Style or Die! challenge: Rave denim jacket

  Ever put something together you really like, then don't like it looking at photos at all? So it is with this.

Jacket: Rave (thrifted)

Graphic tee: dirty violet (thrifted)

Pinstripe flare capris: BCBG Maxazria (thrifted)

Mary Jane heels: Unlisted a Kenneth Cole production (thrifted)
Button bracelet: The CAMP, Dichroic glass star: Green River Studio etsy shop

  Pretty sure these newly thrifted pinstripe pants were designed as capris, which means they are ankle pants on me. I normally avoid ankle pants like I avoid salmonella poisoning, but the flares on these were really cool and I thought they'd balance out my big wushu legs. The Internet told me to wear them with heels. Photos tell me the damn Internet was wrong! I look like a bad stereotype of ... something. A style blogger? Peggy Bundy? A puffy exclamation point?

  I tried a loose graphic tee on top to balance out the formality of pinstripes and the fitted booty cut. I think something fitted next time will work better with these. Remember folks: if your thigh is close to the circumference of your waist, wear fitted on top.

  I don't mind the look with the jacket, so I tried an exercise. Since the jacket worked, I tried similar things in my closet to the jacket to see if it was redundant. Here it is with a denim dress I wear as a coat:

Dress-as-coat: Forever 21 (thrifted)
Pregnant Scully from X-Files. Not combining long coat and big shirt again.

 And with a similar blue military style jacket:

Blue military jacket: View by Walter (thrifted)

  Here's an auto animated gif Google made when I uploaded these:

  I think the second jacket proves the denim jacket redundant, and ridiculous passants aside, I'm far more likely to wear it. Rave denim jacket is a donate.

Marooned

  My camera is crooked! Maybe these outfit pictures will look dramatic. :D

Cropped jacket: BIZZ USA (thrifted)

Shirt: BCBG (eBay)

Jewelry: Chatelaine pin (eBay), bracelet (Claire's, v.old)

Skirt: heyday (thrifted)

Coat: Via (thrifted)

Tights: MUJI USA (old)

Boots: Two Lips (thrifted)

  This blue long-sleeved BCBG shirt has a cool draping detail around the waist and a hanging down panel. I tried tucking in the rest of the shirt and letting the hanging panel out. The extra ruched fabric around the waist adds girth, but I think the overall look was interesting.

  I love blue and maroon together. In fact, I was a big fan of this whole outfit until I got out of my car and started walking to school. Then I discovered that my tights and my skirt had fallen in love on the ride over and they kept hugging. The skirt would bunch and ride up between my thighs with every step. It needs a slip. I put in a temporary fix by adding three long strips of duct tape in the front. Actually I wouldn't mind making it a permanent fix. Does duct tape stay on in the wash?

  Happy mid-week, everyone!

In Longterm Vestments

  I don't know if it's the physical and mental exhaustion from the long days, or if it's just not as much fun being constrained in what I can wear with lab four days a week, but I'm determined to have more fun dressing up on my three days off.

  When I choose my clothes and makeup, it's a bit like armor against the world outside my front door. I don't live in a hostile or dangerous environment, but I'm nervous by temperament, and having things on that make me smile and remind me of my delightful stash of stuff in my safe home helps keep me going throughout the day.

  Anyway, something clicked (or snapped, your choice of semantics and following implication) when I got home Friday and I reached for the box on my closet shelf that holds my "special occasion" garments. These are garments I don't have a practical use for but bought because they lit up the fantasy part of my brain. My upbringing never cured me of that. I'm a woman in my mid-thirties wondering I'll ever have financial stability or a permanent home. What am I saving them for?

  I live next to a city where I could wear a bathrobe or a ballgown (or both) on the bus and no one would bat an eye. I am so lucky. These items cost me about as much as everyday wear because most of them were thrifted. There's no fiscal or social reason not to wear them, really. The one who decided these things aren't part of a daily wardrobe is me, which is fine, because now I'm changing my mind. :D The practical part of me approves of this.

  On the other hand, the practical part of me is aghast because she's the one responsible for vacuuming my room, and right now there are clothes strewn all over the bed and floor. She'll deal.

  First up! A fancy black top with netting from BCBG.

   Has: boning without restricting breathing/movement, built in padding, tiny stick-on jewels on the straps, and strips of ragged lace. WIN.

  The jeans are new to me. I wouldn't be surprised if they were new, period. Picked them up at the mothership thrift store in SoMa and even after chopping off several inches for my short calves, they are still recognizably bootcut. I am thrilled. (This never happens! I love bootcuts, and by the time I'm through with them they look like straight leg. I love mermaid skirts; when I chop them to my height they are vaguely A-line.)

  And now, a leather jacket, because I love the look of jeans, boots, a leather jacket, and some kind of sexy corset-y top. Something about it seems tough and tomboyish and feminine and sexy all at once to me. I like how the lace strips from the flower still hang below the jacket waist.

  I got the jewelry from a mall travel store in downtown SF that was going out of business. It was located across the way from another travel store. They probably should have planned that better. I like it as a pseudo choker because it doesn't actually touch my throat and therefore drive me crazy. Looked up the company and it is actually a bracelet. Works both ways. :D

  I am linking up to Not Dead Yet Style's Visible Monday where style bloggers share their looks that make 'em feel rockin'.

  It was sunny earlier today:

Glue (the comic)

Top: BCBG (eBay, size 6, size 8, mystery)

Cracked Motorcycle Jacket: Laundry by Shelli Segal (gift)

Sage wrap bracelet (worn as necklace): Foxy Originals (product link)

Juniors low rise flare jeans: Levi's (thrifted)

Shoes: Candie's (thrifted)