Lately, with the weather being as
cold as it is my personal style blog has been giving me major feelings of, “Meh.” Basically, when the temperature outside has
dropped well below zero it’s hard enough for me to crawl out from under the
denim patchwork quilt on my bed, let alone try to put together an ensemble that
is both cute and can keep me alive in the elements. I’ve been thinking since it’s so darn cozy,
maybe there’s a way for me to convert my beloved bedtime blankie into a poncho
type garment. I can easily make the argument that this lady
loves her patchwork and denim. Also,
what greater way to make one feel secure during these rather troublesome
bleak months? To heck with women wearing
their pajama pants in public! Just cut a
head sized hole in your favorite comforter and add a stylish concho belt to
give your silhouette a little shape. Ta-Da! All of a sudden my handmade patchwork quilt
has that Southwestern boho vibe that people, (including myself), go crazy
for. Seriously though, I’m pretty sure I
could pitch this particular garment to Free People and sell it for a mint. Of course, now it’s beginning to occur to me
that this idea is just a glorified version of the, “Snuggie.” However, I added a belt and was starting to
consider fringing the ends so…
“Sigh,” my initial point of this blog post
was simply to state , “It’s freakin’ cold outside and I’m having a very hard
time remaining enthused about my wardrobe when all I want to do is wear a
hoodie, jeans, Ugg boots, and a parka every day.” This being stated I’ve been trying to, “up my
game,” as much as possible. Instead of
the standard puffy parka I’ve been wearing more of my vintage coats, taken from the
obscene collection I’ve hoarded over the years.
I’ve always justified buying such a large quantity of outerwear by the fact
that I live in an area of the country that has the ability to produce snow
seven months out of the year. Seven
months allows a lot of time for, “costume changes.” Unfortunately, I’ve found the most stunning
coats to be the least effective in the elements. I liken this concept to the flowers one might
find in their garden. Like the beautiful
Datura, one may adore the gorgeous blooms this plant produces but don’t count
on eating it in a pinch unless you want to risk being fatally poisoned. Likewise, don’t take a long car trip to
Fargo, ND in the month of January wearing only your fetching vintage tweed
coat. Make sure your big ugly parka or
makeshift denim, patchwork poncho is somewhere in the backseat.
Upon first inspecting these photographs, I
was disheartened at my lack of overall, “style.” I felt dread at the idea that January would
be a month full of pictures of me wearing the typical coat, scarf, and Ugg boot
uniform. I already long for the days
when I can walk more than five steps from my backdoor to take pictures without
potentially getting frostbite. Seriously
though, I could never fess up to permanently damaging the nerve endings in my
fingertips just because I was attempting to get some good, "glamour," shots for the
week. As a result, the photographs I did
end up getting for this particular blog post mustered up some serious feelings inadequacy. This combined with the idea that one should
not try to pass off your basic coat, scarf, and Uggs as a fashion blog look, (And
how many times have I actually done this?...probably, every), made this blogger
feel not only inadequate, but a tad red in the face. All I could think of was, “You dog! Trying to pass yourself off as an expert in
fashion. There’s nothing original or
creative about this look…Ok, now wait, I do like the red coat.” Hence, the title of this post was born, “Clifford
The Big Red Blog.” I know, clear as mud,
right?
Anyway, I’m fairly certain this whole line of
thought can simply be chalked up to winter blues. I’d like to point out I’m combating this as
much as possible by not only wearing red, but also continuing to brave the
frigid temperatures outside in order to take my blog pictures!...even if they’re
crappy. I’m glad I did too, because just
when I was about to call it a day on this failure of a photo shoot I snapped the
last image of this post. I have to
state, I think it’s one of my favorite pictures I’ve ever taken of myself. Due to this single self portrait my mind all of the sudden
transformed this coat, scarf, Ugg fiasco into an adorable vintage ensemble I
would be proud to plaster all over the internet. Simply because of this one image, I was able
to beat down my insecurities and confirm, “Boy howdy, can I style an outfit!” I guess a picture is worth a thousand words,
even if they’re really outdated ones.
-r.
Coat: Vintage
Jeans: Guess
Boots: Ugg
Purse: Matt
& Nat
Scarf: The
Limited
Gloves: Vintage
Sunglasses:
Gift from
Al (Versace)
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