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.

Please hang up and try again

I have a street style blog and as a rule I don't interrupt people who are talking on their cell phones or texting or browsing other interactive devices to ask them for a photograph, which limits my style pool considerably - tech devices are everywhere. The other day on the "up" escalator at a high-end fashion retailer I was almost squished by a man who momentarily lost his balance while he was navigating a riveting website on his full-sized laptop perched on the sliding rubber handrail. I think he expected me to apologize to him for messing up his keystroke rhythm as he fell back onto me.

You can imagine how thrilled I was when O showed me this wonderful item he found at an online store specializing in ergonomic design.

It's a portable laptop stand. My favourite feature is the hood which fully conceals your head, but I think perhaps the manufacturer should consider adding wheels to the device and mounting a webcam on the front so that while you are wheeling down the street, walker-fashion, you don't have to interact with the environment AT ALL! Simply, you will see the street ahead of you on your laptop. Imagine the convenience - no more annoying sidewalk chats, no more online seconds wasted, no more irksome sunshine!

When I go out on my daily inspiration walks I see potential buyers everywhere. If I didn't already have a profession, I bet I could make a bazillion bucks selling this revised product. I'd call it the Pro-tech Walker (I should trademark that name). Do you know anyone who could use this miracle device?

In fact, the product, as is, is designed for photographers who shoot digitally on location and other such professionals, which sounds very useful. I just needed a good rant and this product was easy pickings.

Finally, here's a peek at what I wore today. It's not a proper outfit photo because I'm a supremely tired of me, me, me. Just seeing me in a photo makes me nauseous. And I've been doing my spring cleaning...

Details: vintage haori; up-cycled thrifted nightie four sizes too big, worn inside-out with lace trim removed; thrifted flare girdle yoga pants (aaaaa!!); boots, retail; fingerless gloves, Canadian Tire automotive store bought with fingers on; thrifted wool indigo beret, and; magic voodoo pendant (everything O gives me is magic).

This week should get better. Things are getting sorted out. I hope you are all partying at Patti's Visible Monday. I'm just plain too tired to join today, but I most certainly will stop by to check out the goings-on. Do you ever get sick of seeing yourself in photographs?