Hiatus

I wouldn't do this if I didn't have to. I hope that I won't have to step away EVERY time there's a play coming up. But it's crunch-time in the costume shop, and I need to devote this week to finishing up our costumes for Days Without End, and to my studies. I've tried a few times in the past several days to put up a post, and I just plain do not have the time to right now. In exactly one week's time, things will go back to normal, so please give me some patience. Check the sidebar for a wealth of other local and international style-sources.

The Fab Fashion Meetup 2.0! Get ready! (plus pics from the last one)

Family portrait, by David Van Deman

Well, I was still in the midst of some moving madness when the first Indiana Fashionista Meetup Luncheon went down. Now that it's sorted, it's already high time to be planning the next one!

Given that the costume-construction major at VU is a very time-intensive one, plus the fact I have TWO jobs right now, I'm gonna need help pulling off the next one. It's no sweat -- I will put together the brochure/flyer/promotional reading material decided upon, just like I did for the January 10 meetup. I will call for the reservation, unless things get RIDICULOUS. Basically, I'm still doing all the heavy lifting. I just need a pinch-hitter. And you'll get free publicity out of it, if you help out!

I just need basic help, like the MOST IMPORTANT question getting answered: Where should we all meet up? Indianapolis is a bit of a sizable place. I'd like to have a place with better parking than the cafe' in Bloomington, as I got a few complaints on parking. Taking this into consideration, what sounds good? Tentative ideas include Scotty's Brewhouse, Bella Vita, PF Changs (downtown or northside location), or a sushi/hibachi place. It's VERY important that I get your feedback early on, Indiana fashion-freaks!

Now for tentative date. A February meetup is nearly impossible given how busy-as-heck I'm going to be. The last weekend in February may work; I also have spring break starting March 5 and going through that week. I assume a Saturday meetup is preferable. So. February 26, March 5, and March 12 are the dates presently on the table. Please give me feedback here in a comment, on the Circle City Style Facebook page, or via Twitter. I will be putting up an EventBrite page as soon as I have an idea of which of these 3 dates is best.

As a digression, The play I'm doing costumes for, "Days Without End," opens at the Red Skelton Center at VU on February 17, and my attendance is mandatory. SO, if you'd like to see me on that weekend, you know where I'll be. It's a good play, albeit depressing, and we're working some FANTASTIC 1930's period costuming, so you may deem it worth the trip to come see.

I will also need someone to act as co-host/hostess, which basically just means you help by acting as greeter if I end up running late on the drive to Indy. And, your site's address (and logo, if applicable) gets featured on the front of this event's brochure. Not too shabby!

The first Meetup went off better than I could have ever imagined, and I'm way thankful for everyone who made that possible. Hope you can come out to this next one. The best chance for that is to have advance notice and a hand in the final date chosen.

At this time, I'd like to thank all the attendees at the January 10 meeting:

• Julia Rutland, Aesthetic Design Style
• Janelle Cissel, Ruby Leonne
• Jessica Quirk, What I Wore
• Michael Trace, Michael Trace Photography
• Kaitlin Elyse, T. Party Clothing and Fashion Wrap Up
• Crystal Hammond, Dressed Her Days Vintage
• Emily Lytle-Painter, Dressed Her Days Vintage and Indianapolis Museum of Art
• Freelance fashion writer Erica Sagon
• Christy Pastore, Fashion Wrap Up
• Truen James, House of Fifth and Indianapolis Fashion Collective
• Chelsea Kouns, model for Fashion Wrap Up
• Photographer David Van Deman

Christy, Kaitlin, Jessica

Me with Jessica

Julia, Jessica, Erica

Kaitlin and Christy

An artsy shot of Truen

Janelle

Emily and David. Um, Emily, you're posing the wrong way :p

Table-shot by the very talented David Van Deman

Further writeups at: Ruby Leonne, The IMA official blog, DHD Vintage, and Aesthetic Design Style.

You are all so beautiful! Here's hoping for a bigger, better next Meetup!

Inspirational Videos: Sass 'n Brass

One of my goals in life is to be more like Debbie Novotny from Queer As Folk. Well, only better-dressed. She isn't a fabulous dresser, but she is so wonderful to behold, because she's so hilarious, sassy, and full of love and kindness. I love this character beyond all reason. And this is why I count her among my style-inspirations. It's all about the attitude, baby. Just look at that sparkle and wink.

(NSFW language warning)

Top-hatted

Ketzer: Wax on, wax off. Wax on, wax off.

Ariel: Dude, knock it off *facepalm*

Ketzer: Hrmph. Fine then, no more old jokes. Let's go stand outside and look much more menacing than we actually are.

Ariel: Deal!

Notes In Purple

Brianna is in a few classes with me at VU, including costume construction and history of costume. She seemed genuinely SHOCKED when I asked to get some pictures of her outfit. Probably just because the ways the two of us dress are drastically different. But, just because I don't wear it doesn't mean I don't appreciate it. I loved her mixing of the tough, military feel of the jacket with the softer textures of her hat and scarf. The layering of socks is an inventive way to combat the cold of a Midwestern January day. Creative layering? Mixing of harmonious patterns, color tones, and varying textures? Yes, please!

A few quick notes: Sorry for slacking for a couple of days. I'm doing better at this whole consistency thing (See my past blogs if you need a reference point), but I'm not perfect yet. I presume that will come with time.

Also, CCS has leaned to the goth side a bit much lately. I find myself homesick for my goth friends in Indianapolis. (And I get to see them tonight, whee!) But variety is the spice of life, and I remain committed to reflecting that here, through celebrations of a wide spectrum of individual styles in Indianapolis and the surrounding areas.

Scarf-tacular!

I recently learned a new way to tie a scarf, courtesy of Jessica at What I Wore. Her handy video has FOUR ways to tie a scarf, it's perfectly adorable just like her, and you can find it here.

My old standbys are option # 1 in Jessica's video, just wrapping the scarf a time or two and letting it hang, or tying the scarf ascot-style. I was intrigued, though, by the way I'd seen Jessica tie her scarves in a few photos. I may or may *not* have inspired her instructional video with a recent blog comment. We may never know. But trying new things is always a fantastic prospect, and her European-chic scarf tie (option 4!) just might be my new fave.

Still not enough scarfy action for ya? Here's 37 more ways to tie the things.

Enjoy!

What a NICE writeup on the IMA blog!

Emily from the Indianapolis Museum of Art  has done a nice little writeup on the growing Indiana fashion scene, and its respective stylists, bloggers, and such. She made it out to the first Indiana Fashionista Meetup, and Circle City Style TOTALLY gets a mention in this story. Check it out for nearby fashion resources and community members you might not have known before!

Viva Indianapolis Fashion!

Birthday shenanigans

OK, I try to avoid blatant vanity shots, but this outfit was just too good. The idea was to mix up contemporary goth with dolly kei. Today's my birthday (26, if you're keeping track), so why not mix two of my favorite things? We got a little silly. Well, you'll see that in a sec.

The dress is from Target. It's my favorite kind of LBD, because it's just so customizable! I don't remember where I got the tights. I've had them forever. I wore the dress over a thrifted black henley T, because it was FREEZING on this day! The gloves are thrifted, the armwarmers are so old I don't remember where I got them, the hat is from Hot Topic (Yeah, I know, shush), and we'll get to the necklaces in a little bit. And surely you recognize the Betsey Johnson belt.

Continuing with a mighty she-woman roar!

Closer up to show off the gloves.

And the necklaces! I love these. I made the tassel-bottle necklace. I thrifted this random bottle of flower seeds, and I bought one UGLY table runner to get the tassel. Good thing it was only two dollars. There's a little blue cross, a bit obscured by the tassel, that came from a necklace I got in, like, 7th grade.

The key is something I fell in love with at Cactus Flower in Bloomington.

I wore the hat backwards. The veil in front just seemed like a little much, and I LOVE the asymmetrical, swooping line created by the feathers.

Yeah, yeah, gothy-wothy, soul of doomy darkness, blah blah blah.

Finis!

Quickie: Elegy

Courtesy of http://indydarkbeat.com/

I'm excited about this, because usually goth/industrial events in Indianapolis are 21 and up. Rejoice, my dear younguns! Now you get to join in on the fun!

Cover is only $3, plus a $1 membership fee if you've never been to the Dojo before. Xitng the Systm ALONE is worth twice that. I'm going to make an appearance, and then I might head to the Melody for Neon Love Life.

Inspirational Videos: Hip-hop fierce

Showing impeccable style isn't just about what you wear. Just as important is your attitude. In honor of this fact, I've decided to post videos now and then of real-life people and fictional characters who embody attitudes that convey true style.

The first one is one of my favorites. The Beat Freaks performing to Webby's "Independent," in a style paying homage to Rosie the Riveter. We CAN do it!

Raven is a force of nature.

I took these pictures of Raven on registration day at Vincennes University. She's fast becoming my favorite person on campus. I could probably just start a whole new blog along the lines of "What Awesome Kid Wore Today."

And yes, she's a kid to me. I consider anyone born post-1990 to be a kid.

Anyway, she's freakin' awesome. It was the purple pants that really did it for me. Well, and the blue hair. Animal ears on humans tend to irritate me if they're not worn for Halloween, a LARP-ing session, or during a convention. But they work on her. And she knows it. It's all about owning your originality and what works on your body around here.

And the jacket... well, I'll just let it speak for itself.

Now for the difficulty level: Finding places to hang out with her and her friends, that they are actually old enough to get into! Ah, being an old geezer among a herd of under-21 folks...

The 2011 Celebration!

So, I've been playing catch-up a bit since the move. The outfall of that is, I didn't actually get this happy little New Year's photoset together until... erm... halfway into January. *blush* I had to post it anyway, because it was just the best New Year's celebration in a long time. Hope was palpable in the air again, for the first time in a long time. 2010 was NOT a fabulous year for a lot of people, and neither was 2009. But for some reason, it seemed like everyone in the room, no matter what the party I showed up at, felt like we've finally turned the corner, and that 2011 is going to ROCK.

So, go ahead and re-enjoy the festivities in the collage below. As always, clickety to embiggety. (And yes, that IS a guy in a leopard loincloth. Best not to ask.)

Happy New Year from Circle City Style!

Dolly Kei dress-up

I got a dress form! Courtesy of Indy Nikon Gal, I now have a new addition to my little family. Her name is Louise. We decided to take a little foray into dolly kei territory.

Monochrome done right

Meet Leah Kettering!

Leah did all the makeup work for my brother's wedding. Her own wardrobe choice was so eye-catching, I just had to click a few pics. I was proud of how she took a silver-sequin dress that was WAY too bling for an afternoon wedding, and brought it back down to a calm place on earth with a languidly-draped long cardigan and slouchy leather ankle-boots.

Check out the wedding video for more examples of her great makeup work. She is also a proud Arbonne representative. Check out her page for high-quality health and beauty products.

Quickie: A little link-love

It seems that Already Pretty and I are on the same page. You remember my post from December on fashionable, functional winter boots?

If you want more options, she's got more here.

Enjoy, my little snow-women! And do tread carefully. The snow's purty, but it can really be a pain in the tush if you fall over.

Dark Denizens 3: Hail, the gang's all here!

Me, Christina, Amanda, Andrea, and Scott.

Amanda and Christina

DJ Micro Machine

To The Fairest

This is Megan. She is so intimidatingly pretty, it took me months to even say hello to her. We have hung out at Revenge and other goth-type gatherings in the Indianapolis area for pretty much the whole time I've lived there. Yeah, I'm a wimp. But she's just got this older-than-her-years stare that goes right through you. And her hair is perfect. And she's built like a model, and she always dresses impeccably. I finally mustered the guts to say hi and ask for some pictures. She's nice as can be! Now, I feel a little silly for waiting so long.

She got the dress at Forever 21. Also, Tru is either very dusty or haunted, because I ALWAYS get orbs when I shoot there. It's ridiculous. Yeah, I'm leaning toward dusty. Stupid dust-orbs and their clamoring to get onto my blog!

Purse = the BOMB.

 Here she is a few weeks ago, with DJ Jin-XS. Why this woman is not a famous alt model, I will never know.

Dark Denizens part 2: Jo

Photos taken at Revenge, Thursday, Dec. 30, 2010

Long live:

• Pink and black
• Furry boots
• Intricate makeup
• Dance

Inspirational Videos

Happy 2011, everyone! I'm working on a little recap photo-collage of the fun parties and sweet ensembles from bringing the new year in, but while that's in progress, I took a break to watch some videos. I just love La Roux, don't you? She's channeling Bowie so hard in "Bulletproof." And in Quicksand, she's about as femme as I've ever seen her. This may come as a shock since I tend to dress so classic and girly (albeit with a gothic twist), but I do love me some gender-bending fashion.



Tell me you don't pine for the shiny black chain-embellished jacket. I won't believe you.

Next up, Quicksand. Tell me it doesn't make you want to stock up on animal prints and flowy, silky scarves.



What videos have inspired you in the past year?