Oh, hey! What's shakin'? :D I know this is Fourth of July week, but I decided to end with something edgy and sophisticated rather than do a play on our national colors. Plus, I kind of did that already, though inadvertently, in June. Haha. So, I struggled quite a bit with this outfit, if you can believe it. I wanted to make this elegant dress look rough, but I couldn't figure out how to execute that vision.
I actually lost sleep over it. Haha. Sometimes I take this kind of thing very seriously. I added my trusty fringe bag and buckled ankle boots to the mix and things started to look pretty good. However, I still felt like I was missing something critical. I thought, well, maybe I could wear a leather jacket, but it was a bit too hot and humid for that. Then, I thought about doing something crazy with my hair, but I felt lazy like woah and I didn't want to make any children cry into their food since I had planned to wear this outfit to brunch. Finally, I remembered my thrifted shark bite cardigan and everything fell into place.
It's light weight, semi-sheer and the flyaway stripes of fabric on both sides added just the right amount of drama (as you will see below). I've worn it on my blog, already. Click here to see a different way to wear it. The genius of the cardigan is that it is open in the front, short in the back and long on the sides, so I can make it look like just about anything. Here, I opted for a makeshift asymmetrical capelet. I took the right side and draped it over my left shoulder. Then I took the piece that was hanging on the left side and brought it up over my back behind my neck (almost like a toga) and tucked it into my collar.
You can see better views of the cardigan in these two photos and you'll notice that I braided my hair, again. It was so hard for me to avoid wearing my black fedora. You have no idea. Haha. I'm so lazy. >_<
The retro flip sunglasses were a cherry on top. I always feel like such a bad ass when I wear them. Haha. I actually ended up breaking them. though. >_< I pressed on the lens to clean it and the hinge snapped. I was (and am) totally heart broken. They're still wearable, as you can see, but they just won't stay flipped up due to the broken hinge. I've been meaning to buy a new pair, but I just haven't gotten around to it, yet. Anyway, as you can see, the cardigan really allowed me to extract more emotion from the outfit. When I got to my destination, I just removed my sunglasses and cardigan to reveal a rather elegant ensemble. Then, I simply put everything back on when I left and went back to my edgy self. :D
The colors of this sleeveless maxi dress are absolutely stunning. The design reminds me of fine china (hence the title of today's post). It's so comfortable, flowy and easy to wear. I've actually worn it several times already, though this is my first time showing it on my blog. It's perfect for days when I just want to throw something on, but still look well put together. I love how the collar necklace looks with it, too! ^_^
The dress is lined from the bodice down to about mid-thigh. After that it is semi-sheer, though the entire dress basically consists of a giant translucent overlay. This design creates beautiful color variations. <3
Oh and I don't know if you noticed, but I'm wearing a minimalist outfit, again. *^_^* I'd like to think that I'm finally starting to get the hang of this less-is-more thing. I learned a lot from that style challenge!
Have a wonderful weekend! I'm looking forward to stuffing my face with grilled foods, drinking a lot, staring off into space until my food coma subsides, having a lot of dessert and then wasting the day playing retro video games which will likely be interrupted by my cat trying to sleep on my keyboard.
Thrifted - ModCloth Maxi Dress (Swap Group), ModCloth Black Boots
(Gift), ModCloth Collar Necklace (Sale) & Black Asymmetric Cardigan
Chicnova - Black Fringe Bag w/ Gold Braided Handles
zeroUV - Retro Steampunk Flip Sunglasses
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