Thursday, August 9, 2012

My Top Five Wardrobe Theatrics


Since I got such a great response on my Style: Keeping Things Interesting post I decided to write another '5 Things' fashion post for you guys. This post is about the five most outlandish things I've worn and how I've gotten away with (or tried to) get away with them. I'm known for wearing things that my sister refers to as "granny-clothes" or "weird" and there have been several arguments in the household about whether or not I would be allowed out of the house in "those clothes", but I've still managed to wear some unique garments out and about.

I've always liked way-out old-fashioned things like corsets and candy-coloured shoes and I've been guilty of wearing some very dodgy looking DIY projects. I think the biggest thing with wearing something a bit left-of-centre is knowing what to wear it with. Some garments are very age specific and can make you look older or younger than you are (in a not-so-good way), especially when they are worn with items that don't quite go together.

In no particular order, my most theatrical style ideas are/were/will be:
(Yep, I still wear these things. I'm not ashamed. I don't think these clothes are weird or ugly. I just don't think people like them as much as they should.)

1. TULLE SKIRTS:
I think my infatuation with tulle has something to do with my primary-school-self's obsession with wanting to be a ballerina. I have two tulle skirts that are plain, gathered, elasticated waist skirts and I have a few dresses and one other skirt that have a little bit of tulle on them. I've worn the dresses and the "other" skirt that was mentioned, but I have only worn one of the plain tulle ones once. The skirt is a teal colour with a black waist band and it was a lot puffier than I originally thought it would be (I bought it online). I still really like it, but there just aren't any events happening that I can wear it to. If I lived in a city I would probably wear it anywhere, but because I live in a small cliquey town I try to wear things appropriate for an occasion.

I wore the tulle skirt to the local pizza restaurant for my eighteenth birthday last year. It still looked really out of place, but I really wanted to wear it and I guess because it was my birthday I could just do what I wanted. I wore it with a black top that had lacy sleeves and my silver jade heart necklace. I think If I were to wear it again I'd probably wear it with black or cream and I would try to wear a top that didn't have much shape to it, to balance out the structured look of the skirt.

2. OVER SIZED CHIFFON BLOUSES:
I have quite a collection of these. I think they are great for those Spring or Autumn days where it's just a little too cold for a dress or a skimpy singlet top. I started collecting these after I saw one at Supre' (an Aussie chain store). It was very plain and was a nice peach colour. I didn't like the price tag though, so instead of buying it at Supre' I went to the local op-shop and bought the next best thing. This one was a light pink and had a frilled collar.

I now own 5 of these shirts (all second hand) and I wear them undone over dresses or singlet-tops. I got the Idea to wear them this way (instead of wearing them buttoned up and tucked in) from my mum who said I could wear it as an "over-blouse". I've worn the pink one  and one of my cream ones once each and I've worn a black one numerous times. I think the tip with these shirts is to stick to a simple colour scheme and more modern clothes to balance out an old-school blouse.

3. PATTERNED OR BRIGHT STOCKINGS:
If you follow my blog you probably already know that I love love love stockings and tights. I've worn skin colour, black, bright pink, grey, lace and patterned stockings/tights before. The thing about bright or patterned tights is that they look really cool in the packet and in a vogue photo shoot, but they can look a bit crazy in the real word. They can be really difficult to style and they can really make your legs stand out. I think that patterned or bright tights look great with black, denim and some bright accessories.

I have two pairs of floral tights. I've got a footless pair of purple/green ones and a full length pair of black ones that have pink and cream flowers on them. I've worn them both once each. I think they make me look like I have tattooed legs.

4. OLD SCHOOL VESTS:
I have a few of these which I accumulated recently. I've got a navy patchwork vest, a pale green 2nd hand vest (cost me $1) and I've got a hand-me-down khaki vest that's got black flowers on it. I haven't worn any of these, but I'm planning to when Australia goes into spring. I think they'll look really nice over some of my day dresses, but I'm not sure about the floral one.

5. SOCKS AND BALLET FLATS:
I like wearing socks with ballet flats, mainly because of Frankie Mag. I've seen some cool Australian Designer's collections, where the model in the shoot wore socks and ballet flats with everything (And, yes I'm talking about more than one shoot). I think wearing socks with pointy toed flats gives and outfit a bit of an edge. Sometimes it looks a bit sixties, sometimes it looks a bit eighties and sometimes it gives my outfit a bit of a rock 'n roll edge.

I also like wearing socks with ballet flats, because my feet sweat and wearing those shoes for a long amount of time without socks often results in very uncomfortable itchy feet. Depending on what your wearing white, grey, brown or black socks look great when they are pushed down a little bit at the tops.

What are your top style theatrics?

Your Favourite Blogger,
Natalie

2 comments:

Lauren @tear stained said...

I wish you had photos!! I want to see the tulle skirt! :) sounds like you have the kind of fashion sense i can relate to! I really want my own tulle skirt, but have yet to buy the perfect one.
xx

Natalie_vintage_girl said...

ooh I might have to upload them in another post :) I didn't really think about photos until I was writing it ad it was too late to take any.