Style, Fashion, and Costume, v. 2014
Continued from v. 2012.
Date: July 7, 2014
Categories: Life, The Universe, Things We like
Friday, 29 March 2024
Life, the universe, pies, hot-pink bunnies, world domination, and everything
Continued from v. 2012.
Date: July 7, 2014
Categories: Life, The Universe, Things We like
FIRST POST DANCE
my first first post dance!! YAY
I was thinking the other day about how much my style has changed and fluctuated over the years. Sometimes, even, I’ll look at a picture of myself from a few years ago and think “who is that? was that me? was i that kid?”
I don’t know. It’s bizarre.
Through middle school and freshman year of high school, I wore dark, layered, baggy clothes that disguised my budding curves, because puberty scared me. I didn’t do anything with my hair. I wore boy shirts and oversized t-shirts, patchwork skirts and blouses with vests. I look back at pictures from this time period and wince, thinking that if the person I am now were put in the same room as the person I was then, an intervention and makeover would be imminent. And I wish that someone had done that for me sooner.
The summer after freshman year, I started to become a little more comfortable with my body. I started wearing bright colors, cute sundresses; I experimented with makeup and curled my hair. Sophomore year… well, sophomore year I was a pretentious hipster with an “edgy” sense of style. I curled my hair, or put it up in ridiculous braids I taught myself to braid, I wore bright colors of eyeshadow, countless coats of mascara, flamboyant neon pink skinny jeans, flowers in my hair. I look back at pictures from this time period and wonder why nobody stopped me. The person I am today laughs at girls who dress the way I used to.
At the beginning of sophomore year, I cut my waist-length hair off, opting for a pixie cut instead. I wore flowers and lace, striped hoodies and knitted berets. I grew the pixie cut into a bob, and wore dark eyeliner, neutral eyeshadow, dark brown lipstick, leather jacket, black jeans. I cut my hair short in the back and angled in the front, dug up my chokers, my oversized sunglasses, my patterned shirts, my high-waisted shorts. I went back to the pixie cut again and went androgynous, switching between crop tops and high waisted shorts one day and baggy jeans and tshirts the next. I started wearing maxi skirts again.
Recently, I bleached my hair to a golden-reddish shade. Most days, I just wear simple and comfortable outfits. I think it’s about time for me to mellow out and figure out a simple, stable wardrobe that I can work with easily. I’ve been throwing out a lot of old clothes and clothes that just aren’t as versatile, and I think I’m figuring out a sense of style that works for me. Hopefully a year from now I’ll look back and think “thank god I figured that out,” rather than thinking “why did anyone let me wear that in the first place?”.
I’ve been doing pretty well getting rid of things in my wardrobe that I don’t like or don’t wear. I gave away several dresses and shirts, and I’m trying to make it a constant process of keeping track of what I actually wear and what I’m just keeping because of sentimentality. Also I’m trying to evaluate my wardrobe based on what makes me feel like I look good, not because one time someone said I looked good in something so I guess I’d better keep it even though I don’t really like how it makes me feel.
Does anyone have any good ideas on how to dress down some party-type dresses? I love the type of dress, but since I rarely go partying I can’t really justify buying myself stuff I won’t wear. The neckline isn’t really a problem (I dunno, low necklines look weird on me), but they’re all a bit too short for uni. Perhaps leggings?
I guess the real problem is that I absolutely hate this whole loose-sweater trend which seems to have taken over tops, and am stuck between wanting to wear summer-y clothes that are more form-fitting and not wanting to freeze to death.
Leggings and boots is always a good combination. Or you can be me and collect weird kneesocks.
cardigans or other fitted sweaters over dresses? If it’s still warm enough where you live, that is. (I’m in denial that it’s mid/late November and yesterday I wore a sweatshirt over a sweater over a t-shirt and pretended that it wasn’t literally snowing around me. I need a new winter coat, will post more on that downthread.)
Yesyesyes… There’s this pink dress that I’ve fallen in love with that fits my body shape perfectly, and with leggings and a sweater over the lacy part on top it would be totally appropriate for uni.
I am trying to make the transition from “college student who wears whatever is on top of the laundry pile” to “young professional [who wears whatever is on top of the laundry pile]” and I think I might need to go clothes shopping again to fill out my wardrobe a little.
1. I want a trendy winter coat, one of the wool ones with buttons? My current winter coat is about 100 layers of bundling and while it is very warm and has large pockets it is also almost a size too small and I think it’s not quite suited for being on a subway for almost an hour which is what my daily commute is going to be. Does anyone have one of these wool coats and are they as nice as they look from afar? Is black the only acceptable color choice for a coat or would bright blue work too?
2. About half to three-quarters of my top wardrobe is free t-shirts for tech companies from various conferences I’ve attended. I don’t want to wear shirts that are for not-my-company at work, even if they are a startup/somewhat lenient. But I have trouble finding button-down shirts because I refuse on principle as well as for practical reasons to wear shirts that are missing top buttons but that’s pretty common among women’s shirts, and a non-fitted shirt is not really an option for my body type. Also button-down shirts are boring and you have to iron them, which is way too much effort. But on the other hand a lot of non-t-shirt non-button-shirts I’ve seen people wear have these lace cutouts that are not really professional either. So basically I’m at a loss.
3. I probably need some new skirts too, at this rate, since some of mine are probably too short. Knee-length is the border of acceptable, right?
4. ??? I probably have more to say but I also have class now
I’m no expert on workplace-wear, but what about a fitted turtleneck in a non-boring color with a big necklace? Otherwise I’d say sweaters, but I have no idea how warm/cold your workplace is.
Shirts missing top buttons are dreadfully common, but they can be fixed with a safety pin, or, for a classier approach, a broach.
layers layers layers. If shirts are missing top buttons, put a cami under them. If shirts have lace cutouts, put a cardigan or blazer over them. Basically anything looks dressier when it’s layered.
I have a coat of the type I think you’re talking about, it’s nice but the specific one i have isn’t really warm enough for when it’s colder than about 40 degrees. I got it from old navy I think for like $70 6 years ago and it still looks nice, though.
1. I have a navy blue button-down coat, which I love to death because it is SECRETLY SOFT AND FUZZY ON THE INSIDE. Black is probably the best color because it’ll match with anything else you’re wearing; I don’t know what shade of bright blue you’re thinking of, but if you want to add color to a drab winter, that sounds pretty fabulous. I got mine from Target; they have a very nice assortment of colorful ones, although I don’t know how warm they are.
2. SCARVES.
3. I am in high school and obviously not an expert, but most of the young working professionals I’ve met wear skirts significantly shorter than knee-length and still look professional! It probably depends on where you’re working.
4. You’re so pretty.
So my pea coat, which I’ve had for about 10 years now, is from either L.L. Bean or Land’s End. It is wool on the outside, but also has a lining of something else for warmth. I’d also recommend getting a down vest to wear on the inside if it is too cold. I’d make sure the wool is nice and thick. Bright blue sounds pretty!
Knee length is fine. Above knee length is fine too.
I don’t iron my button down shirts. And again, L.L. Bean is your friend. They generally have more button downs without the missing top buttons.
Nice sweaters! Nice sweaters are your friend. Cashmere is really good, but expensive. I’ve gotten most of my cashmere from garage sales, my grandma’s hand me downs, and thrift stores. But there are nice, professional looking sweaters in other fabrics. And having a button down collar poking out the top dresses up a sweater.
There are also those shirts that are between t-shirts and button downs. Like just plain shirts with no logo. Long sleeve or short. If you dress them up with a blazer, they can look particularly good, but personally I consider them fine for a business casual office.
I’d get some basic nice pants, basic nice shirts from the mall, but also hit up thrift stores for things you might not have considered, though that’s easier if you get a good thrift store.
If you want more ideas of looks, maybe google image searching “business casual” would help? Good luck!
I only discovered this this weekend, but knee socks under loose leggings make a world of difference where warmth is concerned.
Different conversation from the usual for this thread, but–has anyone been paying attention to the Kanye West x Adidas stuff lately? The early leaked pics of the Yeezy Boosts are what made me start keeping up with it. (Those specifically I think I love–they look awful on their own, but once they’re actually on someone’s feet and part of a fit, I think they’re fantastic.) Today Style published an interview with him about his Adidas Originals collection that was unveiled at the NY Fashion Show a few days ago, and it was a really fascinating read. A couple choice quotes:
“I’m only concerned with making beautiful products available to as many people as possible … The least I could do is spend my time trying to give other people a piece of the so-called good life. Everyone should have the good life. It’s like [Amancio] Ortega [founder of Zara] and H&M group. Before that happened, you could tell who came from money, who didn’t, who had a bigger paycheck, who didn’t. It was about separation and I think high fashion is about elitism and separation, and I am completely opposed to that….”
“Racism and the focus on racism is a distraction to humanity. It would be like focusing on the cousin from your mom’s side versus the cousin on your dad’s side. We’re all cousins. We’re all the same race. To even focus on the concept of race, it’s like—perhaps people give me an extra cookie for the fact that my color palette is so controlled and I’m black. When someone that’s like, racist, comes up to me at A.P.C. and says, ‘I thought it would be a bunch of animals on your shirts,’ because they heard that I rapped. But it just makes the journey interesting. We came into a broken world. And we’re the cleanup crew. And we’re only cleaning up by helping each other.”
“I don’t want to disrespect designers by calling myself a designer. I just think I have a vision of something that I want to do.”
As for the clothes themselves, I like what I’ve seen so far. A lot of it wouldn’t work with my body type and what I wear (which really bums me out on a couple of the pieces), but some of it I could definitely see myself wearing.
Piggy – On the block between the subway station and my office, there’s a store with I think those shoes? There was a huge line in front of it the other day. That’s about all I know.
~
Not sure which thread this belongs on, but my watch was starting to fall apart and I like wearing a watch and so I needed a new one. I am not sure if impulse is the right word for the purchase I made, maybe I shouldn’t have spent as much as I did but it was a purchase I thought about and wanted for a while. Anyway, long story short I now have a Pebble smartwatch. The demo version in the store had Tetris on it and I knew it had to be mine. It can only hold eight apps, but it tells me the weather and one of them tells me when the buses between the subway station and where I live are coming, which promises to be useful. (and yes, another one is Tetris.)
Okay, I don’t think anyone else here is into lolita, but I’ll make this post anyway.
Most recent development: MY NEW AP SET CAME IN THE MAIL TODAY WOOHOO PARTYTIME
It’s Angelic Pretty’s Star Night Theater JSK, headbow, and socks in pink, if anyone is terribly interested in looking up a picture. This was my first time using a shopping service (if you want to buy something from a website that doesn’t ship to your country, you can pay an SS located in the right country a fee and they’ll buy it and then ship it to you.) The one I used is run by one American person who lives in Japan, and it was all very fast and easy. She even included a note which mentioned that SNT was the second print she ever bought and she still loves it, which was neat.
The only issue is that I just moved and most of my lolita is still at my old house. So I had to try it on with no blouse and no petticoat. I feel… sullied.
(sftdp) I may end up monopolizing this thread… oh well. My new petticoat arrived today, after languishing in Chicago for a week and then inexplicably shooting past me into a city 3 hours north of here. It is very nice and fluffy and poofy and PETTICOAT. Much better than the one I had before, which I got from a children’s dancewear company on eBay and wasn’t intended for lolita (although a lot of lolitas use the same one. They also use square-dancing petticoats sometimes, but both of these things are really only good for A-line dresses and I don’t have any of those.) I tried on both of them at the same time, too, which was an experience akin to being encased in a giant marshmallow. Definitely wouldn’t wear them both on an ordinary day.