the clothes 2011

When this little black dress from ASOS arrived in the mail I was really disappointed with the quality of the fabric. While I was contemplating sending it back I saw this dress and fell in love. Suddenly my imperfect little black dress seemed like a perfect excuse to experiment. Initially I wanted to buy the lightning and heart shapes as patches from my local craft store, but the right size and dimensions were nowhere to be found. After much fruitless searching I purchased red and yellow felt and cut the shapes myself. A few quick stitches later and my dress was complete. Now, I'm itching to start and finish some of the other DIY ideas I've been collecting in the past few months.

And providence that I just got a new lightning strike ring from Modcloth, no? I actually like this ring so much I wish I had two and could wear one on each hand simultaneously; it reminds me of superheroes and comic books.

Outfit details:

customized ASOS dress

Strike Twice ring c/o Modcloth

The Quotation airplane ring

Deena & Ozzy wedges

Juicy Couture purse via Gilt

Way back in the dark ages of my youth (junior high to exact) I had a red hooded winter coat that could never be considered stylish, but I loved. Part of the love came from the fact that when I wore said coat, a certain friend would sing "Hey there, little red riding hood; you sure are looking good" to me. There's nothing like a serenade to cement the beauty of an outfit. Of course, I eventually grew out of that jacket (more figuratively than literally, unfortunately...), so I like to think of my discovery of this coat on Shopruche as providence. It comes with a detachable hood, which I removed in order to wear my sequin beret.

A good bit of contrast, no? Little black dress with glam neckline details, ridiculous white tights, and a rugged plaid coat on top...I'm fairly certain none of these things were intended to be worn together, but somehow I'm 'making it work.' Fall weather certainly encourages unlikely combinations.

These tights are a DIY and I wrote a little tutorial for them over at World Ugly on Chictopia. They were inspired by the Emilio Cavalli tights I've been seeing online.

Little Red Riding Hood,

I don't think little big girls should,

Go walking in these spooky old woods alone.

What big eyes you have,

The kind of eyes that drive wolves mad.

So just to see that you don't get chased,

I think I ought to walk with you for a ways.

I'm gonna keep my sheep suit on,

Until I'm sure that you've been shown

That I can be trusted walking with you alone.

Outfit details: beret- vintage, coat and dress- Shopruche, tights- DIY, shoes- Pineapple Express, necklace- Anirtak

There's nothing quite like sitting on the floor of your dorm room at 1:00am watching Spartacus and cutting up an old tee shirt to make a ruffle trim on your American Apparel U-back dress...or so I hear.
Outfit details: dress- American Apparel (customized by me), skirt- American Apparel, tights- Walmart, shoes- Urban Outfitters, sunglasses- Urban Outfitters, jacket- Urban Outfitters

The single most worn item in my wardrobe has to be this Urban Outfitters tan jacket. I've had it for more than three years and bought it on sale for $12, after coveting it for months! It has been to a lot of places with me and never disappoints.

I don't know when the idea struck me, but I have been obsessed with the thought of a shirt with convertible sleeves. I wanted zippers down the shoulder turning the shirt from short sleeve to sleeveless with zip. For practice I stitched a zipper into my favorite secondhand shirt.

What I wore to run errands the other day, such as picking up zippers to play with. One of the reasons I wanted contact lenses was so I could wear my old (cheap) sunglasses again, such as these aviators.

Outfit details: dress- Pretty Trashy, belt- secondhand, sweater- Banana Republic, bag- Ruche, shoes- Kenneth Cole Reaction

P.S. Have you noticed my new shoes that I love? The sweetest girl from Solestruck allowed me to select a pair of my choice from their site. I chose these for the lovely yellow shade and a desire for practical shoes--they're super comfortable to walk in and have the slightest wedge to give short girls like me a little height. These will most definitely be coming to Greece with me.

I thought I'd fill you all in on a few more details about my Greek semester. I'm a business major (Marketing) so I will be taking some business classes, perhaps an elective, and also a Greek language course. One of the most exciting details is: I fly Sept. 22nd, classes don't start until Oct. 13. This means the first few weeks are spent traveling around the country in a group with an amazing sounding tour guide. Ultimately, I will be settling into a crowded apartment in the city of Athens. Still completely stoked...

Outfit 1 details: shirt- Wet Seal (customized), skirt- Forever 21, belt- vintage, shoes- Kenneth Cole Reaction via Solestruck

Outfit 2 details: shirt- Forever 21, skirt- H&M, belt- vintage, shoes- Seychelles via Amazon.com

With the onset of summer I find myself with much more free time in the evenings. Yes, my days are more jam-packed and I am exhausted from the early hours, but my afternoon time is my own--no homework, no obligations. I'm also usually rather socialized out and just want to lie around by the end of the day, so this is the perfect time to get busy on some of the DIYs that have been piling up in my head for awhile. My first project so far is this button collar. I like how all the buttons are randomly thrown together and in a variety of sizes but stay with a common color theme to keep them from being too busy. Onwards to the next project!

Outfit details: shirt- Urban Outfitters customized by me, skirt- secondhand, belt- vintage via an antique store, shoes- Nine West via Amazon.com