A shoe refashion

This weekend, I refashioned another pair of shoes. I started with some cream pumps that I'd gotten at the dollar-a-pound quite a while ago...I'd worn them once or twice, but cream wasn't proving a really wearable shoe color for me. Also, as they were fairly old, they were already scuffed and had some dark smudges on them. Worthy of a renovation!


So I grabbed some nail polish...


Covered the trim and soles with masking tape, and painted away with the tiny nail polish brush:


After some detail work and a couple of coats in a few places, I had pink shoes with cream trim:



I wore them yesterday with a black-and-white floral dress for a bold bit of color (no pictures, sorry!). Definitely a lot of fun!

And, for the IFB Challenge #2, a brief haiku:

Refashioning time:
Old cream shoes plus nail polish...
Presto! New pink heels!

What else? I've been keeping up with my goals for Me-Made June of wearing at least one refashioned or self-made piece every day, but I haven't really been documenting the process this time around. I'm also going through a major decluttering phase...am completely hooked on decluttering and organization and home design blogs right now! However, this desire to clean up and streamline my closet and my apartment doesn't play so well with my pack-rat/magpie/lover of collecting beautiful things tendencies. For example, I read the forum posts on Unclutterer about things people are giving away/trashing/donating/getting out of their homes, and I find myself both inspired to clean out more myself and wishing that I lived near their thrift store so I could pick myself up some of those rejected items!

So, last weekend, I worked on cleaning out the wardrobe where I store my dresses (of which I have a ridiculous number...my style has swung very heavily to thrifted dresses in the past few years). I wanted it to look like this, with a small assortment of my favorite carefully-chosen pieces:

However, while my wardrobe looked like that, my bed, covered in the rest of the contents of the wardrobe, looked like this:


Reorganized and after some dresses that just don't fit me/look good on me/end up getting worn were given to Goodwill, the closet looked like this (a major improvement from before):


And here's what I'm wearing today, now that it's finally back to summer in Boston (after a week of rain, clouds, and temperatures in the 60s)...cleaning out my closet has reminded me of some pieces that will work well this season!


Dress: thrifted. Tank top: Express. Shoes: Nordstrom, thrifted. Earrings: Me-made.

Hope everyone is having a good last week of June! Can't believe it's almost July...

Summer Adventures

Hi everyone! Hope your summer has been going well, and that it feels like summer where you are. We had a couple of days over 90 degrees last week, and since then it's been back to 60 and raining. I've been keeping fairly busy both with work and with the rest of life. Since last time I posted (wow, almost a month ago?)...


I went to Oslo, Norway for a conference where I was presenting a paper with a friend from the Lab. Oslo is a really lovely city. I was there for a few days at the end of May, which was perfect...it'd started to get around 60 degrees during the day, the sun stayed up forever (we're talking still light at 10:30PM), and spring flowers were everywhere. I spent most of the time at the conference at the University of Oslo, but also had some time to wander around the city, see the amazing Vigeland Sculpture Park, get a tour of the City Hall, and see the evening changing of the flags by the palace.



On the first day I was in Oslo, I also met up with the amazing Anika! She's every bit as awesome and sweet as she seems on her blog (and, by the way, if you haven't visited her blog yet, you should go over there right now. I'll wait...) She showed me around some of Oslo and we had coffee over at the Opera House (the iceberg-like structure rising out of the water behind us). Thanks, Anika, for being such a great host and welcoming me to Norway!


A mural in the main room of the Oslo City Hall

I didn't know very much about Norway before the trip, so was really interesting to learn about the country's history and culture. It's only been about the last hundred years that Norway has been a completely independent country...before that, it was in "unions" with Sweden for most of the 19th century, and with Denmark for almost 500 years before that. So the Norwegians eventually gain their independence, and have to figure out/define for themselves what it means to be "Norwegian." Norway was also apparently a fairly poor country until the discovery of oil resources around 1970. So all of that contributes to some very interesting art and design throughout the city.


One of the many, many sculptures in the Vigeland Sculpture Park

This was definitely a great trip, and makes me want to do a lot more travel! (Though at least it's satisfied my resolution for this year of finding some way to make it back to Europe.)


I also started the Me-Made-June challenge, pledging to wear at least one handmade or refashioned garment/piece of jewelry every day in May. I'll post some pictures of a handful of outfits soon... I've been doing well with the challenge, and there have only been a couple of days when my handmade jewelry was the only me-made piece in the outfit.

And a few other random things...
--I've been running a bunch. A week ago, I ran over five miles for the first time, going all the way into Boston to see a friend's art piece at a festival. The run wasn't all in one stretch, but had a couple of breaks (including the stop in a CVS trying to find someone who knew where the street I was looking for might be...)
--A couple of weeks ago, I was lucky enough to get a tremendous haul of yarn from someone on Freecyle who no longer needed it. (We're talking several large bags and boxes worth!) Now back to some serious crocheting/knitting!
--I've also been preparing for my best friend's wedding (!!!) this weekend. I'm one of her bridesmaids and just found out yesterday she'd like me to give a toast at the reception! (now have to figure out what to say...anyone have experience with this?) I'm really happy for her and looking forward to the wedding!
--I've been spending a fair amount of time with friends, including hosting a couple of fun dinner/cooking parties. The last one was cheese-themed (so...much...cheese), and tonight we're having a foods-from-childhood dinner.

How has summer been treating you?

Dress Me Up Like a Doll - republished!

It appears Blogger thoroughly ate my Paper Doll Project outfit post from last Wednesday, and never returned it! So here it is again, republished. Apologies if you've already read this. Now I'm glad I subscribe to my feed via email so I have copies of posts!

Today's outfit is part of the Paper Doll Project, started by Suze of Miss Vinyl Ahoy. Two bloggers are paired up, each picks an item they'd like in an outfit, and the other designs them an outfit for the day incorporating that item. I had the pleasure to be paired up with Laura from A La Mode et Plus. If you haven't seen her lovely blog yet, go over
and take a look!

For today, I wanted to see if Laura could figure out an outfit for me incorporating a pair of Chinese Laundry embroidered velvet wedges that I had seen on sale several years ago, fallen in love with, bought, and promptly never worn. Which is tragic, because they're so pretty! Look:


So Laura styled me up a fun pattern-mixing outfit for the day, incorporating my polka-dot skirt and blue belt.


Details: polka-dot skirt, thrifted and shorted by me. Blouse, thrifted. Belt, thrifted. Shoes, Chinese Laundry. Ring, gift (used to be my mother's). Watch, gift.


I like the polka dots and floral print together. Not a combination I would have tried without some prodding, but fun to wear.

You know what the trickiest part of the outfit was, though? Laura had specified that I wear a ring...which made me realize that I really don't wear rings. As in, at all. Ever. I think the last time I wore rings around regularly I was probably elementary-school-aged This one, from a box of old jewelry of my mother's that she'd given me a number of years ago, happened to match the belt...but I definitely was fiddling with it much of the day! Anyone else distracted by having things on their hands/wrists? Or is this just something I'd get used to if I wore more cocktail rings? (Which I've been tempted to do, seeing others pull off all sorts of fun accents...)


Hope everyone is having a good middle of the week! It's gray and drizzly still, here, which makes it hard for me to really focus... something about not being able to tell that time is passing during the day really throws off my sense of timing, I think.

Also, check out Laura's blog later to see how I styled her in this vest!

And now, after this blast from the past, I return you to your regular Monday.

New dress refashion

It appears Blogger ate my last Paper Doll Project post and hasn't restored it, so I will post that again in a day or so if it doesn't come back up!

This week was pretty quiet, so I had a couple of relaxing evenings at home trying to dive into my refashioning pile. One of the items that emerged was this dress/coverup/thingie:


I'd gotten three of these cheap cover-ups that had been tossed into the dollar-a-pound pile, intending to piece together the fabric into a 60's-style dress. I actually managed to get the fabric for a new dress (made from a vintage pattern) out of just one of them, so I've got two more to play with still! Any ideas on what I should do with the rest of the fabric?


This was the second dress I'd made from this particular pattern...the first was an orange dress I'd hinted at a couple of weeks ago but haven't gotten decent pictures of yet. This time I'd fixed some of the errors that I'd made in the first attempt (like putting in the zipper too low), and I think this one turned out fairly well!


Hmm, you can see my slip in this one! I do like the back of the dress, though...I'll be using this pattern again, now that I've got the details worked out.

Details: Dress, refashioned. Belt, thrifted. Leggings, H&M, thrifted. Sandals, Miz Mooz, thrifted. Pink cardigan, thrifted.


Hope everyone is having a nice weekend so far! It's fairly quiet around here, which is nice for a change. Time for some organizing and cleaning, even a bit of reading and digging back into the sewing pile...

FFB: Culture Porn's Alexa on Men and Feminism

(Today's post is a guest post from Alexa at Culture Porn. As members of the Feminist Fashion Bloggers, Alexa and I are swapping posts today, both looking at the role of men in feminism. You can find my post on Alexa's blog.)

Hello, my name is Alexa and I write a blog called Culture Porn, which can be found here.

I think it's safe to say that there is one fundamental misconception about feminism. The irritating thing is, this misconception is embedded within the name: feminism. As if the term, and everything that goes with it, can only be applied to the female gender. Now, I am of the belief that the feminist movement will always remain a movement - a group with ideas and opinions contrary to the popular grain - without a male edge. This earth has a lot of males in it, and for people to think that feminism is an exclusively female preoccupation is hindering its ideas and indeed, support.

A lot of feminists neglect the fact that males are perfectly capable of being feminists too. After all, the idea of gender equality cannot be applied to only one gender. And indeed, of the males I asked, every single one of them shunned the idea of feminism. It was only after I rephrased the question; "do you believe in gender equality?" (as opposed to "are you a feminist?") did I get a response. The power of a name eh?

So I suppose, the issue facing feminism right now is how to remove this misconception. Is it just all about a name, or are there other factors at play as to why males tend to refute the fem in feminism? I'm sure there are some men out there who actively reject gender equality due to a number of draconian concepts; a cling to tradition, dominance, social spheres, religion, cultural expectations, taboos. But i'm equally sure that they are a minority. I keep my confidence in the modern, educated male who appreciates the immense value and humanity behind gender equality, even if the name feminism is decidedly 'girly'. Although a revamp of the English dictionary would go a way in helping this, I think trust must be placed in curiosity; that the modern, educated man I previously spoke of will do his research before casting off the title of a feminist.

On a side note, I just want to say that I do not consider women who dislike men as feminists. Equality swings both ways, after all.

(If you like this, go check out Alexa's great blog full of art, feminism and fashion. And check out the other FFB posts in today's roundup!)

Bright Flowers for a Gray Day

Today's outfit is part of Everybody Everywear, a monthly event where style bloggers all take a particular clothing item or pattern and incorporate that into their outfits on the same day. May's pick was "florals," so I decided to use that as an excuse to wear this incredibly bright floral dress that hadn't made it out of my closet yet. The day's gloomy weather wasn't completely consistent with my cheery outfit, though! Hence the layering...


The dress is vintage from probably the 60's or 70's, and came via a neighbor of my mom's who was cleaning out her attic and passed on a handful of items to me. It actually has a trapeze shape that's just overwhelming on me. I found recently that belting it gives it a shape that suits my body much better.


Dress: vintage, gifted. Sweater, thrifted. Tights, LOFT. Shoes, Jeffrey Campbell via Ebay.


Look at that bright pattern! I was glad I finally had the nerve to wear this out in public. Through my last year or so really playing more with my outfits and keeping this blog, the range of clothing I'm comfortable wearing has really expanded.

Hope everyone's week has been going well! I had a busy last week and weekend, finishing up a couple of projects, making a dress for a wearable art show, and spending the weekend at a festival where one of my art installations was included. Lots of fun, now trying to figure out what my next projects look like!

FBFF: Fitness on Friday

Source.

This week's FBFF questions are all about fitness! How we keep fit, and how/if fashion comes into that.

1. Do you keep some kind of fitness routine? Why?
Generally, I go to the gym or run outside for 30-45 minutes before work on weekday mornings, with a longer run on the weekend. (though haven't been as regular about this for the past few weeks as still recovering from some knee and foot issues partially related to a race I ran in mid-March, partially from walking miles and miles around Chicago without enough padding in my shoes.) As far as "why" I do this...that's a good question. I think I have more energy when I exercise regularly. I like getting up earlier and feeling like I'm getting something done immediately. I tend to sleep more and eat more healthily when I'm working out, too...one step of caring for my body snowballing into others.

2. Has working out, maybe training for a marathon or something of that nature, helped with your own perception of body image?
You know, the workout routine that helped me the most with my body image was my informal parkour training from about two years ago to about a year ago. A few of us from my lab (myself and a couple of my male colleagues) had gotten together and decided that we wanted to do something to make working out more enjoyable and to give us some goals to reach. We decided to try to learn parkour, which basically involves traveling at great speeds through a city from point to point by the most direct route, even if that involves going over objects, jumping gaps, and climbing structures.


Source. This is clearly not me, though it's a move I learned how to do.

So most mornings for a year or so we'd meet at the gym and do things that we thought would help build parkour-related skills and strength and stamina. It was really gratifying to see myself improve along measurable lines, as I became able to do more repetitions of certain exercises, master particular moves, and simply do the same thing but be less sore the next day! I also discovered that I was able to push myself past particular limits that I'd set on my body beforehand and still be fine. I could be physically pushing myself and maintain that for a while and that would be fine. These sorts of results and seeing my body's capabilities were really inspiring. The focus wasn't on working out for weight loss/management or for some vague concept of "fitness," but for expanding what my body could do and preparing it to do some cool things. The day that we were first able to push ourselves to do 100 "Burpees" was a huge feeling of success. And believe me, it's a thrill to do crazy parkour things like running to the edge of a set of steps, leaping to the bottom, and landing into a forward roll in the grass below! Somewhere, there exist videos of me doing this...

3. When you are hitting the gym or just going out for a long walk what do you wear? Is it about functionality or fashion?
Normally I'm in a sports bra, t-shirt, workout pants/shorts, and running shoes. It's pretty completely about function, though I've been thrifting some more sports clothing under the idea that the more I dress like a serious gym-goer the more comfortable I'll continue to feel.

4. Do you feel there is a cultural perception of what you ‘should’ be doing for your own physical fitness?
I don't know that there's a particular cultural perception about what, specifically, I should be doing for fitness -- just that I should be particular levels of fit. And that I should be working out several times per week. Actually, there's a general cultural prevalence toward "going to the gym" or "running," I think. Things that one does "regularly." Does anyone else have this experience?

5. Dream big… what would be your ultimate fitness goal.
My major fitness goal in general is making sure to incorporate it as a part of my regular lifestyle long-term. My goals for this year are to run my first road races - a 5K (ran it in March) and a 10K. Though Katy has got me tempted by a half-marathon she's trying to get a group to run in October...it would be amazing to be capable of doing that! I try not to make weight-related fitness goals (though there's a weight about three-five pounds lower that it'd be nice to reach...), primarily focusing on increasing my capabilities.

Hope everyone has a great weekend planned! I'll mostly be spending it with my college best friend, who has her wedding shower this weekend. It's unreal that this girl is getting married! I remember when we first met moving into our dorm room freshman year...

And on another note, it looks like the performance piece I was working on for next weekend unfortunately won't be able to happen then after all. Another one of my cast members dropped out midweek, leaving only three of us, two of whom had some scheduling issues anyway. So I decided to just call it off, since we didn't have what I needed to make the piece I needed by next Saturday. I'm pretty glum about that, but hoping to continue working on the piece and develop it for another venue/time. We'll see what happens.