ira’s brief life as a spider

One night as I was playing dress-up in my closet (trying new things together) I came up with this combo and fell in love. I just got this jacket as part of a dress suit from Chicken Lays An Egg and was thrilled how well it all worked together.

Bowties are boss.

Over the knee socks too.

What do you personally think about bowties?

WHAT: oxford button-up, thrift

white ribbon, from a gift

suit jacket, chicken lays an egg

black shirt, gabriel brothers

over the knee socks, urban outfitters

brogues, aldo

WHERE: work at chicken

WHEN: monday, november 15

take a walk with me

Well dear readers, I’m sure you have noticed my serious lack of posts recently. There was an incident that happened a few weeks ago with my blog, and it really made me consider just deleting it. Without going into detail, I accidentally stepped right in exactly what I hate about the fashion world. I started writing this blog purely out of my love of being a fashionable lady on a very small budget, and I just need to stay true to that idea. Oh well, I’m over it now though and am back in action!

A few days ago, my very handsome boy and I went to see Inception at the movie theater up the street. Since it was such a lovely evening, we decided to just walk there. We have a really adorable little neighborhood, so I thought you might enjoy the walk with us!

The giant park by our house where our pups love to play (and where most of my pictures are taken), Burnet Woods.

You can’t catch me!

Not sure why it looks a little foggy??

Like those giant cuts on the backs of my knees? That’s what happens when you have your dog on a retractable leash and she wraps it around you and bolts after a bird. Thanks Charlie.

Just ignore those old lady socks sticking out. My shoes give me really bad blisters in the back without them. :(

Alright enough of that silliness- we’re gonna be late for the movie!

Almost there!

At this corner if I were to turn around, you’d see this really cool fountain!

Oh, look – it’s my roommate/business partner/fabulous friend, Maya! I really do see her everywhere I go!

Right behind her car is Skyline, Cincinnati’s most well-known regional food. Their specialty is chili with spaghetti and a giant mound of cheese, which is how we eat all chili in Cincy. I actually can’t imagine why you’d wanna eat chili without spaghetti under it, and cheese makes everything better, so… yeah. if you’re not a vegetarian and you’re in Cincinnati, I guess I’d try it. It’s not really the best chili, but after a night of drinking it hits the spot pretty well.

Here it is, the Esquire Theatre! It’s the local art house theater, and is very near and dear to my heart. One of the first jobs I had in Cincinnati was at the Esquire, and among many many of my other friends, I met Maya there. She actually trained me over six years ago and we’ve been friends ever since. Sadly, this is also where I leave you guys. I can promise that I will be back soon though!

WHAT: white ribbon, leftover from a gift

blue pinwheel button earrings, handmade by me

navy scoop neck, forever 21

floral linen skirt, chicken lays an egg

vintage brown belt, thrift

gold bangle, toronto thrift store

saddle bag, chicken lays an egg

old lady woven shoes, street fair

WHERE: our walk and movie

WHEN: who even remembers

in which I reference Orchid Grey a whole bunch

Last night I received an offer from Nathan Hurst, the founder of Cincinnati Fashion Week to be a writer for the “blogitorial” style lookbook that he’s putting together, and I must say I’m pretty excited. I’ll keep you in the loop as I hear more!

This post is really going to be me complaining about the quality and selection of clothing that is available at a reasonable price, so I hope you don’t find that too off-putting. Recently I was reading a post of Orchid Grey‘s in which she talked about how dissatisfied she’s been lately with high street chains, namely Forever 21 and H&M. Now we all know how much Forever 21 pieces I have and I must admit that I love H&M, however I have to say that I agree with her. As time has gone on there have been fewer and fewer things on the F21 site that I like, and forget about going to the actual store. Every time I ever go into the shop I am instantly swarmed in high schools kids and I can never find anything that I’m looking for, both complaints that I have heard from many people. In her next entry Julie said something really interesting that may explain part of our dissatisfaction:

“Maybe it’s due to the backlash F21 has been receiving in regards to copyright infringement, I know I would be livid if I was a designer and saw my work cheaply copied by a mass-retailer. Perhaps they’re reacting to that and cutting back on how blatantly they copy designers and popular fashion.”

I hadn’t really heard about this, but it totally makes sense to me. Many a time I have been scanning the F21 website only to see something that I know is a total Modcloth ripoff. (See this post)

As for H&M, I always find stuff that I like when I go there, but again that requires a trip to the mall which I absolutely DREAD. I wish H&M had a selection of things that you could at least view on their website without going to the Scandinavian page.

Morally I have a problem with things like H&M destroying unsold merchandise instead of donating it to someone who could use it. Also cheap clothing often comes at the cost of sweatshops, however the only way to really ensure that you’re not buying the products of sweatshops is to only buy things made in the US. And let me tell you unless you have some serious expendable income for clothing, it’s pretty fucking hard.

A lot of the responses the Orchid Grey’s original post were about how much people love stores like Banana Republic and Anthropologie, which I can definitely understand. I haven’t actually bought anything from either or these stores, but every time I find some of their stuff at thrift stores I’m always really happy with the quality. I just can’t justify spending hundreds of dollars on a single item of clothing. The general feel of Banana Republic especially is more classic and clean than my personal style so I always feel the need to intensely funk up anything I get from them.

I suppose for me this leaves stores like Gabriel Brothers and outlet malls. And of course, more thrifting!

I did actually find something on the F21 website today that I want realllllllly bad.

‘

I had been scoping a similar pair from Aldo, but they mysteriously disappeared from their website. **EDIT** I found the Aldo version! Although they are obviously much nicer, they’re also almost $60 more. The F21 pair will be mine very soon….