This Second's Obsession

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this lace obsession

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I’ve been meaning to write a post about lace for ages, so it’s just right that the arrival of October, and Sophistique Noir‘s monthly theme, should spur me on. I’ve always loved the idea of lace, but it’s a tricky kind of fabric. A lot of people are afraid of it, because it can often look cheap and tacky. It’s either In Fashion, or very definitely Out of Fashion, and I think the only type of fabric that is more at the mercy of trends is velvet. At the moment lace is very much In Fashion, especially on the sleeves of dresses, the lingering influence of a certain wedding dress, I expect.

However, I’m not sure how I feel about lace sleeves! I’ve seen few dresses with lace sleeves that I actually really like. It’s all because of the pattern – I’m really fussy about any kind of pattern and lace is no exception. Most lace sleeves are not to my taste, I’m afraid, and my lace dresses and tops are sleeveless, with the exception of one almost-tacky goth top I bought from Camden Market when I was a teenager (it just about works. Under another dress).

I have decided to use this post as an excuse to look for pretty things on the internet and create a list of lace things that I do like, and things that I don’t. We’ll start with the don’t likes, because there are no pictures so it’ll be a more boring list.

1. I don’t like lace ruffles around the neck/shoulders. Amongst other aesthetic issues, I never know what jewellery to wear and I like jewellery, so I don’t want to have to skip it.
2. I don’t like plain shift dresses with lace overlays. The simplicity of the shape seems to make the lace dull by association.
3. I don’t like lace leggings. This is because I despise leggings in general. Unless they are jeggings that really look like jeans. Those are fantastic. I digress.
4. I don’t normally like crochet, there are exceptions, but those are rare, I don’t like the blocky look it has.
5. I don’t like lace trims on tulle, it just reminds me of net curtains.
6. I don’t usually like that cream colour often called ‘nude’ (why? It’s not skin colour for the vast majority of humans) as a backing for lace, but that is because I despise that colour in general. Exception:

I just have no idea how to stand for outfit photos. I’m sorry. This photo also makes me laugh because it looks as if I have cleavage and this has never happened in a photo before!
 (Hat – M&S current season, dress – H&M Summer 2005, wrap top – H&M no idea when, long cuffable scrunchable socks – Sock Dreams, shoes – Clarks, necklace – Agatha via charity shop, lipstick – Sleek Pout Paint in Pin Up)

I think this dress gets away with it because it’s a very cool neutral, not warm at all, almost grey. Plus it’s obviously darker than my skin colour, when shades are too close I feel they just look orange in comparison. The socks and the hat (post coming about the wonders of M&S cloche hats) are quite a dark blue-red, so there is no clashing. It’s still a bit too yellow to be worn with purple though, I don’t think I’ve even tried. On top of the dress I’m wearing a wraparound top with black lace trim that I love because I can convert sleeveless or short-sleeved tops into longer, warmer, more interesting tops, as soon as I put it on. On that note, onto things I do like!

1. Bright colours behind black lace. This dress is amazing! It’s so amazing I can even ignore the presence of leggings in the photo.
2. Lace that is almost-off-the-shoulders. I love the shape of this dress though it’s hard to judge the quality of the fabric from the picture. It’s simple without being dull. Plus, it’s purple.
3. The odd bit of lovely weirdness, like a lace dress with a hood.
4. Two different colours of lace together. This dress is way too short for my tastes but I love the way the purple and the brown look together.
5. Lace gloves.When the quality is quite high, anyway. I can’t supply a link here as it’s so difficult to find a pair I like.
6. Lace on hats. As you may already know.
7. Lace effects on other things. Lace makes a great stencil, whether you’re painting your Docs or your nails.
8. Knitting lace. SO DIFFICULT. Just wonderful. I do like a challenge!
9. Lace + floatiness = great. As seen today on the cherry blossom girl.

I haven’t actually bought any thing from the new influx of lace onto the high street, but I did get a lovely long dress that is aqua-green with black lace over it from a charity shop recently. Unfortunately it’s still in the wash right now (gaaah hand wash gaaaah) but here is a size 14 version on eBay (disclaimer: I am not the seller, I do not know the seller, I am not responsible for this listing and the quality of it).

I would like to invest in some more lace items as those that I do have, I’ve been wearing for years. The dress in the photo above is from Summer 2005. I didn’t actually wear it that year, I was too shy, but I’ve been loving it since Summer 2006, it’s now one of my favourite summer dresses, and by wearing it over thick thigh-high socks I was able to wear it during the autumn. Then the autumn was replaced by summer in the UK, and I wore it with red tights to go to a few pubs earlier in the week. Heatwaves and lace are best friends. The worst thing about lace is that it’s not particularly warm and it looks best when it’s slinky and at least partly figure-hugging. Not ideal for the winter, but then again, lace shawls can be warm, when made with the right yarn.

You may have noticed that I’ve gotten into the habit of posting these monthly theme posts a bit late. That’s because I like to read some of the other participants’ posts so I can feature those that I really like. If I were more organised I might make two posts out of it, but I’m not, especially not at the moment as I’m coming to the end of employment. I kind of wish I’d had SalKaye’s idea to feature some free lace knitting patterns, except that would have taken me ages.

I really like the dress in the first picture on The Irish Phantom Cat’s post, probably because it’s green. I actually have a top that is green underneath with black lace on top, it’s even older than the dress in my picture, I think I’ve had that one since I was 17! I also love Unlacing the Victorians’ top, and it has lace sleeves. Whee!

How do you feel about lace? Yay or nay? Any lace dress recommendations?

What I Wore: Mad Hatter’s Day/Red and Black Week

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Happy Mad Hatter’s Day! Despite having a photography student for a sister and studying many an article on the subject, I still suck at taking outfit photos. Proof below, but first!

This is my favourite hat. I think it’s from the 1950s. I have never worn it out. Every time I think about wearing it out, I never end up going to the event I was planning an outfit for. I really struggled to get a picture of it in action – in the end I had to pretend that I was on Myspace circa 2004 and the hat was my face.

It’s in an erm, interesting state of repair. I bought it for £10 in a local vintage/secondhand shop that has since closed down. The feathers are awesome but not in the best condition, some of the rachis have been snapped. There doesn’t seem to be any lace missing, but it’s been torn a bit. When I first got it, it smelled of gravy granules. I am not even kidding. This is not the only vintage hat I’ve had that smelled like that either, it seems to be a thing, stench de gravy granules and vintage hats. But I put my limited edition precious Jungle soap from Lush inside them for a couple of weeks, and now they smell fine.

Grown-up goth blog Sophistique Noir has been hosting a red and black theme week, and I would have, ideally, contributed more than one post, but unfortunately I don’t have many red clothes. Don’t worry, I have already looked at my life AND my choices, and decided to keep both eyes out for more red clothes in future. Seriously, what was I doing? Now if it were purple and black week…or purple and black month…However, I do have red eyeshadow, of course, and my tights box contains three different pairs of Marks and Spencer red tights. I love M&S tights. Every pair comes in at least two different sizes, depending on the style, there many be four – small, medium, large and extra large. Why don’t other shops sell tights in varied sizes? ‘One size’ is the bane of my life. People are not ‘one size’!

On the right are the crazy bright ones, which are the oldest and were purchased when opaque coloured tights had just become fashionable. I used to wear them a fair amount to the students’ union for club nights with otherwise all-black outfits, and of course on Christmas Day, with some green! Still in their packaging are a pair I got last Christmas. They have not emerged from the packet because I have too many pairs of tights ‘on the go’ already. It’s a sickness. A really pleasant sickness. The pair I am wearing in this APPALLING outfit photo (I need to learn to use a tripod, stat) are the second pair I got. They’re darker, therefore more subdued. I usually wear them with purple and black.

This is not a particularly interesting outfit to say the least. But there is red. The camera was balanced on a pile of clothes. My facial expression shows that I knew how this would turn out.

Necklace: Vecona (bought at an Emilie Autumn concert in…2008, I think)
Dress: H&M via charity shop
Tights: M&S
Shoes: Nine West (yeah, there are shoes, scroll down)

I call this dress my ‘goth nurse’ dress as it is probably the closest I will ever get to wearing an actual goth nurse dress (if you like them, more power to you, but really not my thing). It doesn’t fit. It’s perfectly comfortable, but was probably designed for a much shorter woman as the waist section is right under my boobs. Don’t care though, as it’s got pockets at the hips! Gotta love a dress with pockets. Clue #1 that I would never wear this outfit out of the house unless I joined a band or something similar:

These shoes. Nine West size eights (US 10) bought during a sale at Debenhams a couple of years ago. As I’ve mentioned before, Nine West’s eights come up big, so I can sometimes squeeze my feet into them. These are a little small but as they’re strappy it doesn’t matter. I have actually only worn these shoes outdoors once – for one of my sister’s birthday parties. They’re quite comfortable, but most of my friends are significantly shorter than me, whereas my sister is half an inch taller than me. If I wore these clubbing with my friends I couldn’t hear the conversation! Also, I never go anywhere where it would be a good idea to wear these shoes with this dress. The dress is too casual for clubs where I might wear the shoes and the shoes are totally inappropriate for mooching around shops and pubs. To do: join a band.

Clue #2: I’m only wearing one necklace and no other jewellery, and Clue #3, it’s the Vecona Sacred Heart locket, which only leaves the house for Emilie Autumn gigs. I’m afraid of the ribbon magically fraying really quickly or something equally unlikely. If I were going out in this outfit, I would carry this bag, which, of course, came from a charity shop. I do love it, and hope to get a lot more use out of it this summer.

Now on to the make-up! At least I’ve worked out how to take decent pictures of my make-up.

Eyes (based on my current favourite make-up tutorial – I’ve already done a purple version twice):
Gold eyeshadow (inner corner): Sleek Sunset gold
Bronzeish eyeshadow (inner half top lids): Sleek Sunset bronze
Red eyeshadow that applies quite pink on me, your mileage may vary (outer half top lids): Sleek Sunset brightest red, on the right of the black
Red eyeshadow smudged into light application of black eyeliner (lower lids): Sleek Sunset, the red underneath the black in the palette

Lips:
Mix of It Started With A Kiss lip tint from Lush, Rimmel Diva Red lipstick, and Lush’s Let Them Eat Cake (2009 edition) lip balm. I didn’t want to go too bright, mostly because I was about to eat some cheese and I didn’t want to be eating a load of lipstick too, but also partly because I wanted to match the level of red on my eyes.

PS. I remembered that I have a red hat too (also secondhand, retro M&S). MYSPACE TIME!

This one is also in a bit of an interesting condition: it’s angora-fluffy but some of the fluff has worn away in patches. I think it gets away with it though because it’s so RED. Thoughts?