Literary Stylings # 22: Transmission

As I said last week, I really, really enjoyed reading two books last month; Child 44 and Transmission.  However, I went with Transmission for my inspiration because Child 44 takes place during the Russian winter and it's entirely too hot to pull out the furs.


Transmission, on the other hand, takes place, at least for a bit, in India:

In fact, two of the main characters, Arjun, an American-bound computer geek, and Leela, Bollywood's latest "it girl" are Indian.  And even when these two leave their homelands to write code in America or make movies in Scotland, India is still referenced.


And that's what I tried to do with this outfit.  I tried to reference India:

Although, to be fair, the print on the dress isn't really Indian, but more Far Eastern:

Still, a girl does what she can when inspired by literature.  And what I could do was this:

Dress: thrifted (similar, similar plain)  Pants: LOFT (save, splurge)
Shoes: FRYE (similar)  Necklace: Sole Society (similar)

What about you, Reader Friends?  Were you sartorially inspired by any literature last month?  If so, please link your looks up below!

An InLinkz Link-up

Happy Tuesday, All!

Gracey


P.S. If you haven't yet entered my Jamberry giveaway, you can do so here!

Literary Stylings #21: The City of Falling Angels

As I mentioned on Thursday, I absolutely loved The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt:

The main focus of the book is the fire in the famous Venetian opera house, La Fenice.  But, in writing about the fire, Berendt is, somehow, also able to gain entree into famous Venetian palazzos as well as into the Murano glass studio of the famous Archimede Seguso, and gets the dirt on the Save Venice Foundation.  Like his book, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (also great), Berendt digs into the inner workings of a proud city and a proud people.  And it is fantastic.


It's also the inspiration behind today's outfit:

Now, this skirt wasn't maybe the best choice given the trees in the print.  Apparently Venice doesn't have trees because it's man-made stone and brick.  Hard to grow trees in that.


But, I still maintain that the print has a sort of old-world feel to it:

Top: LOFT  Skirt: gifted vintage
Sandals: FRYE (similar, vegan option)

And the colors are sort of indicative of the sea and the canals and the yellow in the sky reminds me of eye-witness accounts of the Fenice fire from the book.


What about you, Reader Friends?  Were you inspired by any of your July books?  If so, please link up below!

An InLinkz Link-up

Happy Tuesday, All!

Gracey

Literary Stylings #20: Gentlemen & Players

As I said previously, Gentlemen & Players by Joanne Harris was my favorite book from last month:

I really, really want to tell you guys all about this book, but I also really don't want to give anything away, because it's such a great twist.  So, maybe just read it and we can talk about it later?


One thing I can say about the book though is that it's about a private school in England.  And that fact inspired today's makeshift schoolgirl outfit:

Now, I've never been to private school, or even known anyone that went to private school, but I am pretty confident that there is plaid involved.


So, I wore my plaid skirt, a white shirt, a lady-tie and ankle-strap flats:

Skirt: thrifted (similar) Top: Nordstrom
Tie: thrifted Brooks Brothers (similar)  Flats: Piperlime (similar)

I don't remember if they wore plaid in Gentlemen & Players, but they definitely wore ties, so yeah, nailed that.

I also wore a polka dot belt which was not inspired by the book.  I just like polka dot belts:

What about you, Reader Friends?  What did you read last month?  Anything inspiring?

If so, please add a link for your book-inspired outfits below:

An InLinkz Link-up

And if you didn't read anything inspiring, I recommend that you try Gentlemen & Players; you won't regret it!

Gracey

Literary Stylings # 19: Brave New World

As I mentioned on Sunday, Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, was my favorite of the books I read last month:

I thought it was brilliant, but also terrifying.  As Reader Friend Erin put it, it's "eerily plausible."  And the fact that it's plausible at all is what makes it terrifying, but also what makes it brilliant.  Because, if you haven't read the book, Aldous Huxley writes about a future where human beings are bred in factories for the jobs they're to perform in their lives.  Low-level workers (Deltas and Epsilons) are given just enough toxins, such as alcohol, while they're bottled to stunt their growth and impair their brain function so that they'll be happy to do whatever menial work they're assigned.

And there are no family units, no marriages or even monogamous relationships.  One of the many mottoes in this brave new world is "Everyone belongs to everyone else."  But, even though both men and women are not only encouraged, but expected, to sleep with as many partners as they can, it still feels like women are getting the raw end of the deal.  For example, in one part of the book, the Alpha men are encouraging each other to "have" a certain Beta woman, saying things like, have you had Lenina yet?  You really should have her.  She's very pneumatic.  But, the women don't have those same conversations; they aren't recommending which men are good to have.  No, instead they remind each other to be had by as many men as possible because it's their moral duty.

Being as this book was written in 1932, I don't know how much of that was intentional by Huxley and how much was just due to the prevailing women-as-second-class-citizens thought of the time.  I have a lot of faith in Huxley though, so I think it might have been intentional; it would be just like him to make the point that even in a future where everyone belongs to everyone else, women still belong to men.

Another thing that indicated women were seen as sex objects in this future are the clothes.  Everything they wear is easy off.  Zip! Zip! Zip!  There goes the top, the velveteen shorts and the combination underclothes called camiknickers.  Given the amount of talk about zippers in this book (people are being had by others quite a lot so there's a lot of zip, zip, zip going on), I thought I'd wear my zipper-front vintage dress:

I know it's no velveteen shorts, but I think the mod shape sort of fits the futuristic theme of the book.


And though it doesn't unzip all the way in the front, it's the most zippery thing I own:

My Michael Jackson jacket being at the cleaners and what not.



Also, I like this dress.  The tiny studs on the trim make me happy:

And, blue, of course, always makes me happy:

Dress: Vintage RK Originals (Similar Etsy faves: here, here, here and here)
Shoes: Camper via Nordstrom

To recap, this dress makes me happy and Aldous Huxley's writing makes me happy, but his vision of the future makes me sad:

You should still read the book though, if you haven't.  Or even if you have years ago.  I know I'll definitely be re-reading this.


What about you, Reader Friends?  What did you read last month?  Did it inspire you?  If so, I'd love to have you link up below!

An InLinkz Link-up

Happy Tuesday, All!

Gracey

Electric

Today's Style Challenge from Putting Me Together is to wear something bright.  This makes me happy for several reasons.  One, I love brights in the winter.  Two, like the first challenge, it was easy for me.  And, three, it gave me a little-needed excuse to wear my electric blue sweater:

Sweater & Skirt: thrifted  Tights: SPANX  Boots: Born Crown

Electric!


In fact, the only problem I had with this outfit was what to pair with the sweater.  As you can see, there's snow on the ground.  And even though it's not particularly cold, I'm a bit hesitant to wear skirts out here in case I'm caught in a freak snowstorm.  But, I took the chance and paired my sweater with a vintage checked skirt:

Okay, okay.  You caught me.  I chose this skirt not because I've suddenly become rational about freak snowstorms (I really haven't).  No, in truth, I chose it because it fits my curves really well.

I mean, look at how cute my booty looks!


But, that's enough about my bum.  The challenge was not "wear something heinie-enhancing," it was wear something bright.  Which I did.  It was this sweater:

And a heinie-enhancing skirt.




Happy Thursday, All!

Gracey

Black, White and Wine

This week's Work Your Closet Style Challenge over at Putting Me Together is to wear a dress.  And I was like, done and done:

Dress: vintage, thrifted (similar)  Tights: Target (similar)
Belt: vintage, thrifted  Boots: Nine West (similar)

Sure it's cold and snowy here in Pennsylvania, but I'll be darned if that keeps me from wearing one of my beloved dresses.

Nope, I just pulled out a sweater dress, added tights and ankle boots and et voila, Gracey's wearing a dress:

In this case, a vintage dress that I actually thrifted here in Pennsylvania.  I made them strip it right off the mannequin!  But, can you blame me?  The striped top is pretty cool:

 So, heck yeah  I'm wearing a dress.  And I'm linking up to Putting Me Together.



Happy Thursday, All!

Gracey

Literary Stylings #14: Russian Winter

I've decided to base today's look off of the book Russian Winter, by Daphne Kalotay:

As I said in Saturday's post, this book took me some time to get into.  And, today, as I was preparing this post, I realized why.  It's because I don't like the main character very much. The main character is Nina Revskaya, formerly a star of the Bolshoi Ballet in Stalinist Russia who later defected to the United States. And I think she's supposed to be the protagonist, but I didn't ever find myself rooting for her.  

Like everyone else living in Russia at that time, Nina and her friends had to watch everything they said and did.  Artists, especially, during this time were required to use their art to promote the beliefs of the State and if they didn't, or if they were Jewish, they were sent for "re-education."  And I thought the author did a wonderful job of taking the reader back in time.  But she didn't do a great job of making me care for Nina.

Seriously, you'd think someone who had to endure the rigors of post-World War II and fleeing her homeland would be more sympathetic, but not Nina.  She is easily one of the most selfish characters I've ever read about.  It's especially jarring given how unselfish the other characters in the book are.  The only person in the novel I found as terrible as Nina was her mother-in-law and, unlike Nina, she has reason to be terrible!

So, yes, the protagonist is more of an antagonist, but if you can get past that, the book really is interesting.  The descriptions of the lives of the artists in Communist Russia is absolutely fascinating.  And it's a pretty good mystery as well; Nina is keeping secrets she doesn't even realize she knows, making for a good read.

And the story makes for a pretty cozy outfit:

In Oregon I worked with a Russian woman who said that Oregon was nice, but it didn't get cold enough to wear her furs and she missed wearing them.  Remembering that and the fact that the artists in the book were able to earn more than the standard citizens, I figured a vintage fur coat was appropriate.

I'm not sure exactly when Nina defected, but I figured wide-leg jeans and turtleneck were probably okay:

Coat: vintage, thrifted (similar)  Jeans: Gap (similar)
Sweater: Old Navy   Gloves: Target (similar)

I mean, we can pretend she defected in the 70s, right?  Sure, why not?!


Now, a big part of this book is the jewelry that Nina is auctioning off.  And a big part of the mystery surrounds the Baltic amber jewelry she brought out of Russia.  Unfortunately, I don't have any amber, Baltic or otherwise, so I made do with the largest "jewels" I have:

Earrings: Macy's (similar)

Since we're doing a bit of pretending with the post, we're just going to say these are jet, m'kay?  Great!  You all are the best!


And now it's your turn.  Are you wearing a book-inspired outfit?  If so, you can link up here:

An InLinkz Link-up

Happy Tuesday, All!

Gracey

What I Read: December

Hello All!  Happy New Year!  As promised, I'd like to restart my Literary Stylings Link Party this month.  So, next Tuesday, feel free to link up with an outfit inspired by a book you read in December.

For my part, I read a LOT of books in December.  Of course, I have no idea which one will inspire an outfit for me by Tuesday, but in the meantime, here they are.


Not That Kind of Girl, by Lena Dunham

Unfortunately, this was not my kind of book (see what I did there?).  I really enjoy Girls and think Dunham is extraordinarily talented.  Unfortunately, after reading this book, I also think that she's extraordinarily spoiled and self-absorbed.  I find it hard to believe that Dunham believes readers would be interested in her diet, in her spoiled childhood or her overwhelming self-obsession.  Sadly, I like Lena Dunham quite a bit less now that I've read her book.  Not that she cares.


Tell the Wolves I'm Home, by Carol Rifka Brunt

I loved this book.  It was sad and lovely and beautifully written.  It was strange and different and wonderful.  The story centers around a young girl who's beloved uncle passes away and that's really all of the plot I want to give away because I highly recommend that you read this book for yourselves.


Sharp Objects, by Gillian Flynn

I'm not Flynn's biggest fan.  Gone Girl was only okay to me (I read it twice just to be sure) but I thought I'd give her other books a try.  I read Dark Places in November and Sharp Objects in December.  I think I preferred Dark Places because the twist was pretty good.  Sharp Objects was less successful to me because a lot of times I felt like Flynn was just going for shock value over good story telling.


Ashes of the Earth: A Mystery of Post-Apocalyptic America, by Eliot Pattison

Given my love of novels about the post-apocalyptic world, it's no mystery (man, I'm on fire today) I'd choose to read this book.  Unfortunately, it was only okay to me.  It was very well written, but the story felt a little disjointed to me.  There were a lot of characters to keep track of and they weren't all developed very well so I got a bit confused at times.  The mystery itself was sort of odd to me.  It wasn't what I expected, but instead of feeling like it was a good twist, I sort of felt like it was a cop-out.


Russian Winter, by Daphne Kalotay

This book took me some time to get into, but it ended up being a pretty good mystery and a pretty good book.  It's not, perhaps the most well-written book, but it's interesting.  And I enjoyed the peeks into Soviet Russia and the ballet culture there.  If you're interested in jewels belonging to a defected Soviet prima ballerina, I recommend this book.


The Talented Mr. Ripley, by Patricia Highsmith

This was a great book.  But, fair warning, it was nothing like the movie.  I really liked the movie, but they based it extremely loosely on this book.  Basically, the movie got only Tom Ripley's and Dickie's characters mostly right.  The Gwyneth Paltrow character was almost completely wrong and there was no Cate Blanchette character at all.  Except maybe sort of at the end if you're taking a whole heck of a lot of artistic license.  But, again, this was a great read.  Highsmith is an extremely talent writer and I am looking forward to reading the rest of her Ripley books (there are several).


Again, I'm not sure what book I'll be basing an outfit on next Tuesday, but I certainly have a lot to choose from.

I do hope you'll join me on Tuesday.

Happy Saturday, All!

Gracey

Literary Apologies

Hello Dearest Reader Friends!

As some of you may have noticed, I inadvertently skipped Literary Stylings for last month.  And, unfortunately, I'm going to have to skip it this month as well.

I have a lot, no, seriously, a LOT, of changes going on in my life right now and my blogging has become necessarily sporadic.  Oh, what's that?  You noticed?  Well, of course you did; how could you not?!

Rather than just let stuff slide I figure it's best to let you know ahead of time that I'm going to have to cut back a bit.  Although, I guess because stuff has already slid it's not really ahead of time, but, hey, at least I'm trying!  I really thought I could keep up with everything going on and with my blog, but it's proving impossible.

So, this means that I'm not going to have any more Literary Styling link parties.  Not for awhile.  At this point, I know I can't do tomorrow or next month and probably not December either.  So let's shoot for January, m'kay?

As for everything else, I'm going to try to post regularly.  At least more regularly than last week, but will need you for forgive me if I only get a post or two up.

Thank you all for your understanding in advance.  You are the bestest!

xoxo,

Gracey

So Chevron, It's Right

So, Emma, from Behind the Leopard Glasses is having the best month-long challenge and link party ever.  It's all about prints and patterns!  The idea is to wear a different pattern every day (you can see the challenge calendar on her site).  I missed the first couple of days due to lack of appropriate patterns and general laziness, but today, today I'm participating.

The featured pattern for today is chevron.  As it turns out, I don't have a lot of chevron in my closet, but I was determined to participate in this fun challenge and after a bit of scrounging around I found this top:

Top: Nordstrom Rack  Cardi: Gap  Skirt & Belt: Thrifted  Sandals: Kork-Ease

It's technically lace, but it has a few lines of chevron running through there.


In addition to being lace, the top is also sleeveless so, because our mornings are a bit chillier now, I paired it with my olive cardigan:

At first I wasn't sure about the combination of coral, olive and navy, but I figured that coral and navy look good together and olive is basically a neutral so it'd be fine.

See?  That color combination totes makes sense.


Also, I realize that in all of the above pictures, my left earring is turned around so it looks like I'm just wearing gold earrings.  I'm not.  I'm actually wearing even more color:

Are any of those colors in my outfit?  Of course not!  But I wore the earrings anyway.  Because they go.


So, there you have it.  Chevron lace, a possibly weird color combination and non-matching, but totally-going earrings:

All part of an outfit that's so wrong, it's right.

Happy Thursday, All!

Gracey