Our Lady Of Skulls

This time I bring you an outfit I wore back in May (!), for a one-off session of Queen’s Hungarian Rhapsody at the movie theatre.

Starting this one was a little tricky.

I began by searching for stuff in the colour palette of my lilac glitter nail polish. However, I found myself face to face with the fact that pink and lilac are pretty misrepresented in my wardrobe, so I had to quickly give up on the idea.

Instead, I started rummaging through my latest purchases, and I came across my Lady Of Skulls tank top (previously seen in my Skull Kitsch post). I realized that it had a few pink elements on it that were pretty much the shade of my nail polish, and I took it as a sign that I should pick it and go on from there. Pink and grey could make an interesting combination, and that was already something…

The first thing I did was to pair the tank top with some über-slim-fit grey jeans I got during my latest Mango Outlet shopping spree (yup – I can’t get my heels through these either LOL). The combination was quite easy, but I still wasn’t sure about how the tank top would look on me. It was obviously going to need some work before I could walk out in it.

And, of course, I was still miles away from coming up with a concept.

My first concern, however, was the huge empty area on my chest. I needed to fill it with something, and I thought about using my cross print Bershka scarf for that purpose. I tried wrapping it around my neck in different ways, but nothing looked satisfactory enough: I tried the noose, the celebrity collar, just letting it hang loose each side of my neck… In the end, there was just one option left: the bow. That was a pretty crazy idea, because this scarf is actually HUGE, but I still had to try.

As you can see on the pictures, the resulting bow was bigger than me (LOL), but it was OK. It actually made me think of an extremely exaggerated 18^th century dandy. That was some sort of concept, so I had to go for it.

 

But, of course, before I proceeded, I had to add some substance underneath the tank top. It was still May, and the weather wasn’t warm enough to wear just that… aside from certain size issues I have already commented on my previous post :P

I didn’t have a lot to choose from, so I picked up the first (and most interesting) grey long-sleeve T-shirt I could find. It matched the colours of the outfit quite well, and its curious texture made it funnier to wear then just a plain grey T-shirt. It was also quite suitable for the day’s weather, and, most important of all: it filled the gaps.

Once I had the basics in place, I still had to decide where the outfit was headed. I tried on tons of jackets (including my brand new silver biker jacket), but none of them looked right. And I was getting a little bit impatient already.

Aside from developing a concept, I also had to deal with the tank-top’s excessive length. First of all, I tucked the back into the jeans, in order to try and prevent it from looking like I had put on a basketball shirt from a guy ten sizes larger than me (LOL). I do this all the time (like I already explained in my Prince Not-So-Charming post), and the hardest part is always to prevent the front part from puckering in random ways. And, as you can see on the pictures, things can still go out of control sometimes… LOL

Anyway, I still had to solve the issue of the jacket.

I decided I should try with a longer jacket – perhaps a coat? That felt very much in line with the dandy concept, so I had to give it a chance. I thought about a grey suede coat I had used for a (*cough* pretty similar *cough*) cowboy outfit a few years ago. However, I ended up choosing this grey denim coat from Mango instead. I didn’t even remember it was there, but it looked really cool on me. Of course, it was quite oversized… but that’s not the end of the world, is it? :P Plus, oversized coats were a big trend in the 1700s! And wearing a suede coat in May didn’t really feel that adequate LOL

Once I put the denim coat on, I discovered that I had just added a plot twist to my still-developing concept: my 18^th Century dandy seemed to be turning into an extremely mannered cowboy... or something like that. Of course, that made perfect sense to me (LOL). At this point, I had to decide whether I wanted to take the cowboy path or try and stick to the 18^th Century concept.

Obviously, I went for the easiest option, so I hurried up and completed the outfit with my brown cowboy booties and my classic brown cowboy hat (you might remember it from my Gold Fever outfit last year).

After all, this is not the first time I fuse the cowboy theme with European dandy style ;)

I’ve used these booties quite a few times already, but I think I’ve never written about them on this blog. They have a very cool shape and colour, even though it’s sometimes (=always) a bit difficult to adjust them to the trousers. Usually, they are too tight to tuck the pants in, and too bulky to wear them on top.

At that point, my outfit was pretty much finished. I was really surprised at how I had managed to integrate something like a huge bow into a cowboy styling and make it look so natural – and, by that, I mean it looks completely natural TO ME (LOL). The whole thing definitely reminded me of my Gold Fever outfit, even though it didn’t have the same California summer vibe (LOL).

 

However, I still had a problem: the jeans and the booties were not interacting alright. 

The booties were adding some uncomfortable and totally unnecessary bulk around my ankles. I thought I might just deal with that, but, after a while – and at The Dude’s suggestion – I tried rolling the jeans up in order to dissimulate the extra volume. Surprisingly enough, it worked! You will probably notice it’s there, now that I’ve told you… but shhhhh! – let’s keep that a secret ;)

By the way, Hungarian Rhapsody was an experience beyond awesome. Of course, nothing beats Live At Wembley ‘86 for me, but Hungarian Rhapsody stands pretty close. Plus, I had never seen Queen on the big screen before, so there’s no point in comparing!

And, of course, the accompanying documentary is priceless! :D

We sat in the first row (I took my cowboy hat off, of course LOL), so after two-and-a-half hours, my neck got pretty tired. However, the feeling of intimacy and the absence of heads in the front seats made up for everything.

I could say so much more on the subject, but I think I’ve already written enough… Plus, this is not even a music blog!

…unless I want it to?

Tank top: Bershka

Jeans: MNG

Booties: In Extenso

Long-sleeve T-shirt: second hand Dismero

Coat: MNG

Hat: unknown

Scarf: Bershka

Nail polish: Basic