The Final Countdown

You can tell I was feeling more than a little cheeky when I took the photos for this outfit. The reason? I was listening to a whole playlist of 80's music, and when I was shooting this one it was "The Final Countdown." I'm not exactly sure why a hair-band rock anthem made me want to strike such saucy poses; perhaps it was because I was remembering the time I drunkenly karaoke'd that song in Tokyo at the insistence of my friends. For the record, my vocal range is nowhere near high enough to sing that song; nevertheless I belted it out and even jumped up on the table to sing it while pumping the air with one raised fist. I blame jetlag.

Ahem. Let me tell you about the outfit, shall I? This top is really tricky to work with because the color is exceptionally bright, and I have absolutely nothing else in my closet that is even close to this shade. I wanted to avoid pairing it with black because I feared it would make the green look garish, so I went with a navy backdrop instead. The green actually has quite a bit of blue in it, so the combination makes sense. Since I didn't want to bring in an entirely different third color, I mixed up the outfit a little by blending different shades of blue.

The sweater clip is one I made ages and ages ago, but until now I hadn't found a use for it. With this outfit it was an absolute necessity; the flower detail on the top prevents the cardigan from being buttoned, but I really needed the cardigan to stay closed so as to hide the incredible tackiness of my bra straps hanging out. Have I mentioned that I abhor strapless bras? The reason is that I don't have a whole lot to hold them up, so I find myself having to hike them up several times a day; as a result I often seek out creative ways to wear regular bras even with strapless or halter-style tops.

By the way, if you'd like to make a cardigan clip of your own, this excellent post from Kasmira will show you how it's done.

Cardigan: H&M
Top: Red Dress Shoppe
Skirt: Moon Collection
Shoes: Paolo

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The Final Countdown

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Dye Another Day

Remember this dress from several months ago? Back then it was a drab oatmeal color and a size too big. Since then I've had it altered to fit me and dyed it a fun shade of green, and I'm pretty pleased with the results. It has much more of a mod trenchcoat feel to it now, which I tried to play up here by adding the vintage 60's shhrt.

The dyeing process was a lot of work, but well worth it for the excellent results. The dye I used was a fiber reactive dye from the Dharma Trading Company. The dye only works on natural fibers, so it colored the linen fabric beautifully while leaving the off-white topstitching, plastic buttons, and nylon lining intact (as a bonus, it didn't stain the sink either). This gives it a very professional appearance; in fact, you'd be hard pressed to discern that it wasn't made this way originally. Click the picture at left if you want a close up of my handiwork -- the pop-up photos are all zoom-able too.

Before I started this project I knew literally nothing about dyeing clothes. For instance, I was completely ignorant of the fact that there were several other supplies I needed besides just the dye (shame on me for not reading the directions before I ordered the dye!). Thus, I ended up having to place 2 orders, one for the dye and one for the soda ash, Calsolene oil, and a few other things. However, now I've got all the stuff I need to do lots more dyeing, so with the exception of different colors I'm all set for whatever other projects I want to try. I'm thinking this will be a great way to transform pieces that either are a light color and getting dingy, or that I'm just tired of. Just as a simple coat of paint can completely transform a room, a different color can make old clothing new again.

Shirt, dress: thrifted
Boots: Bata
Brooch: vintage Trifari

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Dye Another Day

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