He's paid to say he's a girl

This is what it felt like:

This is what I saw:

This is what you see:

Val is close to my heart, literally; I wore her opium den on a dog harness again. This thrifted floral cotton cheongsam cried out for a liberal topping of her Muse Fondue. (See previous post for details about this magnificent diorama.)

Don't let this demure photo fool you. In the wind this kimono-style neon yellow robe billowed extravagantly into oncoming foot traffic and my toolbox handbag swung wildly at my side creating yet another pedestrian hazard.

Almost daily I am confronted downtown by clean young men wearing blue uniform jackets that say "Because I am a Girl" in their job soliciting money for a charity. They are so wide-grinning and their hair is so perfectly coiffed that they could easily be mistaken for cult members. If I'm feeling particularly cheeky I'll state the obvious, "You're not a girl." Impossibly, their grin stretches even wider and I expect a loud snap as their face splits in two. I wonder how people would react if I stood on an opposite corner, clipboard in hand, dressed in a pink uniform jacket that said "Because I am a Boy."

One time in Tokyo I mistook a couple of well-dressed Japanese Jehovah's Witnesses at my door for salespeople of beauty products. The cover of the brochure they politely held out to me featured the most startling beehive hairdos I'd ever seen. I said to them in slow English, "Hairstyles? Beauty products?" while pointing to my head and fluffing imaginary hair. They looked at each other worriedly and gestured to the sky and their chests. Once I realized what they were really selling, I said no thank you and sent them on their way. I think I heard a gasp of relief on their hasty retreat; I sighed because I had missed out on a hair miracle.

It's a tricky business, sending messaging and receiving them as intended. In the Japan case, clearly the misunderstanding was completely my own. How has your week been? Any mixed messages out your way?

Wearing dog leash and opium den

Sorry for the serious face but I'll make up for it with the accompanying video later,
filmed on location in the garbage room atelier. I blame Val and the opium.

How am I supposed to go wee when I'm wearing a dog leash and an opium den over a back-zip playsuit? (And there's not a fire hydrant in sight.)

Bwa-ha-ha!! Don't you just love the opium den? See the teeny tiny pipe, the divan, lit candle, and mysterious jars? The white powder is upside-down "army" and the other is "shadow" or a place absent of sun or wind (according to O). And of course there's a huge mini mirror so I can admire myself. Absolutely stupendous (the mirror, not my reflection).

This perfect objet d'art percolated from the primordial Muse Fondue which Val has cooking at her house and arrived at my house quite a while ago. Instantly I knew I'd like to wear this den (to feel good and show it off) but I needed a suspension system that a) wouldn't require altering the piece and b) would stabilize it. The answer? This neon pink doggy leash, $4.99, which just last week I finally enlarged to fit my doggy torso. Today was the first outing, and when I invited strangers to view the den they gasped with delight. And that's a fact, Val. Thanks again for this incredible work of art. Val also sent a hilarious card addressed to Melstrom in a Teacup, Buzzed 24-7, Vancoolver, and threw in some lovely mysterious French accents. XO! You can see posts that Val made about this diorama and others she has made at her former blog, late blooming sparkle, here and here.

A N D -
Recently, I started a new series of ink sketches of spooky rebel girls, like that one above. I love the etchy scratchy rippy action of crosshatching (hatchet, axing, crossing) and I mark this series as another step in my decades' long art school recovery. My Turnip Heads (which I'm still doing) are line drawings of whimsy and joy, so these sketches are a big departure: style-wise they are scraggly like the drawings I did as a kid, and content-wise they are dark and foreboding. I drew six spooky rebel girls yesterday, like a fury. I did that sketch above this morning. I have lots of ideas for this series and I am excited to see what else emerges.

I have other incredibly lovely gifts from other people which I cherish and will post about as well. I have not forgotten you - never!

I'll see you at Patti's Visible Monday at her blog Not Dead Yet Style. And I know I'm missing other great link-ups as well so I'll add them here as I clue in. Happy long weekend to youse guys in Canada celebrating Canada Day, a country which thrives under the benevolent rule of the Queen as our head of state.

A Dark Horse

Yesterday I needed to wear something heavy, not warm, just heavy, don't ask me why. And it needed to be black, the more black the better. This is what I found. I threw on the shawl at the last minute.

Clearly I am a moth, I mean a phoenix, I mean a totem pole, I mean Sherlotta Holmes tramping through the woods, looking for toxic plants and clues, speaking of which, I could have saved myself the trouble just bottling a drop of Miz Bagg's drool, but where's the fun in that?

There are abazillion layers here - yes, this was very heavy. I moved silently, wraith-like, down the sidewalk. Turning around, I could see the fabric billowing still in slow motion behind me, life at five frames per second. Maybe that's why I wanted to wear heavy clothes - to crank it down a notch. I avoided traffic lights because, like a super-tanker, I would have needed a block to gear down to a full stop. (Would you like more metaphors and similes?)

NEWS FLASH
I've heard it firsthand that the Sherlotta, cowboy/First Nations, moth, opium den vibe is going to THEE hot trend for spring - you heard it here first.  Special thanks to Valastasia Bugheroff at Muse Fondue for letting me use her den for inspiration - more about that in a future post.

Wearing:

black gauzy maxi dress, thrifted

under the dress

black knee socks and heavy black jeggings

black cami and black long-sleeved top

over the dress

upcycled black wispy tunic with ribbon ties, as vintage as I am, retail

black patterned sleeveless maxi vest, thrifted

vintage black haori (short kimono-type thing), thrifted

silk Orientalesque shawl, $5 thrifted, yay!

Miu Miu boots, thrifted

above the dress

vintage black felt fur fedora, thrifted

I bought the haori in '85 and it was already vintage then. And I looove this black fedora. Usually I would have slapped a beret on my head for this but it felt too, hm, just too predictable, you know what I mean?

I'm linking this up to Judith's Hat Attack #7 at Style Crone.

I'm linking this up to Sacramento's Share-in-Style: Gothic  at Mis Papelicos. The prompt makes me think of secret science labs in castle basements and foggy midnight alleyways in London.  

I'm linking to Anne's 52-Pick-Me-Up: Short Over Long at Spy Girl.

Below is what I wore today, February 1. It is one of the happiest outfits I have worn in a while - I could feel the smiles blooming all around me as I tiptoed past. Happy Year of the Horse. Neigh.

Wearing

• Kimono-style robe, not silk, $8 thrifted, yay!
• long flowy skirt, thrifted
• glitter booties, crapily-made, mega-discount retail
• black sequin top, thifted
• black turtleneck, thrifted
• ...and other assorted layers-on-layers-on layers for warmth.

Finally, regarding my previous Lena Dunham post, I am traumatized that nobody offered me $60,000 to see my original unretouched photos! As part of my recovery process, I am posting them here for free. 

Have a great weekend all. And thanks to Sally at Already Pretty for the shout-out on my Dunham post. My stats are stunned by the exercise.