Blogoversary Reflections

Last week was the one-year anniversary of starting this blog, specifically when I started posting outfit photos (as there were a couple test posts). Alas, I was traveling in Spain at the time, so I had auto-scheduled posts & didn't have any outfits for sharing. I do plan to write up something about my travel wardrobe later on tho'.

Today's outfit is something I probably wouldn't have worn before I started blogging. Sure, I'd have bought & worn the individual pieces (& I had some of them a year ago), but this exact combination is definitely inspired by what I've seen in the fashion blogosphere.

Pattern-mixing is still a novelty to me -- I'll only do subtle mixes like this pinstripe with a bold abstract because anything more looks like the wearer got dressed in the dark to my eye. And I think that extreme pattern-mixing in an outfit makes one less likely to be taken seriously in the workplace, even in super-casual Silicon Valley. Playing it safe with classic goth all-black is a better bet for sealing a deal, running a class, or acing an interview, I believe.

Little things like wearing a belt over a sweater is something I learned from fashion blogs too (especially the now-shuttered Academic Chic). I just wouldn't have thought of doing that before. Belting in general is something I was a bit mystified by for ages -- I'd buy belts & they'd hang forlornly in my closet. Now I have about 5 of them that I wear pretty regularly, if not all that creatively. I do love how a belt accentuates my waist, giving definition to the smallest part of me, showing off my curves elegantly, & generally providing more & better shape. Wide elastic belts are my favorite, but this skinny studded belt is a winner too.

"Statement" necklaces like this one are another thing picked up from fashion blogs. I used to wear a lot of little charms on long, skinny chains. Those are pretty & sentimental, but they get lost in an outfit. Fashion blogs taught me to see an outfit as a whole -- literally, take a picture & see myself from head to toe. Tiny little charm necklaces don't show up. Bold, chunky necklaces can give balance & symmetry (which I'm a huge fan of -- it's right up there with matchy-matchy!), and statement necklaces define the neck & help frame the face along with my hair. Particularly when you have solid black hair, a heavy necklace creates a visual frame around a pale(ish) face, which I find pleasing & also emphasizes the goth look in a new way.

What I'm wearing:
Pink print cardigan, Chadwicks
Dark grey pinstripe dress, made by Donna
Black tights, unknown brand
Black pumps with silver buckle, Kenneth Cole Reaction
Black studded belt, Macy's
Black beaded waterfall bib necklace, Torrid
Black rhinestone hoop earrings, random accessory store
Black cocktail ring, Icing
Burgundy lipstick, Sephora

I'm glad I started reading fashion blogs, & I'm very glad I started my own blog. It's been an educational & entertaining venture! I've virtually met some lovely people too, & I thank all of you for your wonderful comments, even if I don't always have time to respond. I do read them all & am very grateful.

Life Is Too Short for Comfort Shoes

What is it about shoes? They are either the cause of great frustration or great delight among women. Perhaps because we, even more so than men (hi, let me generalize & stereotype a bit here) are on our feet more, running around & doing more, taking care of other people more, trying to live up to expectations, & having to work twice as hard for half the pay (was that my outside voice?).

Our feet take a lot of abuse. They either hurt & we want to swaddle them in comfort shoes, or decorate them in the most fantastical, gorgeous, & outrageous footwear as if to sartorially say "take a hike!" to all those expectations & duties & suchlike that seek to weigh us down.

Wow, that was a lot of ridiculous pontificating about what goes on our feet. Sorry, that's what you get from a writer who spent way too much time in higher education analyzing the queer-feminist implications of Victorian literature ;-)

I used to wear rather practical shoes, a lot of flats & low-heeled boots. I reasoned that this was required because I walked a lot & took public transit, as I don't drive a car. Then, in 2002, I went to Paris, France, & was amazed to see women of various ages walking all over the city, & it seemed that every one of them wore gorgeous high-heeled shoes. Mostly elegant pumps, kitten heels to spindly stilettos, even on the cobblestone streets in the Marais & Left Bank. These ladies walked purposefully, swiftly, sometimes walking tiny little dogs or arm-in-arm with a gentleman or taking a child somewhere. They were doing the business of life & doing it with style.

I realized, then & there, that I was wasting time with clunky, boring flats. I needed to get on a heel & get going.  Life is too short for comfort shoes (or for cheap liquor either). There is a place for practicality, but it need not be every single day. And practicality doesn't have to mean dull either. I'm with Sal of Already Pretty when she rhapsodized in her Ode to a Pump -- there's just something special about a bit of heel that makes a gal walk straighter.

I'm sure this post (if it's read!) will get complaints about "but I have Serious Foot Condition X that requires Special Comfort Shoe X." Ok, fine, but do you really need to wear that every day of your life? Can't you switch it around for part of the week? Are you *that* disabled? If I really was that disabled, I would invest some money in having fabulous custom shoes made (or orthopedic inserts that could fit into any shoes or whatever). Because you have to live with Serious Foot Condition, but you don't have to let it rule your life. Don't use it as an excuse to be boring.

It's like saving the "good china" just for once a year at the holidays. That means you miss out on it all year long. If you say you can only wear cute shoes when you go out to a fancy dinner or to the opera, but you hardly ever go to those places, well, wtf? That's a waste. Wear the cute shoes to get groceries, if that's the only time you leave the house. Live it up while you can, right now. You could get hit by a bus tomorrow!

(Shoe images from Zappos.com.)

Goth Challenge #13, 14 - Ts & DIY

#13: What was your first band T-shirt?
(Continuing the Goth Challenge questions -- follow the tag below to see all.)

No idea what the very first one was, but I've held on to one from 1987 -- it's from the Cure's "Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me" tour, which I saw at the Oakland Coliseum about a month or two after graduating from high school. This T-shirt is almost falling apart, but I've kept it from pure nostalgia.

Ancient Cure T-shirt

#14: What was your best and worst DIY attempts?

Best? Well, I've made a ton of things, full gowns & such, so it's hard to say what's the best. My current faves are jewelry for everyday wear, if we don't count the costumes.

Worst, oi!, there are plenty of disasters that I stopped mid-construction. I learned the hard way that I hate making corsets, they're a royal pain. After making a dozen different styles in different materials, I just stopped, & now I gladly pay others to go thru that hassle for me.

Wearing a spiderweb-print corset made by a friend.

CorpGoth Guide to High-End Black Lipsticks

Around Halloween, the BabyBat's fancy turns to black lipstick. Admit it, we've all done it, we've gone to the drugstore or the Halloween outlets that pop up everywhere and bought a tube of Wet 'n Wild (or worse, the generic) black lipstick and tried it out.

That waxy, hard, horrible tasting/smelling so-called lipstick leaves an ashen grey smear on our lips and we toss it in the trash, finally understanding why friends don't let friends dress as The Crow. And as the years pass, we begin to think the black lipsticks are just another of those childish rites of passage, certainly nothing fit for mature, sensible goth gals and boys.

However, in the past few years, several of the high-end makeup lines have come out with black and almost-black lipsticks that are of much better quality than the Halloween lippies of yore. These lipsticks are as moist and rich as you'd expect for a $20 tube, and the colors are quite nice.

Here are my reviews.

MAC Cosmetics Lipstick, Cremesheen Black Night (possibly discontinued; look at Nordstroms and other department-store makeup counters if MAC stores don't carry it) -- The lightest black lipstick of the bunch. Has a touch of shimmer. This one does go true black, but I think it looks best layered over another color, such as a dark pink or burgundy for a blackened cherry look.

Illamasqua Lipstick, Pristine (matte black) -- Very matte finish in a true, solid black lipstick. This gives a classy look to the old goth cliche, nicely adult yet edgy. A winner if you want a sharp, matte look. $22.

Make Up For Ever Professional Lipstick, #50 (satin black) -- A bit creamier than the Illamasqua but also a true, solid black. The satin finish isn't exactly shimmery but it's not the flat, matte of Pristine. This one stains a little bit. $19.

Sephora Rouge Cream Lipstick, Bewitch Me 24 (deepest cool grape) -- Actually, I'm not positive of the shade because in the stores, Sephora's house brand lippies don't have names, just numbers. My tube has the number 816-211A on it, and the color appears to be a brownish purple with shimmer. Don't let this fool you! It goes on as a rich, dark black with the barest hint of brown, like dried blood. And like all of Sephora's Rouge Cream line, it's smooth and silky with a satiny finish. If you can find this shade, it's a great, creamy black lipstick, and the most affordable of the bunch at $12.

While my photos aren't the best, you do get the idea that the differences between these lipstick shades are subtle, at best. The biggest choice is whether you want matte or satin/creamy finish

These colors -- like most makeup colors -- won't be available forever, so stock up if you like the look, or just want to avoid the memory of those nasty BabyBat experiments. I don't recommend wearing black lipstick to the office, but it can be fun on the weekends with simple eye makeup and an elegant outfit.

Related link:  A Review of MAC’s Black Lipsticks from Gothic Charm School.

Goth Challenge #11, 12 - Lifestyle & Inspiration

#11: Is goth a lifestyle for you?
(Continuing the Goth Challenge questions -- follow the tag below to see all.)  

Goth is part of my lifestyle. I couldn't say it *is* my lifestyle. My life is made up of many things. I spend many weekends of the year dressing up in historical costumes, pretending to be in a different century. I spend most of my weekdays as a professional writer & editor at a major Internet corporation. Gothic is the major style in which I do both of those things in my life -- my costumes all have a goth edge (whether or not that's historically accurate, hah!), and I'm CorpGoth at work.

#12: What's your gothic inspiration?

Lots of stuff! I especially love Pre-Raphaelite artists, for the combination of romantic medieval imagery through a Victorian lens. As mentioned in the "cliches" question, I also love original gothic literature a la the Bronte Sisters, and I love crumbling cemeteries and churches and old castles. And the things that would go inside them, like candles dripping wax and old leather books and tapestries and such. Romantic old things, that's it.

Casual Redux With Cameos

I'm on the road, so I'm auto-scheduling some outfits I'd photographed a while back but never posted. Casual stuff that I didn't wear to work (tho' in my office, I could). My version of snappy weekend wear.

What I'm wearing:
Burgundy corduroy blazer, buttons swapped out for vintage jet by me, Kohl's | White long-sleeve top with cameo print, Newport News | Dark grey jeans, Calvin Klein | Pointy black boots with kitten heels, Bakers | Black beaded necklace with cameo, random accessory store | Silver cameo earrings, vintage | Black roses cocktail ring, Icing | Black & white flower hair pin, Random accessory store

Goth Challenge #10 - The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

#10: What do you hate and love about the subculture?
(Continuing the Goth Challenge questions -- follow the tag below to see all.) 

Oh dear. Where to start... well, I do get tired of the samey-ness, which is kind of to be expected. Everyone dresses in black, everyone wears corsets & big boots, everyone wears a lot of eyeliner & dark lipstick, everyone listens to the same music & goes to nightclubs, everyone likes skulls & bats, blah blah blah. The cliches can build up & look trite, tired, & old.

It's why I don't want to wear more obviously goth stuff than I do. Corp with a goth flavor, instead of cliche goth trying to squeeze into corporate. I do not want to look like a cartoon character because I'm not one. I'm a real person, I'm an individual, I may like the subculture, but I'm not only made of this one subculture.

What do I love? The aesthetic, which combines modern edgy darkness with a connection to the past. While the music clued me in about the subculture as a kid, it was the fashion, the style, the trappings, all that really drew me in and kept me going throughout the years. I discovered I could goth my whole world, not just a few mix tapes. That's what I find appealing, the beautiful darkness in everyday things.