Inspiration from Super Kawaii Mama: Imagine a New Wardrobe

A couple of weeks ago I'd come across this post on Super Kawaii Mama and was inspired to join in! The basic idea is that you select four images representing your dreamscape, then create an outfit inspired by those images, using only items you already own.

As a performance artist/designer, I tend to keep "image banking" folders on my computer full of inspirational images I've come across (though often these images are tragically source-less! Someone needs to develop an image saving program that makes it really easy to capture source information as well. Or please tell me about one, if it exists already...I've had no luck searching for such a thing.)

In any case: I started with these images:








Some of the things that I really loved about these images and wanted to try translating into clothing were the color palette (especially the deep red and yellow/orange on top of black backgrounds), flowing/draping/fluid materials, a sense of play (the umbrellas), gold lace-like metal, and dangling rich-colored items (like the lanterns).

And this is what I came up with, and wore to work over a week ago on the last day before I left on my crazy opera adventure (more on that later...)

I'd say this was definitely successful as a wardrobe reworking...it's an outfit I would not have come up with on my own, but that came together from the colors and textures I was trying to find. (I only own one really yellow item of clothing, it seems, and it's this shirt. Who knew?) The necklace and earrings took care of the gold chain and dangling orange orbs, I wore the black skirt and tank for the mostly-black base, then layered the closest colors I had over that.


Yellow shirt: Forever 21, thrifted. Red wrap shirt: thrifted. Black skirt: thrifted. Black tank: Ann Taylor, thrifted. Sandals: Miz Mooz, thrifted. Necklace: handmade from vintage/upcycled parts and a vintage brooch. Earrings: handmade. Bag: thrifted.


Hope everyone has been having a good week! (ah, I guess the week's just starting...with rehearsals all weekend, I forgot that fact. Only a few days to go until the show!)

Day of a little labor

I had the day off from work today for Labor Day, so took the opportunity to do some refashioning (when not dealing with a long work-related conference call). I started out with a dress I'd gotten from the dollar-a-pound a while ago; it's originally some sort of house dress.


I loved the print and the colors and the stretchy fabric, but there was just so MUCH of it all! (Probably should have taken a picture wearing it, but it came down to the floor and was fairly overwhelming.) I cut off about two feet from the bottom, leaving me with a great piece of fabric that I hope will end up in a later project. Then I chopped off the sleeves, leaving what turned out to be some sort of flutter sleeves. The fabric's a knit and doesn't appear to be unraveling, so I didn't even finish the hems. Add a belt and some sandals, and I had this:


Ignore my squinting. It was bright and sunny! And really, really nice out! I went for a run in the late afternoon, the first I'd taken for quite a while...I'm going to try to get back in the game on my workouts this fall.


Dress: thrifted, refashioned. Sandals: Miz Mooz, thrifted. Belt: Forever 21. Earrings: Ebay jewelry lot.

Hope everyone had a good weekend! (or a good Monday, if today wasn't a day off...)

Too Darn Hot

Does that Cole Porter song get stuck in anyone else's head any time it gets really, really warm? The last two days on the East Coast have definitely been far too hot for me...upper nineties! The name of the game in dressing has been just to keep reasonably cool (and then throw on a sweater or two at the lab).


These cuffed linen shorts have gotten a fair amount of wear over the past five or six years I've owned them, but I still like them quite a bit. They're a good length for me, with just enough detail. (Though they do get overly wrinkled after a couple of wearings, as shown here!)

Shorts: Banana Republic. Shirt: Charlotte, thrifted. Shoes: Miz Mooz, thrifted. Purse: thrifted.


This was today's outfit, my own version of the "it's really hot, so put on a gauzy long dress" that I've been seeing a lot this summer. Black is perhaps not the most appropriate color for this technique, I found. Nor was this length as cool as I'd expected...there's an interesting balance between keeping off the sun and having skin exposed to whatever breeze might come by.

Dress: Express, thrifted. Sash: thrifted. Sandals: Wet Seal. Earrings: Ebay junk jewelry lot.

Also, apparently it's September already. Who knew? This summer has been FLYING by...I leave for Europe with the opera in just a week and a half. Goodness...

A Little Pop of Color

Today was a quiet day, finally a little warmer and sunnier after the gray spell that hit the Northeast most of this week. It's funny, this first taste of fall... Saturday was beautiful, crisp and sunny, reminding me what I love about fall in New England. Then the rain and chill and unlifting gray started on Sunday, reminding me what fall in New England is actually like. I've been slogging around in tights and rainboots the last few days. But with today's sun, I went with an easy outfit combo I've done a lot: this little lace dress worn as a top (as it's scandalously short on me), a black skirt, and some sort of belt for a little color and more shaping.


Dress (worn as top): All That Jazz, thrifted something like 10 years ago. Skirt: Old Navy, thrifted. Shoes: Miz Mooz "Hazel" sandals, thrifted. Belt: thrifted. Earrings: handmade.


These Miz Mooz sandals are a new thrifted favorite, which I'd originally looked at due to their faint resemblance to those amazing Jeffery Campbell sandals that have been saturating the style blogs and striking desire in the hearts of many other bloggers. These have some of the same elements (wooden-ish base, ankle strap, black leather, studded trim, chunky heel), while also being really comfortable and actually being within my price range (I picked them up for $6, with only a little crack in the sole)!

Also, I'm interested to see that Miz Mooz still is selling these sandals. How long have they been selling this style, I wonder? Or how quick was their journey from newly purchased sandals to Goodwill secondhand shoes to me? The quick turnover of fashion...

An Experiment with a Hat

Really, this outfit was all about the hat, for me. I'm not sure whether it reads a bit too "country girl" for my taste, but it was a good start at the challenge that is hat-wearing. I'm starting to really love hats...so pretty! So helpful for making an outfit feel considered and polished! This has led to me picking up over the last couple of years a handful of lovely things in thrift stores, at the Dollar-A-Pound, on Ebay. And yet, I find hats very hard for me to wear, if only for how much I feel they stand out (especially the vintage hats that I particularly like). A baseball cap would pass unnoticed, in this city, or a utilitarian winter hat, but a hat that is clearly being worn for the purpose of a sort of old-fashioned fashion? I feel quite visible. And what are the propriety rules for women and hats these days? Should you take your hat off indoors? Does the subway count as indoors?


Dress: H&M, thrifted. White skirt: Forever21. Sandals: Chinese Laundry, thriftd. Straw hat: thrifted. Earrings: Claire's.

Hope everyone has some lovely weekend plans!

Back up on my feet again

You know when you've been working really hard, and have a lot that needs to happen, and you absolutely cannot get sick now because if you do nothing will ever be done? And so you don't get sick, and work through late nights and stressful times, and then finally you have a break. And you relax, and take a breath. And then promptly you get sick. Or is that just me?

At the very least, that was me Sunday through yesterday, felled by some sort of unpleasant stomach bug. I did get out of bed and go into work for a bit yesterday, as I had a demo and a meeting, but I still was thoroughly not up to par. So these pictures are from today, the first day I've felt (mostly) normal.


Dress: Xhilaration, thrifted. Tank top (underneath): Express. Shoes: Naturalizers, thrifted. Earrings: handmade.


Also, this dress now appears desperately wrinkled from being sat down in at a desk most of the day. Oops.

I don't have very much else to say, today. I'm quite behind on my blog reading and commenting, which is sad because I like seeing what everyone I know in blogworld is up to. I've just been in bed, reading historical fiction and sleeping. And not wanting to eat, which is completely foreign to me and really quite disturbing. My day tends to be marked out by meals, for better or for worse. I know the cycles of my stomach and generally, in my conscious and subconscious mind, am aware of when I'm next going to eat. Heck, my regularity with mealtimes (and complete awareness of when I need lunch NOW, please) is a bit of a joke around the lab. But this week, I just haven't felt like eating. And that makes me feel like I'm inhabiting someone else's body.

The really terrifying thing, though? The awareness that I had, for a few moments, that I lost a little weight...and labeling that, in my mind, a "good thing." No, it's not a good thing if I lose a few pounds because of sickness and dehydration and not wanting to eat more than saltines for a couple of days. But it's scary to me to see that little voice in my head could pop up and be pleased at how little food it took to satisfy me for a day. I've never had disordered eating behaviors, thanks to a strong love of food. But I've definitely gone through periods of trouble with my own body image and self-confidence, times when I wanted a metabolism that would be easily satisfied with small amounts of food eaten on occasion, rather than one that demands (and relishes) my regular mealtimes. I certainly need to get back to my workout routine, yes. I need to make sure I'm eating primarily food that is healthy and good for me and nutritious. I prefer when I'm strong, I prefer when I'm eating food that gives me energy and fills me up for a while rather than just the quick burst of a sugar high. But I also have a sweet tooth, and some curves, and a personality/metabolism that enjoys the process of preparing and eating tasty food. I do really like my body, I think. (I hate that my impulse is to qualify that, water it down with the "I think"! Are we not allowed to say we like our bodies?) So...I do. I like my body quite a bit. And I will be glad when it's over fully being sick.

I suppose I did have a bit to say, after all...

Triple the fun

So now that I'm back to quiet days at the lab, I have a little more time to play with my style. I even was pretty good about taking pictures over the last few days (if not posting them immediately). Helpful in this effort is the cheap extensible tripod I picked up a couple of weeks ago. It fits in my handbags easily, but goes up to 40 inches or so. I had tried the gorillapod flexible wrapping tripod idea, but one of the legs on the one I got popped off within a few days, and I generally had a hard time than I'd expected finding trees/posts/other things around which to wrap a tripod. So this new one is working much better for me.


This was Tuesday's outfit. Top: H&M, thrifted. Skirt: thrifted. Shoes: Nordstroms, thrifted (I can't tell you how many times I've worn these sandals since I got them early in the summer...). Bag: thrifted. Earrings: handmade.

Wednesday:

Dress: thrifted. Black silk blouse: Calvin Klein, thrifted. Shoes: Chinese Laundry, thrifted. Bag: thrifted. Belt: thrifted. This outfit started with me trying to wear this cream dress that I'd gotten a while ago but hadn't worn, yet. But it's strapless, so I chickened out from wearing something strapless to the lab and layered another blouse over it. I need to find some occasions to wear strapless, somewhat-dressy things before the end of the summer!

Thursday:

Dress: thrifted. Skirt: Forever21. Sandals: Wet Seal. Belt: thrifted. I had a couple of casual meetings this day with people I had not yet met, which always makes me a bit over-conscious of what I'm wearing. I liked this outfit well enough. Also, look! It's obvious that I only rarely change handbags...I just stick all my stuff into one and leave it there for a while.

I really would like to take some time soon to go through my closet and figure out some fun outfits, instead of trying to pull something together in the morning right before I head out for the lab. I feel like I'm in a period of being kind of unsatisfied with my closet...not so much for the contents, as for my inability to figure out how I want to wear some of these things. I've been leaning toward a more vintage-inspired style recently, and would really like to do more experimentation with silhouette and shape, but it can be tricky for me to find outfits that make me feel pulled-together and stylish. Because I'm somewhat curvy, good fit and certain proportions seem to be really important for clothes to show off my shape rather than make me look schlumpy. For instance, though I dearly want to wear a couple of the thrifted blazers I've picked up over the last year or so, I haven't figured out a way to wear something with defined shoulders that balances well with the rest of my body and doesn't just make me look square all over (or that could at least do that in a way that pleased me). I'm still learning what works well on me/fits how I'd like to look, though. The creativity of the style blogosphere helps, here, in inspiration and exploration. Though it's also easy for me to fall into the trap of "If only I had some of their cute vintage dresses and beautiful shoes, then I too could be effortlessly stylish!" forgetting that what looks amazing on one person with particular coloring and a particular body type/height might or might not be flattering on me. Anyway. I've been thinking about this for a few days, and wanted to share...

Hope everyone has exciting weekends ahead!

We now return you to your regularly scheduled life...

I have survived the opera rehearsal period! And all of the technical elements I'm responsible for worked well enough. So that's a good thing. After a couple of weeks of daily 15-16-hour days in the theater (they let us in at 8AM and kicked us out by 11, or midnight if we'd arranged that beforehand...weekdays, weekends), we had an open dress rehearsal for an invited audience, packed up everything, and just put it on a boat for Europe, where the show will open in September. It's an amazing, crazy process. And now I am incredibly drained, physically and mentally. And have a fair amount to do before we go meet the show in mid-September. I took last weekend completely off, which helped a bit...

In the hot days of July, I really wanted to spend a lot of days looking like this (taken a couple of weeks ago before rehearsals picked up):


Shirt: Ann Taylor, thrifted. Skirt: Forever 21. Sandals: Wet Seal. Bag: thrifted.

But most of the time, I looked something more like this:


Top: BCBG, thrifted. Capris: Forever 21. Shoes: thrifted. Giant bag that could hold all my stuff going back and forth each day: thrifted.

Only imagine versions of this with a long sweater, because it was COLD in the theater! And with long jeans or black pants, because it was...cold in the theater. Still with the sneakers and flat shoes, though, because I had to be ready at any time to climb to the catwalks and do whatever was needed technically.

But it was all good. And we made things happen (though I can't take credit for the robots, I did make the set piece hanging in the second photo into a musical instrument, and have been helping the interactive visual elements):




Absolutely a traditional piece of theater, right?

Fun with Summer Dressing

I wore this on Monday and just loved it. I'd picked up this white blouse at the dollar-a-pound a few weeks ago (when it started getting hot and I realized that I ought to own much more white clothing). However, I hadn't figured out a way to wear it that didn't look fairly unflattering on me; a high round neck is not usually my best style, and the big sleeves and space in the torso could easily read as a baggy t-shirt. But when I tried it with this high-waisted skirt on Saturday evening while cleaning up my closet, then added a patterned belt, it worked for me.


I don't think it photographed quite as well as I would have liked, but I still really enjoyed wearing it. I've mostly been at the lab this week, working on code for the show, so it helps my energy levels to be a little bit dressy.


Shirt: Jack McQueen, thrifted. Skirt, Ann Taylor, thrifted. Belt, thrifted. Necklace, handmade from vintage pin and chain. Shoes: Naturalizers, thrifted.


A gratuitous dinner picture, too! Chicken with tomatoes, olives, and feta, plus roasted potatoes (from the farm share) with rosemary and garlic. SO good.


And this is actually what I wore today, for a long day of coding and interaction design work at the lab. I got a little portable tripod on a whim last weekend, making it much easier to take pictures outside! I still have to get used to the blogger thing of self-portraits in what could potentially be public areas. This may be why my photos from Monday were taken by a wall at the back of a building, near a dumpster.


Dress, thrifted and hemmed. Skirt (as petticoat), Forever21. Shoes, Nordstrom, thrifted.

Hope everyone's week has been going well so far!

Random outfits!

We are full swing into tech on this show! We finally moved everything into the theater on Thursday; it's amazing seeing the set that we've seen drawings/renderings/models of for years be put up in real physical space, in an actual theater! And I absolutely love being in theaters. I feel that theaters are places that are designed and made for storytelling, for the construction of other worlds, other universes. For intimacy and for entertainment and for virtuosity and for emotions. There's not just the actual physical space (which is generally really interesting), there's also the traces of the spaces that have been created inside that space, and the anticipation of those that are yet to be created. (Every time I end up in a theater, I know I'm doing the work I should be doing...)


Oh, right. I wear things, too.


I wore this outfit sometime last week. These pictures were taken in the warehouse space we've been renting for all the exciting robot-building and such. The top is Ann Taylor (thrifted), the skirt is INC (also thrifted), and I'm not sure what the shoes are (thrifted, again). I'm really interested by how I've begun to wear a majority of outfits that are mostly/entirely thrifted. I think this is because my shifting style has been helped along by thrifted clothing, especially the dollar-a-pound...

Also interesting: since I've been reading style blogs/paying more attention to my daily style/blogging myself, I've been much more aware of what I see people around me wearing. I ride the T or walk down the street and am just amazed at all of the beautiful, stylish, creative people I see expressing themselves through their clothing. I love seeing how the details of their outfits show me who they are, or who they're trying to be, or who they want to be, or who they accidentally/purposefully are portraying.


And this outfit was yesterday, actually. I keep trying to find things to handle the heat waves we've been having. The shirt is thrifted BCBG, the skirt is thrifted, and the shoes are thrifted Chinese Laundry. The earrings were a gift from my college roommate a few years ago.

Hope everyone has had a nice weekend, without too much work to do! (did I mention I was at the lab/theater most of the day?)

Fireworks and a heat wave!

Wow, has it been hot this week. I feel sorry for everyone else on the East Coast...up over 100 degrees (at one point the weather report claimed 106!) on Tuesday, and in the 90's the rest of the week. Thus, dressing has been for attempting to stay cool (as I'm working in our opera space away from the lab this week, with more limited air conditioning) and as comfortable as possible, and yet stay at a socially-appropriate amount of clothing. All we can talk about this week is how much we want to leave behind opera responsibilities and go to the beach or something. Anyone have tips for how to dress when the weather is scorching and you're going to be really sweaty?


This was my Monday outfit, which worked fairly well but photographed poorly (apparently, this shirt is more see-through with a camera flash. This may have been the only appropriate picture I took). All pieces are thrifted (including the Goodwill black strappy sandals that you can't see but that I've been wearing a few times a week since I got them).


And, since I promised you pictures of the Boston fireworks celebration... here's a few! It really was a lovely evening; it's great to be out with the crowds, seeing the fireworks up close with tons of people similarly excited. My group got to the riverbank around 6:30, and it was already pretty packed. Mind you, the fireworks don't start until 10:30...


I also love how every year the show tends to have new kinds of fireworks...new shapes, new movement. I can't believe it's possible to keep inventing more variations on fireworks! My favorite were a series of small ones that started low to the river and propelled their way upwards in an undulating pattern that reminded me of jellyfish. Just beautiful.


So yes. A busy week, with the next set of opera rehearsals on the horizon. We have design meetings (and review of content) tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes. I really love this stuff, though.


Hope everyone is keeping relatively cool and looking forward to a good weekend!

Updates

Has this summer been FLYING by for anyone else? With rehearsals and working on things for the show and our impending next rehearsal period where all the technology has to be finished and working and good, it seems like time has been progressing much too rapidly for my taste. We finished the first rehearsal period a week ago, with basic blocking completed, but still to fully integrate the performance sensing systems I'm working on, the interactive visuals, or the robots (lots of rehearsals with people carrying around music stands and pretending to be robots, though...) The technical elements had just started being worked in. So...in a week and a half we load into the theater where we're rehearsing in Boston, we have a week+ there for tech before the performers come back, and then we have a week more of rehearsals and an open dress rehearsal. Then we pack up everything up and ship it to Monaco, where the opera will have its premiere, and meet it in September for setup and the show. It's going to be exciting/terrifying.

Just for fun, a blurry picture of me with some of our robots (taken by a coworker with my camera):


The big bad news from last week: I'd left my work laptop in our rehearsal space at the lab over the weekend, and when I got back it was no longer there, nor was the not-recently-backed-up opera code that I had been writing. Fortunately none of the other gear in the space had been touched, but unfortunately I then had to spend most of last week recreating my code. But now I seem to have everything back up to speed, I think...but wow. Back up your code, everyone. Or, you know, whatever else it is you work on.

Some good news: the lovely Tieka of Selective Potential re centlyhosted a giveaway by Annie of Time Enough for Drums, who has a great Etsy shop, Timely Vintage. I was the lucky winner of a Timely Vintage gift certificate! I picked out a couple of items from Annie's shop, and she sent them immediately. Everything was carefully wrapped and beautifully packaged!


I got a beautiful pink vintage eelskin purse...the texture is amazing! (I wasn't sure I liked the idea of eelskin, but this is such a great piece...)


And this vintage owl brooch, which I had my eye on since I saw it in the shop. He's got so much character! So, thank you, Annie and Tieka!


And why not an outfit from last weekend. I wore this for running by a couple of garage sales and a brunch production meeting (though I'm not sure that "brunch" is the appropriate title for a meeting that runs till 4PM...).


Details:
Skirt: INC, thrifted.
Sandals: Naturalizers, thrifted.
Shirt: thrifted.
Bag: thrifted.

Hope everyone had a nice Independence Day weekend! I'll post some pictures of the Boston fireworks later...

All Opera, All the Time

We've finally started rehearsals for this opera my group is doing. Thus, for the last two weeks, I've been going back and forth between watching rehearsals, working on my part of the technology (coding, soldering, brainstorming interaction design), production meetings, etc. Lots of fun, but also means my time to do non-work things has been significantly limited (particularly with rehearsals/work 7 days a week). It's amazing to see the performers in our rehearsal space, to see the scenes coming together at last for this show that has been in the working for years (a number of years even before I joined the lab two years ago). Everything is finally happening! Though we do have a lot of the tech to still integrate (and by "integrate" I mean "get working") And it looks good... And it reminds me how much I love being part of the theater, how I'm doing exactly what I should be doing right now.

As a tiny bit of background about the part I'm working on...in the story of this opera, the main character attempts to avoid dying by uploading his mind into a computer system built throughout his house. This happens in the end of the first scene...which means the performer goes offstage and the theatrical set has to embody that character through visuals on the walls, movement, lighting, sound. You could have all of that just be pre-programmed (a challenging enough task). However, we want the performer to be giving a live performance, to measure aspects of that expressive performance, and have that expression shape the visualizations in significant ways. My research includes measuring the live performance and working with a coworker on the interaction between the performance and the visual system. Interesting as both a technical problem and an artistic problem, I think.

So. In the rehearsal-every-day thing, it's been harder for me to take the time to a) come up with outfits I really like, b) document what I wear at all. On the plus side, I feel like the act of having taken much more care about what I wear means my outfits when I just grab something are much more dressy than my old default of jeans and a fitted t-shirt. On the other hand, I'm now aware of what I feel like when I really like what I'm wearing, and thus am aware when I'm not getting to that point. I have a couple of outfits I got pictures of, though!


This was last Friday's outfit, for rehearsals and an opera-people BBQ. It's also interesting to try to dress for weather where it's been 85-90+ degrees outside and freezing cold in the lab...layering time!

Details:
Dress: Ann Taylor, thrifted.
Belt: thrifted.
Sandals: Chinese Laundry, thrifted.


I wore this dress yesterday, inspired by a handful of bloggers whom I've seen with similar beautiful embroidered pieces (which I believe are Mexican/Mexican-inspired). My dress appears to have been handmade and hand-embroidered (you can still see some placement marks under the embroidery). I wanted to play against the style and color of the dress with some more dressy black accessories, so I wore my recently thrifted wedge sandals. I think I got them last week (after I'd made a bad shoe choice and had to run into the local Goodwill and try to find something to replace the sandals that were already giving me blisters) and have already worn them three times since. I really felt good in this outfit...summery, comfortable, fun.


Details:
Dress: thrifted
Belt: Forever21
Shoes: Nordstrom, thrifted.

Hope everyone's having a good week! Getting close to the weekend...though I spend that in more rehearsals...

A variety of outfits

This was my outfit on Tuesday, the first day after Me-Made May. It was definitely strange not to be trying to choose from a more limited wardrobe...makes me want to keep refashioning things all summer! I definitely enjoyed the challenge of Me-Made May. Zoe has plans already for a Self-Stitched September, which I really wish I could participate in...however, I'll have to take a pass this year, as I'll be traveling to Europe for two weeks in September working on the opera, and I already am going to have a lot of trouble figuring out appropriate clothes to cover both backstage work, performances, and whatever dressy events I have to go to.


Wednesday's outfit was a combination I'd been wanting to wear since my mother gave me this thrifted tunic early in May...but as it didn't have a me-made component, went on the back burner till now.



In other exciting news, I purchased a small community farm share for the summer, meaning I get a load of fresh veggies every week! This will, I hope, a) increase my vegetable consumption, and b) get me cooking more. See, if I have a pile of fresh vegetables that needs to be eaten within a week, then I have to make sure they get eaten!


The results of my first week's share included spinach, red Russian kale, two types of lettuce, pea tendrils...


as well as endive, Japanese mustard greens, and bok choy.


Thursday's outfit was fairly simple; a little cream tunic, sweater (inside the lab, at least!), and sandals.


Friday's outfit was inspired by the Victor/Victoria challenge from Jessica of What I Wore. She set a challenge of wearing either a very ladylike outfit or a menswear inspired outfit. I had some work/school related receptions to go to, as it was graduation (technically, I am now officially a Ph.D. student!) so I went with the ladylike look.


Details:
Dress: Nine West, thrifted.
Belt: thrifted.
Shoes: Predictions, thrifted
Jewelry: handmade

On a related note, I ought to see Victor/Victoria sometime. Sometime when I'm not busy with an opera!

Opera rehearsals start later today, with at least two rehearsals with the cast + technical meetings just about every day, so it's going to be a very, very busy summer...