Denim & Stripes

Hey there! 

I think this is my most criminally delayed post to date, but the good news is it's FINALLY here, and there's already another big one in the making, so, hopefully, there won't be such a huge gap between entries next time. Of course, that's what I always say, so you better not believe me LMAO

This was actually my first outfit of 2014 (!) LOL

I wore it back in January for a family (post-)Christmas lunch (in Spain the festivities last until January 7), and again for a pretty standard night out, a couple of weeks later. Since I was planning it for that family thing, I wanted to have something that was casual enough for daytime (much unlike the Black-Gold-type outfit I wore on Christmas Eve), but that still had some Christmas magic in it.

Those striped jeans from Bershka were actually the starting point for this outfit. I had a few days to plan the look beforehand, so I decided to use the chance to adapt my nail polish to the clothes, instead of doing it the other way round. I had been using my brand new (at the time it was brand new LOL) Catrice nail polish for the last two weeks, and I though it would be funny to combine it with some metallic blue to try and recreate the stripes on my jeans.

I actually got that nail polish as a freebie with a magazine on the week right before New Year's Eve, so it was a totally unexpected incorporation to my nail polish arsenal. This specific tone is called Genius in the Bottle, and it’s a pretty interesting iridescent mix that looks like gold, bronze, silver metallic green or any other colour you can think of, depending on the lighting... pretty awesome stuff. For this look, however, I added my typical Basic metallic blue nail polish (even though I replaced it with its Rimmel counterpart for the photoshoot because I ran out of the original colour) on alternate fingers. I know it would all have been even more coherent to use some of the denim nail polish from nails, inc, but you can’t have everything! LOL

Plus, I love the glitter too ;)

A closer look at my Genius in the Bottle nail polish 

To me, there was a very obvious American flag reference deep in the core of these jeans – a bit deconstructed, though (LOL). You know: the blue, the silver (which can serve as a bit of a metallic equivalent of white), the stripes… the only thing that’s missing is the red, but, don't worry... you'll get some of it near the end of this post ;)

And then, of course, there’s the denim… which is a very Bruce Springsteen kind of thing LMAO

These jeans also made me think of Steven Tyler for some reason, which is funny, because I’m not exactly a Steven Tyler fan (well, I’m not a Springsteen fan either LOL). I had the feeling these stripes made them look like something he would wear… Perhaps it was because I subconsciously remembered this look of his from back in the day… even though I have absolutely no idea about WHY I actually remember it O.o

I wasn’t quite sure about which jacket to wear on top. It was a very delicate decision, because it was going to determine the concept of the outfit. The jeans were obviously making me think of the 70s, so I instinctively searched for something that would take me in that direction and this jacket was the first thing that came to my mind (you might remember it from last year’s Birthday post). It definitely had that 70s touch… and it added a cowboy element as well – which could eventually get tricky to pull off, given the bizarre nature of these jeans.

...But you know I love a challenge ;)

This was actually my first time wearing this jacket. It’s really comfortable and cool, but you have to be very careful about some of the beads and paillettes falling off every now and then LOL

Once I had the foundation of the look, it was time to start building the walls.

I thought about tying a huge bow around my neck in analogy to my Our Lady Of Skulls look. I first tried on a silver lurex scarf to match the stripes, but it didn’t feel quite like it. Its biggest problem was that it was way too small, and I wanted the bow to be really HUGE. After my initial more glammed-up idea failed, I decided to emphasize the cowboy side of the look. I tried on this blue and white scarf, and I really loved it. It had the volume I needed, and its hard cotton fabric really fit my Americana denim concept.

I realized later that the scarf was actually black and not blue, as I had initially thought. It made me doubt a bit at first. In fact, I even tried on another checked cotton scarf that was indeed white and blue. It looked nice in terms of colour, but it lacked the volume I needed for my HUGE bow, so I decided to stick with my initial choice.

After solving the bow issue, it was about time to decide what to actually wear underneath the jacket. You know... that tiny insignificant detail ;)

I came across this denim shirt while I was rummaging around trying to figure out what that could be. All I knew was I was looking for a shirt (I probably had my A Tough Man’s Life outfit in mind). I had two mental options for it: denim or tartan. I tried on the two denim shirts I had in my closet, but none of them seemed to feel right. My first option was too thick and too dark; the second one felt a bit too bleached-out, and I wasn’t thrilled about its shape either. This other shirt was a bit too big for me, but, worn like this, it looks just fine :P It somehow felt like a baroque blouse of sorts, and that was something I really fancied.

Finding shoes for this outfit was the hardest thing ever (I guess it always is for me LOL). None of my trainers, cowboy booties or platform shoes seemed to look just right… until I thought about using these second-hand platform loafers from Humana. My favourite thing about them is that they have a very 70s feel, which is something I find very useful, given my love for that decade. They’ve saved my life more than once, and I hope they’ll keep doing it in the future ;)

Kinda creepy, heh? ;)

And so, with the shoes in place, I rounded up the 70s conceptual block for this outfit ^^

I briefly considered topping the mix with a cowboy hat, but finally decided against it. None of my cowboy hats was a nice colour match, and, honestly, I already liked everything just the way it was :)

I completed the outfit with this HUGE denim bag. Of course, it had to look good with the whole thing, because… denim LOL

(Unfortunately, the pictures I took with the bag didn't make the cut, so you'll just have to imagine it e_e')

Rat poison anyone? I think the box was empty, even though I can't be sure... LOL

And, with that, the job was done.

On the day of the aforementioned family lunch we had some really unbelievable weather. We sat in the garden for a couple of hours, and the sun was so bright it felt like bloody spring! LOL The sky was blue and, the air was warm... Pretty much what you’d call a beautiful spring day ^^

We had some nice typical Spanish paella (LOL), some casual conversation… and that was it :)

I didn’t have to struggle with difficult weather on my night out either… which was definitely a great improvement since last time! LOL

This picture is so perfect I still can't even believe it's real LOL The man just happened to be walking by, and, apparently, he turned his head to look at me precisely at the right second, on the right angle, exactly at the right ditance. We didn't even notice he was there until we checked the picture on the camera sceen. So AWESOME :'D

We shot the pictures for this post at an abandoned gas station. It might look like this was a stop during a long road trip, but, in fact, this amazing location is just a five minute drive away from my home!

The possibilities were almost endless. There was SO much cool stuff in there begging to be photographed I didn’t even know where to start! :D

The afternoon had a wonderful sunny mood. I felt like I was in a scene from Brokeback Mountain (LOL).

Some of my favourite landscapes from Brokeback Mountain, looking perfectly integrated into this photoshoot LOL

That’s probably why I kept mentally singing Alice In Chains’ Scalpel during the whole photoshoot. If you’ve been following my twitter, you should already know I’ve been going totally nuts for AIC during the last few months, so it’s no surprise I just couldn’t get that song out of my head, especially at that point, when my discovery of the band was so recent. It suited the feeling of the afternoon SO well…

Don’t get scared by the title and album art work – it’s just a friendly Americana song ;)

Seeing it like this, it might seem like this gas station has been abandoned forever, but the truth is that it was fully functional until not so long ago. This was, in fact, the place where I bought my first (and last) teenage magazines at the height of my Tokio Hotel fever, during the summer of 2008. That phase didn’t last long – TH disappeared from those magazines once the summer was over and never returned –, but I still remember buying those magazines just as vividly as if it had happened yesterday; right there, in the middle of that dirty empty room.

Ah, my youth… where did it go?

Another bizarre thing about this location is this curious column. It’s supposed to be ancient, even though I’m not too sure about that – who knows, anyway? LOL The thing is it’s just standing there in the middle of nowhere, right beside the road and in front of a gas station. Because… why not? :P

Anyway, you can’t deny it’s one Hell of a landmark :D

...and looks pretty cool on pictures too B)

Shirt: vintage

Jeans: Bershka

Shoes: vintage

Scarf: Tex

Jacket: vintage