Good evening, minna-sama. I'm sorry I've been away so long, I've been... in a difficult position, really. I'm doing things I hate, and I hate them because I am bad at them. I haven't had my head in the right place to post for a while, do forgive me. The holidays are a wonderful way to brighten my spirits, as is the completion of a project [yes, another spur of the energy moment thing], and so I return with hopefully two posts back to back [or at least, today and tomorrow] as to catch up with aristocrat and visual kei related things that have in fact been happening.
Jingu Bridge has been going splendidly. Truly. We're going to have to work out a few things here and there and work on preparation, but that's all well and good; the club is just starting, and it's the latter half of the semester, so we're having a great trial run of how things will work out for the spring semester. The group project for my global literature class on Visual Kei went smoothly as well; no one wanted to volunteer to be dressed up, but that's alright, I make my own suitable manequin. Perhaps showing them Neo Ark [Phantasmagoria] was a little too scaring... but, as it were, that's updates for that.
A couple weekends ago, I went to the thrift store near me [that I readily know of]. I was reminded why I both love, and to an extent, dislike the thrift store. One the one hand, there always seems to be scores of little heathen brats running around, and either screaming their heads off for no apparent reason, or crying excessively loudly for their parents. But if you can ignore that, the upsides outweigh the atmosphere's downsides. Prices are amazing, and if you have a little more time than I did to look, you can almost certainly find something that you were looking for [or perhaps not even, and that's never really bad]. I went with the intent of buying some white blouses--ahh, white blouses? what the hell...?--and a long skirt, so that I could expirement with something premade for making the half skirt [see previous project entry]. I also happened to pick up another pair of slacks, since my trusty black ones with pockets are having wardrobe malfunctions with the zipper, and some leather pants. In total everything came to just over $30, with the leather pants being the most expensive thing of course.
Since there is no fitting room at the thrift store, I immediately tried things on as soon as I got home to see if I properly eye-balled the sizes of things correctly. Here are my finds.
Jingu Bridge has been going splendidly. Truly. We're going to have to work out a few things here and there and work on preparation, but that's all well and good; the club is just starting, and it's the latter half of the semester, so we're having a great trial run of how things will work out for the spring semester. The group project for my global literature class on Visual Kei went smoothly as well; no one wanted to volunteer to be dressed up, but that's alright, I make my own suitable manequin. Perhaps showing them Neo Ark [Phantasmagoria] was a little too scaring... but, as it were, that's updates for that.
A couple weekends ago, I went to the thrift store near me [that I readily know of]. I was reminded why I both love, and to an extent, dislike the thrift store. One the one hand, there always seems to be scores of little heathen brats running around, and either screaming their heads off for no apparent reason, or crying excessively loudly for their parents. But if you can ignore that, the upsides outweigh the atmosphere's downsides. Prices are amazing, and if you have a little more time than I did to look, you can almost certainly find something that you were looking for [or perhaps not even, and that's never really bad]. I went with the intent of buying some white blouses--ahh, white blouses? what the hell...?--and a long skirt, so that I could expirement with something premade for making the half skirt [see previous project entry]. I also happened to pick up another pair of slacks, since my trusty black ones with pockets are having wardrobe malfunctions with the zipper, and some leather pants. In total everything came to just over $30, with the leather pants being the most expensive thing of course.
Since there is no fitting room at the thrift store, I immediately tried things on as soon as I got home to see if I properly eye-balled the sizes of things correctly. Here are my finds.
A long black skirt, made out of rayon I believe, so it's stretchy compared to the sateen fabric I bought to make my own from scratch. The plan is to cut down the seams of the sides and hem the back, creating a half skirt. With the extra I cut off, I would make a waist band to go through D-loops I bought a while back to put on my slacks.
The shiny white blouse--with breast pockets--that was the cheapest thing of the day, and the pinstripe slacks. They lack pockets, unlike the black ones I adore, and they have a bit of red in them, which immediately makes me want to add a touch of red into my Aristo. I don't know why I don't think add to V-kei, although that might be because there's limited colors [excluding Hizaki of Versai] in V-kei... though white isn't excluded... anyway. I wore this some day during the week, with the tailcoat jacket. I like the shirt a lot, a lot.
The leather pants, that are just a tad too long, and just a tad too tight. So tight in fact that I took a picture as soon as I got the button closed, not trusting myself to be able to fit into these again by the time I posted it because they were that tight [coincidentally, I have put them on with much less struggle two times since then, and before now]. I'm not sure why the shirt seems off-white, pale creamy at the top there... but it's all white, as the other picture shows.Upon hanging the skirt up in my closet, I came upon an interesting discovery; lo, another skirt. This one was from the uniform of my high school's orchestra. It's very long, and has four pleats down said long sides, along with a band that has the button fasten, and a zipper. Had I recalled before hand that I still had that in my posession--since it was exactly the sort of thing I was looking for to base a already made beforehand turned into half-skirt on--I would've bypassed the skirt at the thrift store. Be that as it may, since it's a different material, I'm going to use it as well, regardless. I may choose to sell it once it is made, but we'll see how that goes.
To be sure, since I had the uniform skirt, I chopped that up quick like, and the results I will show in my next entry. Look forward to it, I'm getting fancy with a video, desu ne.
For whatever reason, when I was younger, I was a little turned off by thrift stores, and I think it was that atmosphere--aside from the crying kids--of... fervor and scurrying around. Now it's just the tight isles and screaming kids that make me pulse point when I step foot in there. A neutral scowl keeps them at bay however...
So, if you've got one near you, and you're just plain fed up with brand or replica prices, take a stroll down to your local thrift store. You never know what might turn up, and for REAL cheap no less. For those of you who have gone there, did you ever get a great find for a steal price? Got one nicer than mine? Love to go if it's nearby.
Whether with friends in your area, traveling back home or hosting family, or with the company of yourself, I wish everyone a splendid holiday, good food, great memories, and safe travels.
Eternally yours,
Il Ruinante Isaak
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