Friday's Teaching, Bat Fit Observation and Blog Changes

Dear readers, in the above photo you see yet another old skirt that I fit into once again. I bought this skirt from QVC six years ago when I first lost all of the weight. It's one of three skirts that I am working towards being able to wear again. It's made of a gorgeous wool crepe and hemmed with the most beautiful pink and silver sequins -- a perfect thing to wear to teach on a rainy Friday morning. I never got rid of this skirt simply because it was too fabulous to give away. I was determined to fit into again and this year is the year!  I topped it off with a short-sleeved, georgette blouse with a ruffled hem and smocking down the front. This blouse can be rather tricky to wear because it can be really sheer in certain light, as seen in the light of the camera flash. I wore my new plushy bolero jacket over it to make this outfit "teaching appropriate." 

Friday was the first day for this particular class and I actually broke with one of my "teaching rules": never show your tattoos the first month. As I'm getting older I feel much more confident and secure in my teaching abilities that covering my tattoos isn't really an important issue anymore. Stockings, kitten heels and a tight, high ponytail completed the look.

The silver, marcasite and fresh water pearl necklace that I'm wearing was one of the first gifts that Ed ever bought me. It's from the now discontinued Victorian line from Macy's. Like the skirt, it didn't fit me anymore -- it was too tight around my neck. It's amazing what losing weight can do to one's wardrobe options! I can now comfortably wear this necklace and the other shorter necklaces that I currently own.

When I'm teaching I never, ever wear extreme makeup, keeping it simple and fresh. I always wear Aveeno's daytime moisturizer with SPF under a dusting of powder, a slight bit of blush in dusty rose and understated liquid liner on my upper lids that tapers into a small wing. I draw in my eyebrows with a angled brush and a soft black eyeshadow. I usually wear Burts Bees tinted lip balm in rose during the day to keep my lips moist -- all that talking can really dry out one's lips! Finally, I hardly ever wear perfume or oils simply because you never know when a student will be allergic to it and, in turn, you. Best to play it safe.

Bat Fit Observations: This observation is probably going to be a "no-duh" to many of you. On Friday, I wore a pair of kitten heels that I bought last year. These shoes have killed my feet almost every time that I've worn them .... except this past Friday. I noticed that not only am I fitting into clothing and jewelry that I haven't been able to fit into for years, but my shoes are fitting better and looser! Matter-of-fact my kitten heels were so darned comfortable that I think these will be my "go to shoe" this semester. Hell, I might even get more pairs in different styles and colors. I'm thinking red -- a nice, shiny patent leather blood red. HELL YEAH! It never dawned on me that the weight was affecting my foot size. Sure, I understood that the pain in my arthritic toe would lighten up, as would the pain in my ankles, but shoe size? This is really illuminating to me. Perhaps I'll eventually be able to wear those gorgeous heels without pain in my toe! WAHOO!

UPDATE: BLOG CHANGES

Many of you have already noticed that this blog has slowly been moving away from being strictly a fashion blog for "academic professionals who are Gothically inclined." I've been posting a lot about health and fitness; and in the past I've done posts about my garden, cooking, DIY, etc. Maybe a strict fashion blog just isn't my style? Heck, let's be honest here ... I'm getting a little bored with just posting about what I'm wearing. I have stuff to say and I'd like to say it! The amount of insightful responses to my last post has inspired me to change the format of this blog. Oh don't worry, there will still be lots and lots of professional and not-so-professional Gothic fashion, make up, and yapping about shoes! But these posts will also be accompanied by some of the things that really interest me like discussions about art and art history, observations on academia and teaching, Gothy gardening and camping, DIY and cooking, health and well-being, etc. I want to keep it fresh and interesting ... and I want this to be a place for us to have intellectual conversations on these topics. I find this kind of exchange to be very rewarding and interesting.

With that said, the new format will roll out this week. I will also be redesigning the tag line and look of the blog sometime next weekend. I'm going to repost an entry about the shared roots of neopaganism and the Gothic subculture that I wrote in my now defunct personal blog a few months ago. I'm also planning a review of the new American Art wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art here in NYC. Will there still be fashion? Absolutely! I'll be posting my professional and "fun" outfits throughout the week. And I am currently writing reviews of my favorite shops here in NYC and elsewhere; and planning interviews with notable and notorious names in the NYC Punk Rock/Goth fashion scene. There's a lot of changes happening around here ... hopefully you, my dear readers, will enjoy reading them as much as I am going to enjoy writing them!

The Run Down:

Skirt: QVC six years ago

Blouse: Macy's this summer

Bolero jacket: Dress Barn, two weeks ago

Stockings: Target

Shoes: DSW

Necklace: gift from Ed

Earrings in top photo: a shop in Boston, I can't remember the name of it.

Earring in the third photo: Kohl's