Cheerful "Goth"

This dress is an unusual choice for me; I usually never go for something so acidly bright, so yellow, so babydoll, so short.. It attracted me though, from the moment I saw it. A moment of hesitation, a doubtful frown plagued my first time view of it.. I even almost left it on the rack. But here I am wearing it, still a little doubtful, but loving the strange edge it lent me for the day. The biggest reason I bought it was because it reminded me of another tiny shockingly bright dress I had seen in a photo somewhere, off in the nets, worn by the songstress Lana Del Rey to a festival. It was so different and crazy and strange, and I of course fell kinda in love with it. It was that image stayed in the back of my mind somewhere, and pushed me over my moment's worth of hesitation. 

Dress I was inspired by.

As cheerful and youthful as the dress seems, the violent clash of the dark purples and teals colliding with that extremely shocking acidic yellow made me feel like the outfit had a darker, almost gothic vibe, which  I tried to play up with my velvet black choker and heavy lipstick. One can only go so much goth on a hot day though. I will have to try to figure out other ways to style this dress, maybe with some black tights and dark sweater? I did enjoy the simple daring of it, as much as I worried about it riding up TOO far up for comfort. Go bold or go home, amirite?

Oh ps, it's a good outfit for shocking people who think they know you :) 

Dress, bag - thrifted

Sandals - Old Navy

Earrings - World Market

<3 The Magpie

The Red Teal Blues

I simply could not get the formatting of the photographs for this post to look how I wanted them to. I guess that's what to expect when you're a total noobie!  My title for this post really says it all; the colors I am wearing are bright, saturated, and punchy. Black toned it down, but if I simply took off my sweater, the brightness would go up a hundredfold! I was inspired to wear the blue and teal accents because of the color of the flowers in the print of the dress. Looking back, I wish I had worn bright red lipstick, but maybe that would be overkill? This is one of those outfits that puzzle me. It's very much me and my style, but would I wear it again? And in that color combination? Was the weather cool enough for the cardigan but also warm enough for those kind of espadrilles shoes? It seems very much a color experimentation; the kind of outfit that I look back on and REALLY want to know what people thought when they saw me. Did it make them think at all? I don't care if they liked or disliked how I looked, I just want to know what people thought OF it. Dos that even make sense? I want to subtly push color boundaries and norms, and wear unexpected outfits out of seemingly mundane things. I wouldn't say I'm a crazy dresser, nor do I try to wear something for shock value. Merely, what I wear is an extension of how I think, and who I am, and the ideas that I want to experiment with. In a way, I'm trying to be a truer version of myself, down to my scratched and faded fingernail polish and secondhand clothes. 

The color breakdown goes like this: long teal earrings matched the ribbon and flower print, and the bright cobalt blue of the bag hints are hinted in the flowers as well. The black cardigan helped ground the brightness of everything, and the strappy shoes finished the outfit and made a full circle by referencing the black of the sweater. Black, teal, teal, red, cobalt, mixed colors, black. The final sunset pic was from that night and seemed to fit my overall fondness of vivid colors. 

Cardigan, bag - thrifted

Dress - flea market

Shoes - Modcloth

<3 The Magpie

Periwinkle Skew

This dress was an unusual buy for me, covered as it is in a mottled floral pattern, and patterned in a "trendy" cut, but something about it spoke to me, and finding the scarf and the hat at the same time seemed to be a sign that it was meant to be. I loved the electric periwinkle purple-blue of the scarf, and the way you can pull out one of the many colors in the dress. I also liked that it was long-sleeve as that can be hard to find even in the winter. I hope I get another chance to wear it before spring as the days are heating up fast. I don't have much to say today because I have a terrible headache, but I really enjoyed wearing this outfit and taking the pictures was fun.

Dress, hat, scarf, coat - Target

Earrings - World Market

Boots - Modcloth

Bag - thrifted

<3 The Magpie

Background Explorer

The wind is a wild thing, howling down around me and tangling my hair. I remember this day; it was cold and blustery, chilling my bones despite the light of the sun. I spent an inordinate amount of time that day searching for good places to take photographs. I look for small niches, tucked away spots with preferably a wall or other item to be a subject matter or a background. And I HATE having any people around. If there are people in the area, I stay far away from them as I can. People's curious stares and even creepy vibes make me really uncomfortable, disrupt my flow, and show up in the photographs in the stiffness of my poses and face. If possible, I like to work alone (unless with a trusted friend), content to experiment with angles and comfortability of myself in the shots; it can take a few shots to get what I am looking for, so the less people watch me, the better. Plus, people in general are CREEPY. I don't have a very high opinion of the public in general, because of all the weird people (i.e. men) who have followed me, purposefully gone out of their paths to try to talk to me, or stared at me taking photographs from a distance. Sorry for the small rant there, I'm just a grouchy old hermit at heart. I just want to work on my stuff and be left alone, is that too much to ask?

This outfit was a mishmash of layers, textures, and attempt at pattern matching. The scarf and skirt are two entirely different item, but I saw them one time close by, and suddenly thought "Wow, those have potential together!" It's funny when that happens, and even funnier when somebody notices.. Guy in my class: "Did you know your skirt and scarf match?" Me: "Er...Yes, I did that on purpose.."

Do people not think it is purposeful?? As if it somehow, accidentally, magically, these clothes fell on my body in a perfect pattern-matching-extravaganza??? Really, I don't don't understand people.

Phew. Getting lots of things out of my system here. Anyways, I really liked this outfit. The layers and complexity of it appealed to me, and the matching patterns made it sing. I'm not sure if it is different than any of my other outfits, but it definitely felt like ME. 

Shirt, socks - Target

Scarf - World Market

Jean shirt, bag - thrifted

Shoes - Costco

Earrings, leggings - unknown

<3 The Magpie

Boyscout

These were taken in the heat of summer, when my face is perpetually flushed, my hair is eternally too long, and I can't quite wear hems short enough. I titled this post "Boyscout" because of my little yellow scarf, but "cub scout" would be more accurate. I was drawn to its graphic elements - the strong yellow versus the dark blue - and decided I didn't care that it was a cub scout bandana, even if my mom made fun of me for wearing something so campy. As for my hemlines, I veer between as short as I am comfortable wearing, or something decidedly matronly. I'm not sure why I can't find a style balance, perhaps I'm just a drama queen.

Boy scout turned out to be a great theme for me, as when I was taking these photos, a boy drove up (note: I'm all alone, purposefully far away from all the other cars) to ask me for directions, and then proceeded to do his best to hit on me. Poor child. He picked the wrong girl to test his smooth talk on. Aside from just generally being annoyed by the unwarranted attention, I can't help but laugh. I can be out in the middle of nowhere, and still, guys somehow find me. It's my latent power. :/

The sweet little dress I'm wearing is one of my long-time favs. I found it at Target ages ago and have worn it ever since. It's a tiiinnyyy bit on the short side, especially if I raise my arms, but it's perfect for the that eternal hot spell called summer, and super cute besides. I wore it with my shiny gold sandals and pretended I was 'effortless' and 'cool'.

Dress - Target

Scarf, bag - thrifted

Sandals - DSW

Earrings - self-made

<3 The Magpie

Safari

New Year, new life. This shoot is from a few months ago, where even in fall, it's eternally warm. I was trying on a dress I liked in the dressing room at a thrift, but didn't like it much after wearing it. It's not as fitted as I like, and it felt a bit baggy on me. It actually looks a lot better in these pictures than how it felt on my body though, and I paired it with turquoise liner on my bottom lids and a weird green and gold necklace I found at another thrift. I'm a sucker for tribal prints and good colors, so in the end, I liked how the outfit turned out.

As for the new year, I didn't do much of anything. Stayed up on my computer, and listened to the booms of our neighbors celebrating. I'm not really a New Years celebrator, but I do like to use it as a post mark for my goals in the upcoming year. Keeping track of time is not really my forte, so any time marker for me is progress. Really, I just have a list of things I need to get done and want to do, and although I don't have a resolutions list, I do hope to accomplish my goals and work closer to my dreams in the upcoming year. There is so much I want from life, and the only thing holding me back really, is me. So here's to a new year, and a renewed determination to push on.

Dress, necklace, bag - thrifted

Bracelet, earrings - Target

Shoes - DSW

<3 The Magpie