Inspiration Interlude: vintage nightgowns

MPA Photographics

While I’m hard at work preparing for some pretty cool blog posts to come, I wanted to fill the meantime with some outfit inspiration pictures that I took with Mac Moss of MPA Photographics. Usually on this blog, I post pictures of outfits that are more or less meant to be worn in a public sphere then follow with written advice and commentary on how I styled the look. But part of my focus is to incorporate aspirations of outfit goals and other things I could only dream of wearing. I believe that inspiration posts are absolutely necessary for helping create a certain vision or aesthetic. And hey, a girl can dream, right?

I have in my possession a secret drawer of gorgeous nightgowns I’ve accumulated, some vintage and new. I’m in love with the delicate details each gown has – the silky, fine fabric, the dainty lace, the soft colors. But like most things we hold in highest favor, I rarely ever use the gowns for fear of damaging them somehow. How is it that the more we love something, the less likely we are to wear it? My excuse for never wearing these nightgowns is the fact that when it comes to nightwear, all my pajamas are a minimum of five years old and are selected only for maximum coziness. Plus, I hardly feel like being fashionable when I’m drooling in my sleep.

If I could ever muster the talent to design fashion, I would totally take inspiration for daywear dresses from nightgowns. They are incredibly comfortable and to me, they are the epitome of sexy. When I came up with the name “Harlequin” for a fashion blog, I kind of had these kinds of images in mind. The name does seem to resonate with lingerie, but it also matched my ideal for Haute Couture/Runway wear.

I'm very excited to announce that I will be posting exclusive outtakes of my shoot with Mac on my Instagram - be sure to follow me there to check them out in the very near future!

I don’t want to tease too many details, but right now I am assembling my next blog series where I'll be incorporating a specific theme throughout - and there are some other things, other 'projects' that I can't wait to unveil. Stay tuned!

Happy Birthday Harlequin!

Anora Crescent Photography

So I’ve never made a birthday post, although I’ve had this blog for several years, I’ve never thought to publish a post exactly on May 7th. And I really don’t know what to say - but I did want to share these photos that Cyndi of Anora Crescent Photography took because they’re kind of special to me. And you know what’s different? This is one of the few times I’ve ever tried smiling in photos. Isn’t that weird? I realized I don’t smile often in photos. Like, never actually. Too busy trying to channel some sort of model fierceness, I guess. And then while I was compiling these pictures together, it kind of brought back memories as a kid when I never smiled with my teeth  in pictures because I was so embarrassed by them for so long – first, I had really crooked teeth, then I had braces for several years. I remember someone later on finally told me that you shouldn’t care about how your smile looks, so long as you’re smiling. And the encouragement helped. And then life happened, and I got to a point where I didn’t even remember those old feelings – old insecurities were replaced with new ones. Life is funny like that.

In lieu of birthday nostalgia, what I also find cool about these pictures is family jewelry I’m representing. I’ve worn some of these pieces before on this blog. One of my very first blog posts was one I modeled “family vintage” with a skirt, handbag and jewelry that all belonged to my mother, grandmother, or great-grandmother. The tagline was “four generations in one look.” I’m wearing the same necklace from that post: it’s my mom’s pendant with my grandmother’s pearls that I restrung back when I used to make jewelry. The bracelets and the rings are also thrifted vintage from flea markets and other consignment.

I bought the tartan I’m wearing while I was in Scotland – it’s touristy, but I’m so glad I have it. It’s so cute and warm. It makes me feel like an American Girl doll or something. Especially with this cute embroidered coat I bought from Forever 21. It’s so fancy!

I’m getting ready for my birthday weekend celebration! This is what happens when your birthday is on a Thursday. I’ve still got Friday to go through until it’s the weekend!

For The Right Occasion

Anora Crescent Photography

Where oh where do I wear this? That is the question I ask myself most when styling a look. It’s safe to say anything we choose to wear is informed by what circumstance or context we will be wearing the items in question. I don’t know about you, but I never assemble an outfit without thinking “is this too much for where I’m going?” 

Date night at a quaint martini bar in downtown Mebane? Let’s pick out a flirty, bright spring dress with beige heels. Rock concert at a cool club in Raleigh? Bring out the black leggings with mesh cut outs and a crop top with ankle boots. Low key night in hanging out with friends? High waist jeans with a t-shirt is fine by me. Imagine mixing up any of these outfits and places - how totally awkward would you feel!

Usually, my outfit-planning routine is this: Enter closet. Consider the evening’s events and destinations. Mix and match until I find the desired look. (Oh, if only is was that simple. Try on about ten different outfits, leave them scattered around your room. Yeah, that's more like it.)

I look back through these wonderful pictures taken by the awesome Anora Crescent Photography of Greensboro, NC and am reminded of those last days of winter. What strikes me most about these pictures is how perfect this outfit blends in with the environment. When modeling, it’s hard to imagine the perfect location to shoot some of these outfits. I have to think to myself, does this look read grungy, urban, industrial setting? Does it look like something that needs a nature background? And of course finding these places are a challenge. But Cyndi, the photographer, suggested taking these pictures at a lake, and now I can’t think of a better place to wear this outfit. Or maybe I’m just recalling how serene this place was. As I was looking out over the lake, there was this perfect moment where I watched birds fly across the lake and it was really beautiful and poignant.

I talked a little bit in my last series about “committing to the look” and wearing all items that connect in some way to each other to create a cohesive look. I’m really glad I got shots of this jewelry set, because I’m really excited about its authenticity and origins: it was given to me by my sister who bought it in Blowing Rock, NC, many years ago. The sweater jacket that I’m wearing from Forever 21 has a pattern that reminds me somewhat of Native American art - (so I wrote an entire rough draft on the topic of cultural appropriation vs. appreciation because I really hated the idea of calling this look “Native American” themed. Too much ink has already been spilled over this topic in the fashion blogging community already; there’s not much more I can say other than I hate using this kind of terminology to describe an outfit, and as conscious consumers, we should be respectful when borrowing themes from other cultures and ask ourselves important questions like what our relationship to a certain culture is, what do we hope to gain by borrowing a type of attire, and so on.) The Minnetonka moccasin fringe boots were the perfect choice in piecing together the perfect winter look.

Sometimes I feel like my style is all over the place. But what I think I’m really attracted to is that feeling of taking on the personality of what I wear. The girl in these pictures is enjoying the view, embracing the lively fringe boots that seemed to move even when she didn’t, and is comforted by a warm winter sweater that closely resembles a bathrobe. 

I guess the places we go and the experiences we gather are perfect homes for our style and outlook on fashion.

Accessorizing Basics: Clip-On Earrings for Clothes

Photos by Nina Tellier Photography

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I’ve always found beauty in dilapidated buildings. It’s one of my small pleasures to explore rundown places, especially ones with strong character. Those places are the perfect canvases to imagine stories as a writer. 

This was my first time working with the amazing photographer, Nina Tellier, and she couldn’t have picked a more interesting place to work in. She's a fantastic photographer - please check out her body of work in the links above!

These photos were taken at an abandoned lot on the outskirts of Greensboro. It was a very old house judging by the layout and the rate of decay. Beside the house was an abandoned barn, so I assume whoever once owned the house must have worked in the barn and stables. This place had apparently been forsaken decades ago. All of the windows had been broken and glass lie shattered everywhere, but the long sheer curtains remained in tact and swayed eerily in the breeze at all times. With no protection from the elements, the carpeted floor sprouted giant moldy spots in many corners. There were gaping holes in some of the rooms, so every step Nina and I took was calculated and cautionary. You entered into the house through a long, narrow front porch which lead into a large open kitchen connecting to the other rooms. One room clearly belonged to a child at some point; the wallpaper print had preschool cartoon images of barns, tractors and farmyard animals repeated across the walls.

Sadly, Nina had learned this house and lot would be torn down sometime this month (there's a good chance it already is as I write this.) Many people had been there before, partying or generally vandalizing the place. To add to the air of creepiness, Nina learned of this place from a model who had done a zombie photoshoot there. In the kid’s room, there were buckets of fake blood splashed onto the walls.

Perhaps the most hilarious part of this story to me was how after we explored the place and came up with picture ideas, we began to shoot, and not after but two pictures, all of the sudden we heard a huge SLAM coming from one of the back rooms. We were both paralyzed with fear and had barely just begun shooting. Of course, the wind had simply shut one of the doors, but the blood and overall creepiness added to our paranoia.

I’m absolutely in love with these pictures – but the irony is that the main style advice I planned on discussing is completely covered by my hair in the majority of the pictures, which I totally hadn't realized until afterward. I’ve been using clip-on earrings to dress up my collars a lot this season. It’s a very simple trick that instantly elevates any outfit into something more formal. The clip-on’s that I have were actually given to me, so I’ve found alternate ways of using them.

Clip-on earrings are generally always inexpensive and easily found in most secondhand thriftstores or vintage jewelry shops. They are ideal because they won’t damage your clothing like a pin might, such as leaving puncture holes. These are easily an interchangeable seasonal accessory, but it does look especially nice when you pair them with sweaters. In most clothing retailers, I frequently see shirts with decorated collars. You can also add clip-on’s to a jacket with rolled up sleeves to give the illusion of button cuffs. I actually used this trick in another photoshoot wearing an embroidered jacket – can’t wait to post it!

I’ve read somewhere before that you can also use clip-on earrings to dress up a pair of flats or a scarf, but I don’t feel as comfortable doing so because the clip-on's don’t feel nearly as secure in those places as opposed to a collar where it might be more easily noticed if one happens to fall off.

Here are some pictures to use as inspiration for styling your outfits with clip-on earrings:

Here's a close up of the shirt and clip-on's I wore for the shoot. The shirt already had a unique embroidered print that is nicely offset by the gold and pearls.

Use clip-on earrings as faux button cuffs. Looks very vintage and expensive!

Dress up a solid colored shirt with clip-on's that have a texture or pattern. This would look really great with a sweater over it.

This is a sheer black button up shirt. The color black perfectly offsets the shiny, gaudy clip-on's.

I would love to see how anyone else has used clip-on's to spruce up an outfit! Leave a picture below in the comments.

xx

Can I Do this DIY: crop top & accessories

Photography by R. Kooy

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There really aren’t enough occasions to dress up for in life.  I've always loved formal wear; it means we're going places. Something special is about to happen. I think the real appeal of wearing costumes is that it allows us to take on different characters or personas so we become someone else entirely for an evening. Wearing this look feels like something out of a story. And what’s even cooler is that I made two of the items I’m wearing with very simple steps which I will explain below.

This is a linen maxi skirt I found in goodwill many years ago. What’s amazing about this skirt is that someone hand painted the scene on the front and back. It was also made in Hawaii. Apart from these minor details that were inscribed on the inside of the skirt, I know nothing about it. Other than the fact I don’t think it was actually intended for wear. I might not look it, but I was slightly suffocating.

Clearly this photoshoot was taken back in warmer weather, but I still want to talk about maxi skirts for a moment. I usually see people sporting them in spring and summer months, going for a relaxed but boho feel. I have two maxi skirts in my closet, one with a black sheer overlay (I DIYed it and made the black skirt underneath it shorter…More on that later, perhaps?) and another paisley printed one with a thicker material (which was also handmade, apparently). Recently, in this bitter cold weather, I’ve taken up the practice of wearing the paisley skirt with a pair of leggings underneath and I’ve found that this provides far more insulation against wind than wearing pants alone.

So about that crop top! This is the first “Can I Do this DIY?” review I’ve done for this blog and I’m proud to say it was incredibly easy. This came from a popular tutorial floating around on Pinterest, originally posted on a pair and a spare blog (click on the two links to find two sets of instructions). 

Here’s all it is to it: get a tank top, lay the top face down, cut along the seams in the back and cut across just under the bra line. Turn the top over, and measuring correctly, make one sweeping cut up the middle. It’s not much to look at in this form, but to wear it, you cross the two long pieces you’ve just made, tie a knot in the back and tuck in any corner pieces around the neckline. Viola! Having used a random tank top from my drawer, I do advise DIYers to grab a top that is long. I can’t stress this enough. The one I had barely made the cut. The top needs to at least reach slightly below the hips… If not, you won’t be able to tie it in the back. Although the tutorial and I used solid colored tanks, I would love to see what this looks like a with a patterned top. You’ll also want to be aware of the type of fabric you use…Realistically, I doubt this top has much longevity, especially if you have to wash it (I would hand wash it if you absolutely have to) but I made sure to use a jersey fabric because it stretches and doesn’t easily become threadbare.

I made this hair accessory out of a thrift store floral arrangement I found for twenty-five cents. All I did was spray paint it a metallic gold and let it dry. Using one of those packaged sponge buns you can find at most beauty suppliers, I pulled my hair into a tight bun and placed the floral pieces accordingly. However you want to place them is up to you; I went for a denser, fuller look. With hairspray and a little faith, they neither shed nor broke, but driving in a car with a low roof was a challenge! When not wearing the arrangement, you can use it as a nice decorative display by putting it in a vase on your vanity or night stand. Isn’t it so cute?!

Transitory

I’ve been thinking about this one word a lot. I wanted to know if you could define your environment or mindset in one word, what would it be? It’s not necessarily that that one word defines you or your circumstances forever - what word synchronizes your thoughts and motives at this very moment?

Transitory.

When I think of this word, I think of that brief, beautiful moment of summer twilight that lasts for only a minute before night completely takes over from evening. I think of walking through an airport terminal and passing by gates whose destinations are places I’ve never heard of. I think of flipping pages back and forth comparing my place in a book with how many more pages there are until the end. I think of clothes that don’t fit me anymore.

I’m in a part of my life where the only knowledge I can rely on is that change is the only constant.

I begin every morning looking out the window as I open my curtains. I can just feel the cold emanating through the glass, see the ice crystals glittering in the lawn. It’s that part of the cold season where the day is never constant and I never quite know how to appropriately dress. The mornings are chilly and I feel the need to bring out my heaviest winter coat as I load up my bags to head to morning classes. By the time the sun fully emerges in the afternoon, the temperature is somewhere close to 70 degrees and I curse myself for over-dressing.

I let the whole month of October pass without any consideration to this blog due to far more important obligations, let’s be honest. I’ve been thinking a lot about transience and the movement of time, how it changes based on your own perspective. I’m approaching the end of my college journey and I think I’ve been swept over by nostalgia. When you get to the end of a journey, it’s normal to look back and think about what you would have done differently. I would be lying if I said the future didn’t scare me, but I take it that it’s a reassurance. I care enough and am motivated to always be considering what’s next.

In thinking about this photoshoot, which was obviously taken way back from the end of summer, I was reminded of another photoshoot I did a long time ago where I wore another poncho and a braided headband. I don’t get to wear ponchos that often, but I love that they constantly remind you of your movement; they emphasize your body language. At first, I was worried that this look was way too similar, but then reasoned to myself, who on earth would have remembered that shoot from over three years ago? In a sense, I think of this photoshoot as an homage to that old one. We are constantly reinventing and renewing our image. That’s the purpose of style; it's both evolutionary but reminiscent.

I am completely in love with these jeans from American Eagle. I honestly hadn’t shopped there before, but a friend introduced me to these jeans when I told her I was in desperate need of a new pair (the last pair I’d bought was nearly six years ago…!) This style is called the hi-rise jegging. I really benefit from high-waisted pants because my stomach is rather long and low rise to normal pants don’t always cut it. These are without a doubt the comfiest pair of jeans I own and they actually stay skinny which is an enormous plus. They paired perfectly well with my crop top floral bustier.

When I’m not carrying around a backpack everyday, I’ll try and figure out a way to pair a poncho with a winter top. I’m sure it can be done.

Next time, Harlequin goes full avant-garde. DIY tutorial to come! Be prepared. xx

-K.

Mirror Mirror

If you stare at this top too long, you might go cross-eyed. Or find yourself in the Twilight Zone.

It's been my dream for a while now to do a very dramatic black and white photoshoot. This bold striped top presented the perfect opportunity to execute this idea. I’ve paired this with velvet black leggings and one accent accessory to really allow the print to speak for itself.

Peplum tops are hugely popular finds in most all clothing department stores these days. It took me a while to jump on this big trend, but now that I've committed to it, I’m in love with the concept. It can be dressy or casual. I almost think of a small dress when I look at it. It’s flattering for most body shapes too – no matter what size you are, it gives you nice, exaggerated curves with the flared bottom piece.

One of the topics I wanted to expand on more from my last post was “Can I Do This DIY?” - This peplum top inspired me to want to research other ways to get a peplum top without finding one on sale somewhere, which is exactly where I found this beauty on the banana republic clearance rack over the summer.

I’ve discovered some tutorials online that show us just how to do that. Except the problem is, the tutorials require sewing, which I have very little skill in. I have all the resources at my disposal (sewing machine, needle, thread) but I’ve just never been great to know what to do with each material. However, this tutorial looks incredibly easy and I’m going to challenge myself to try this. I like the idea of converting an over-sized t-shirt into a peplum top. A band shirt would be very edgy, but I do like solid colors or patterns myself. There are ways you can play with the neckline in this tutorial, you can do a rounded edge like shown, or easily cut a V-shape into the neckline like the one I’m wearing. I fully intend on playing around with that. I also like that this is a video tutorial too – sometimes pictures don’t fully explain. You can watch the video at this link.

This isn’t a great example of my DIY posts to come, simply because with five college classes and working nonstop has prevented me from being able to sit down for one long evening and try it out. However, if you happen to be a great sewer, here’s your chance.

The most useful thing that has happened during my extended blogging leave is a proliferation of a whole new platform to share pictures with a larger community: Instagram! If you look to the sidebar, I've got this nice little widget that shows all my Instagram photos on a slideshow for your viewing pleasure and convenience. To make this more fun than just sharing the same old pictures, I’ve figured out how to make this more interesting: I will be posting outtakes from all of my photoshoots on my Instagram - @ water_lilies. These exclusive pictures will not wind up anywhere else. (Oh come on, don’t act surprised I’m shamelessly promoting my Instagram account. I’m a fashion blogger, it’s what I do.)

Next time, I'll be saying a warm farewell to lovely summer weather and summer clothes with one last outdoorsy, hiking look. Until next time!

-K.