Orange You Glad

May 4, 201610 Comments

to see me

It seems orange has quickly become a favourite colour of mine. I find the common denominator amongst many pieces I like is orange, not just in clothes, but in most anything. There have been a number of times now that Zach has laughed at me for wearing something that blends right into his couch. So I figured, if you can’t beat em, join em.

Zach just got in from his road trip last night and I’m pretty happy to have him back. Although, admittedly, I’ll miss living vicariously through his and Andrew’s beautiful pictures. But, I’ll be setting off to Tulum in 12 days, which as I type that makes me realize how soon that is! We still have some planning to do, so if you have any recommendations of where to eat and places to visit that maybe aren’t as popular, let us know. We want to see. it. all.

-WHAT I WORE-
Blouse & Scarf: vintage via Common Sort | Jeans: H&M
Larkspur Vintage | Orange You Glad

I’ve Got It All

April 25, 20165 Comments

Together…sometimes…but usually not.

The weekends when I am able to fit in work and fun are the type of weekends I come away from feeling truly whole. When you work a full time job (I recently became a buyer for a second hand/sometimes vintage shop), maintain a blog and other social media platforms all by yourself, own a dog, teach dance, help your partner with work, occasionally style and model for shoots, try to attend blogging/insta events, sometimes sell clothes…it’s hard to feel like you are on top of everything. To be honest, it’s fucking impossible to be on top of all of that. The thing that usually gets pushed to the wayside for me is friendships. It’s hard to maintain friendships (I’m mostly talking about surface friendships here) when you are an introvert, but also someone who feels literal guilt when you should be getting work done and instead are spending time with someone. And as I read that sentence, it sounds kind of awful. The thing is, I love my friends, the ones that don’t feel like work and get that I am kind of busy and will often say no to something because I have work to do. But on the flip side, I’ve had to work with the feeling of guilt I get when I am hanging out and not working by actually pushing work to the side and allowing myself to have fun without “consequence”. It’s been strange acknowledging that feeling and trying to work with it…I often feel like I never get it quite right. But this weekend felt truly balanced, and I woke up this morning with a sense of accomplishment and a feeling of wholeness. I realize it won’t always be like this. I won’t always feel like I’ve got it all together, and that’s really okay. As long as I am able to appreciate and recognize the moments where it does all fall so perfectly together, then I couldn’t really want or ask for anything else. We are all just trying to get by in the ways that make us feel good or make us feel bad, sometimes. It’s those things that drive us forward, but sometimes make us stuck. As long as we can see ourselves in all the ways we are or are not driven, well I think that’s all we can really do. In my little understanding of psychology and self-understanding, it’s just being able to see the way we work that makes us able to start changing for the better.

Can you relate? Do you have the opposite issue? Let me know in the comments below.

Denim Decked

April 13, 20166 Comments

Head to toe

The weather has been kind of coocoo lately; warm Spring like temps followed by freezing cold winds with snow. It’s kind of hard to get dressed when the weather changes drastically one day to the next, but denim overalls are pretty much a guarantee for any weather…well except for insufferably hot Summer days (they don’t breathe very well, tbh). These bbs are a Coachella x H&M collaboration that I came across and instantly fell for when Zach and I were doing some shopping for a job he (and by default, we) is (are) working on. I wouldn’t say I’ve been searching for a pair of denim overalls because that would be a lie, but I definitely knew they were something I was interested in. It was one of those, ahhh yes, I want a pair of those for sure, yes, mhm. moments (that’s not even a universally understood moment, I’m sure) but this particular pair called to me because it’s form fitted and flared and indigo denim and denim from H&M, which is my favourite my favourite denim (how many times can I say denim?), fyi.

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I’ve slowly been adding pieces to my closet that I’m really into which has been making me feel a whole lot better about this style indecisiveness I’ve been going through. You can be sure I count these overalls as a very welcome addition to my closet.

What new pieces have you added to your closet lately? Any? None? What have you been searching for?

– WHAT I WORE –

Overalls: H&M | Shirt & Coat: Common Sort | Boots: Wolverine x Samantha Pleet
Larkspur Vintage | Denim Decked

Labels

March 29, 2016March 29, 201611 Comments

are for clothes, or soup cans, or whatever

As they often do, outfits come to me at random times, and only once I try them on do I know if it was a great idea, or a terrible one. This outfit was one of those “great idea” times, but I initially felt pretty certain it wouldn’t work. Not because I didn’t think these pieces were suited to each other, but because I wasn’t sure if I would actually like this type of outfit anymore; that is to say, school-girlish and kind of Lolita.

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I have talked about my style confusion a few times here, and it seems I keep coming back to it because I feel in a transition of sorts. However, putting this outfit on and seeing that it still spoke to me felt a bit like revelation. Sure, I have grown out of certain types of pieces (peter pan collars, I’m looking at you), but that is not the absolute rule. The thing is, there is no rule. I keep feeling like because I am a personal-style blogger, I have a duty to stick to what I have always purported to be, and that wearing anything outside of my style wheelhouse would potentially hurt my brand. But, after doing much thinking and really taking in the styles of bloggers and IRL people I feel most connected to, the ones that spoke to me most were the ones that kind of wear whatever the hell they want. There is always a way of making everything you wear feel like you, while also being able to actually wear whatever you want.

Like some much in life, we slap a label on it and feel frustrated if that label is not 100% accurate; well, it must be full of shit or a lie then! But nothing in life is that black and white, and it shouldn’t have to be. Humans are messy and confusing and ever-changing and those qualities should reflect all things, even something as silly as the things we wear. And they often do, and that’s okay. The differences and the inconsistencies are the interesting parts, we should embrace that about ourselves and others more, it would probably feel somewhat freeing.

Not Everything Is Black and White

March 22, 2016March 22, 20164 Comments

a new uniform

When I was a teenager, I loved black and white stripes. I owned striped pants, shirts, cardigans, skirts, dresses, anything I could find in stripe, I wanted. To the goth community (or at least my circle of friends), stripes were very Beetle Juice, and BJ was super chill in our eyes and got the (v hard to come by) goth seal of approval. But like most of my style choices from my teenage years, I grew tired of stripes and garnered a sort of disdain for them. So I’m not sure why, but more recently I felt compelled to add stripes to my closet again. It’s as if my eyes (or mind) suddenly saw how they could work for present-day me and accept that not everything when it comes to style needs to be so black and white (pun!) – there are some pieces that are definitely suited to a certain style, but that’s often the exception, and stripes, stripes are for everyone (amen). This outfit is like an ode to teenage me, but more grown up and definitely more present-day me. I’ve felt sort of off in most things I have been wearing of late. I’ve been saying for awhile now I feel very little connection to most of the clothes I own, but when I purchased this dress recently (from my new job, which I will talk about later!) and put this outfit together, this sense of comfort, confidence and ease washed over me. It’s hard not to feel confident with a vintage neck scarf, faux-leather moto jacket and over the knee faux-suede boots…it just feels quintessentially bad-ass.

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Let me know what outfit or piece of clothing makes you feel your best. What do you grab in your closet that you know will feel just right?