Wednesday, April 30, 2014

I Need a New Purse

I've been using the same purse for about four years, and it's starting to fall apart. I'm not one of those people who changes out purses with different outfits -- I pretty much use one purse day in & day out, all the time. So naturally, this one takes a lot of abuse, & four years is pretty good value for the $81 I spent. That's less than 10 cents per use, estimating that I used it for every business day of the year.

Not sure exactly what style I want to replace it with. I have some candidates on my CorpGoth Pinterest board. They're mostly work totes, big enough for carrying maybe a laptop or iPad & my lunch. But I'm not sure if I want that much purse. I could lead to shoulder strain. So it might be better to keep those work things separate. Just not sure.


What kind of bag do you carry? Do you switch it around with different outfits? How long do you keep a purse?

What I'm wearing:
Purple print dress, Target | Black camisole, Old Navy | Black lace jacket, Macy's | Black tights, Calvin Klein | Black pierced d'orsay flats, Target | Amethyst necklace, bought in Hawaii, gift from my husband | Pewter key earrings, made by me



Monday, April 28, 2014

Monday MemeDay: A-Z of Fashion

A) What accessories do you wear everyday?
My wedding band (white & yellow gold with diamond flecks), my engagement ring (sterling silver with amethyst cabochon), & a black leather studded bracelet on my left wrist. Those are on every day if I'm leaving the house.

B) What is your beauty routine?
Morning: Rinse face with water, moisturize, apply makeup, do hair. After work: Wipe off makeup with a baby wipe. Before bed: Wash face with gentle cleanser, shower, maybe do a face mask once a week if I remember, use anti-acne/anti-wrinkle night cream.

C) What was the last item of clothing (for yourself) that you purchased?
A pair of flat, black leather ankle boots by Aerosoles.

D) Do you use a dresser, closet, or both?
I use everything I can! My clothes occupy 3/4ths of a walk-in closet & all of  two tall dressers, plus half a hall closet for jackets & coats. There's a whole separate walk-in closet for my costumes.

E) What type of earrings are in your ears right now?
Gunmetal hoops, black rhinestone studs, & one garnet stud.

F) What type of figure do you have?
Somewhere between hourglass & pear-shaped.

G) Do you wear glasses?
Yes, always. Contacts don't work on my astigmatic eyeballs, unfortunately

H) What type of handbag do you carry?
Currently, I'm using a large, black leather, unstructured shoulder bag that carries scads of crap I need for commuting. It's not quite right for my new job, also, it's 4 years old & starting to wear out.

I) What is your ideal style?
I'd love more of a grown-up version of Stevie Nicks goth, but I end up with a pretty standard CorpGoth thing

J) What is your favorite brand of jeans?
The ones that currently fit my ass are by Calvin Klein, & I only found one pair in dark grey.

K) Do you wear knee-high stockings?
Not really. I only wear them with costumes because it's reasonably close to historically accurate.

L) Do you have to wear matching lingerie?
I would love to wear matching panties & bras, but I've rarely found matching sets that I like or can afford or that both pieces flatter me or are in the right sizes. Thus, the closest I get to matching is 'they're both black.'

M) Do you wear makeup?
Yes, tho' I'm a lot less adamant about it than I used to be. I used to never leave the house without lipstick, & now I'll go to the grocery store with a totally naked face. I blame old age & laziness! For everyday, I wear some kind of dark lipstick & black eyeliner. For special occasions (or if I have a breakout), I add foundation, eyeshadow, & touch up my brows (actually, when my brows have been freshly shaped, I tend to paint them daily). I don't wear mascara very often because it rubs off on my glasses (my eyelashes are naturally that long; yes, you can be jealous :).

N) Do you wear nightgowns?
Not anymore. I used to have quite a fetish for long, flowy, white cotton nightgowns, the kind you'd run about the moors crying "Heathcliff!" in. But I trashed them all, & sadly not in moor-related accidents. Finding replacements has been troublesome, & it's not important enough to me to sew my own. So I wear big baggy T-shirts & fleece PJ pants, which are just not as conducive to gothic romance.

O) What outerwear do you put on when going out on a typical winter's day?
Winter? It 'tis to laugh. In what passes for said season in Northern California, I might wear a lightweight black trench coat, suitable for the occasional droplets of moisture that fall from the sky sporadically at the end/start of the year.

P) What is your favorite perfume?
I go through phases where I wear scent every day & then don't wear it for months. I'm currently *not* wearing perfume. But past faves include Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs "Crossroads," the original Anna Sui, & rose essential oil.

Q) Is your motto "quality over quantity" when it comes to clothing and accessories?
My motto is more like "oooh, shiny!" followed by "can I afford it?" I will buy quality if I love it.

R) Do you wear rain boots?
What is this 'rain' you speak of? I'm living in a drought currently.

S) Do you wear socks or slippers when your feet get cold?
Yes. Both.

T) Do you travel with a lot of luggage?
Depends on the trip. If costumes are involved, omg, yes, I bring tons of stuff.  I have the Giant Suitcase of D00m that mostly goes to Costume College & on the Costumers' Trips to Europe. Plus I'll bring hat boxes & backpacks & stuff. But for "normal" travel, I have one just-bigger-than-carryon bag that I can fill with enough clothes for 3 to 4 weeks of travel, & this bag is light enough for me to carry up flights of narrow stairs in little European B&Bs.

U) What is your daily uniform?
Dark corporate stuff with at least half of it in knits.

V) If you are married, did you wear a veil with your wedding dress? If not, how did you do your hair?
I made a small black lace veil that hung down the back over my ringlet hairpiece.

W) Do you wear a watch?
Not for years, since I got an iPhone. But I used to love them & had a little wardrobe of fashion watches to go with my outfits (I still have them, but the batteries are all dead).

X) What item of clothing always makes you feel beautiful?
This changes a lot, because my wardrobe & my body change. I would say that, in general, a nicely heeled shoe, preferably with an ankle strap, paired with a skirt that hits right at the knee (preferably bias cut or flippy) always feels beautiful because it requires my hips to move just so, & the whole curved movement from ankle to hip is so ultimately feminine that I can't help but feel rockin'.

Y) What is your favorite type of yarn?
Huh? I don't really care about yarn.

Z) Do you prefer zippers or buttons?
Both have their uses. In general, zippers are handy on the lower half of the body, buttons on the upper.

Feel free to copy these meme questions & answer them in your blog!

What I'm wearing: Dark brown pinstripe dress, made by Donna | Black cardigan, Macy's | Black tights, Calvin Klein | Black ribbon-tie pumps, Clark's | Black bat necklace, Walgreen's | Gunmetal hoop earrings, random accessory store | Makeup For Ever Aqua Rouge lipstick in Dark Raspberry

Friday, April 25, 2014

Weekend Pirate

A little weekend pirate couture. With a touch of gold. I used to be strictly silver-only, as many goths are. But I've gotten lax in my old age. Maybe it's the influence of my historical costuming, particularly the 16th-century styles I love. Back then, gold was more popular because it's the most valuable & expensive metal. Your clothing showed your wealth, so if you could afford gold, you wore it. I make a point of wearing gold jewelry & trimming my gowns with gold, when possible, to fit my persona of a wealthy, high-ranking 16th-century noblewoman.

Of course, it's not just historical accuracy. My wedding band is a mix of yellow & white gold (tho' my engagement ring is sterling silver). These type of bands are just what my husband & I liked best some 14 years ago. So maybe I wasn't always so adamant about silver-only...

What I'm wearing:
"Pirate Couture" T-shirt, DisneyLand | Black jeans, Levi's | Black socks, unknown brand | Black walking shoes, Naturalizer | Black newsboy hat, random accessory store | Silver filigree earrings, Target


Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Whenever life gets you down, Mrs. Brown

Instead of getting down on yourself, consider these quirks of fate...

10 Oscar-less Hollywood icons

Best films that never won a Best Picture Oscar

10 famous & wealthy people without college degrees

Lots of famous depressed people

Huge list of celebrity atheists

A bunch of famous people who are childfree

Albert Einstein never learned to drive a car.

Greta Garbo couldn't cook.



What I'm wearing: Pink patterned sweater, Chadwick's | Black T-shirt, Target | Black corduroy skirt, H&M | Black tights, Calvin Klein | Black wedges, Kenneth Cole | Black & rhinestone necklace, random accessory store | Black & pink sparkly earrings, random accessory store

Monday, April 21, 2014

Insert Catchy Title Here

I'm starting to realize that if I blog literally every single office workday outfit, I'm not going to have much of interest to *write* about each day. For one, I meant for this blog to primarily be about my clothes, not my personal life. It's intended as a primer on how goths & subcultural types can dress for "normal" office jobs, a show & tell session with occasional articles about this topic.

But now that I'm going into the office 5 days a week & have a plethora of outfit photos to choose from, what should I write to go along with them? Sure, there will be days when I don't feel like blogging at all -- an outfit feels dull or I don't have time to take a picture in the morning or I don't have time to create the post in the evening. But when I do blog, what should I put with the photo?

At least, when the outfit doesn't spark something specific, which frankly, a lot of them don't. If I have a new item to show off or am testing out a weird combo, yeah, I'll mention that. And some days, I might actually have something on my mind, heh.

But I'm throwing this out to you. What, if anything, are you interested in reading here? Personal stuff (obviously, only as personal as I'm willing to share, but hey, I told y'all about cancer!), like how my day was, yada yada yada. Articles of interest that I've found? Memes? Song lyrics? No text at all? Does it matter? I'm all ears!


What I'm wearing:
Burgundy peplum sweater, Anthropologie | Black knit top with ruched flowers, NY & Company | Black & brown Ikat stripe skirt, Kohl's | Black tights, Calvin Klein | Burgundy suede cutout pumps, Soffit | Black & gold medallion earrings, random accessory store


Thursday, April 17, 2014

Back to Some Pattern Mixing

Been a while since I mixed it up, so to speak. The main rules for pattern mixing (if you don't want to look like a crazy person) are usually to keep the color palette similar & watch that the scale of the patterns aren't ridiculously off.

Still, pattern mixing is both an advanced technique and an acquired taste, so you might think this outfit makes me look like a crazy person anyway. Yay or nay?

What I'm wearing:
Black & white stripe cardigan, Chadwicks | Black knit top with lace yoke, H&M | Black & white paisley print skirt with side ruffle, made by Donna | Black tights, Calvin Klein | Black pointy-toe kitten-heel shoes, Aldo | Silver bat necklace, Plasticland | Silver hoop earrings, random accessory store





Tuesday, April 15, 2014

The CorpGoth Status Report Is Back!

That's right! It's time to start filing those reports again. After a too-long hiatus, I'm bringing the Mid-Month Status Report back for May. Here goes...
 
Subject: Makeup in the office. Do you wear any? What kind? How often? Show &/or tell about your makeup routine for the workday. Extra credit if you have product reviews, tutorials, or other useful tips for working girls (or guys even)!

Due Date: Monday, May 12 to Wednesday, May 16

How to File Your Report:

1. Post to your blog on or around the due dates.

2. Include the following code in your post so the This Is CorpGoth Mid-Month Status Report graphic will display (if you're using Blogger or WordPress, switch to the 'HTML post' setting & then paste this code in):

<a href="http://corpgoth.blogspot.com/search/label/corpgoth%20status%20report"><img border="0" src="http://www.trystancraft.com/corpgoth/corpgothstatusreport.jpg" /></a>

3. Comment on my Monday the 12th post including your blog link.

4. Read everyone else's reports via their links in the comments!

Monday, April 14, 2014

Hair Subterfuge

I must admit, I only wore this wig for the morning blog photo. It just went so perfectly with the outfit! But I wore this ensemble within the first week at my new job, & I didn't want to freak everyone out by showing up with different hair *that* fast.

Sure, it's easy enough to Google me, find this blog, & read all about my cancer & see my bald head, much the less my different wigs. But it's still a little odd to show up with crazy hair after just meeting someone.

At some point in, hopefully, the next few months, my real hair will be long enough that I can go without a wig at all. It's about an inch long right now, so maybe by the end of summer I'll have enough hair for a proper pixie cut.

That will be enough of a shock for people -- going into the office one week with a long or bobbed wig & then coming in the next week with a pixie cut. I'll answer all the questions then honestly, but right now, just starting out, I'd rather leave it be.

What I'm wearing: Black & white floral sweater, White House Black Market | Black ruffled knit sleeveless top, Macy's | Dark pink skirt, NY & Company | Black tights, Calvin Klein | Black & white stripe T-strap flats, Nine West | Black with pink crystal dangly earrings, random accessory store

Friday, April 11, 2014

So Picky About Shoes, Who Knew?

I've had three opportunities to buy shoes recently, & they've each driven me mad because, wow, I seem to have issues about shoes. Yet I own about 80 pairs, according to the last very approximate closet census.

The first frustrating shoe shopping was when I needed to order one small, just-under $10 thing from Amazon.com, & to justify shipping, I figured I'd throw in something else to make a $30-$40-ish order. All the books on my wishlist were crazy-expensive costume reference tomes, so they were out. Thus I figured, why not a cute little pair of flats? I default to wearing this one boring pair of black flats a lot, so maybe I could use some variety.

Must have taken me two late-night hours to sort through over a hundred $30 flats on Amazon, mostly because I go for black shoes too often, yet quibble because black shoes (especially flats) can be so dull. It's not just the goth thing that makes me gravitate towards black shoes but because I always think they'll 'go with everything.'

Really, it's a cheap pair of flats! It's not a lifetime investment. They can go with a couple outfits. Or, gee, get creative & wild, & make them go with more stuff. *eyeroll* It's just shoes, not an inquisition. Pick out a damn pair of flats. I probably should have just sucked it up on the shipping fee for the first item.

But I finally settled on a subtly striped silver/black fabric flat (shown here). Which I immediately wore out to dinner with family. Reasonably comfortable, terribly cute. All that mental sturm und drang over some shoes. Sheesh.


At said dinner, my in-laws gave me gift cards to Zappos & Macy's as a belated birthday gift. So again, I poked around for more shoes. Yet had the same problems. Flats or pumps? Which will I wear more? What's most practical? Black goes with everything. Maybe a color, but not that color. No gold or brass buckles. And omg, no snakeskin or lizard-skin, I can't stand the idea of putting my foot into a reptile. I'm super picky about faux suede too, some of them look *too* fake. Heel colors, gotta match, hate when they're a different shade than the shoe upper. Unless it's very intentionally done & done well, which it usually isn't. And don't get me started on the width of Mary Jane straps & where it becomes too matronly. UGH.

I think this is why I've bought more shoes offline than on: fewer choices. When I start to see EVERYTHING that's out there, I get more irritated than not!

What I'm wearing: Black sweater with ruched shoulders, H&M | Black camisole (unseen), Old Navy | Burgundy print corduroy skirt, Kohl's | Black tights, Calvin Klein | Black & silver silk striped flats, RocketDog | Black & grey skull-print scarf, gift from my husband | Silver filigree earrings, random accessory store


Thursday, April 10, 2014

New Badge With Bat

I started a new job this day, so not only did I want to dress to impress, but I figured that what I wore -- at least from the shoulders up -- might be immortalized on my office badge. Good call, because that photo was taken immediately. And this bat necklace is now forever part of my employee identification!

What I'm wearing:
Black three-quarter-sleeve jacket, Speigel | Black knit top, NY & Company | Grey striped skirt, Nordstrom | Black tights, Calvin Klein | Black flats, Aerosoles | Black bat necklace, Walgreens | Gunmetal hoop earrings, random accessory store


Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Stripey T-Straps & Skulls

I need more flat shoes or low heels. I have flat boots & casual shoes, but not that many flat/low shoes that look good with dressy or work outfits. My new job is a couple blocks from public transit, so I want to be able to walk there comfortably. I have a couple plain black flats or low-heeled shoes, kind of boring, nothing special.

Coincidentally, my in-laws gave me a Zappos gift card for my birthday. And I finally spent it on these shoes! They're easy to walk in, & they're adorable. The scarf in this outfit picks up the white in the shoe's T-strap quite nicely, I think.


What I'm wearing:
Black knit top, NY & Company
Black & grey knit dress, Coldwater Creek
Black elastic belt, NY & Company
Black tights, Calvin Klein
Black & white stripe T-strap flats, Nine West
Black & white skull scarf, unknown brand
Black & white stripe bead earrings, Kohl's
Make Up For Ever Aqua Rouge lipstick in Dark Raspberry



Thursday, April 3, 2014

Purple, Stripes, & a New Lipstick Review

This outfit coincides with me test-driving a new lipstick: Make Up For Ever's Aqua Rouge in Dark Raspberry. It's available at Sephora & some department stores. A friend recommended this specific brand because it's super long-lasting. I was with her at a costume event, & she wore Aqua Rouge all day, through eating lunch & drinking cocktails, & her lipstick looked great, didn't need any touch-ups. Whereas I was constantly reapplying my lipstick. So I finally got some for myself.

Unfortunately for goths, Aqua Rouge doesn't have many dark colors -- only three looked sufficiently dark enough when I tested them in the store, the Dark Raspberry that I'm wearing, a slightly redder shade called Burgundy, & the Purple, which is a dark bruise of a purple. Nothing too exotic.

Aqua Rouge comes in a lip gloss formulation, which isn't my favorite, but you don't have to use the gloss itself. The double-ended tube has color on one side & clear gloss on the other. I only wore the color. Typical of glosses, it goes on sticky (ew) & stays tacky for at least 15 minutes until it finally dries. During this wet stage, you can fix any mistakes you've made by just wiping away excess, but you don't wait much longer. Once it's set, it can be difficult to fix without makeup remover.

Overall staying power was decent but not spectacular for my first wearing. The lipstick lasted fine through the morning when I did nothing but drink coffee. For comparison, my usual lipstick requires a tiny touch-up by noon. But the Aqua Rouge looked the same before lunch as it did when I put it on. Unfortunately, the lipstick didn't make it through lunch. I didn't make it easy -- I went to a long lunch for sushi with tempura-fried appetizers. Probably the bit of greasy food wore away at the lipstick. By the end of the meal, my lips had only a faint trace of color & darker at the edges. Better than being completely lipstick-less as happens with all my other lipsticks, I guess, but not dramatically good staying power. On the upside, when I kissed my husband "goodbye" in the morning & "hello" after work, no lipstick transferred onto him, which he complains about with some of my dark lipsticks.

I give Aqua Rouge a "B-" rating -- lovely but limited color palette, long-lasting for a cocktail party, but maybe not much else.

What I'm wearing:
Purple puff-shoulder sweater, H&M
Black & white stripe skirt, White House Black Market
Black tights, Calvin Klein
Black lace-up heeled granny boots, Aerosoles
Silver jeweled medallion on velvet ribbon, vintage
Gold & purple earrings, vintage, from my grandmother
Make Up For Ever Aqua Rouge lipstick in Dark Raspberry