FASHION HAUL: September and October - Accessories

September and October passed by quickly, with lot of fun activities, experiences, and adventures. I sold a lot of Medusa hair snakes for a lot of Medusa Halloween costumes. I went a little nuts shopping. I don't go shopping very often, but September and October are my busy Etsy months. Etsy sales gives me extra spending money, as I'm lucky enough for my husband to pay our expenses while I take care of other things. I've wanted to do what is called a "haul" for several months. For me a haul is basically showing you all the fashion items that I've purchased each month. This is my 1st one and will probably be the largest. This one has a large variety of things...shoes, cardigans, a vest, dresses, skirts, jewelry, stockings, leggings, and a bag, that I bought in September and October (possibly a few things from August too). If I buy makeup, I'll do a separate "Beauty Haul" for that. My style is gothic, bohemian, vintage, and pin-up influenced. I am also in a futuristic/Steampunk styled band called League of Space Pirates, so some things I buy are for that aesthetic too. I do pay attention to some trends, but more for chances that they'll have something that fits into my existing style. That makes it easier to buy new pieces and easily incorporate them into my existing wardrobe. My style does evolve, but it's been mainly those three styles for many years. Ok, on to the massive amount of fashion things I've bought over the past 2 months. Because I did a massive amount of shopping, I'm splitting this up into two posts...accessories today, and clothing tomorrow.

SHOES

I bought these spiked and rhinestone wedges from Rue 21. The embellishments are sewn on to the faux suede fabric. I love wedges because they are easier to walk in and more comfortable than stiletto heels. I love the peep toes too. I normally have my toe nails painted, so this shows off my nice pedicure. Also, peep toes make me remember to freshen my pedicure. I paint my own nails, and have so for most of my life. I'm an artist by heart, so my toe nails are just another thing to paint. Granted, they are normally a solid color or glittered, vs having some incredible or even basic nail art. I love how these shoes have a combo of a classic vintage style and are toughened up with the trendy spikes and rhinestones. 


I wanted some nice flat shoes that were vintage inspired. I don't recall where/when I started noticing that flat oxfords for women were being made in many different colors and styles. However, when I saw these black and white oxfords, they immediately reminded me of the saddle shoes I wore as a child. I had very narrow feet and saddle shoes were one of the few types of shoes I could wear. Since then, my feet are a normal width, which is great...and I have a lot of shoes now. These oxfords are faux leather. I bought them on Ebay from ShoeCafe24. They come in other color combos too, but I loved the classic black and white, which fits into my existing wardrobe well.


I've been in love with the Jeffrey Campbell Lita's for many months, but can't afford them, though the quality is probably worth every cent. Instead, I bought these black faux suede hidden platform booties on Ebay from Boots2Shoes. They are very nice overall. As with any very high heel (5") and platform (1.5"), they aren't super comfortable. I used Dr. Scholl's inserts. Frankly Dr. Scholl's is missing out the niche need for better padding at the ball of the toes, where your weight is being pushed to. Several people have suggested different inserts, but none do the trick. Dr. Scholl's helps a bit, which is good. The pressure of standing on them in high heels, compresses the toe ball area a lot, so there is only a little comfort. My expensive fetish boots have the same problem, so it's not the quality, just the physically position my foot is in. Other than that, these have great ankle support, and don't rub! They go above my ankle bone and aren't very tight there. I wear thick black socks with them, to help prevent any rubbing.


After loving the black booties, I bought a pair in red from the same store, Boots2Shoes. I bought the last pair in my size.


And, a skull print pair from AquaPillar. These are a different fabric...thinner like a velvet. They aren't as well balanced as the two pairs of boots above. However, I love the print, and I'll adapt to them, because they look fabulous! I also bought a beige pair from another seller, but I'm going to transform them into silver glittery boots. I'll share those later when I write the accompanying tutorial!


BAG

I bought this bag at a Rue 21 store. It has spikes all over the faux leather exterior. The spikes aren't regular spikes. They have flat tops instead of rounded or sharp spikes. The shape of the bag reminds me of a doctor's bag. It has three pockets inside. It is fairly large, which is good. I wanted a large spiked bag that was big enough to carry my bulky camera and normal purse contents. Something a little dressier than my beloved Betsey Johnson heart print messenger bag that I carry around everywhere.


BELT

While at Charlotte Russe, I also bought 2 belts. I could only locate one for this haul. This one was on clearance. They were having some wacky accessory sale, so this ended up being very cheap...like under $1. As you can see, there is an elastic part in the back and woven faux leather around the sides and front. It's a wide belt, which are my favorite and most worn kind. I wear it over flowy tops to cinch them in. Since this is a woven belt, it doesn't have certain holes dedicated for the metal belt piece to slide through and secure. This makes it very flexible for size, as you just slip that metal piece in between the woven pieces of the other half. This is great if you've eaten a large meal and need to expand the belt easier.

The other belt is a fixed size. It has a split heart front buckle. The two pieces of the heart buckle to form a completed heart, and close the belt. The rest of the belt is wide black elastic. Again, I love these cinching belts for flowing tops. They are also great for closing a shawl collar or draped cardigan that doesn't have a closure. I like to accent the waist of high waisted skirts and tucked in blouses with them. They are great paired with vintage dresses where the whole dress is flowy and wide from the top, or starting at the natural waist line. This belts work best when worn a the natural waist line, as that is the smallest part of your body, and will be the most comfortable place for the cinched belt to sit. Cinching this type of free shape clothing defines your waist, and shows that you have a figure under these large garments.



JEWELRY

I had been eyeing crystal necklaces for many months. This was the 1st thing I bought myself after the busy season started on Etsy. This is a one of a kind amethyst druzy stone necklace made by Mamacita Studios. She made the chain length shorter to 20", per my request. The back of the stone is flat, and the sides have been dipped in gold. Purple is one of my favorite colors, and this is a rich purple. Also, amethyst is my mother's birthstone. The photos were  taken without and with flash, so you could see how the crystals look with different lighting.


I've wanted a claw or armor ring for many years...over a decade, but have yet to find one that fit my long thin fingers. This ring is a take on a claw ring, but allows my finger to easily bend, and fits on my finger well! It's encrusted with rhinestones, and has an antique pewter-like finish. When I bend my finger, the pointed part juts out like a claw. I purchased this ring at a Charlotte Russe store with a set of 6 square transparent rectangle and 6 transparent heart stud earrings. I've worn the earrings several times, and they are hard to easily photograph, since I've thrown out the packaging to hold them still.

My husband bought the spider ring for me at Target. He was feeling spendy on a family trip together to Target. This one is bigger and more sparkly than my other spider ring. I love large cocktail rings, and this one spans the width of 3 fingers. The angle of the photo makes the right legs look longer than the left, but they are even.


My husband bought me these two necklaces during a late August trip to VA Beach. The 1st one is from Charlotte Russe. I saw it and knew it would be PERFECT for League of Space Pirate costumes. In fact, we shot a music video for "She's a Star" a few weeks later, and I wore it. It looks all gross and not very shiny in this photo, but it would be if I removed the sweaty grime from the music video off it. Sorry to be gross, but when you see the music video soon, it will be worth the smudgy necklace photo. It is mirror like and reflects like fantastic...including the light our director friend put down my corset for the video for extra futuristic sparkle.

The 2nd one we bought at a little costume jewelry shop at the beach. I also bought some triple metal chain earrings that coordinated with it, but I couldn't find them to show you. They are somewhere mixed in with my other chain earrings. The metal rectangles have a hammered texture and appearance, which reflects light nicely. Again, I think this necklace would be perfect with my corsets on stage or for other Space Pirate things. It fills the open decolletage space of my chest above my overbust corset line. The style is large, sparkly, and unusual which is great for my costumes. I haven't worn this one yet, which is probably why it's still reflective, vs. dingy like the other necklace.

Ok, that is all for the accessories half of my haul. Come back tomorrow for the clothing portion.

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