So long, Farwell, Auf Wiedersehen, Good night … a recap of the skirt-a-day challenge!
Day 10: Copy Cat
Bowling Shirt: Vintage Skirt: love 21(forever 21) Shoes: DSW Bag: market in Ecuador Earrings: thrift
And so we meet the last day of the skirt challenge. I’m excited. I have to say I’m glad I took the challenge, it made me really think about the skirts in my wardrobe and how to style them, but I’m also glad it’s over. Now I can post pants and dresses!! Get ready. Anyway I had a hard time thinking of an icon/designer look I wanted to copy. But this morning when I woke up, at a ridiculously early hour, I suddenly had it, Enid from Ghost World! I’ve loved the movie Ghost World since I first watched it in middle school and have even read one of the comic the story is based on. While watching it I totally fell in love with Enid. Not only is she a busty four-eyes but she’s funny, sarcastic and had a great sense of style. I was totally in love with everything Enid especially her clothes and room decor. When it comes to style icons most of mine have pretty edgy/funky style. I’d say my style is classic with a little bit of funk, so I always look to celebrities and other style icons with funky/edgier taste to get ideas on how to incorporate their look into mine. I think Enid’s look has three basic qualities: Vintage, color and pattern. Her style is an eclectic mix of 70’s punk and 60’s mod that I’m just in love with and is reasonably on trend. Peter pan collars, plaid, leather jackets, skinny jeans, funky t-shirts, docs and mod inspired clothing are all things you can pick up in almost any retail or thrift store right now.
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| Enid’s different looks from the movie |
So when I decided to choose Enid as my style icon I googled her to check out some of the outfits from the movie. I found the pictures I was looking for but I also found out that British designer Luella did a spring/summer 2008 collection of Enid inspired clothes. I checked out the runway show online and was even more inspired! I definitely have at least 3 Enid inspired looks besides this one that I’ll be posting soon. I think one of the great things about Enid’s style is the incorporation of t-shirts. As my style has evolved I’ve found it harder to incorporate crew neck t-shirts into my wardrobe stylishly. As someone whose pretty busty and has a rather short neck I tend to veer away from them, but I have a ton of cool crew neck t-shirts that I’ve gotten from school etc. that I’d love to incorporate into my wardrobe. Luckily Enid is an avid fan of the crew neck t-shirt and gives totally amazing inspiration on how to rock a crew neck.
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| Some of my favorite looks from Luella’s SS 2008 Enid inspired collection. |
On to the outfit! Enid wears a lot of cool graphic skirts, like the green one on the movie poster, but I don’t really have any that compare. Instead of copying Enid’s style I went with an outfit inspired by it. To me a main component of Enid style is vintage. A year or so ago I found this vintage bowling shirt in a pile of my mom’s vintage clothes. I knew it was cool but I didn’t really know how to style it. Then today I knew Enid’s style would work effortlessly with this top. In my dream world I would have paired it with a more graphic printed skirt, maybe something in a plaid, but I don’t have any plaid skirts so I opted for this magenta skirt that appeals to Enid’s use of bright colors. If I went 100% Enid on this outfit I would have added my leather Jacked and Docs but it’s was an unseasonably hot day, 70 degrees, and I haven’t broken my Docs in yet. The last time I wore them it took them less than 10 minutes to tear apart my heels. Anyway when the weather cools off I’ll definitely do more Enid inspired looks and post them here. In the mean time I’ll be looking for more cool t-shirts, patterned skirts, big nerdy glasses, mod inspired clothes and more vintage, to really amp up the Enid-spiration. Lastly here’s a video of the opening to Ghost World, I can’t get this song or there urge to dance around to it out of my mind!
Day 9: To the beach
Dress, leggings and Belt: Target Shoes:DSW Cardigan: Vintage
OK so I have to admit i’ve been stalling on this one for awhile. Partly because I don’t go the beach much and partly because it’s Fall and dressing like i’m going to the beach sounds cold. So this outfit is more what i’d wear to the beach today, October 1, 2011. I’m also cheating a little since technically this is a dress and not a skirt. But, it’s dress that’s made to look like a skirt, I have a belt and cardigan on so it looks more like seperates and finally if I was going to the beach i’d probably wear a dress anyway so I would only have to deal with one item.
I wore this dress to go check out an antique/vintage sale in north Minneapolis. The sale was cool, there were some pretty cool items and good prices but nothing, that I could afford, really grabbed me. There were these cool mid century 60’s lamps that I really liked but they were $145.00 and though worth it a little too expensive for me. I took these pictures in my backyard in an attempt at getting better quality photos and better light. For some reason all the ones I liked are a little silly and all are at various locations in an attempt to find the best place with the best sun. I’ll probably try and take more photos outside, weather permitting, since you can’t beat that natural light.
Anyway I got this dress two years ago at target after deciding I needed more dresses in my life. I’m pretty on the fence about the dress that looks like a skirt and top thing though. I like this dress but I think a lot of this style of dresses can look kind of cheap. I don’t like the look of the elastic band so I always try to dress it up with a more interesting belt and generally when I look at these dresses I like the bottom more than the top and would rather they had just made the skirt. I suppose I could cut off the top but it just seems like such a waste. I do though like both the top and bottom to this dress. The top is a nice coral color and the fabric of the skirt reminds me of a dress I had in the 90’s. The cropped camel cardigan is 100% cashmere and vintage. I’m totally in love with this cardigan. Not only is it extremely warm it’s neutral so I can, and do , wear it with everything. Prepare to see this piece a lot because I like to add it to a lot of outfits in the Fall/winter months.
So I still don’t know what I’m gonna do for the last part of the skirt challenge but I’m gonna do some googling and hopefully have the final skirt challenge outfit for you tomorrow.
DAY 8: Casual
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| gratuitous cute cat picture |
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| detail of the skirt pattern |
Top and Skirt: Thrift Belt: Target Shoes: DSW
This is probably one of my favorite outfits of the whole skirt challenge. I’ve worn this outfit, as is and in a variety of different incarnations, way more than I should have since getting the skirt. I got this skirt two weeks ago in Eau Claire, WI when my mom and I randomly took a mini road trip to the Leinenkugel Brewery in Chippewa Falls, WI. Despite it being early September, all the Halloween stuff was out and of course that means the vintage rack, that usually is pretty lack luster in the Savers I usually frequent, was stuffed. I found this skirt there, it’s navy blue with little yellow stars on it. Surprisingly it’s super on trend, it’s not only a midi skirt it also has one of the trendy prints of the season, stars. At first I was going to pair it with the bright yellow shirt I wore for the color block challenge but I just wasn’t feeling being that bright. So I paired it with this lovely grey t-shirt that I paid a little too much for at Unique Thrift Store, but loved too much to not get it. I like the color and the fact that it has some interesting texture/pattern to it, something that makes it a little more interesting than your regular grey t-shirt.
I wore this outfit to go to an Estate Sale in Austin, MN. I had seen a sale online and it looked like it had pretty good stuff and my mom and I are always up for a mini road trips, as long as the weathers nice, so we got up early and went. It took about two or so hours to get to Austin and well we probably won’t be going back. We went to the Estate sale and everything was ridiculously overpriced. We came on the last day of the Sale so everything was 50% off but there was still a lot of stuff despite the fact that it was the third day of the sale. I found some clothes I was interested including a black 80’s dress with a sequin embellished neckline. But, when we went to check out the lady told me, very rudely, that instead of being $2.50 the dress would be $20.00 because it was embellished. Turns out the rack where I had gotten the dress had other 80’s embellished sequin tops and that dress and instead of originally being $5.00 like the rest of the stuff on the rack they were $40.00 or so because of the embellishment. The problem? they’re ugly 80’s sequin shirts! They’re not in style and only some people are really interested in wearing them in a sort of ironic-y fashion. I have a similar old lady 80’s sequin cardigan that I bought at the Salvation Army for like $3.00. Needless to say the prices were ridiculous and I wouldn’t be surprised if they still had a bunch of stuff left over after the sale ended. Anyway after that we explored Austin a bit, which kinda smells like Ham/Spam due to the Hormel plant near by. The town was ok and we ended up stopping for lunch at a Mexican Restaurant that was nice. But after that we decided to split. The lovely interactions we had with the ladies at the sale left a bad taste in our mouths so we left and went back home. When we got back we went to another Estate sale in a town closer to home and found some really cool stuff which we ended up paying a total of $40.00 for on the last day of the sale, way less then we would have spent at the sale in Austina and for way better stuff. Guess we won’ be going to anymore Estate sales in Austin.
Day 7: Flower Power
Shirt: Old Navy Skirt: Kohls Shoes: Target
So if you adhere to the no white after labor day rule fret not I wore this labor day weekend and therefore broke no rules, though I don’t really believe in fashion rules and will wear white whenever I feel like it. This is another outfit comprised of clothes I’ve had for years and never really wear much. I used to wear the shirt a lot but it’s seen better days and isn’t really that great to begin with so it’s sort of relegated to the back of my closet. In the beginning I was going to pair this skirt with a red and grey striped top but I decided it looked better with a solid top and this was one of the few ones that had a color that really worked with the skirt. The skirt I bought two years ago in a little pre-study abroad shopping trip. I went to Ecuador in spring 2009 for study abroad and wasn’t really sure what the climate would be like so I figured I should have some items I could wear if I went somewhere really warm and/or had to be a little bit more put together. My program was based in Quito where it’s pretty much like spring most of the year and layering was a must. I did go to warmer parts of the country but ultimately never wore the skirt. When I got back this got pushed to the back of my closet and I kind of forgot about it until this challenge came along and I rediscovered it. I really like this skirt, it has kind of a 50’s-esque vibe which I always like and the print is kind of fun and interesting. I didn’t really wear it much this summer but I’ll definitely be wearing it more summer ’12. This skirt has also made me a bit Ecuador nostalgic, I had such a good time there, if you’re thinking of studying abroad in Latin America I definitely would look into programs in Ecuador. Anyway since I’m feeling nostalgic and recently spoke with my host niece/little sister Manuela I figured I’d also post a picture from Ecuador. Enjoy!
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| View of the Panicillo (Virgin of Quito, on the hill) from the Basilica in Quito |
Day 6: Make it Classy add a blazer
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| Tang and my shoes |
Blazer & Belt: Target Shirt: Old Navy Skirt: Thrift Shoes: DSW
Sorry for this slightly delayed post, I wore this and couple other outfits the last few weeks and took pictures this weekend but we changed internet providers and had a mini lapse in internet for few days. Anyway we’re back up and running and I have a bunch of skirt challenge outfits to post and will hopefully be wrapping up this challenge soon.
On to the clothes! I wore this outfit to get up really early on a Saturday and try and get some amazing things at the final day of an estate sale. I totally lucked out and got all the pieces I wanted, about eight things for $40 bucks, all of which I’ll show you in an up coming A Sale-ing We Shall Go. Most of this outfit I’ve had for a really long time. The blazer I think I’ve had for roughly five years and never really worn. I’ve never really been much of a blazer person, I think they look amazing on a lot of people and can really pull an outfit together but I’ve just never really gravitated towards them. I bought this one because I’m an avid What Not to Wear fan and Stacy and Clinton always praise a good blazer. Anyway I think I may be a convert now, I really like how the blazer pulled together the outfit and I think i’ll have to start giving them more of a chance. The skirt was originally an 80’s dress I got at Savers a couple years ago in a very last minute decision. I liked the color and pattern so I just decided to get it. When I got home I tried to twerk it and make it work as a dress but it just wasn’t cutting it, so a year or so ago I cut my losses and made it into a skirt. I think I made the right decision. It’s a lot more versitle as a skirt and I really like it. The only slight downfall is it’s kinda sheer. It could probably use a slip but the only one I have is really long so I just wore it as is, I figure I don’t really care if in the right sunlight you can kinda see the outline of my hips.
Anyway you may have noticed a little furry friend at the bottom of a few of the pictures, that’s one of the two cats behind Black Cat Lies, my fur baby Tang. Usually when i’m taking pictures she wonders what the hell i’m doing and comes over to meow at me and rub against my legs. As you can see she’s not a black cat but she’s adorable so you can’t really complain too much. The other cat behind BCL is Diamond who isn’t really a black cat, she’s a torise shell, but she’s mostly black so just go with it. You’ll probably see more Tang pictures in the future since I can’t resist a gratuitous cute cat picture and she always seems to be following me around when I take outfit pictures You probably wont see as much of Diamond, she’s not as much of a ham but i’ll try and post pictures of her too.
Day 5: One skirt two looks
DAY NIGHT
Day Night:
Skirt and Shirt: thrift Skirt and Shirt : Thrift
Shoes and Belt: Target Belt and Necklace: Target
Shoes: Urban Outfitters
Is it me or did summer just wiz by? I can hardly believe it’s already september, sheesh. It seems the weather has caught on to the change in season as well. Last week it went from the 90’s to almost needing a jacket/sweater. Though I do miss the longer days and warmer weather I have to admit I’m a little excited for fall. I’m ready for layers, leather and BOOTS!! It is my mission to find at least one pair of amazing boots that I will promptly wear all the time. I’ve already been looking around but I have big calves and a good pair of boots can be hard, and sometimes expensive, to find. So the search continues.
Anyway I wore this outfit awhile ago (in August actually) to go visit my grandpa and run some errands. As you can see I’m color blocking again! This is the skirt I previously mentioned that I got while thrifting. It’s a purple Go International knit pencil skirt. I think it was originally from target, though I don’t remember ever seeing it in store. I love the skirt it’s fun, colorful and I think it could work with a variety of different looks. I found this shirt at my favorite thrift store this summer when they were having an odd not on a holiday 50% off sale. By the time I got to the store it was pretty picked over but I managed to find two t-shirts. This is my favorite of the two, I’m obsessed with this shirt and it’s red/orange color. A great t-shirt really is a staple for any wardrobe since you can dress it up or down in millions of ways. I didn’t drastically change this outfit because it think it translates pretty seamlessly from day to night with few tweaks. You could wear the day version at night and the night version during the day but I figured I’d style it both ways so you get a good visual. For day I stayed with minimal accessories and flats, for night I dressed it up a bit with black heels and gold necklace. I love this outfit and I’m pretty confident it can also translate well to fall/winter. Add some tights, boots and maybe a leather jacket and you’ve got a great outfit for fall as well.
DAY 4: mini skirt
Shirt: Old Navy Skirt: ASOS Belt: Target Shoes: Thrift
First of all I want to apologize for the lack of posts this month. August has turned out to be a slightly chaotic month for me so far. About two weeks ago my grandpa had open heart surgery so I was a bit preoccupied with that. He’s fine now his surgery went well and he’s back at home and eating some solid food. Anyway I have a good amount of content to post in the near future including more of the skirt challenge and a thrift haul, so stay tuned ! Can you believe summer’s almost over? It’s kinda sad really. I like fall though, especially since I’m no longer in school and don’t have to prepare myself for impending studying/ paper writing. I’m especially excited about fall fashion, I’ve already thrifted a few pieces that I can’t really wear until fall and am excited to get to wear a leather jacket that I bought this spring but only really got to wear once. The only bad thing about fall is that it’s too short and eventually leads to winter, but I digress.
Anyway on to the outfit! This is probably the only part of the skirt challenge I was a bit nervous about. Though I’m pretty open to all skirts, the mini skirt is the one I have the hardest time with. Not because I don’t like them, I’m just not used to wearing them and I see them more as a night thing. Part of it is the length, I’m not super comfortable just yet wearing such a short skirt with no leggings or tights underneath. Anyway since I’m fairly broke and aren’t going out much it was a bit hard for me to put together a mini skirt outfit. A lot of people are able to style mini skirts casually but I just haven’t gotten to that point yet. In fact I only have one mini skirt, the leopard one above, so that also contributes to the mini skirt dilemma. So, while trying to figure out how to style my one mini I noticed a bunch of bloggers doing the neutral and neon trend and decided to give it a try. Since I’ve heard from various fashion talking heads that leopard print is considered a neutral and I knew I had a really bright pink shirt I could pair it I figured I’d give the neon and neutral trend a whirl. I tried to style the outfit pretty casually since I wasn’t going anywhere special and I wore my new thrifted wedges for the heels. I have to admit despite my intentions I think the outfit doesn’t look very casual and is maybe a bit more night appropriate. Anyway lets talk about the shoes for a minute. I’m kind of in love with these shoes. I have a harder time finding cute shoes when I go thrifting. I have fairly small feet and it seems the section with my size is fairly picked over or pretty small a lot of the time. But a couple of weeks ago I found these at Savers and had to get them. I love the look of heels/wedges but I rarely ware them and am not so confident walking in them. But, these are actually pretty comfy and probably a good baby step to getting more confident with heels. All in all I’m pretty pleased with how this outfit turned out and I think I’ll be doing more neon and neutral in the future.
DAY 4: mini skirt
Shirt: Old Navy Skirt: ASOS Belt: Target Shoes: Thrift
First of all I want to apologize for the lack of posts this month. August has turned out to be a slightly chaotic month for me so far. About two weeks ago my grandpa had open heart surgery so I was a bit preoccupied with that. He’s fine now his surgery went well and he’s back at home and eating some solid food. Anyway I have a good amount of content to post in the near future including more of the skirt challenge and a thrift haul, so stay tuned ! Can you believe summer’s almost over? It’s kinda sad really. I like fall though, especially since I’m no longer in school and don’t have to prepare myself for impending studying/ paper writing. I’m especially excited about fall fashion, I’ve already thrifted a few pieces that I can’t really wear until fall and am excited to get to wear a leather jacket that I bought this spring but only really got to wear once. The only bad thing about fall is that it’s too short and eventually leads to winter, but I digress.
Anyway on to the outfit! This is probably the only part of the skirt challenge I was a bit nervous about. Though I’m pretty open to all skirts, the mini skirt is the one I have the hardest time with. Not because I don’t like them, I’m just not used to wearing them and I see them more as a night thing. Part of it is the length, I’m not super comfortable just yet wearing such a short skirt with no leggings or tights underneath. Anyway since I’m fairly broke and aren’t going out much it was a bit hard for me to put together a mini skirt outfit. A lot of people are able to style mini skirts casually but I just haven’t gotten to that point yet. In fact I only have one mini skirt, the leopard one above, so that also contributes to the mini skirt dilemma. So, while trying to figure out how to style my one mini I noticed a bunch of bloggers doing the neutral and neon trend and decided to give it a try. Since I’ve heard from various fashion talking heads that leopard print is considered a neutral and I knew I had a really bright pink shirt I could pair it I figured I’d give the neon and neutral trend a whirl. I tried to style the outfit pretty casually since I wasn’t going anywhere special and I wore my new thrifted wedges for the heels. I have to admit despite my intentions I think the outfit doesn’t look very casual and is maybe a bit more night appropriate. Anyway lets talk about the shoes for a minute. I’m kind of in love with these shoes. I have a harder time finding cute shoes when I go thrifting. I have fairly small feet and it seems the section with my size is fairly picked over or pretty small a lot of the time. But a couple of weeks ago I found these at Savers and had to get them. I love the look of heels/wedges but I rarely ware them and am not so confident walking in them. But, these are actually pretty comfy and probably a good baby step to getting more confident with heels. All in all I’m pretty pleased with how this outfit turned out and I think I’ll be doing more neon and neutral in the future.
Day 3: Color Block!!!
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| Action shot |
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| Scarf worn as headband |
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| Close up of scarf |
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| Purse and shoes |
Top: Target (last year) Skirt: Forever 21 Shoes and Scarf: vintage via my mom
Bag: Karmaloop ( 4 or so years ago)
So finally we’re at color blocking! Color Blocking is my favorite trend this spring/summer. I never shy away from a bright colors in both clothing and home decor. The only problem I had was although I have a lot of brightly colored clothing most of them are tops. But I was determined to try this trend so I went to a thrift store to look specifically for a brightly colored bottom. Miraculously I found a skirt that fit perfectly on the first try, a purple knit pencil skirt. Alas when I got home, giddy to pair it with some of my bright tops, I realized I didn’t like any of the color combinations. My color blocking dreams were dashed. Then, while planning out outfits for this challenge, I came across this Rachel Roy runway picture while googling color blocking and was instantly inspired.
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| Rachel Roy color blocking. Image via google. |
I was initially drawn to this image because of the bright yellow shirt, I knew I had a bright yellow shirt similar to it that I got at target last year. Then, when studying the image further, I realized I had a skirt that was a similar color to the one above as well. Earlier this year I was obsessed with finding the perfect pair of cat eye sunglasses and did eventually find a perfect pair at forever 21. I made a trip to try and find the pair in store but had no luck. Since I didn’t want to pay shipping for only two pairs of sunglasses I also got this magenta skirt that I’d been drooling over for months. I like the skirt OK, It’s from forever 21’s love 21 line and it doesn’t go above a large, but since it has a latticed stretchy back I figured I could make it work. While it works OK it does ride up a bit and exposes the oh so sexy (sarcasm) black shorts I wear underneath. Anyway last week in a 50% off stroke of luck at a thrift store I found the perfect red orange shirt to pair with the purple pencil skirt, and eventually I’ll do a post with that outfit. But, as yesterday was Saturday and all I was doing was window shopping in antique and vintage stores with my bestie the pencil skirt seemed a bit too dressy. Thus, I opted for my original color blocking inspiration. I have to admit I pretty proud of the outfit, I love the way the magenta and bright yellow go together and the turquoise/ green accents in my scarf, shoes and bag. Over all I had a pretty successful day I color blocked to my hearts content, found out a vintage store I like has a second location a couple blocks away from my house and I got to spend good quality time with my bestie. All in all a very successful day!