an unwritten life...and Playing the Part...

I really like her leather gloves here...and her cape. I want a cape!!! ah. And her hat!

I love nautical/french look of the beige trench with stripes...
Her smuggler's hat to go with her new profession...



I reallyreallyreally would love to find a pair of sunglasses like hers.


Another reason to want a cape...
If only I could look this amazing in orange! Love the style of the dress though. I'd like to think it would suit me.





The only decent cap I could get of this coat--grey, with black fur collar/cuffs and gold buttons.
Bloom's watch.



I think part of the reason why I'm drawn to her style is that I love her character. I like characters that are quirky and like being quirky...they've found themselves and they know how to make it work. I have a fear of being ordinary, or seeming ordinary, or doing anything ordinary. Part of me thinks tho that even if I tried to be normal I'd still be kinda weird, and I like to see awesome characters who revel in their weirdness.
Style wise, Penelope's clothes are very bold, clean, and graphic. They look very European, which is funny cause the character grows up in the states but I'm guessing her awesomeness just ignored the general ordinaryness of the country around her and that's why she looks Euro. I like how she looks not only from a different country, but sometimes from a different time. Her clothes are just like her personality--they're bold, free, not too fussy, and they're usually stand-alone pieces (not very much layering going on). She wears a lot of black but often pairs it with one strong color--orange, green. She somehow manages to wear an incredibly sophisticated coat and still look like a little girl in it. If you saw her walking down the street you'd just want to get to know her because she looks so intriging.. She's approachable and charming and unique and probably more interesting then you'll ever be.
So yeah. That's why I like her style, and that's why I like her, and that's why she's one of my very top inspirations for outfits and such. Sometimes when I'm going out I'll choose a character to "be"--I plan my outfit around whomever it is, it never obviously looks like what it's supposed to be it's enough that I feel "in character". Actors and actresses of both theater and film often say that it's the costumes that really get them in the mood for the part they're playing, and that's what it's like for me when I put on a persona to go out. I even try to incorperate the mannerisims of the character--if I'm being Penelope, for example, I smile a lot, and try to adopt her sort of brisk, striding walk--serious and "I'm getting where I need to go". Being Penelope makes me feel better about making mistakes, because Penelope doesn't really care, and nobody else minds either. I suppose some people would say that I'm insecure or I don't know who I really am or something...but I'm quite sure it's exactly the opposite. Trying to be different people, even if they are fictional, helps me cultivate the sort of characteristics that I want to have...
Some days I look outside and think "today is going to be a Penelope day..." or "Today is a Easy Virtue day"...sometimes I have to watch a movie first to get myself in the right mood to "play the part"...other times, I can just reference the movie in my head to remember what I need to know. Other roles I put myself in would be "Mad Men", very occasionaly Gossip Girl (I would have to be in the right mood and the right place for this one though!), The Devil Wears Prada, Foyle's War, Hitchcock, Jenny in An Education...and on and on.
When I go to see a movie in the theater, I almost always try to incorporate even just a tiny something in my dress or makeup that I feel has something to do with the movie. Confessions of a Shopaholic? heels. Sherlock Holmes? short black skirt with purple ruffle (not sure how this relates but somehow in my mind it did). Leap Year? I accentuated my red hair with my "red hair" shampoo/conditioner, braided two little braids into the side, applied green eyeliner, and wore a green coat. Avatar? Blue eyeliner/mascara. It's never something that people would look at and associate with the film in question, or even if I told them what I was doing they probably wouldn't be able to pick it out. But it just makes me feel more legit somehow...as if the movie theater people will look at me and go "aha! she has a real reason to be here. unlike all these other people".
It's never something that is obviously supposed to be from the movie in question...and even if someone knew what I was doing they probably wouldn't catch it. Still, I like to imagine that one day when I'm "playing a part", someone will come up and ask "you know, what you're wearing really reminds me of..."
I still haven't decided if I'll jump up and down and go "REALLY? FINALLY!" or if I'll just smile mysteriously. I guess I just need to figure out what Penelope Sharp would do...