March DisneyBound Challenge 2015

Another March, another March DisneyBound Challenge!

DisneyBounding is when you create outfits that are inspired by Disney. It contrasts with cosplaying because you’re not wearing an actual costume. It’s the difference between wearing a tail and wearing green leggings to portray Ariel from The Little Mermaid. It’s a really fun way to get creative and also represent your favorite Disney characters/attractions/whatever. It has become especially popular to do in the Disney parks, as adults are not allowed to wear costumes to the parks. (It would confuse the children, who might mistake them for the character actors.)

As per usual, I am not creative/ambitious enough to do 31 days of Disney-inspired outfits. Last year I squeezed out a few and this year I pushed out even fewer. But I am broadening my DisneyBound horizons, as you’ll see, and thinking outside of the box that I typically use for these outfits.

Bored Prince Charming at the ball
Prince Charming (Cinderella)

I kicked the month off with a Prince Charming look I wore to an early screening of Disney’s live-action Cinderella. I actually wear that blazer + pant combo often because the blazer color poises a bit of a challenge for me to match with other items. I didn’t realize this combination worked for Prince Charming until I was trying to think of a good Cinderella DisneyBound. I mostly do female characters, so Prince Charming is actually the first man I’ve DisneyBounded as. (I’ve done male characters before, but they weren’t human ones.)

Roquefort
Roquefort (The Aristocats)

Roquefort from The Aristocats was my first “obscure” DisneyBound. I typically did characters from more “mainstream” Disney films, and the more primary characters from those films, as those are easier and have more recognizable looks. But I have been wanting to do Roquefort for a while and here was my chance. I don’t have his dandy hat, but I think my red beret is a nice nod to this little mouse who lives in Paris.

Kiki's Delivery Service
Kiki (Kiki’s Delivery Service)

Can I confess something? I’ve actually never seen Kiki’s Delivery Service before. (Disney is the distribution partner for Studio Ghibli in the US.) But I’ve known that I can do a Kiki look for some time. I nearly did a similar Kiki look for Halloween a few years ago! At this point in the game, I was starting to feel at a loss for what to do with my face and body. You may recognize this pose/expression from last year’s challenge.) This is my first Studio Ghibli DB and I guess I need to go watch these movies if I want to glean more inspiration for future Miyazaki looks!

Space Mountain
Space Mountain (parks)

For my last look of the month (I only did 4? oops) I have my first non-character DB. As a girl named Starr, you best believe I have tons of things with galaxy print and stars and moons. TONS. I don’t usually wear them all together, but to honor Space Mountain, I thought it was appropriate.


I’m currently brainstorming some DisneyBounds for an upcoming trip I am taking and I will be sure to share them with you. I’m also trying to work up the courage to DisneyBound in actual every day life and not just on the weekends or for Halloween. The problem with me doing that is that some of my items become forever associated with a Disney look. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I can no longer wear my yellow skirt without people calling it my Snow White skirt.

Do you have any suggestions for future DisneyBounds for me to do?
What DisneyBounds have you done/would you like to do?

St. Patrick’s Day Look 2015

I wear green one time a year.
That time is today.
Yep, I got a new green dress. So now I have more than one, how exciting. Another update that you may notice is I have replenished my Mardi Gras bead collection so that I could add a gold strand to my look. I actually really like this dress. The only green I wear is emerald green (love me some jewel tones) and I love the fit and flare. It is a bit short for how flared it is (read: I can’t bend down without flashing my safety shorts to the world) but the flare is what makes it fun!

I still think that the article I shared last year by the Irish American who does not celebrate St. Patrick’s Day is worth a read. I only celebrate by dusting off my green clothing and sometimes watching the classic Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM), The Luck of the Irish.

Also, I’m sharing this gorgeous video narrated by Liam Neeson for Discover Ireland for a quick look at Emerald Isle. (And also so you can listen to Liam Neeson’s silky smooth voice.)

 How are you celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, if you celebrate at all? This blog post is essentially the extent of my celebrations!

Spotlight: My Closet in Sketches

I just wanted to take a quick minute to publicly proclaim how much I adore this blog:

My Closet in Sketches
myclosetinsketches.com

My Closet in Sketches in run by Lauren Friedman, who sketches these great outfits.

presidentialblues

hotforteacher

I discovered her blog because she posts these great tips on how to/ways to wear ____:

I’m an extra big fan of hers because she’s also a DCer! I’ve definitely gotten a lot of style inspiration from her and I hope I get to see her around the District sometime soon!

All images from MyClosetinSketches.com

Halloween 2014 Costume Reveal!

Happy Halloween!!!

As I’ve mentioned before, most of why I love Halloween as a holiday so much — despite how much I hate being scared — is that I love dressing up! I think that might even be why I have always been so drawn to acting and, in a past life, modeling. Getting into character is a lot of fun.

For those of you who don’t know, I work with Yelp, and one of my favorite things to do for my job is to dress up for themed events.

At DC’s recent Jet Set Fete, I was a flight attendant / stewardess / air hostess / what have you:

Ready for takeoff!
Ready for takeoff!

It was an easy look to put together once I had the dress and my manager provided the hat. The neckerchief is from my cousin, who works for Princess Cruises, and I thought that the travel-themed silk scarf was perfect.

Last weekend, we had our regional Halloween party. My actual Halloween outfit wasn’t quite ready yet, so I took some inspiration from Britney Spears and was a ringmaster:

Britney Spears inspires many of my life choices
Britney Spears inspires many of my life choices

I saw a ringmaster costume on my roommate’s Pinterest as she was looking for costumes of her own. I knew that I had a red blazer and that all I needed was a hat. I found the perfect one at Party City and it stays on my head via the headband it’s attached to. Perfect.

Now it took me some time to arrive on my Halloween costume. As I told you all before, I had to give up on some costume ideas that I was really set on this year. Since I have been doing Disney outfits the past 2 years, I thought it only right to do another one. After all, who doesn’t love a good Disneybound? This time around, I decided to go for a villain rather than a princess:

Complete Ursula Disneybound

I went with this Ursula look and I’m so pleased with how it came out, especially given how I felt like I did this all at the last minute! (I like to start planning in July, so relatively speaking, it was very rushed.) Excuse the hair chalk that got on my dress; it is really unwieldy and mostly just makes me look old. XD

Anyhow, that’s how I will be showing my face in public today! The makeup scares me quite a lot so I’m just avoiding mirrors for a bit. ^^;

What’s your Halloween costume this year?