Trouble posting my face

Edit Update: (Mon. Oct 13, Miz Bagg HQ) I am featured in an interview HERE on Imogen Lamport's "Stylish Thoughts" column in her dynamic blog Inside Out Style. If you want to know more about me, "Yesh, secrets of the schtars!!" have a look. Imogen has had some life changes lately, well worth the read, and she believes in breaking style rules.

This is my face when I wake up (minus lipstick and eyeliner).

All thrifted except the tights: shiny satin summery dress with attached lemony underskirt, pink tulle petticoat, yellow zig-zag coat, red beret, D&G pony shoes, striped delicate cotton T, and magic loupe and toolbox hand bag from O. 

I have trouble posting my face lately; I have trouble posting any photo I like lately. If I like it too much I must defile it somehow, say, by dropping in a different background or a fake head or both. I guess that's my reaction to seeing Everybody Everywhere turning into models, especially kids who are adept at striking a pose-and-grimace within photo target range. 

Do you ever think your outfit or photo is too settled, too nicey nice, too model-wannabe, so you just want to wreck it up? Of course it's hard to get away from when the goal of an outfit post is to show people what you're wearing, but still, the desire to bust out is always just under the surface. The thing that usually creates harmony in what I wear is that little something that's "off." What's off in this outfit? It's not the pattern mixing but the red of the beret being repelled by the reds in my shirt. Brrr! (frisson of delight)

Maybe I need props... Or a cat head and a sideways background.

All thrifted except the tights: Karen Millen dress, floral linen coat with satiny lining, D&G pony shoes, vintage sunglasses. This is what I wore the day before, same tights (laundered between wears) and shoes. What's off in this outfit? The hemline - too short! I liked the selfie I took, hence the cat head and sideways backdrop. So, have you wrecked any good photos lately? Or bad photos? 

Do you favour beauty or the beast?

Borrow the Turnip Head!

If you need a Spare Head,

........................LOOK NO MORE!..................... 

[Edit: New larger Turnip Head offered as well]

If your own head has gone on holiday, leaving your outfit photo in the lurch, your troubles are over!
Turnip Head will be happy to perform your noggin' duties.

Save your choice of image below to your desktop and slap it on your body. eeeasy. The image is png format with a transparent background so it can be integrated into your photo with minimal photo editing. Resize as needed. The small size is, well, small, and LARGE size is, um...

small size

obviously, large size

The head is rather sketchy, but if you require a spare head, no doubt you are also rather sketchy, my friend. Turnip Head may not perform as well as your normal head, but at least she's got ATTITUDE. 

Please kindly include a credit for Turnip Head with a link/mention, for example, "Spare head courtesy of Melanie at Bag and a Beret." It's much easier to send my heads around the world than clothing. 

If you use Turnip Head, send me an email with the link and I shall list it on this page.

Good luck. Happy head hunting!

1. Patti at Not Dead Yet Style, Turnip Tete Cecile of Greenwich Village 
2. Greetje at No Fear of Fashion, Black Linen Dress with Booties
3. ArgentGal at Whimsy on a Whim, Zombie Turnip Head Wants to Eat Your Brains!
4. Pao at Project Minima, David Bowie: Fashion Icon, Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art
5. Aya of Couturgatory wore the Turnip Head in her Twitter photo
6. Shelley of Forest City Fashionista

This image, based on a work by Banksy, the British grafitti artist, was sent to me by TT, the same man whose comment sparked the Travelling Yellow Skirt Freak Show. This was in fact the first Turnip Head submission I received.

...............................................................

How to:

I just discovered that Pic Monkey has an overlay feature AND there is a tutorial on how to do it HERE. How easy is that?!! I haven't tried it, but I bet you will get great results. Good luck!

A cool colour snap

Stains, tiny holes, and a frightening little rrrip as I reached behind to pull the zipper through the home stretch. Truly, pulling rear zippers and reaching for things are the biggest dangers when wearing fragile vintage pieces; I should have known better... But all these little flaws are the tangible tracks a life lived in this gorgeous maxi, which features an empire waist, a silky pink lining, and a flowing sheer shell with appliqued flowers. Probably once wore to a wedding or Sweet 16 party, I punked it up for day wear with my platform runners and diamond-encrusted meteorite pendant. For such a demure dress, she sure makes a racket with that silk-on-silk swishing.

Below is evidence that I actually wear the clothes I photograph in the garbage atelier, concrete stairwell, and parking garage. My friend Sharron, whom I've featured on my street style blog a couple of times, emailed me this photo she snapped on her phone on the sly as I was leaving the coffee shop. Thanks, Sharron. And maybe you also recognize my partner in style parkour adventures in the background. 

You can see from this photo how the dress billows so sweetly. Some clothes are made to move, others to photograph; this is definitely the former. I had so many compliments, probably a record - the positive energy swirling around these fluttering flowers is undeniable. I'm glad I finally took her for an outing.

thrifted vintage homemade maxi party dress

platform runners

carrying thrifted denim jacket

vintage sunglasses on my head

gifted toolbox hand bag from O

meteorite diamond-encrusted pendant, vintage, gift

magic loupe made by O

spare kitty head from my journal

I realized on my way home that this is the last formal day of summer in this hemisphere (written Sat), which got me thinking about how when autumn hits people suddenly start wearing clothes the colour of detritus, decay, mould, and fungus. During dark months wouldn't it make sense to wear clothes that are bright and cheerful to counteract the negative suction power of dark coldness? Or maybe people can't stand colour in winter because it would be mean, like a taunt from sunnier days. In reality, long ago we probably dressed in colours to match the seasons as camouflage so we wouldn't get knocked off by enemies or hungry beasts. Where I live now, that's not too much of a concern, but the hiding behaviour persists. I like the colours of decay too, but nothing beats the buoyancy of a full-blast colour snap.

I'm linking this outfit up to Patti's Visible Monday at Not Dead Yet Style, her blog. (Whew, I almost forgot to activate the link.) It's the perfect garden party dress. I have pearls, white pointy shoes, and white gloves for this dress, but I like the sweet punk-ass version waaay better. Maybe I'll see you there. Thanks for stopping by Bag and a Beret, my sweets! 

Shopping for olives

A lemon-ice-cream sparkly vintage coat featuring zigzags, bracelet-length sleeves, and soft yellow silky lining. The gold threads are from the lurex family, I believe. Dreamy. The buttons are for show (the missing one is in my pocket); the coat fastens with four small snaps at the top so that the front flaps open once in a while after you've gathered speed. 

Clearly the coat was the star of my outfit today, although my stretchy tuxedo pants and granny shoes held their own fairly well, as did my toolbox hand bag. I felt like I was in a '60s film in the role of a plucky, restless housewife going shopping for olives and gherkins and new white evening gloves, which added peek-a-boo ability and buoyancy to my step under a dark sky. I borrowed the inflated turnip head from a sketch I posted previously, here. 

This coat illustrates how easy it is to sproing up a basic T-shirt, stretchy pants, and brown orthopedic-looking shoes. But then you already know how these things work. 

I'm waiting to see the results of the Scotland independence voting which closed today. The situation brings back memories of independence referenda in the Province of Quebec. 

Black and white does not mean grey

This look is muted and, although two-dimensional, a fairly accurate photographic representation of what I looked like today. There's no colour because there is no colour except for my squishy flesh, which, you can imagine, is pinkish. For what it's worth, I'm wearing my thrifted low-rise stretch tuxedo pants with two silky stripes down the outside seam, a thrifted graphic turtleneck, and my pointy-toed, sharp-heeled shoes, which are stretchy, like slippers, oh so comfortable. And my magic loupe from O, of course.

My eye is almost back to normal and I'm wearing contact lenses again, although I'll still wear glasses occasionally because: a) I like them, especially the ones with the nerdy snap-on magnetic sunglasses, and; b) I like peeking over the rim and seeing a fuzzy world when I'm in a noisy environment.

I suspect that the decibel level of the Earth has risen significantly in the past decade or so. Where once people walked silently down a sidewalk, now they talk or shout into an electronic device as they go. Ten people strolling past today carries the decibel weight of 20 people. It's maddening, I tell you!

I took my head from that sketch. I made it last winter when I was wearing my pastel nicotine faux-fur coat.

This is my weekend Hello!