The Tiny Closet

I've been inspired lately from Fashion Steel NYC and A Pair and A Spare.  Fashion Steele NYC is a fun vintage shopping blog and A Spare and A Pair is full of fabulous DIY projects.  Fashion Steele's Monroe Steele is all about vintage finds.  Well, my favorite fashion era is actually right now - I am on the post-apocalyptic, drapey, oversize styling kick so I've never been inclined to wear vintage clothing.  However, Steele's spectacular vintage/thrift fashion finds are so superbly priced that I couldn't help doing a little hunting of my own.  A Pair and A Spare's Geneva, her eye for style and fashion art is so amazing, her DIY tutorials are the best I've seen.  So these ladies sparked an idea :)

My style is very modern so I knew I wouldn't be wearing any vintage pieces I found as is.  But since the clothing I like is in my opinion terribly overpriced (jersey, oversize, zero tailoring and you're charging $500 for harem pants?  Forget about it.)  I decided to cut, sew and basically craft the vintage pieces I find into my signature modern style.

While there are some spectacular vintage and antique clothing stores in Seattle, I decided to go the less expensive route.  Who's interested in cutting up a $70 fur?  Not I.  So I lowered the bar and went to Value Village.  Not sure if this thrift chain made it to the east coast but its pretty amazing in there.  It's a crafty girl's dream and the clothing is mainly from the 70s and 80s - you won't find anything older than that.  Since clothing is between $2-$10 (yes all of it and this place is huge!), I was in alteration heaven.

Part I of my thrifting adventure:




So I am sold.  Vintage shopping + fabulous DIY = more precious signature pieces for my Tiny Closet.


Visit again soon for Part II of my thrifting adventure!  And if you ever find yourself feeling uncreative or plain bored with your Tiny Closet, check out Monroe and Geneva's blogs.  These girls will kickstart your creative fashion butt!

I've had a number of inspirations that've been brewing in the back of my mind lately.  I tried a new hairstyle a couple weeks ago that I've been wanting to take a bit further ever since.  I've been into the 40s recently - probably due to scenes of Captain America still playing in my head.  I've also been amused with my tendency to dress a bit 90s (some days are more obvious than others) circa first season of 90210 and My So Called Life...

I guess it was my last post (Alexander Wang Rabbit Heel) that finally broke the camel's back and unleashed my urges to bring all these inspirations together.  Too bad it all had to materialize today, a regular ol' Monday.  I was all dressed up and nowhere to go, ladies...Don't you hate that?

I satisfied my 40s obsession by adding a second little bun in the front.  No red lips today - that direction would've just been too obvious with the hair now wouldn't it?  And I can't stand being predictable with fashion cues.  I also added a dash of 90s goth with my top - (its old hosiery with the crotch cut out to make a shirt, can you believe that?)

These booties are my girls!  You've seen them here.  They edge up pretty much any outfit I wear and give my 5'1" stature some oomph!

The clear bag is from Chanel's S/S 2005 I think.  Its a summer bag that I've decided to make a fun posh all-season bag :)

So what if I had nowhere to go today?  So what if I missed Gaga's big Workshop reveal with Barney's?  I couldn't let this blog-worthy outfit go to waste so I walked the catwalk through Pike's Market Place while the farmers closed up, blew a kiss to security and had my own night out!

Last night my guy and I had our weekly date night.  We went out for dessert and saw the movie, Immortals.  Just a semi-dressy romantic outing but going to see violent, action films on opening night takes me back to high school where the theaters were packed with kids on dates and groups of friends - a young crowd, much like last night...  and I would go with my girlfriends and wear a cute skirt or short dress.  That night, I didn't feel like wearing a dress (I don't have many anyway) but feeling nostalgic, I decided to use my everyday oversize poncho as a dress instead.  Ha!  


Also, I have been in the process of pairing Summer items with my Winter wardrobe.  Why limit my closet by breaking it up into seasons?  I can get the most out of my wardrobe with an all-season closet.  I think meshing the seasons all together is totally doable.  In fact, last night, I took the first step with this theory and debuted a pair of Summer open toe sling back mules to wear comfortably on a November evening.
 I think the sling backs worked well with my wool swing coat!  Summer 2012, I plan to purchase a new pair of sandals but because I want to be able to wear them all year round, the material of the shoe is important.  These sandals work because of their suede exterior and suede and leather are the perfect material for an all-season sandal as these are fabrics commonly seen in Fall and Winter.  


I am careful of sandals made of canvas or any kind of plastic (especially clear) materials as they are more limited to just Summer wear.  I spend much less on these style sandals since I know I can only wear them a fraction of the year.


The poncho was a wee bit short but worked wonderfully.  I think it makes for a modern dress but nonetheless, I wore little hidden black shorts underneath as I am a lady.