Friday, July 1, 2016

One Piece Three Ways: Mary Blair Umbrella Skirt

It's hard to express how happy skirts with pockets make me. And a skirt with pockets that twirls well, in an adorable print? Um, you had me at hello!

For the longest time, I honestly wasn't crazy about the Mary Blair Umbrella skirt from Pinup Girl Clothing. Sure, it looked super cute on literally everyone I saw wearing it, but it wasn't a must-have for me the way it was for so many others. But then it was restocked right when the orange-border skirt hit the site. Now, I'm one of those people who would rather spend a lot more money buying something to get my order over the free-shipping threshold than spend a couple of bucks on shipping. I debated for a few minutes, and then threw the umbrellas skirt in my cart.

Every so often, my impulsive decisions work out a zillion times better than I could've hoped, and thankfully, this was one of those times! This skirt is glorious and so easy to style, and now it also comes in yellow! There are lots of colors in this skirt (red, blue, lime green, black, and white), which make it super easy to style, and the pockets are big enough to fit the Kingslayer's golden hand! In my book, that adds up to a major win.
pinup girl clothing mary blair umbrella jenny skirt pink
Outfit #1
pinup girl clothing pink mary blair umbrellas skirt
I know it's a bit unusual to mix red and pink (at least outside a Valentine card!), but this new-to-me red top matches the umbrellas perfectly, and besides, it's red. I love red! I've written about how much I love Pinup Girl's Sean tops before, and I was beyond excited when I saw this red one up on the swap/sell  Facebook group! I snapped it up, and now I have a traffic light's-worth of these perfect tops! They're flattering, comfortable, and (most importantly) not too scandalous, which makes them a giant hit in my book! The little collar makes it a little more exciting than a plain solid shirt usually is. Add my pink jelly bracelets from high school and a sassy feminist brooch, and I'm good to go!

Take that, MRAs!
pinup girl clothing red sean top mary blair pink umbrella skirt
Top: Pinup Girl Clothing Sean top (restocking soon!)
Shoes: Zulily
Belt: H+M, forever ago

Outfit #2
For a dress I thought I'd never wear again, this cotton bodycon dress from H+M is having a successful revival as a top! I'm firmly of the opinion that leopard print is a neutral: it involves colors we think of as neutrals (either black, grey, and white, or shades of brown/tan), and it works anywhere that stripes would. I think the Mary Blair umbrellas look great with stripes too, but I wanted to style this in a slightly unexpected way (and put that bodycon dress to good use!), so I went with the dress. I don't have a blue belt that matches this exactly, but I think the lighter blue of this stretchy, sparkly number works just fine. My heart purse and matching red shoes round out the look with a suitable pop of "omg I can't resist adding red to everything."
Voodoo Vixen heart purse
The higher the hair...
Dress: H+M
Shoes: Zulily
Purse: Voodoo Vixen
Belt: Modcloth

Outfit #3
I wrote about my newfound ability to embrace the crop top recently, and here I am rocking the one that   helped me get over my crop-top hangups! It makes me feel so powerful to wear something that I'd thought was off-limits for so long. This outfit also features the rare 'double-brooch' game: one to match the little lime bits in the skirt, and one to match the pink and blue. It was hotter than Hades when I took these, so I went with a simple ponytail and left the petticoat at home.

I don't think I could've worn this outside the house a year ago, or even six months ago, but I've really been inspired by all the bloggers, Instagrammers, and all-around badass ladies who are further down the road to body acceptance than I am. Score one for the internet!
No petticoat, no problem! Top left is my "yeah, I'm a total badass" face.
Top: Forever 21, secondhand
Shoes: Gap, two years ago
Hair flower: Daisy Jean Floral Designs Penelope peony
Earrings and lime brooch: Atomic Lucite
Alice brooch: Femme de Bloom

After seeing how much fun it is to plan outfits for this skirt, I'm even happier that I went for it! I went for colors that appear in the print, but this skirt would also look cute with lavender, stripes (of course!), yellow, and lime green.

Which of these looks do you like best?

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4 comments:

  1. It's so much more versatile than you'd think! I like the third outfit, though you're so right about leopard print being a neutral!! I agree! I also like calling black and white stripes a neutral as I often mix one of my staple black white striped tees with pattern skirts in the summer. WHY NOT??

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    1. Totally agree with you on stripes as a neutral! I definitely act like it's not a solid-colored shirt and defy others to call me out on it ;). Leopard print has really emerged as the sleeper hit of the past three years of my life, and it's such a step in the right direction!

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  2. Ah, that skirt is so darn cute! LOVEEEE the bright coral background shade! Since I'm a very matchy-matchy person my nature, I love the first outfit the best of the 3. That shirt is purrfection with the skirt! I love your adorable purse, as well.

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    1. Aww, thank you! It's such a gorgeous print, and so bright and cheery! I'm pretty much obsessed with the Sean top, and am hoping that they actually bring out more colors soon, like they'd mentioned in the Lounge recently!

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