bohemian rhapsody

For a Saturday night house birthday party/dance-off.

I get antsy when I wear light and wispy clothes like this top. They don't necessarily fit with my personality (which is not necessarily prickly or sharp-edged, but certainly not cloud-like and sun-speckled). I picked it out from a Shanghai market for $7 way back when. The dreamy cotton, layers of necklaces and growing-out perm scream 'bohemian princess', and combine just a little too neatly into a 70s motif. I certainly didn't want to look costume-y, or as if I fell out of some absurd flower patch.

My solution was to balance it with an ancient (10+ years) pyramid stud belt that likely found its genesis in some bin in Claire's accessories. It has survived my teenage faux-punk and raver phase, many-a pair of flared pants, and other assorted indignities. Its reappearance in my wardrobe after many years of closet banishment just reinforces the foundation of my packrat mantra:

Never. Throw. Anything.Away.

It will come back to you, like a fashion boomerang, and you will smartly piece it together with something in a creative fashion. I wonder what else in my closet I can bring back up to the majors. Fleece bags? Over-sized Mossimo shirts? The possibilities are endless (and embarrassing).