Olive Drab and Aubergine

Two outfits today. The first one i wore yesterday, with my new Bass Lamont Distressed Boots!  So very very nice (even thought they have a 2" heel, not 5" like some other bloggers wear). I also feel like i am getting better at creating outfits that read as casual and in which i feel truly comfortable. I wouldn't say i'm completely there yet. But i'm getting much closer!

 I love olive drab, and it's close enough to a neutral to 'sneak into' my typical palette with no commotion whatsoever.  Aubergine, burgundy, etc. seems to be more of a 'color' color to me, and i feel it's a little too much for me to wear it on it's own. I prefer it worn with it's complementary hue of green.

here's a peak at my 'granpa's union suit' red socks

As a rule, when you put two 'opposite' colors (as in opposite each other on the color wheel) next to each other, they spark each other and the colors appear more intense and richer. In this outfit, the opposing colors don't 'pop' much because they are shades. A shade is made from a pure color which has been mixed with black.  This 'steps down' the color intensity of any given hue, and can also help meld together different colors (as it does here with the olive drab and aubergine).

 I came across Tiger Color recently (i'm pretty sure it was on Paula's site Fashion Over Fifty, but i don't recall) and it is a fantastic resource for all the basics of color theory. Poke around there a little to familiarize yourself with the concepts, then start picking apart all of your fave color combos to discover how and why they work. Soon you too will be a mistress of the color tiger!

no luck mastering this tiger

I was lucky enough to be able to take a number of undergraduate level art history and practice courses in my twenties. Combined with my life long practice  of sewing, photography, and drawing, my professional experience in sign making, and love of all arts and crafts, i've managed to get a pretty comprehensive grounding in color theory.

But i have no idea why this second outfit (worn 3-4 weeks ago) seems to work, really. There's no burgundy or olive drab in that skirt. It is based, way in the way back, on a red/green oppositional color scheme, as is the olive drab/aubergine top and cardi combo. But......who knows. Theory can only take you so far, is the moral of this story. Either that, or this second oufit belongs in the realm of the 'fashion don'ts'! I mean, "Honestly, Dad - socks and sandals??!?!?!" (exasperated sigh)

Cardi: Macy's (several years ago)
Aubergine top: Anne Klein for Vogue Patterns V2987, altered & made by me
Floral Corduroy Shirt: L. L. Bean (several years ago)
Capris: Royal Robbins
Red Socks: gift
Umbrella Skirt: own design
Petticoat: own design
Boots: Bass Lamont
Sandals: Naturalizer
Belt: old
OTK Socks: Target

Summer Wrap Up

Happily, today (Halloween!) has dawned nice and bright, so the little ghoulies and monsters should be able to run, squeal, and hold up the locals without fear of damp or cold.  However, the last couple of weeks have been typical Bay Area winter-type weather - damp, some rain, fog, a bit chilly.  I have a couple of summery outfits i haven't posted yet, so i figured i'd better slap 'em up here before they seem completely out of kilter!

Another grocery-shopping-day look.  Note predominance of pockets and tell-tale bright pink pen.

another view:

I love that skirt so much more since i made the 'coordinating' petti. Even when i wear the skirt all by itself.  It makes no sense, but that hasn't stopped anything before.

God, i just love the way linen crinkles and wrinkles and drapes.  That blouse is a linen/rayon blend and by the end of the day is just has this amazing texture. Not to mention it breathes wonderfully in the heat.  It also lasts like iron, i did you not! If i had to choose one fiber for all i wear, i'd go with linen.

Same pin/chain trick. Next you can see the multiple waist fastenings i like - knotted, belted, & tied.

This last outfit (below) was fine. But i've decided to toss this blouse (after i cannibalize it for buttons, lace, etc.). I got it on sale at April Cornell a few years back. Very nice details - buttons with loops, skinny circle-ruffle on neckline, lace and ruffle on sleeve - but the fit is just atrocious. Constantly 'falling to the back', kind of too long to wear out and loose (plus the front placket always shrank, causing the hem to dip up in the center), yet not long enough to tuck in or knot properly.

Here's a detail of how i got the blouse to kind of (not really) stay in place:

I used a hair elastic to gather up the 'knot', then hid it underneath the belt. It looked fine, but the blouse kept moving around too much for me.

I thought this clock would look so fun with this outfit.  It's a present from my mom - i love old clocks and i love birds, so it was really sweet of her to find this one for me. This clock is perfect as a kitchen clock (hmm, i think it's time to move it over the greenhouse window above the sink again...).  The funniest part is, through some mix-up, the details of which i've forgotten (mom?), mom ended up getting a duplicate and now we have matching kitchen clocks!  Of course this makes it that much more special. I'm having a feeling that i was certain i'd lost it in the move to Tony's when we married, so mom got me a replacement, but then i found the original....

Mom, does this sound right to you or.....?

Happy Halloween everybody!!!

Jacket: Royal Robbins, altered
Top, Petticoat: own design
Skirt: own design, inspired by some girls wander
Shoes: Maine Woods
Pen: Pilot Rolling Ball Extra Fine
Belt: Betsey Johnson

Blouse: Folkwear Patterns Gibson Girl Blouse, made by me
Dress: Converse One at Target
Underskirt: Liberty of London for Target
Belt: Betsey Johnson

Blouse: April Cornell
Skirt, Petticoat: own design
Sandals: Naturalizer

Short & Sweet

 Busy couple of days starting today, so i'll be terse - here's something new for you to look at anyways.

(if you want something to read, just scroll around the archives, there's plenty available.........once i start typing, i can't stop!)

Those turkeys (13!) had been 'cultivating' this spot a couple of days before and i had a devil of a time keeping my balance. The air was mighty blue by the end of this shoot....

Blouse: own pattern, inspired by Style Underdog
Skirt: own design, inspired by The Hidden Seed
Petticoat: own design
Socks: Little Miss Matched
Earrings: Liliswan on etsy
Necklace: gift (the chain on the rose necklace is very delicate - for this look i wore it entwined with a gold rope chain for a different look)
Shoes: archaeologically ancient Maine Woods
Hat: The Berkeley Hat Company

A Quiet Day

 I was trying to call our local turkeys in this pic. We have a group of a baker's dozen scratching up and down the road, leaving cultivated areas in their wake. I've had the most fun watching them settle down to roost at nite, about 18-20' tall in a grove of eucalyptus up the street. Apparently they have a lot to take care of last thing!  Maybe they also believe in the old axiom, 'Don't go to bed mad'. It's fun to listen to the ruckus and watch those big birds flopping around in the branches.

 Well, i've never had much luck calling birds, and i didn't have any this nite, either - this turkey feather is a present from my brother and husband. Talking to critters is more Mr. E's department - he has a wonderful voice, i love to listen to him sing, and animals always come when he talks to them (mostly about the prospect of feeding them. It's not all talk, either).

I was having a 'blah' day, partly because of the migraine cluster i was going through. Now that i'm having less periods, i'm having migraines only 2-3 times a year - hooray! I thought i didn't show it much, but when i looked at the pics i took i could see it on my face. Thankfully, the headaches are on the wane. And the blog helped, too - i didn't need to think about this outfit, just switched the ivory tunic for black, and bob's your uncle. The idea of using an outfit blog as a 'dressing resource' was part of my original motivation for this blog, but i've only begun using this blog that way very recently.  Do any of you find yourselves using your blog this way?

Making the small switch from the previous look to this one, it was brought home to me again that color has such an impact! The ivory look is so ethereal, but this one seems so earthy to me.  I was also tickled at the 'turkey influence' on this outfit.  The colors, the patterns, the 'fancy tail feathers', even the naja, created by the southwestern native peoples.

So if anyone asks what you did this weekend, you can respond, 'I read this lady's blog who dresses like a turkey'.  Have a great weekend, everybody!

Tunic: Converse One Star for Target
Skirt: own design, inspired by The Hidden Seed
Petticoat: own design, inspired by Alisa Burke
Belt: Betsey Johnson
Earrings: very very old (Madonna had just hit the scene!)
Necklaces: own design
Naja: Gathering Tribes

Frilly Feelings

Clothes-wise, that is. I wore this outfit on the weekend of the Mr.'s birthday. I like to get a little more 'dressed up' on the weekends as a rule, just to add some variation to things - no real reason.  Plus, that is when the spouse is off work, so we could end up eating out at some fancy restaurant or strolling the streets of an upscale area........or, hiking a few miles on muddy trails, scrambling down bluffs to rocky beaches, cruising the stalls at a local craft festival......Living in the Bay Area affords an unlimited assortment of activities within just an hour or two's drive.  Beach, snow, internationally renowned cities, museums, ghost towns, gold rush towns, amusement parks, skiing, hiking, desert, marsh,'pick your own' farms, ferries.......with widely varying activities possible on the same day.  It presents me with some real challenges in deciding what to wear.

Well, what's the problem, you ask. Just dress for whatever activities you have planned for that day. Ah, there's that naughty word - 'planned'.  Some of us like to be spontaneous. Some free spirits feel that a person taking two or three minutes to grab a pair of walking shoes and a sweater (because you've told them you'd like to go to that oh so specific location: 'out') robs the day of that special feeling of freedom. Don't be so middle-aged and stodgy.  Just go with the flow, be adventurous and end up where the day takes you! Why be such a stick in the mud! 

(Why, indeed.  let's see....traffic, weather, whether the place you're going to is actually open or not, i don't see YOU walking seven miles in 3" heels, a map of your location may actually assist you in reaching said location, etc.)  Well.  Let it just be acknowledged that there are charms and arguments in both approaches.  And while opposites might be irritating, they definitely do attract.

So. Why not indulge a person on their birthday, instead of being a spoilsport. Take this look, throw on a jacket and hat, change shoes, and i'm up for a movie, museum, dinner out, hiking, or strolling around town. But as it turned out, we had a nice relaxing around the house day - which left us energized to fly further afield on the morrow.

These are really nice over the knee socks - warm, great pattern, stay up nice with great pleated ribbon detailing.  Technically it wasn't really cool enough to wear them yet, but i was just too impatient! I added the striped bows myself.  We got them at Dark Garden, a custom corsetry shop in San Francisco. We visited the shop last spring. It's in a fun neighborhood, the staff is very knowledgeable, friendly, and helpful, and the floor is full of amazing corsets, petticoats, pantaloons, scarves, vests, garter belts, stockings, and jewelry.  I asked to use the restroom and as a result got a long look at their workshop in back.  !!! Envy !!!  Stop on by if you're in the area, and be sure to make a special trip if you're into corsets. Allow an hour or two if you want to try a corset on - it's a process. (That's part of the fun!)

Blouse: Target
Skirt: gift
Petticoat, Scarf (as belt): own design
Socks: Dark Garden
Shoes: Clark's Passion

Me and Mr. Depp........

 .....we got a thing......goin' on........

okay, it's only this shirt, but still.  A girl takes what she can get!  I've had this J. Peterman Otavalo Mountain Shirt for, what, fifteen years maybe? It's a classic white cotton gauze peasant shirt with full sleeves that button into longish cuffs, nice little pintucks alongside the front placket. Around eight or nine years ago the buttons started cracking into pieces and falling off, so i replaced most of them. The rest of this shirt is staying in one piece, any stains bleach out nicely.....not bad for around twnety bucks back then.

Imagine the thrill i felt as i sat in the dentist's office a few years ago, paging through the People issue proclaiming Johnny Depp the sexiest man alive (well, not technically, but close enough as far as i can see) and Mr. Depp was wearing this same excellent shirt.  He styled it much as Mr. E would, with a few pieces in sterling and leather heavily influenced by nature and the esoteric.  Sadly i can't find the picture online in order to point you to it. Here's a consolation page.

 I wore this outfit around a week ago, when it dawned on me that 'all white weather' was on the way out, for this year at least. I don't wear a lot of all-white looks, but i find that they kind of 'cleanse the palate' every once in a while.  I wear 'all white' on hot days or at the beach - that's it.  I'll wear all black any old time, but all white occupies a special category in my mind.  So i decided to take advantage while i could.  i wore the 'shirt & skirt' ensemble around the house all day, then threw on the jacket, hat and shoes for my early evening walk.

I did have to laugh at myself as i strolled out the front door and down the lane.  This was the first time i'd worn this petticoat alone as a skirt, a use i'd planned from the beginning. It's not at all sheer and the hemline hits me mid to lower calf.  Yet, because i'd already worn this garment several times as an 'undergarment', i had a wee moment of alarm. 'Oh My god! I'm walking around in public in my U n d e r W e a r !'  Never mind that objectively my outfit was very modest - my mind had got the habit of equating this item with 'unmentionables'.  How easily we form habits, whether or not we mean to!

Do any of you like all white outfits? Do you keep them in a 'special' category, like i do? Have you ever caught yourself thinking about a piece of clothing a certain way that made no sense?

Hat, Scarf: gifts
Jacket: Royal robbins
Shirt: J. Peterman Otavalo Mountain Shirt
Petticoat, Necklace: own design
Earrings: liliswan
Clogs: Dansko Marcelle

Expandin' One's Repetoire

Gasp! what's all this then?!?!? No pieces all beige, nor black, nor white or grey.....yep, folks, it's an all-color outfit. My first on the blog, excluding a couple of dresses. This one is entirely made up of separates.

Yet i felt comfortable all day, and got a number of compliments. And this outfit just came together, i wasn't forcing myself to make a big leap (though it kind of looks like i did!). How did i go from this or this to today's outfit?

Thursday TDE got a visit from reader kellyroy68. She documents her classic-with-an-artsy-edge, mom-on-the-go style at her blog, Fashion Me Blog. She asks, 'By the way ,do you know http://magnoliapearlblog.blogspot.com
I love this stuff although I can't pull this look.What do you think?' To begin, thank you kellyroy for pointing me to Magnolia Pearl! I'd never heard of them before. Magnolia Pearl offers wonderfully artful, exquisitely feminine vintage feel pieces dripping with ruffles, ribbons and all types of lace. And kellyroy asks a great question - you have a style that works for you and your lifestyle. But personal style is about creativity as well, and you feel a pull to take your style in another, totally new direction......how to do this while feeling true to yourself and not making expensive mistakes?

Well, my answer is typical Taurus - bit by bit. We all have outfits that we like and fit our style but that are pretty basic. A tee and jeans or a jean skirt, a sheath dress or shirtwaist, simple sweater and a-line skirt......the real beauty of these simple ensembles is how well they play with others. In other words, you can use these simple outfits as backdrops for the most outlandish of accessories and look like you know what you're doing. You obviously wore a plain background to show off your great, unusual piece!

So take this simple sweater shell and skirt in pale pinks on Fashion Me Blog. The easiest first step would be to add a lacy Magnolia Pearl scarf at the neck. If you like that look and want to take it further, pop on this medium pink Magnolia Pearl vest (on the lower left of the collage). The simple lines of your background pieces offer the eye a place to rest, and 'tone down' the outfit the way vanilla ice cream tones down the intensity of hot fudge in a sundae. To take it even further, try both scarf and vest together in the same outfit. You can even buy a whole outfit at once, if you love it to pieces and it's a great deal, then wear all the pieces separately with calmer outfits to 'work up' to wearing the whole outfit. This is also a nice way to get more use out of special occasion or fancier pieces.

That's how i ended up in all this color. About thirteen years ago, i bought a bright coral floral scarf. I like it a lot, so i made the Donna Karan jacket in a similar color (but only wore it with whites and beiges, maybe denims). The J. Peterman tee was too adorable and on sale three or four years ago.......by this time i was getting a lot more familiar with the range and types of color that i enjoyed wearing, so when i spotted the umbrella fabric i didn't take long to decide to snap it up for a skirt.

These pics are of the outfit i wore Thursday. Wednesday i wore the tee with khaki cargo pants, a usual way of styling them. It was okay, nothing fabulous. By late afternoon my leg was killing me, i couldn't stand to have anything touching it, so i ripped off the pants and put on my most 'non-leg-touching' skirt......hey! whaddaya know! I got such of a kick out of the combo i couldn't wait to wear it again, and put it on again Thursday with the jacket.

Prints can help you identify colors you might want to use more of on their own. The J. Peterman tee has a great dusky rose, a kind of burnt-feeling green, glowing deep coral, medium violet - any of these colors would be great on their own. And apparently they look great together, witness that tee....

Obviously, it's not necessary to take THIRTEEN YEARS to ease into a new look (what can i say. We Taureans are know for being slow and stubborn!). But by taking it a little slower, and going step by step, you can be more sure of your choices, and save money and aggravation.

I had the idea for this post before i received kellyroy's question, so there's a bit of kismet for you! And to top that, Magnolia Pearl has an outlandishly decorated airstream coach documented in Selvedge magazine. They live and work in it while on the road. The Mr. and i have been dreaming and scheming of living in our own tiny home for years.......

Jacket: Donna Karan for Vogue Patterns #2862, made by me
Tee: J. Peterman
Skirt: own design
Petticoat: own design
Clogs: Dansko Marcelle
Mary Janes: Clark's Passion
Jewelry: own design

The Five Minute Post

Eeeegh. Nursing a sore throat. I'm guessing you can figure it out - if not, leave me a question.

I'd always envisioned this skirt with a petticoat underneath to 'match' (meaning cut along the same a-line shape). Not that it's been done a month or so, i find i wear this skirt with petti more often than without.

I guess it's not the best form, but i love the way that chiminea is kind of lurking ominously in the background......hope you all are feeling well and having a great Monday!