firmoo + giveaway

Wearing fake glasses...

I know it's completely silly of me, and I'm sure people who actually need them find it ridiculous, but I must confess I own and occasionally wear several pairs of fake/lesnless glasses!

I think I started my love of sporting fake glasses when I lived in China.

1. People had no shame about wearing or doing things "just for fashion" so this trend was everywhere and it felt normal to buy and wear glasses for fashion instead of necessity.

2. Wearing frames actually has an emotional impact and ability to make me feel a little bit hidden. This was so valuable in China when I got stared at just for going to the grocery store. Sometimes I was tired/sick/grumpy and NOT in the mood for attention; glasses let me go forth with a feeling of being "in disguise."

3. I found fake glasses especially comforting when I got a crazy rash on my face! I know people could still see I was foreign/had a rash on my face, but the glasses still made me feel protected somehow.

I still get in that same mood to feel inconspicuous from time to time so frames like these from Firmoo can come in handy. I use them on "shy" days or "bad eye days" as I call them (you know when your eyelid is puffy or your eyes just look tired??) And... I'm not kidding... I really am this big of a cliche... but glasses can also make you feel smart! I like to throw them on when I know I'm going to have a busy, efficient day. They help me remember the part.

 Firmoo was so nice to offer me a pair of glasses in exchange for trying them out and writing a blog post about it. I like these lenses I ended up choosing, they're kind of scholarly and mousy, great for "bad eye days" or "need to feel smart" days. I could have tolerated them being even bigger and rounder. Sometimes you just have to go big or go home when it comes to being a glasses faker.

A good thing about Firmoo glasses is that these cute frames are for the vision impaired and the wannabes alike! If you're a super faker like me, you can even order them without the plastic lenses and just have the frames. Sometimes I prefer that because I can see better without the fake plastic lens. The irony of this is not lost on me. I know people probably think I am so strange when they notice I have no glass in my glasses... But I can't help it! I'm just a big ole poser.

Do you want some Firmoo glasses, too? Whether you are a legitimate glasses-needer or a simple frames-for-fashion lover, Firmoo has you covered.
I am giving away 6 vouchers for $30 at Firmoo! 
You can choose from their Designer Frames (which I LOVE) here. You're just responsible for S&H. This giveaway is open internationally to places Firmoo delivers to. Check here to make sure your country is covered. 

How to enter: 
Comment with which pair is your favorite and an email address I can reach you at. For extra entires, "like" Firmoo and Zombielace on Facebook. You can also share this giveaway on your social media of choice. Let me know which you do so I can give you the extra entries! Giveaway ends May 1st. 

A few of my faves:

Here

Here

Here

Lacy Little Evening Gem

Look at this adorable teacup lady in her sheer lace blouse and granny shorts and stocking feet! This is Ramona, the voice and face of Nite Jewel.  And this is how she pranced around the stage with her hair everywhere, making us all nod our heads to her ethereal poppy electronic beats and kinda reminding me of Madonna but a little sweeter. She was even sweet enough to indulge me to take a quick pic of her outfit. Her top is from Edith and Daha in NYC and her shorts are from American Rag. I like how she layers the former over a plain black bra; chic and precious. And all vintagely green! It was girl crush at first sight <3

Check out this surreal and awesome video for her song One Second of Love, complete with a creepy sister-wife choreographed dance and drunken housewife orgy. 

One Second of Love by Nite Jewel from Secretly Jag on Vimeo.

I Spy 90s Navajo Print Gold

Don't judge me, but I've been rewatching the cheesy soapy glory that is Boy Meets World. Not even cute childhood BMW, but the later high school years wrought with all its delicious drama and corny humor. I do this for a number of reasons. The catharsis of heaving all those pent up sighs, mourning never having a love as pure as Cory and Topanga's, sure. But just as importantly is the super fun 90's fashion spotting. Like so:

Here's Angela from Boy Meets World (1997) wearing a sweet Navajo print fleece hoodie. Since I can't marry my preschool sweetheart, now my only wish is this thing will turn up during my next thrift store visit! Do you have any guilty pleasures in TV land?

the shades that got away

I fear I may be suffering under a curse. 

For every time I fall completely in love with a pair of sunglasses, they are inevitably and tragically torn from me.

Meet Number 1: My first sunglass love and the ones I'll be pining to recreate my entire life. First purchased in a sort of costume shop called Junkman's Daughter way back in high school (see natural hair color below), they were my first pair of interesting shades and shielded my eyes from the sun faithfully and fashionably for years. They'd still be with me if it weren't for one unspeakable day at the aquarium some 3-4 years ago. I lost them. It's a day etched into my heart with a dagger called regret.  

Number 2: Maybe they started out as a rebound... but real lasting love did develop. Originally purchased at a costume shop in Charleston, these rose tinted beauties were going to be part of an Annie Hall costume that never panned out. Instead they became a featured part of the Katie costume I wear daily, and I feel secure in saying, helped mold me into the woman I am today. They were snatched from my face by the cruel sea mere minutes after this last photo with them was snapped. The experience was as cold and shocking as the wave that caused it. 

In China, I experimented. I tried square frames and oval lenses. I tried fray bans and rhinestones. Eventually I settled on this round tortoise-shell dream... And this is how that romance brutally ended:

Just when I thought all hope was lost, the Cobra Shop and their wealth of eye accessories entered my spectrum of awareness. This little slice of badass is called the Janice and I want to make her mine as soon as possible...

Source: the Cobra Shop 

Source: the Cobra Shop

source: we heart it

shoe love conquers all

It even conquers my usual thriftiness when it comes to dropping serious dough on unessential items.

Enter: The Lita (by Jeffrey Campbell). I first noticed this mammoth of a shoe on Twitch Vintage's blog here, and they have been dancing through my head like glittery bone-crushing sugar plumbs ever since.

source: solestruck

They come in countless colors and designs, but I like these ones that look like they were made out of an old musty carpet bag. There's something delightfully witchy about them for Fall. My finger is hovering over the trigger button, ready to BUY BUY BUY! But this annoying side of my brain who calls herself Practicality keeps reminding me that they cost over $100 and might not fit in well in a 3rd grade classroom. And I'm saying to her "But But But... there's always weekends and after school and I can always bring a change of flats along with me!"

Oh what to do, what to do?

WIS.

Summer days spent in
back-porch shade with lavender
tea and lemonade.

This maxi dress and crop top combo is very fashionable in China right now. I've Americanized my rendition by adding moccasins and my vintage macrome bag, where a Chinese girl might style it with wedges or even converse all star, and a big square clutch in a lovely bright color. Possibly.

I love the random little "WIS." on the breast pocket. Lots of clothes in China are adorned with "English" words, and I frame that in quotations because they often aren't quite words. Like "WIS.".... what does it mean? Why the period? Is it short for Wisconsin? Or did that combo of letters just look neat to someone?

Wearing
Dress and top: China
Moccasins: Cherokee, NC
Hat: Thrifted
Bag: Was my ma's
Dog: Belongs to my parents

Ah beautiful back-porch lounging, interrupted only by the occasional trip to walk the dog.

gingham fantasies

I impulsively want to buy this retro Esther Williams swimsuit for $74 dollars. Which I know is crazy when Target has some perfectly fine, if not perfectly gingham, more affordable options (this one at $35).

But the imitation is just not doing it for me! Is it crazy to spend 50 extra bucks just to fulfill some Mary Ann a la Gilligan's Island braided hair and denim wedge beachside fantasy? Someone talk me out of it! Or into it....

edit: Look what just appeared on my tumblr dash!

source: fromme-toyou

The swimsuit is apparently ModCloth's "Cherry Pie" and costs a whopping $90 (pictured below).

Source: Modcloth

Source: ModCloth

Delicious name and of course the styling wins hands down... I'm already adding a straw hat and a basket of blueberries to my fantasy... but the price is making the Esther Williams version even tastier. 

Plus, she's Esther Williams! She is this swimsuit. It feels wrong to go with an overpriced imitation when you can buy from the bathing beauty herself.

Source: flickr

Oh decisions decisions! What would you and your bank account do?

Things to miss: My life partner, Tate

I am transitioning to my Wordpress blog; in a few days, I will no longer have access to blogger. It's going to be hard going through withdrawal from all my favorite blogger blogs, but I gotta do it! Along with facebook and other google related creature comforts... But please check me out there! May Go Wren: China Blog.  Fashion/vintage/style related entries will be categorized as "Zombie Lace"so click on that if you want to filter out unrelated stuff!

Today's post (since I don't have a lot of time what with packing and preparing etc) is dedicated to my cat whom I am cruelly abandoning while I travel the East. Praying my two friends can take her, but that's not going to be a sure thing til later today so KINDA nervous on that! Made this video to encourage them:

(if that doesn't work, try here for youtube)

And this is what I've been wearing to pack and move and hustle and bustle:









100 % Thrifted (something else I'll miss doing in China!!)

platfornication

Weird title, I know, but I've been lusting so hard over platforms lately I kind of wish I could do them. All night long.

(the Kork Ease platform wedges owned and frequently rocked by Calivintage)

One of the hardest things for me about moving out of the country in a month is trying to keep my clothing collection under control. I feel like I've been purging and purging my wardrobe, yet can't seem to muster up the self control to keep new additions from sneaking in. Some things I justify, by making myself get rid of three items for every one I add, or telling myself how useful all the blouses and blazers I can't resist will be for teacher outfits in China.

But then there's shoes. Oooooh wonderful shoes. I know a lot of girls can relate to the warm fuzzy feeling, the pitter patter of the heart, the cold sweat that erupts at the sight of a beautiful pair of shoes. Platform shoes are one of those highly impractical items to lug halfway across the world, being bulky and heavy by design. And just as the nature of eros in classic greek thought requires the beloved and the lover to never actually unite for "love" to exist, so must I be sundered from the object of my desire thus intensifying these pangs of plat-love.

(Sappho, thinking about the sequined Louboutins she can never afford.)

This feeling has inspired humans to create art about it for thousands of years, like Sappho immortalized in her fragmented versus on eros. I was similarly seized by inspiration when Margaret from the blog Shine by Three wrote up designer Irene Brandt, and I got a load of these incredible platforms:

I don't know why I am so in love. Maybe because they remind me of space-monster boots except super chic in lovely soft gray suede, and that they would make me taaaalllll!

I wrote a haiku about them for my tumblr blog:

You kill me, Irene,
with your fab ankle boots. Note
to Self: MARRY RICH.

Okay, so I'm no Sappho. But I do find it therapeutic to fantasize about all the platforms in the world that I shall someday make mine without actually indulging the urge. I already have more crap than I can bring to China, and must remind myself that China is a glorious mecca for all things trendy and fashionable and inexpensive... I can buy as many platform wedges as it takes to fill the void in my heart once I'm over there. I do have one really awesome pair already that are absolutely coming with me though. They're familiar and comforting (if not terribly comfortABLE). I love them even though they're far from designer. I picked them up for something like $30 in one of the ghetto fabulous boutiques at Underground Atlanta.

H&M blouse

Thrifted hawaiin print skirt

Sam Moon bag

Platforms <3

I don't have a good picture of them by themselves but here they are featured in these outfits. I wore this when my three best friends from childhood and I were on a trip together. As it happens, all three of them are TALL, like, grazing the 6 foot margin. At 5'4 I'd say I'm average, but somehow always feel like a twelve year old when the four of us get together!

(I'm the short one)

One more reason to declare my devotion to the plats: They make me feel like one of the girls instead of a little sister! As long as the rest of them opt for flats, that is...

(sorry for the quality and slight irrelevance of my images, my camera is still out of service so I worked with what I had!)

shirt swallow me whole

This shirt was kind of an impulse buy at H&M... I don't know if any of you remember my resolution about not buying mass-produced clothing anymore, but I kind of fell off the wagon. It started earlier this Summer when I entered a store called Love Culture in Cincinatti (an even cheaper even trendier Forever 21 type deal), and my resolution was burried under a pile of cute blouses and accessories. Also, it's where I got these sweet biker shorts that have been serving me well all summer. I've tried to be good after that binge, and have been up until the H&M incident, for which I do feel a twinge of guilt. But luckily that guilt is drowned in the sea of fabric making up this hilariously gigantic shirt.

Shirt: H&M

Biker shorts: Love Culture

Shoes, bag, necklace: Thrifted

Glasses: Costume Shop

Zombie Lace -- Not Completely Dead!

As it happens, I had to admit to myself that as much as I love fashion following and blogging as a hobby, I can't let it get in the way of my concrete goals for life. I had to back off the blog for many reasons, from losing my digital camera, to feeling plain uninspired about writing about outfits. There's something to be said for dressing from the subconscious, without analyzing or over-thinking my choices in context of blogging. Not having a camera aided this, and I actually think the respite was liberating in a way!

I did get some random snapshots of outfits here and there. To update you, here is kind of what I dressed like over the colder months.

I suppose I sort of oscilated between glam-loving granny and Victorian school girl. Lots of colorful skin tight bottoms and oversized sweaters. I altered some sequin pants from a dance costume long ago, and I pretty much lived in these leopard gold leggings I found in the ghetto-fabulous treasure chest known as Underground Atlanta. Seriously, the best cheapest place to fulfill your blingtastic needs.

I found these 80s lace-up boots at an awesome little Antique store off Highland Avenue and I got a ton of use out of them this Winter. I think my Victorian looks were inspired from taking my very last class of my college career, the works of the Bronte sisters.

Speaking of my very last class of my college career, I guess now is a good time to reveal my post-graduation plan. In August, I am moving to China to be an English teacher!

And so brings me to the new direction of this blog. I know I'll probably lose some people (and I so hate to lose you, but I understand this is a FASHION blogging community so it only makes sense!) but this blog is going to evolve to reflect my journey. I'll be facing a unique set of challenges, and I plan to be dressed well while facing them and to continue to gush about clothes and antiques and insane bargains, but Zombie Lace will become less geared towards fashion and more towards Teaching Abroad.

My last few months in Atlanta, I will cross all my i's and dot all my t's and say my farewell to the Atlanta scene. I'll also record my experiences as a young Western graduate preparing to ship overseas and hopefully my awkward disasters and mishaps will serve as wisdom and guidance for the voyagers who come after me. Once in China, I will be unable to use Blogger.com, and will then switch to some platform acceptable over there. I hope I can bring some of you with me along for the ride.

Thank you so much for reading and sticking with me this long! I can't wait to start getting reaquainted with your blogs and stealing your outfit ideas.