rain isn't going to hurt you), but it is cold and blustery and I cannot fashion under these conditions. Also I am trying red lipstick out, largely thanks to repeat watches of Moulin Rouge!

trying mori-girl fashion on for size

2010-11-13T18:49:00.001-05:00

I have a massive file of fashion inspiration on my computer, filled with everything from Buffy, Veronica Mars, and Legend of the Seeker screencaps to gothwear to rockabilly to 1940s high fashion to my favourite fashion bloggers to pictures of Amanda Palmer and Joanna Newsom. One fashion subculture that keeps turning up is mori-girl, a somewhat recent style out of Japan. The name means "forest girl", and the style is largely comprised of layers of soft, comfortable, loose-fitting clothes in naturalistic, rich colours, with a lot of quirky details and natural materials. A lot of mori-girl outfits are very folklore-y in aesthetic, which definitely appeals to me, and I also see a lot of asymmetrical layers and uneven hems, yay! (For a nice visual overview, check out this mori-girl Tumblr -- lots of gorgeous photographs.) I've fallen quite in love, and finally decided to have my first go at putting together a mori-girl inspired outfit. I'm sure I haven't got it exactly right, but I like the result.

These are largely things that have been in my closet for some time, though I'd bought the skirt at Goodwill when we had family visiting and apparently forgot about it because I don't think I've worn it more than once, which is shameful, because look how gorgeous!

Leaf earrings from a Rue 21 clearance rack; they were just a little too neat, so I bent them up a bit and like them ever so much better now. Hat from Rue 21, several years ago. And my Hot Topic fur collar, which is probably the best three dollars I've ever spent on myself, the amount of use it's getting.

I bought myself two warm pairs of knitted fingerless gloves at Ross Dress For Less recently (three dollars each for gloves that originally retailed for eighteen; not bad, I say!), as while I have lots of fingerless gloves, my only really warm ones are orange, and clash with a lot of things. So I've these lovely long purple ones (I may sew some buttons onto them later), and a grey pair with bows which will undoubtedly be seen later. The ring was twenty-five cents at a yard sale.

The first ring is from Rue 21, and the other, which I wear all the time, is my great-grandmother's engagement ring, from the 1920s. It's extremely beautiful and intricate with a tiny chip of diamond; I'll have to take some proper pictures of it someday.

My owl necklace from Kyra, and a lovely jumble-of-keys necklace from Rue 21.

Cosy purple socks! And yes, I do wear these boots almost every other day.

As I type this, my hair is up in a shower cap and full of dye, so I'll be a new(ish) me tomorrow, good heavens.

and after this, five hundred words

2010-11-08T21:57:00.000-05:00

November, being the month I spend all my days hunched over my desk writing frantically (happy NaNoWriMo, everybody; it's my third year), tends to be a year of a) cardigans, and b) story-appropriate clothing. Last year I wore my Vampires Beware t-shirt rather a lot, as well as long elegant dresses; this year it would seem there will be a great deal of boots and cardigans and flat caps, for I am writing about a 1940s English village (and also werewolves, and the Wild Hunt). Alas, we ran out of batteries all throughout the house, so I haven't been able to get very many photographs in between writing frantically, entertaining family company, and attempting to teach myself how to sleep again.

My mother has a rather agreeable habit of snatching up inexpensive items for me when she's trawling Goodwill on her lonesome: I came home from a two-day excursion to Pittsburgh to find this beautiful crimson lambswool J. Crew cardigan folded on my bed, which my mother acquired for thirty cents. If I had all the money, I would buy a lot of basics from J. Crew, especially cardigans, but this is so perfect and cosy and right that it tempers the longing a good deal. Red sweaters are The Thing, you guys; they are in my perfect imagining of autumn and winter, and for whatever reason I can never find any that fit properly, but this is glorious (and so warm).

I was feeling a bit bleh that day, so I simply layered it with my little white dress, a black skirt for length, and my cosy striped knee socks.

Closeup on the lovely cableing, and my beloved skeleton key necklace (by which I mean 'the key that goes to my door on an old chain'; it looks very storybookish, I think).

I think brown may well be my favourite colour for shoes. These are wonderfully comfortable.

Mum thought me very 1890s in the above outfit, which was a sight better than some of her comparisons (street urchin, her mother, mystic she saw on the streets of Pakistan in the 1980s).I'm wearing a rather floaty grey polka dot dress under the red dress, again mostly for length. All items thrifted, save my fur collar from Hot Topic, which is swiftly becoming one of my favourite purchases ever.

I managed, after quite a lot of tries, to get the key tied prettily onto the collar (I tried to wear a necklace with this outfit and could not; either the fur or the buttons got in the way, so I thought I'd try this instead), but look, I did it! Earrings are from Rue 21.

why yes, i am dressing for my eyeliner

2010-10-28T18:59:00.001-04:00

I HAVE GOT MY CONTACTS BACK. This is a source of great and unending joy, as much as I heart my crimson geekspecs -- not only do I prefer my face without glasses, but I also no longer twitch my nose constantly to keep glasses from sliding off my face, and I can wash my face, shower, put on makeup, open hot ovens, and don turtlenecks without undue discomfort. And wear dramatic eye makeup.

Anyway, I've been wearing favourite dresses of late -- it is definitely the weather for long dresses that will flow nicely in the wind. I've had this one for three years or so and I love how I don't even have to wear much with it to look very impressive. The pattern on this dress, guys. My oh my.

All items thrifted, save the cameo necklace, which is from a pendant I bought at Michael's and the cord to another necklace.

This next dress has been my favourite item of clothing this autumn. For whatever reason I tend to latch onto a particular outfit every autumn, and this seems to be this year's -- I'd passed it up at Goodwill several times, thinking it was too large and not very fitted, but I love vintage floral housedresses, so I finally tried it on and it fit like a dream. Also, by then it was twenty-nine cents. \o/

I've probably worn it about ten to fifteen times since I bought it about two months ago. It is cosy and pretty and suits multiple aesthetics! Somehow, it has always resisted being blogged, however. No more!

I've been wearing it in a sort of rural, New England-gothic way mostly, although with my heavy brown boots and a cardigan it passes for something cosy and gentle as well.

Dramatic eyeliner (how I've missed you!!) + Forever 21 Celtic-esque headwrap, hooray!

You've seen this necklace before, but I do, in fact, love it incredibly. Bonus close-up on dress pattern.

And yes, I'm still highly enamoured of my wee Hot Topic bat necklace. And my lovely owl ring, which is beginning to be a bit tarnished. Perhaps absurdly, I tend to like my jewellery more when it no longer looks new.

It was actually quite chilly outside when I took the last set of pictures, but it's been cosy in the house all day, really! I didn't want to hunt for a jacket that I hadn't even been wearing! It would be disingenuous.

pretty things from last week

2010-10-22T15:40:00.000-04:00

Backlog tiiiime! A slightly grainy photograph -- taken on the way home from a shopping trip as the sun was going down -- of an outfit which greatly pleased me. So many autumn favourites coming back to play! That brown sweater with its very distinguished buttons was a mainstay of my wardrobe-of-ultimate-cosy last winter. The stockings I must have bought at some point, but I found them in my drawer last week with no memory of how or when they arrived there, and have been wearing them almost incessantly since. Skirt thrifted by way of Rue 21 two autumns ago -- I have the same skirt in a different, softer-and-darker-coloured pattern which I bought on clearance, but I missed this one and was pleased to see it turn up later. It has pockets! And large buttons showing you wear the pockets are, although both of them are off at the moment, as one fell off and I can't find it, so I cut the other one off so I can actually wear this very lovely skirt.

Autumnal gothic streak activate! I found this lovely blouse with corset lacing up both sides at Goodwill (of course) and can finally bring myself to throw out my former little black blouse which has holes in the lace at the neck. (I... get very sentimentally attached to my clothing.) All things thrifted, save accessories (Hot Topic, Rue 21, Claire's).

And once more, with my lovely long red jacket! I wore this to my weekly open mic session at the local coffee shop, although I hadn't remembered it was That Day when I was dressing. When I show up tonight in a slightly oversized cable-knit sweater, dark jeans, brogues, and a flat cap, the other denizens may be confused.

GLOVES OF MY DREAMS. From Claire's, ring from Rue 21.

The true root of the outfit was, of course, this exquisite little fur collar from Hot Topic -- my best friend alerted me to an online clearance sale by linking me to things I might like. Usually I say "ooooh" and then hide my wallet from myself, but. But! I have wanted a detachable fur collar for an age! And had no idea where to get one, though I keep seeing them on blogs. It ties with a little ribbon! Also it was less than three dollars. It kept slipping, so I fastened it with a cameo brooch my mother bought for me on eBay two Christmasses ago.

There are no Hot Topic stores near me at all. This is a source of great sadness.

The root of this next outfit? I HAVE BROGUES. I HAVE BROGUES AT LAST. Real proper cosy leather ones, which I will never, ever take off. I was so close to spending irrational amounts of money to snatch some very similar ones up on eBay, but a pair finally turned up at Goodwill -- you can find anything at Goodwill eventually, but rarely when you actually specifically want it -- and I am over the moon.

They have a very slight heel, but not so much that a day of walking in them bothers me overmuch. I also ordered a lace scarf from Hot Topic with my fur collar (it made the shipping charge count for more, okay -- and it was approximately two dollars), and it was very entertaining digging around for the right sort of girl!Englishman pieces to suit everything.

Cosy button-down sweater, a staple of two winters ago; stripey shirt (I have a weakness for stripes), beloved peacoat, lovely lovely brogues: thrifted. Scarf: Hot Topic. Gloves and hat: Claire's. (The hat I just bought at full price omg because I have been eyeing it for months and there was ONLY ONE LEFT, HORRORS. I adore flat caps, but for whatever reason a lot of them do not fit me properly, and this one did. My father used to wear these all the time, and I've been rather cross that I could never find girl ones in the nifty patterns his came in -- no more!) Trousers: Ross Dress For Less.

Cameo bracelet, below: Walmart, from back when I occasionally found wearable jewellery there -- three years ago? Four? One of the bits fell out and it's sat in my jewellery box for several years until I suddenly remembered a) it and b) the existence of super glue and fixed it.

holidaying in the woods

2010-10-21T21:08:00.001-04:00

This last weekend Dad took leave of work, we packed up the car, and drove far far away (well, three hours) to have a little autumnal oasis of a holiday in the woods. I read four books in two days, collected several hundred acorn caps, went hiking in a dress, sang old ballads around the campfire, and made tea every day.

Also I became a wizard.

Current favourite boots, my already-beloved winter coat, favourite autumn dress -- yes, all thrifted. (Someday I will get decent outfit pictures of this dress. I have worn it about ten times already, it is my very favourite thing for this autumn, and yet it resists being blogged!)

I actually made an effort to get an outfit picture on Tuesday. Still all thrifty goodness! Except for my belt, from Rue 21, which is so useful and lovely that I have three in different colours. (I missed snatching up a white one, boo.) And I spent a lovely evening drinking Earl Grey and reading The Last Unicorn perched on a flat rock amidst autumnal bracken.

(I have a backlog of outfit posts, all edited and ready to be posted, thanks to my procrastination and not managing to post before running away on holiday, so expect those soon!)

bright bright bright

2010-10-11T22:44:00.001-04:00

October does not always mean that I flitter about, dark and fey. Crisp weather and copious amounts of tea occasionally call for brighter colours.

I've usually styled this little dress more elegantly, with lace blouses and lace stockings and mary janes, but I was looking for something-not-pants to wear a new blouse with and decided to stretch my self-created rules a bit. Then I found some extremely cosy stockings my mother found for me last year, hooray! (I've wanted cheerful, colourful, absurd stripey stockings since I was little, but by the time I was old enough to even afford them, I couldn't find any that weren't in children's sizes, especially in the days of yore before I had a debit card and could order things off the internet without a go-between. Fie!)

dress, stockings, boots, blouse, beret: Goodwill.

bat and owl necklaces: Kyra, Hot Topic and Forever 21, respectively.

wild wind, take me home to the mists of down below

2010-10-07T21:13:00.000-04:00

My acre-wide goth streak isn't exactly buried: but it is especially prevalent in October. It is windy and fey and dead leaves skitter eerily across the road! It is high time I pretended to be a gothic heroine!

Yes, it's another case of having stored away a summer-bought dress till cooler weather permitted the wearing of it: I have always wanted an old-fashioned black dress with a white Peter Pan collar, and Goodwill discount racks always have what you are looking for: you know, eventually. (Sometimes it takes a few years, but hey! Surprises are fun!)

I have been having difficulty not wearing my little bat necklace every day this month. Kyra got it for me at Hot Topic, and my new hobby is wearing it with otherwise very non-gothy things and seeing if it suits (and it often does). Today it was just right and nestled neatly under my collar like a brooch. And yes, I have removed my spectacles for Exciting Eyeliner Action! (Of course when I am stuck wearing my glasses for a month is the time to finally buy and try out liquid eyeliner. The application is going to require more practise, but I am liking what I can do.)

I wanted to wear my black button earrings, actually, but could only find one; and anyway I just snatched up a set of multiple earrings from a Rue 21 clearance rack, including these pretty, elegant little crosses.

I try never to be without striped stockings of some kind: these are thigh-highs, as they were about a dollar at Rue 21 and my trusty old black and white stockings are/were in tatters. The problem is that these keep rolling themselves down. Ah well. And my beloved granny boots, thrifted by my beloveder Kyra.

And while I've shown off my little skull-and-crossbones owl (Rue 21) before, I quite liked how this picture turned out, and I quite like the lace on these sleeves.

hello, october

2010-10-03T23:27:00.001-04:00

Ah, month of all months! Scarves and stockings and sweaters, huzzah! On Friday I wore my favourite weird thrift-store dress to properly celebrate the onset of my favourite month, and traipsed about in the graveyard for an hour or two looking for a ghoul gate.

Perhaps a little awkwardly this meant that I was dressed like, well, a fantasy novel escapee, when I went to the local coffeehouse's Friday night open-house. Next week I will try to just dress like an indie kid; I feel as though I am alienating people sometimes.

I do adore this dress with all of my being. It's handmade, so I have no idea where it came from or how it ended up at our Goodwill.

Saturday saw me dressed rather more approachably in my Good Housekeeping t-shirt and cosy elephant thermal. I wish I'd gotten better photographs, but I was so held up by various shenanigans that I couldn't get a photograph till the sun was setting. (All thrifted: except I think Anna sent me the stockings.)

On Saturday I bought a seriously delightful necklace, and hence spent the entire fifteen minutes between waking and having to leave for church attempting to put together an outfit to go with it. Somehow I managed: and made my bed and applied makeup and sustained no injuries in the process. A new record! Anyway I'm incredibly thrilled with the finished product: it is perfectly autumnal. And I do love to use my Little White Dress as a pallate. (All thrifted save bow and jewellery and gloves.

THE NECKLACE. I paid full price for this, which I rarely do, but I knew it wasn't going to last till clearance, and there were only a few left. I was lost when I saw the little button-eyed owl, to be honest. But I love clustered, multi-textured necklaces a lot anyway, and this is just so fantastic I want to cuddle it. (I also have profound weaknesses for buttons and locks.)

Both gloves and ring are from Rue 21; the gloves from last winter and the ring from a clearance bin on Saturday.

And finally: new hair! I basically dyed it the same shade my more vibrant red had faded to, which is nice and pumpkiny, but now free of awkward grown-out roots! And my marvellous friend Anna sent me a package full of hair dye products she couldn't use, including the exact shade of midnight blue I have wanted to try. The effect is definitely one of my favourite hair dye results.

Goodnight, lovely readers.

walmart finery

2010-09-26T16:03:00.001-04:00

One of the main tenets I've learned for quirky fashion on a budget is that you can find great things anywhere. Don't turn your nose up, and don't pass on something inexpensive that you like just because of where it comes from (unless you have a moral obligation against it -- I will never shop at Abercrombie and Fitch or wear anything that displays their logo because of the disgusting racist and ableist ways they've treated their employees, aside from all of the other offensive stuff they've done over the years; if your convictions keep you from buying things made under certain conditions, by certain companies, or from certain materials, go for it!).

I don't buy a lot of things from Walmart -- mostly underwear, winter socks, and a stock of basic stockings -- but sometimes I find rather lovely bits. I will even admit to buying some of the Miley Cyrus-branded t-shirts, because, come on! A heart-shaped British flag wearing a top hat? What's not to love? (Anyway her name's only on the tag. On the inside.) Also, Walmart has great sales -- which is quite possibly my main tenet of shopping: KNOW YOUR SALES. It might take a little bit of time, but it is completely worth it. Figure out which stores have good clearance racks, how well you can expect the things you want to end up on them (Rue 21: almost everything gets there within a few months; Claire's, it's mostly just things from specific collections that you can predict), and how long you might have to wait -- and then it comes down to intuition. Do I buy this now, or wait? Knowing the store helps a little with that. Me, I tend to fit the extra-larges in the younger-oriented stores, like Rue 21 -- and the extra-large sizes tend to be the last things to go. So usually I can wait out Rue 21's sales, and the thing I want will go down to as little as three dollars. Or one.

The basis of today's outfit -- the jaunty little dress -- I snatched up for a dollar at Walmart. I'd been watching it for a while, passed it up for five dollars last week because I was there for something else -- and voila! fate!

I have a profound weakness for stripes. My mother told me I looked like a pirate (which was better than the time she said I looked like a mystic she'd seen on the streets of Lahore, Pakistan, so), but that was sort of the idea. The military jacket was $7 at Rue 21 and is very cosy.

Now, our local Walmart is in the process of moving into a new Super Walmart building in the next month, so they haven't been getting in much new stock. So when my best friend Kyra (whom fate has decreed to live in ALASKA for some reason) told me Walmart was selling Keep Calm And Carry On t-shirts, I was first delighted, and then irritated -- but she told me she'd get me one and send it. The package arrived Saturday morning, and true to form (because Kyra is awesome), it contained a few extras.


The peacock feather is a pen. You can also see one half of a Converse-themed friendship necklace, thereby fufilling one of my abandoned adolescent daydreams. ^-^

I wore my teapot necklace with this, as it seemed suitably British -- and added turquoise stockings to alleviate the effect of all the black. Everything but the shirt and jacket are thrifted.

And now to dye my hair and return to you a new woman.

almost autumn

2010-09-20T19:26:00.001-04:00

I said I wasn't going to take outfit pictures today. I lied. >.> I even wore a t-shirt and jeans, but ended up liking the effect too much. Curses! In my defense, the shirt is really, really lovely -- Mum found it on one of her sell-stuff-on-eBay Goodwill runs last year and knew I would love it.

I was feeling rubbish this morning and just sort of lurched towards my jeans and started digging in my drawer for the softest t-shirt I could find and ended up unearthing this one, which it pains me to realise I'd forgotten. My mother is awesome and knows what I like.

That's right, it is covered in apples! ♥ I should really iron down the appliqués at some point; I use the iron so rarely (I KNOW SHUT UP) that I sometimes forget it exists and can help me. I love quirky t-shirts -- they're simple, but add a lot to my usual black jeans (Ross Dress For Less).

The beautiful little shawl I am wearing was knitted for me by my extraordinary friend Anna.

I am inordinately fond of my orange button earrings.

what i wore this week, part two

2010-09-19T21:56:00.000-04:00

-- You know, I was so backed up that I wasn't even going to photograph today's outfit, but then I liked it too much. We'll get to that in a minute!

All of this is thrifted. \o/

Thursday! Tromping about in the rain on errands with Mum and sisters. It was a bit chilly, so I finally got to wear my favourite dress from last winter, which I fell in love with for the crimson colour, the lovely buttons, and the long sleeves. So cosy! And the fact that it's a bit too short just gives me ample opportunity to dress it up with various skirts and things underneath.

The cape I am wearing for the first time -- another summer purchase tucked away (Mum found it for me!). I love capes -- I have several, and tend to wear them around the house half the winter -- because otherwise I run around swaddled in a quilt, and that not only looks awful, but it's very awkward as I can't use my hands.

Somehow I did not get a picture of what I wore to the coffee shop on Friday, which is appalling as it is one of my favourite ensembles in recent times -- very witchy and autumnal, but more in a Shirley Jackson sense than a strictly goth one. Never fear, I shall wear it again before long. And now we come to yesterday!

Goodwill had a sixty percent off sale on Saturday -- yeah, I know. Anyway I FOUND TROUSERS. This is always a source of great joy and astonishment, because there are times when a girl needs to have trousers, and I so rarely find any that fit me and that I like. (None of my jeans are secondhand. I probably pay more for jeans than anything else that isn't really special and exciting, because it's so hard to find anything that works.) Anyway, they have buttons and things! I am in love! And if only I were Paul Revere for Halloween this year instead of the year I was ten! Uh, I mean.

The one element of the outfit that wasn't thrifted. Claire's had an Alice in Wonderland collection to coincide with the Tim Burton film, and this necklace, oh heavens. It is a TEAPOT and a little TEACUP AND SAUCER; what could be lovelier? I have had my eye on it for eight months waiting for it to go on clearance, and it finally did this week.

Trousers! Also favourite flats, though I keep having to hot-glue the medallion back onto the left one.

I love when I hastily combine a bunch of things I've never worn together on a Sunday morning, when I am in a sleepy haze trying to get to church without injuring myself, and end up loving the result. (Mostly because thisis rare. For one thing, I do not often experiment on Sunday mornings.) All of this but the turtleneck and necklace have been in my closet for a while -- I think I got the stockings for forty-nine cents on heavy clearance at Ross. It's all very cosy and cheerful and I didn't even stab myself in the eye with my mascara.

The necklace was half-off at Rue 21: and yeah, I love it.

And with that, I end my week. (On a Sunday -- in my end is my beginning?), and seeing that my back is now quite stiff from all of this typing I will refuse to let myself wear anything new and exciting tomorrow! Uh, maybe.

what i wore this week, part one

2010-09-18T19:45:00.000-04:00

Soooo... whoops. I seem to have a backlog of Things To Post at the moment. My brain's been a bit of an unpleasant (and messy, very in need to airing) place for a while, and I keep taking pictures and forgetting to edit and post them. Here are a few selections from the last week or so.

This lovely grey number is quite possibly my favourite dress -- I snagged it for five dollars at Ross Dress For Less last winter, and it is not only lovely, simple, and flattering, but extremely soft and comfortable. It tends to be a go-to dress for sick days or sad days or travelling on account of its cosiness -- and, another benefit: it is extremely versatile. It's a short-sleeved, lightly shaped handkerchief-hem dress that pulls over the head -- I've worn it with jackets (like this striped bolero), camisoles, floral thermals or lace blouses underneath; with boots and flats and various belts and petticoats. Also: it is fantastic for dancing.

Beloved Turkish pashmina scarf and skeleton key from the house -- I've always wanted to wear these keys but they never seemed to suit the ribbons I usually string things on. This little cord is perfect.

What I wore to go traipsing about town on Tuesday. I'll admit the weather was a little warmer than the sweater suggests, but, uh. I am stubborn? It varied, anyway -- I was bicycling and got chilly sometimes. The skirt is from the Goodwill warehouse sale earlier in the summer; it's so old-fashioned and storybook, I can't help but adore it. (It's also quite good for layering under solid-coloured dresses or skirts that are a bit too short or sheer.)

BOOTS. Okay, I am beyond thrilled with these boots and wore them almost every day for a week. They are flat, and really comfortable and just the sort of old-fashioned lost-in-the-woods boot I have been wanting for years -- and probably the closest I will get to my long-dreamed-of knee-high brown Legolas boots for a long while yet. They look perfect with dresses and did I mention comfortable?

Claire's gloves (finally wearing them lots -- bought them with birthday money in the summertime as there was only one pair left), pretty kitschy little ring I snatched up for a quarter at a yard sale.

First pair of actual proper shorts I have owned since, um. I do not remember. Early adolescence? I was convinced for years that I had dreadful legs (which I probably did, then -- it was only after I started exercising regularly that my legs acquired muscle tone and an actual consistent shape), and then I don't like most shorts anyway. I still want a high-waisted pair with lots of buttons, but these were three dollars, and they fit, are comfortable, are not too tight in the thighs, and lace up the front (over a zipper for convenience), which gives them the dash of unconventionality that I crave.

The t-shirt. It is my very favourite t-shirt of all the t-shirts that ever were. Um. Probably. I've racked up a decent collection of quirky and pretty t-shirts, but this one -- my love for it knows no bounds. It is Threadless' Vampires Beware shirt -- various folkloric methods of revealing and killing vampires. As my novel-in-progress is a vampire historical fantasy and I've researched this stuff inside-out (...sometimes for fun. folklore is my thing), this is extra awesome.

More tomorrow! Let this be a reminder to me: NEVER GET BACKED UP.

being an intrepid heroine in expensive sweaters

2010-09-09T18:10:00.001-04:00

More spoils of the Goodwill sale! I am always in need of sweaters, as I get terrifically cold during the winter and tend to huddle into layers of clothing and blankets and cats -- and in desperation over the last five years have accrued a lot that don't fit right or some such, so finding new ones to replace them (sweaters take up too much room anyway!) is always excellent. And the weather these last two days has been perfect: just cool enough to wear a sweater, but the sun was out and warm all day yesterday.

Sweater number one is from Saks 5th Avenue. Ah, thrifting, you are so good to me. I love the bit of puff to the sleeves. And with my wool Banana Republic skirt (which turned up in Goodwill brand new with a $99 price tag -- we bought it for $4), I felt incredibly posh. If only my underwear wasn't from Walmart.

I found a Bartholomew! My gloves (Claire's) don't really go, I don't think, but my hands were chilly. The stockings were one of my DIY projects this week -- cutting up ill-fitting stockings to make thigh-highs or knee socks. I think I am going to have to get myself some garters, though.

I adore these shoes (thrifted), though I wish they were a bit more comfortable: the balance is a little odd. I want some flat brogues terribly, but haven't found any yet -- not even any on eBay, not in my size (9-- which makes it harder) at a good price. I wear these less than I'd like as they feel really weird to wear around the house: they're very noisy, and as I said a bit teetery.

Today it's been a bit chillier and rather less sunny, and I am cosy in sweater number two, which is one of the snuggliest ones I've ever had. Quality tells, I suppose -- this one is J. Crew, whose sweaters and cardigans I would terribly love to browse with no thought of expense; Emily Martin always has such fantastic ones.

For NaNoWriMo this year, I am writing a WWII-era gothic fantasy YA (Britain, woods, lots of tramping about in boots and coats), and plan to spend much of November dressed essentially like this -- all mossy, earthy, rich colours, with boots and sweaters and tweeds and stockings and scarves. Really, planning my story is what led to this outfit; I will likely be paging through pictures of film costumes for further inspiration in the future.

The skirt was another successful DIY fix-it project, hooray! (I have a bad track record with these things, though really, trying to sew new buttons onto a heavy wool tweed coat with no prior experience will end badly.) The skirt is slightly too large -- it fits, but it hangs wrong; the waist fell down lower than it was meant. But for one reason or another, a basic black skirt is next to impossible to find, so as it mostly fit I snatched it up, brought it home, and stitched in a fold at the top. Unlike my safety-pin improvisations (I am all about class, guys), it has not yet popped open and sent my skirt tumbling down my hips. The stitches are pretty ugly, but you can't really see them anyway.

Awesome stockings were in my birthday package from Kyra, and I wore them for my birthday and then NEVER AGAIN because summer is EVIL. (Okay, okay, I like summer. But I go mad not being able to wear stockings.) Boots are from Land's End! (Thrifted, of course.)

This scarf has been a staple of my cold-weather wardrobe for the last four years. I am convinced that it once belonged to Sirius Black. How it got into a Goodwill in Northwestern Pennsylvania is anyone's guess. HE LOST IT OKAY. The ribbon's from the scrap ribbon box my mother keeps. The earrings -- BUTTONS!! *-* -- uh, that was my reaction when I first saw them; Claire's had a fantastic autumn collection two years ago that included a lot of button jewellery, including these earrings. The key is one of several skeleton keys that goes to this house. For some reason most of them have ended up in my bedroom...

Hey look, I found another kitty! This is my baby Willow, and she wants to kill me. (She's really very affectionate, but she'll be damned if she's going to let a human dictate what she does.)

another dress in waiting

2010-09-08T12:58:00.001-04:00

On Monday, our area Goodwills had a 50% off sale. Yes. Our Goodwills have sales. This fashion blog largely brought to you by the Ridiculously Fantastic Goodwills Of Northwestern Pennsylvania. Anyway, I snatched up a dress that my thirteen-year-old self would have craved heartily, in those heady days of Tolkien first love, and while I quite like it -- especially the buttons -- I feel I can't really wear it as is without it coming off as sort of a weird costume -- the nineties trying mediaeval, or something. I'm no seamstress, but I can sew a little, so suggestions on how to edit or wear this would be welcome! It fits quite nicely, and there's a cross-laced tie-back in the back that shapes it for my figure, but otherwise it's just -- there. And the buttons make my usual interest-adding method of belts and waistcoats awkward.

september feels like september at last

2010-09-05T19:52:00.003-04:00

These last two days have been chill, grey, and windy -- my favourite weather! Taking scaldingly refreshing showers and snuggling under the covers at night and downing copious amounts of glorious Earl Grey: perfect. Also, it is time to break out the cardigans. BEWARE. I am a bit mad when it comes to cardigans.

We had a small barbecue at church, and I still smell of woodsmoke.

I acquired this lovely vintage cardigan -- possibly with real fur, and the pearl-esque buttons are very nice -- at Goodwill some months ago, and it has been languishing in my closet ever since, waiting for cooler weather. It is very 1950s and dear.

Another favourite shirt, largely due to the odd neckline.

And here is my winter coat, at long last. When you buy most of your clothes at thrift shops it is sometimes required to be far too patient. I have Made Do the last several years with long coats -- which are splendid, but not always practical for every day, or bicycling, or those times when you are awkwardly aware that you look more formal than everyone else all the time -- or unsatisfactory short coats, and while I have a couple of beautiful dress coats (including my Russian fairy princess coat which I shall show off later) laid by, I haven't had anything easy and casual that I liked in years. This is only a very basic classic pea coat, but it is all wool and perfect. Also I bought it for, I think, five dollars.

I could probably mention every day how much I love my gloves.

cardigan, blouse, skirt, coat, scarf // thrifted
bow, key necklace // Claire's
tights // Anna
boots // Kyra
owl earrings (<3!) // my mother (she knows me too well)
fingerless gloves, rings // Rue 21

it's the sound of wild electricity

2010-09-03T16:34:00.001-04:00

Technically, it is September at last. The weather does not think so: it persists in being, not hot, not sunny, but heavy and humid. A thunderstorm has been brewing, but it has yet to open the sky over my town, though Sarah in Pittsburgh reports Epic Rain.

I am trying my best to dress Septemberishly without succumbing to heatstroke and/or drowning in my own sweat. Ergo today's outfit.

The ring is one I had my eye on for a very long time, and lo! it turned up in a clearance bin; I am so pleased. (I have a severe weakness for skeleton keys, as one may well guess.)

dress, blouse // thrifted
cameo necklace // Blue Moon Beads pendant on re-appropriated chain
shoes // Kyra
ring, headband // Rue 21
earrings // Claire's

comfortable favourites

2010-08-30T17:55:00.000-04:00

Alas, I am having no end of trouble with getting new contacts: my eye appointment isn't for nearly two months. I am Not Pleased. It means you'll be seeing a lot more of my spectacles, which I wouldn't mind so much if they weren't slightly crooked and always sliding down my nose or tilting sideways and giving me brow-furrowing headaches. Also it is about to be Autumn: and how am I supposed to float about in black lace gothic novel heroine outfits with horn-rimmed spectacles on?! I am hoping that something miraculous can be worked out sooner than expected.

But anyway: today it is not remotely autumnal -- in fact a bit humid -- and I am keeping comfortable in cosy favourites. The shirt I will forever think of as my Willow Rosenberg shirt; I grabbed it immediately because it reminded me so much of things Willow wears on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, especially around season four. Plus it is pretty, quirky, and soft, and I love the pointed hem. The skirt was a clearance-rack snag a month or so ago, as I'd been looking everywhere for a simple, pretty, solid-coloured short skirt I could wear with t-shirts and things.

Awesome owl earrings are awesome, yes. I'm not usually drawn to gigantic earrings, but: they are owls! And they were a dollar (!!!), and are not very heavy, and make a pleasing soft jingling when I move my head, like personal windchimes.

And my boots! They are L.L. Bean, and very sturdy and comfortable as well as being appealing in a sort of 20th-century British novel heroine way. Also waterproof, which is important, as the last time I was confronted by copious rain and mud, I walked about in high-heeled goth boots, having nothing better.

shirt, boots // thrifted
earrings // Rue21
necklace // Kyra
skirt // Bonton

three for the price of one

2010-08-29T18:36:00.001-04:00

Lounging on the bed this very afternoon.

Being sick, oddly enough, causes me to shamble about in absolutely nothing photo-worthy. It also makes me want to kill people to alleviate the boredom. But anyway. I am all better now, and here is something of a spam to make up for the long stretch of no posting.

An old favourite skirt (especially for the advent of autumn; I have happy memories of traipsing all over the place clad in it and granny boots the last few years), pretty new shoes: soft and simple. Later I wrapped my pashmina scarf over my head and pulled on a grey wool puffed-sleeve blazer when I had to run errands in the rain, but alas! no pictures.

I was starting to feel rather icky by the time I took this, so ignore, uh, my face? I wore my wool blazer again and somehow managed to still miss getting photographic evidence of it -- I bought it at the Goodwill warehouse sale and have been waiting half the summer to be able to wear it. The blouse is an old favourite (thrifted, of course) that fell behind the drawer and got lost for months, only recently surfacing.

I really, really love these gloves (from Rue21 last year), and have been missing them all summer. I also really enjoy wearing my skull-and-crossbones ring with otherwise sophisticated or very feminine outfits.

The new shoes! Walmart clearance rack. I know, they are not very good quality, but they are quite comfortable (and were VERY CHEAP), and the combination of purple and the little gold buttons holding down wee flags of material made for an item irresistible to a bargain-sniffing me.

The other thing I did pretty much the day before I got really sick was dye my hair. Though I used the same shade I've been using, it turned out a great deal vivider than I had intended; fortunately I quite like it. (Though I would love to find a shade similar but more candy apple than tomato.)

dreaming of september

2010-08-18T22:59:00.000-04:00

It always seems to come halfway through August: the autumn-longing. Autumn is My Time: we belong to each other. My blood gets a sort of quickening, and I begin wearing sweaters before it is even very cold.

I think it must be because of certain aspects of summer ending -- people going off to school, mainly, and the occasional almost-cold breeze -- that my anticipation of autumn has been very strong to-day. Also I have been reading a lot of magicky fantasy novels (well, I am always doing that). So I am as witchy and autumny in dress as the weather will permit. Also I went roller-skating with my sister and a lot of her friends (earbuds firmly in ears to a) fend off the GIGGLING PRETEENS HELP and b) to fend off the horrible pop music they always play with Benny Goodman and Florence + the Machine and Amanda Palmer and Patrick Wolf and things), which is why I wore stockings at all.

This is a slight variation on an old favourite outfit -- I have had the dress and blouse for ages, though before I got my Very Useful Belts I had a sort of underbust waistcoat I would wear with it, as the dress bunches a little in the waist and needs to be cinched.

dress, blouse, boots // thrifted
stockings // Walmart (where I generally buy my basic black, cream, and grey stockings; these are a bit holey, which is why I took them skating)
belt // Rue21

bow, ring // Claire's (a dollar, huzzah!)

you put me in the magic position, darling

2010-08-17T18:35:00.002-04:00

Have been a bit busy, making merry and giving summer its last proper hurrah, before my dear friend Sarah goes off to college and the weather turns wicked (and wonderful: autumn is my favourite). We had an evening picnic, star-watched and cloud-watched, shared good conversation and utter silliness, and spent Monday at Kennywood, being giddily childish in the way only an amusement park can make one.

The last time I went to an amusement park, I did in fact wear a skirt, but I actually found a pair of walking shorts at the bottom of my closet, which I believe my mother thrifted for me during a chillier season and I had since forgotten. I am still hoping to find a pair of proper shorts, ones which a) fit, b) actually cover enough of my body, and c) are quirky enough to suit me -- a simple pair of denim cut-offs isn't going to appeal to me any more than ordinary blue jeans. (I really want something high-waisted with buttons, but thus far NO LUCK.)

I am, however, extremely pleased with my Alice in Wonderland t-shirt.

shirt // Claire's (on clearance for $5: patience wins out!)
trousers, shoes, suspenders // thrifted
cameo ring // Rue 21
necklace // thrifted from Value Village in Anchorage
bag // thrifted ages ago; a stand-in until I get a proper one with pockets and things.

I did actually order The New Satchel from Forever21, and it arrived this morning, but alas! -- the zipper is defective, so I must send it back to be exchanged. Sob. Sob. I want pockets!

festival finery

2010-08-10T02:08:00.000-04:00

I have returned from my merry weekend in Dublin, Ohio, wherein I waltzed most of my troubles away (although actually my dancing tends towards a weird combination of Irish step dancing, tap, and interpretive dance, with a little clubbing style thrown in for the heck of it... and as of yet I have not managed to succeed at waltzing). Festivals are one of the few times in my current life where I get to dress to be seen -- which I suppose makes me look a bit awkward amongst half the people who come garbed in anything that will keep the heat away, but I don't look overly amiss, either, which is nice after sticking out so much at home.

Because I am Very Stubborn, I managed to get outfit pictures just for you lot, too!

DAY ONE: I am gothy. Dad, bless him, does not look at me funny even once. We have extremely spicy kung pao chicken for dinner and lovely lovely lovely plum wine, and then head off to the festival after setting up camp. I dance to a punk-ish band and impress a lot of young people, one of whom bows to me. Clearly my empire is underway.

(yes, this is me almost asleep in the car -- though not quite as I am TAKING PICTURES OF MY HEAD.)

Hogwarts shirt (!!!!!!!!!) // Kyra/Hot Topic
tulle skirt // thrifted, originally from Target (WHY DON'T WE HAAAVE ONE)
bodice and hat and shoes // thrifted
stripey thigh-highs // Rue 21 clearance rack
lovely little hair bits I've been trying to incorporate FOREVER // Kyra

I also wore my long black lace gloves much of the time after we arrived at the festival.

DAY TWO: I do a lot of dancing & buy a few shinies and eat fish and chips and watch my favourite band since I was eleven tear up the stage with their sheer force of awesome. (Solas is especially great for me because they keep releasing albums, and so while some songs reach back to my pre-teen memories, others are heavy with the field I used to wander in our old house in the woods, or sitting in a car with my family and Kyra, or dancing out by the water at the city park.) Things happen involving cellos and me going utterly slack with sheer enjoyment. Also I get so caught up in a book that I read during some sets until I am finished.

dress // Ross Dress For Less, five dollars from a clearance rack
bodice // thrifted
parasol // Ebay, about seven dollars (it's fake silk & real bamboo)
scarf and peacock feathers // Kyra
shoes // thrifted

See, this is the sort of outfit I can mostly only wear to a music festival. The embroidered scarf, definitely. My parents gave it to me for my birthday, having bought it from a vendor at Merlefest in North Carolina who was selling beautiful handmade items from some South Asian and African countries. My parents are fantastic, yes! The little coins jingle against each other and it is made for dancing, but mostly I hang it over my bed because it is too lovely to fold up in a drawer when not in use.

And the scarf Kyra had her sister fetch me in Turkey, when she was on a school-sponsored trip. It's pashmina -- I was admiring a similar one in a sort of hippie boutique but it was some terrifying price and Kyra went, hey, I saw those in Turkey for seven dollars; I shall get you one when my sister goes. I love it terribly.

The parasol I definitely did buy for music festivals -- I bought it right before Stanfest in Nova Scotia last year, which was THE WORST IDEA EVER; clearly the weather gods were in hysterics over me and my naiveté, as it was cold and rainy and muddy all weekend, being NOVA SCOTIA and all. I took it to Merlefest in April, though, where it served with honour and kept the sun (hisssss the yellow face we hates it precious) off me and my stubbornly cultivated semi-pallor.

DAY THREE: We attend the end of a U2-inspired church service. I watch my favourite band again and fall further in love with their accordion player and his beautiful singing voice. Two different bands have us sing "Wild Mountain Thyme" with them, which nearly makes me cry, as it is one of those old songs that reaches deep into my heart and forgotten corners of my childhood. We wander about a tenth-century Irish village; I pet a dead bear and blow a horn rather like the Horn of Gondor (& now I want one). Dad buys antique sheet music for his mother and his wife (...my mother; I mean, just so we're clear). Songs about the Troubles break my heart; songs about folklore send it somewhere fey and fiery.

dress and blouse and leather loafers // thrifted
belt // Rue21
you can't see my pretty key necklace and cameo -- alas!
flower circlet // bought at the festival: I couldn't resist!

In conclusion: I did not wear a single pair of impractical shoes this week. Go me! And now to bed; I am terrifyingly sleepy.

i try to be casual

2010-08-05T20:58:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow I am running away to the Dublin Irish Festival in Ohio (there's a Dublin there, okay), where I shall see several of my favourite bands and waltz about in pretty dresses and hide from the sun under my parasol (yes I have one and yes I bought it for this express purpose!) and try very hard not to bring any high-heeled boots. (I've done this before. I always regret it, and always end up packing another pair. When will I learn?) Today, then, was a day for rushing about and errands and planning (some of said planning rather terrifying), and I was anticipating having to bicycle, hence the TROUSERS, but Dad was going to the same places, so I didn't after all. Anyway.

You can also see, sort of, that I've put a great black streak in my hair, to satisfy my immense need to have punk hair at folk music festivals. I'd have taken clearer pictures, but the sun was setting, alack.

trousers, shirts, and shoes // thrifted (all recently but the yellow blouse)
owl earrings // Rue 21 (on clearance for a dollar!)
ampersand necklace and hair bow // Kyra

at least i like my clothes

2010-08-04T20:10:00.000-04:00

Today was Not A Good Day, so I am rather glad that I dressed well this morning to fortify myself for unpleasantness to come. One nice thing, however, is that I had my first go at tea-dyeing today: Kyra sent me some gorgeous white lace gloves for my birthday in June, but I prefer off-white to white, and they were clashing with my favourite little white dress, so I steeped them for a while and now they are perfect.

The dress is something you are sure to see more of here: it is incredibly versatile and I love it so. A little white dress is even more useful and necessary than the traditional little black one, I think.

As it is raining something glorious (thank you, lovely storm), I was forced to take my pictures inside; do forgive the excess blur.

dress // Goodwill, several years ago
beaded shrug // thrifted yesterday; originally from Rue 21

stockings // Ross Dress For Less
boots /// Goodwill
beaded necklace // Goodwill
cameo necklace // pendant from Michael's (Blue Moon Beads, I believe); chain borrowed from another necklace
earrings // Kyra

a dress in waiting

2010-08-02T23:06:00.000-04:00

Hello, I hope you haven't forgotten me; I promise I haven't forgotten you! Only I just got a job (after searching for a year!), and have therefore been rather busy... jobbing. And while I used to have fun dressing for work at my last job, this job requires me to wear an oversized t-shirt proclaiming that YOU CAN'T BEAT OUR MEAT, and a baseball cap with a similar motto. (I am also irritated that the cap and shirt do not actually match.) Also trousers. EVERY DAY. My first day of work I came home and rebelliously threw on a favourite dress, but the next day I was too tired to do anything but replace my dreadful work t-shirt (at least it's a pleasing burgundy?) with a prettier one. I have been wearing sensible, faultless, yet awesome stompy boots every day, so that's something. I have also taken to wearing a great deal more eyeliner than I do on a typical day (especially when it isn't autumn; my gothic streak expands ridiculously come the first sign of crisp winds), as it is one of the few ways I can present myself as an ~individual. It isn't about feeling pretty so much as it is about feeling like myself; I need to have talismans of appearance about me.

Anyway my fashion sense has been sort of flatlined this last week, though I shall soon have ACTUAL PROPER MONEY which is very exciting (first on the list of essential purchases: some books, some underwear, and a replacement for my trusty satchel, which is currently held together by duct tape, safety pins, and hope).

I bought a lovely dress at Goodwill last week: one of those dresses that you start out laughing at because it's so typical of its era or so outrageous in its quirkiness, and then you realise that you are actually madly in love with it.

(I swear it isn't just because it very much resembles the dress Veronica Mars wears to the 80's themed dance in season one. I SWEAR. Also I lie.)

I tried it on, and it looks brilliant, really; it fits me exactly, and as I happened to be wearing black stockings and granny boots at the time I cut a very fine figure. But one of the many, many downsides to living in a dull small town in the middle of nowhere in particular is that I have no idea when I shall get to wear it -- outside of photo shoots and waltzes in front of my bedroom mirror. (Perhaps I should put it on & prowl the graveyard!) I have several formal or at least Very Nice dresses hanging in my closet which I have barely worn because I haven't anywhere to wear them to, so I end up over-dressing to attend plays at the community theatre, or, well... that's really the most elegant-dress event I can think of, really. I want to go to operas and plays and ridiculous costume parties! But instead I hang dresses on the corners of doors and daydream.

And on the subject of daydreaming, I have been wistfully pretending that the profusion of wildflowers on my desk are from a secret admirer -- or perhaps a not-so-very-secret one -- instead of something friends were selling at the local farmer's market and gave to my mother (and thus, there being far too many to fit in one vase, she in turn gave half of them to me).

saucy sailor

2010-07-28T21:08:00.000-04:00

(Yes, of course that's a Steeleye Span reference.)

Yesterday I finally attained a long-held clothing dream: double-buttoned* wide-legged sailor trousers! And for three dollars, too; not bad at all. Rue 21 has really excellent clearance racks, especially if you go every couple of weeks to canvas the shop and to keep an eye on certain items you want to buy when they get cheaper -- because they can get pretty cheap. It's also really nice if you're me-shaped, because I run from medium to extra large (depending on the style and item), and the larges and extra-larges tend to be what gets left for the clearance racks more often than not. Thank you, copious bosoms; you are good for something I suppose.

* Can you call it double-breasted when it isn't breasted?

I also snagged this owl ring, which isn't my ideal -- it's rather big for my tastes, but happily it's also quietly silver and not too ostentatious despite its size. I'd like to get up a decent collection of quirky rings, but they are difficult to find (in a small town with limited shopping opportunities) and the good ones always seem to get bought up before the clearances, leaving me with ugly large-cut plastic jewels, very boring flowers, or rings made entirely out of plastic in a vulgar colour. But: owl! Owls have been my bird since I was a tiny be-spectacled lassie poring over books about birds of prey.

shirt // Goodwill

vest, trousers, and ring // Rue 21

shoes // Goodwill

necklace // Kyra (Forever 21?)

Now if you'll excuse me I have to go watch Steven Moffat & Mark Gatiss' Sherlock again.. ^-^

i do actually own trousers: see?

2010-07-27T22:02:00.001-04:00

Today I ran off on a borrowed bicycle (my tire's flat and I can't find my kit) to see Inception, which was pretty splendid (I love you Christopher Nolan and your psychotic brain and your editing and scene cuts my lord), but awkward to dress for, because... I am used to going to films in costume. I KNOW. IT IS A THING I DO OKAY. And the amusing bit is that I never have to buy anything special; I've dressed for Sherlock Holmes and Alice in Wonderland and Half-Blood Prince and two Lord of the Rings marathons recently all out of my closet. Um. Anyway when it's a contemporary psychological thriller there really aren't any costumes, so that was sad. In retrospect I could have dressed like Joseph Gordon-Levitt if I could have located my tie but really where am I going to find shoes as gorgeous as his on such short notice?

Anyway, I just dressed normally, in a polished sort of way. Which for me is sort of like this.

blouse // Goodwill

bodice // Value Village in Alaska, from Kyra

jeans // Ross Dress For Less

boots // Goodwill (a recent purchase; I wore them for four days straight ^-^)

necklace // Goodwill

earrings // Kyraaa <3

i dress for my inner seven-year-old

2010-07-26T16:43:00.002-04:00

The week before last, the warehouse for our regional chain of Goodwills had a sale, so naturally Mum and I went. (It was a Saturday afternoon! I'd just had the worst week ever! WAREHOUSE SAAALE! We really love Goodwill, okay?) They didn't have nearly as much selection as we'd hoped -- they didn't actually open up the warehouse, just carted out stuff on racks -- but everything was ridiculously cheap, even for Goodwill, so I snatched up several gems (including a vintage silver-plate sugarbowl and creamer set, huzzah!). It was sort of fun trawling through racks (and long lines of furniture) outside, though, and there was a beautiful moment when a velvety great black and blue butterfly landed, quivering, on an old television set right beside me, close enough that I could see the orange glints on its wings before it flew away again. Another magnificent large butterfly went winging through the clutter when I was rummaging through the book boxes hopefully. Anyway, finds: this dress was one of them, fulfilling a dress dream I've harboured since early childhood, when I would pour over the American Girl catalogues and wish Samantha's Victorian era clothes could be mine. I hadn't worn it except to try it on, though, because the fabric's a bit heavy, and it's been so humid these last weeks that one could probably knit things out of the air. Fortunately we've had some nice thunderstorms bring us cooler weather, and I ended up wearing it out to another Goodwill trip. (My town is so dull and I have so few opportunities for any sort of event that I do sometimes overdress a bit so I actually have a chance to wear things.)

If I'd doubted the allure of this dress before, I recieved ample confirmation today: one middle-aged lady was in raptures over me (and told me I looked like Xena? what? which one of us is confused? is there a weird Xena episode in an alternate 1910s universe? or is she confusing names? I DON'T KNOW), and, much more heartwarmingly, a seven-year-old girl caught sight of me and whispered, awe-struck, to her mother, "That lady is so beautiful!" (My favourite, though, was when I wore a long tulle skirt to the mall and a small girl of similar age asked her mother in a whisper if I was a princess.)

I really do dress for my inner seven-year-old quite a lot of the time.

dress // Goodwill, $2

lace slip // Mongomery Ward, thrifted

boots // from Kyra

beret // Rue 21 clearance rack

bow // Claire's clearance rack

cameo bow necklace // birthday gift from Kyra

skeleton key necklace // the key is actually a re-appropriated Walmart keychain, with a long chain borrowed from another necklace

inspiration: tinytoadstool

2010-07-24T20:36:00.000-04:00

I am in love with this lovely lady's Flickr stream -- there are far too many bits and pieces in her outfits that are on my list of eventual must-have staples: floral stockings! petticoats! my dream boots!

I'd like to make a detachable fur collar like this sometime; it probably isn't too hard. also: yellow doc martins!

I do mean to get some soft ribbons for neckties and things soon.

these are my absolutely perfect dream boots. also love the layering of lace.

for some strange reason I really, really love bowties right now. bowties are cool. :D

again: MY DREAM BOOTS. WANT.

bat-girl?

2010-07-24T15:51:00.001-04:00

I feel I ought to warn you lot early on: I may appear to be a GunneSax-wearing lass of the moors on occasion, but I also have black ribbons tied around my heart. In short, my gothic streak is pretty wide. I mean, it's only fair to warn you. My wardrobe is sort of like my iPod on shuffle: two outfits next to each other sometimes make no sense at all -- it's all little white dresses and floral stockings one day, eyeliner and stompy boots the next, lady-of-the-vampire-manor in sweeping lace skirts and black bodices directly afterwards, and then I might just lie about in dark jeans and a quirky t-shirt the day after that, So, you know. If you fancy a nice regular style blog you may want to go elsewhere.

Anyway, this morning I got a BOX from KYRA, my best friend, who fate has decreed to live in Alaska, for some reason. Kyra packages are always the most magnificent things ever, especially when I think I know what's in them. She found these granny boots for me, so I knew she was sending those, as well as some records (I got a gorgeous turntable for my birthday, eee!). Amusingly, they turn out to be the exact same ones I just threw out last week for having been loved actually to death, except these are, um. Well, a size that actually fits me, so I suspect fate will be a lot kinder to them. (The old ones were 7 1/2s -- how on earth did I get my feet in those? I am a 9). I had those for years and wore them everywhere until the heels kind of... broke, and the zippers got full of mud in Canso, Nova Scotia, where we attended the Stan Rogers Folk Festival and nobody told us to bring wellies. Fortunately, me being me, I had packed three pairs of boots, though none of them properly waterproof and two of them high-heeled. They kept my feet drier than my sneakers, anyway: but the zippers of my too-small already-battered granny boots never did recover.

Anyway, not only did Kyra's package contain boots and records (Chopin! Suzanne Vega!), but also an assortment of lovely knick-knacks, and I was sorely disappointed that I could not actually wear all of them at the same time, but you will see them cropping up in future outfits no doubt.

And then I traipsed off to the library, where... nobody even gave me an odd look, because they are all used to me, apparently.

Drink Me shirt // JC Penney; gift from Kyra
vest // Rue 21
skirt // Bonton

striped thigh-highs // Rue 21

boots // Kyra <3

lace gloves // Claire's, and... I totally bought these at full price with birthday money but love them too much to regret it

button earrings // Claire's

bat necklace // Hot Topic; gift from Kyra

hair bows // Icing? Hot Topic? I forget which; they were in Kyra's birthday parcel

a hobbit dress

2010-07-23T21:06:00.000-04:00

I wore this dress several weeks ago (and then several times afterwards; definitely one of my favourite dress finds this year) -- I feel like Rosie Cotton in it. Absolutely want to bring this one to the next folk music festival I attend. It's light and comfortable and just flowy enough.

dress // Goodwill, probably about $5
lace blouse // Goodwill, ages ago -- $3?
belt // Rue 21, $4

earrings // Rue 21, $3

necklace // gift from best friend
bow // Claire's clearance rack, probably $1

boots // Plato's Closet in Anchorage, AK, $12

I probably won't price everything in every entry -- for one thing my memory for insignificant details is sieve-like (unless, of course, it is a detail I have no desire to remember and no use for whatsoever!), and for another it might get a bit awkward if I ever get a real proper job with, like, real money. But here it stands as proof that when I say budget fashion, by Jove I mean it! ^-^

greetings, salutations, et cetera

2010-07-23T17:40:00.001-04:00

Hello, internet, and welcome to my eccentric little corner of it. (Well, okay. If each little scrap of internet one maintains is a corner, my personal bit of internet is a polygon-shaped room.) Here, I intend to catalogue my strange assortment of outfits, and, I hope, offer useful tips on dressing on an extreme budget.

I may have expensive tastes (oh, for a ModCloth or Anthropologie shopping spree!), but my budget is strictly Goodwill, clearance racks, and occasionally eBay, and I'd like to demonstrate that it is possible to approximate the sorts of outfits one might admire without having to spend very much money at all (though often it is required to spend vast quantities of patience).

Also I just really enjoy clothes, and since I am always taking photographs of what I happen to be wearing, it's high time I actually set my mind to doing it properly.