Saturday, August 14, 2010

(we're an american band)

So I know I should probably post this on the Fourth of July or Memorial Day or something along those lines but I want to post it now because I feel like military-inspired fashion right now. I like military-inspired fashion a lot more than the actual military (cause hey, even the Nazis had cool uniforms; much like the New York Yankees, this was the only cool thing about them.) But anyway, here's my frivolous and girly interpretation of the uniforms for each branch of the US armed forces.


1. Coast Guard
Everybody always forgets about the coast guard until somebody makes a movie about rescuing people from storms or something. But they are probably my favorite of the armed forces because they are more specifically about protecting and taking care of Americans, as opposed to being involved all over the world. To emulate their nice, formal, crisp dress uniforms, I took a classic white shirt and navy skirt combo with touches of red - so cliche I know, but for a good reason. Plus I'm a major fan of those flats. Adding a piece of jewelry (just one, or it would be overkill) and a nautical/military type cap completes the outfit. Although I just started wondering what kind of handbag would look best with it and I do not even know. (I'm so pathetic because this is going to bother me all day now.) Suggestions?


#2: Army.
My brother recently inherited a vintage uniform from when my grandpa was in the army - the jacket fits him perfectly so he wears it with jeans and a t-shirt and it looks awesome. To make an army-inspired outfit, obviously I had to incorporate army green. (I avoided camoflage though because pulling that off without looking either really junior high or really white trash is hard to do.) Army green is really a nice flattering color to a lot of skin tones, though - it's one of my favorite colors to wear. For the first outfit here I just chose a green, comfy-looking maxi dress with gold gladiators - the second outfit, a playsuit with a vest, would be a little harder to wear, I think, although the vest does downplay the whole one-piece-outfit thing. I love these gold doc martens with the whole thing, but the sandals might be easier to wear. (Clearly I should buy them all and experiment, yes?)



#3: Air Force.
I know the Air Force uniforms are awfully similar to the Coast Guard ones, so I went with navy blue again, but added the eagle ring to make it more... aviationish? An appropriate adjective escapes me, but you know what I mean. I think these military brooches are really cool, and might work at the neckline of a dress or as sweater clips. With the addition of gold heels (and maybe a little gold clutch?) I think this outfit would be wearable and cute during the day.


#4: Marines
For the marines outfit, I went with a combination of neutral (desertish, I suppose?) colors, which is probably boring but I actually sometimes like combinations of neutrals. I used a dress to make it girly, but these boots still make it pretty hardcore, I think. Plus I like how the bracelets add a little sparkly and echo the studs on the boots. (Note: "hardcore" has been my favorite word for the past three days and I use it to describe everything for no good reason.)

#5: Navy.
Ugh that picture is too big and messes everything up but I don't care because I think it's really cool. Anyway, the navy-inspired outfit is actually the first one I did - I really like the super girly dress with the nautical/military vest (can you tell I'm obsessed with vests like that lately?) I chose bronze accessories to finish the outfit; obviously nautical outfits require an anchor necklace, and gladiator sandals work with almost everything.


(Image credits: Google Images and Polyvore.)
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Saturday, July 31, 2010

big city, big city nights (you keep me burning)

So today, I got to hang out in Chicago with friends for the last time in a while (because of this silly moving to Texas deal) and it was fun and we went shopping blah blah blah boring backstory you don't care about because I am not a celebrity and thus every detail of my life is not your concern or priority. Anyway.

I love the city at night. I like how sparkly it is, especially reflecting on the lake or the river. (How much quieter it is than at rush hour really doesn't hurt either.) Anyway, here are some city-at-night-inspired outfits for your enjoyment.


#1: Chicago.

I like how black and gold it gets at night... I am mildly obsessed with city lights. Especially streetlights, for some reason. Anyhow, this is the black and gold outfit I would wear if I were rich and going to a nice dinner and then to the opera or something. (And also if I didn't mind wearing four-inch stilettos all over the city. But I digress. Besides if I were rich I could afford a cab instead of having to walk.)


#2: New York.

The first thing I notice about Times Square in New York City is the color. Lots of bright colors, contrasting with the dark sky. In the same way, the dark colored dress/belt/clutch here make a good background for the different pops of bright color. This would be a fun outfit to wear if you wanted to be a little dressed up but still casual (and still have comfortable walking shoes.)


#3: Los Angeles.

I like all the different jewel tones in this picture of LA, so I found a dress in turquoise, my favorite jewel tone. The deep purple suede pumps provide both tonal and textural contrast, while the buckles echo the buckle on the belt. This is clearly a date night or clubbing outfit, so I added a cute clutch, and a simple ring (because really that's all the jewelry it needs.)

P.S. I misspelled "Los Angeles" like three different ways, somehow, and kept having to go back and fix it. This never ought to happen. I'm going to bed.

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Thursday, July 22, 2010

the princess and the pea.



So, yeah, um, SOMEBODY fails at having a blog. *stern look in general direction of self* And if I'm ever going to be the next Anna Wintour, I need to focus more on fashion, obviously. Random side note: normally I don't mind sounding like a total blonde girl who does nothing but curl her hair and reapply lipgloss while talking on her sparkly pink cell phone, but I draw the line sometimes, namely at using "obvs" instead of "obviously." Probably because of my secret fear that "textspeak" (as old people call it when they write concerned articles in traditional media outlets on the subject) will start creeping into my writing and eventually into my papers and ruin my chances of getting a Ph.D., or even a good grade on a paper ever again.

ANYHOW MY POINT IS, HERE IS A BLOG POST. I was inspired by another blog post I read which talked about how to dress like different fairy-tale characters... I'm kind of expanding on that with outfits I would wear (that vaguely relate to fairy tales) because (as you can tell from previous posts), I like the unreasonable level of girliness that is ok in fairy tales but not in real life. (Ew, total overuse of parentheses in that last sentence. (Ooh look how ironic this is right now. So hipster and cool! Except having a fashion blog featuring frilly clothes ruins my hipster cred. Fail. I will have to get on that asap. *grabs random obscure political paperbacks from grungy thrift store and stuffs into military-inspired messenger bag*) Anyhow yeah let's try to refrain from more parentheses.)

So here is the story of the princess I feel like being at the moment:


The Princess and the Pea.


There was once a prince, and he wanted a princess, but then she must be a real Princess. He travelled right around the world to find one, but there was always something wrong. There were plenty of princesses, but whether they were real princesses he had great difficulty in discovering; there was always something which was not quite right about them. So at last he had come home again, and he was very sad because he wanted a real princess so badly. One evening there was a terrible storm; it thundered and lightninged and the rain poured down in torrents; indeed it was a fearful night. In the middle of the storm somebody knocked at the town gate, and the old King himself sent to open it. It was a princess who stood outside, but she was in a terrible state from the rain and the storm. The water streamed out of her hair and her clothes; it ran in at the top of her shoes and out at the heel, but she said that she was a real princess. ‘Well we shall soon see if that is true,’ thought the old Queen, but she said nothing. She went into the bedroom, took all the bed clothes off and laid a pea on the bedstead: then she took twenty mattresses and piled them on top of the pea, and then twenty feather beds on top of the mattresses. This was where the princess was to sleep that night. In the morning they asked her how she slept. ‘Oh terribly bad!’ said the princess. ‘I have hardly closed my eyes the whole night! Heaven knows what was in the bed. I seemed to be lying upon some hard thing, and my whole body is black and blue this morning. It is terrible!’ They saw at once that she must be a real princess when she had felt the pea through twenty mattresses and twenty feather beds. Nobody but a real princess could have such a delicate skin. So the prince took her to be his wife, for now he was sure that he had found a real princess, and the pea was put into the Museum, where it may still be seen if no one has stolen it. Now this is a true story.

When putting together outfits based on this, I kept in mind that: A] it's a princess - sorry to be antifeminist but the outfits have to be girly. B] she was out in the rain - so outfits that can be worn walking around outside are best. C] this is totally silly, but I based the outfits on the color green, because of the pea. I can totally get away with silly though, because what is more frivolous in the first place than this blog post? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, that is what. Except maybe your profile picture on facebook of you making out with your boyfriend with the lyrics to some junior high girl love song picniked over the top along with some hearts. But I digress. I should just stop talking and post cute outfit pictures.


Outfit #1: cute for class.

Hahahahahahahahahahaha "pea"coat, GET it? I so crack myself up with my subtle puns.

No, really I just like this outfit because of the repetition of the buttons on the jacket and on the dress, and because I like black and brown combos. The ring makes it more "princessy" and green. I think it would be a nice look for school (probably with a cardigan in addition to or instead of the jacket, for more temperature control because classrooms are weird, and maybe with flat boots if you don't like walking all over campus in heels.)


Outfit #2: study date.

I would wear this to go out for coffee and "studying" because although I can go to the library looking horrible, coffee shops just make me want to look cute as I sit at a little table sipping my drink and reading pretentious novels because that is what counts as schoolwork when you are an English major. The dress looks comfy but cute, the bag is can hold your laptop and a textbook but isn't the humongous ugly backpack you have to take to class if you've decided to worry about back pain more than aesthetic pain, and the coat will keep you adorable and cozy if you have to walk home.


Outfit #3: fancy date night.

Let me start off by saying that yes I am aware that everything in this ensemble is ridiculously overpriced, with the possible exception of the necklace but seriously even that you could just get at forever 21 for five bucks if you don't mind that it was made by impoverished asian toddlers. Anyhow, this is as shiny and girly as it gets without being pink, and I really want that jacket.


Outfit #4: comfy for walking.

Because I have a tendency to be delusional, I can totally see myself wearing this on the plane trip back from Europe or some such cultured endeavor. But more likely, I would wear it for a day of walking around in the city - it's comfy but doesn't look sloppy and touristy. Plus, check out how adorable the peas in a pod necklace is!


P.S. I ultimately fail at being the princess from the story. I am the most plebeian person in the world. I know this because when I was little I slept with EVERYTHING under my mattress - flashlights, candy, library books I was hiding because mom would have thought they were frivolous (i.e. they were about high school girls), etc. And it never bothered me.

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Saturday, March 6, 2010

alice inspired.

After yesterday's post on Vogue's Alice in Wonderland fashion, I wanted to show you some outfits I put together which are inspired by Alice, but more or less wearable in real life. Alice in Wonderland style is whimsical, girly, and to my mind ideally includes lots of dresses, ruffles, pastels, and motifs like teacups, bottles, top hats, and keys. I've tried to keep most of the pieces in these outfits a realistic price for the average budget... but when I start putting looks together on polyvore, sometimes I just have to use the beautiful expensive things. You know how it is.

Blue is Alice's signature color, so I'll start off with a mostly blue ensemble, and go all the way through the color spectrum.



A blue shirtdress is always classic, and I love the girly detailing on this one. The tights are a bit more grown-up than the plain white ones worn by Disney's Alice, and I just love the girly details on the shoes, fascinator, and clutch. The necklace is more white rabbit than Alice, obviously, but fits with the general theme.



OK, so this outfit isn't entirely as green as it could be, but I loved the garden-party feel of this dress, and I think the accessories go beautifully, and the ruffles on the clutch and bows on the shoes make it quite Alice.


I would love to wear this outfit to a garden party, or maybe one of those mother-daughter tea parties my church tends to do around mother's day. It reminds me of Brooke White singing Here Comes the Sun on American Idol.


For some reason, I can't really see Alice wearing orange as much as any other color, but I can imagine a very girly little girl wearing this when she grew up a bit, maybe early 20s. The bows and prettiness are still there, but it's a bit more hippie.



This is my favorite look in this post, because it's the most fairy-tale. OK, I admit, it looks like doll clothes, but who doesn't want to dress like a doll every once in a while?




This is definitely a look I could see wearing in real life... the dress and the hat are summer basics, and the shoes and belt are pretty normal as well, while the clutch and especially the necklace add the Alice element which I'm obviously going for here.
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