The Clothes Off My Back: Holiday Edition

Good morning!

Well, we made it folks! Christmas? DONE. New Year's? DONE. And yet there were still a few Christmas glad tidings peeking around the corner from 2012! Yesterday, Chad McClarnon (of McClarnon.com and, in concert with his wife, Trista, party-thrower par excellence) posted photos from the "McClarnon Midwinter Manifestation of Merriment & Mirth 2012", which took place last weekend. I was clinging to life the next day from an overindulgence in the lethally alcohol-laced Artillery Punch (simply put, I was a "bombing" victim), but somehow, through the fog, Chad is such a brilliant photographer that instead of looking like Phyllis Diller in the snaps taken in his self-manned photo booth, Matthew and I actually look pretty good, if I do say so myself! 

The shining bird's nest atop my head is my very best beehive-- what do you think? I took my hair in two pigtails to either side of my head, carefully wrapped them around two hair rats, and sprayed and pinned and sprayed and pinned until it smoothed out enough to look like something. Then I pinned a star-shaped brooch to one side and the whole thing came tumbling down from the weight, and I started over. AGAIN. Twice the hive was built, and twice it fell, but the third one somehow managed to stay atop my head. I've started using some of those old fashioned, long, viciously sharp tipped u-shaped pins (some came in a vanity set I bought a dog's age ago, and I've finally figured out the trick to securing them in one's hair!) and I think they lend to the structural integrity overall.

Also, regarding outfits, that is a whole lotta dress. The invitation suggested "holiday finery", so I pulled this frothy gold concoction out of the attic (I actually have one box labelled "BIG DRESSES", meaning impact more than size, and this is one of the choicest of that box's contents). It was hanging on a shower rail at an estate sale seven plus years ago in a dry cleaning bag, and was definitely less than $10 (though its real worth is its weight in rubies!). Despite then and now presenting itself as the answer to my honky tonk angel prayers, it really begs a BIG occasion to be worn. This was it! Matthew and I have both lost some serious inches in our initial foray into vegetarian/veganism/not eating 39 steaks a day, so both his Adam Ant pants from October and my own slim waisted dresses are fitting with far less effort than before.

This one might be my favorite, though I wish I'd held the handbag so that you could see the front of it-- it's a faux Enid Collins I gifted myself last weekend, and boy, if it isn't a pip! I'll have to snap a picture to show you soon. The compact (which, if you look closely, you can see is actually falling apart) is a Niagara Falls souvenir from the forties'-- swank! I am shamelessly impressed with myself.

Last but not least, here's a bonus photo of me and the half beehive from a wedding Matthew and I went to last Friday night. It was at Belmont Mansion, and was it bee-yoo-tiful? You'd better believe it! Congrats, Emily and Orion! This dress is a) tiny (I couldn't get it to zip when I bought it at the same sale with the gold and black sequin dresses, but meatlessness has whittled me down to a mere shadow of myself!) and b) an even more beautiful aquamarine in real life, owing to the fact that the chiffon overlay is a bright blue, and the rayon lining is a dark blue, making the whole thing look a little like the depths of an aquarium. I love it! I want to wear it every day of my life!

Did you break out any particularly gorgeous, struttin' clothes for the holidays? What of your wardrobe just screams "special occasion" to you? Have you made any resolutions for the new year yet? Let's talk!

Have a great second day of 2013, and I'll see you tomorrow!