Sep 5, 2009
in Style and Fashion
A day at the office was going to turn into a night at the theatre. What's a girl to do?
A comfortable red cotton dress from Newport News and simple, braided leather, thong sandals looks nice enough for the office, but is easily dressed up for evening by exchanging the sandals for beige & brown canvas pumps and accessorizing with brown jewelled chopsticks in the hair and an extra-long, glass bead necklace, double-looped.
Being a girl about town never felt so good for so little trouble! :-)
A comfortable red cotton dress from Newport News and simple, braided leather, thong sandals looks nice enough for the office, but is easily dressed up for evening by exchanging the sandals for beige & brown canvas pumps and accessorizing with brown jewelled chopsticks in the hair and an extra-long, glass bead necklace, double-looped.
Being a girl about town never felt so good for so little trouble! :-)
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Jun 16, 2009
in Style and Fashion
For this season's awards night at a local theatre, I wanted to stand out with some old Hollywood glamour. From the comments I received, I guess it was accomplished. Several asked if the dress was vintage and were in disbelief that it came from a catalog. I received many compliments on the opera length black lace goves, and I was pleased when someone even recognized the silent film-starlet eye makeup. And since the event was kicked off with a potluck buffet (completely B.Y.O.B.), I made sure I carried the appropriate stemware for my beverages, dirty martinis and champagne. (All clear liquids you notice. Couldn't risk staining the dress!) I wasn't just creating an outfit, but a whole persona. Of course, the champagne was cheap! Who was to know but me? ;-)
The dress was bought on clearance from Newport News. The gloves came from Sock Dreams for around $10. They could be found for less, but Sock Dreams is so great about describing all their products, which are personally tested by them, I thought it well worth the price after being disappointed in another order of lace gloves from a different site. (You can't always trust the pics, y'know.) Fishnets were Hue, $8 at Belks, and I don't know if I'll ever buy another brand. With control top and micro-mesh reinforced toe, they have to be the most comfortable, affordable fishnets out there. Shoes were years old, from Dillard's on clearance for $20 - $25. Jewelry all came from Burlington Coat Factory, from $.99 on clearance to 7.99 for a necklace/earring set. The hair flower I made myself by taking the bloom from an ordinary silk flower and hot-gluing a barrett base to the back. It certainly cost no more than $4 all together.
Can't say how much the whole outfit cost since I've forgotten how much was spent on the dress. However, knowing my own thrifty nature, I doubt it cost even $50, putting the entire outfit at most likely under $100. I, on the other hand, felt like a million bucks!
The dress was bought on clearance from Newport News. The gloves came from Sock Dreams for around $10. They could be found for less, but Sock Dreams is so great about describing all their products, which are personally tested by them, I thought it well worth the price after being disappointed in another order of lace gloves from a different site. (You can't always trust the pics, y'know.) Fishnets were Hue, $8 at Belks, and I don't know if I'll ever buy another brand. With control top and micro-mesh reinforced toe, they have to be the most comfortable, affordable fishnets out there. Shoes were years old, from Dillard's on clearance for $20 - $25. Jewelry all came from Burlington Coat Factory, from $.99 on clearance to 7.99 for a necklace/earring set. The hair flower I made myself by taking the bloom from an ordinary silk flower and hot-gluing a barrett base to the back. It certainly cost no more than $4 all together.
Can't say how much the whole outfit cost since I've forgotten how much was spent on the dress. However, knowing my own thrifty nature, I doubt it cost even $50, putting the entire outfit at most likely under $100. I, on the other hand, felt like a million bucks!
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Jun 16, 2009
in Style and Fashion
This styleboard, of course, revolves around the dress. I actually have this dress. Ever since it arrived by mail order in January I determined that I would wear it for a theatre awards event which was this month. Since it was a theatre related event, I was free to be, well, theatrical! I started playing around with ideas of how I could accessorize the dress to make it more than just a "nice dress" and also prevent it from looking so much like a wedding dress. (Everyone who saw it on the hanger commented that it could be a wedding dress, and they're right!)
The final inspiration for this styleboard actually came from a scene in the movie The Bachelor, where Chris O'Donnell wakes up in a church sanctuary to find it overrun with brides of all types and shapes and styles looking for him after his face had been plastered all over the front page of the newspaper as a wealthy bachelor seeking a bride. One particular bride in that scene was a goth/ punk sort, who wore her traditional white wedding gown with black combat boots, heavy eyeliner, black tank, fishnets and a leather choker. I certainly had never thought of wearing a wedding gown like that before! Surprisingly, the contrast of the hard-edged black with the soft, feminine white appealed to me. I decided to start experimenting with this palette with the dress in my closet, and this styleboard was part of my playing around with the idea. The goal: Stop dressing so prettily and start dressing more fashionably. Make every outfit have a point of view!
I actually was able to recreate this look for the most part, though not with the exact items pictured here, save the dress. A following blog post will show the result.
The final inspiration for this styleboard actually came from a scene in the movie The Bachelor, where Chris O'Donnell wakes up in a church sanctuary to find it overrun with brides of all types and shapes and styles looking for him after his face had been plastered all over the front page of the newspaper as a wealthy bachelor seeking a bride. One particular bride in that scene was a goth/ punk sort, who wore her traditional white wedding gown with black combat boots, heavy eyeliner, black tank, fishnets and a leather choker. I certainly had never thought of wearing a wedding gown like that before! Surprisingly, the contrast of the hard-edged black with the soft, feminine white appealed to me. I decided to start experimenting with this palette with the dress in my closet, and this styleboard was part of my playing around with the idea. The goal: Stop dressing so prettily and start dressing more fashionably. Make every outfit have a point of view!
I actually was able to recreate this look for the most part, though not with the exact items pictured here, save the dress. A following blog post will show the result.
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