Trash and Treasure

well, just to establish the obvious, the economy is acceptable unstable right now, and although this can be very tough financially, it also means the aftermath is quite satisfactory. The other day i was at a fete, where i stumbled upon a good pair of shoes for 50c in the Australian dollar! i was quite proud considering that they were pretty much brand new, and have scarcely been worn. If you keep your eyes peeled I'm sure you to can also find some really good buys. The best places to go include fetes, fairs, markets, shop sales and second hand shops. i know that in all of these places you can find allot of crap, and when i say allot of crap i mean allot! but if you dig far beneath the surface you can also find the rarest of treasure! Before my most recent finding of good quality shoes, Ive recently purchased a black sleeveless/collared vest, a nice gothabilly dress and Ive even found nice jewelry before! (that was kind of lucky though). Anyway, because the economy is heading into turmoil, you should keep your eyes open for good buys, but don't go silly of course!

The shoe i described earlier on this post.

the Cyber Wardrobe

Looks always add to the essence of culture, some more so than others. Perhaps the growing Cyber trend is one of the most visually appealing lifestyles out there, but where do you get even some basics from?
Personally, i think hair and shoes is a good place to start. This way, you can match it up with things you already have such as jeans, dresses, stockings, singlets/corsets etc;

Cyber hair is always big, Ive seen very few cases (or none actually) where the individual has not done something extreme to their hair. dreadlocks (dread falls also) are quite acceptable but are becoming very cliche. However they are an excellent place to start. If your looking for something different, teased pig tails and death hawks are quite suitable, if your game to shave parts of your head! although you can get around this though with braiding/corn rows etc; Teasing out pig tails is much more preferable though. (or so i think) Allot of you may have heard of "Dread falls" these are usually hair extensions (or synthetic material) teased up into multi coloured dreadlocks and tied into place upon ones head. you can make these yourself or buy them (search YouTube for "how-too's")
Shoes are often big and chunky, depending upon the person they may choose to wear military boots, fluorescent fur leg warmers (see below) sleek platforms... whatever suites the cause!

An excellent place to shop online is at http://www.vinyldolls.net/ everything from that site is hand made (including the warmers above) and sell dresses, tops, shoes, accessories, "dread falls" and some custom made designs available.

If vinyl dolls is to colourful for your liking http://www.immoralfashion.com.au/ is much darker!!!! they sell allot of the metropolis range (a good brand) nice boots, military influenced clothing, steampunk gear and pretty much anything relatively alternative!

Anyway, theres a few essentials that would also be good to have hiding in the wardrobe somewhere. Fishnets are always good to have for nearly any goth styled fashion, a set of gloves wouldn't be to bad either, if you have some belts, keep them!! Other than that, play around with your makeup, start to collect your goggles, wings, corsets (unless you already have some) and perhaps a few dresses!!!

The Culture Clash, Merging Goth and Indie Fashions

After finishing off my friends article about Indie culture, I suddenly started to wonder whan the outcome would be of combining Indie with a culture thats a little darker/rebellious. The first culture i considered was goth, mostly the vintage side of things. Although they are very different cultures, with different interests and different music, quite a few clothing pieces/acessories can be found in both wardrobes, only presented differently. If i were to merge the two i would go about it by starting with vintage clothing. You often see vintage (even second hand) elements in both wardrobes, particularly dresses.

Today im going to use mostly black as my colour theme to demonstrate, although i think you could very well put a steampunk edge to indie, using tarnished jewellry and soft browns combined with rich/deep colours.  while the purpose of this article is to darken a " fashion friendly" (it is actually becoming quite mainstream right now) culture, we still need to keep elements which play huge factors in the culture such as colour (otherwise we are just ruining it altogether.) in order to darken the tones without damaging the look i strongly recomend you balance it out with brown, white or combine black and white with colours such as dark emerald green, maroon, peach, plum (if your game), dark or pastel blue. (pinks, purples and generally bright colours are simply to bold, subtracting from the age of your outfit.) Another idea is that you could make indie look more steampunk. ( both indie and steampunk use very old styled colour paletes.)You could use a knee-length/long golden brown skirt with a white blouse, matched up with brooches with old-english clocks/watches and pearls like the one i found google. (above)

As you can see these clothing pieces above are both very indie and could be turned quite goth to as well. The outfits above are also very versatile pieces that you can dress up or down,and before i forget, i think white lace doillys could look very nice (okay the truth is, that the possibilities are endless!) Perhaps matched with a nice simple belt would be quite touching.

If your looking to buy anything similar i recomend you visit a website called www.forever21.com it is for the most part indie i must admit, but if your willing to filter through all the things you probably wont wear, i think youll find some very good pieces! they are also quite affordable to, if you look in their sale section  you can buy dresses for $11.00! (US dollar) I found the skirt to the right on this site, in the contemporary section. (click brands, select contemporary, then on the left side it should categorize to skirts, dresses etc;)

Shoe wise, i think some popart heels are quite apropriate, infact theres a really cool pair in TUK shoes online with a recycled newspaper design (you probably already spotted the shoe on the left) you can visit them online @ (insertadress) if pop art shoes really dont phase you at all, TUK also has some very nice varitey of mary-janes and boots! you could also try lace up military boots (of the not bulky kind) and depending on what colour theme you have going, tan/skin coloured shoes will also match very well!

As for Acessories, i think this really makes the two cultures come together. Personally i think pearls, lace and ribbon work very well, so look for things such as your bangle sets, dark floral headpieces (even better with a little neting), old fashioned earings etc; (you can refer to the first picture i posted if your bothered) below ive posted a range of jewelry that is all avaliable from the online shop i previously recomended, forever 21. A little "boho" (bohemian style) wouldent go astray either. although i wouldent stress about it if you really dont know anything about it!!

As for hair/makeup, its probably preferable to keep it very simple, theres no "indie" hairstyle although many indie artists and many indie kids tend to have loose wispy hair (and dreadlocks), it goes along with the whole indie thing very well. If you dont like leaving your hair looking like its "untamed", loose ringlets look nice, especially in red and light brown/dark blonde hair, or perhaps you could try something more done up. Often tighty pulled back hair works, even if you choose to leave your fringe out! this is really the time to twist your hair into a tight neat bun, or a low pony tail. Its probaly best to keep your make-up simple, perhaps just mascara, eyeliner (no wings sorry!) and foundation. If you can control yourself, i dont see why you cant try shading your eyelids a little darker!

Well, its probably time to conclude this post, its certainly become much longer than i expected it to be!Overall, i think anyone who takes time to think this culture clash through properly can very sucessfully dress in a combination of both goth and indie, there are so many possibilities which are absolutely endless! Generally i tihnk the result its quite elegant, classy, mature, aged and very "fashion friendly." Depending on the kind of attire you usually wear, you may find you dont get as many haters! but of course, if you are imersed in any alternative culture you probably find your haters quite entertaining!

Indie

luckily, my friend is going to tell you about indie stuff, so here goes:

"Independent music is not just a genre, for many people it is a lifestyle. You may walk into a second-hand clothing store and realise that this is just not your scene, but for a small minority of people it is. They have houses with floral wallpaper, various kinds of stockings, a large variety of herbal tea, and an old record player. Not really. Some people like those things. Personally, I really do, but I'm not sure I would dedicate my entire home to something like that.

There are many bands fitted into the indie genre, but I don't like putting bands into genres and groups. Its like putting your friends into groups of best, close & good. So I just listen to a whole heap of bands, many that people have not even heard of, as my friends call me a hipster.
I really enjoy listening to bands such as Washington, The Wombats, Art Vs. Science, Foster The People, The Jezabels, Boy And Bear, Gypsy & The Cat, Jinja Safari, Josh Pyke, Vampire Weekend, Regina Spektor, Florence & The Machine, Marina & The Diamonds, LIGHTS, Dan Sultan, Cloud Control, Sparkadia, The Waifs, John Butler Trio, Bluejuice, Philadelphia Grand Jury, Missy Higgins, etc;"

well, you got that part from her! unfortunately she didn't have time to get into the visual aspect of it but i think i can give you an acceptable description from my (alternative) point of view:

Indie culture is often quit distinct for its combination of hippie and "old school dress code" fashions. Rather than the tight jeans and vibrant colours, it is quite common to see an "indie kid" (particularly girls) in loose clothes with vintage floral patterns, old knit cardigans, naturally coloured jeans, anti-short skirts, sandals or boots (no skate shoes.... EVER!!!!! converses are quite acceptable though)
Over all, they are quite happy folk, and while I would never consider immersing myself in the culture, I certainly wouldn't dis anyone who does, like anything (culture/music/fashion) it requires a certain amount of creativity to be a "good" indie, especially without becoming cliche!
Another thing that comes to my attention (and quite random to) is the indie bop, as their music is often quite folk orientated (well, right now most independent music is) its become a growing trend to awkwardly bop (almost like a squat motion where your feet are together) in tune with the music!

Overall i hope this gives you a good insight to indie culture/music/fashion, perhaps (if i can convince her) she submit another article regarding her fabulous world of Indie!


(Posted by .itsdannibitch @ weheartit.com respectively)

Halloween sale!

earlier on in this blog i mentioned a really cool online clothing store, just in case you haven't looked at it in a while, they now have their Halloween stock for sale!!! this includes some new items which ill post below. for those of you who haven't looked at the store, it contains a range for all ages, male and female, and even does shoes, accessories and make-up. it has quite a reasonable range, which you could us in many wardrobes from steam punk, Victorian, cyber and much more. here is the link: http://www.findcoolclothes.com/

clearly these are only some of the things they are selling, and these photos were taken directly from the Halloween range, you'll find allot more in the other ranges they sell. Oh and PS: be careful, there is an adult kind of section!!

Cyber, Punk, Goth, Steampunk and More shopping!!!

Okay, so i stumbled upon a really amazing online shopping store! the store is called Slash 'n' burn, however the URL is quite irrelevant to that, ( http://www.findcoolclothes.com/ ) however the things i found there are absolutely fascinating! there you will find pieces that allow you to dress for the pleasure of horror, or for sophistication, and you'll find some everyday "goth" kind of wear!
here are some of my favourite pieces:

Although Ive posted allot of black items, you'll fin they also range quite a lovely colour spectrum, and they stock clothing for both genders and all ages, including makeup/accessories, as well as being affordable.   I hope you enjoy shopping there!