Subtle Copper

  Today's long gloves are from my new Christmas stash and I'm linking to Spygirl's 52 Pick-me-up challenge: Mixed metallics.

  I own two metallic things in my wardrobe. These here be one of 'em:

Sweater: Gap (thrifted)

Jeans: 7 for all Mankind (gift from brother)

Gloves: Ozz Angelo (gift from Mom)

Boots: ALDO (thrifted)

  The birds and accents are copper, instead of gold, as I thought from the photo. It was too warm in SoCal to wear the double-layer wrap (leading me as always to question my wisdom in moving away), but I'm sure to wear it as soon as I'm back home. Here's a photo of the grey and teal version, from the OzzOn Japan website:

  To make sure I qualified for the challenge I wore a mixed metal earring I piked fromfound in my mother's jewelry box to contrast with my cartilage ring.

  We're having a heat wave down here, and it's been as high as 80 degrees some days. I brought SF summer clothes down and they are too much. Haha. It's so nice, even if my mother's deathly afraid of getting a suntan in winter. (Pantene commercial moment: Don't hate me because I'm warm.) I hope you all are staying toasty where you are!

Pinstripe Jumper

  I'm indoors studying for finals this week, so my outfits will continue to be casual for the next few posts.

Pinstripe dress: Gap (thrifted)

Purple shirt: Express (thrifted)

Belt: Kimchi Blue (thrifted)

Boots: ALDO (thrifted)

Necklace: Japan

  This thrifted pinstripe dress is really boxy on me. I need to take in all of the darts, but I also hate sewing, so I added a belt, layered up, and tried making the dress a jumper, instead. I'm loathe to give up the handy pockets!

  Now that I think of it, I should have layered the jumper over my jodhpurs to make this outfit more fun to say. And somehow added juniper. I need all the amusement I can get.

  ... help! I'm so bored, guys! The papers I'm reading for this class are so stuffed with technical jargon that I want to cry.

  Someone named a table "Comparison between Femora and Predicted Loading Angle from Static Free-body Analyses of Single Leg Stance and the Magnitude-weighted Average Load Direction from Density-based Load Estimation." I wanna predict loading angle of my bootheels after I finish my last final and blow this popsicle stand.

  If you have an interesting story or tidbit, please share. I will be forever grateful. :D

Style or Die! challenge: Triple Five Soul vest

  Outfit 1 is everyday steampunk using the Triple Five Soul pinstripe vest:

Vest: Triple Five Soul (clothing swap)

Skirt: Ann Taylor (Megan Mae)
Aristocrat coat: CAbi (thrifted)

Lightning boots: Naya (gift, old) 8.5W on eBay

Rhinestone locket: Express (very old)

Grey shirt: Gap maternity (thrifted)

  I like this one so much I will link to Patti's next Visible Monday at Not Dead Yet style. :D

  I don't know much about the brand CAbi, save it's probably not Japanese, because kabi in the Japanese language means mold. I found out from Google images that this is called the Aristocrat coat. It's 100% merino wool and a teal color. I love it already.

  The skirt is brand new to me, having just received it in the post from Megan Mae! It's just the color I like, fits me at the waist (fantastic since I outshrank most of my skirts while in school) and has layers of ruffles that can be bustled up. Here I used a safety pin to take up the front. I think it's going to become a wardrobe staple really fast. :D

  If you've followed my blog for any amount of time, you'll notice I have a lot of vests. Most are thin and meant to layer under jackets. This one's is thick and double-layered, as well as longer and wider at the shoulders. It has to be worn as a top layer because jackets over it make me look like a fullback. Thin overcoats seem ok. I think it needs mid-length skirts at or near the natural waist so as not to look like office wear. Time will tell if this is too narrow a set of constraints.

  Tried this outfit with other vests and the proportions don't work as well. And it's *warm*. I ended up sweating while writing in my apartment, which is a good sign. For now, I think this one is a keep.

Brown Coat

  I don't know if it was Salazar's comment about beloved defunct show Firefly the other day, but today I felt like going for a little Ye Olde and a little Western in my outfit. It's my way of breaking up the jeans every day pattern and having something comfortable enough to get my car serviced and study all day in.

  Today's shirt thingy (Diesel, thrifted) is a tunic, I think, so I also wore my thrifted Diesel coat. If they're the same brand, they have to look good together, right? I think this also counts as mixing black and brown. I hear that's a style thing. Do my eyes plus hair also count?

  I had all the fun of a dramatic thigh slit without any of the stress of having a slab of my thigh hanging around in public. I love my quads more than anything, but the world is not ready for that much wushu power just yet.

 I also wore a big square scarf because when Diesel says xs, they are not messing around. I can only fasten two buttons of the coat. This tunic is also defies any attempt at covering bra straps. I'm starting to think these clothes are intended for lanky European models making duckfaces so they can cut glass with their cheekbones.

I did my best, but the coat was not fooled.

  I really liked these buttons and how it looked like I could adjust the strap length so as not to get armpit-garroted. Alas, the button holes below it are tiny and decorative. Easy fix with a seam ripper, though.

  Thank you guys for reading and blogging. It's my pick-me-up during the superlong days of chemistry all week. :D

Coat and tunic: Diesel (both thrifted)

Pinstripe trousers: Gap (thrifted)

Platform shoes: Candie's (thrifted)

Sage wrap bracelet: Foxy Originals (item link)
Scarf: H&M (old)