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Showing posts with label suspenders. Show all posts
Showing posts with label suspenders. Show all posts

Sunday, 7 January 2018

A vamp, an angel, and a couple of stools

Look, new props! So excited. Well, not new, but they are items I dragged into the stairwell to liven things up - my red stool and my step stool. Hurray! I'm sure you'll agree they add a certain je ne sais quoi to my photos.

Below, my casual starlet look, or, uh, maybe a bit older than a starlet. In scientific fact, an older, burned out star is called a white dwarf or a degenerate dwarf because it only has a stellar core remnant, which means my nuclears have stopped but I'm still hot. Okaaaay. That might work. Astronomy has the best words sometimes. Space wormhole, for example, is another favourite.


All I really wanted to say was I am looking glamorously mellow, "Oh, dahling, I'm tiiiired of all the fuss. My driver is waiting." Nothing says glamour quite like batwing eyeliner, although putting it on was like trying to draw on a deflating balloon.

There is definitely a natural ease conveyed when one kneels on a super-hard, gritty concrete step in tights, then leans over and drapes one's arms on a stool with insouciance and props one's camera on a fully extended tripod against a wall so it doesn't fall over and one has to contort one's body to see the preview screen. It's practically second nature to me.

And more photos with The Prop.


Why is it that men can sit open-legged and not worry about putting a hand or a sweater or something else in front of their groinal apex? That's just wrong. Ain't nothing wrong with my envelope! And yet I persist in hiding, dare I say, the flaps, like my mail is on the prohibited list and has a big red stamp across it: customs and duty are owed! (snort of disgust)

If I see a man sitting like this on the train, hogging all the seats, I think, pig, go aerate somewhere else so I can frigging sit down. But a woman sitting like this? She's not only rude for hogging the seats, but she's extending an invitation, if you know what I mean, wink. Pathetic!

I don't sit like this on the train, by the way. I seldom ride trains. I seldom sit like this at all, but I'm making a point here, after the fact. "Knees together, ladies!" she trills. Puh. A little rebellion for the new year is definitely in order. I encourage all of you to sit like this for your next photos too. Hahaha!!


I'm wearing my DIY Middle Aged Kitteh t-shirt with a skirt hoisted with Calvin and Hobbes suspenders, a great gift from Bella of Citizen Rosebud years ago. I didn't like the skirt hanging below the hem of my coat. Under the t-shirt is a cotton camisole and another 3/4-sleeve shirt. And my boots.

I wore this, with a shaggy coat on top, to go buy frozen corn. We were out. I love corn. It's one of my favourite vegetables, categorized as such because I buy "fresh" corn. Dried-up corn is a grain. You may ask, does that mean over-cooked fresh corn turns back into a grain? No. It's just compost. Popcorn is also considered a grain, which is preposterous. Popcorn is movie food, a category unto itself. (And I worried whether I would have anything to write about in this post.)


And below, yet another prop, my step stool, which I also hauled into the concrete studio. These props are horribly unwieldy. Banging, clattering, me gasping, doors shutting on chair legs, tripod legs, real legs, expletives in foreign languages (which don't count). Where's my assistant!? Thus, these props will remain a special photo treat (liberal use of the word) for me.

The next all white/ivory outfit was interesting. So many associations - dairymaid, something from The Handmaid's Tale or Tess of the d'Urbervilles, tired hurdy-gurdy or dancehall girl in a gold-rush town (maybe because I just watched Godless), novitiate, and more.


Again, the Calvin and Hobbes suspenders were used to hold up this strapless soft baby-corduroy dress. The white top is actually a longish cotton nightgown. I removed all the eyelet lace trim to make it less nightgowny, and I floofed it at the top so it's spilling out of the bodice.


Patterned leggings and patterned socks and my brown booties finish the look. And we can't forget my magic loupe, which goes everywhere with me. Made by O and now restocked in his Etsy store HERE. Go buy one now. Heh.



From my stellar core remnant to yours, I hope you have a cosmic week. Keep that hot core and planetary nebula stoked! Yeeeeah! Hot nebs, it's a new term, you read it here first. And probably last. Or it could be a snack food.

Finally, for over a year I've been wanting to share this short ad with you and kept forgetting. See? I have a great memory for remembering what I forgot, but not for putting what I was supposed to remember. ???  It's for Shiseido brand cosmetics. I love it. O found it for me. You have to watch the whole thing.



Of course, I'll be linking up to Patti at Not Dead Yet Style, her Visible Monday gang, and Catherine at Not Dressed as Lamb and her #iwillwearwhatilike. Till next time, kittehs!


Sunday, 9 March 2014

I get my kicks you know where

Just another day at the office...
Bella of The Citizen Rosebud (of course everyone knows her already) sent me these suspenders months ago, along with some other AWESOME goodies. I've been wanting to debut everything all at once when the weather warms, but I couldn't wait any longer to share these: child-sized Calvin and Hobbes!! braces, LOVE! perfect for hoisting my sky-blue sequin tube top. It was challenge to figure out what to do with them, but now I have gobs of ideas. 
Bella, THANK YOU, again!
Who needs steel toes when you have glittery soles? And my Route 66 thrifted jacket was too big so I slapped a big 'ole zipper diagonally on the front - done, DIY. The hemline is wonderfully asymmetrical when the jacket is closed.

The tube top, blouse, and jacket were thrifted; the suspenders from Bella!; tool box from a collaboration between Chanel and DeWalt via O; the trousers from a sample sale, and; shoes $20 in the reject pile. 

And for inquiring minds - 
You know how when you repeat a word over and over it sounds like gibberish? That's how I felt about my closet - clothes, clothes, clothes, clothes, too many clothes, nothing to wear. Clearly the problem wasn't the clothes, it was the fact I was feeling SQUISHED!!! So, no, I'm not moving; I'm paring, scaling down, weeding. About 70% of my clothes are space-bagged in storage, but now when I open my closet I feel a fresh sense of play, of freedom. I can BREATHE again. 

Oh, yeah, I got a haircut too. Hee. I liked the Warhol mop but it had to go.
I'm skipping over to Patti's visibles at Visible Monday, Not Dead Yet Style. See you there.

Sunday, 5 May 2013

My big man pants

My biggest fear with these pants was that people might try to throw garbage down them.


My big man pants - so big I don't have to unzip them to put them on. I love them. But I needed to find a way of keeping them up with minimal sewing. My solution: thrifted vintage suspenders (braces) and silver studs with a cross motif. The studs were tricky to hammer on because the waistband fabric was multilayered. To keep up the cuffs, I made black leather tabs using the suspender tabs as a pattern and whacked in more studs, four on one leg, two on the other (I ran out of studs, minor detail).

When I wore this outfit for the first time this morning, I had on heavy-duty black army boots for a Charlie Chaplin air, but I chose these lighter flats for an early evening stroll with O. He took this photo.
(ed. note: I wore this on Friday. I wore the big hat in the earlier post on Thursday.)
Details
men's big dress pants, wool, free from time-sealed treasure chest, upcycled
under-pant black jeggings, sample sale
vintage suspenders, thrifted
2 long-sleeved T-shirts, retail
sweater, thrifted, shortened and kittified
beret, thrifted
vintage sunglasses, thrifted
tool box handbag and magic loupe, from O
shoes, retail

These pants would also be ideal for an all-you-can-eat buffet because the legs would hold several days' worth of food, although getting home might be troublesome.

I'm hooking this up to Patti's fabulous Visible Monday. Finally, I'm on time for this one.
Do you have sewing shortcut secrets? How do you hoist, pinch, and tuck? Or perhaps you are skilled with needle and thread, all the better! See you at Patti's. I hope you have a wonderful week.

On another note, Miz Bagg went out with Sandra on the weekend for a photo shoot and we took some wretched photos, a few truly hideous ones, which made the outing so incredibly satisfying. It's the permission we give ourselves to fail miserably and be humiliated that makes it fun and gives us quite a laugh. If you're wondering about submitting to VOGOFF, remember, there are no mistakes. Some of the best photos are mementos of the greatest flops. Don't think too much!


Thursday, 1 November 2012

Do these booties make me look like...

...I'm having too much fun? Because I am! And they passed the new-footwear test - I survived my inspiration walk without a single blister. These heels are not as challenging as some others in my closet because of the built-in platform.


I made the skirt from a new old-stock roll-end of fabric from my favourite fabric store, Dressew. It is a stretch synthetic blend that feels like a thick '70s ski-pant fabric. I simply stitched the piece together at the back and hemmed the top, bottom, and back slit. Done. No zippers or buttons. But...this skirt does have a tendency to slide down my body so I added the suspenders. 

In typical slacker fashion I made a single cross-sling suspender which would involve less sewing. Sewing was required because the device is made from backpack strapping with little clips sewn onto the ends, and the strapping had to be shortened. It also has a backpack-type clasp which you can see at the front, and a little pouch on the back side of it to carry pens and such. Handy! Plus, I didn't have another suspender even if I wanted to maintain some symmetry.


The stuff:
  • skirt, I made from new old-stock fabric
  • suspenders, I made from bits and pieces
  • ivory silk blouse with mother-of-pearl heart-shaped buttons, old, retail
  • black glitter platform booties with wood heel, retail (shameful!)
  • black compression knee socks (because they don't fall down), retail
  • two vintage slips, thrifted, for warmth
  • brown wool cape, not shown, super sale, retail
About the booties, they are the worst quality I have experienced in years -  that will teach me to buy retail. When I got home from this inaugural walk the soles had divots all over them. Worn once and already I have to take them preemptively to the cobbler for shoring up. I'd feel totally ripped off if I didn't love the profile and the glitter so much.

Here is a close-up of the crappy, dreamy booties.


They came with black laces but I replaced them with these mismatched laces made from strips of kimono fabric. The laces were given to me by my friend Sharron, whom I recently featured on my street style blog - here.

Overall, while everyone outside today was huddled under their umbrellas (a light sprinkle), I was ready for some serious ninja action, power-infused by home-made style and glitter booties. New song of the day: "Your Sole has Divots."

If you had to write a song about your day, what would you call it? Hugs, all.

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