Adieu, Cranes Belle-Or Skull Week, Day 5

Here's the final day of skull week...I'll miss my little jolly Roger buddies! Today was all about the accessories (I had to work, and wanted more practical clothes!), but here's a shot of the total outfit anyway, just for fun! Oh, yeah, and because outfits are basically the point of my blog. That might make a difference too. :P

 

Black blouse (under dress)-Wal-Mart

Black lace dress-Buffalo Exchange

Skull bangles-GoodGoth

Skull hairfixers-Walgreens 

Skull tights-Rite-Aid

Black buckle boots-Ross 

 Here's a close-up of the black and white bangles-aren't they too cute for words? I got them in a mystery bag from GoodGoth, and when I remember to wear them, I love them!

 Here are the tights-they were only $2 or $3 from Rite-Aid last year around Halloween, and sadly it's starting to show-they have a fair amount of runs in them, and are starting to come apart entirely. I'll have to get another pair, but it's not like I didn't get my money's worth out of these-I wore them at least 10-12 times last year!

 Here's the other bangle-I actually have a green one too, but I thought two bangles on each wrist might be just a tad excessive. :)

 And here's the hairfixer-for some reason they were real boogers to photograph, so apologies for the blurriness, but this is the best picture I could get! You can also see a detail of the lace on the dress, which is really quite pretty but which I am far too lazy to photograph on its own, so it's a twofer photo!

 That's the last of the skulls...at least for now! When I go home for Thanksgiving and Christmas break, expect to see a lot more because my sewing machine and I are going to be busy, busy, busy sewing up all my cool skull fabrics. Tune in next week for a just-as-Gothic but a bit more unusual motif-spiders and spiderwebs!

Skull Week Days 3 and 4: Teeny Weeny Skulls and Skeletons and Musical Instruments

Hi! Sorry for missing yesterday, but never fear-I have outfit pics, so you get to see me work skulls subtly and...not-so-subtly, all in one post! Aren't you all so lucky? :) Here's yesterday's outfit, my own personal Goth-y version of the requisite college student t-shirt/sweatpants outfit-just as comfy, nowhere near as boring-looking!

 

Black lace overblouse-Goodwill

Skull-print cami-Plato's Closet

 Ruffled black calf-length skirt-Arc

Black kneesocks-Target

Black heeled Mary Janes-Hot Topic

  It's really hard to tell from a distance, but this print is  super-adorable. Here's a close-up: 

I think this is skulls and Goth-y prints at their subtlest; just a tiny hint of the macabre and unusual, offered only to those who get close enough to look. And though I usually love my outlandish, eyeball-grabbing style, sometimes it's nice to be just a little mysterious. I didn't continue the subtlety today, though, that's for sure!

 

Pearl choker-Inherited

Green skeleton-print dress-Made by me

Black taffeta underbust corset-Punk69

Black tights-Wal-Mart

  Black chunky sneakers-Arc 

The picture really doesn't do justice to the awesomeness of this fabric. I made this dress for a Halloween costume 2 years ago (June Cleaver by Tim Burton, if you're curious), and haven't worn it much since, just because it was one of my first sewing projects and thus has no darts, buttons, or zipper, giving it all the attractive shape of a feed sack. That's easily remedied with a corset, though, so now I have no excuse not to wear it! The fabric has skeletons. Playing musical instruments. It makes me so happy! Here, have a close-up so you can be happy too!

 They even gave them little hats! And you can't read the drum, but it says "Rolling Bones." Isn't it too fabulous for words? I also love the lime green-one of my friends walked into class this morning, stopped, and said "Whoa. You're actually wearing a lot of color. I'm surprised!" It was too funny, and very true. Tune in tomorrow for the last day of skulls and such, which will be...highly accessorial, to say the least! Aren't you excited? I know I am!

Stripey Socks and Skulls-Skull Week, Day 2

So, my outfit ended up taking a bit of an unexpected twist today; I was originally wearing plain black tights, but they imploded into a mass of strings around the thigh area two hours into my day. Fortunately, I was on 16th Street Mall and could buy some new ones, but given the choice between a $10 pair of plain black tights and a $4 pair of stripey tights, I of course had to go with the stripes. I don't usually mix patterns, but I kinda like this:

 

Black jersey shrug-Rainbow

Skull-print chiffon dress-Hot Topic

Skull bangle-GoodGoth 

Purple and black stripe tights-TJ Maxx

Victorian-style boots-Ross

 I do love this dress-considering how pricey (relatively-remember, I'm on a college student budget!) most stuff at Hot Topic is, I've almost never bought anything there at full price, but when I saw this I had to have it, regardless of the $60 price tag. It is such a fun, flirty, and versatile dress-after I bought it I worried that such a distinctive piece might not get a lot of wear, but it's surprisingly easy to style into a lot of different outfits. I especially like it with the stripes, which is something I don't think I would have done on purpose for fear of clashing patterns/prints-I'm a wee bit anal retentive and like everything to match, so sometimes I will be a bit hesitant about putting more than one bold pattern into an outfit-but after how this turned out, I might have to try more! How do you all feel about mixing prints?

Skulls and Fishnet and Tripp, Oh My! Or, Skull And Crossbones Week, Day 1

So, as I mentioned previously, I want to try and do a different Goth-y theme for every week in October, and I'm kicking off with that most archetypal of all Gothic symbols, the skull. I actually have surprisingly few skull-and-crossbones or skull-festooned items of clothing in my wardrobe, all things considered, but I do have a lot of skully fabrics at home waiting to be sewn up. I do have enough to make a week, though, so here's the first outfit!

 

Heart Necklace-Arc

Fishnet shirt-Buffalo Exchange

Skull t-shirt-Buffalo Exchange

Tripp buckle skirt-Buffalo Exchange

Patterned tights-Target

Chunky black sneakers-Goodwill 

Wow, I totally didn't realize until I was writing out my description that pretty much the entire outfit came from Buffalo Exchange. It kind of makes sense, though-the t-shirt is generic (if unusually patterned), but the fishnet shirt is Lip Service and the skirt is Tripp, and the only place I get that kind of stuff is Buffalo Exchange, since finding Goth brand stuff at Goodwill or Arc is about as likely as finding a hen's tooth. I have one Lip Service jumper and one Lip Service skirt from different Arcs, but that's two finds in about five years, so...yeah. This outfit is definitely a lot more punky and a lot less elegant than my typical, but it was still super fun to wear! I really like the anchor/skull pattern on the shirt, too-it's an unusual combination of two fairly common Gothic motifs, and gives it a bit more kick than your usual skull-themed stuff. Can't wait to continue my parade of death's heads tomorrow!