winter brightness

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

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

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. 

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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

 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

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

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

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.