What I wore to the show!

Yesterday was the second performance of the set of dance pieces I choreographed as part of the evaluation of my master’s thesis in new gesture recognition and mapping technologies…so I felt like dressing up! I’d found this amazing shiny dress at the local Goodwill a couple of weeks ago, and when it fit me I knew it was coming home with me. This seemed like an appropriate occasion to bring it out!


I'm debating cutting it down to right above the knees so I can wear it more regularly, though I'm not sure about that yet. The hem's definitely pretty frayed and has a lot of metallic threads hanging off it, so I can justify it on that front...and I do think I'd be more comfortable wearing it on a regular day if it were shorter...but I also don't want to ruin such a pretty dress! Any thoughts?


Look at that print! I love it!


The performance on Friday (the first one) went went quite well…technology worked fairly consistently, nothing crashed, the performers were great. Last night’s show went…less well, due to a set of technology issues that I didn’t have much control over. Realistically, had you been in the audience, you wouldn’t have noticed anything different (except for the long, long three-minute pause between two pieces during which I was frantically rebooting my computer...but no one knew that part of it). But that was fairly stressful on this end. I was shaking throughout the performance. One more show tonight, and hopefully all will be well! I'm going to try a few strategies to hopefully avoid (or at least fix more quickly) the problems I'd encountered yesterday, though they don't have anything to do with my code...so I may just have to keep my fingers crossed. Tonight's the one I'm most worried about, though, as my advisor will be coming to see it tonight, so I'd really like things to go smoothly.

belated post

This was supposed to go up on Wednesday night or Thursday...and then performances got in my way! Oops.


So, this was Wednesday's outfit, somewhat uninspired; it was raining heavily all day and I was tired and I didn’t quite pull together this outfit the way I would have wanted to. This vintage (maybe?) dress seems to be handmade, though it’s got a label in it… hmm. I think it would work better without a shirt underneath, though not till summer!


I admit I didn’t wear the hat out, but I had gotten a bunch of vintage hats off Ebay for a reasonable price and this one was waiting for me when I got home…couldn’t resist trying it on…

For any of you who wear/collect/sell vintage clothing…how do you date things appropriately, anyway? I’ve done a fair amount of research on the different looks from different periods, but how can I tell whether something is from the 60’s or 70’s or is a fairly recent reproduction of the look? Any suggestions?

Gray and Lace

Today was supposed to have some miserable rain/snow weather, so I had to counterbalance my desire to wear pretty skirts and shoes with realization of weather realities. Have I mentioned that I really, really am looking forward to spring? Then it didn’t actually rain or snow while I was outside…so that’ll be tomorrow, apparently. And Thursday and Friday. So much fun...no, not really.


This outfit started with the gray dress, a go-to thrifted piece. I hadn’t worn it with the lace shirt before (actually, while I’ve owned the lace shirt for a number of years, I think I’ve only worn it once or twice), but I’ve been really inspired by all the lacy details I’ve been seeing around the blog world and Chictopia, so…


So today was a busy day at the lab, still preparing for this performance I’m doing as part of my thesis! Though luckily showing some of my performance work to my adviser went really well today…I got some good feedback and some ways to make changes that will hopefully really improve the final performance. So that’s really great…now I just have to implement everything in a couple of days! Wish me luck!

Long week ahead...

It was in the mid-forties today, so I really wanted it to be spring..,thus, the cheery skirt! I’ve been running around quite a bit getting ready for this performance I’m having at the end of the week — quite stressful! There are a lot of details to be taken care of, from the gesture recognition technology to the lighting to the dancers to the sound design… I really hope this turns out all right. I keep going very back and forth on what I think about the project…I suppose I’m my own worst critic of my performance work. At least, I hope I’m my worst critic, and there’s no one even more critical!


I'm pretty worried about this thesis project because it doesn't quite have the emphasis on the technology that I was hoping, and I don't know exactly how folks at the lab will react to that. I should remember it'll be fine...but I'm nervous now, going back and forth from okay to not so okay.



But yes, The outfit. I quite like this skirt that I found at a garage sale last summer, so I started with that and based the rest of the outfit around it. I’m still trying to figure out a great way to wear the skirt, which may have to wait till spring or summer.

Purple and Gold

Just a quick post here, as I've got a bit to do before my rehearsals this afternoon...but wanted to put up what I wore to the lab yesterday. It started out as me feeling slightly uninspired and wanting to just wear a combination that I know I like...so on went the purple blouse, the warm stretchy gray skirt, and the necklace I made from some vintage components.


But then before I walked out the door I reminded myself that it was still winter. And thus, I ought to wear something over this outfit. Which was when I saw the lavender cardigan I'd thrifted a few weeks ago, and suddenly the outfit became purple-themed. With some gold lacy earrings I'd made a couple of years ago, and my finally trying the belted cardigan look, I actually was pretty pleased with this outfit. I even got some comments on it at work.


The earrings and necklace don't really match, up close, but they both had a gold lacy look.


Also, I really need to keep taking these pictures in natural sunlight! So much nicer!

Time for some color!

Looking at the last few days of outfit posts, I’m realizing that my daily wardrobe hasn’t been including a lot of color. This red skirt, recently thrifted, was my attempt at breaking that up a bit! Well...it's still sticking with the general plan of "mostly neutrals, perhaps with an accent color", but at least there's more of the color! I’m looking forward to spring coming, when my majority of colorful clothes are a bit more seasonably appropriate. It’s supposed to be highs in the 40’s for the next few days…that means it’s almost spring, right? At least till the next snowstorm on Tuesday?


I wore the cardigan over it most of the day, as it isn't actually spring yet and it's still kind of chilly in the lab. Well, everyone else thinks my office is rather warm...but I still get cold in there.


I wore this to the lab and rehearsal today. I'm liking this thing of getting more dressed up even just to go to work...even when most people aren't in my lab this week (due to my advisor being on vacation and several people being on a trip related to this opera my group is working on). I'm just here having rehearsals and doing coding and pulling things together, though. I’ve got a bit more than a week until this performance…and I’m really looking forward to having a bit of time when all of that is done. You know, time in which I can write a thesis. And maybe do some other stuff.

The faux pearl necklace is a vintage piece from my brief obsession with vintage jewelry lots on Ebay.


I really like the colors in this scarf! This was a fun thrifting find...Yves Saint Laurent, apparently. But at the dollar-a-pound-plus, so probably...50 cents, max?

Wearable necklace circuitry!

So this whole outfit started out with the necklace. See, I’m taking a class on technology and textiles this semester (which is going to be so much fun!). Well, technically I'm not actually taking the class for credit, I'm a listener since I'm so busy with the thesis. But I'm trying to do the projects anyway. Our first project involved creating a soft circuit of some kind…so I chose to build a simple necklace with a light on the (neoprene) pendant that lit up when you squeezed a felted bead elsewhere on the necklace. We presented those projects in class today, and I knew I wanted to wear the necklace as part of my daily outfit rather than just bring it in for class.


Since the necklace design had ended up feeling fairly ’60’s to me (partly due to the materials and colors available), I tried to echo that in the outfit...the shift dress with the contrast banding, which I wore over a striped shirt due to that little thing called "winter" that makes it impractical to wear sleeveless dresses right now. It was a fun exercise!

So here's the necklace when it isn't lit up (most of the time):


And when the felt bead is squeezed, connecting a circuit and lighting the LED in the pendant:



I'm not sure what's up with this facial expression. I still haven't gotten my "model" poses down.


Also, the wedge boots finished off the sixties-ish look for me...I felt like a go-go dancer! They're surprisingly comfy, though. Another dollar-a-pound-plus find...

Is it spring yet?

Despite the fact that we were going to be hit by a number of inches of snow yesterday, I was drawn to this little dress I’d gotten recently at my favorite pay-by-the-pound store. (Any Bostonians/Cantabrigians out there who know about the Garment District's Dollar-A-Pound-Plus? You should come shopping with me…) I think this is intended to be a little dress for going out in the evening in the summer…it’s a thin drapy fabric, and has a semi-open back. But I put a black shirt under it, along with a ruffly skirt (for a bit of extra shape), and two pairs of tights. Thus, winter-appropriate and warm-- at least when paired with my latest thrifted coat!


Though we did get hit by a lot of snow...heavy, thick, wet snow. It's supposed to be warmer today, so perhaps it won't stick around for too long.


And yesterday was productive in terms of the thesis performance/rehearsal progress. Code and sensors and gesture recognition started doing what I wanted. Always a good thing…I might be able to pull this off yet? I actually felt really productive, which was great. And I had a good rehearsal in which the technology was (mostly) on my side. I also figured out that a change I made (trying to recognize gestures only after triggers, rather than all the time) took my program down to needing around 20% of my CPU, rather than around 80%...so.





The belt is also from the dollar-a-pound. I've gotten pretty decent at pulling out interesting things there, I think...

However, this is what happens when I'm doing self-photography around midnight:

I suspect I should leave the jumping style pictures to those slightly younger than I am! Or at least save it for when I take pictures outdoors...

Time for a cozy sweater!

I got most of yesterday off because of President’s Day (translation: I worked at home in the morning, then went into the lab later in the afternoon because I had a meeting and a rehearsal). After the lazy, lovely weekend, it was a bit hard getting myself back in gear! (Also, code did not work as well as it was supposed to. Grr.) So… a cozy sweater-dress seemed in order. I found this one thrifting with the boyfriend over the weekend. It's lovely and warm, which seemed really appropriate...even though it was almost 40 degrees out eventually. (Spring coming soon? Maybe?)



The coat is another weekend thrifting find. I’ve been having really good luck with coats at my favorite clothing-by-the-pound store! Now I just have to start wearing them...which may mean it has to be a bit warmer for some of them, but I think I can wear this coat now and still be fine. I really like the faux fur cuffs and collar, too.


Also trying a photo without the glasses…what do you think? I used to wear contacts, but have given up on them in the last few years as I haven’t found any pairs I can wear really comfortably (my astigmatism = huge contacts that go blurry when your eyes get dry and they shift a little bit).



I only have a week and a half until this thesis performance. There is SO much that needs to be done. And I'm spending time blogging. Oops.

Pre-Valentine's Day outfit

This was last Friday’s outfit… for work at the lab, a couple of meetings, and seeing the boyfriend who came to visit for the weekend. (He's in school in NYC right now...hopefully will be joining me in the Boston area soon.) So, an early Valentine’s Day look seemed appropriate. I’m not huge on the symbolism of the holiday, as I think people (not only those in romantic relationships, mind you) should show their appreciation and care for one another on a regular basis…but it’s still nice to have a good excuse to do so.

Also, I got some yummy food and a red cake baked for me because of it. :) The boy rather enjoys baking, and is quite good at it, which is a great thing for me. Look at this pretty cake!


I’m getting really interested in layering slips under dresses and skirts…here I tried a black slip with lace trim under a plain black dress, to give the appearance of a more detailed dress.


The brooch is one of a number of vintage costume jewelry pieces I’ve gotten off Ebay. I’m overly tempted by pretty shiny things…sometimes I think I must have been a magpie in a previous life. (Sometime I should post pictures of my dresser top covered with shiny jewelry things...)


The boy took these photos, and I find it interesting to see that I do smile differently when it's for someone rather than for a self-timer.



Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine’s Day weekend!

Two for the price of one!

Haven't yet posted my photos of what I wore yesterday, so here we get both yesterday and today!

Today:


I had gotten this skirt a while ago, but hadn’t gotten around to wearing it yet. But today I was in a mood for bright floral embroidery, so on it went. Also, the skirt has beaded fringe! Which was fun to wear and definitely drew a few comments from coworkers. I paired it with my character shoes that I’ve had for forever (from my regularly-performing-in-musical-theater days), and a lovely necklace my boyfriend gave me a couple of years ago.



The day overall wasn’t that great, though. A few technology failures…technology failures occurring during demos of my work for lab sponsors…my advisor not being thrilled about said tech failures… technology that I needed in rehearsal tonight not working by rehearsal time → not the best day I’ve had. On the other hand, I then got some stuff working and had a good rehearsal. So. I'll be interested to see how I pull this performance off in the next...two weeks, yay!



And here's the fringe!






And yesterday! We were supposed to get a lot of snow, so I made sure to bundle up and prepare for bad weather. Instead, we had probably less than an inch of snow, and most of that after I got home in the evening. Instead, a lot of cold rain/drizzle. Pretty disappointing!