Steam Dream

This outfit was inspired by the lovely Sal. It was something she said during her visit a couple of weeks ago, while we were out shopping on Haight Street and had stopped into Daljeet's so that I could search for a pair of cropped pinstriped pants (which are still eluding me). I pointed to a mannequin done up in a corset-style dress with lots of ruffles and laces and perhaps some funky hardware and probably some lace-up boots, and sheepishly admitted that if I only had the venue for it I'd dress like that pretty much all the time. Sal asked what was stopping me, and why I didn't at least try to incorporate some of the individual items into my daily wear if I couldn't go full-out neo-Victorian steampunk goth.

Ever since then I've been turning this idea over, and realizing that despite dressing in a very flamboyant, and in a very ME way, I really do skip over a big part of my sartorial personality in my daily wear. So yesterday I pulled this steampunk-style vest out of my closet and decided I'd put together a work-appropriate version of that other side of me. I didn't have any ruffles (YET -- tune in tomorrow, though!), so I paired the vest with one of my trusty tulle skirts for a little of that rugged plus ultra-girly concept that's so prevalent in steampunk style. I added my rivet-studded boots for a little more hardware. If I substituted my lace-up Fluevog boots I could easily turn this into the sort of look I pointed out to Sal, but for work this was a good approximation without being too outrageous.

A big thanks to wonderful Sal for encouraging me to dress the way I truly dream of. This look felt great, and you'll definitely be seeing more of this style creep into my work wear. I'll post more about Sal and Mike's visit soon, but in the meantime I'll let you in on a little secret about Sal: she's even more beautiful in real life than she is in her photos. Seriously. And not surprisingly, every bit as awesome as you'd think she is.

Vest: Steam Trunk
Top: Max Studio
Jacket: Zadig & Voltaire
Skirt: Noa Noa
Socks: Sock Dreams
Shoes: Jo Ghost