Hat Attack 20

There's nothing like a glam photo shoot to escape reality for just a little while. I am calmed by the process of secretly piling my beauty products around me on the floor of my room, sitting cross-legged as I sort through them, humming, hauling out my floor lights, clipping up the white curtain. O is not allowed. My excuse this time was Judith's Hat Attack 20 at Style Crone. 

I call this hat the acorn hat or Hershey's Kiss hat, vintage now but purchased new yonks ago in Kyoto. I wear it out once in a while but the wool makes my forehead itchy. I could wear a scarf underneath but I am so grabby-last-minute when I go out the door I never remember.

Unfortunately my shoot was cut short by a shower of bugs from my light when it tipped over, an assortment of desiccated baby moths, larvae shells, and a ladybug. I shall have stern words with my housekeeper, perhaps cut her pay or worse (oh yes, please fire me!). I carefully stuck the critters onto clear tape so O could examine them properly under his trinocular for signs of danger bugs (bed bugs, termites, silverfish). There were none. Whew. That calls for a raise (yeah, right, talk, talk, talk...).

So now that I've ruined the glamour vibe of the photos with this bug tale, I'll shut up soon. I wore cycling pants and my number sweater, which I haven't yet wrecked up properly. That's a hardware store heavy silver chain and clear beads I found in our garbage room around my neck. "Oooh, please, stop with all the glamour, Mel! I can't take any more!!" Okay, now I'll shut up. 

Hat Attack 6

Another hat-on-hat for wonderful Judith's Hat Attack 6 link-up at Style Crone, this time a lovely hand-knit wool hat, purchased with gift money several years ago, worn atop my structured acorn hat, seen here. (You know my aversion to flaccid knit hats.)

Short of letting out a squawk, I am rather emu-ish in this, all feathers aflutter, aspiring to flight but remaining firmly land-locked squat with a birdly bulge on my stalk of flesh. And while I love a towering hat with a Suessian beak pointing regally skyward, there is the issue of balance. The thing started to tilt and I didn't even get a warning. In fact, I didn't even know until I saw that last photo. A hat like this simply cannot be worn rakishly off to the side. I am in desperate need of a wristband warning bell like those in vintage pinball machines - TILT TILT - I must get O on that.

The dress is cut low in the back, down to my waist, but I wore a turtleneck layer for warmth and coverage on my inspiration walk today. The dress also has a long scarf-like extension hemmed with feathers sewn on the top right shoulder so it hangs down the back of the dress past the hemline. After some investigation I found a little snap buried in feathers on the front of the dress and one on the end of the scarf so I wrapped the extension around and snapped it into place. The side drape is barely visible on the last photo.

Wearing

• felt acorn hat, retail, Kyoto, Japan, more than 20 years ago, aka Hersey's Kiss hat
• hand-knit hat, retail as gift
• sleeveless, low-back, velvety-soft brown '20s-style dress with feather detailing
• brown turtleneck, thrifted, worn under the dress
• black Betsey Johnson coat, retail, bought in a moment of idiocy at a big sale
• black faux fur vest on top of coat, thrifted
• brown leggings with knee socks on top, both retail
• Miu Miu boots, thrifted
• leather gloves, gift
• magic loupe and ring, made for me by O
• tool box handbag, not shown

(One of my monitors displays these photos with a yellowish cast, the other with blue-violet. Who knows what you're seeing.)

Happy New Year, everyone! I'm glad The Season is almost over so I can give these exhausted words (and myself) a rejuvenating rest. The intention behind the words though is no less sincere than when spoken for the first time.