Rose Colored Blouse, Rose Covered Heels

Generally, all things rose are my sister's domain; it's her name after all.  Still I couldn't resist these Topshop shoes with the roses embroidered on the heels:

Fancy, right?!



Fancy, and, I guess, a little busy.  So I kept the outfit I paired them with simple.  Just culottes and a blouse:

Simple. Albeit a little wrinkly.  I love a linen blend pant, especially for summer, but you bend down to strap up your adorable, embroidered shoe and you look a mess.



A well-coordinated mess, in your rose colored blouse and rose covered heels, to be sure:

Blouse: LOFT  Pants: LOFT (similar)
Belt: LOFT (similar)  Shoes: Topshop 

But, still, a mess.



Happy Friday, All!

Gracey

T3: Geek Love's Rose Garden

The other day I was invited by M, at My Closet Catalogue, to participate in Thoughtful Third Thursday (T3), which is a new link party.  The idea is to create a post about what you're currently reading, including a quote or synopsis and an outfit based on the quote/synopsis.  As you can see, I'm a bit late with my post, but I figure better late than never.

I am reading Geek Love, by Katherine Dunn, which is about a family where the children were purposely bred, by their parents, to be "circus freaks" to work in the family's traveling circus.  And it's amazing.  Here is my inspiration quote:

"Please, Papa," I begged, "tell us the Rose Garden."

...

"It was in Oregon, up in Portland, which they call the Rose City, though I never got in gear to do anything about it until a year or so later when we we were stuck in Fort Lauderdale."

He had been restless one day, troubled by business boondoggles.  He drove up into a park on a hillside and got out for a walk.  "You could see for miles from up there.  And there was a big rose garden with arbors and trellises and fountains.  The paths were brick and wound in and out."  He sat on a step leading from one terrace to another and stared listlessly at the experimental roses.  "It was a test garden, and the colors were... designed.  Striped and layered.  Once color inside the petal and another color outside."

...

The roses started him thinking, how the oddity of them was beautiful and how that oddity was contrived to give them value.  "It just struck me - clear and complete all at once - no long figuring about it."  He realized that children could be designed.  "And I thought to myself, now that would be a rose garden worthy of a man's interest."

And here is my outfit, inspired by that quote:

I thought the blue and purple roses on my dress, with their jade stems, were a good representation of what designer roses might look like:

And, not for nothing, but I also have jade stems today:

In addition to my dress (vintage, thrifted) and my jade tights (Target), I also wore a vintage wool blazer (thrifted), black ankle boots (BC Footwear) and an animal print belt (thrifted).  The belt is there because I can't resist the combination of animal and floral and because the traveling circus has big cats as well as home-grown "freaks."

As I mentioned, I'm linking up with My Closet Catalogue for T3, but also to Visible Monday at Not Dead Yet Style.  Thank you to M and Patti for hosting!


Happy Monday, All!

Gracey

Sewing Savant and Possible Psychic

I love this dress:

Love the print, love the fit, love it. 

I mean, look at this thing.  It’s amazing:

It's perfect for swishing about, dramatic walks down spiral staircases, Mama Mia! viewings and casual summer parties.  I'd just add a white blazer for cool nights and I'd be set.  You can see it with a blazer at Everything Just So where the lovely Jill has included my pic with other party pics.

The best thing about this dress though?  It's handmade.  I’m always yelling about how much I love handmade vintage and this dress is a prime example why; it looks like it was made for me.  It wasn’t, of course, unless… Unless my 70s toddler-self sewed it for my future-self, at which point I should probably go on the next season of Project Runway because I’m clearly a sewing savant and possibly psychic!  

Happy Thursday, Everyone!

Gracey

A Floral Moment

The always lovely Stacey from Gray Skies (whom you should absolutely read if you don’t already) said she was “having a floral moment” last week.  And I thought, “well, what about me?  I like florals, I want to have a floral moment too.”  And then I remembered that I don’t actually like florals that much because they’re often too pastel for my tastes.  And then I found this vintage skirt:

And, et voila, I was having a floral moment of my own.  I found the skirt while I was thrifting with Kelsey (Hi, Kelsey!) and took it home, hemmed it, washed it and had to wear it right away (as one does).  I decided to pair it with a black v-neck sweater (Hinge via Nordstrom), a cream bow blouse (Old Navy), red tights (DKNY via Nordstrom) and brown, lace-up booties (Nine West via TJ Maxx).

Why that combination?  This photo doesn’t show it very well, but the skirt is actually pinkish-red, black and brown:

So I wore the black sweater to pick up the black, the brown booties to pick up the brown, the red tights because I finally own some and the bow blouse to keep the top from looking too dark in connection with the tights and booties.  And, frankly, I love it.  Even though this skirt is not remotely good for riding a bike in, it’s a floral I can do and do happily so you’ll definitely be seeing it again.

How about you all, do you have floral moments?

Happy Wednesday, Everyone!

Gracey