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...