Bold print and a black dress

This outfit (which I wore on Tuesday) started with the blouse... a lovely silk thing with one of the loudest patterns I own. I'd picked it up at the dollar-a-pound because I really liked the colors and figured it was worth $0.50 or so to see if I could make it work. So on Tuesday, when I had the first day of a class and a couple of presentations where I wanted to seem "artistic/creative," I thought I'd play with the blouse. The first step involved toning the print down a little...so I added the black wrap dress. I've been wearing these boots a ton recently, as they seem to go with most things I wear (and are remarkably decent in the snow, too).


Here's a closeup of that pattern detail. Now imagine that all over the shirt. Not my style to wear a whole blouse worth of that, but glad I could fit it into an outfit!

Details: silk blouse, thrifted. Black wrap dress, thrifted. Tights, Ann Taylor. Black leather boots, thrifted.


We got a LOT of snow on Wednesday, so I worked at home...I'd missed the first round of Boston blizzards this winter, but not this one! Probably got at least 12 inches?


I'm not a big fan of the snow/winter in general, but I have to admit this storm was really beautiful.

Also, I've got a shoe DIY post coming up soon...but here's a bit of a preview! I started with these navy Mossimo heels that I'd gotten for free but never worn. And I've been really inspired by patterned shoes, including things like Jeffrey Campbell's Tick Tribal shoes...

I'll be posting the finished results soon!

New Year, New Beginnings

Hi everyone! Realize I haven't been around these parts for a while...hope everyone's been doing well and had a great holiday season! Little bit of catchup: I spent September in Europe working on my research group's opera, which was amazing and turned out fairly successfully. October and November involved a fair amount of time with a production of Guys and Dolls, which I made the perhaps-overwhelming decision to both be a cast member of and costume design. December involved some small projects, visiting friends, and spending the holidays with the boyfriend and his family. And now, suddenly a new year!


This was yesterday's outfit, trying to start some of my fashion resolutions (well, I'm calling them "goals" rather than "resolutions" this year) about being more comfortable pushing my personal boundaries with what I wear. I also hope to do a fair amount of closet-editing this year...I've collected a bunch of thrifted clothing, some of which I don't necessarily love or look all that great in. I would love to have a closet filled with comfortable and fun pieces I really enjoy wearing and feel stylish in. Trying out whether this purple dress is one of those...comfortable, fun, but I'm not sure what I think about the shoulder pads. These boots, unfortunately, have to go in the giveaway pile... I didn't realize how tight they were across the tops of my feet!


Details: Dress, thrifted. Earrings, handmade. Boots, thrifted. Belt, thrifted. Tights, Ann Taylor.


Other goals for the new year include getting back in a regular workout routine, trying new recipes, doing something crafty at least once a week, reading a book at least every month, and getting a couple of papers published.


I love the buttons on the sleeves of this dress!

Happy New Year to you all! :)

Inspiration from Super Kawaii Mama: Imagine a New Wardrobe

A couple of weeks ago I'd come across this post on Super Kawaii Mama and was inspired to join in! The basic idea is that you select four images representing your dreamscape, then create an outfit inspired by those images, using only items you already own.

As a performance artist/designer, I tend to keep "image banking" folders on my computer full of inspirational images I've come across (though often these images are tragically source-less! Someone needs to develop an image saving program that makes it really easy to capture source information as well. Or please tell me about one, if it exists already...I've had no luck searching for such a thing.)

In any case: I started with these images:








Some of the things that I really loved about these images and wanted to try translating into clothing were the color palette (especially the deep red and yellow/orange on top of black backgrounds), flowing/draping/fluid materials, a sense of play (the umbrellas), gold lace-like metal, and dangling rich-colored items (like the lanterns).

And this is what I came up with, and wore to work over a week ago on the last day before I left on my crazy opera adventure (more on that later...)

I'd say this was definitely successful as a wardrobe reworking...it's an outfit I would not have come up with on my own, but that came together from the colors and textures I was trying to find. (I only own one really yellow item of clothing, it seems, and it's this shirt. Who knew?) The necklace and earrings took care of the gold chain and dangling orange orbs, I wore the black skirt and tank for the mostly-black base, then layered the closest colors I had over that.


Yellow shirt: Forever 21, thrifted. Red wrap shirt: thrifted. Black skirt: thrifted. Black tank: Ann Taylor, thrifted. Sandals: Miz Mooz, thrifted. Necklace: handmade from vintage/upcycled parts and a vintage brooch. Earrings: handmade. Bag: thrifted.


Hope everyone has been having a good week! (ah, I guess the week's just starting...with rehearsals all weekend, I forgot that fact. Only a few days to go until the show!)

Day of a little labor

I had the day off from work today for Labor Day, so took the opportunity to do some refashioning (when not dealing with a long work-related conference call). I started out with a dress I'd gotten from the dollar-a-pound a while ago; it's originally some sort of house dress.


I loved the print and the colors and the stretchy fabric, but there was just so MUCH of it all! (Probably should have taken a picture wearing it, but it came down to the floor and was fairly overwhelming.) I cut off about two feet from the bottom, leaving me with a great piece of fabric that I hope will end up in a later project. Then I chopped off the sleeves, leaving what turned out to be some sort of flutter sleeves. The fabric's a knit and doesn't appear to be unraveling, so I didn't even finish the hems. Add a belt and some sandals, and I had this:


Ignore my squinting. It was bright and sunny! And really, really nice out! I went for a run in the late afternoon, the first I'd taken for quite a while...I'm going to try to get back in the game on my workouts this fall.


Dress: thrifted, refashioned. Sandals: Miz Mooz, thrifted. Belt: Forever 21. Earrings: Ebay jewelry lot.

Hope everyone had a good weekend! (or a good Monday, if today wasn't a day off...)

Too Darn Hot

Does that Cole Porter song get stuck in anyone else's head any time it gets really, really warm? The last two days on the East Coast have definitely been far too hot for me...upper nineties! The name of the game in dressing has been just to keep reasonably cool (and then throw on a sweater or two at the lab).


These cuffed linen shorts have gotten a fair amount of wear over the past five or six years I've owned them, but I still like them quite a bit. They're a good length for me, with just enough detail. (Though they do get overly wrinkled after a couple of wearings, as shown here!)

Shorts: Banana Republic. Shirt: Charlotte, thrifted. Shoes: Miz Mooz, thrifted. Purse: thrifted.


This was today's outfit, my own version of the "it's really hot, so put on a gauzy long dress" that I've been seeing a lot this summer. Black is perhaps not the most appropriate color for this technique, I found. Nor was this length as cool as I'd expected...there's an interesting balance between keeping off the sun and having skin exposed to whatever breeze might come by.

Dress: Express, thrifted. Sash: thrifted. Sandals: Wet Seal. Earrings: Ebay junk jewelry lot.

Also, apparently it's September already. Who knew? This summer has been FLYING by...I leave for Europe with the opera in just a week and a half. Goodness...

A Little Pop of Color

Today was a quiet day, finally a little warmer and sunnier after the gray spell that hit the Northeast most of this week. It's funny, this first taste of fall... Saturday was beautiful, crisp and sunny, reminding me what I love about fall in New England. Then the rain and chill and unlifting gray started on Sunday, reminding me what fall in New England is actually like. I've been slogging around in tights and rainboots the last few days. But with today's sun, I went with an easy outfit combo I've done a lot: this little lace dress worn as a top (as it's scandalously short on me), a black skirt, and some sort of belt for a little color and more shaping.


Dress (worn as top): All That Jazz, thrifted something like 10 years ago. Skirt: Old Navy, thrifted. Shoes: Miz Mooz "Hazel" sandals, thrifted. Belt: thrifted. Earrings: handmade.


These Miz Mooz sandals are a new thrifted favorite, which I'd originally looked at due to their faint resemblance to those amazing Jeffery Campbell sandals that have been saturating the style blogs and striking desire in the hearts of many other bloggers. These have some of the same elements (wooden-ish base, ankle strap, black leather, studded trim, chunky heel), while also being really comfortable and actually being within my price range (I picked them up for $6, with only a little crack in the sole)!

Also, I'm interested to see that Miz Mooz still is selling these sandals. How long have they been selling this style, I wonder? Or how quick was their journey from newly purchased sandals to Goodwill secondhand shoes to me? The quick turnover of fashion...

An Experiment with a Hat

Really, this outfit was all about the hat, for me. I'm not sure whether it reads a bit too "country girl" for my taste, but it was a good start at the challenge that is hat-wearing. I'm starting to really love hats...so pretty! So helpful for making an outfit feel considered and polished! This has led to me picking up over the last couple of years a handful of lovely things in thrift stores, at the Dollar-A-Pound, on Ebay. And yet, I find hats very hard for me to wear, if only for how much I feel they stand out (especially the vintage hats that I particularly like). A baseball cap would pass unnoticed, in this city, or a utilitarian winter hat, but a hat that is clearly being worn for the purpose of a sort of old-fashioned fashion? I feel quite visible. And what are the propriety rules for women and hats these days? Should you take your hat off indoors? Does the subway count as indoors?


Dress: H&M, thrifted. White skirt: Forever21. Sandals: Chinese Laundry, thriftd. Straw hat: thrifted. Earrings: Claire's.

Hope everyone has some lovely weekend plans!