Outfits of the Day: Country Mouse, City Mouse

This weekend I went out of town for my youngest cousin's graduation ceremony and party. I ended up using a couple of different styles, one which comes across as more slick and styled and the other of which is a lot more freeform.

For the party, I went with something casual that stands somewhere in between 1950s retro and Lolita. I wanted to be a little dressy, but with enough versatility that I could take off a layer if it got warm and not so dressy that I looked like I was trying to show up my cousin.

Outfit of the Day: One for the Office, Two for the Show...

It was quite a weekend! Usually I am able to dress up about once a week in frillier fashion because I do try to dress like a normal human being for the office. However, this past week I was able to dress up twice!

Friday

This was a little.. different as an outfit. I dressed up for two different reason. First, I had a large number of deadlines that needed to be met on Friday, so I wanted to dress for battle. Second, I wanted to dress nicely for a play I was attending that evening.

"I Was Raised To Be Charming, Not Sincere": A Coordinate for 'Into the Woods'

Over a month ago, my friends decided that we should go out to Into the Woods together. I am, of course, not opposed to this idea - I love the musical and the reason they decided we needed to go together was because I was the one who first introduced them to the show. Two of my cousins got in on the act, so the group of five set a date. And, because I love dressing up to go out with my friends and this was a golden opportunity to create something with a theme.

But what to wear?

The answer to that question wasn't really as simple as it ought to be. At first I thought I should channel something dolly kei for the show, something witchy and wild. But, then, I looked at my wardrobe and didn't find anything that spoke to that as much as I should like. Eventually, I lighted upon the world of the princes and the palace. Vain, charming, and insincere, but with a richness to them that I appreciate.

This outfit is a few weeks old, but my friend who took the pictures wasn't able to send them to me until today.

Outfit of the Day: Otome-ish Outfit for Tree Decorating

As you may or may not have noticed, I rather enjoy Christmas. I also really enjoy decorating for Christmas. It's somehow become my job every year to put together the holiday decorations at my parents' house, and this year was no exception.

The tree you see there? That's this year's tree. And, because I'm me and rather fail sometimes at being "practical" in the traditional sense of the term, I decorated while dressed up. With all the Christmas decorations I've been posting, I thought I should share some of the pictures I've taken of decorating along with my outfit.

These are a couple of weeks old because I've been busy with the holiday season as a whole - decorating, family events, making gifts, and attending my cousin's wedding - but I hope you'll like them anyway.

Outfit of the Day: Ravenclaw Pride for a Book Tour

I’m going to preface this because I know the mere act of supporting an artist can be controversial. A lot of people really loathe Amanda Palmer, and that’s fine. You are more than entitled to do so. But that is not the point of this post.

Okay. Are we good?

Good.

This weekend I was up in the Twin Cities for an adventure with several friends. Friday night I went shopping and played card games with one of my best guy friends. Saturday I went out to lunch with him, then headed over to another friend’s house where I baked muffins, ate gyros, and swapped media files. Sunday my friends and I decorated cookies and watched silly web videos. It was a delight.

However, the actual reason for the trip was Sunday night when I went to Amanda Palmer’s The Art of Asking book tour stop at The Cedar in Minneapolis.

Outfit of the Day: Happy Halloween!

It's Halloween!

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. Despite the fact that few others in the office do, I always dress up for Halloween. After all, I get one day a year to dress how I want, put bats on everything, and watch scary movies. I am not going to waste it.

This is my Doctor Who shot...

Outfit of the Day: Vintage Plaid

I wish I could say I had a special occasion that this outfit was for, but really I just decided that I wanted to wear something cute today.

Outfit of the Day: Lolita on Laundry Day

If you were of the opinion that I live in a shining closet and spend my days sipping tea and blogging, allow me to unburden you of that thought.

Well, the tea part is pretty accurate, but still.

Today was one of those strange days where I wanted to dress up, but things needed to be done. It wasn't a day for dry clean only fabrics or anything too fussy.

Outfit of the Day: Red, White, and Mint

"It ought to be celebrated by pomp and parade, with games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other..."-John Adams

And thus, we have completed another Fourth of July here in the U.S.A. I decided to wear a very casual Lolita coordinate for the occasion both because dressing up for the day is fun and because I have the day off and am therefore not required to dress for work. I considered wearing my sailor dress, but that ended up being a touch too warm in the bright sunshine.

However, I was able to pull together an outfit that was summery and sweeter than my usual. I wish I'd had a cute straw hat to go with it, but I've not yet been able to find one that fits my head and suits my head.

Panels and Petticoats: My First Convention

The weekend before last, I finally went to my first convention, and it was a great experience for me. I really enjoyed spending time with my friends. The cosplayers I met were lovely. The people who asked me for pictures were very polite about it. The panels I attended were (for the most part) full of respectful people; two of them were worth mentioning specifically.

On Saturday morning, I attended a panel on the use of classical music in anime which was hosted by two professors. The chat before the panel was focused mostly on word usage and other nerdy things, and the panel was basically an overview of the use of classical music in anime and the composers who wrote the music in question.

The very last panel I attended was on Revolutionary Girl Utena (which, as you will remember, I am rather a fan of). It wasn’t so much a panel as it was a guided discussion of the series attended primarily by people who had a great deal of passion for the series. I got along very well with everyone there and it was a delightful close to the convention.

And, since this is a fashion blog first and foremost, I've got clothes to show you.

Outfit of the Day: Happy Halloween!

So, I love Halloween.

This probably comes of no surprise to anybody, given my love of costuming. And this year, they encouraged folks at my office to dress up. Dangerous, that.

Because I wasn't feeling particularly spooky of face this year, and because I wanted very much to wear my new antlers from Mythical Designs, I decided to do a deer-inspired outfit. The main part of the outfit was the face. I used too-dark bronzer (also known as "bronzer" because of how pasty white I am) and cheap white face paint to make my cheeks tan and add some white spots to it. I would have painted my nose black to add some more deer-i-ness to it, but I ran out of time in the morning. What can you do?

Anyway, here's what I looked like from the neck up.

Outfit of the Day: Inspired by Dark Mori

Several weekends back, I was visiting family for their county fair. My cousins suggested that we go to Pioneer Village to explore, take a few pictures, and just generally have some fun. Of course, since I am me and the weekends are when I let loose with my clothing, I was dressed to the very strange nines. This time, it was black. All black. Lots of black.

I don’t usually wear much mori kei because of my body shape; curvy me plus flowing clothing can result in a frumpy rather than fairy-like appearance. However, this particular outfit isn't strictly mori kei, and, more importantly, it's much more comfortable than my usual frills. Therefore, it was perfect for bumming around a county fair. It was also perfect for climbing around in train cabooses, crouching down next to sod house windows, and running through the rain despite water-soaked shoes.

I'm sorry I didn't get any close-up pictures of the outfit, mostly because I spent much of the trip behind the camera. However, we did get a few good posing shots of me (though my legs do look a good deal shorter than they actually are). This is one of them.

Outfit Rundown:

Top: I got this as part of a mystery bag from GoodGoth a few years back, but the tag is missing.
Skirt: A gift from my friend Liz, tag also missing.
Vest: Handmade
Tights: Wal Mart
Shoes: Wal Mart
Hair Accessories: Claire's

These are fun, too. We got some creepy pics of me as the villain of our day's amorphous story (which, given that I was looking black-clad and witchy, wasn't an unfair read of the appearance), so this creepy pic of me staring through a window will have to do instead of outfit close up shots.

Outfit of the Day: Pink and Fawn for the Office

So, as anybody who read my apology for not posting in July knows, I got a new job. It's a blessing that my new place of work is pretty free with the dress code, because it means I am afforded rather a lot of self-expression in my office attire. This is what I wore today (please forgive the funky paint job; my current place of residence has a rather eccentric design).

The style is otome kei largely informed by my interest in lolita fashion, classic lolita specifically. In fact, I'd have worn my petticoat with it if it weren't for the fact that my petti doesn't fit in my office chair. Likewise, I'd have worn a blouse with fuller sleeves if I didn't have to deal with the strange temperature control.

Here's what I wore on my head today. The flocked fawn barrette is handmade, and if you can't see the bit of white peeking out past the pink rose, I am wearing a sort of headband with all of this. My real favorite is the "antique gold" floral hair clip which looks like I'm wearing a hen and chicks plant on my head. I can't say enough positive about that.

For jewelry, I have a rather eclectic mix today.

I picked up this locket a few years back in a thrift store. It's pretty large, and my friends joked that it must contain a soul if it's that ornate and large. I don't know about that, but it sure is pretty.

I know it's hard to read the bracelet here. It says "like gold to aery thinness beat." It's a quote from one of John Donne's poems, "A Valediction Forbidding Mourning," which expresses the strength of the speaker's connection to his beloved although they are parted: like gold, it can be beaten and stretched to an airy thinness without breaking. As I am currently in a long distance relationship, the quote is comforting to me. I wear this bracelet almost every day.

The ring is handmade with an Arthur Rackham illustration. I love Rackham. His stuff is absolutely mad.

And, moving toward the feet, here's a closeup of the texture on the tights. These were purchased off the clearance rack at Target and are like a mashup of vintage-y polka dot pantyhose and fishnets.

And, last but not least, my shoes. Let it never be forgotten that I love this pair of shoes. They're holding up quite nicely considering how often I wear them.

Outfit Rundown:
Locket: Secondhand
Bracelet: Custom made by Lauren Elaine Designs on Etsy
Ring: Handmade
Flower Barrettes: Claire's
Deer Barrette: Handmade
Vest: Maurice's (Secondhand)
Shirt: Mossimo (Secondhand)
Skirt: DownEast Basics via Modcloth
Shoes: London Underground
Headband: Just a scrap of lace I wrapped around my head
Tights: Target

Outfit of the Day: Sepia-Toned Sock Hop

You remember how I said I had another bridal shower to go to? Well, I unfortunately ended up having to miss it due to a writing challenge for a job application I sent out. So, instead of wearing it to the bridal shower, I wore it to church this morning and am wearing it out to go see The Avengers in theaters this evening.

This isn't strictly Lolita, more Lolita and vintage inspired otome kei (and, oh, can you ever tell that I tend toward classic Lolita!). The skirt is really full, but I decided not to wear a petticoat because my uber-full cupcake-y one wouldn't have let it hang nicely and I just had to retire my a-line.

Since boyfriendthing and I have long known that we were going to go this weekend to see The Avengers, I had originally thought to do something more like this old outfit of the day, something Loki-inspired and interestingly superhero-y. But then, after having to miss the bridal shower, I turned around and went with the excessively girly outfit with leather-and-stud accents because if I've got to miss a social occasion where I have an excuse to dress up, I'm going to find another way to wear the outfit!

This outfit sees the return of the awesome shoes I got from London Underground:

As well as my favorite necklace of all time which also stands as proof that anything 1928 Jewelry touches turns to solid awesome:

Some secondhand items including a fantastic belt that I got as swag from another purchase that miraculously fits as well as a rather ludicrously tiny purse that I got a while back specifically to match all of the pink floral things I seem to be collecting in my wardrobe:

And a couple of recent Shop-Ko purchases made specifically to match all of my neutrals and pinks to round out the outfit:

My mother frowned upon my original shirt choice, which was my "Shakespeare hates your emo poems" shirt, but despite that minor setback I'm rather pleased with this outfit.

Outfit Rundown:
Tights: Willow Bay, purchased at Shop-Ko
Headband: Gem Bella, purchased at Shop-Ko
Necklace: 1928, purchased at Shop-Ko
Skirt: DownEast Basics, purchased from Modcloth
Shoes: London Underground
Shirt: Maurice's, purchased secondhand
Belt: secondhand, part of the swag from my purchase from the lovely lady who runs Fuck Yeah Classic Lolita. (one of these days, I'm going to get a picture of the dress I bought from her. It's gorgeous)
Purse: Kimchi Blue, modified, purchased off EGL Comm Sales

Outfit of the Day: Bridal Shower

Okay, so I have a problem with bridal showers this summer.

I've got a few to go to, and... well, today's was for my best friend from high school who I have spoken to about once a year since we graduated, and I've got another in a few weeks for my cousin's fiancee who I do not know well but would like very much to know better as she seems like a perfectly sweet person. If it were a closer friend or a cousin or something I'd worry less about the social niceties of the situation, but given the relationships to the young ladies for whom the showers are being held I have a trickier spot when it comes to proper etiquette.

And I struggle greatly with what to wear.

My usual clothing is... a bit loud. Witchy black looks, Victorian clothing, petticoats, corsets, top hats, strange barrettes, the works. And it's not really appropriate to wear that sort of theatrical look to a small gathering like this (unless all or at least some others involved will be wearing similarly loud clothing or the group are all familiar with my eccentricity of dress), especially when it's not my day. But I'm not about to wear slacks and a blouse because that simply doesn't feel comfortable to me. I've got a fine line to walk between what feels appropriate for me and what's appropriate for the occasion.

So what do I wear?

Well, today's the first bridal shower of the summer, and this is what I landed on:

Forgive the slightly off face I'm wearing. It took a lot of autotimer shots to get this one right and I was ready to go back inside.

Outfit Rundown

Jewelry: Handmade
Barrette: Belle
Skirt: vintage handmade
Tights, top: Kohl's
Shoes: London Underground

The blouse is much more sheer than this photo shows. Here are some closeups of the jewelry I wore (the necklace and bracelet are handmade): 

 

Usually, with this skirt, I like to wear some of my more strange nature-inspired barrettes, but today I opted for a simple metallic one for the sake of keeping things subtle. Wearing a baby deer on my head, unfortunately, is not subtle.

And, last but certainly not least, the shoes:

I'm not sure quite which genre of clothing it falls under. It's a little bit Dolly Kei, but not so much that I'd be comfortable labeling it as such. It's definitely vintage-y. It might even fall into granny chic. But, you know what, I like it.

I was hoping to find a comfortable medium between my usual style and what's "normal" or appropriate to this sort of situation, and I think I found it. I spent a fair bit of the party receiving compliments on my clothing, my shoes (aren't they fabulous?) and my jewelry. I felt a bit guilty about upstaging the bride clothing-wise, but this is toned down for me and the outfit resulted in the bride telling me that we needed to go shopping together so she could get some pointers, so I don't feel too bad.

Honestly, I'll probably be dressed a bit louder for the next shower. That one's mostly family, and they're used to my... strange... aesthetic. I won't be fully petticoated, of course, but it'll be a bit more along the lines of my usual strangeness.

Outfit of the Day: Gothic Lolita in Emerald

It has been a long week. As such, I decided to dress up to make myself feel a bit less stressed. This is what I threw on once I was done with work:

Forgive the tired face. As I said, it's been a long week.

I wanted the coord to be mostly gothic Lolita with a touch of ero Lolita in the top (which is lightly sheer lace with shorter sleeves) and the corset.

The tights are fantastic, and I know this doesn't come across in the wide shot, so I snapped this close up of the tights:

Aren't they awesome? These tights are from HUE, purchased on clearance for four dollars, and they match pretty much any navy, forest green, or burgundy classical Lolita coordinate. Plus, plaid tights!


Here's the brooch I put at the neck, a vintage find that I haggled for at a garage sale ages ago and a barrette that I picked up at the local dollar store:

As shiny as it is, the brooch is ridiculously hard to photograph. But, yes, you're seeing that right: it's a snarling tiger head made of clear rhinestones, goldtone metal, and black enamel with a green rhinestone for the eye. It was glaring up at me from a garage sale jewelry rack several years back, and I couldn't help but buy it.

Outfit Rundown:

Shirt: Old Navy
Skirt: Handmade (not by me), purchased of EGL comm sales
Corset: Bought from EBay
Tights: HUE
Shoes: Secondhand
Petticoat: Classical Puppets
Brooch: Vintage
Barrette: Goody