STYLE / IT AIN’T EASY BEING GREEN

Well hello there! Just last week I was looking through old posts from my personal style blog I used to have and I couldn’t help missing the whole thing a little bit. So when I had an opportunity to document my outfit on Saturday, I figured it couldn’t hurt to snap a few photos to possibly post online and talk about the ups and downs of trying to be a good eco shopper.

I originally planned on pulling a few items out of my closet for my friend Jenny’s wedding this summer. I had plenty of dresses in my “to dry clean… eventually” bag and lots of high heels, accumulated through the years. It seemed excessive to go out and buy something new. But then I watched Gidget earlier this summer and my resolve faded… all I wanted to do was wear a dress with a full skirt (and go surfing with Kahuna or Moondoggy). So I searched high and low on etsy, in thrift stores and local vintage shops for something beautiful, well made and in my budget. Unfortunately the one dress I did love was in a vintage shop and though the dress was in great need of a soak and some dry cleaning, the shop owner wouldn’t come down any lower than 120$. It seemed ridiculous to spend that much (plus additional cleaning costs/time) for a friend’s wedding.

I kept searching up until a week before the wedding. I decided that I would in fact just pull a dress out of my closet. Since my dresses were old news, I figured I’d spice things up with a new pair of heels. I knew exactly what style I wanted and Zara seemed to be the only ones (I could find on a short timeline) carrying it in my budget so I ordered the gorgeous red sandals from their site and picked them up at the store 3 days before the wedding.

But… they didn’t look right with ANY of the dresses I owned. Maybe I was just in a picky mood that night. At the end of my patience, I pulled out 2 pieces I had been meaning to put together for weeks. I had purchased a cheap taffeta “petticoat” in case I found a vintage dress. I also already had a very twirly black dress that was no way fancy but I imagined would look great with a little extra volume. So dress + crinoline + skinny belt + sexy red shoes. DONE. Just like that, a simple casual dress was the perfect compliment to some flashy shoes.

Oh except for the fact that as soon as I decided this outfit was perfect, the strap on the back of my right shoe broke right off. Yup. An hour after I picked them up at the store, 3 days before the wedding. I knew that (as Merl worded it) the Eco gods were smiting me. This is what I got for buying cheap (50$), mass produced shoes from a chain mall store, I could not sneak under the radar apparently.

Luckily, I took home ec classes in high school and sewed up my share of jean hems (I’m 5’1, it’s unavoidable) so I sewed the piece back and then got my mom to reinforce both shoes on her sewing machine JUST in case. The shoes survived the wedding and I’ll probably keep them now that they have been reinforced. The lesson in today’s post is you can easily create something new and interesting with what’s in your closet. You don’t need a new outfit for every occasion. And if you piss off the eco gods by buying cheaply made mass produced goods, they will smite you.

Aside from the shoe drama, the rest of this outfit was mostly from my closet and/or thrifted. I think that (kinda) evens out my eco shopping faux-pas. I brought 2 purses with me but ended up taking a clutch I found that morning at the church sale for about a 1$ and I couldn’t resist wearing these clip-ons I found as well.

Black dress – thrifted (5$) and worn here with miz Jentine 2 summers ago
Black leather belt – old (free)
Clip-on earrings – vintage, thrifted that very morning (3$)
Clutch (not pictured) – thrifted vintage (1$)
Shoes – Zara (good chance these will break on you) (50$)
Crinoline – eBay (16$)

Let’s not forget my sharp dressed man.