Hardware Store Outfit

So, turns out I'd been wearing the same yoga pants and sweatshirt for the better part of four days. Off and on, I mean; I showered, and went for a run in my running duds, and there were pajamas here and there. I'm about to run errands now, though, and conceivably I could go out in the yoga pants and sweatshirt, but really, it's time. Time to move on. 

I have deemed this a good outfit for the hardware store. Jackie O wore something vaguely similar in Capri, I will wear this to OSH. 

The shirt is from a clothing exchange, the pants and sandals are from a chichi consignment shop and were bought on clearance, though not at the same time. The cuff I got on vacation in Mexico. They're little clam shells with beads on a fabric band, and some shells have broken but I don't care, I love it all the same. 

How To Dress For The Grocery Store In Six Easy Steps

Most mornings, getting dressed is not much of a process. Although I'm not a morning person and typically am in a state of deep confusion while getting dressed, I still usually somehow manage to put clothes on correctly the first try.

Occasionally, though, there's a more extended, trial and error process typically involving periods of tucking in a shirt then pulling it back out, switching garments inside out, upside down, and/or backwards, experimenting with multiple belts, and the inevitable tying of some belt thing around my head. If you see me wearing a head scarf, there's a 70% chance I'd tried wearing the scarf as a belt first.

Monday morning was one of those mornings. Well, ok, it wasn't actually the morning, it was afternoon. I spent the real morning in yoga pants and a sweatshirt, and didn't get dressed until I realized, after several imploring visits to the fridge, that really, truly, I had nothing to eat, nothing was going to spontaneously materialize no matter how many times I looked, and that yes, like it or not, I would have to go to the grocery store.

As I was putting away laundry that morning (while wearing said yoga pants), I was inspired by this shirt, a hand-me-down gift from a friend that's a great color and feels light and breezy on, but is surprisingly difficult to wear. It's carnation red with these faded purple leopardy spots, and it struck me I'd like to see it with the red, pink, and purple chevron-striped skirt I got from a thrift store. Spots and stripes! Right?

Spots! Stripes! Color! Yes!

Or rather, no.

Uh, no. So, so schlumfy. I could tuck it in, or try… A BELT!

Nope.

Maybe try the belt backwards?

I mean... maybe?...

I got the belt from a clothing exchange, and although I put in on regularly, it never makes it past this stage. It's never left the room even. I just don't understand belts. Other people wear them just fine. It's just a strip of material around the waist. Pants even have loops for them. And yet, I don't know. Every time I put one on, it seems, like, off.

But what about if I tucked the shirt in and wore a belt. And what if the belt was this awesome old scarf I pinched from the Killing My Lobster costume department?

Not terrible! Pretty good actually!

It was getting there. I was reminded a bit of Dolce & Gabbana's vintage Sicilian-inspired spring 2013 ready-to-wear collection , which was a fantastic move in the right direction, but it still felt a little uptight and looked a little loose for my mood. To tighten up the shape and loosen the feel, I opened the shirt's top and bottom buttons, tied the bottom, rolled up the sleeves, pulled up the skirt up past my natural waist, and there it was.

Awww yeeeaaahhh.

With Dolce & Gabbana in mind - and out of habit - I tied the scarf around my head, threw on some chunky old saint medals of my mom's, grabbed a basket and called it done. The basket is from one of those stores that sells samples, deadstock, damaged goods, etc., and the sandals were bought new at the mall.

It's Another Late-Night I'm Wearing Your Clothes. Funny How That Happens.

I was on my way home from a gig with my band, Have Special Power, when I realized I was in a perfect I'm Wearing Your Clothes outfit. The brown vinyl pants you may recognize as the Magic Pants, discovered magically - spiritually, even - at a thrift store. The teeny ultra suede jacket is from a clothing exchange. The beloved, vegan, McBeth shoes I got unworn and hella cheap from a buy-sell-trade shop. A dear friend made the tanktop. The bracelets were bought new - one from a boutique in Marin, one from a boutique near my neighborhood in Oakland, and one from a friend's boutique in Vieques, Puerto Rico. And lastly, the bass is a hand-me-down gift from my little brother and frankly is a prop; though it's my most dearly beloved and the bass I practice on regularly, it needs some repair work, so I played one of our guitarist's basses at the gig tonight. 

And what a gig it was, my first with the band. I hope it sounded as good as it felt - aggressive, exuberant, loud. Some four hours later I'm still blissed-out, sitting on my couch tapping this on my phone with my ears still ringing. Thank you infinitely to everyone who came out, and thank you to my darling bandmates, Andy and Chris. Here's to more, more, more!

I'm Not A Lumberjack, And I'm Ok

That thing where you're trying to take your outfit selfie & you realize your hair's coming undone, but it ends up being the best pic in the bunch anyway? That happened. 

Also, I've claimed multiple times today I'm dressed like a lumberjack. As you can see, that's a bald-faced lie. I am, however, wearing a couple garments with loggish buttons. The shirt - which was my mom's and, like me, is from the 70s - came to me buttonless, so I added the little log toggles - loggles - I found on etsy. The faux-shearling jacket is from a clothing swap, and also came a few buttons short. I like the loggles so much, I got some cross-cut stick buttons - stumptons? No. Butticks? Anyway - from etsy, and there you have it - lumberjack! Ok not really. 

The jeans were a hand me down gift, the shoes thrift.

Sacrebleu! Gothic Hotpants!

I read on Twitter this morning today, May 22, is World Goth Day, and since it's also Throwback Thursday, it seems like a good time to pull out these photos I've been sitting on for the last three weeks. Do you remember that one time, three weeks ago... anyway. 

First, a disclaimer: these shorts are not blue. They're parrot green, same as the socks. But even after a quick trip through Photoshop, they still show up blue. Please use your imagination to color-correct. Thank you. 

Second, I am not pulling them up, I'm holding my suspenders. These shorts just fit that way.  Ahem.

Third, I did indeed leave the house in this outfit. Three weeks ago, I went to Death Guild, that old gothic chestnut and perennial San Francisco institution, for a friend's birthday, and this is what I wore. 

I used to go to goth clubs regularly and frequently, though I never much identified as a goth. A friend I used to go out with said we were gravers - goth ravers; had we been in New York, I bet we'd have been club kids. Regardless the title, we used the pageantry of the goth club as an excuse to wear costumes while dancing to good music. 

My personal costuming angle was to eschew the all-black look and dress colorfully. It was a conceptual decision I guess, probably some act of rebellion against gothic convention though frankly at this point I don't remember. But it was fun and lead to more than one occasion of being the belle of the ball (probably because I was the only person in the darkened club with a visible outfit). 

I've had these wonderful, colorful velour tap shorts for ages. They were a hand-me-down gift from a friend. The crisp white shirt is thrift. I think the suspenders are from H&M but it's possible I picked them up at a shop by the Santa Monica pier like twenty years ago. The shoes - oh my beloved Frankenstein shoes! - are also ancient and historical; I got them in the Stonestown Mall in 2000 when I was working as a gift wrapper at Nordstrom's. The scarf is from Clair's Boutique, another mall score, and is secretly the greatest because the patern is a gazillion tiny skull-&-bones, and the fabric is a silky acetate that drapes so perfectly. For the warm layer, I wore this three-quarter sleeve velveteen jacket I found at my favorite thrift store, and carried this redonk little death rock purse I've had since the dawn of time and probably also got at the mall. 

The "warm layer".

Detail of the scarf. Right? Right!

White Shoe, Green Shoe.

I'm not a white shoe wearer. Folks say, "no white shoes after Labor Day." And I'm like, "no white shoes before Labor Day, either." Today, though, I wish I had white shoes. Went full matchy-matchy monochrome with the green, though, which were bought new. 

My aunt got me the dress from a thrift shop in Palm Springs. Belt is also thrift, bracelet is clothing exchange. The frames I bought new in SoHo NYC; the money I save on new clothes I spend on copious pairs of expensive glasses. 

The Uniform

Yesterday was long & at the end of it all, I still felt good about this outfit, which is a strong sign of wearing the right thing. Even stronger sign: this was the third day this week I've worn these jeans & shoes. They're turning into something of a uniform. 

The shoes are thrift, the jeans a hand-me-down gift. The belt is from a buy-sell-trade shop, the shirt is from a clothing exchange, & the hat I bought new about twelve years ago at Sears in downtown Oakland.