Moonrise kingdom.

Hello again! I have another outfit post for you all, shock horror! This is sort of Part Two of my Alteration Series (if we're going to be fancy and give it a name).

You know some outfits that just seem to fit perfectly together, but still feel amazingly effortless at the same time? Yeah. This one. I really like all of these elements together, the colours of the headscarf and the skirt match almost exactly, and the heritage style prints of the skirt and the top (which I appreciate is bloody hard to actually see), plaid and toile de jouy, go together surprisingly well. I actually got two compliments from two women at two separate bus stops on this look, so thank you small town ladies!

Front.

I bought this skirt in a charity shop for £7 a few months ago, and it was so long it was past my feet! Last week, me & my mum took it in a bit at the waist and then shortened it a fair bit. I'd been mulling over for a while about whether to keep it more or less the same length or to change it completely, as I know some people think it's very taboo to alter any vintage garment beyond recognition. I was speaking to my mum about this and she said that although vintage fashion is a Really Big Thing now, actually it has been around for years and people have always altered clothes to be slightly different than the garment it was before. I have not really altered that many vintage items beyond repairing them slightly, or altering them to fit me. The pieces that I have changed the most have either been charity shop buys, like this one, or very plain blouses. It's a tricky one though, as I would never like to alter a really beautiful, fragile item or something with any real value, sentimental or sartorial. What do you think?

Back view, the pattern on my top is (rather annoyingly) much brighter on the back. Damn you Topshop and your dreadful quality control.

Top - Erdem for Topshop, skirt - vintage/charity shop, headscarf - you know the drill.

The skirt is quite unusual as it has all these little plates with agricultural scenes on them. They kind of remind me of Brownie or Scout badges, hence the eyeliner as I felt like a weird Suzy Bishop/Sam Shakusky hybrid.

(Also for some reason all the pictures I took came out very dark, so the only decent ones I had were all of me doing the same pose, very sorry!)

Things I have been busy with/doing since we last spoke:

1. Buying a fair bit of new make up, which is very unlike me! I might post about it on here, if that's the kind of thing people would be interested in reading? I'm determined to start wearing make up more often, which you might be able to tell from the eyeliner I'm wearing in these photos.

2. Started writing some articles about feminism for a magazine my friend from uni is starting up. The first one is a piece about burlesque dancing, and the other is going to be a background piece/interview with a long term reader of the feminist magazine Spare Rib as a precursor to its impending relaunch/rebranding. I really need to get on with this because I've been putting off writing them for ages now, but I feel like I'm at the point where I have too much to say so it feels difficult to actually get it out of my head and onto (electronic) paper.

3. Sorting out my ticket for Tramlines! A festival in Sheffield where three of my favourite bands happen to be playing on the same day, and it's only £6! Very excited and being very dorky by writing out the times and stages all of the bands I want to see are on so I don't miss them.

4. I moved into my new house in Sheffield, which is lovely! It's very clean and bright and I live on the top floor which is almost like a penthouse flat. I have a skylight and sloping walls/ceilings and it is the room in the house everyone wanted, so, yay for that! Also I discovered that the house has an old abandoned toilet outside with a gargoyle on the roof! SO COOL! If you follow me on Instagram (@strawberry_charlotte) you'll probably have heard me blabbering on about this already, but I really was very excited. Also, my new room looks like it will be good for outfit pictures, so get ready for more blogging from Sheffield!

5. I am also in the process of listing new pieces in my shop! I have been neglecting it for the past few months because of uni and other things, but I really want to make & sell more pretty things this summer. Please have a look here! (: