Spiders and cold weather clothing.

Today was a day of searching for jobs, resume revamping, and random rain.  Oh yeah, also working on my phalanges/spider drawing.

I had this dream a while back, in which I was trying to escape from a building made of cement.  I was being held captive there.  I eventually crawled through a labyrinth of tunnels to exit the building, only to discover a giant, metal fence preventing my exit.  I dug into the earth with my hands, creating a path of escape under the fence.  Suddenly, I realize there is something in my hand.  I look at my right hand, and a brown recluse spider is embedded under the skin, lifting the muscle up.  I can see every single bone in my right hand, even through the skin.  Eventually, the spider broke out of my hand, through the skin.
That dream haunts me to this day -- I had to illustrate it.

Outfits of note from the past week (Saturday - now):

This is a vintage zip-up corset... with a vintage prairie/square dance skirt.

I don't usually like long dresses, but this 60s/70s  full-length dress looks pretty great with my long, black coat.

I just recently got this awesome old camel-colored, wool coat.  It makes me feel like a dandy.  

This dress represents me so well.  It is super 60s, really whimsical, and reminiscent of an Austrian dirndl.  It's vintage, I'm assuming from the 60s or 70s.

Vintage anchor chain belt!

A loose braid and a vintage bow fascinator.

-Kc

Haze halo

I've (allegedly) heard so many strange sounds today.  (I'm not sure which were auditory hallucinations and which might have been real.)  Chalk it up to the dip in barometric pressure, I say.  Today was one of those weird days, where the sun was wearing a foreboding haze-halo all day.  My camera was also acting up.  On the up side, I'm doing this vintage fashion show sort of thing on Friday with a few friends, so we got to go into a costume shop and try on beautiful old dresses.  I was like a kid in a candy store.

This past weekend I finally finished altering this really awesome vintage dress I've had for a while, that was half finished when I found it.  To celebrate, I subsequently wore it.

I was going for a "New England Private School Student in the 70s" sort of look.

This is actually a boarding school blazer from 1973.  It was my mom's -- she went to boarding school in Massachusetts in the 70s, and I'm now the proud owner of her blazer.

I love my weird taxidermy-chic mink wrap scarf -- I refer to it as "my pet" (I know, that's strange).  Under the blazer and over the dress, I also wore this really great vintage sweater that has applique flowers and rhinestone embellishment.

Anyway, back to today.  To break the weird vibe of today, I decided to change things up a bit.  I'm pretty much married to the idea of wearing navy or black opaque tights with EVERYTHING during the winter.  I even do it in the summer, as long as it's not 95+ degrees.  Instead of the old routine of black or navy, I decided to wear grey opaque tights to match the grey of the atmosphere.  I wore them with this really awesome geometric-patterned 60s or 70s dress, and my favorite Frye T-strap wedge heels.  (Note:  the dress has triangles all over it.  The triangle is my favorite polygon!)

So, here's to awesome polygons and weird, cold, hazy sky and hazy brain days.

-kc

Are you leaving for the country?

I have been listening to 60s and 70s folk music all day.  (That's where the title for the post came...a Karen Dalton song.)  That definitely put me in a certain mood, that being the mood for gold buttons, high collars, obnoxiously bright, wide stripes, and big, furry hats.   People like to make fun of my collection of giant, furry hats, but I enjoy them thoroughly.  The one I'm wearing in the following pictures is equal parts lumberjack cutting trees in the woods and hiker in the Siberian tundra.  And .... to be quite honest ... I'm totally into that.  Also, it's a very special day -- I conquered a fear today.   That fear is the fear of wearing bright orange.  I have always feared bright orange, because of my coloring -- bright orange and red hair can sometimes be really overwhelming.  But, I decided I liked this shirt more than being afraid.  It kind of feels good to break one of my own rules.

I estimate the shirt to be from the 1970s.  It's made of wool, so it's kind of itchy, but I wore my American Apparel double U-neck dress underneath it to make it less itchy.  My hat is also wool, and rabbit fur, and I got it way back when in Beacon's Closet in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (it's vintage, I don't buy retail fur).  Sometimes I really miss Brooklyn, and New York in general.  Today is one of those days.

-kc

on the ROCKS

This morning, I searched through my closet (and...oops...floor) to find something to wear.  I realized I wanted to wear something that I wore for one hour yesterday.  It didn't feel right yesterday, but today it felt right.  Really, it HAS TO feel right.  I've changed outfits up to 4 times in the course of a day.   If I exist for an hour or so in it and it doesn't feel right, it goes.  (And that's not including the changes that occur in the morning when initially deciding what to wear.)  Is that weird?  I mean, I'm an actress/performer/artist.  An outfit for the day is like a costume to me, and it has to feel right for the character I'm going to play that day, or the fictional world I see myself inhabiting that day.  Each day brings a different character/place/etc. 

Today it was my 1970s (I think?) Halston blouse.  It's a poet blouse, with really puffy, long sleeves and a collar that ties at the neck.  It's a really rich burgundy color, and it's long enough to be a (really short) dress with opaque tights (with the danger of some potential bum exposure if it is windy), or a (really long) shirt with pants.  Today I wore it with my ultra-skinny Cheap Monday blue jeans.  And a fur collar... always a fur collar.

Right now: Maker's Mark, on the rocks, with a splash of ginger ale.

The splash of ginger ale is necessary for two reasons:

1. I'm a ginger. I have the arm freckles and transparent complexion to prove it.

2. It gives just the right amount of fizzing, bubbly sweetness needed to enhance the Maker's.

Maker's is exactly what I need to lull myself into dreamland.  Lately, dreamland has been nightmareland.  But, really, to be honest that's kind of fun--as long as I can kick the creepy in the morning.  Sometimes I do.  Sometimes I don't.

-kc

Black on Black

Today was a day that demanded wearing black.  Lots of black.  Black on black, in fact.  Black opaque tights, black oxfords, black satin slip dress with black mesh tank dress over it.  The only non-black items are my seashell/key necklace, my preserved scorpion necklace, my white fur collar, and red lipstick.  

Now, for a change of subject....

This outfit looks like a weird poster from the 80s that would be hanging in someone's grandparents' tacky Florida summer home.

Not only can you see a gator in this store, you can also record a karaoke CD, buy gag gifts, and get sex toys.  This store is most definitely an unintentional work of art.

This is an example of visual merchandising genius.

The day of the storm, the sunset was pretty brilliant.

Champion snow-covered shoveler.

Fiber optics child angel, Virgin Mary, mermaid sea scene, whimsical fairy, etc.

This is a still life of the supplies needed to party in a snowstorm.

It looks like Merlin's "magic touch" might be a tad too sexy.

A NIGHTMARE LADY POSTER

O haaaai Gramps.

My snowy boots.

My brain split today into three days.  Does your brain ever do that?  Sometimes I slip off into this weird dissolution of time, without realizing.  Then, when I snap out of that parallel universe, the day splits.  Each time this happens, it feels like the separation that denotes a new day.  Today was three days.

 

There is so much snow around here right now.  Snow is only pretty for one day... and then it turns ugly, picking up asphalt rocks and dirt spots.  The snow is mostly amassed in mounds in strip mall parking lots and yards.  I feel like Nanook of the North, I have to wear furry, warm things everywhere.

I need a job.  I've been looking for one for a long time, to no avail.  My problem is one part being too picky and another part bad economy.  It's a real bummer.  Today, though, it occurred to me that nothing would make me happier than just making dreamcatchers all day.  Is that a real job?  I'm part Cherokee--maybe I could work in a tourist roadside stand in the Southwest selling dreamcatchers and making dreamcatchers?  Possibly?  Wow.  That is the ideal job--I might have it all figured out.

 

-KC

All photographs copyright Katelyn R 2010

Flutter by

It's supposed to snow a lot today.  I'm preparing to be forced into inertia for many more hours than I would choose if I could choose.  Owning every single episode of Twin Peaks is really going to come in handy tonight and tomorrow.  

Last night I performed at the Spotlight Cabaret and Piano Bar at Allentown Brew Works again, it was really great.  I performed a Joanna Newsom song (in addition to other songs).  I have a video up on Facebook, I just haven't uploaded it onto here yet (perhaps later).  Anyway, I wore this dress last night for the show, and I decided to wear it again today, the only difference is, due to impending snow, I wore a white fur collar with it today.

This dress was actually free.  I estimate it to be from the 70s.  I love it because it is basically a giant scarf.... the material feels exactly like a scarf.  Also, it has flutter sleeves...  I love flutter sleeves.  Every time I wear a dress that has flutter sleeves, it makes me want to live in a log cabin on the top of a mountain and play the banjo all day, then ride some horses.

ribbon bows and winter snows

It's snowing here in Pennsylvania.  In addition to being slightly ill (instead of immensely ill, which was yesterday), the snow really put a damper on my plans.  It's alright, snow is great for warm living room movie nights and lots of window staring.  I really like it, actually.  It justifies inertia.

Also, not just because the world is overrun with fashion blogs, but because I consider it a form of marking time, I'm going to be posting random photographs of my outfits on here.  Dressed up and nowhere to go is the story of my life (well, no place that dressing up is appreciated, anyway).  Today I was listening to a lot of 60s/60s inspired folk music... namely Vashti Bunyan, Joanna Newsom, Joni Mitchell, Karen Dalton and Townes Van Zandt.  I was feeling a 1960s/Appalachian chic thing.

I found these keys in the basement, so I added them to my seashell necklace.

Apparently, this dress was my Aunt's when she was 12 years old in the 60s.  Also, I got this crazy looking sweater in the thrift store, and as soon as my mother saw it, she said she owned something like this in the 70s, and she wore it to the 70s equivalent of a "pimps and hoes" party... a strumpet something party.  I forget what she called it.  Mysterious...

Peace out