#edit forgot to mention but this design was based off of the angel from the _boisvert yt series

[beaudesoleil]

this is what starclan cats look like to me in my mind

[faeriedays]

“#i loooooove fashion stuff its so cool #especially good omens metas #like i can rant to you about crowley's costume designs all day long”

I’m listening 👀👂

Sorry it took so long for me to reply! I was busy writing this out all day, lol.

It's long so I'm putting a 'Keep Reading' for anyone who wants to back out.

So I'm not very good at explaining things and these have probably already been mentioned but here goes :) I also have images but I messed up their formatting (I do have image descriptions though, even if I'm bad at writing). Warning for probable spelling mistakes and if something doesn't make sense, I literally have spent all day doing this instead of homework and I am so excited that I might have missed something in editing.

Before we dive deep, I’m going to list off the bat the outfits I don’t necessarily talk about or use as examples all that much in this essay thing/rant:

I’m going to put the knight outfit here because I don’t talk about it in great detail here but it’s still amazing and I love it. It definitely plays in with the classic ‘all black, nice shape, cool texture’ package that you’ll read about later. He must’ve been so uncomfortable in this but he looks great, I also wonder if he had long luscious locks underneath that helmet 👀

I also don’t talk about his Original fit much, but it's still so slay. I like how Crowley is wearing dark gray and not just black in his beginning outfit, because it already shows that he’s not quite on the side of evil but a shade of gray. He never was on the side of evil…think about it, most of his outfits have some sort of color other than black, even if it’s really dark gray...

I think the Angel fit is important because first of all he’s adorable and secondly it gives us more insight to what his rank could have been based on his sleeves and collar. It also makes me sad because he’s just a little guy !!! Poor thing.

And though it’s one of my favorite things, I don’t talk much about the 70s fit even though he’s literally so handsome I can’t even. The shirt, the boots, the glasses, the moustache...I want to be him, he’s sososo gorgeous aughhhh,,,,, (I also think his big chunky watch is really funny lol)

Oh, and I almost forgot his pretty little turtleneck. This outfit doesn’t vary much from his other outfits, and also it’s possibly normal for him to be wearing this garment, considering he wore a turtleneck in 1966. I just think it’s fascinating how he changed his outfit for a fun little date with Aziraphale going around SoHo. That’s really cute of him. 

I also think it’s funny that the only 3 times he wears a turtleneck is 1967, this time, and his angel disguise. They’re his ‘time to be mischievous’ garments, because in 1967 he’s robbing a church, modern day he’s sneaking around SoHo with his angel, and in Heaven, well, he’s infiltrating it and going through secret files.

And as I was editing this, I forgot his Eff Stuff Up Jacket. He wears this in the deleted scene where he took down the phone networks, and idk I just thought it was cool. The fake ID card is great too. He’s doing it with style, he is.

Look at that beautiful demon right there. I love how his lapels point down towards hell when he does this, since he’s doing a hellish task. That’s really neat.

Moving on...

First of all let's talk about the color palette. This is kind of obvious so don’t judge me, but I absolutely love the colors that are picked out for him. Mostly black, yes, but also red (which I find fascinating as it is the contrasting color to Hell's green look and also the stereotypical 'devil' color), and sometimes a dark gray or an oxblood. I think it's just really cool because no matter how many different outfits, Crowley, like Aziraphale, has mostly the same colors.

I think it’s nice (well maybe not nice, nice is a 4 letter word…) how he has a more warm-toned, deep, rich palette while Aziraphale’s colors are more cool toned and light, complementing each other (as always, but you’d assume that the warm, caring angel would have more warm, full tones and the cold, aloof demon would have the opposite). 

I’d also like to add that since Crowley has his beautiful snake eyes, he’s likely dichromatic, meaning he can see in two colors, blue and green, but also that he could be colorblind to red (this is probably why Aziraphale dresses in blues, but it also makes me wonder about Crowley and his outfits; does he think he’s dressing in grays or a less saturated red?) Anyway, more images because he's pretty and I like colors :)

 His selective color palette means that a lot of what makes his outfits, well, his, is something else. This would be mainly texture. Whether it's scaly (like his snakeskin…‘boots’) or ruffly (see 1827 for a major example of this, just look at these freakin patterns omgomgomg) or an almost stripy texture (like the 1941 suit and Bildad’s fire fit), Crowley's outfits benefit because of those extra touches. They make his outfits stand out, especially with a ‘limited’ color palette.

In addition, he is often dressed in the kind of clothing that accentuates his height and build. He wears waistcoats that almost bring a cinched waist effect (and accentuate that pretty little waist of his!!! god i wanna see him in a corset so bad), and sometimes he wears vertical patterns/textures to make him seem even taller, which is especially fitting for a lean demon.

His shoulders are accentuated with either a puffy sleeve (see 1827 or 1601) or a squared off look (see modern day and various suits from time). It definitely gives a nice touch and affects his overall shape and appearance.

I also just wanted to mention in this section before I move on that I love how his lapels point up like little demon horns. I think that's cool 😈.

Okay this part is one of my favorite parts. Crowley LOOOOOVES to adorn himself. B U T T O N S (this mfer is addicted to buttons), serpent pieces, bows; you name it, it’s probably going to end up in his outfit. He is so fancy and with time brings even more ways to add glitter and glam to his clothing. And he isn’t careless with his accessories either; his extras line up with his outfit and instead of distracting from the rest of his garments, brings it all to a more composed, complex look while making it still look complete and not ‘busy’.

It’s also good to notice that he usually wears jewelry/metal that is either silver or black. Gold isn’t his color and he knows it; this is especially important because that’s a ‘heaven’ color (white, gold, light gray) while silver is more of a hellish color (silver, green, black).

The bows and neckwear:

The buttons !!!:

The snake pieces, the snake pieces! Whether it’s a texture, a silver piece, whatever it may be, there’s always something snake related in his outfit.

Another thing I find fascinating is the fact that modern Crowley wears a lot of clothes that appear in the ‘women’ section and things that would not be considered stereotypically masculine, but rather androgynous. He dresses like a snazzy little lesbian and I adore it. (Looking at those super skinny, too tight jeans,,,)

Girl you ATE.

I am now going to go on a tangent about the fact that Crowley is not afraid to dress in a way that would worry and/or agitate people. He plays with expression and probably loves when people give him weird stares. Whether he dresses in a surprisingly feminine way (see Mesopotamia, see the Crucifixion, see Ashtoreth), whether he dresses like a mourner (see Rome and kind of 1827 a little bit), whether his outfits go against the status quo (literally pick your poison), he is always doing it in style.

Images:

It's interesting for her/him/whatever Crowley wants forever to dress more feminine at the earlier two times, because it would be more customary for her to be accompanied by a man, meaning she's giving off the vibes that she's related to Aziraphale by blood or marriage. I think that's cute tbh. I also love Ashtoreth, she is SERVING, I love her hair, I love her vibe, I love how she was inspired by Mary Poppins. She reminds me of Mrs. Andrews from the Mary Poppins musical.

More images:

I didn’t know where to put this but I wanted to mention that Crowley in 1827 is dressed masculine but more flamboyant than Aziraphale at this time, and corrects pronouns/honorifics when Mr. Dalrymple tried to say ‘Mr.’ Nonbinary ICON right there I love them.

Okay now let me give a more fascinating and detailed example of Crowley being a weird little guy, Rome.

Oh, Rome. Crowley is basically dressed like either a dead guy or a tourist tbh and I think that’s hilarious.

The laurel wreaths are usually either for emperors/high class (which was probably what Crowley was going for after tempting one) or they’re in funeral portraits. The wreath represents your achievements in life and Definitely is not street wear.

His hair is definitely not in style with the military chic kind of vibes that were going on at the time like Aziraphale’s–no no no, his curls are more fit to be a lady’s hairstyle (if he’d grown his hair out ofc). 

The dark clothes definitely give a mourning kind of palette, but that’s relatively normal with Crowley. What isn’t is his weird shawl thing with the red zig zag that is definitely foreign and most certainly draped the wrong way.

He’s wearing a pin and ring brooch??? That’s definitely not from Rome. That’s more of a British Isles thing–this kind of pin and ring brooch is not from Rome. But it’s very weird because unlike the Romans, who loved snake jewelry as it represented rebirth and healing, the British Isles did not do snake jewelry. So where’d he get this commissioned?

Bro is so unfashionable, and he’s homeless, gay, has aids, and is new in town /ref new in town. His dark glasses are probably the only thing that’s relatively normal here, as it makes sense that his glasses could exist in this time period, whether they be from Rome or any number of other places.

✨Snazzy ✨

Which brings me to my final topic: his sunglasses. I love how they change to reflect himself throughout history. Of course he follows the latest trends in fashion and such, but I also appreciate his little spin on them.

Here are some of my favorite pairs:

So yeah, in summary I love Crowley’s overall design and how it suits him over the course of 6000 (or let’s be real, millions of) years.

What's your favorite outfit (and also can I have a freaking wahoo after this, I'm so out of breath metaphorically)?

PS: I bet you’re wondering, ‘well what about the angelic disguise???’ Well fret not, for I loveloveloveee the heaven disguise. It just didn’t make sense to group it with the things I was talking about earlier, so here goes:

He’s still in grey, which is nice, but it’s really light grey. He also is wearing a turtleneck, which I find funny. Perhaps this is because most of the angels don’t wear a stereotypical dress shirt, so it helps with blending in. His jacket, however, is specifically not heaven-like. It’s far too casual, and even zips up, which leads me to believe that this is supposed to be satire on how professional the angels are supposed to be. He does have the color-coding right, though; he has a white shirt under a darker color jacket.

His thick ass tie is hilarious. It’s bright, it’s flashy, it's glittery, and it would seem very suspicious and attention-grabbing to me if I were an angel. I also find it fascinating that he does this, as gold is shown to be not as fashionable in season 2 (I’ll be using Uriel as an example in a moment). I think he does this so that he can show how tacky angels are and how not up-to-date he is with them. 

Crowley’s tie:

Uriel (a very fashionable angel indeed) keeping up with the trends:

You can see in the set of images how the angelic fashion changed from copious amounts of gold to no gold at all. 

Finally, I want to talk about his other accessories. 

The headband is really silly, and it gives him a little bit of poof in his bangs, which ever so slightly mirrors him when he was an actual angel. The black with light swirls definitely gives off a tacky vibe. 

His glasses have lighter colored metal frames, which I find interesting too. 

And he didn’t dye his tattoo gold for this btw. He put a freaking STICKER of his tattoo over his actual tattoo. That is HYSTERICAL to me I can’t even.

Overall, the fit almost gives off a Y2K vibe to it. I think that’s interesting too because maybe that’s the last time before the Apocawhoops that he saw the Angels’ clothing? I dunno, and that would also be interesting because he usually tries to dress as modern as possible, maybe he's being a couple decades out of date for the funnies. Anyway, it’s working and it is hella funny. And I love Muriel’s expressions during this scene, they are not convinced.

So, in summary, our snakey boi decided to dress in the tackiest, most satirical way for his angelic disguise. He does not look like a bee in this beehive, he looks like a poorly-dressed wasp, hehe. I wonder how Aziraphale would've reacted if he saw Crowley's disguise...

(also, I didn’t mean for this to end up as a ‘Do you love the color of the sky Crowley’ kind of post, I just find fashion, especially historical, really fascinating and I definitely didn’t get all my words in but I think it’s more than enough for now)

[welcometophu]

Not Your Destiny: Chapter 19

Marked Book 1: Not Your Destiny

Chapter 19

[ Previous | First | Next ]

The tattoo maker is still sitting off to the side in the office, where Ángel left it. He hopes that whoever gave it to him doesn’t think he doesn’t appreciate it; he does. He just forgot it on Tuesday, and by Wednesday what happened with Emerson had taken everything else out of mind.

He brings in his laptop on Thursday and climbs under the desk so he can plug it in. He’s fine without wifi, but when Gabi sees him setting up, she slides a piece of paper to him with the information to log in, so he gets himself on the network as well. He unpacks the printer part of the tattoo maker, notes that there’s enough paper to make maybe a dozen larger images, more if he prints multiple on a page.

It’s enough to have some fun.

Unfortunately, work comes first, and a series of calls send him out into the morning rush hour traffic, changing a tire on the left hand shoulder of a busy road, then bringing in a car with a dead timing belt that just stopped dead mid-intersection after that. It’s eventful, and once he’s done and as cleaned up as he can get, Gabi sends him into the office and takes over handling paperwork and making sure Luca and Tony have everything they need.

Ángel grabs paper out of the printer and digs around until he finds a pencil. Then he starts trying to draw.

He knows he can’t draw directly on the computer, so it’s going to have to be on paper first, then he can take a picture to get it into the tattoo making program for cleanup. He taps his pencil against the paper, leaving little dots behind. Tongue stuck between his teeth, he tries to decide what to draw. What he might want to have inked on his skin on purpose, even temporarily.

Every path brings him back to the wings he originally wanted, the ones Tanner convinced him not to get. He’s not sure how the temporary ink would transfer if he wrapped it around his other wrist. Hell, he’s not sure how he’d even manage to apply it one-handed. Still. It could be his wrist, his mother watching over him, like an angel for Ángel.

It’s corny, and ridiculous. It doesn’t stop him from trying to draw spread angel wings, as soft as the ones he saw in Tony’s ink.

“What are you doing?”

Ángel puts his hands down over the drawing at the sound of Gabi’s voice, the feel of her hands on his shoulders as she leans in to look. Gabi’s fingers curl over his shoulders, her head against his. “Nice,” she says. “But why are you drawing wings?”

He reaches out, touches the edge of the wings. It’s not right, not yet. He’s just not that good. “Your brother has this ink that made me think of a piece I almost got done for my mom a long time ago, but Tanner talked me out of it because it’s kind of goofy to have an angel watching over me when my name’s Ángel. But this would be only temporary. Of course, that’s probably a good thing, since I’m not a good artist.”

“And that is what the internet is for.” Gabi drags her chair over. “Go on, open up, log in. I don’t want to know your password, but since you were probably going to have to scan it in or whatever, let’s just go find something instead.” She glances at him as he unlocks his laptop. “Tanner’s right. The wings pretty much scream look I’m an angel rather than making me think of your mom.”

“Fine.” Ángel turns the keyboard in her direction. “What would you do?”

Gabi’s fingers fly across the keyboard, then she opens up a photo editing site and gets to work. Soon enough she has a stylized black rose, complete with thorns, that she pastes into place in the top left corner of a page. “There’s still room,” she mutters. “I’m making one for me.”

This one takes long as she pulls together the pieces. In the end, she has a heart pierced by an arrow, blood dripping down from the tip. She puts it in place with a pleased smile, and turns the laptop back to Ángel. “You figure out how to make your Christmas present work.”

“Did you give it to me?” he asks, because Gabi seems way too invested in this.

“Nope, but since it’s here, I’m going to make use of it, and besides, you’re having fun. And this is going to be better than the wings.”

It takes a few tries to get the page to print, and when it does, it surprises Ángel at first that the images appear backwards. Then Gabi cuts closely around the rose and shows it to him, and he realizes he was looking at the wrong side, that it will reverse when it goes on his skin. She crooks her finger at him, then pauses, tilts her head.

“Shirt off. It’ll be easier.”

Ángel’s brow furrows. “Where are you planning on putting it?”

“Shoulder. But if your shirt gets in the way, it’ll mess it up.” Gabi motions for him to take it off. “Come on, let’s go. You can’t be that embarrassed.”

He’s not embarrassed. Although he probably should be, considering they’re at work. In the office. Where anyone could walk in. But she has a point.

Besides, it won’t take long.

Ángel skins his shirt off, lets Gabi wipe down his left shoulder with an alcohol wipe. She blows gently, waiting for it to dry, before she applies the temporary tattoo. She soaks the back of it, presses it in place and waits before peeling the backing carefully away.

“It worked.” Ángel has to twist to see it, but it looks good. Not quite real, but it looks like it belongs on his skin.

“Of course it worked, that’s what the printer is for,” Gabi points out. She quickly strips off her shirt, stands there in just a black cotton bra and taps the spot just above her left breast, over her heart. “Now you do me.”

A low cough, and Tony stands there in the doorway, looking from Gabi to Ángel and back again.

Gabi holds up the tattoo and Ángel shows the alcohol wipe and wet towel.

“We’re inking each other,” Gabi offers cheerily. She grabs Ángel, turns him so his shoulder faces Tony. “See? He was thinking of doing wings, but I thought the rose suited better. The wings are just so….” She lets her voice trail off, and Ángel’s glad that she isn’t pointing out again how ridiculous it would be to pick a tattoo that sounds like it’s based on his name.

Tony is dead silent, gaze dropping to Ángel’s shoulder. Tony crosses his arms slowly, and Ángel catches a fleeting glimpse of all his ink—Tony’s real ink—the designs flexing along his arm. Ángel licks his lips, tries to find someplace to look that isn’t Tony and isn’t Gabi’s chest.

“You’re half-dressed in the office,” Tony points out, voice tight. “Finish, and get dressed.”

“Seriously, we are just putting on temporary tattoos. Don’t be such a prude.” Gabi brandishes her tattoo, and Tony inhales as he catches her hand, looks at the design. Her voice lowers. “Want me to do one for you?”

Tony closes his eyes, and Ángel can almost see thoughts going through and he wonders what Tony would even consider for temporary ink. For a moment he thinks Tony will say yes, then he shakes his head quickly. “Maybe later,” Tony says. His gaze flicks from Gabi to Ángel again. “Finish. Get dressed,” he repeats. “And if I walk in here in ten minutes and find Luca stripping, you’re all going home without pay today.”

“You wouldn’t,” Gabi calls as he walks out. She leans out the door to yell, “You’re too busy to send us home just because we took our shirts off!”

“Wait, people are getting undressed without me?” Luca’s voice is pitched loud enough for them to hear, and Tony’s grumbling growl and Luca’s laugh echo into the silence after.

Gabi tugs the door mostly closed, then turns back to Ángel and taps her left breast again. “Here,” she says, and spreads her hands to give him room to work.

It should be awkward, but it isn’t, no more than if he were putting it on Hayley or Tanner. It’d be worse on Tony, but Ángel isn’t even going to think about that. Not now, not with Gabi close enough to sniff him.

Not with Gabi actually leaning closer, nose pressed to his ear as he smoothes the water over the tattoo to make it adhere.

“If you say I reek….”

Gabi makes a small noise low in her throat. “Not reek,” she muses. “It’s not angry or worried. It’s not that angst you’ve been steeped in. It’s lighter. Fresher. Muskier.” She leans back, gaze narrowed and hands on hips as she watches him pull the backing from the tattoo. “Go grab a red marker. I need you to fill in the color for me.”

Ángel digs the marker out of the cup on the desk, checks to make sure it’s permanent ink so it won’t wash away the first time she showers. He fills in the heart as directed, then has to lean in close to get the careful detail in the drip of blood from the tip of the arrow. As he finishes, Gabi inhales deeply by his ear again, and makes another noise low in her throat.

Ángel straightens, takes a step back and puts the marker on the desk. “What?”

“Nothing,” she says, in that way that means it is absolutely something and she isn’t going to say what.

Ángel lets slip a disgruntled snort, and Gabi laughs at the sound. Ángel thinks maybe he’ll push anyway, tries to figure out how to ask and what to say to get her to answer.

The phone rings and Gabi picks it up with a smirk, sings out, “Mollicone’s. Where are you stuck?”

It’s a call for a minor fender-bender. Nobody’s hurt, but the front of the minivan crumpled on impact, exactly as designed, and the owner isn’t comfortable driving it. Ángel remembers to grab his shirt, and shrugs it on as he walks down the hall, sliding sideways to avoid Maritsa as she comes in.

Maritsa grips his arm, pushes up the sleeve to see the rose and raises her eyebrows. “Take Cleto with you,” she says as she lets go, tugs his sleeve back into place. “We’ve been tasting desserts all morning and he needs to do something to get the sugar out of his system. I’ll help Gabi out for a bit.” She pats his chest, gives him a small shove. “If he can have an hour without anyone mentioning the wedding, he’ll be thrilled.”

Luca slips past them, heading for the office, and as Ángel ducks out the front door, he hears Luca’s call of take it off from the back, and Maritsa’s sharp squeal.

It takes a solid two hours before they’re back with the minivan. The police have to finish up the accident report, then the owner—call me Charlene, boys—wants them to check it over thoroughly to make sure nothing’s cracked and that it isn’t dripping gasoline. There’s a solid fifteen minute discussion where Cleto goes as far as to dip his fingers in the liquid under the car, raise them to his nose, then lick them in order to prove that it’s only condensation from the air conditioner.

It’s also gross, and Ángel is damned sure he wouldn’t go that far for good customer service.

They deliver the car and turn right around to go back out again three more times, and by the time Ángel’s done, Luca’s already left for the day, and Gabi’s sitting on a desk in the back, kicking her heels lightly against the sides. She has her collar pulled out and is staring down her shirt. “I think I might get it for real,” she says as Ángel walks in. “You want to go with me?”

“If you go before I go back to PHU, sure,” he agrees. “Is it for the same reason as Tony’s arrows with the blood?” Because it was impossible not to notice the similarity.

She looks up, lips pursed, considering him. “Yes,” she says, and she waits, like there’s something more she thinks he’s going to say. When he doesn’t have anything to add—it’s not like he knows what they mean—she sighs softly and jumps down from the desk. “Luca left. I’m taking you home today.”

“With you, or my place?” Because it seems like the thing to ask where Gabi’s concerned. It makes her giggle, and she hooks her arm in his, walking down the hall with him.

“I could take you home with me, but, I have plans,” she says.

There’s a low grunt from the floor, and Ángel glances out. The lights are still on, and there’s movement in the far bay. There are cars in all the bays, so Ángel can’t see what Tony’s working on. He starts to shift direction, but Gabi’s hold on his arm tightens, her voice rising as she says loudly, “Some people seem to think that they need to work late tonight. Some people—who were really late without a good reason yesterday—might be right.”

Ángel doesn’t imagine the growl this time, rising and echoing throughout the floor. Gabi tugs, and Ángel stumbles forward with her, heading out the door.

“Why are you so pissed off at him?”

Gabi slams the door shut, crosses her arms. “Because he said he broke up with Daphne, and I thought maybe this time it would stick. Maybe this time he had his head out of his ass and figured shit out, and he’d finally get past this ridiculous need he has to run when she calls. But no. It was less than a week and he ended up out with her—not even checking in when you had an emergency with Emerson, like he doesn’t care—and he walks in with bed head and reeking of—” She cuts off abruptly. “As if he doesn’t know we can smell him. He’s a mess. And he needs to get over it and stop hurting himself like this.”

“I probably can’t help, but you can rant to me about it any time.” Ángel offers.

Gabi’s expression closes off, pinched and tight. She slowly loosens her arms, walks over to her car and yanks the passenger door open, motioning for Ángel to get in. “Thanks,” she says quietly. “You’ll probably be more help than you know.”

Ángel settles in and pulls out his phone. He’s been running around so much that he hasn’t had time to check for messages, and he sees that Tanner and Hayley have been in the group chat on and off all day, while Hayley helped with Zita’s kids again, and Tanner helped Hayley. A quick skim shows pictures of them at the park with Emerson as well, and the final notes are about dropping off the kids and Emerson, and that Tanner’s taking Hayley out for pizza and a movie.

Well. Oh.

“And now you reek,” Gabi says. “What happened?”

“Nothing, just Tanner and Hayley are busy tonight.” Ángel flips to the next message from his dad, with a note that Joey left dinner in the fridge for him while they go out, and that Abuela has been invited to a card night and will be there until late. “And so is everyone else. Including you.”

“I lied. Maybe I should bring you home with me,” Gabi offers. “We could watch movies. Come up with more designs to plaster on our bodies tomorrow.”

It’s tempting. It’s really tempting. But with everyone busy, this might be the perfect time to indulge in a little research. It’s only 5:30pm, and the library’s open until nine on Thursdays—the one late night during the summer. Ángel has a vague idea of something he might want to poke at, and the library sounds like the best place to do it. “Can you drop me off at the library? I want to spend a little quality time with Mrs. Hannigan.”

“You were such a dork in high school.” Gabi makes a left out of the garage, heading in the correct direction. “How are you getting home later?”

“Good question.” It looks like most of Ángel’s usual options are already busy.

Gabi reaches across, punches his shoulder lightly. “Best thing about temporary ink; it doesn’t hurt when I punch you right after you get it,” she says. “Finish up whatever you’re doing. I’ll swing back… around 8?”

Two hours of tumbling down the research rabbit hole. That should be more than enough, and he can figure out what he needs to look into more. “Sure,” he agrees.

She pulls up at a stop light and takes advantage of being still to give him a long look. “If you just wanted to say hi to her, I could wait while you go in. Or go in with you.” She turns her attention back just as the light changes, pulls forward. “Or you can go pry into whatever you’re prying into in peace, and tell me to pick you up later, if you want.”

“I promised not to pry,” Ángel points out. He wonders if the library has records of the newspapers from years ago, what he’ll find if he starts looking up marriage and death records.

“You promised not to pry with us,” Gabi counters. “You’re curious.” The words fall flat, like they’re somehow a warning.

Ángel tries to make light of it. “I know, I know. Curiosity killed the cat.”

The smile slips from Gabi’s face. “What you need to think about is how much you really want to know. We’ve already adopted you, Ángel. We’re keeping you. Is anything else really important?”

Yes. Ángel knows without even thinking about it that the answer is absolutely yes. He can’t explain it, can’t even try to put it into words, but he feels like he’s walking on a highwire and there’s no net below.

He needs the net.

“Make it 8:30,” he suggests. “And I’ll get a couple of DVDs at the library. They usually have some good new stuff, and I don’t know about you, but I end up missing half of what comes out during the semester.”

“I may have seen it, but I’ll make an effort to rewatch it if I have, just for you,” Gabi says.

When she pulls up in front of the library, she puts a hand on his arm before he can open the door. “Remember,” Gabi says quietly. “You can’t unsee things.”

“Whatever happened, happened,” Ángel says. “Whether I know about it or not. If there’s some reason it might affect me going forward, then I want to know.”

He has no idea why Gabi’s so intense about it, what she does or doesn’t want him to know. He’s not even sure why she cares. But the fact that he does care adds things to his list that he needs to look into. He may have promised, but yeah, he may have lied, just a little.

Because Ángel is definitely going to pry.

[ Previous | First | Next ]

[asksicilia]

an outfit ref i forgot to post for her traditional outfit!! :> i’m also being indecisive about her hairstyle, it can be down or in a bun, i’m just liking the bun bc some people were mistaking her for her nyo romano and i don’t want ppl to think that, so i’m trying to make her more distinguishable

but here’s her officiall design now for her traditional outfit, i’ve kept changing it and now i think i’ll keep it like this for now, and if i do want to change it i’ll update this then -- at least now i’ve got a ref.

some meanings and stuff under the cut.

three/triangle symbolism.

the number three, as well as the shape of a triangle, has a significant amount of symbolism that is important to sicily, being best known inthe form of the sicilian symbol the triskelion (in sicilian/italian: trinacria), which is on the sicilian flag - the medusa head surrounded by three bent legs, and three stalks of wheat. the medusa head is a symbol of the patron greek goddess of athena's protection of sicily, which is known in mythology to have been adorned on athena's shield. 

the three bent legs represent the three capes of the island - peloro (punta del faro), messina; passero, syracuse; lilibeo (cape boeo), marsala - and create the three points of the triangle which is the island's shape. 

the three stalks of wheat represent the fertility of sicily's land. this symbolism appears frequently in her design, from the way her bangs are parted in three, to her curl resembling a triangle shape, and the three stalks of wheat and flowers on her dress, as well as the appearance of three stripes on the hem of her dress (gold-red-gold), and then the flowers in three on her headdress - it all has meaning to sicily.

agriculture symbolism.

sicily is practically known for it's agriculture, which is why it has been called "the garden of the mediterranean"; powers that have sought it for the longest time throughout it's history, have done so for it's fertile lands that are that way due to it's volcanic eruptions, and helped along by the island's pleasant climate. some of the main agricultural products produced are wheat, citrons, oranges, lemons, tomatoes, etc. i have bolded wheat & oranges because those are what are frequent in her design. wheat is represented in the stalks of wheat both in her dress and earrings, on her dress in threes, and in her earrings they are climbing up the hoops of it. wheat is a very common produce in sicily, which is why it's a symbol of sicily in many ways, most notably, as mentioned before, in the trinacria. oranges, represented in the form of zagara blossoms, which are orange blossoms that sprout along sicily's orange trees. zagara blossoms are known widely as the flower of sicily, not exactly officially, but what most would think of if trying to associate a flower with the island. why? likely because of how sicily's orange trees are a common produce, and it's signature blood orange 'moro'. they are in her design in the form of the patterns on her dress and headdress, as well as the the flowers on her earrings. agriculture is very important to sicily (and southern italy as a whole), even today being a huge basis of the economy of the south and sicily, important to the island historically and modernly.

anything extra.

her dress is based off the traditional tarantella dress, though there are several different types of dresses represented in sicily traditionally, i have chosen a very standard long skirt and corset over a poofy blouse. it is very heavily referenced to this one. the colors of it - primarily red & gold - are obviously from the flag. in the flag, the red represents palermo, and the gold/yellow represents corleone - palermo being it's capital, and corleone being a city that, in medieval times, was renowned for it's agriculture. woa, another appearance of agriculture. other means for the colors in her outfit, white, black, and pink, do not hold too much but can be noted. white is known best for purity, and being angelic in a religious tone. given sicily is very religiously sound, it could be considered significant.

black denotes strength and authority; it is considered to be a very formal, elegant, and prestigious color. black is also a very prominent color in traditional sicilian fashion, and for a long while it was usually only what women would wear. not uncommon in much formal fashion in sicily.

pink is a color of love, and expresses tenderness, femininity, and kindness. a bit gushy for the likes of marianna, but it's whatever. the pink in her design is rather muted/mauve-looking.

sicily/marianna (c) me headcanons (c) me DO NOT use art of my OC for your own. Do not reference her design, nor steal my headcanons. She belongs to me and me only, and she, as well as art of her, is not for public use. art/template (c) me do not repost, use, edit, or trace without my permission.

[thewiseoldwoman-blog]

Overview Of Project - The Knitted Monster

So basically my idea all started from way back in August, when I took a trip to New York and stumbled across an exhibition  (where sadly I couldn't take any photos) of Lolita Outfits. These pastelic outfits, girly dresses and angelic style instantly got me hooked. 

Come October and I'm back at uni and these obsession with this controversial style was banging in my head. I knew that this was what I had to do for my project. It was something I had to produce or even just to be inspired by. 

So since October I have had a consistent idea of what I want to achieve. I knew that I wanted to be inspired by the Lolita fashion, by using its overly cute aesthetic, colour scheme and bold look. 

I originally made a pink lightweight kimono jacket that came to my waist (all measurements based off my proportions due to having no mannequin at the time). I got the pattern from a burda sewing pattern book, and the did make a puffy knitted belt where the pattern was found in rowan knit book.

After viewing it I felt it was too average and that I was just simply re-creating a Lolita outfit rather then pulling it apart drastically. So I carried on knitting small patches, (at this point it was the end of October) I almost covered the small jacket. Then after chatting to staff I decided to just go more bold and knit big kimono style sleeves (This was done because some Lolitas where traditional Japanese clothing but lolitify it as I mention in a older post). After enjoying this huge challenge of making knitted patches I decided that I must extend the jacket to the floor. My thinking behind this is because Lolitas have created a rule book on the do’s and dont’s in the Lolita community commonly known as the Lolita Bible. The book addresses the appropriate length of skirt and how much lace is allowed. One word that caught my eye was Monster. This word was given out if your outfit was just dreadful and shouldn't be seen in public. That was when I knew I must create a completely over exaggerated Lolitas outfit this exaggerates it's Victorian, Roccoco and Meiji era influences. 

From November onwards till May the 28th I did not stop making knitted patches, lace, beadword, buttons, sequins, layered fabric, shoulder pads, layered you name it any knitting style, any yarn type from mohair to plastic was intertwined into this monster of a garment. I honestly have not stopped working. This without a doubt has been the most hardwork I have ever put into anything. Every minute I had I either had needles in my handles or cutting fabric and plastic to make my own yarn. I could see the end result since Novemeber and I was willing to change my mind. I have done nothing but been determined to get this done.

Everytime I made a couple of bags full of knitted patches I would sew them onto the garment. Thankfully Paula in the new year gave me her mannequin with arms so i finally had something to work from instead of guess work, lying it on the floor or even wearing it and pinning pieces to my body.

There have been times where I have been sick of wool and times where I can't wait to start a new ball of wool. I purchased the majority of my wool from a wholesaler called ice yarns. The rest were wool we already had a home, because my mom used to sell knitted toys on her Facebook. 

There have been times as well where I felt like there could have been more frequent days when I could see my tutors. Sometimes I felt like I was repeating myself because they  forgot my work. Also I felt I was repeating my research to them and when they say oh that looks Victorian and I would reply yes I have told you that two weeks ago Lolita is inspired by that. So it felt like I was two steps forward one step back with them at times. 

There was a time when myself and Paula booked a time slot for the photography suite and only until the morning did we get an email it was cancelled when we was already packed and ready to go. This laziness and slow mindset was such a throw back. I also felt frustrated that my day was wasted due to slow communication, no cover staff, limited staff and limited resources. Not only do I feel that but the was of booking the computer suite seriously needs to be addressed. Such as there needs to be more then one member of staff to assistant students with it seeing as it is something nearly every student in the school will might have to use at some point. There needs to be a better booking such as in order for me to book the suite I have to book the time slot for the room which is fair enough, but on top of that I have to seperartly book equipment such as lights and cameras and then lastly book the one member of staffs help who also helps in the editing suite. Perhap as a easier route I'd suggest having one booking system where you ask for the rook and if you require the equipment and staff that should be two tick boxes and that's it. Otherwise you can end up messing up dates which is just over complicated and confusing. 

Also throughout my time there i wish there was more members of staff who were insterested in the textiles and craft side. Yes I do understand there is a small textile studio in the main building and another large fashion design school down at park side. However I did have an induction to use the equipment but because I am from art and design they never got back to me on dates when I go use the new and different equipment. The environment never felt comfortable, when telling staff I wanted to sew into wool she simply said you can't do that in the fashion room but only in the textiles department. So again I wasted a day having an induction on machines that I can't even use due to my material when I said from the start I'm interested in textiles rather then womenswear. So I contacted about using the Cad machines and the knitting machines and nobody got back In touch. So I gave up asking (3 times)  and carried on doing what I can. Again the response time to emails is just appalling at times and very off putting. Back to wishing there was more members of staff who had knowledge on the crafts, the two members of staff who do have similar understanding ownly came in now and then and my main staff member had a better eye for product design. I felt like there wasn't anybody I could talk to for advice. I again even emailed knitting members of staff who teach at park side but again no reply.

I then put all that frustration behind me and made sure I made as much as I could for the work in progress show. This show, enabled me to see I needed to go longer and more extreme. I needed to think how to display.

When the show was over I had chats with my tutor about display. The original idea was to create a design that could be made for me. However I decided to over the Easter to give a go at making my own. 

I bought from home base my materials and set to work. My grandad who is a carpenter made my design. So I credit the design and the making to him. I documented the stages he took to make it through notes and images (All described on earlier post).  

The design has many flaws such as the arms was not right and too stiff, and the base was very delicate. When bringing in my display and garment and placing it in the room I instantly knew that it was incorrect. It did get me upset because I was determined that it was right and it couldn't not be fixed. However thanks to my tutors addressing the situation a better design outcome was possible (again thanks to the help of my grandad who built and designed the new design) even though I was incredibly frustrated with myself and my work I calmed myself down a reassessed my situation. 

I would also like to mention that massive and amazing help my mom has given me throughout this project, she helped knit some patches when she felt I was running out of time, she helped to stitch and pin whenever she had time off. She has helped to carry work to and from home and uni. She also came to my uni several times to help layout work and present my ideas. My project was a lot to take on, it could have been done single handed however there was times when I did need that extra push. 

Oh before I forget to mention there was one time when a design display idea just did not work was the hooped skirted, I really do wish that did work out I had in mind but the hoops were too big and pulled the wool in was that didn't compliment it.

I have used over 200 balls of wool, 9 bags of sequins, 11 bags of beads, 5 tubs of buttons, 8 bags of lace, 1 machine thread, over 100 pins, used 12 different pairs of needles, 20 plastic bags, 1 single bedsheet and two matching pillow cases, 1 double bedsheet, 2 homemade shoulder pads, 5 metres of wadding, a bag of teddy bear stuffing, 4 bags of decorative butterfly pins, and much much more.

Overall I feel I have achieved what wanted to. I'm proud of how much I have made, and the skills I have used. I wish my display would have been adjusted but my skills are lacking info that area. Knitting is certainly without a doubt something I wish to push and peruse in the future.