20 Buttons

All these style blogs I see gals looking to the side instead of at the camera. I'ma try that shit, too:

Sailor buttons!

Military blazer: Bica Cheia (thrifted)

Camisole: Express

Sailor pants: Elevenses (thrifted)

Shoes: unlisted a Kenneth Cole production (thrifted)

Locket: Express (v. old)

Rings: Claire's, Brasil (v. old)

I've been wanting a pair of sailor-style trousers since I saw Megan Mae rocking them on her blog. I cackled when I found this like-new pair on the thrift rack in Daly City, and even though they were the wrong size, I factored in the tailoring cost as what I'd be willing to pay for a pair.

Goodness knows what to wear with them, though. They're higher waisted than I'm used to, and finally I hit on the idea of wearing them with this blazer, which also stops close to the natural waist. After all, what goes with 8 buttons better than 12 more buttons, amirite?

I always think this blazer has a hint of lavender in its grey. Am I crazy? Do you see it? I wore things to bring it out in case I was correct.

It's cooled off in a damn hurry here, and we even had a few seconds of rain! I feel kind of like a boor, always talking about the weather, but it really affects my outfit choices, just as much as my mood. I wondered if I'd just lost my passion for dressing for a few months there, but it's just because none of my SF clothes were made to be worn when it's more than 65F outside. :D

Dusty Autumn Rose

♫ Boooooooots weatherrrrrrrr ♪ I love the color dusty rose. I'm finally in a climate that this Pure + Good hoodie can be worn as outerwear:

Morning mist hoodie: Pure + Good (Anthropologie)

Unveiled tank: Deletta (thrifted)

Fold-down riding boots: Ros Hommerson (6pm.com)

La Guardia cloche: Goorin Bros. (sample sale)

Locket: Express

Either the outfit all works together minus the top, or the top/jeans/boots work but I need to lose the hoodie & hat. I thought since the hoodie and tank top originally came from the same place, they might play nicely together, but oh well.

The decoration on the Deletta tank top reminds me of Victorian theatre curtains:

... though I guess that means it's a show starring my boobs, which is kind of disturbing, so let's forget that for now.

In random life news, I have a Kogepan mug now! This is my favorite character of all time.

I've had a saved search on eBay for years, and finally got one shipped my way from Italy. Now Kogepan can peer into the reflective waters of whatever I am drinking and ponder the futility of existence with me.

Fedora Blues

Fedora: Stacy Adams (available online)

Top: Edme Esyllte (eBay)

Locket: Express (v. old)

Boots: ALDO (thrifted)

I still don't know how to style this fedora, but I've had it for several years now, so I'm trying it with anything, so long as it doesn't clash. I originally bought it because my boss at the time had one from this brand and I thought it looked snazzy.

I think some of the difficulty is that the fedora is a warm saturated navy, while most of my clothes are cool and low brightness/saturation.

Tried this purple Edme Esyllte top, since it also doesn't go with anything. I thought it looked kind of military/Steampunky, so I purchased it, only to have it languish in my closet because I can't find something to wear on the bottom. (Skirts don't work because of the empire waist.)

When in doubt, put a bunch of random crap you like together and show Southern OC that there are other things than workout clothes to wear! As my friend says, "You know that feeling you're having? It's called dissonance. It means learning is taking place!"

It's been 95F/35C all summer, and while there's nothing wrong with a tank top and shorts, they don't feel very dressy to me, and I haven't put together anything creative. Most of my clothes are still in storage, and blocked off by a literal ton of 80s television equipment. Sigh. Lately I've been turning on the AC for the dog and escaping to a quiet café to work during the day.

I miss my wardrobe, but I've invested a little money thrifting some things to wear in my new desert climate, to be featured soon. And while my life has been in a slump sartorially, other things are fine to dandy. :D Here's a picture of me at the 626 Night Market with the world's largest cup of boba:

Suddenly my own drink did not seem to measure up

Fresh lavender lemonade

Two really nice ladies sporting outfits from Japan

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.

Hella Cheapspensive

  This is my entry for the How I Wear My series, November edition! It's a monthly event run by Adrienne of The Rich Life (on a budget) and Jill of Everything Just So and you should check it out, because November is jeans! I am also linking up to Judith of Style Crone's Hat Attack!, a monthly linkup dedicated to that fabulous head accessory.

  I was out for August (I own literally nothing neon) and for September (the closest I had to animal print was a duck) but jeans, jeans I can do.

Navy fedora: Stacy Adams

Faux leather trim scarf: Nordstrom (online here)

Embroidered butterfly top: Karen Millen (eBay)

Hoodie: Sanctuary clothing (thrifted)

Jeans: Denim for Immortality (thrifted)

Rhinestone locket: Express (v. old)

It was windy that day

  My favorite San Francisco thrifting game is "Is this brand expensive, or hella cheap?"

  You can usually tell by construction, detailing, or material quality if something is a nicer brand or a throwaway item. And either way, I go with buying what I like over pre-thrift price. Usually it's quality of material that sells me, though I do have a favorite burnout shirt that had several small holes in it already when I thrifted it, and has continued dissolving as I have continued patching it, until one day I will have a magical garment constructed entirely from my own sewing thread.

  But sometimes, there's that intersection of lowest-bidder fabric and pre-worn soft expensive stuff that you can feel slowly disintegrating from the roughness of your plebeian fingers, and you can't quite tell which one it is. Cheap brands copy naming conventions of expensive brands, just as people name their children after the children of people with more money, so the names are going to sound the same. And that's where the game comes in. Feel free to play with your friends, especially if at least one smartphone is present* so you can look brands up. Winner should buy something the loser has to wear.

  So it was with these jeans. There were crystals on them, for one. The material was thin and stretchy. And with signage like this:

  You have to figure this would either be some expensive jeans, or something you'd see on the reality show Unstable Loud People You Feel Superior To. The crystals were subtle for well, being crystals on your ass, and I needed jeans because I shrank out of half my clothes this summer, so I bought 'em. My hunch was on fancy instead of trashy jeans.

  Check out this button! It looks like Perseus' shield! It's copper and has the head of Medusa preserved in it and everything.

  Yes, it turned out they were fancy pants. They also turned out to be extremely comfortable! And that is How I Like My: Jeans.

* This spellchecker knows 'smartphone' but not 'thrifted.' How's that for bourgeois?

Governess-esque and an aya scarf

  As promised last post, I took some closer photos of my new scarf. It's a gift from one of my dearest friends, who found custom-dyed yarn named 'aya' at a local shop. :D She knit me this gorgeous scarf out of two skeins. It is a scarf made of aya for Aya, and it cannot be beat for niftiness. I love the colors more each time I look at it.

  The foray into fancy things has been hella fun (there is a NorCalism for you all) but I've been feeling the call of a Ye Olde outfit (fantasy, not history) more and more this weekend. And some mornings you wake up and want to dress like a governess. The endless fog has put me in the mind of Heathcliff and Catherine walking on the moors. Odd, since I didn't even like that book.

  Does this jacket scream 'governess' to you? It does to me. I was surprised to find a Twenty one label when I pulled it from the thrift rack.

  I think it would go best with a long tapering skirt with a flare/bustle at the back, but I don't own one of those*, so I went with a stretch denim mermaid skirt. I love blue and brown together.

  Bare calves look kind of odd to me in Ye Olde outfits, so I added some leggings. The side lace is saucy enough that I guess I am a rebellious governess that has a pint and maybe goes dancing after work. Or a prostitute, since my hair is uncovered. Um, that got uncomfortable quickly.

  I wouldn't worry about a scandal, though. These blasted buttons are such a pain to unfasten I suspect it's the reason this garment was donated in the first place. The little loops for them are so undersized I had to yank at them with my fingernails. I've shoved pens in them to stretch them out.

  My trusty jeweled locket from Express strikes again! Strange that if I hold onto it long enough, this thing designed to look vintage will actually become vintage. Is there a term for old things that were made to look even older?

  It's another long week of huffing uphill with a giant backpack for me, but I've queued up a post for Wednesday so I won't feel left out from all of the fine folks style blogging during the week. I hope you all have a lovely week, and if your week is unlovely, that your weekend comes soon.

* The trouble, I've found, with looking for certain cuts of clothing online is that it crosses over into 'costume' territory and from there into 'fetish' really fast. I don't want to be a Victorian dominatrix, but power to anyone who does.

Governess jacket: Twenty one (thrifted)

Blouse: edme & esyllte (thrifted)

Skirt: realities (thrifted)

Jeweled locket: Express (very old)

Suede hair clip: unknown (Taiwan)

Side lace leggings: cheap junior store

Lightning boots: Naya (zappos, old)

Victoriaya

 Tried another Ye Olde style outfit today. I'm feeling a punk mood coming on, though, so tomorrow I'll probably switch it up. Nm, just got invited Steampunk shopping in the Haight tomorrow.

  I took an H&M plum velour skirt (stretchy with pockets!) and paired it with a lace button down shirt. The shirt is not opaque, so I layered it over one of my ubiquitous lace back racerback tank tops. I thought bare calves might look odd with the skirt, so I wore white side lace leggings under it, and my Naya Lightning boots.

  I really like side lace leggings. It seems like a great way to add a touch of sexiness if you're showing a few inches of leg. Too bad I have only found them sold in the cheapest of junior retail establishments, so garment construction is not stellar.

  This shirt is kind of odd- it came from another cheap junior store and the lacing in the back doesn't make sense. The narrowest part of the "corset" lacing is right under the shoulders. If you've ever tried tightening something around that area, you might notice you have these things called ribs in the way. The lacing ends where my waist begins, so there's no way to take it in around the waist at all. I like it enough to keep it, and one nebulous day when I have money and time I would like to draft a pattern and make a garment like this, only that fits.

  Now, I hear what you're saying. "Aya, this outfit works fine for people who go out and do productive things like work, but what about the everyday student anxiously frittering away the last days of vacation before a summerlong blitz of Chemistry? How could she kick this up into a costume?"  For that I say: ACCESSORIES

  Fascinators got a lot of hate in fashion articles, which is hilarious because it was one of the few times I really liked a trend. I love fascinators. I love hats, and a little fancy hat attached to a headband so for once I don't have to worry about fitting it over my big skull? Delightful!

  With my fancy hat and kid gloves I felt like I could take afternoon tea out on my balcony. I also wore sterling silver & garnet flower earrings, my trusty Express jeweled locket, and a glass bead bracelet.

  Do you find items that fit your fashion tastes or needs in unusual places? Do you find yourself dressing with a theme in mind, or do you assemble outfits in another way?

No profit on links, just love:

Shirt: Amor (similar with sleeves or sleeveless)

Skirt: H&M (thrifted)

Leggings: zenana outfitters (similar)

Boots: Naya Lightning (old)

Fascinator: Cara New York (old)

Jewelry: Express locket, glass bracelet from Paris, old earrings