Girls who wear glasses

My new nerdy persona sadly did not live up to her eyewear and neglected the proper care and feeding of her electronics (specifically camera batteries). Luckily the lovely Jenna stepped in with her iPhone to take these outfit posts featuring my latest optical accessories, a new requirement for long hours spent squinting at blurry 300 year old print.

I'm wearing one of my favourite blouses with grey jeans and a cardigan for colour. I like the contrast they provide to the black top, something that my usual dark wash denim does not. The shoes are a wonderful nubby wool houndstooth with bows. Houndstooth, like polka dots, stripes, and animal prints, is a pattern that plays with with almost any others and can be blown up for drama (as in this post) or minimised for subtlety. Plus the fact that it is usually black and white gives it mad street cred in my closet.

Glasses: Factory Optical

Blouse: Tara Jarmon, Winners

Jeans: Paige Premium, Zappos.com
Cardigan: Talbots (home to some surprisingly wonderful things!)

Flats: Gap

Wedding by the Water

This weekend, I attended my cousin Brian and his adorable bride Katy's wedding in Annapolis, MD. The wedding was a nighttime wedding on the bay, a perfect occasion to rewear the dress from Nick and Emily's rehearsal dinner.

As soon as I saw this dress on ModCloth, I immediately knew I loved it, and who wouldn't? What other dress has a large bow, sweetheart necklace, and an overlay filled with sparkle and whimsy? It reminds me of one of the dresses worn in White Christmas, one of my all-time favorite fashion movies.
I tried to keep the rest of my outfit as vintage-inspired as the dress, and wanted the accessories to stay simple. I worn silver sandals (with heels!) and carried my grandma's grey clutch, one of my favorite pieces.

I found this ring at Target and knew it was perfect! This neckline needs no necklace, but my beehived hair was craving oversized pearls, and the ring was an excellent complement.

This jacket was my last-minute addition for the beside the water breeze. Although it's not the most practical of outwear, I always feel a little like Jackie O when wearing this adorable, almost cape-like jacket. It may be a misplaced association and I may be mixing my vintage inspirations, but I loved how fun the outfit felt.

Dress: Modcloth

Shoes: Life Stride

Jacket: Old Navy

Cluth: Inherited, Grandma's

Earrings: Costume Jewelry

Ring: Target

The wedding, like outfit, was a great success. And a special thanks to Aunt Donna for taking these pictures twice, since they were all in sepia tone the first time. xoxo Anna Rae

Under my Umberella

This pictures are a bit sad, but it's been so rainy the past few days that any attemps of photographing my outfits were complete disasters. I really liked this outfit, it was a perfect one for teaching and cooler climates, so I decided to do a garage photo shoot, posing with the umberella that has been my go-to accessory for the past few days.

I think I mostly like this outfit because I find these tights are hard to match. I think they worked best here because they offset the pastels that dominated the rest of the outfit and I stayed clear of any other green in the ensemble.
The oxfords were a necessary addition for the rain, but I think they worked well with the high-collar sweater vest combination, a very scholarly look.

I wore gold bow earrings to add a little whimsy to the romantic colors and to match the gold buttons on the shirt and the Gina Tricott decal on the sweater vest.

Shirt: Thrifted, St. Vincent de Paul thrift store, Latrobe, buttons replaced with ones from Dress Sew

Vest: Gina Tricott, Stockholm

Skirt: Thrifted, Alabaster's Attic, Greensburg

Tights: We Love Colors

Shoes: Thrifted, St. Mary's Hospital Thrift Store, Sechelt

Earrings: Gifted, Erin

Umbrella - Umbrella Store, Granville Island

And now I'll stare off into the distance, thinking of my return to outdoor photos. xoxo Anna Rae

The Tights are Back in Town

I woke up to a grey, rainy, and cold morning and knew immediately that the time had finally come to introduce Fall 2010 to my favorite sweater tights. Sweater tights! They truly are the tights that bind, binding me to rainy Vancouver winters and not properly heated basement suites.
The idea of wearing my sweater tights with my denim skirt, a piece worn heavily throughout the summer, encouraged me to think of other ways to play with seasonal layers and pairings. Ordinarily, once it's starts gettting warmer, we wear long-sleeved cardigans and jackets over our short-sleeved shirts. I liked, instead, the idea of wearing my summer blazer with a long-sleeved shirt underneath, further playing with the idea since it's a lighter shirt and a heavier blazer with dark tones. The tuxedo detailing on the shirt also worked well with the blazer.
Above is a close-up shot of the tights, just in case you forget what they looked like. But how could you?

Below are much beloved but rarely worn earrings. I really like this earrings because they're a little bit outrageous, but it's hard to find a way to wear them where they aren't too much. Since I didn't have much color in my outfit, this seemed like the perfect opportunity, matching the colors but adding a small mixed patterned detail.
Shirt: Old Navy

Blazer: Thrifted, Value Village

Skirt: Thrifted by Erin, Salvation Army, Kerrisdale

Tights: Kohl's

Shoes: Payless

Earrings: Portobello Road Market, London
I'll officially making this outfit available to rent for all Pittsburgh Steelers, Penguins, or Pirates parties. xoxo Anna Rae

Twenty five on the Twenty-fifth!

Yesterday, for my 25th birthday, which fell on September 25th, I had a 1925-themed party. Costumes, for Libby and me at least, were a must.Isn't she the cat's pajamas? Libby borrowed her friend's Halloween costume and showed up as a picture-perfect flapper. On her head, she's wearing something of a party favor I made: Feathers bought at Michael's craft store sewn onto elastic headbands bought at Target. It was a fun way to make someone not dressed at all thematically seem a bit more in costume and added something fun to everyone who came dressed but headpiece-less.
I didn't want to buy a halloween costume because the typical flapper outfit isn't the most flattering for me, and although I do think it's important to try and push those kinds of boundaries and I love dressing for many more reasons than flattering my body type, it was my party and I wanted to, more than anything, feel comfortable in what I was wearing. The outfit I'm wearing is my own makeshift version. The top is a dress from ModCloth that came way too short and way too spandex-ey for my liking. Instead of sending it back since I loved the gold ruffle so, I wore it as a shirt over a halter sundress I have, one whose dropped waist and ruffles always looked so nice in my closet but never seemed quite flattering for my shape. By layering it under the dress, it could sit lower on my hips, making the outfit more comfortable and party-appropriate. The only regret I have is wearing a leopard-print bra underneath and not realizing that it was visible through flash photography (I swear it wasn't in person).
The accessories were really key. I bought these pearls at Claire's, and they were so outrageous long, I knew they'd be the perfect jewelry.

I pretend bobbed my hair by pinning up my longer layers and curling, or leaving the natural curl in, the rest around my face. I pinned my bangs into curls, a move that left me feeling so strange (I haven't been bang-less since high school). After the bob was sprayed into place, I bobby pinned these two feathers (also from Michael's) into my hair, completing the outfit.

And the tights! The tights are really out of period, but I knew my dress would be short and I loved how the pattern reminded me of lace and dollies. I didn't know what shoes to wear and, since the party was at my house, chose to not wear any. Such crazy bootlegging, flapper freedom!
Dress as Shirt: Modcloth Summer Clearance

Dress underneath: Mango, Spain

Pearls: Claire's

Feathers: Michael's

Tights: Target

And a few more pictures because my friends (the ones that chose to dress for the theme) looked so great!

Lindsay and Will

Susan, who, it should be noted, does not dress up in costume very often

Mark, dressed as the prohibition police

And one last shot of some great friends having a fantastic time. Gregg is wearing the green visors from the poker room, another small provided piece of costumery for the guests. Sometimes you need to help these things along. xoxo Anna Rae

A little like the Sartorialist

I knew today would be a long day of errand running and cleaning, so I wanted to wear something comfortable, presentable, cool enough for the 90-degree day, but warm enough for the overly air-conditioned grocery stores. A few recent purchases seemed like perfect solutions.

It's way too warm for fall in Latrobe, PA, and I'm getting tired of the same old summer outfits. I bought this denim blazer the other day during my very successful trip to the thrift store, and it immediately reminded me of a post on the Sartorialist that discussed the idea of blazers and shorts, how the proportions made the outfit seem more provocative. I don't really think the Italian Market or local bank are really the place for provocative dressing, but I thought the idea of playing with proportions was interesting. Adding to the outfit's interest was the idea of a denim blazer with dress shorts, a reversal of the popular pairing this year of blazers with jeans. I knew the outfit would need to stand on its own without the blazer, which seemed like the perfect excuse to wear my purchased with birthday money tank top. I juxtaposed the feminine embellishments with my Amazonian belt,

Some quick detail shots of the shoes and the embellishment on the shirt. These shoes are my last unveiling from the great thrifting excursion of last week. While I was wish I had them for the whole of the summer, I think they'll be great transition shoes for both fall and spring.

Shirt: Old Navy

Blazer: Thrifted, Alabaster's Attic, Greensburg

Shorts: Thrifted, Value Village, Vancouver

Belt: Thrifted, Value Village, Vancouver

Shoes: Thrifted, Alabaster's Attic, Greensburg

My apologies for so few shots, but most of them came out blurry. xoxo Anna Rae

Read My Lips

Sometimes an item of clothing is just perfect. I first saw this Kate Spade blouse last year and slowly stalked it through the wilds of Internet e-tail until I sniped it at a price I was able to afford. Why was this top worth the effort? Behold:

Lips! Smoking! Pleats! Peter Pan/Petal Collar! Whimsy! Irony! You can click on the picture to zoom in on the print for full effect. As my friend Mono commented, it has all the cool rebellion of smoking with none of the lung cancer and COPD.

I chose a black skirt and wedges so the blouse stayed the starring attraction, a role it is used to ever since its appearance on Gossip Girl. It might have worn by a minor minion (Amalia Season # Episode 8) but it is still the closest I'll come to Upper East Side society.

Blouse: Kate Spade, eBay

Skirt: Teenflo, Winners

Wedges: Cole Haan

Coat: Tulle, Hill's of Kerrisdale