Literary Stylings #16: Hidden

As I said last week, Hidden, by Paul Jaskunas, was really the only book I read last month that I liked:

As it's entirely too cold to be running about in a wet nightie sans undercrackers, I decided to base my look not on the cover, but on a passage from the book.

I recall we had a cold November.  There were snow flurries, and the flakes were a reminder of a secret the world was trying to tell me about myself.  The colder it became, the more I wanted to feel beautiful.  I bought pleated skirts, snug dresses, tights, and open-neck blouses.  I wore jewelry and perfume to sustain myself.

And here is my outfit:

As you can see, my skirt has a few pleats in it and I paired it with tights and an open-neck blouse.  I'm also wearing both jewelry and perfume:

Earrings: Moorea Seal   Necklace: c/o Onecklace

Although the above passage inspired my look, I can't really relate to it.  Here the cold just makes me want to wear more and more layers.  I don't care if I feel beautiful or not, I'm all about feeling warm.  However, I do think this is an important passage in the book because I'm not sure she, the main character, Maggie Duke, is telling the truth.  I think she wanted to feel beautiful, but not because of the cold.

This book is very interesting because you never really know what the truth is.  In it, Maggie is attacked and nearly killed and her identification of her attacker based on her memories from that night get him sent to jail.  But, then you find out that perhaps her memories of that night are not, in fact, true and maybe he didn't do.  Maggie goes back through her memories of the time leading up to the attack as well as the attack itself and as she does so, you start to doubt her a little bit.  Not just about the attack, but about everything.

You never really do find out what happened to Maggie that night, or rather, the author provides a couple of different options.  It all depends on if you believe Maggie or not and you're definitely given reason not to.  Just as you're given reason not to believe the other characters in the book.

Again, this really was an interesting book and a good mystery.  And, as an added bonus, it produced an outfit I like:

Blouse: LOFT  Skirt: thrifted vintage  Blazer: Gap (similar)
Tights: SPANX  Booties: Splendid

Win-win.

And now, it's your turn.  Are you winning with your literary-inspired looks from last month's reads?  If so, don't forget to link up below!

An InLinkz Link-up

Happy Tuesday, All!

Gracey

Fuzzy and Plaid

My vintage coat is both fuzzy and plaid:

Coat: thrifted, vintage (similar splurge) (similar save)
Dress: Land's End   Boots: Piperlime (similar)

That's right.  Fuzzy and plaid.


It's basically the best of both worlds:

Earrings: Moorea Seal

I found it on one of my trips to Goodwill in Oregon and knew I had to have it.  I mean, honestly, who can resist fuzzy and plaid?

Not this gal, that's for sure.


Happy Monday, All!

Gracey

Words, Glorious Words

Every once in awhile as a blogger, you get invitations to review some pretty cool stuff from some pretty cool companies.  Uncommon Goods is just such a company.  They're headquartered in Brooklyn, New York and specialize in featuring designs and handcrafted gifts that are created in harmony with the environment "without harm to animals or people."  The result is that they pay their lowest-paid seasonal works starting at 50% above minimum wage, half of what they sell is made by hand and "about one-third of their collection incorporates recycled and/or upcycled materials."  And, they also donate $1 of every purchase to various non-profits.

As you'd expect, Uncommon Goods has some wonderful, and uncommon, stuff.  And they have a lot of them to choose from; you can find unique gifts for nearly anyone, including some wonderful personalized gifts, here, as well as some stupid cute baby gifts, here.  I, being a scarf fanatic that cannot wait for fall, went straight for their gorgeous of collection of scarves.

The scarf I chose is the Literary Scarf, in Alice in Wonderland, and it's wonderful.  It's printed with the White Rabbit and The Doormouse as well as passages from the book:

They also offer Jane Eyre, Dorian Gray & Wuthering heights; you can see them all here.


As soon as I received my scarf, I squealed and then immediately planned to wear it with my Library Stamp tee from Out of Print clothing.  The result?  The wordiest outfit I've ever worn:

Scarf: Uncommon Goods  Tee: Out of Print Clothing  Skirt: LOFT  Sandals: Moorea Seal

And, possibly, the nerdiest.  And I love it.

I actually wore it last Friday when I was still battling my summer cold.  (Brief aside: summer colds are the dumbest colds; who gets a cold when it's 85 out?!).  I need to be cozy and comfortable and this outfit did the trick.

It was honestly like wearing pajamas.  Delightfully nerdy pajamas.

Happy Wednesday, All!

Gracey

Simplicity

It's about to get stupid hot here in Oregon.  In the high 70s today and then close to 90 later this week.  I know.  In Oregon.  In May.  It's ridiculous.

Anyway, given the upcoming heat, I thought it best to try to get my pants-wearing out of the way.  So, today, jeans:

I may risk pants tomorrow as well, but then it's tube tops and flip flops for the rest of the week.  I'm kidding, but only because flip flops aren't great for bike riding.  Otherwise, totally.

Today's outfit was great for a morning bike commute though; a breezy white shirt, relaxed jeans and my new favorite sandals:

Shirt: Gap  Jeans: Lucky  Sandals: Moorea Seal

Oh, and this necklace.  Again.  Because I am strangely unable to resist the lure of sounding like the world's largest house cat:

Jingly tassels for the win! (Also, not for nothing, but Jingly Tassels is also the name of my next band.  We're going to do burlesque covers of Christmas music.)

Happy Monday, All!

Gracey

Get the Look

Gap tunic

Similar Lucky jeans

Olive sandals (other colors here and here)

Similar vintage necklace (here or here)