80's Vibe

 Maybe you saw this in my Instagram:

It was a "Lost 80's Live" night at the Greek Theater, Severo's debut on that venue's stage as bassist for The Romantics. He kindly got me a ticket, as the comped guest ticket situation was, um, messed up.

As Dez says, "Are these my seats?"

There were 13 bands on the bill, to perform in a 3-hour window, with set changes for every band.
Doing "concert math", that equals 1-2 songs for most bands. The Romantics played two hits: Talking in Your Sleep and What I Like About You. Severo did great! There's a video (not mine) at the end of this.

But how about my outfit?

Let's start with the black and white things:

Fluevog Checkerboard dress, my art,  Redbubble
available!

Checkerboard leggings, $2.99, Telco discount shop in Brooklyn

Striped socks, I think these were part of a Uniqlo sock bundle. Nope.

Zebra print Dansko clogs, Poshmark, 2017

And, to top it off, the Ungaro silk harlequin shirt:

Fabulous $6 find at the Santa Monica Antiques Market, 2018
Read more about it

Let's rock:

Linking with
Shelbee's Spread the Kindness
Rena's Fine-Whatever

Black and White and Scrappy Squares

My posts are all about the Scrappy Squares these days, aren't they?
Can't be helped, they're top of mind, as I do all the prep for the 50|50 group show they'll be in.
Here's my "Title" page:

click to embiggen

I did do one totally black and white Scrappy, the "Leo" 

Instead, I want to highlight the "Stephanie", for which I destroyed two skirts:

"Stephanie" was named for a certain person who wants a certain fabric used herein.
Stephanie is on socials and keeps her ID on the downlow, hence no link. 

One of the skirts, before destruction:

It's fraternal twin, in a more deconstructed state:

sometimes, in the frenzy of creation, I forget to take the "before" shots

So, what's the back story on these skirts?

I got them both at a place in Venice called DBA (that resold designer discards like Ross, but not a chain), sometime when I was already working at "The Panty Factory" (my nickname for the day job, designing prints for underwear and loungewear). Maybe 2006? The floral caught my eye as a potential panty print, the dot, well, polkadots! They were only $12, and a nice 100% cotton percale.

When I stopped wearing most of my skirts (too many cupcakes), I put the dot skirt up for sale on Poshmark. The floral never got posted, not sure why.

And then the Scrappy Squares got hungry for fresh textiles, and, riiiiiiiiip went the skirts.
As I said in the previous post, everything is fair game in Scrappy Square creation!

Linking with
Shelbee's On the Edge
Rena's Fine-Whatever

Checking In!

Hello strangers! I've been active on Instagram, silent here.
Last year around this time, I wrote about the Instagram/Facebook Color of the Day Challenge (aka #COTDstyle).

Here is my favorite combo from the past week, the challenge was Black/White.

Linking with Patti's Visible Monday
Catherine's #iwillwearwhatilike

Almost All Black and White

This is what I didn't wear on Saturday:

Here are the bracelets that I photographed and also didn't wear:

Technically, the studded item is an old belt from the 80s that no longer fits around my waist.

This part DID make it beyond the patio to Otis for my Digital Design class then to Whittier to see Dave and Phil Alvin:

Starring the new-to-me zebra clogs! I love them! They are so VISIBLE!

The meeting of the dot socks and the checkered leggings was a bit unresolved. Which to layer on top?
In this photo, that I took during break at Otis, it looks like I popped my ankle and it became swollen:

No injury, just extra fabric in a wad.

About the wardrobe change: all the black and white elements remained on my person. I realized the Todd Oldham mosaic jacket wouldn't keep me warm enough after sundown, so I donned something warmer. Then, just as I was getting in the car for school, while removing my heavier jacket, I realized that there was a large highly visible expanse of my torso that I wasn't feeling like sharing with my students. Back inside I went, finding the perfect torso camo: the Duro Olowu top that Jan gave me four years ago. Ahhhh. Outfit zen achieved.
Today's reenactment of outfit:

Umbrella and goofy hat added for current weather conditions.

Linking up with Patti's Visible Monday, Catherine's #iwillwearwhatilike, Shelbee's On the Edge of the Week

52 Pick-me-up: Black & White / Destiny

••• 

What's in the cards for me as I turn 60? 

My year, according to the Destiny Cards app
Seems accurate, so far. 

I wore this Black & White ensemble on May 15, for International Fluevog Day,
John Fluevog's self-proclaimed day to celebrate his oeuvre.

Starring Fluevog Creepx that I got on deep sale in San Francisco.
Linking up with Patti's Visible Monday.

As part of the celebration, all the Fluevog stores had sales and special giveaways.
I ventured over to the Abbot Kinney branch in Venice. 
What a party!

Shoe frenzy!

Shiny! The Sparkler, released 2016
(All links are for your shopping pleasure, not affiliate).

Red Liz on left, can anyone ID the pale pink ones?

Meteor on left, Black Opposition in middle

Men's Granville

No shoes for man's best friend. Sad face.

I got into the fun and tried on dotty Propel

Lots of fab shoes, all beyond my budget.

Back home, I DID manage to get a pack of Fluevog playing cards online. With the Day's free shipping, I avoided the $8 shipping usually slapped onto $10 cards. 52 Pick-me-up, indeed!
...

But then on Friday my luck turned.
I was all set to photograph a Royal Flush with the Heart suit, but much to my dismay, the Queen and Jack were missing!

Oh noooooo!

I immediately did a live chat with Fluevog's online customer service.
Megan from Minneapolis was ever so helpful and a replacement deck is making it's way home.
Whew! Crisis averted!
Megan told me to use my partial deck for "craft projects".
I have the perfect idea and it involves the December 40+ Blogger Meetup. In the cards, my friends, in the cards.

Will it be my Destiny to see you in December?
Black & White / Destiny -- Link and tell!

Crazy Quilt -- Homespun African Print

I traced the sewing pattern for this off of Hester's Nepali top.
I still have both the pattern AND my top! 

I have no clue why this item never got purged, I'm happy that I still have it.
Concord Fabrics designed and manufactured the yardage,
the print is clearly inspired by Korhogo cloth from the Ivory Coast:

Korhogo cloth [source]

Insane handmade button loops -- looks like I rebraided the string.
The buttons are olive wood beads that I also used in macrame projects back in the day

This top is now in the repurpose pile. The print is too great to languish in the closet.

Speaking of snakes,
KUNG HEI FAT CHOY! ~ HAPPY NEW YEAR!
The Year of the Snake starts tomorrow!
"2013 is the year of the black Snake begins on February 10th shortly after the New moon in Aquarius, the humanitarian of the zodiac. This 2013 year of Snake is meant for steady progress and attention to detail. Focus and discipline will be necessary for you to achieve what you set out to create. The Snake is the sixth sign of the Chinese Zodiac, which consists of 12 Animal Signs. It is the enigmatic, intuitive, introspective, refined and collected of the Animals Signs. Ancient Chinese wisdom says a Snake in the house is a good omen because it means that your family will not starve." [source: Hanban.com -- click for further info]

Fashion Challenge: Tribal Floral #OOTD

"Tribal" is a vague insensitive catch-all adjective that the fashion industry is using for this season's ethnic inspired prints. When I hear "tribal", what first comes to mind to me are black and white/off-white geometrics. Which lead me this morning to to my shopping cart full of treasure gleaned last Friday from Larry's trove of archives.

He had about ten garbage bags that we sorted through. It was exhausting!
[I'll tell you more about that later.]

Alas, the tribal shift was too small.

But, I found this in the cart too!
A Polynisian print muumuu!
Polynesian = "tribal" in my book PLUS it's floral.
Score two points in today's Fashion Challenge.

Ummmm, ready for the luau...

Better!
I chopped off the top and turned it into a skirt.
And look, yesterday's plaid shirt has returned!

It's a mock ikat, which also qualifies as "tribal"