What Up Y2K the Butterfly Way

Blossom Bow Butterfly Necklace

Shoes: Katy Perry Collection

Skirt: Tinseltown, Macy's

Bag: Skinnydip London, Macy's

Top: Almost Famous, Macy's

Hair clip: So, Kohl's; Mint bangle: Decree, JCPenney; Other bangles: B Fabulous; Sunglasses: Michaels; Ring: Claire's

Bag: Xhilaration, Target

Black bangle: Mixit, JCPenney; Headband: Xhilaration, Target; Sunglasses: Betsey Johnson, Zulily; Ring: Mixit, JCPenney

Bold Butterfly Barrette Brooch

Dress: Lily Rose, Kohl's

Shoes: Circus by Sam Edelman, Zulily

Striped Flight Necklace

Skirt: ELLE, Kohl's

Fluorescent Fight Necklace

Top: SHEIN

Bag: Luv Betsey, Boscov's; Bangles: Target; Sunglasses: Brigantine Beach shop; Chartreuse ring: Claire's; Pink ring: Miami accessories cart

Shoes: Steve Madden, Macy's

Bag: Amerileather, Zulily

Butterfly Shape Escape Necklace

Fabulous Felt Orange Vanilla Custard Barrette

Blue bangle: Burlington Coat Factory; Purple bracelet: Etsy; Blue beaded bracelet: Cloud Nine, Ocean City; Sunglasses: Nordstrom Rack

Skirt: H&M

Sky and Twee Necklace

Shoes: Betsey Johnson, Macy's; Bag: Betsey Johnson, Dolls Kill

Jacket: Gap

Yellow bangle: Silver Linings, Ocean City; Orange/red/heart bangles: B Fabulous; Sunglasses: Wild Fable, Target; Ring: Mixit, JCPenney; Barrette: The Tote Trove; Mint bracelet: H&M; Striped bangle: Zulily; Yellow bracelet: So, Kohl's

Top: SHEIN

If you flap your wings enough, then you just might land on the last night of 1999.  Big business and government were in crisis mode, desperate to protect their computers while the rest of us prepared for the end of days, Prince's apocalyptical dance party anthem a drumbeat.  Not that I include myself in that us.  On December 31, 1999, I was almost eighteen and far more concerned with the impending horrors of dorm life than the power grid going bust.  But when it came to fashion, I knew what was up.  Which means I was probably rocking butterflies.  

I couldn't help but think about that as I raided my brooch box in search of cast-offs to repurpose for new jewelry.  I found two caterpillar candidates, then set about transforming them into butterflies (well, they were already butterflies, but I trust you'll humor my metaphor).  I had a great time making Fluorescent Flight and Sky and Twee with plastic beads shaped like, yes, more butterflies and also fish and dolphins.  And I can proudly say that these are no longer your grandmother's brooches.  Even though my grandma rocked brooches regularly and was as cool as they come, having busted out the air guitar one Thanksgiving while talking about Jimi Hendrix.  Still, the necklaces aren't even my biggest brag.  That would be the Bold Butterfly Barrette Brooch, which is my favorite barrette brooch so far.  Because a butterfly barrette is better than the butterfly effect.  

Especially if it takes you back to sharing a bathroom with strangers.

Purple Reign: Wistful for Wisteria

No, I'm not talking about the decades-old drama of Desperate Housewives.  Although maybe I should be, because that was a great show.  I'm talking about this wisteria vine that I saw wrapped around a telephone pole wire on Mother's Day.  Spring flowers being what they are, it's probably long gone by now.  But the sight of it and its spirit stay with me.  I love it when something that's supposed to be frail stakes its claim somewhere it was told it shouldn't be.

Huh.  Maybe I'm talking about housewives (and women) after all.    

That said, don't get me started on pansies.

Swan Con: Romance on the Pun

Dress: Modcloth; Top: Candie's, Kohl's

Red Hot Candy Necklace

White Swan Barrette Brooch

Top: Bisou Bisou, JCPenney

Top: Candie's, Kohl's

Candy Chrysalis Necklace

Black Swan Barrette Brooch

It's finally February, and you know what that means.  No, I'm not talking about that perennially pessimistic, Pennsylvanian, shadow-spying rodent.  I'm talking about Valentine's Day, that magical time when love isn't only in the air, but the hair.  I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I heart the hearts and flowers aesthetic.  That's why I ripped into the proverbial box of chocolates early to make a couple of candy necklaces and a pair of barrette brooches featuring those most OG of lovebirds: swans 

Swans are so beautiful, it's no wonder they drop their feathers everywhere.  There are swan boats, swan songs, and swan-like necks.  There's Black Swan and Swan Lake and Bella Swan.  There are Swanson frozen dinners (cue Jimmy Fallon's "Idiot Boyfriend": "I've got a Swanson's dinner in the freezer, with your name on it."), Ron Swanson, and even the swan on the Schwan frozen food truck.  There are graceful swans and swans that'll peck your eyes out.  And, then of course, there's the romantic ideal that swans  -- and only swans -- mate for life.  

What other avian could a Hallmark junkie want?

Don't say doves.  I don't care how many weddings you've been to where they've been released.  Doves are for peace treaties.  And Prince.  And anyway, they lack swans' drama.  

Because if you're not in danger of losing an eye, then you might as well stay in Punxsutawney.  

Hello, Dolly: Dressing for the Decades

In my world, paper dolls are having a moment.  First there were those holiday horses, and now I have a troop of twentieth (and some twenty-first!) century trendsetters, which I also received as a gift (hey, even I don't buy myself paper dolls).  I have another paper doll book somewhere (it may be international-themed), about which I'll happily blog should it ever surface.  But for now it's all about the styles of the times and -- ahem -- the timeless styles.

Flipping through the glossy pages of Sticker Fashionista Vintage Style, I was hard-pressed to pick my favorite fashion era.  Was I most drawn to the prim and pretty parasols of the early 1900s, or was the structured, starlet-inspired glamour of the 1940s more of my thing?  Then there were the mod and boho silhouettes of the 1960s and the outrageous rock opera opulence of the 1980s.  At first, I was tempted to say, the farther back the better; give me a time when women were women and there was no such thing as too much lace.  Yet as much as I loved the idea of an epoch in which wearing a dress was an everyday occurrence, I couldn't deny that turn-of-the-century style was a little constricting (and I don't just mean the corsets).  Back then, women didn't have a whole lot of wiggle room in terms of colors, patterns, embellishments, and accessories - not to mention footwear (we've all seen pictures of those horrid buckled booties).  And let's not forget that to be too showy was to risk being regarded as (at best) racy and (at worst) as a lady of the night.  This sort of straight and narrow sartorial approach seemed to rule the runways (and walkways) until the 1960s, that shining beacon of anything goes.  That was when things really took off with tie-dye and feathers and psychedelic patterns, go-go and flower child aesthetics running amok in different directions.  Still, my clotheshorse heart belongs to the 1980s, an inevitability I blame on Jem and Madonna and Prince.  The ruffly, one-shouldered, white-and-black polka dot dress pictured above gets my vote for top frock, even if I did dilute its power by teaming it with that Lady Gaga-inspired cherry headband filched from the 2000s section.

Speaking of which, a very cool part of Vintage Style is its last couple of pages, in which you're invited to create the looks of today by mixing and matching pieces from the 100+ years worth on offer in the preceding pages.  I didn't photograph my efforts because they weren't all that great, an outcome that I wholeheartedly attribute to the slim pickings that remained by the time I got to the end of the book (that's my story, and I'm sticking to it).  But the premise got me thinking about how weird it is that you can't pin down the trends of the times when you're actually in them.  When I was a preteen watching everyone run around in sunflower-print slip dresses, denim vests, flannel shirts, and overalls, I didn't think, they're part of a minimalist neo-hippie fashion movement that resulted in response to the excess of the 1980s.  I just thought, those are the cool kids, and that's what they wear.  (I, on the other hand, was still rocking stretch pants and oversized sweaters like the ones favored by the mom on "The Goldbergs," as well as some pretty rad large-and-in-charge hair accessories from Claire's Boutique.  I still think about my old resin strawberry-shaped clip, which was so big that it sometimes fell off my head.  I wish I still had it, in no small part because I have a lot more hair now.)

I wonder which of today's wardrobe staples will have made their mark by the time we're looking at them through the lens of the future.  More importantly, I wonder what we'll be wearing while we're laughing at them.