More Dress-Up Fun.

I'm back after a brief break, and I'm sporting a look from the Dress Another Wardrobe_Remixer Challenge. This outfit is designed by nemrešpobjećodnedjelje.


I was a little nervous about it at first. The color combination of the skirt and shoes, though fairly subdued, is not one I would have thought of on my own, and the skirt fits oddly. I bought it because I love the colors, the plaid, and the fabric, but it's too small for me to wear like a normal skirt. I have to wear it as an empire waist skirt because of the waist size. And because of the style of the skirt, this means I'll look poufy and thicker than usual. So it took me a little while to get used to the idea of wearing this and to visualize it properly.


Generally, I do envision an outfit before I put it on. It's rare for me to just put something on and have a sudden realization that it looks cool. One thing this wardrobe_remix project is leading me to is the belief that I should try that technique of surprising myself more often.

What really makes the outfit, as far as I'm concerned, though, are the shoes.


The shoes, designed by Miss Bunny, are also one major reason it took me so long to wear this outfit. I don't quite feel comfortable wearing these shoes to teach my regular classes. I want people to see my shoes, but I don't want them to distract from class, so most days have been off-limits for this outfit. I am teaching a class today, but I figured it would be okay to wear the shoes because 1) I'm teaching a senior level college course today instead of freshmen and sophomores and 2) because we'll be sitting down around a conference table for this class intead of my standing in front of the class and leading discussion or lecturing from there. That makes my feet less of a focal point.

I have one more outfit waiting in the wings from the Wardrobe_Remix challenge, which I'll post when it gets worn (it also involves these shoes), and then I'll be back to thinking for myself. Unless someone else wants to style me, that is.

A Rainbow Treat: Putting the Fun in Fashion

After grading all weekend and just generally being stressed out lately, yesterday I was finally able to at least temporarily relax (even though I still had to go to work and teach two classes).


I just got this rainbow striped sweater in the mail from Darla at The Vintage Zoo (aka zoo_gal on flickr and a regular over at Wardrobe_Remix) and wanted desperately to wear it.

Monday was the perfect opportunity. Fall came a-knockin'. Seriously. Temperatures dropped significantly, and it was rainy and windy and gray. Everyone else I saw was wearing grays and dark blues to match the supposedly dreary weather, but I was excited and I wanted my outfit to show it.


It was only after I'd gotten dressed and taken photos that I realized I not only felt a childlike joy, but I looked it, too. I looked like a pop culture icon of my 1980s childhood: Rainbow Brite or Punky Brewster, perhaps. All I needed was the hairdo. Pigtails or a side ponytail, anyone?














It pleased me a great deal to realize that my outfit for the day so clearly reflected my joy, my comfort, and my own past--or at least a small fraction of it. Fashion, after all, needn't be such a serious business. It's something I spend a lot of time and effort and money on, so it can sometimes be easy to forget that, to focus instead on looking appropriate or looking attractive or looking adult. There are certainly serious issues tied up in the realm of fashion, issues that are important to consider and discuss, but if that's all we see, we're not doing fashion right. We're not getting the most out of it. We're missing the fun.

Well, yesterday at least, I had the fun. And everyone could see it.


So here's to childlike excitement and childhood inspiration! May we never forget the joys of looking like, acting like, and, most importantly, feeling like children from time to time.

Playing Dress-Up

Halloween is coming, and I still don't know what I'm going to wear. I'm really bad at coming up with costume ideas. I never feel up to putting a lot of extra effort into making a costume and I don't like the more common/obvious costumes, but I want my costume to be recognizable. Quite a pickle I've created for myself, no?

Last year I dressed up as Marla Singer from Fight Club. I tinted my hair a couple of shades darker with some very temporary dye, styled it crazier than usual, put on lots of dark eye makeup, wore a black dress (though I can't remember which black dress I chose--it might've been an old black lace party dress) with a black sweater and black ankle boots. It was pretty good, but not identifiable enough. A cigarette might've done it, but I don't smoke. Also, I needed to add a name tag, I think. Sadly, I don't have a picture of myself in this costume.


I could do Marla Singer again and improve upon it. I could live with that. I might even enjoy doing that again. But I'd also love to try something new.

I have a couple of ideas already. The first is Mary Quant. I have a black wig that could approximate (but not really match) her somewhat geometric jet black hairstyle. I could wear lots of eye makeup, my short short black thrifted a-line dress, one of my pairs of boots (with or without heels, I'm not sure yet), and perhaps a pair of tights. On the other hand, wig and eye makeup aside, I would wear this on a normal day, so it doesn't feel enough like I would be costumed.


I don't have the long hair for it, but Annie Hall would be fun. I have the pants and the tie. I have an almost-appropriate vest and can easily acquire the men's shirt (and likely a new vest). I do have a dark-brown wig, but it's not long like Diane Keaton's in the movie. Maybe it'd be close enough? This would feel more like dressing up for me. The slouchy menswear style is not a direction I normally take in my everyday dress.


So those are my ideas. If anyone out there has any other suggestions or feedback about my ideas, I'd love to hear it. What are you wearing? Do you have any ideas for fairly easy costumes for someone like me (someone like me here referring to someone who is lazy or, if you're feeling generous, merely very busy)?

Also, the Blogging Society Challenge has truly begun, so I will be working on playing dress-up with a men's shirt in the next couple of weeks. I have a couple of vague ideas, but haven't begun actual work yet. Look for results soon!

Remix Review.

Truly, there's so much awesomeness over at Wardrobe_Remix that it almost seems silly to try to pick out the best. So I'm not going to do that. So, instead of trying to judge best or provide an overview (there are others who do these things, including Tricia, the group's founder, over at Bits and Bobbins and the girls at Painfully Hip), this week, I want to feature three remixers whose recent outfits include details I really love or ideas I might like to try myself.

First comes Snoof, who is always fabulous. The combination of influences in this ensemble is what really draws me in. The vintage Gunne Saxe-esque dress, layered under the bright yellow sweater, topped off with the head wrap!

Fall Colors: 8. October 2007, originally uploaded by Snoof.

Next we have sherbet tone. This outfit seems simple, but is really interesting, with the supershort minidress layered over the patterned turtleneck and the knee socks with the wonderful brown shoes. This somehow manages to successfully combine sensible with sexpot.

Remixd: Finally Fall., originally uploaded by sherbet tone.

Finally, Earthworm, a less frequent (but no less fabulous for it) remixer. What I really love here is the refashioned bathrobe, which becomes a striking tunic. This inspires me to want to create something similar.

With Breeches, originally uploaded by Earthworm.

Fashion Challenges

In addition to my personal challenge of the No New Clothes Initiative, in which I will buy nothing new (read: unused) for the next six months, I've discovered and taken up a couple of other short-term challenges or projects thought up by others.

Kori over at The Fashion-y Blog has proposed a Blogging Society Challenge in which participants will start with a plain men's button-down shirt and use that as the foundation for a unique outfit. I think it'll be fun to do myself and to see what others come up with. She's already posted some fabulous photos of others' ideas (handpicked for this purpose from The Sartorialist) on her blog. Check it out!

And over at Wardrobe_Remix, where I spend so much of my online time these days keeping up with the hundreds of awesome outfits that are posted daily, there is this project to dress up another wardrobe_remixer or allow yourself to be dressed up. I've suggested an outfit for one participant already and been dressed by another.


It's a bit of a challenge to look at someone's else clothes (at least what's been posted to wardrobe_remix) and try to remix them in a way that will be interesting, fun, and flattering for that person. But it's certainly fun, too. And it's great fun having someone else put together your outfit. Truly, I love planning an outfit and testing options and seeing it work or, sometimes, not work, so it's fun to practice this on someone else. Also, it's neat to get a fresh take on clothes you've already worn, a perspective outside your own. This is especially great in this particular community, friendly and supportive as it is.

Fashion History 101: Worth and Poiret

When I was in high school, I used to go to the local library and check out the fashion and costume history books over and over again. I'd pore over the pictures, not bothering to read much of the text, and sometimes even try to copy the images by hand. I don't draw well, so that was a bit discouraging, but I still loved the pictures. Recently, I decided I should return to a similar habit--except this time I'll read and not just look at the pictures.

I've begun with a couple of simple, picture-heavy books structured by brief chapters about important moments in fashion history: 20th Century Fashion: 100 Years of Style by Decade and Designer, in Association with Vogue, by Linda Watson, and Key Moments in Fashion: The Evolution of Style.

In 20th Century Fashion, I found this image:


The caption reads, "Paul Poiret's MInaret tunics were both radical and dramatic, and combined the line of the hobble skirt with the theatricality of the crinoline, 1913." This combination of dramatically different shapes and the contrast in volume between top and bottom is what draws me to this look. It's a 1913 version of the more modern dress over pants look, after all. This variation on the big top plus skinny bottom style is one worth playing with, I think.

Poiret's comments about this new style he invented are telling. In his autobiography, he wrote,

Like all great revolutions, that one [the invention of the hobble skirt] had been made in the name of Liberty -- to give free play to the abdomen. . . . It was equally in the name of Liberty that I proclaimed the fall of the corset and the adoption of the brassiere which, since then, has won the day. Yes, I freed the bust, but I shackled the legs. Everyone wore the tight skirt.

We don't tend to think these days of the bra as liberating, but in this time it truly was. Similarly, the shackling of the legs by the hobble skirt seems not much of an improvement over the shackling of the bust, but while with the corset, women were misshapen and even internally damaged, with the hobble skirt, they merely couldn't walk very effectively.

Another image that leapt out at me in my recent reading is this one, from Key Moments in Fashion:


The caption for this photo reads, "A 1938 evening coat by Worth in moire (a watered silk fabric) and manufactured by Rémond." The coat is fabulous, with the giant flowing sleeves and the elegance of the sleek floor-length silhouette.

Really, though, what I love about this look is the hat. It is bizarre and completely impractical, and I love it. I'm not sure if I'm ready to adopt hats into my wardrobe, but I have long wanted to. I used to bemoan the fact that women don't wear hats any more--not the fabulous work-of-art hats that they used to wear, anyway. I have seen several people working such hats into their outfits on Wardrobe_Remix lately, however. Maybe my time for hats is approaching.

Scrapbook from the Past: Dress Drama

I found my old style scrapbook from high school (maybe early college). I used this folder to store photos from fashion magazines and catalogues that I really really liked. Sometimes I got creative and arranged them on a page, but often I just stored the whole magazine or catalogue page in the folder.

Looking back at my choices, I can see that there are some clear and recurring themes in my taste of approximately 10 years ago. One is dresses! In bright colors and dramatic shapes!



The dresses I kept photos of are ones I wouldn't have known what to do with if I'd had them then, dresses I would probably have been afraid to actually wear. And not just the high couture ballgowns of the first photo, but the more "normal" dresses of the last two images as well. But my desire for these bold, attention-getting dresses says a lot about my taste, even though it was yet in its infancy when I developed this collection. After all, I still have a thing for dresses in bright colors and dramatic shapes, only now I'm growing brave and creative enough to wear them when I find them.



Part of the shift my rediscovery of this folder highlights, from the girl who drooled over the photos but could imagine doing no more than that and the girl who would now gladly wear these dresses or others equally dramatic, has come from getting to know myself and what kind of person I am and, thanks in large part to teaching, becoming more confident on the whole. Another part of this shift is thanks to Wardrobe_Remix. I've been watching, commenting, and posting there for several months now and I already feel much more confident and inventive in this arena. In my case, my personal development and my development of style have gone hand in hand. As I've become more confident in other arenas, my willingness and ability to experiment with fashion has grown, too, so that, for me, style really is power.



[Unfortunately, I can't provide much information about the source or date of these photos. Mid-to-late-90s, I suppose. Probably a combination of Seventeen, Glamour, Vogue, and various shopping catalogues.]

Off the Wall: Fashion from the German Democratic Republic

Another small, picture-heavy book I've seen popping up frequently at Half Price Books stores across Texas (like Worst Fashions in that regard) finally seduced me: Off the Wall: Fashion from the German Democratic Republic. The book includes only a few very brief paragraphs of text at the beginning, much of which you can read at the provided link from the Strand Bookstore. There is no real cultural context given for the photographs aside from this:

Despairing of the drab, colourless apparel surrounding them, photographer Gunter Rubitzsh hired local models, chose the locations that inspired him--oil factories, worker canteens, concrete office blocks--and set about creating his own unique and daring style.

It is assumed that "what was produced in earnest is now a catalogue of camp," but there is no indication of what it would mean in East Germany during this time (and none of the pictures are dated, which is annoying, since it clearly covers a fairly wide span of time) for these photos to be produced in earnest, who would see them, what effects they might have.

Despite these rather major flaws, the book is worth at least glancing at for the pictures. This is another book that I find inspirational and full of creative energy, even if it's not particularly informative.



Here are a couple more pictures that I particuarly like. There really are just a lot of great photos in this small book. I may have to dedicate another couple of posts to exploring it in the future. For now, though, take a gander at the following two photos.

The "beltfit" or, perhaps, the "beltkini":



This is not something I can see myself wearing (I don't have that many belts and I have more boob than this girl does), but I like its combination of simplicity and complexity. It's a simple basic shape: a bikini (plus a couple of embellishments on the upper arm and leg) but the execution of the bikini requires careful planning.

The jumpsuit:



Seriously, a red bell-bottomed jumpsuit with ethnic embellishment and fancy shoulders? Yes, please. Truly. I don't know if I could pull off a jumpsuit, but for this kind of awesome, I'd certainly try.

Worst Fashions?

I found this book Worst Fashions: What we shouldn't have worn...but did at a used bookstore and just had to get it. It has lots of pictures of and commentary on what author Catherine Horwood consideres some of the worst fashions of the last forty to fifty years.

Of course, I didn't want this book in order to make fun of those poor benighted fools who wore such crazy clothing. Instead, I wanted the book because I was inspired by the pictures.

A few examples will suffice. Horwood condemns knickerbockers as "fine if you are a Royalist cavalier in the mid-seventeenth century, but less amusing if you are a women in the late twentieth century."


I beg to differ. I have wanted a pair of knickerbockers for months. I have yet to find a pair that fits or is actually appealing, but I truly do like the shape and the details.

Horwood also decries the sweater vest (on men and women) as silly-looking and embarrassing.


I, on the other hand, just bought myself a sweatervest at Target last night. I have always liked this look, even though I've not always executed it well.

Another look that she lambastes is batwing sleeves.


"Sadly often worn by women who could not cope with the clinched-in waists that the power shoulder outfits [of the 1980s] required," she writes, "they usually ended up looking as broad as they were tall." Ouch.

It is possible for pretty much any style to look bad if it's worn without a good sense of balance and proportion--and an equally good sense of when to flout the "rules"--but I don't like to think of a given style as a "worst fashion." In fact, there are very few styles she discusses in the book that didn't cause me to think, "Hmm...It might be fun to try that." Horwood condemns overalls (for men and women), patterned trousers, palazzo pants (which I love), skinny pants and jumpsuits (which I don't so much love for myself, but which other people wear well), knitted dresses, maxi dresses, bubble skirts, leggings and legwarmers, paisley and tartan. For me, this attitude of condemnation takes all the fun out of fashion. For me, fashion is not making fun of others (even if I don't personally like or enjoy their choices); fashion is freedom, experimentation, creativity. I'm prepared to look stupid occasionally for the sake of these things.

Horwood's book was an interesting find, but I will not recommend this book wholeheartedly. The judgmental and snarky tone was far too negative for me. I will, however, recommend looking at the pictures in this book for inspiration and ways to make old ideas new again.