"Give a girl the right shoes, and she can conquer the world." - Marilyn Monroe

I am so so so soooo sorry! I didn't post last week at all, and it makes me feel awkwardly distant. And ashamed, to a point. The past two weeks have been turbulent for me to say the least. Life happens, and life happens fast. But I'm here now, and I'm going to act like I didn't miss a beat. Unfortunately, we've been having powerful thunderstorms for days on end... not very conducive for outfit photos. Not willing to let the imitation tropical storms get in our way, we first tried to shoot today's photos inside. It did not work to our advantage. But quick side note, do you not absolutely love Erin's dresser??

  

It was quickly concluded that outside lighting would be significantly better, we would just avoid the rain by remaining on the porch. Turns out that even though it limited options, there are worse scenarios.

In contrast to "Colorblocked", this outfit consists of nothing brand new. Ok, so I ordered the shoes from Forever 21, but the clothes are thrifted. I found this silky skirt in the vintage section of a thrift store and was drawn to the "old luggage" vibe. The shirt is an interesting story. When it first landed in my possession, I was extremely sceptical; I appreciated the cut, however, (and I so wish I had taken a "before" picture to illustrate) it must have previously belonged to a pirate hooker. Two lace-up panels went up the front, exposing skin beneath the criss-cross shoe string laces. So. tacky. It was all kinds of hideous. I did somehow see potential in it, thank goodness, and I decided to reinvent the piece. I sewed matching fabric and vertical strips of lace in place of the pirate panels, and voilà it was a complete transformation.


(Yeah. Just imagine this action going on. It was not gonna fly.)





Top: thrifted/altered, skirt: thrifted
shoes: Forever 21, umbrella: courtesy of Erin
bracelet: antique (grandmother's)

                                                                      

In one of my first posts I briefly mentioned the various decades that influence my style. I would classify this particular outfit as "dainty Victorian with a glamorous flair." Whenever I apply a pop of intense red lipstick, my look automatically goes bold Marilyn glam. To me, she represents classic 50's luxurious, yet simple, style. For those of you who didn't know already, I have a deep fascination with Ms. Marilyn Monroe. No, not for the sexually promiscuous side of her life. Despite popular beliefs, there was more to her than just THAT. She was a talented Hollywood performer who redefined the world of fashion and women's self-image worldwide. As several celebrities, she struggled with issues, but what I admire is how she remained genuine; she kept the essence of a carefree joy even when she didn't feel that way deep down, sharing an empowering confidence to women of that time period. After she had been declined by company after company, Monroe was the first "plus sized" model to be accepted into the business. She shared lot of positive and uplifting influence through her involvement in social rights movements. These things about her intrigue me. I could keep going, but I digress. I guess this rant was bound to happen sooner or later. I really did mean to focus more on mixing time period styles before diving into an explanation of my Marilyn obsession. No worries, I will revisit that theme more extensively at a later point. I think I promised that exact statement in the earlier mentioned post...