Friend Friday: jumping on the bandwagon

So recently I jumped on the Fashion Beauty Friend Friday (FBFF) bandwagon. Basically, each week Katy of Modly Chic posts a series of questions for people in the group to respond to as they want. Coincidentally, this week's questions are mostly about jumping on various bandwagons!

1. With all the blogging events out there how do you determine which ones to participate in and which ones to avoid?
I think it really comes down to which events inspire me - what drives me to do something creative or exciting. (Like the Thing-a-Day challenge, though I'm already a bit behind in that, or being part of Wardrobe Refashion.) Additionally, I've been trying to focus on what events fit my personal goals. For instance, though I love seeing everyone's 30 for 30 posts, I've got a closet full of items that I don't wear often enough and I'm trying to push myself into integrating the more unusual and bold pieces into my daily wear. I suspect that I could take 30 of my staple items and wear them in a variety of different ways -- but honestly, I'd rather be trying to take advantage of as much of my closet as possible. (In this way, I'm definitely fortunate to have had very cheap thrift shopping around!) Alternately, I really want to do the next Everybody Everywear

This thought process led to my deciding to join FBFF...I'd been seeing other bloggers answer each week's interesting questions and felt that it would be a nice push for me to be thoughtful about my style and blogging practices. And I've been loving the community aspect as well!

2. Be honest, have you ever jumped on the bandwagon of some blogging movement/event for the wrong reasons? How did that turn out?
Sure. Especially when I first started, it seemed that EVERYONE was on the other style blogging platforms - Weardrobe, Chictopia, Wardrobe Remix etc. However, the various picture-rating systems on some of those are not my favorite thing. I'm sure it's really helpful for new bloggers to get validation that others think they're "chic," (as it was any time someone commented on/voted on one of my photos), but took a lot of additional time. If I felt the need to post an outfit to tons of places, I often didn't end up posting anything at all! I still frequent Chictopia on occasion, but haven't really done anything on Weardrobe or Wardrobe Remix in ages.

3. How do you give your own flair to a blog event while still maintaining the general mission and purpose?
I suppose this partly comes from that previously-mentioned attempt at trying to only join in on events that are relevant to my personal goals for myself/my blog, so I can come up with content that's true to me.

4. When determining the best content for your blog what criterion do you keep in mind?
Right now, I'm still working on developing my own blog style and growing my personal voice. I do try to learn from the things I like or don't like in reading other peoples' blogs...for instance, I'm personally not a big fan of scrolling through dozens of pictures in a post, or giant pictures, unless they're really, really gorgeously done. So I try to keep the pictures in my blog fairly short and sweet.

5. While everything will not suit your blog, how do you try and support your fellow bloggers who are participating in something
worthwhile but not your style?
Just because I'm not participating in a particular blogging meme doesn't mean that I don't find it interesting to watch what others come up with! I try to comment on others' blogs as I can, and see what's going on.


In any case. Interesting questions to think about! Started this post early this morning, but now finishing late tonight...my group has been working very hard this week pulling together a day of panels/demos/performances tomorrow. So hopefully that all goes off well! And now for some sleep soon...

Day 2: Floral Hairpin

Today's "thing" is a floral hairpin made from an old thrifted cashmere top.  I just cut three sizes of circles out of the cashmere, and sewed a zigzag stitch around the edge to keep them from coming unraveled and put a slight ruffle in the edges. Then I stitched all the pieces together by hand and added a vintage button in the middle.  A bobby pin is attached on the back of the piece.

And the snow keeps coming down...

I wore this outfit on Monday, the one day this week where I could get away with cute shoes and not just snow boots. Tuesday it snowed even more, and all today we've been getting a lovely ice/snow/sleet/rain/"wintry mix." This outfit really started with the tunic top, which was Sunday evening's refashioning project. While cleaning up things last week, I had come across a number of black, gray, and red sweaters that I'd been keeping to refashion - some wool, some cashmere, some just acrylic -- all of which had issues like moth holes, seriously not fitting me, or being "I'm sure you can do something with this!" hand-me-downs from my family.


The body of a gray sweater of my brother's became the bottom. Then I took rectangles of fabric from two separate black sweaters, sewed a bit up one side to leave an armhole/draped sleeve, and sewed them to the waist with a zigzag stitch so edges didn't unravel. I attempted to leave as many existent hems and finished edges in place as I could! Then the middle seam was still pretty lumpy and not attractive, so I covered it up with a sash made from the sleeve of a red hole-filled sweater.


I'm pretty pleased with the result, though I think I still need to balance the sides a little bit and tack down the belt in more places around the waist. I especially like the open back, though it does require me to wear a tank top or something under it. But the whole piece was very comfortable!

Details: Sweater top, refashioned. Freestyle Revolution Jeans, thrifted. Black Roothy oxfords, Nine West. Tank top, Express.


And let me introduce you to my holiday-money shoes, deeply discounted Nine West oxfords. Ever do that thing where you put an item in your online cart and then leave it there while you try to convince yourself that you don't need it and should spend the money on something practical? Ever leave it there and keep debating for several days? Finally I figured that I really liked them if I kept coming back to them and having to try to argue myself out of them over again. And with a very good sale and free shipping, I think these were worth it! They're very comfortable, and I think I'll wear them a lot. Once the sidewalks dry out again, that is. Anyone else getting a bit tired of the endless snow?

Day 1 - Legwarmers

One of my goals with the Thing-a-Day project this month is to make items out of my large stash of fabric and thrifted clothing waiting to be upcycled.  Today's item is fairly simple: a pair of legwarmers from the sleeves of an old sweater, decorated with a few vintage buttons.  (The rest of the sweater went into making a tunic that I put together on Sunday.)

Lavender Layers

I really, really liked this outfit yesterday. I've worn the lavender over-sweater a lot before, but it's not so good in the winter because of the shorter sleeves. So I decided to try wearing it over a long-sleeve shirt and got comfort, warmth, and fun with shades of purple (especially with the patterned purple scarf)! And you'll notice the same boots that I keep wearing...again, more comfortable pieces. (I also am pleased that it was composed almost entirely of thrifted pieces...) And really, I just felt incredibly cozy in this. Perfect for a day of working at the lab. I had a project I needed to get done yesterday morning, and then some work on a paper I hope to submit to a conference in a few days.


Purple shirt, thrifted. Lavender Ann Taylor sweater, thrifted. Freestyle Revolution jeans, thrifted. Black boots, thrifted. Scarf, thrifted. Necklace, Wet Seal. Earrings, handmade.

Also, something I forgot to mention...I've been doing pretty well so far with the workout routine, actually making it to the gym basically every morning before work and a long run (on the treadmill for now) on Sundays. I'm getting back into shape much faster than I'd expected; I actually ran 4 miles last Sunday, which is huge for me -- that's probably further than I've ever run! I've also been inspired by the wonderful Kyla of Blue Collar Catwalk and her Sweaty Wednesdays series to set a few fitness goals for the year. I've signed up for a 5L race in March (though we'll see whether my rehearsals for the opera, which is coming to Boston that month, pose a problem), and plan to run a 10K in October. Plenty of time to build that up, right?


So anybody have any great weekend plans? Enjoying (or not) the giant mountains of snow that seem to be blanketing the East Coast right now? I was definitely in snow-boots-wading-through-piles-of-snow mode this morning...

Patterned Shoe DIY

So I promised you all a shoe DIY this weekend! I started with this pair of navy Mossimo pumps...had gotten them free, but never had worn them because they were just a bit plain (though perfectly nice!)


I've also been seeing lots of amazing pictures of Jeffrey Campbell patterned shoes, like these Tick shoes in Tribal (image from stylediggers.com:


Gorgeous shoes, but far too expensive for me! So with the pattern elements of the Ticks as inspiration, and armed with a silver Sharpie, I started drawing freehand patterns on the pumps. The silver stood out well against the dark blue, though I had to be careful not to smudge it while still wet. I didn't try to make the patterns on the two shoes match, as I decided I preferred the "deliberately different" look more than the otherwise inevitable "close, but not quite a match" look. Here's the final result:



The backs:

From above:

What do you think? I'm pretty pleased with how these turned out and how simple it was! (Granted, we'll have to see how the Sharpie holds up once I've worn them a few times.) I should come up with a fun outfit to show these off. Now for the snow to melt so I can actually wear nice shoes outside...

Peacock Feathers and Suede

This was Wednesday's outfit, for a fairly quiet day at the lab. My week's been alternating between days full of meetings and project workshops and quieter days to just work. Somehow I've gotten myself a full load of projects for the next month or so, which is a good thing.

This outfit was yet another attempt at dressing warmly enough for the cold, snowy weather we've been having. I'd gotten this suede skirt a while ago, but just found it again in my closet that morning. It's a nice weight and cuts the wind fairly well.


Details: Red sweater, Forever21. Suede skirt, thrifted. Tights, Loft. Shoes, Aldo (gift from my mother). Necklace, self-made.


I really like these Aldo oxfords. I wasn't sure what I thought about the high-heeled oxfords trend for a while, but as I've been seeing more and more adorable pairs of them over the last year or so it's really grown on me. So when my mother and I were out shopping after Thanksgiving and we found these shoes on a big sale, I was thrilled to have them be a holiday present. I've already worn them several times.


Closeup of the necklace. I'm trying to get in the habit of crafting things more regularly, and this was one of the pieces I put together last week. (One of my new year's goals is to craft something at least once a week.) I'm attempting to really jump-start this by signing up for the Thing-A-Day Challenge, where participants agree to make something every day for the month of February. I can do that, I think (even though some of the days may be fairly small projects). And that's just what I need to get my creative juices flowing!

What else? Somehow, it feels like this was a long week, even though I took Monday mostly off from work. The MFA was having a free day, so I went for a while and checked out a couple of sections, including an exhibit on the couture designs of Arnold Scaasi...some lovely, though fairly over-the-top dresses. (Including the one covered with white feathers, worn by one of his clients to the opening of a museum exhibit on birds!) The polka-dot dress here was one of my favorites, though the picture came out fairly blurry due to the low light. (Sometimes I really wish I had a DSLR...)


Then came the busy workweek. We got even more snow here today, and the weekend's supposed to be super cold as well. I'll mostly be working on writing a conference paper, though I'm planning to put up the shoe DIY over the weekend. Anyone have fun weekend plans?