Showing posts with label Queen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Queen. Show all posts

30 Sept 2013

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 18th century dandy. That was some sort of concept, so I had to go for it.

Charles Louis Auguste Fouquet, duc de Belle-Isle by Hyacinthe Rigaud Philip V of Spain by Miguel Jacinto Melendez, 1718-1722

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.


113 cowboy shadow

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 18th 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 18th 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?















Our Lady Of Skulls 28





Tank top: Bershka
Jeans: MNG
Booties: In Extenso
Long-sleeve T-shirt: second hand Dismero
Coat: MNG
Hat: unknown
Scarf: Bershka

Nail polish: Basic

13 Jan 2012

Happy New Year!

I hope it’s not too late for a ‘Happy New Year’ post yet, because this is right what I bring you here :)

I have to admit I’ve got some curious issues with New Year’s Eve (just like I do with most festivities). I’m usually so buried in my work and my short-/mid-term objectives that I don’t even see it coming. I think I just prefer to ignore it, because I never really feel like I’m ready for the year to be over. So, suddenly I find myself on December 31 and all I can do is bang my head against the wall while lamenting: “OMG! I’m not prepared!”

That’s it. When the last day of the year comes, all I want to do is get in bed and sleep until everything is over. I hang around in a looser mood all day until I get to the point where I say to myself: “Come on! Go upstairs, get dressed and celebrate the f***in’ New Year!” LOL

This is exactly what happened this time.

When I started creating my outfit for New Year’s Eve I was in quite a lazy mood. Since I was going to stay at home, I didn’t really have the need to put on something special, but the thing with me is I just can’t wear whatever.

Creating an outfit is not just about combining clothes: it’s about rebuilding yourself from scratch in order to become exactly the person you want to be in that moment. At least, that’s the way I see it. I can’t feel right when I’m wearing a lazy outfit ‘cause that’s just not me.

Just give me a machine gun and I'm ready to go...

However, deciding what to wear on such an occasion turned out to be a really hard job.

My starting idea had absolutely nothing to do with the look you’re seeing here. At first, I chose a very beautiful piece that turned out to be virtually impossible to combine. I hate it when that happens, but sometimes I have to give up on something, just because I can’t make it work… at least until I get my hands on that special something that will do the trick.

Flying hair!

So, after having wasted about half an hour looking for a solution, I had to give up on sparkling electric blue and go back to black and purple. My Cowboy Musketeer outfit was still fresh in my mind, and I felt like I could experiment some more in that area. After all, it’s hard to imagine a more elegant and festive combination of colours than black, purple and a little bit of gold.

Just like with my previous outfit, I started from the trousers. At first sight, they might look identical to those, but they are not: these are corduroy trousers! (You can see how they reflect the light in quite a different way :P). However, they do belong to the same collection, so there’s an explanation for the similarities.

I was feeling quite helpless until The Dude (my housemate, personal shopper and photographer) suggested me to borrow this coat from her personal collection. I had no concept for the outfit yet, but I liked the fact that the coat was exactly the same wine colour as the trousers, and that gave me a starting point.

This coat is a very curious piece. On one hand, it calls out for some glamorous hippie-chic; on the other, I can’t help seeing it as a luxurious bathrobe (LOL) – the kind of thing you would expect a Lord to wear over his pyjamas.

That last part gave me an idea…

Instead of focusing on creating a bohemian look (that wouldn’t have felt much like New Year’s Eve anyway), I had a crazy flash of some sort of Al Capone that was staying at home for the evening – wearing a bathrobe over his gangster suit. It sounded so bizarre it definitively had to work!

Immediately, I picked up the dandiest blazer I could find (I have so many I can’t even hang them properly anymore x__x) and I loved the result. The shoes and the hat came along automatically.

Sorry - you just caught me in the middle of an imaginary kiss

I had a slightly harder time picking up what to wear underneath the blazer (I always seem to have that same problem T__T). A shirt would have been the logical choice, but I wanted something slightly more festive and a little less obvious than the classical gangster shirt.

My golden turtleneck turned out to be the perfect choice.

I put on my black Chinese inspired waistcoat in order to add some structure to the central part of the outfit (and to make it even dandier! LOL) and the bow tie gave it the perfect finishing touch.

The result has definitively some Carnival/cabaret feel to it. The way I see it, this character is an Al Capone who’s having a little bit too much fun playing the role of Marlene Dietrich – but all is allowed in Carnival, right? ;)

I’ve never been a big fan of retro, but I guess inspiration always comes from the most unexpected places… and the funny part is that this coat has something that reminds me of the wide-lapeled coats that were fashionable in the 1930s.

Oh, and don’t miss my glittery purple leopard print socks! ;)

As you can imagine, these pics were taken on New Year’s Eve, so you might see me doing slightly more stupid things than usual. I hope you will excuse me… LOL

You may also see some spontaneous flying hair from time to time. It was a windy night!

Anyway, the important thing is that I finally got over my New Year’s Eve depression and managed it to have a great time :)

I guess there’s nothing that a funny creative outfit can’t fix ^^

...Specially when it's accompanied by a great song :)


Turtleneck: Massimo Dutti
Trousers: MNG
Waistcoat: freebie
Blazer: MNG
Coat: MNG
Hat: CCC
Bowtie: vintage (purchased at Humana)
Shoes: Bata
Socks: LSD