corset – My Kingdom for a Hat

crackhead society dame

…is how I’ve come to define my style. Upscale but thoroughly queered. Fancy but freaky.

This outfit is a little gothier than I’ve been into lately, but I like how it came together. This is what happens when I give my thoroughly steampunk boyfriend a say in my ensembles.

I found these tights in a ball under my desk this morning. I can’t believe I’d gone without them for so long!

Bustier: Charlotte Russe Skirt: Goodwill Jacket: Downtown Threads Brooch & Necklaces: Old Gold Shoes: Dirt Chic Gloves: Gifted Tights: Found

Bonus shitty cell-phone mirror shot of Boyfriend and me. We clean up nice.

the filthiest of all the attention whores

I never post all the shots from any given shoot. I tend to select the best of the best for internet use: I don’t want to dilute the impact. And that means I have plenty of outtakes for “round-up” posts.

Behold a bunch of shots I didn’t post after their respective shoots!

This shot has such great composition. It’s from the first formal shoot I ever did. Anna and I have been friends for something like six years, and she was willing to schlep around with a camera on an incredibly hot day just to help me get a few decent shots.

Kind of a strange angle, but I love my hand on the cross.

I like shots in which my face looks really foreign to me. This is one of them. I don’t quite recognize myself.

If I trained a mirror on myself for 24 hours, how many moments like this would I have? How many things about my physical comportment would surprise me?

My mother says I’m starting to look exactly like her mother. I’ll post a picture of her sometime for comparison. It’s really getting kind of uncanny.

Such a frigid color scheme. I feel like the most regal of the ice queens.

If you look really closely at the right side of my neck (my right, not yours), you can see the scattering of pink welts. I didn’t notice it until after I got home that night, and I assumed it was just an odd configuration of mosquito bites.

Turns out it was a motherfucking rash. I went on to develop a fever and be sick for three or four days.

I really, really hate rashes. They don’t gross me out, per se (nothing really does), but something about skin ailments just gets to me. I’d rather have a week-long stomach bug than a full-body rash.

For levity’s sake. I have no recollection of what was going on in this picture, but looking at it makes me laugh out loud. Every. Single. Time.

Also, you have no idea how much I wish I could post my nudes! Some of my best work ever has been nude, and I’m really proud of it. But even though it’s not pornographic (for the most part), there are all sorts of regulations for blogs that host “adult” content, and in my effort to reach as many people as possible, I’d rather not have to worry about the restrictions. If you must go looking, though, my ModelMayhem profile is not exactly hard to find.

anatomy and androgyny

I did a linkdump post before, back in July. That was a summary of influences on my current style; this one, I hope, will foreshadow things to come. Here are some looks I hope to attempt in 2013.

Here’s the thing: my body isn’t androgynous. Far from it. That’s half the fun, though: androgyny, to me, isn’t middle ground. It’s the extreme ends of masculinity and femininity, combined. A boyish outfit, snug on my curves, is something I really want to try. Source.

There will soon be more corsets in my life. I’m partial mostly to the red and black ones, but I included the green one because I like the way it combines a demure print and an overtly sexualized shape.That’s most of the reason why I like corsets in the first place: I wear them with relatively tame bottoms and enjoy teasing the eye. Source 1 and Source 2.

Speaking of fetish gear! I’d wear these with a cute ’50s shirtdress and let the contrast speak for itself.

I woke up one morning thinking of dressy shorts and high-necked blouses, and I haven’t been the same since. My ideal pair of dressy shorts would be structured cream-colored cotton, slim through the hips but voluminous in the thigh, with a button fly. If I can’t find them, I’ll just have to make them. I’d tuck my snakeskin blouse into them and wear a red belt. Too bad my hair isn’t long anymore – a topknot would look fantastic with this. Source 1 and Source 2.

I’m really not a nerdy girl in the traditional sense – I’ve never been much for fantasy, gaming, or hard science. (I prefer a good horror film or psychological thriller: my favorite movies are Amadeus, Black Swan, and American Psycho.) That said, I’m a perpetual sucker for clothing inspired by books and movies (told you I was costumey), and I absofuckinglutely love Ms. Frizzle. I might feel a bit fraudulent wearing that map-of-Middle-Earth dress, but I’d get comfortable quickly enough just from the sheer brilliant novelty of the thing. Source 1, Source 2, Source 3, Source 4, and Source 5.

If I’m certain of anything, it’s my love for well-structured vintage skirts and dresses. Especially in red. There’s nothing new to report here except that I hope to acquire more and design new ways to wear them. (The third shot looks like something I already own, honestly. I probably have most of the pieces. Maybe emulating and photographing it will be tomorrow’s project!) Source 1, Source 2, Source 3, Source 4, and Source 5.

I owned red skinny jeans once upon a time. They didn’t fit very well (or at all, frankly – they were bunchy in the crotch and too short in the leg), but I was 15 and they were red and I thought I was the hottest shit imaginable. (I was just starting to wear red lipstick then. I had some semblance of style, but nothing I’d want to emulate now.) I’d like to find another pair and do it right this time. Instead of snow boots and a snarky t-shirt (keep in mind that I was FIFTEEN), I’ll do heels and a proper blouse. Source.

Do I really need to explain? Source 1, Source 2, Source 3, Source 4, and Source 5.

I have wanted tights like these for years. YEARS. I first had the idea when I was 13, and my friends and family looked on in horror. Who’s laughing now? Source.

(My ideal design would include ligaments and tendons too. To the drawing board!)

greaserette

I meant to post this yesterday, so you’ll be getting two posts today!

I enjoy mixing elements, and sometimes I get into the more androgynous elements thereof. By “androgynous”, I don’t mean pieces that could go either way – I mean mixing the hypermasculine with the hyperfeminine.

This look brought to you by the 1950s.

$4 corset from Battery Street Jeans. Blinged-out Rubik’s cube necklace – free!

All in all, I paid $5 for this outfit.

Corset, Jeans, Necklace, Rings, and Belt: Battery Street Jeans Jacket: Handed down from neighbor

cosmopolitan concubine

I’ve snapped out of my normality phase, you’ll be pleased to note. This is an outfit I’ve been contemplating for a while, and I’m happy to have finally figured it out. I really like how it turned out.

Corset + harem pants can go nightmarishly wrong, but I think I did a decent job of it.

Loose pants are a pretty big variation for me. I tend toward leggings and fitted jeans. Looser pants can be disastrous, but higher-waisted varieties are generally more flattering, I think. They start at the slimmest part of the body and proceed to round the hips nicely and skim over the thighs.

Corset: 17th birthday Harem Pants: Handed down from Mom Belt: Battery Street Jeans Necklace: Charlotte Russe Shoes: Danform

beribboned

To get my tattoo yesterday, I wore one of my favorite outfits. I bought this dress last winter and have worn it with boots and jackets for a few months. Now I can finally wear it as it was meant to be worn: bare-legged and be-sandaled, topped off by a pretty kickass corset.

This necklace used to be a bracelet, scrunched up with an elastic. The elastic broke, but I actually prefer it as a necklace. I’m wearing my Voltaire key pendant. He’s one of my favorite artists, and I am proudly and forever his fangirl.

Dress – Bella Boutique

Corset – 17th birthday