Sunday, September 28, 2014

Ode to Hats

I love wearing hats.  Hats can add so much to an outfit and they keep you warm when the temps start to drop.  If I'm a little chilly, I'll often times throw on a hat instead of another layer and that's all I need.  Hats can instantly make a bad hair day into a cute head day.  The facts are in.  Hats are great!
Even though I've always known that hats are great, it took me a really long time to feel comfortable wearing them.    
The downside to wearing hats is that they draw attention. Not a lot of women wear hats.  It's a novelty.  My husband loves hats and wears them all the time.  He doesn't get any extra attention for this because it's widely accepted for a dude to wear a baseball cap, driver's cap, or a fedora.  When a woman wears a hat other than a baseball cap it's suddenly seen as a statement and everyone has a comment to share.
Now, I could just wear baseball caps and quite my bitching, but that's just not my style.
I want to wear hats that are stylish and that make sense with the rest of my outfit.

I've spent several years coming up with an assortment of hats that I feel comfortable wearing in public.  This post is dedicated to some of those hats and how I work them into my everyday wardrobe.

Monday

 This is the first hat that I bought on my hat quest and I don't know what I would do without it.  It's incredibly versatile, fits perfectly, and is different without being obvious.  I know it's different because since I bought it, I have never seen another hat like this.  The weight, fabric and color are similar to a newsboy cap, but it doesn't have a bill, making it a beret.  I've never been terribly fond of newsboy caps on me.  For some reason, when I put them on I look like I'm trying too hard.  Apparently, all you have to do is remove the bill and magic happens.  If my house caught on fire, I would go back for this hat.

Tuesday
Similar earrings - Bibelot

I'm not sure how this gray beret fits into my life yet, because today is the first day that I've ever worn it.  I bought it several years ago at my favorite consignment shop because it was just so darn cute.  It's a classic wool beret.  Nothing fancy.  Nothing revolutionary.
The thing about classic berets is they are an icon for artists.  How lame is it for me, an artist, to wear a beret?  I don't know.  You tell me.
I like it with this outfit, but if I had more balls this morning, I would have sported this hat instead.  It's so much more fitting with my 90s inspired outfit I have going on.

This is my dilemma.  The beret is pretty unassuming.  I wore it most of the day and no one said anything except "cute hat".  Had I worn the navy blue wide brimmed feather adorned fedora that goes so much better with my outfit, I would have gotten a lot of second glances, a lot of comments and possibly some whispers.  Or maybe that's all in my head.

Wednesday
Earrings

This hat is new to me.  I bought it because when I tried it on, someone who had nothing to gain from my buying it said it was really cute on me.  It was inexpensive, so I thought, what the heck.  I'll give it a go even though I never wear hats like this.  I like it with this outfit.  With these pants, it gives me a golfer vibe and I'm into that.  The material is quite heavy and thick, so it might be more of a cold weather hat, making it not as versatile.

Thursday
Similar earrings - UP6
Hat - Urban Outfitters

I love love love this hat.  It is a bit odd and it draws attention, but this is one that I wear anyway.  It's just so darling.  I will say that I don't wear it "correctly".  The way that it is supposed to be worn is a little bit more asymmetrical than how I wear it.  I wear it so that the flat brim sits in front and the curved brim sits in back.  The way it was designed to be worn is for the flat brim to be on the side and the curved brim on the other side.  Trust, me, it doesn't look good that way.  I made it better.  You're welcome.

Friday

No hat today.  Too hot.  I am, however, wearing my skirt backwards.  No one said anything all day, so I think I got away with it.  The real front side has a covered zipper, pockets and belt loops.  I thought it was too bulky for the sleek look I was going for.  I've had this skirt forever.  It used to be a favorite, but I haven't worn it in years.  Maybe I'll start wearing it backwards and make a whole new skirt of it.
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Going for: Simplicity

Monday

This forever 21 top looks like a a bustier layered over a white shell, but it's all one piece that zips up in the back.  The shape of the pencil skirt says business, but the ponte fabric says comfort.  All day, I was told that I looked so fancy, but I was really wearing the simplest outfit I've worn in awhile.  This is my thing.  I make cheap fashion look expensive...at least I try.

Tuesday

I've been waiting for some time to wear this dress.  I bought it this summer, and the color is very summery, but it's long sleeved and polyester.  Too hot for July.  The print is tulips, which I always associate with Spring.  I was thinking that I would have to wait until April to wear it because it's not very autumnal.  Fortunately we had a couple cool days this week and I took my opportunity.  I'm really diggin' it.  
Note to self: I bet it would look really good with some brown boots.

Wednesday

Here's another minimalist outfit that I enjoy.  This might be a new thing for me.  I like it.
This tunic is actually a dress that is too small for me.  I've been trying to figure out what to pair with it and I find that these slim columnist pants work pretty well.  And the shoes.

Thursday

Ok, so I'm thinking that I'll dress up as Janine from Ghostbusters for Halloween and wear exactly this.  I seriously love Annie Potts.

Also, this jumper is covered in a really intense olive, chartreuse, coral, turquoise, yellow, and black paisley print and I could not muster the gumption required to recreate it.  Please forgive.

Friday

This is the dress that ripped down the side the first time I wore it.  Today, one of the side seams of the lining came undone.  The top layer of this vintage dress is in really great condition, but the lining that attaches to the skirt is falling apart.  I'm gonna have to get that replaced, because I don't want to have to mend it every time I wear it.  Bummer.
Also, I take back what I said about drop waist dresses.  This one is working for me.

Tuesday
Boots
Similar earrings - I Like You

Labor day has passed, but I still want to wear white.  I know that's not really a rule anymore, but still, it sticks.  I think it has something to do with the final scene in Serial Mom.  It's funny the things you hold onto.  Anyhoo! Here's my fall interpretation of the white summer dress.  I think it's working, mainly because of the boots.  How amazing are these boots?! The answer is very.

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Style Evolution

Since fashion of the 90s has become increasingly popular, I've been reminiscing a lot about what I used to wear and what influences led me to wear those things.  It's funny and a little embarrassing to watch a movie or show from your childhood and realize just how much that show impacted your life.  "Oh, that's why I was so into seances and late 60s fashion!," I exclaimed after recently watching Now & Then.  I was such a Samantha, but I looked like Chrissy.

All of my reminiscing and exclamations led me to my sketchbook where I drew myself at different stages of my life.  So, here it is, an evolution of my own personal style.

1993/1994

I thought I'd start at age 9.  This is the first time I can recall caring about what I wore.  This is when I began to make sartorial choices and care about what my peers thought of my clothes.  I very clearly recall the experience I had shopping for these green jeans.  Colored denim was a big deal then, just as it was a couple of years ago.  I hopped on the band wagon both times.  Give me color or give me death.  While shopping for school clothes with my dad at JC Penny, I discovered that I was too big to fit into any of the girls colored denim.  I did, however, fit into the boys colored denim.  I decided to get the pants, but I was so embarrassed that I had to buy boys pants, that I made my dad play act a scenario with me about how we were buying the pants for my brother.

Let's talk about this shirt shall we?  While watching the movie It Could Happen to You, I recognized this top on Rosie Perez and laughed.  I thought that this shirt made me everything that I wasn't.  I thought it made me look elegant and wealthy, when in reality, it made me look like an upholstered clown.  I also found, while watching that movie, that I love everything Rosie Perez wears and if I had a body like hers, I would have been copying all of those looks when I was 9.

At this point I had zero interest in shoes, so I can't remember what kind of shoes I would have worn with this outfit.  I can only imagine that they were brown and hideous.  

Like everyone else, I was also very influenced by the fashion choices of Blossom.  Obvious.

1995/1996

For me, 11 was that age when I wanted to dress exactly like my best friend.  
We both had bob haircuts and the same Adidas tennis shoes and jackets.  My favorite store was 579 and my style also included crochet vests, over sized looney tunes t-shirts and excessive yin yang/peace sign accessories.

I remember when my best friend first came to school with Adidas low tops.  Everyone was amazed by them because they were so different from the ugly high tops that we had previously known.  I went out and got myself a pair as soon as I could.  I wore them until they disintegrated off of my feet.  Besides my beloved chucks, they are the only tennis shoes that I remember having a very strong connection to.  The best part is, they're popular again.  I bet I could find a pair exactly like I used to have.  Yes, these...or better yet, these.

I rocked the thigh highs and knee highs like nobody's business, which is a fashion choice that I never shook and probably never will.

The funniest part is that while I wore all of these provocative clothes, I had nowhere near a body that suited them.  I desperately wanted to be seen as older, but I still had the round, flat chested body of a prepubescent fat girl and I wasn't fooling anyone.

1997/1998

This is when I first got interested in vintage clothes and it all started in my Father's closet.  It wasn't my Father's cowboy button ups and blue jeans that I was interested in, but all of his and my Mother's clothes from the 70s.  At that point, most of them didn't fit or were so hippy that I only wore them for theme days at school, but I did find some favorites.  One of which was this shirt.  I loved orange, still do, and found that menswear button ups were my thing.

Overalls.  That's all I have to say about that.

If you don't think wide leg rainbow piped pants are awesome, you are a fool.

1999/2000

For a brief time in my life, my style was very tomboyish.  I worked at PacSun, so I had a lot of skater clothes and shoes.  I loved sporty shirts, like baseball or rugby tees.  Team colors like red, kelly green, baby blue and bright orange dominated my wardrobe.

This is when flared jeans were coming into style and I loved them.  I wore them all the time with my men's button ups and witty t-shirts.

Stars were cool.

I didn't wear dresses.

2001/2002

My friend Sara and I both owned this dress, but we went to different schools, so it wasn't weird.  I would probably still have this dress if it wasn't for the drop waist.  I no longer own anything with a drop waist because it's terribly unflattering.

I developed a bit of a bad ass persona and rocked a lot of big black boots, fishnets and ripped jeans.  I also had a love affair with Savers and owned a lot of 70s dude sweaters.  I was like a mixture between Dora Diamond and Donna from That 70s Show.

I started to make my own clothes and I cut my own hair into a Janet Jackson inspired long shag.  It. Was. Awesome.  In case you're wondering how I cut my own hair, I would simply make a clean pony tail at my forehead and cut it about 5 inches from the base of the rubber band.  It wasn't a perfect shag, but my hair was always wavy or messy, so you couldn't really tell.  It did come to a point in the back, which wasn't ideal.   If you wanna know how to cut a perfect shag (with help), read this.

2003/2004

This was when I cut the collar off of every t-shirt or polo shirt that I owned.  80s style was back in full force and hot pink was the new black.

I lived in mini skirts and knee high socks and was very inspired by the fashion sense of Enid from Ghost World.

Along with wearing boys' t-shirts, I wore boys' underwear too.  My boyfriend just loved that.

2005

In 2005, I had the first job that required me to dress up.  White blouses, slacks, v-neck sweaters, satin camisoles, round toe pumps, and full skirts filled my wardrobe.  Ivory, light pink and black were my colors.

At last, I was an adult who sold very expensive fixtures and furniture to people like Norm Coleman Sr and I dressed the part.  That was a dark time for all of us...

2006/2007

This is when I dominated the Louise Brooks bob and wore red and green like it was my job.  I loved all things polka dots and white flowy skirts were very popular.  I had about a dozen.

I found those big plastic hoop earrings at Urban Outfitters and spent way too much on them, but I still wear them today.  Worth it.

Have you ever had a pair of shoes so perfect that you wear them until they disintegrate, mourn them when they're gone and years later regret not buying multiple pairs?  These were those shoes.  They're Rocket Dog ballet flats like the ones worn by Miho in Sin City and they were the best shoes I've ever owned.  I routinely check ebay for a pair, but have yet to find any in my size.

I drew that brown beret in the "other staples" section, but I didn't actually buy that hat until 2009.  I mostly wore a white knit beret in 2006, but I still wear them both today, so I got the timing confused.

2008/2009

Notice something different?  Yes, I have a short haircut, but I also have a waist!  None of my past outfits accentuated my waist and that's why I was so foolish for so long.  Granted, natural waisted garments were not previously popular, so I didn't know any better.  It wasn't until 2009 or so that I started tucking my shirts into my skirts and finding a much more flattering silhouette.

This is also when chocolate brown was the new black and I found it to be much better then black for my skin tone.  Needless to say, I rocked a lot of brown.

This haircut and silhouette are pretty representative of my current style, so I thought this was a good place to stop.  While my style has certainly evolved since 2009, I find it harder to analyze and to pin point my influences because I'm not far enough removed.

Maybe I'll continue this in a couple of years.
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , ,

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Coats in July

Monday

 It's the middle of July and I'm wearing a jacket and scarf.  Boo. Hiss.

Tuesday
Similar necklace

I wore a head scarf on this day, but I forgot to draw it.  Then I thought that my hair turned out so nice that I didn't add it into the drawing.  In reality, I got a haircut from a new stylist who doesn't understand my need for super short/non-existent hair at the base of my neck.  When I got home and examined it in the mirror, I took a clippers to the back of my head and left a few unnerving bald spots...because that's much better.  After a brief freak out, I calmly asked my roommate to fix it for me and she did a very nice job.  God bless her.  

Wednesday
Similar boots
Similar earrings

How do you fancy my Canadian tuxedo?

Thursday
Similar earrings - Layla
Similar belt - Savers

So, I bought some things at my own garage sale.  Some really cute things that weren't previously mine, I swear.

Friday
Similar earrings - Savers

I bought this shirt as a possible costume piece for the Fringe Festival show that I'm in.  I didn't end up using it, but I'm glad I bought it because it's super cute for regular wear.

Saturday
Similar earrings - Savers

Oh. My. Cute.
I wore this for a luau themed fundraiser at MCBA that I attended with some friends from work.  We all looked so adorable with flowers in our hair and umbrellas in our drinks that we each got asked out by different dudes.  I gotta say, bookish boys are bold.

Sunday
Similar hankercheif - Savers

Shorts!  If there's one thing that I have very few of in my wardrobe, it's shorts.  I find that they're generally unflattering on my figure.  These, however, are high-waisted and fit loose around the thighs, making them more like a skirt, which I can handle.
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , ,

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Blonde hair makes me look better in Summer clothes.

Monday

 This dress, these glasses.  What else could you want?

Tuesday

 This skirt is 100% linen and the care instruction tag says "guaranteed to wrinkle."  I love that.  Obviously it's going to wrinkle, that's what linen does.
Also, this shell is pretty spectacular.  I have a hard time drawing it so you'll have to just trust me.  
Did I mention the shoes?  Maybe I didn't have to.

Wednesday

 So, this headband is actually a belt from the dress that I wore on Friday.  Strangely, the dress fits me just right, while the belt is only long enough to fit around my head.  How does that work?

Thursday

 Dale's Dale's Dale's

Friday
Similar belt - Savers

Here's the aforementioned dress.  I wore this to a wedding of a childhood friend.  The wedding was in SD and I brought three different dress options with me because I wasn't sure how fancy to dress.  I chose this one because it was the most casual out of all three.  Thank goodness I went for this over sequins.  Let's just say that I probably could have worn jean shorts and that would have been fine.

Monday
Similar shirt - I Like You
Similar pants - Forever 21
Similar flip flops - Target
Similar earrings

This shirt is really quite fluorescent.  I almost feel bad for other people's eyes when I wear it.
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Looking back at June

Monday
Similar earrings - Savers

These socks match this dress perfectly.  It's like they were meant to be.  Don'tcha just love that?

Tuesday

 Loving this skirt this summer.  I discovered over the 4th of July how great it looks with my swimsuit top.  This is very exciting.  I love wearing long flowy skirts with my swimsuit.  It's a thing.

Wednesday

 I like this look, but I feel like there's too much going on here.  I probably should have removed something before I left the house.

Thursday

 This drawing is way cuter than this outfit actually was.  I've had this sweater forever and even though it's not terribly flattering on me, I can't get rid of it because it's just too awesome.

Friday
Similar earrings

I discovered that wearing a lot of green by my face when I have blonde hair makes my skin look awfully red.  Good to know.

Friday Night
Similar tights

This outfit is pretty great, if you ask me.  I always love to incorporate hats.

Saturday
Similar sunglasses - Target

There were a few pictures taken of me this day and in all of them, I have this fake smile on my face and my head is cocked just enough to look deranged.  I was definitely experiencing some emotional difficulty, but wasn't my outfit fantastic?
Posted by at 1 comment:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Going Blonde for a Minute

As I put this post together, I realized that all of my outfits involve some combination of yellow, blue and white.  I do believe that I have acquired a new color scheme this spring.  While, last year I was exclusively wearing camel, orange, blazers, and oxfords, this year I'm light, springy, nautical, and YELLOW and I love it!

 Monday
Similar sweater - Urban Outfitters

 I don't normally buy things for full price at Urban Outfitters.  I think that while their clothes are on trend, the craftsmanship is questionable and the prices are too high.  I did, however, buy this sweater a few years ago at full price after a couple weeks of full on coveting and I have had no regrets about it.  While I don't wear it terribly often, it is one of the favorite tops in my wardrobe, mostly for the design.  It's relatively long, nautical (of course!), and the deep v-neck is mirrored in the back, making this sweater pretty dang sexy.  I think the reason it doesn't get worn that often is because it's a short sleeved sweater.  Too hot for summer, too cold for winter.  There are literally 2-4 weeks out of the Minnesota year that I can comfortably wear this little gem.

Sunday
Ah Mother's day!  I can't help myself from dressing up on holidays.  In my head, this is something that everyone does, but in reality, I'm the only one.  Oh well, maybe it was my goal to be the chicest lady at the nursing home.  In fact, that was my goal.  Once, as a fat, acne prone teenager visiting my Grandma in her nursing home, a cute old lady asked me if I was a model.  I was very flattered and have been trying to impress old ladies ever since.  It's actually not that hard.

Tuesday
Similar earrings

This is what I was going for back in April.  I really love this skirt.  It's so classic and flattering and all around wonderful.  If only I had the patience or cared enough to iron all of those pleats.  Alas, ironing is the worst.

Wednesday

 I think I was in college when I bought this dress with big plans to alter it into something extraordinary.  I can't quite remember what it looked like then and I know that it sat in an "in-progress" sewing bag for years.  I almost threw it away many times.  After all of that, I think the only thing I changed were the sleeves that were probably long with cuffs.  And you know what?  This dress is and probably always was extraordinary.  The fabric is lightweight and slick, almost like silk, but obviously synthetic.  The print is really subtle and interesting, while the bright red collar is bold and screams 1980s waitress.  The skirt length and button up collar make it modest enough to wear to work, while still being eye-catching.  All in all, I'm glad I didn't toss it in some life cleansing fit, as I tend to do.

Thursday
Similar earrings - Everyday People

After many months of pinterest plans to get a cute pixie cut and dye it blonde, I finally went through with it.  I'll admit, I was a little scared of how it would turn out.  Will all of my hair fall out?  Will blonde hair make my pinkish complexion appear red?  Will I have more fun?  All valid concerns.
It turns out that I adore it and my biggest problem so far is dealing with all of the attention I'm getting from other people who also adore it.
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)