A. loves this shirt. She recently told me that should I ever wish to part with it, I should send it her direction. I bought it at the PCC swapmeet several years ago (actually I can't really remember how many years ago it was). It's got an awesome retro Mexican themed print, and cut and feel of the rayon fabric makes lots of people think it's vintage (including myself when I first encountered it), but they would be wrong - the label is modern. To go with my retro Southwest theme today, I chose an old copper cuff bracelet that belonged to my late grandmother. It's an Native American motif with thunderbirds on it. To tell the truth, I was less than enthusiastic about this piece when I inherited it almost a decade ago. I'm not a huge wearer of Native American jewelry, but this piece has grown on me, and of course it has sentimental value even if I can't actually ever remember seeing my grandmother wearing it.

R. gave me this dress.

This shirt used to be my mom's. The top button on it starts so low, that at first I though it was missing one. I had to use a surreptitiously placed safety pin to avoid unnecessary exposure. I've had this for years, but I probably haven't worn it since high school. It's wearing was well received by many today.

Happy Birthday Mr. K.!!!

It was a happy coincidence that I felt like dressing up today as it happened to be my dear friend (and regular reader of this blog) Mr. K.'s birthday. This dress is another McQ for Target creation. (I am now close to having worn everything I purchased from that particular collection). Two people today asked me if I made this, one of which was my mother. Does this mean that I am an awesome dressmaker or that Target produces some cheap looking crap?

When I first took patternmaking classes (several years ago now) I was so impressed with our lesson on flat patterning a cowl neck, that I went straight home and drafted this top. Being a beginner I just used a blouse block that I extended straight down from the natural waistline, rather than a shortened torso block. That's why this shirt has an odd inverted triangle shape and probably why I've only worn it once before today. I wish I could say I no longer make stupid pattern mistakes like this anymore, sadly this doesn't seem to be the case. Hands in pockets is clearly not the most advantageous way to show off these McQ for Target pants wouldn't you say?.

I had to go to a funeral mass today. Naturally, my first thought for a funeral is always head to toe black, but I thought that might look a bit over the top and given that I was not an intimate friend or family member of the deceased, I really didn't want to call attention to myself . I opted for grey and black instead. You have seen my top and and pants before so I'll introduce you to my scarf. It is from H&M and today it served a double purpose - keeping my top from being too low cut and, since I wasn't sure how traditional the church was going to be, an emergency head covering.

I NEVER wear high tops with shorts, but I was feeling extremely scruffy today and just wanted to be comfortable. The top is an old Hang Ten shirt from my great aunt. I have two hang ten tops like this and I love the way the shoulder seam is extended a bit at the front. This is actually me on Tuesday - I was feeling so scruffy I didn't bother changing.

My mother told me that with the light behind me, you could see my legs through this skirt (a thrift store find from my tiki-lounge years). She then went on to say that the ladies in her family have always had nice legs and that my great-grandmother showed hers off well into her 80s.

I ended up wearing this outfit for 48 hours. I put it on Saturday morning to go to work, wore it out to a show we played that night, spent the night out at A.'s and continued wearing it to a Father's Day brunch at my aunt's house. It's sort of amazing how even someone as scrawny as myself can manage to look pregnant in this T-shirt. I bought it off the sale rack at Urban Outfitters and like most of the other T-shirts I pick up from them, I didn't bother trying it on first. It is a really lovely colour, so I will forgive it it's figure flaws.

I took this picture after working the night manager shift. As you can see, I am clearly more interested in getting to bed than getting a good photo. The shirt is from a thrift store in Pomona and the pants are from Temperly for Target.

My alarm clock didn't go off this morning, so I woke up with about 8 minutes to spare. This is what I ended up in - a pair of Gap pants and a Butterfly by Matthew Williamson top.

The skirt is from H&M's Marimekko collaboration, the T-shirt is from Urban Outfitters. I like the sleeves on the T alright, but I don't care too much for the overall fit. Similarly, the skirt is ever so slightly too big at the waist.

I like this outfit - I could be a secretary on Mad Men. The jacket my mother bought me at the PCC swapmeet. The skirt you have already seen, it is from H&M and it is my go-to pencil skirt for all occasions calling for such an item. Though it's not too noticeable here, I'm also wearing a sliver cuff bracelet that reads "Damn I'm Good". I found it on a thrift store excursion with A. who was incredibly envious of this particular piece.

The shirt is from a Tuscon thrift store, I think I may have written about it already. It is one of the most reliable pieces in my wardrobe, so I find it hard to believe that it hasn't gotten an outing yet this year. The skirt is also thrifted. I haven't worn it in years, it sort of reminds me of a 1970's grad student in the frumpiest sort of sense. Surprisingly, this outfit went over very well with male customers over the age of 60 (one of them, who had actually screamed at me the week before, told me "You look very attractive today"), maybe, the fact that I attempted to put my hair into victory rolls contributed. Check out my new bag. My dad is frequently bringing me bags full of clothes on their way to the Goodwill (or worse, the dumpster) and I love him for it, though it is sort of feeding the addiction. This came from the Chaffey College theatre department (my dad's favorite hunting ground for finding clothes for me).

I've worn both of these pieces before, but I don't think together. Nevertheless, I didn't want to skip another day. I must also apologize for being hopelessly remiss about posting in a timely manner.

I didn't wear anything new today. In fact, I wore this outfit (which I found a bit uninspired the first time around). Instead, I'm giving you this picture of my bedroom to illustrate how difficult it has become to find anything (take this picture and multiply it by the size of my bedroom and you'll get an idea of the havoc). A full scale excavation has been planned for July. In the meantime . . .

Yes, the shirt is pretty and I will tell you a bit more about it later, but the big deal here is that I'm wearing earrings. I suppose I should explain that I used to have a serious earring problem when I was young. Back in elementary school, I used to wear the most hideous earrings I could lay my hands on - the bigger and brasher, the better. My #1 friend A. once said that she loved the fact that she could make the most tacky earrings and could always count on me to actually wear them. Through years of hard work and strength of character, I broke my addiction to horrible ear wear. Since then I have approached that particular piece of jewelry with trepidation, anything bigger than a small silver hoop makes me nervous. So you see, it is quite a big deal that I borrowed these lovely little floral thing from my mom (who, by the way, has quite the collection of dangly shoulder grazers). My Mom, by the way, encouraged me to purchase this Anna Sui top when I took her to Anthropologie. A few years ago I would not have been caught dead wearing this shade of royal purple, but I guess I have mellowed a bit with age.

I think I bought this sweater at Dumpster Values. I've always felt like it has a lot of promise, but I've never quite hit on the perfect outfit for it. It doesn't look too bad here, but I think perhaps a pencil skirt rather than jeans. The pattern design has always reminded me of the Fred Perry logo, so maybe I should do a mod thing the next time I wear this sweater.

I was feeling a bit under the weather so I chose this sweater and jeans combo. The sweater is an old Sears one that I bought at Dumpster Values in an attempt to replace a similar black sweater that was starting to fall apart. Well, both sweaters are black, soft, and have had the necklines cut, but sadly that's where the similarities end. My beloved original sweater fit me really well and flattered my shape nicely. This thing is boxy and does nothing whatsoever for me AND it developed holes in the elbows almost immediately after purchase!! Oh well, since I used to be a punk rocker having holes in my clothing is not really a problem (once a punker, always a punker perhaps?). I've even briefly considered making it my signature style once, when I came across a seriously disintegrating trove of amazing 1930's evening dresses. Miss Haversham chic anybody? The necklace is from H&M's collaboration with Marimekko, because I really feel if you are going to have your clothes in tatters, you need to add a touch of something fabulous to it.

This sweater is from H&M. I find that they can actually do a fine classic looking sweater that works well with a nice pencil skirt like this one (also from H&M) when they set their minds to it. The tights are from UO. I'm wearing them inside out here to get a more subtle look. You can see what they were meant to look like here.

This tank top was on the sale rack at Anthropologie (the only place in that store I bother looking) and after wearing it for a day I can understand why - it is seriously low cut. I found myself automatically putting a hand over my chest every time I bent over so as not reveal too much. The sweater I bought at a thrift store in Pomona in high school. It used to have buttons, but not a complete set, so I just cut them off and leave it open. I'm not sure it would button closed on me anyway as it is on the smallish side.

R. thought this hat (which is from Free People) looks like an Amish cap and my mom said it looks sort of 20's (I think it was actually called the flapper cap). It really reminds me of that famous Alexander Rodchenko picture. The sweater came from a Pomona thrift store. It's quite scruffy looking and pilled, but I love the little ship embroidery on it, so I'm holding to it for the time being.

I got this shirt from my friend M. when she was moving out of L.A. I basically went to her house and scavenged the leftovers from her yard sale. When I took this one she said "Oh the gay pride shirt!" (M. being a pretty involved lesbian activist), so that's what I called it all these years, until today when Mr. K. and I decided that maybe a better name for it would be the I'm-proud-that-you're-gay shirt.

I think my mom bought me this sweater back in high school at some mall store. I'm not sure if I should keep it or not. It's wonderfully cosy, but doesn't seem to work too well with this outfit shape-wise. Perhaps some leggings might suit it.

This top is from my great aunt. The label says Givenchy, but I imagine it is from that label's wilderness years of the 1980s. It is slightly too large for my taste, but when I think about the possible ways of fixing it (back darts or taking in the side seams) I think what a shame it would be to cut into such a nice sweater knit fabric and most likely mess it up. The skirt is from H&M. I'm pretty sure I've already worn it this year.

My cat and I are clearly engaged in some sort of intense conversation in this picture. The top is from H&M. I bought it in Glasgow and it used to make an appearance about once a week in my clothing rotation. All things considered it is a pretty boring, but useful shirt.

This isn't a great picture of me, but at least the dress has a more interesting pedigree than some of my other outfits this week. I bought it at a sale put on by the Chaffey College costume department. Mr. K. asked me what play it had been used in, but sadly I don't know. I bought a load of other things at that sale, but this is the only one I have actually worn, probably because it the least "costume-y" of the bunch. Let's talk a little about the construction, shall we? It's got an insane amount of fullness at the waistline which I think could have been dispensed with without altering the overall shape. It's almost like it was originally meant for someone 5 times my hip size. When I bought it, it was ankle length, so a little bit of hemming was in order. Now I think it has a nice forties vibe to it.

I got this T-shirt at Urban Outfitters (big surprise - sometimes this project makes me feel very boring and predictable in terms of where I buy my clothing). It has an asymmetrical neckline which is probably why it was on the sale rack as I can imagine that sort of thing doesn't work for everyone. The necklace, I am ashamed to say, is also from Urban Outfitters and was also purchased from the sale rack. (If you're interested, that's "And God Created Woman" playing on the screen in back of me).