It's Getting to That Time ...

"The Lawn Is Falling Down", 2009.
Oil, acrylic, enamel, spray paint and pencil on braced plywood.
90 cm x 60 cm.




This is my catalogue image for my grad show in December.

[Insert panicked, mouse-like "eep!" here.]

A Pile of Clothing and Procrastination

Saturday morning. The precious few hours when I can guzzle cups of coffee, listen to Nina Simone's version of "Here Comes the Sun" and ignore the pressing feeling that I have nearly all of the time - the need to get out of the house and do something productive. Bliss. For the next hour or so, at least.

I have also been ignoring a pile of clothing on my floor for the past couple of days. The pile consists of pieces of clothing I've bought recently, but haven't quite figured out how to wear.



Like this olive green and neon pink Hawaiian concoction, for example. The shelf bust is a bit strange - in that it kinds of makes my chest look odd, not quite in a Madonna way, more in a Xena-Warrior-Princess-after-an-overabundance-of-Pina-Coladas way.



This dress poses the question: Can I pull off the "Peroxide Disney Princess" look?



And, um ... yes. I bought another one. I love them. I have a marching band problem. Not to be confused with a problem with marching bands. They're fine. If only I could wean myself off the damn jackets. But what, what, what in the world will I wear it with? That's a lot of w's. But you get what I'm sayin'.


How would you wear these lovely, slightly batty things?

HEADBANDS

I love to wear my scarves as headbands. And as I don't have time at the moment to bleach the roots of my hair, I've been wearing headbands almost every day, tied into a do-rag, a turban, or a flapper bow. These are couple of outfits showcasing two of the rainbow of scarves I bought while opshopping the other day.

In academic news, I've finished my damn thesis. It goes in tomorrow, and then I WASH MY HANDS OF IT. YAY. And then it's back to painting like a wildebeest being chased by a stampede. Or something. Anyway, I'm so close to the end of my degree I can almost taste it.

Almost.

This is what I wore to paint on Friday. The shirt is from a 1950's two-piece set I bought ages ago. I don't think it's ever been worn. The shorts are deadstock 70's Stubbies I also bought while opshopping this past week. It ended up being such a lovely day that I drank cheap beer on the grass outside and lolled around in the sunlight.



Wearing:
• 1950's strawberry print shirt, part of a two piece set.
• Mint green 'Stubbies' shorts, 1970's. Opshopped. They're beautiful quality, actually.
• Black stockings, supermarket?
• Rose pink scarf, opshopped.
• Black ballet flats from some cheapie store.




I wore this outfit - which is now one of my favourites, ever - last night to have dinner at a friend's place. I've been waiting to wear this supercrazy dress for ages. Every time the Boy is around and I pull it out of my wardrobe, he recoils with horror because it's so "goth". So I put it back. Last night I decided it was time to prove that I could wear it without looking as if I carve Robert Smith lyrics into gravestones every month during the full moon. I think I succeeded! Not that there's anything wrong with carving Robert Smith lyrics into gravestones during the full moon or anything. But you get my drift.





But holy bananas Batman, check out those sleeves. I love them so much!



With a cape. The perfect outerwear.

Wearing:

• Black lace 1960's mini dress, eBay.
• Yellow OTK socks, sockdreams.com.
• Black 80's oxfords, eBay.
• Vintage yellow scarf, opshopped, worn as headband.
• 1970's white knit cape, opshopped.

The Right Length

Note the tired, puffy eight a.m. face. I'm probably thinking: Guhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

I wore this to work last weekend: I'd hemmed the dress, a 1950's seersucker sun dress, the night before. I've worn this dress a million times because I love it so much, but every time I've worn it I've sighed and tossed up whether I should take it up or not. I have an aversion to altering vintage clothing too much - it irks me to no end when I see beautiful 50's dresses shoddily machine-hemmed and sold as "mini dresses" in trendy eBay shops. So if I end up hemming a vintage dress (or if I'm very lucky, convincing my mother to do it for me and send it back to me) I try to do it properly and carefully.

Anyway, I'm wearing:

• 'Blue Juice' jacket.
• 1950's seersucker floral dress. eBay.
• Raspberry patterned tights, opshopped in my hometown.
• 80's granny boots, eBay.


Here is what the dress looked like before. This photograph was taken early last year:



I am so sorry for my long absences between posts. My thesisy thingy is due in a little over a week. My final painting assessment for Honours is looming. Between writing and painting, the only other things I do are eat and sleep. Sometimes I nearly fall asleep while eating. So bear with me :) I hope to be dressing up, flower picking and going tra-la-la very very soon.

I hope you're all doing well and are doing lovely things, gearing up for winter or summer, wherever you are.

SILK DOTS + KILLER BOOTS

Theeeeeesss is what I was wearing to go out last night, to eat Indian food and see some, um, noise bands. It ended up being really cold and windy, so I threw my black biker jacket on over the top. My mischievous right ankle started playing up early in the night, which it has been doing a lot lately. So I switched the lovely, painful boots for black ballet flats.

And the noise bands? Juust not my thing, I think. Please remind me of that next time I'm considering going to see one. Say, "No, Pony, you hate that shit with a vengeance. Go and eat some cake instead. There's a good girl."

Wearing:
• Cut-out boots, Mollini
• Black wool tights, Columbine.
• 1950's blue silk polka-dot dress, recently hemmed by me, eBay.
• Cotton cardigan, Cotton On.
• Black patent belt, Cue.

PINK + BIKER MIX

Wearing:

• Opshopped black scarf, as headband
• Pink 1950's L'Aiglon shirtwaist dress, eBay.
• Thrifted black stockings.
• Black ballet flats, cheap as hell.
• Burgundy 1970's Faigen handbag, oshopped for $2.00 in a teeny town.
• Black biker jacket, 'Shag'.
• Revlon matte lipstick, 'Pink About It'. I can't resist the lethal combination of cosmetics and bad puns.

The Most Recent Treasure Consortium, As Promised!

I am back in the land of the internets! To celebrate, I thought I'd post pictures of the opshopped treasures I found during my most recent stint in my hometown. Sorry for the bathroom shots -- my parents' house doesn't really have any clutter-free surfaces or walls.


This 70's pink petticoat. Finding decent petticoats in opshops is getting harder and harder ... Lucky me!!


This staggeringly 80's shirt. Oh yes. I died and went to a tacky heaven when I found this. Three dollars for tasty candy stripe goodness? Yes please.


Four pairs of tights, two cotton, one patterned and one opaque. They're beautiful quality, and unworn, but the packaging had been damaged.


I think this nightgown is 70's does 40's, but it's still 40's enough to swan around in and pretend I'm Jean Harlow.


Scarves. I just can't get enough of them, even though I arguably own too many.


And this.THIS. A beautiful old 'Faigen' handbag, in wonderful condition. I found it an opshop in a tiny town about half an hour away. For two dollars. Oh ye opshop gods, thanks for smilin' down on me!!