What I wore today: 11/21/2012 (In the details)

This outfit features two of the best Forever 21 purchases I've ever made, a scarf-print shirtdress and a motorcycle jacket. Each was about $30 but looks more expensive. The dress is new, but I've had the jacket forever. (Last seen here and here). The jacket is pleather, of course. But, if you'd like, we can use the brilliant new marketing term "vegan leather." Have you noticed that lately? Whatever advertising exec realized that clothing stores could make pleather look better than leather, like a choice you'd made because you were vegan and not because it was cheaper, deserves some kind of award. Do they get awards? Like that one Don Draper got for the floor-wax ad? I digress.

My favorite way to make a simple outfit more interesting is to add little details and points of interest, like a half-tucked-in shirt or a well-knotted scarf. Here, I've rolled up the sleeves of my "vegan leather" jacket and layered a necklace over a buttoned-all-the-way-up collar. Ryan reminded me that the necklace-over-the-collar thing was totally a trend in the '80s. All too often I find myself accidentally using Paula Poundstone as a fashion icon. Oh well, I guess I'm okay with that. 

Scarf-print shirtdress - Forever 21

Black tights - Spanx

Quilted leather boots - Corso Como

Studded-bottom bag - eBay

Necklace - J.Crew Factory

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What I wore today: 10/20/2012 ('80s Hipster)

Ryan hit the nail on the head when he said that this outfit looked like something the artsy girl in an '80s movies might wear. He's so right. When I first saw this hat, I thought it was very Madeline, but, with the right shoes, it reads more Molly Ringwald.

Speaking of shoes, can we stop for a moment and talk about these shoes? When I first saw the Isabel Marant sneakers wedges (or, as Ryan calls them, "sneaky wedges," because the wedges is sneakily hidden), I was a bit obsessed. I loved them for how incredibly unnecessary their were. They seamed to me to represent the pennacle of having fun with fashion. 

But, as they were over $600, I resigned myself to the fact they would never be mine. After all, something that silly rarely generates enough demand to create affordable designer-inspired versions. 

And then I saw them . . . at Target . . . for $30. See: I should do commercials for Target because sometimes I just love them so God-damned much.

 

Sneaker wedges - Target

Red corduroys - Pilcro and the Letterpress, Anthropologie

Sweatshirt - Gap

Blazer - Forever 21

Loop scarf - Anthropologie

Wool hat - Topshop

Studded-bottom bag - eBay

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Fictional Fashion Icon: Alex from Flashdance

When it comes to fictional characters who've inspired fashion, this is a big one. After Flashdance was released in 1983, women around the world started cutting up their sweatshirts and t-shirts and wearing leg warmers.

The creators of Flashdance didn't mean to have such a big influence on fashion, and they certainly didn't expect to -- they styled Alex that way because she was a dancer and those are the kinds of things dancers wear: layers that can keep their muscles warm while still facilitating movement -- but people responded in a big way.

And while Alex's frizzy '80s perm might be horrifying to modern audiences, the impulse to take the scissors to your wardrobe after watching is no less intense 30 years later.

I might do a post sometime about dance's overall influence on fashion. Every generation or so, people pick up on something dancers wear, something they've always worn, and it makes it's way into mainstream fashion for a while, shifting and evolving and being reinterpreted.

But Alex's style didn't just stray from the mean when it came to her dance attire; she didn't look like an ordinary girl in her street clothes either. With her ripped painter's jeans, work boots, and military jackets, she dressed more like her fellow welders than an ordinary 18-year-old girl.

And, she seemed to enjoy fashion too, and to have fun with it, from the fancy dress she asks Hannah to make for her to the Tuxedo she wears for a fancy lobster dinner.

...Umm, make that Tuxedo costume.

Always shocking, always individual, and still an influence decades later: Alex Owens definitely has what it takes to be called an icon.

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What I wore today 11/25/2011 (Versace a game of tennis?)

In case you're thinking this is just a photo shoot and that I didn't actually wear my new Versace for H&M skirt to play tennis, let me assure you that I totally did.

Why? For one thing, it arrived (I ordered it from eBay since my local H&M didn't carry the line) just as I was preparing to head to the tennis courts. I tried it on and realized that, with its pleats, it was actually quite perfect for tennis.

Plus, I'm still the way I was when I was 4 years old: as soon as I buy something new, I want to wear it right way, regardless of whether it suits the occasion.

Silk, pleated skirt - Versace for H&M

Vintage tennis racket (late 70s, early 80s) - Wilson, hand-me-down from Ryan's mom

Running shoes - Brooks, The Running Spot

Sports bra - Champion, Dick's Sporting Goods

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Say Anything Halloween

Ryan and I had a blast dressing as Lloyd Dobler and Diane Court for Halloween. And we were even recognized by people at both the parties we went to, as well as strangers at the grocery store and someone whose car pulled up next to us at a red light. Yay for movie references! And yay for love stories!

On Me:

Dress and shaw - self altered vintage dress (see project here)

Flower hair clip - DIY (see project here)

Vintage 1980s shoes - thrifed

On Him:

T-shirt - Hanes

Black button-down shirt - Dickies

Sweats - Target

Kicks - Converse

Thrifted trench - my mom's

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