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...