Period Drama Fashion Week Tag

Emma Jane over at For the Beauty of the Earth is hosting a Period Drama Fashion Week, and though I'm a bit late to the party, I'm finally getting around to filling out the tag!

1. Tell us five random things about yourself.

~I really, really like Greg Lestrade's character on Sherlock.  He's probably my fifth favorite character, which is saying a lot.
~I'm currently reading Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen and falling in love with it all over again.
~I absolutely love getting mail (who doesn't?).
~I have four yet-to-be-answered letters sitting on my desk in front of me and two of them have the same kind of stamp.  (We did say random things, yes?)
~I passed my driver's test today and now have my license.  THIS IS JOYOUS NEWS INDEED and has been duly celebrated with chocolate.

2. What are some of your favorite dresses from period dramas? Pick three.

This was an incredibly hard question to answer but I finally decided it wasn't referring to my TOP three, just three of my favorites, so I went with Marianne Dashwood's "summer ensemble," Christine Daae's Wishing gown, and Esther Summerson's fan-front printed muslin dress.

3. How would you describe your own style?

Contemporary chic librarian-- sweaters, skirts and some modern boho/preppy influences.  

4. List (up to) five of your favorite period drama wardrobes.

~Esther Summerson's from Bleak House (image via Old-Fashioned Charm)

~Anne Shirley's from Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel

~Olivia King Dale's from Road to Avonlea

~Emma Woodhouse's from Emma (2009)

~Margaret Hale's from North and South (image via Portrait of a Maiden)

5. What are some of your favorite fashion eras?

The Regency era, the 1850's (and the Civil War era too) and the 1900's-1910's.

6. What are five things that make you happy?

Reading a good book when it's raining outside, opening my Blogger dashboard and seeing comments waiting for me, drinking a hot cup of tea, holding a soft snuggly baby and listening to a song that thrills me to my fingertips.

7. Do you like to wear hats?

I love to wear hats!!!!  That totally deserved four exclamation points, because my passion for hats needs airing now and then.  I only rarely get to wear them, but I adore them.  I was just saying to a friend recently that wearing hats at weddings needs to come back in style in the US... someday when I get married, ladies will be requested to wear hats to the wedding.  Heehee.

8. Do you have a favorite fictional character who has the same name as you?

Indeed-- Amy Dorrit from Little Dorrit.  Our characters are not much alike at all, but I do identify with her in nomenclature at least.  (And neither of us like Mrs. General.  Haha.)  My dad's rather fond of calling me Aymee in a Chivery-esque fashion, and my best friend nicknamed me Mouse when we first met.

9. What is one of the ugliest dresses you've ever seen in a period drama?

Estella Havisham's white monstrosity in Great Expectations (2011).  YICK.

10. What is the most-worn color in your wardrobe?

Brown.  I have a lot of shades of brown.

11. What are your sentiments on the subject of tea?

DID SOMEONE SAY TEA.  Green, white, black, rooibos, herbal, fruit-flavored... I love pretty much all of it.  Especially Moriar-tea, because that's what people BREW!

12. Do historical inaccuracies bother you?

Tremendously... if I want them to.  I'm a big fan of Scarlett O'Hara's wardrobe in Gone With the Wind (some of it, anyway) and I have to shut a blind eye to all the glaring mistakes in her dresses.  But I've been known to complain loudly over any kind of anachronism in a dress I didn't like, haha.

13. What are some of your favorite eras of men's fashions?

Men's fashion is boring.  Next.  (Okay, okay, the 1930's were pretty dapper.)

14. Have you ever read any books on historical fashion?

Several!  I'm currently in the depths of From Queen to Empress, a dissection of ladies' clothing during the span of the Victorian era.

15. If you could pick just three fictional characters to have over for tea, who would you invite?

Sherlock Holmes, Emma Woodhouse and Bertie Wooster. Now that's what I call a party.

Autumn Allure Fashion Event: Outfits Two and Three

I've decided to do my outfits two at a time to save space, so here you have Saturday's and today's.  I made no attempt at fashion whatsoever on Monday, since I babysat a one-year-old for a good part of the day and the old sweater I wore ended up rather... wet.  And chewed.  Ahem.

So, Saturday's outfit!  Denim, Khaki and Dolphins.  

I could call this "full-length shot" if I chose but I prefer to title it Paper Face On Parade.  (Because books are made of paper, you know.  It's a PUN.  It's supposed to be FUNNY.  Which means you should at least smile.

Please?) 

Khaki skirt - Goodwill
Denim top - Goodwill
Dolphin necklace - Outer Banks gift shop
White tank top - Walmart.

Everyone has at least one top that doesn't come up high enough.  I happen to have several, and for the most part I resort to using snaps or safety pins.  But that doesn't work too well on denim.  With this one, I could just sew a new button in place of the missing one, but I don't have one to match, so I usually just take the lazy easy way out and wear a tank top underneath.  But what about tank tops that are too low? you say.  Why, turn them around and wear them backwards, dahling!  That's what I did!

Tuesday's Outfit- Autumnal Ruffles (because that name sounds Romantical)

I didn't wear a necklace today because of deep, dark reasons known only to myself.  (read: I forgot)  Today the weather was that perfect fall-ish kind-- crisp and chilly but warm in the sun, so this lightweight long cardigan was perfect.  And it made me feel Dressy and Stylish, which are not bad things.  Not in the least.

White t-shirt - Land's End, thrifted 

Brown cardigan - Urban Outfitters, thrifted (cough... that's a theme in many of my outfits, so 'twould seem).  The sweater ties at the waist but that's the only way of attaching the two sides.  I didn't like the way it kept flopping open at the top (the perfectionist in me couldn't stand the sides being uneven) so I safety-pinned it.  Is there a statue somewhere to the person who invented safety pins?  There should be.

Denim skirt - hand-me-down from a friend

Brown pumps/loafers - J.C. Penney's.  I love these shoes to pieces.  Well, not literally to pieces.  But almost.

What have you been wearing these lovely autumn days?