RosiePop

Won on eBay: little black number

Well it had to be done didn't it? A lovely humid July day and already I am imagining myself in prudish yet provocative swathes of black lace as in Prada a/w 2008.

Anyway - to cut a long story short, I won this Vivienne Westwood dress on eBay. Not so enamoured about the 'hey, hey look at my chest' hole on the front, but, turn the dress around and it continues right up to the neck and fastens with two little buttons. The lace is perfect. And soft. Oh yay. Now to find something to layer underneath. (No I am NOT flashing my pants - the look is about a mere breath of suggestion wrapped up in a fusion of sensuous lace and coverall modesty. Not 'ho'.)

Thought: culture & carrots

Carrots aren't all orange, although orange ones are the variety sold to us in the shops. The orange colour was bred into carrots by Dutch growers in the 16th century by crossing pale yellow with red varieties. This was to eliminate the bitter taste. The orange carrot was then adopted by the House of Orange in Holland as their royal vegetable. This is where our modern varieties originated from. Before this, it was thought that most varieties were purple.

Purple, red, yellow, white and round varieties can be purchased (as seeds) from the Organic Gardening Catalogue.

I suppose this is a fleeting thought about conformity. And orange. I've seen a purple carrot - they are a little unnerving. Is that what we do to people if we stand out? Unnerve them? And is that a bad thing?

I tried to be deliberately unconventional as a teenager. But now? Yes, I still feel the same in a way, but with more maturity. How I act, what I wear, who I spend time with are all carefully considered decisions, and I want to go against the tide because often I don't like the direction in which the tide is going.

And what of orange? Will my son have ginger hair? Will he mind? Personally, I think it is the most beautiful of hair colours, but for some reason ginger hair seems to cause people to react. 

The gene for red hair was discovered in 1995 but little was made of it. Fair enough, seeing as hair dye allows us to change our hair colour on a whim. There was a case on our local news about a ginger haired girl dying her hair blonde to escape ridicule at primary school. When I was 16, if you wanted to be 'alternative' you dyed your hair red. 

And that thought came from little A's carrot print sheet with purple and orange carrots...funny how the mind works...

Where O where: are all the eggs?

Dear Hen,

Sweetie, Feathered One, where are you laying your eggs? I very kindly let you free range, and it's fun an' all that you change your egg laying location weekly - but this one has escaped me. As much as I love shlepping round the garden thru nettles and trees in a crouching position, couldn't you just put me out of my misery?

Love,

Eggless Wonder x

Prospective urban chicken owners - buy your Eglu and learn the art of hen from www.omlet.co.uk.

Style diary: nasty print?

I have been known to be dressed in swathes of black, grey and subtle, muted colours much of the time. Print has been a rarity. Not one to be pigoenholed this is a challenge to self.

It was with this thought, and a hot Sunday that I found this vintage print dress tucked away in the 'dressing up' section of my wardrobe.

Said dress has only seen the light of day (well, night actually) at a themed club night and a colours party where I dressed head to toe in pink. It is quite vile when you look at it too long. But I like it...

Hm - I was going to buy some white tights recently. Needn't bother had I?

Style diary: trying too hard to be seen in green

I loved Disneyrollergirl's challenge to the fashionable yet 'effortless' dresser - 'Trying too hard - is it so wrong?'. What is wrong with Victoria Beckham's matching outfits? Why shouldn't we have fun with our style over the age of thirty five? Let's dress wild even though our purses are getting conservative. Head to toe colour everyone! (Very disappointed you can't see my bright green eyeshadow in the pic.)

So, I know it's a little late, but I am all for trying too hard, and will post several outfits thus. Has anyone else taken this on other than Susie Bubble?

Greeeeen, greeeeen and aquamarine - yaaaaay!!!!!

Worrying how normal I think this looks...must try HARDER!

(Sorry about the picture quality.)

AA swimsuit (as hat), husbs striped athletic vest from the 80's, AA green dress, green tights, Viktor & Rolf blue boots

 

Geek: Typepad app. for iPhone

Is even easier to use than my last iPhone attempt. None of the fiddling around emailing passwords to yourself to post pictures (what was that about?). You have a 'take photo' option and a 'use photo' option.

In my case, I am lying in bed, so here is the view (always intriguing): ceiling fan (rotating-it's v. warm), very ancient duvet cover, Ikea lamp clipped to chunky four poster bed, dried rose in a frame (sentimental ole thing that I am).

Maybe this will start a new post trend: 'View from my bed'. I could tag 5 people...these tags things...they start somewhere, right?

Thought: experimentation

In public? Is that a good idea?

I constantly question why I do what I do. Not just here on my blog, but in every area of my life. I'm not really apologising for my lack of posts, but in the last week I have started three different posts on different days, and for one reason or another they just haven't happened. Two were camera failure (too blurry, too dark, too late to do anything about it), and one was security failure - as in insecurity (as in oh gosh I look terrible). Like a true artist I hastily deleted said photos and then huffed up the stairs wondering why I have no time (er, hello mother of two). Nothing like ripping up your painting because you don't like that splodge there...

All was not helped by the appearance of a soon-to-be-released book :

Rather than repeating what has already eloquently been said about this book and the debate which followed: it started here with Tricia at Bits and Bobbins and continued here at Style Bubble.

The book (particularly the subtitle Online Fashion Narcissism) has prompted pretty hot discussion about why people post style images of themselves on the internet. It made me think once again about why this blog exists, and why I do the same. I view my blog as an online scrapbook of evolving ideas which involve personal style experimentation.

Two of this weeks non-posts were "Trying too hard" and "Nasty print?" , which I will try again to do. All include an element of imperfection, and, in places self ridicule. Yes, I appreciate positive comments, but this is my test tube and a few bad experiments will happen. Like a proper scientist, I will endeavour to record my failures too.

See - an artist AND a scientist. No wonder I spent fifteen years deciding what to do...

Still not there actually...

Not sure I'm making sense, I am so tired I am almost hallucinating.

Where to buy: black rats

Sass and Bide's Black Rats leggings weren't really ever intended for sale. However, due to popular demand, they are now. I know, I know - they'll be everywhere...but just look at their satiny/sheeny/wrinkly loveliness...

Available to buy from the Sass and Bide online shop or from mycatwalk.com.au.

Thought: my wedding dress is burning a hole in my wardrobe

It sits in its grey acid free box wrapped in black acid free tissue paper and takes up vast amounts of room. I'm not good at hanging onto things that I don't use or intend to use in the future. It makes me all twitchy. And a wedding dress is not one of those items you can really use again. The thought of my children anguishing over what to do with its yellowy self in fifty years time or just bunging it on the bonfire, pains me greatly.

Of course I could join the recent trend in the US as started by John Michael Cooper of 'dress trashing' and get a professional photographer to take a picture. I sat looking at his photos for ages - if you're getting married, use him!

Here is an example from UK photographer Galina Walls - more destruction can be found on the Trash the Dress Europe site.

What I'd really love to do is get someone like Mistress of reconstruction, Postdecadent to spin her creative genius. Here is a dress she made from four uniform shirts:

How about it, lady?

There's another picture of my wedding dress here.

Style diary: boo, grrr - but hurray for spandex

I've had one of those days when you realise life can be completely crap for some people at the same time as  being lovely for other people and it's just not fair. I am left feeling rather emotionally drained and kind of prickly. Not pretty but I like not pretty.

Here I am wearing my trusty spandex trousers (from when I was 15), with my favourite velvet puff sleeve jacket and Balenciaga boots. These clothes could tell a story or two...

I default to my rock-chick roots when feeling sullen. If I could slam my bedroom door now, I would. Oh just go away and leave me alone.

*SLAM*