à la Mode St. » outfits

Posts tagged ‘outfits’

How’s About A Hay Ride Saturday Night?

April 25th, 2013

T-Shirt: Love Life Swagger

Bag: Vintage (ebay)

Just let me roam around laughing at Big City Blues,

With An Old Straw Hat

a suit of overalls and a worn out pair of shoes.

- Shirley Temple

Monochrome Marant

March 1st, 2013

rachel dahl

Bag: Calvin Klein black & white logo tote bag (selling mine on eBay)

Shoes (similar): Isabel Marant Bekket sneakers

Bangle: vintage

I’ve been really into wearing monochrome and neutrals lately. Too many bright colors turn me off now, and that’s too bad because spring is just around the corner. I can’t hibernate in dark clothes for too long, but I know I can at least have the earth tones linger around those warm months. I’m pretty excited, because I want to dress like a hobo chic for a change :) I can’t wait to have my hair grow to my butt, flowery fungi growing in my hair, and not showering for days… wait, I already do that. Apparently it does wonders for your hair.

I’ve also been really obsessed with Isabel Marant’s sneakers. I know. They are super trendy, but WAY before Marant had these out, I had been begging for someone to make hidden low wedge sneakers for the longest time. I don’t really want to always have bulky looking shoes on, so Marant’s designs are a godsend to me.

The CK bag is great for going to the gym with, but these days, that doesn’t really happen much. I’m going to be selling this bag on eBay for super cheap shortly (link will be up on Sunday night). We’re moving out of our old moldy house and into a new condo, and I desperately need to get rid of a ton of stuff (stuff I’ve worn on the blog, for sure). There’s really no room to be too emotional about material things right now. I’ve donated a lot of our clothes, shoes, accessories, posters, books, records, CDs, tapes, etc even if they looked like new. It’s precisely this, looking like new and never been worn, that I need to get rid of my clothes. It’s clear to me the number of times I’ve actually made use of them. :-/ I’ve kept some to sell for really cheap though, in case some of you might want them. More on that later.

Oh, and have you ever donated things by mistake? I don’t think I recall, at least for now, that I have with anything too precious. My father-in-law though had his $400 chainsaw by accident in the pick up truck with our donation. We had to retrieve it at the end of the day only to find out that Goodwill ended up throwing it away, because they’re not allowed to sell gas-powered things. So, some very nice guys went dumpster diving for us to go find it, and they did. :) The manager said I was lucky, because when most people come back for their accidental donation, they’ve either been put out for sale already, bought, or thrown away and destroyed.

Pink Bows When Nobody Knows…

February 12th, 2013

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I’ve been avoiding wearing anything too cutesie these days, but I just can’t help going back to how I used to dress. Thinking that it’s almost Valentine’s Day and all (excuses, excuses), I decided to wear something fun and pink for a change. Aryamia sent me a nice off the shoulder dress in black, which I absolutely love! It’s sleek and sexy. The dress also comes in a variety of colors, in two sizes (S/M & M/L) and is a bit stretchy, so it’ll fit the slim and curvy alike. Underneath, I put on a vintage 70s long sleeved blouse with a giant bow to “top” it off. I really like the spillage action—the pink polka dots popping out of the black dress and the bow hanging down the center. These light weight leg warmers I have on I wore as socks by scrunching them down. I also put on two special brooches, the rose from Giovanni and Coco Mademoiselle from Chanel.

Aryamia has dresses, tops, and leggings for the spunky indie girl. You can choose to layer the clothes with something neutral or colorful depending on what you’re dealing with if you wish, just like what I did with this blouse on a wintery and windy afternoon. To smooth off the dress’ silhouette after tucking in the shirt, I put on an underbust corset (or you can use stretchy shapewear). That way it doesn’t look like I have waves of fat bulging out of the dress (layering fixes 101!). which was actually from the folds of the blouse under it. You don’t always have to get cropped tops or chop off your beautiful shirts just to get this accomplished. Aryamia does sell cropped tops though if you want to check that out. The fabric of the dress is just wonderful! It’s not heavy at all, so judging by that, I believe everything else in the store is of good quality.

So for Valentine’s, if you feel like you’ve been giving too much love to others without getting much in return, treat yourself instead—perhaps with a nice dress or those pair of shoes you’ve always wanted. You need to be a happy person, without overindulging and being mentally content with your life, before you can healthily serve others with little or without self pity.

Dress: Aryamia

Brooch: Giovanni & Chanel

Ring: Cookie Lee

Shoes: Michael Kors (similar)

Rainbow Pashmina Paisley Brite

February 4th, 2013

iristy1 I got this Rainbow Pashmina Paisley scarf compliments of Iristy the other day and paired it with my new faux fur leg warmers (I am currently obsessed with Russian styles, so I’ve been looking for a lot of Instagram inspiration on that). My mother-in-law looked at me and said, “Aww, you look like an Eskimo!” Not too long ago Rob and I were watching an episode of Malcolm in the Middle where Francis comes home with his new Eskimo wife to show his parents. Rob said I could play an Eskimo, and I wasn’t really sure how to take it. I do like snow and igloos and wolves as my ride, but that doesn’t mean a thing…

After looking at these photos, I immediately thought of a somewhat drab and toned down Rainbrow Brite. This scarf is better than how it looks on the website! It looks short on their storefront, but this reached down to just above my knees! I am 5’5″ (of course with these wedges on, I am about 5’8″), so you can see how wide and long this scarf actually is. I’ve been avoiding adding anything too bright to fit in my wardrobe’s new direction. I was afraid that this scarf might clash with that, but it really didn’t. This scarf is as sexy as Bollywood.

I forgot to take photos of the other side of this scarf. It wasn’t even mentioned on Iristy’s site that this is completely reversible. On the one side, it is rainbow. On the other, it is tan. It is equally magnificent. The texture of this is like velvet. I love it! This was the outfit I had on underneath. I like to wrap big scarves around me and fastening them down with a belt just like this.

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Detective Witch Hazel: Floppy Fedora + Corset + Hobo Sweater + Barefeet

January 16th, 2013

rachel dahl

I am totally barefoot in all of these shots, so I cut the bottom parts off. Nope, not trying to be foot modest or anything… just feet shy, because I had been lazily walking around barefoot all morning. It’s winter, and I am barefoot and proud (at least not in these photos).

I’ve worn this over-sized sweater in a previous winter outfit post, and I just love eeet. I’ve proudly told complete strangers this week that I had been living in it this whole week (again, so proud of my hobo-ness).

I am really excited about what I am about to share with you in less than a week! I am going to be working with corset-ors (corset creators?) and will be giving away corsets just like what I am wearing in this post! I am still trying to figure out how to make corsets look like part of my clothing, because I really hate to have people think of underwear when they see my outfit. I am married and work everyday—it’s not like I am around hep cats all day. Tee hee. I think I should change my tagline to “constructive conservatism,” because that’s what I pretty much do.

And oh, before I go… thank you so much Clementine from the Camerawalls for Rob’s birthday favor! I should put that video up for everyone to see. Before then, everyone PLEASE CHECK THE CAMERAWALLS OUT! The guy is like Lennon, and the music is like The Smiths.

Stirrup leggings: Shopbop

Corset: Shape Corset

Sweater: vintage

Fedora: Topshop

FEELine!

November 12th, 2012

I love this cat sweater dress made in Japan! I wish the buttons on the bottom side of this dress were a little more prominent though. They are only on one side, but I do think that symmetry is not always ideal. I put on a collared striped button down shirt inside, a pair of yellow knee-highs, and Nine West oxford pumps. These dorky yellow glasses, I wore in an older outfit post when our bichon was still alive :-( Lately I’ve been really obsessed with layering collared shirts. I’d like to purchase clip-ons of different patterns, because I am too lazy to make them on my own.

Oh, and for those of you who are wondering, this isn’t my actual hair. My hair is dyed black and is wavy and shoulder length. Instagram (now with a web-based version, yay) will tell you what my latest actual hair looks like. I just took advantage of the 50% off Halloween sale a week ago :) You guys should definitely stock up and plan for next year’s Halloween by buying off season. I might wear this wig for outfit shots from now on though, because it’s so Ramona Flowers (in between dying sessions)! I’ve totally wrecked my tresses after going platinum, green, and blue many times. I do miss my blue hair the most. The whole being compared to Katie Perry thing though was annoying.

I cannot waiiiiit for shows we’re going to see these next couple of weeks! Hello Ash, Deerhoof, Liam Finn, and Sufjan Stevens! I tend to want to listen to the bands I’m about to see right before seeing them. Anyone else do that too?

Favorite Overused Fall Pieces: Sweater Dresses, Leggings, and Boots

November 1st, 2012

You’re going to see a lot of these pieces in the fall—sweater dresses (or just plain big sweaters), leggings/tights/skinnies, and boots. Ah… but I love them! I’ve been living in cozy sweaters since ’09. I have just about every color of wool berets in my closet that are fairly priced, because I lose these just about as often as I wear them! These things really do never get old. Sweater is too plain? Top it off with a nice waist cincher! What’re you favorite fall pieces, overworn or not?