This is a collage about my personal style

I have been asked to create a small collage that demonstrates my personal style. I sort of thought, this whole dang blawg.

But then I thought it would be kind of mean to tell someone they should read the entirety of this here blawg. That's only something I do, like, on friday nights.

The thing is, I love collages. The kind you make with magazines and paste. And I love style. Duh. But, I can't see that happening...magazines have pretty pictures and all but almost never have anything that would accurately reflect my personal style. Unless there's a magazine about thrifting. Is there? There must be.

So, I think I'm just gonna stroll through this here blawg and make a collage with WORDS and SOME pictures. And, a whole lot of self indulgence.

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1. I am a little bit of a freak. 

Plump white ladies with multi-colored dreadlocks are not shrinky violets. I've often said that it doesn't really matter what I wear, since I bring the party on my head and people don't really scroll down. Now, the dreads are such a huge part of my personal brand (and my professional brand even more so) that I can't really ever cut 'em off. Which is cool, since I don't want to.

Curvy!

2. I am (actually) curvy and dress in way that doesn't hide it - and often accentuates it.

I'm not using "curvy" as a euphemism for "fat" (which, still, I am). I'm actually curvy. I have large ladies and hips and my waist goes in at the middle. That is what curves are. Speaking of which, did you see this great article about media use of the word curvy? Amazing and truthful!

I am not always comfortable with my curves, but dang, I've come along way! Baby!

By the way. I NEVER used to wear belts. Now I wear them every day. Accentuates the curvy bits.




3. I wear a uniform almost every day.  

This is the eclectic pillar of my personal style, and it took me a lot of trial and error to develop it. I've talked a lot about it on this here blawg, but here's the recap...

First you take a shirt - preferably old, with writing. Then you add a skirt - preferably girly, often in a pattern, and cute. Then a cardigan or blazer. A belt. And boots. Ta-da! Outfit!


4. I treat clothes as an art project. 

This has been, and continues to be the most dang fun thing I do with clothes. Not "matching" things but, rather, finding things that complement each other in cool ways is what I mostly learned from the lovely Alice. 

I usually choose one thing I want to wear and try to find a pattern that I can repeat, or a color...something. The result is an outfit that doesn't appear to match but somehow the eye appreciates it. 

And, since I lay out my outfits for the week on Sunday nights, I'm often looking at the whole week as a canvas. No one else sees all the outfits together...but I do.

Please forgive the douchey-ness of this entry! Pretentious much?

#5..the juxtapostion

5. Give to me your leather, take from me my lace...la la la. 

I really really really love to mix styles. Lacy tights with engineer boots. Stripes with flowers. Rock-n-roll hairdo with pearls. Etc. I love the juxtaposition. It makes me happy, and it means you just never really look like anyone else (hey, I sense a theme here!). 

I think that this, and #4 above, are why I wear separates vs dresses. Dresses give me much fewer opportunities to put things together.

Over on the right...perfect example! Gold brocade fancy skirt with lace-up combat boots. LOVE.

 

Madonna!

6. Theme to the extreme (a phrase I stole from the epically stylish Allison). 

Sometimes, when I go down a (usually) kooky road, I just gotta go there entirely. That is, if I find myself wearing two or three shades of blue, I almost have to just wear six shades. Might as well. It goes for practically anything - a style, a color, an era. 

On the right...This is me as an eighties rock-n-roll madonna type of thing. Leopard skin, fishnets, plaid pencil skirt, rock shirt, a shitton of rhinestones and silver jewelry. A studded belt. This is actually one of my most repeated outfits.
 

7. This kind of goes without saying, but I love old things.  

Thrifted, but usually not vintage. Part of why I love old things is because I can't afford new ones! I am also cheap! And I love clothes way too much to limit myself (see: excessive personality). Thrifting allows me to have a lot without the outlay of dough. Plus...it's a super fun challenge to put things together on my own, not because some smart stylist at a store told me something worked. 

That said...I do still buy the occasional irresistible or on-sale piece at a store. 

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That's it. Did I miss anything?

PS. The world is pretty sad right now. Me too.

Return of the blurry photos!

You missed my mad photo skillz, yeah? They're back. LUCKY YOU. Mostly, I've been wearing previous outfits. Nothing worth blur-o-graphing. That's good! I mean, good in that I've throttled back the thrifting. Not entirely of course. I just nabbed a sweet marching band jacket chock full of patches and letters and embroidery. $5. 

Anywho, my colleague Katie says this is one of the best outfits of the year. I told her that's a lofty claim and she'd best revisit the blawg to be sure.

Thrifted:

• Black cotton swingy skirt $7
• Black cardigan with fakey pearl buttons $7
• White plastic pop beads $1
• Fakey pearl  earrings $2
• Beaded white handbag $5
• Sheer beige scarf $1

Not thrifted:

• ModCloth beige fitted shirt with cute bow on the waist $11 (super duper sale, yo!)
• Not Rated leopard platform triple buckle heels $20 (I KNOW) (See the close up below!)

What I would change about this outfit now that I've seen the photo:

• A teensy bit matchy matchy. But other than that, delightful!

Total outfit cost: $54

........and check out these shoes. DANG, YEAH? I could barely walk actually but people did stop me on the street to ask about them. 

I have the crazy best-est of lives

You guys. WHAT THE FUCK. I always have so much to say, but it rarely leaves my brain. Shocking, since most people who see me every day would agree that I rarely shut up. 

I have been off, you know, LIVING. Also, not dieting. But that's another post. OR NOT. We'll just have to see.

I have been awesomingly busy with this challenging and lovely life o' mine. 

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Like, one day I met this plenty amazing woman who is the mother of the artist mentioned in this post. For work. After spending an afternoon talking with her, I can decidedly say that the apple falls close to the tree, just like they say. I say this not only to namedrop (one of my most excellent skills), but also cuz I dressed HARD for her. In this outfit. And she did that thing where you assess someone's whole person and find it right on. I TRY.

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And then there's the JOB. My day job. I am surrounded by really smart, hard-working, and genuinely nice people who have basically allowed me to only do the work at which I am best. Being present in meetings, thinking up fun stuff, entertaining. Etc. But, a lot of it. So my brain and heart are totally swamped.

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I have a new dog. Her name is Jem. Or, as she says, JEMMMMMMYYYYYY! I still miss Cotton too much to bear. And I'm glad I have a bundle of crazy to worm her way into my heart (also my bed, geez). 

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I have become obsessed by a new project. A dollhouse. Which I'm decorating to be a miniature version of my inn. Maybe I will post photos. 

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Next week, one of my favorite online clothing stores is gonna come visit me and my closet with a camera and such. That'll be fun! Also weird.

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Mostly, though, I'm so very grateful to have a life that IS busy and challenges me so damn much every day. 

Put a belt on it!

Get it? Get it? Like Porlandia's "put a bird on it" but with belt. 

Man I love me some belts. Just like I never feel fully dressed without a smile, I also never feel fully dressed without a belt. 

All that to say that while I was certainly fully dressed and smiling here, I was without a belt. That white line you see in the waist area is just skirt piping.
 
Thrifted:

• Charter Club pink/black/white cotton & acrylic cardigan $6
• Black and white cotton full-ish skirt $5
• Frye's! $10
• Black tank top $4
• Plastic pretty floral necklace $14
• Bangles and earrings $2
• Headband $1

Not thrifted: Not one thing!

What I would change about this outfit now that I've seen the photo:

• I'm being a brave little toaster and posting unflattering (not to mention UNCHARACTERISTICALLY BLURRY) photos of myself because this is helpful to me.
• That said, I'd rather not.
• However, I still will. 

Total outfit cost: $42

P.S. I had been doing SOOO SOOO Good staying on plan, but then I went on a work retreat which had perfectly good greens and proteins...buuuuuuuut also some delicious desserts and one piece of fried up chicken. I kinda veered off plan road but did not go entirely onto binge avenue unless you count the airport impulsively bought pretzel m&ms which I only bought because I like salty and sweet but as it turns out these were just bland and sweet and yet - and yet! - I still finished them but I strongly encourage you to resist because those are just not worth it.

Oh how I love the diet honeymoon!

Y'all I've been back hardcore on Medifast for just about five days and I remember why I loved it so.

Turns out, when you go from eating Bad Food to eating 1000 calories a day you lose weight REAL FAST. Five pounds down.

Oh I know it's silly stupid weight and my body will adjust and say "fuck you I'm holding on to my cushion" in about a minute but let's just enjoy it today, okey doke?

And while we're enjoying it I will attempt to answer and comment upon your emailed and posted questions on the riveting subject of Lady Cardigan's Diet The Sequel some of which are my own internal questions and comments btw (as usual I reserve the right to embellish and project and interpret your questions in my own way):

1. Lady Cardigan, why the fuck would you go back on Medifast when you have admitted to gaining weight back (fast-ish) after using it before?

Medifast worked. It was ME that didn't work. While there's certainly a very wise argument to be made for going on a slower and ultimately more sustainable longer-term way of eating, I am just not patient (or smart) enough. I am a five-year-old and need the reward of quick results. Stupid, yes. But my cute clothes fit better faster and that is the important thing.

2. Seriously? Seriously?

Look, I know that the insane diet is insane. There are probably ten or twenty better ways to do this that have legs. Smart, slower, sustainable diets. I'm not doing this because I haven't spent endless hours on diet sites reading about every possible diet until my head nearly exploded. I'm doing this because it's the only thing that ever worked for me.

3. But won't you find yourself in the same boat on day soon...lose the weight, then gain it back, rinse, repeat?
Because! In between sessions, I hope to lose a scosh more, providing more wiggle room. But YES, I will be in the same boat but maybe a different pond. The problem these past few months is that I really didn't transition and (MOSTLY) I succumbed to food I've never ever eaten, really. I don't know why. I'm hoping to learn and avoid. Is this just gonna be my rollercoaster? Maybe! But I'd rather ride it then hang out at the snack shack along side. 

4. You should exercise. DUH.
Yes, I should. I do. Somewhat. I run fercrissakes. But, fact is, exercise firms up my dangly bits but it doesn't lose me any weight. It of course makes you feel great which leads to behaving great. But, I'm not up for it in any organized way. Been there, and etc you know the rest. 

5. You know diets don't work in the long run, right?
No. They don't. I have to be on a diet for the rest of my life. I know that. It makes me blue. But I'll survive.

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I wore a really cute outfit today but didn't take a picture. Mostly cuz I can't shake my blues over losing my sweet sweet girl Cotton. Can't shake 'em. Sorry.