Outtakes

Quite often, blogging means posting only the good….. the outfits you think are good…… the pictures you think are good…….. But honestly, I am sure we can all relate that as passionate as we may be about something, there are some days where we are “just not feeling it”. I thought it would be a good topic to post about, and to show some outtakes of outfits that I ended up not liking for one reason or another.  Aside from not liking an outfit, or how I look on a particular day, there are other aspects that make me push blogging aside. Some days, I am just too exhausted from work and home to do anything else but relax. But more recently I have found that negativity on social media has deterred me as well. Let me explain:

I treat social media the same way as I did the day I joined it: a place for me to keep in touch with people. I don’t post about politics, religion, etc…. I don’t think it’s just the upcoming election that is the problem though. It’s the terrible pitchforking that is going on every time a new story comes across the feed! Suddenly, everyone is an expert on gorillas, zoos, alligators, theme parks, parenting, guns, rapists, which race/profession lives matter most, etc…. And when the next piece of news come out, whatever tragedy everyone was obsessed about is suddenly forgotten. Does that make it less important than it was 24 hours ago? Aren’t those involved still dealing with the aftermath (and will be for the rest of their lives)? Then there are the stories that don’t go viral that I read on a daily basis about human trafficking, child abuse, animal abuse, innocent people getting killed… and I am trying not to bawl at my desk, feeling sick to my stomach and just wanting to run home and hug my hubby and boys and never leave the house again! It’s times like that when I feel like posting about fashion is unimportant. Superficial.

But, if we stop doing what we love because we feel guilty, then we are letting the bad win in a way. Personally, the little bits of art and fashion that I love seeing every day online is what gets me through my days. Bright spots in a mass of negativity, no matter how much someone else might think they are superficial. However, even if you are trying to post positively to promote your business or brand (which happens to be about jewelry, or dolls, or outfits for example) you are not immune to hurtful things. I’ve watched over the years as some of my friends have been attacked online and it seemed no matter what they did they just couldn’t win. Did you know that there is even a site dedicated to making fun of bloggers? In that regard, I was always thankful that my blog was small and unknown. I never really had to deal with any haters. Until a few months ago……

 

It makes sense that you want to gravitate toward other people who share the same interests as you. This is sometimes easier to do online of course. I've heard many people refer to this as "community" and "tribe". I totally agree with that. When I changed my blog over to mostly fashion from jewelry making years ago, it was partly because I was involved in a weekly outfit post hosted by a blog specifically about Anthropologie. That blog is still active to this day, but the weekly outfit posts are far and few between. I can imagine what an undertaking that is to compile everyones submissions into a post! I missed it though, so several months ago when I found out about an Anthropologie Outfit Of The Day Facebook page, I was thrilled to join. It even re-energized my excitement for blogging. I won't get into details, but after I starting posting it was pointed out to me that this was wrong or that was wrong. I didn't get a chance to argue my point before being blocked from the page. It was hurtful, even at almost 40, to be excluded from something especially when I didn't feel like I broke the rules (or that others were doing similar things). So you see, even something as trivial as clothes can turn ugly.

Hopefully, all this rambling makes sense somehow. I will always love blogging, but sometimes I just need a break. On to the outtakes:

 

The first time I wore this LuLaRoe kimono, I had on all black. Trying to infuse some color into it here, I just didn't like the end result. 

Here I felt like the mint was not a good pairing with black.



The hemline of the shirt and sweater were not right with these wide leg jeans. Sometimes, proportions can be hard.



You know I love my "twofer" dresses, and I did like this outfit but it was so humid I felt like my curled hair was a hot mess. Just wasn't feeling it!



Here I was trying a trick I do quite often : tying a shirt over a dress. I've featured both the dress and shirt on here before and was excited about the black/tan match. But, the shirt was too bulky as was the waistline of the skirt of the dress making me look wider than I already am. I just felt like I was trying too hard.