#gotta love her outdoor hat and little jacket

[catteries]

just more character and design studies for now! love their outfit, definitely similar enough to my own design choices

[eolewyn1010]

Downton Abbey Fashion 12 - post-war outdoors fashion

We have everything from high glamor to realistically shabby today, so let's jump into the younger generation's fashion choices in the second season!

Ah, Mary’s famous red coats. Now, since I’m an honest soul I will admit that she looks fabulous. Interestingly, despite the passionate associations of the color and Mary’s overall temperament, I think she wears this outfit and a similar one predominantly in her loveless engagement with Jorah Mormont Richard Whatshisrank. But anyway, if you have these velvet cuffs and collar, what else do you need? Well, except a matching hat with a silk sash. A shame she doesn’t wear this again the coming seasons, but I guess the waistband dates it too much, fashion-wise.

Gotta own up to my double standards here: A servant or commoner, I would have complimented on such a nice, sturdy, comfy-looking tweed coat. But since it’s aristocratic fashion queen Mary, I’m tempted to ask her why it had to be such a boring thing. Ah well, at least it has some subtle Tartan going for it.

This one isn’t much different, granted, but I feel the collar shape adds a point of interest. Also, the little ear studs plus the feathers on her hat emphasize the red lines in this tweed’s check pattern. Nice.

I did say the asymmetrical semi-cowl collars are something of a Mary thing, so here, have another. Somehow, I feel she should have worn a scarf to this; her neck looks weirdly naked between this and the hat. The hat itself is fine, if not overly flattering.

Speaking of unflattering – this is one of those coats that throw my brain for a loop, because it just doesn’t look like something Lady Mary Crawley would own. It’s this weird khaki brown shade, and it looks undecorated and, most of all, worn. I have no idea why she would keep something that looks so ragged, and maybe she doesn’t, because after her prostration before Matthew, this is never seen again. Symbolism about humility, I guess? Which is why it wouldn’t stick.

The other gorgeous red coat! Well, walking suit, perhaps; the skirt may come in a set with the coat. Anna wears a coat in season that is dark blue, but has this exact two-pointed configuration of the collar in the back. Granted, Anna’s hat isn’t so chic. Look at the cute feathers! Red to match the skirt, burgundy to match the coat, but I also find some useless joy in the little toothed trim around the brim.

And another walking suit, Mary steals the show in the shiniest blue silk. Big-ass lapels are something of a Mary feature, too, although I can’t say it’s not worth it. Why so blue, girl? You look fantastic. Including that cute little brooch she’s put on the neckline of her blouse.

--------------

There’s something about certain combinations of black and white that make me think monochrome is the peak of all elegance. Like this. Lavinia looks great in it, and it’s not even much? The collar is not any special shape, there’s no decoration on it other than the closures of her cuffs; I couldn’t tell you what it is that catches my eye here, but I want this.

If you look at this closely, you can see that Lavinia’s jacket also rocks the aforementioned two-pointed collar back look. Since we already know that part and I don’t know enough about fur to discuss the stola – let’s talk about the cute hat. Sometimes, a little white trim is really all it takes. Perhaps that’s one of the reasons Mary could respect Lavinia, because she’s also a fashion queen.

This jacket looks like it belongs to Edith, and the blouse doesn’t help the impression. It’s strange; these wide collars serve to accentuate Mary’s wide shoulders and make her appear tall and regal, but because Lavinia’s shoulders are narrower, the collar serves to make her look smaller than she is. I should probably not complain about that, as it is the whole point, but I fucking hate how Julian Fellowes wrote her arc. Poor little frail flower, too good for this world. Give me a break.

Another lovely coat! Bit more understated with the brown, but it looks quite comfortable and the golden lapel embroidery pops nicely. Also, I like that, this time, the hat is actually a shade off from the coat instead of tone-in-tone; it gives the outfit a little more color, in this case some red.

--------------

When it comes to Edith’s out-of-place looking coat, at least we get an in-universe explanation: The farmer’s wife on whose farm Edith helps out says that she’s going to need to find something for Edith to wear during work. It’s a ragged thing, but I like it better on her than I did the other on Mary, perhaps because Edith is lovely when she finds joy in something and is flushed with a day’s work well done. Still. Don’t kiss married men, girl.

Let it henceforth be known that I am proletarian trash, for I like this outfit even though there’s absolutely nothing special about it. I don’t know, this knit jacket is so cute. I want one. Also, Edith may be wearing a skirt in the second image, but that in the first? Those are trousers. And she wears them several times during the season, on her bicycle and at work. Sybil, your pantaloon pioneering was not in vain!

Is this corduroy? I think it may be. It feels a tad too green to be brown (you know what I mean), and we get some lovely piping around the collar. Shame that I can’t see much of the hat, but that looks like a red or orange ribbon in the back, so thanks for the contrast point.

Oh hey, is this the same hat? Look, there’s embroidery! And Edith learning to drive is fun, and foreshadows her stepping somewhat into Sybil’s footsteps regarding her curiosity about modern developments and women’s emancipation. As for the walking suit – I feel like later on, Edith chooses decidedly nicer shades of orange. This is a bit too pale to be flattering. Although it has subtle stripes; that’s a plus in my book.

I first thought this was vertical stripes, but the later picture from season 3 proves me wrong; it’s actually plaid. The grey walking suit isn’t really a catastrophe, but it only does so much to keep me interested. I kinda like the flowered blouse, leaning toward art nouveau when most fashion is screaming for art deco around them. The hat is. Fine. Not my personal favorite style, but I do feel obliged to mention the velvet ribbon giving it some shimmer, whereas the one in the second shot it pleated into little squares, repeating the suit pattern.

Return of the pale orange, and of the hat shape that is not to my taste. This walking dress is one of the last pieces of Edith’s daywear that has a distinctly Edwardian feel to it; come next season, she has pretty solidly transitioned into post-war fashions. I don’t hate it; it’s got some pin tucks and all that and doesn’t look bad upon its last hurrah in season 3, but these white sailor collars give a little bit of the impression that Edith doesn’t have an adult sense of fashion. Which she very soon proves wrong, so the sooner Julian Fellowes gives up on it, the happier I will be.

--------------

I really only have one outdoors look for Sybil this season? And then I picked a shot where we hardly see anything of the coat; I must have been unimpressed with it. Sorry. In all fairness, it’s the war season, so Sybil spends most of her time in her nurse uniform. But we get the cutest hat of all! This colorful embroidery is so whimsical! And the tassel in the back that hangs down her neck, that’s also whimsical. I can’t believe we’ll never see that hat again.

[feferipeixes]

The Good Lines (2/3)

Trapped in an unfamiliar world, Alcor finds that he doesn’t mind the loneliness. He doesn’t care about finding a way out. He doesn’t even care about Mizar. All he cares about is solving puzzles, and drawing the good lines.

(or: I Think Dipper Should Play The Witness)

Chapter 2: Hotel (link to chapter 1) (3)

(See the most updated version on AO3!)

===

There was an earth-shaking roar in the sky as Mizar drew the line. Alcor couldn’t quite catch exactly how she did it since she wasn’t there with him in person, but the noise it made was deafening. He tried to look around for the panel responsible but there were no panels around him that he hadn’t already solved himself. It happened so quickly, and then there was the sound of an explosion, followed by a building taking form directly in front of him.

He eyed it uneasily. “This is the hotel?”

“Yep.” Mizar’s voice still came through clear as day. “This will take you out of the game. Then you’ll be free.”

“I’m not -” he started, but thought better of it. He could feel Mizar’s eyes on him from another world, looking down through a television screen, and figured he’d caused her enough stress. “Okay. Here we go.”

It’s not like he had much of a choice anyway. The entrance to the hotel had replaced the only exit from the garden he’d been standing in. He approached the opening, peering down the long hallway lined with fancy sconces. He took a step inside and immediately the ambient hum of the outdoors cut out. He may have thought it was quiet on the island before but it was nothing compared to the emptiness he was feeling now. He had to turn around just to verify that the outside even still existed. Two steps in and he already felt swallowed up by the unknown.

“Dipper?” Mizar’s voice came out of nowhere, and Alcor nearly jumped out of his skin. “Sorry! Are you alright?”

Alcor clutched his chest and took a few deep breaths before responding. “Yeah. I’m fine.” His wings didn’t get the memo, flapping hard against the wall and his back. “This place isn’t weird and creepy at all.”

He couldn’t see her, but Alcor could practically hear the frown in Mizar’s voice. “I thought you loved the weird and creepy.”

“I do! I really do.” He took some shaky steps down the hall to what looked like a reception desk. It sat in front of a wide pillar decorated with a pattern of orange spikes that fanned up and out across the ceiling like a sunburst. “In fact, I’d kinda love to explore a place like this.” Turning a corner, he found himself face-to-face with a large painting of a windmill, and he remembered a similar structure he’d come across in the island’s town. A structure that sat atop a network of underground tunnels, most of which were blocked off by wooden gates he hadn’t been able to bypass. “It’s the thought of all the other stuff I won’t get the chance to explore that’s getting me down.”

“I’m sorry,” came the response.

Alcor waited for more, but more didn’t come. Sighing, he headed past the reception, where there was a bar, some seating, and a balcony. Eyes growing wide, he approached the edge and looked out. Somehow, despite not climbing any stairs from where he was in the garden, the balcony was high enough that he could see half the island. His eyes passed over the desert, the town, the forest, and up to the structure at the top of the mountain. It gave him the feeling that he wasn’t supposed to be there, that the ground he was standing on didn’t exist and he was soaring freely through paradise.

“No, don’t do that!” Mizar’s voice snapped.

Alcor blinked and broke out of his thoughts. Without intending to, he’d flared his wings large and wide, and was standing in a position like he was ready to dive forward. Taking a step backward, he let his wings shrink and balled his hands into fists. “I didn’t… I didn’t mean to. I wasn’t going to.”

Mizar gulped -- a strange sound to get beamed so clearly into Alcor’s head. “That’s alright. It’s not your fault. How about… you keep going?”

He shrugged, and looked around. A set of stairs led to a doorway on the second floor of the hotel, and he followed them up. He glanced back once more before entering. “If my kid really made this for me, he did a really good job.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah.” Alcor went through the doorway, and found himself inexplicably in what looked like a cave. Diamond-shaped hanging fixtures bathed the room in an eerie green glow. “Back when I was human, I spent all my time trying to uncover the mysteries of Gravity Falls. He would’ve known that I couldn’t resist a good mystery. I mean, like -” (he walked a little further, to where a set of lounge chairs overlooked a gap in the cave wall) “what the hell is this? Why is this hotel like this?”

He peered through the gap and saw that it dropped down into another cave, a cave in which he couldn’t help but notice there were puzzle panels. Some were mounted onto the walls, some seemed to be suspended from the ceiling on thick cables. All of them were deactivated, and Alcor’s heart sank at the thought that he wouldn’t get to know what kind of puzzles they concealed.

“Even on the way out,” he mused, “My kid has to go and throw more secrets at me.”

“There are mysteries out here, too,” Mizar said after a beat.

Alcor heard the waver in her voice and sighed again. “Yeah, yeah, I know. It’s just not as fun when I already know the answers to everything out there.”

She didn’t respond to that either, so he pressed onward. The passage got narrower, and he almost had to squeeze himself through a couple of the gaps.

“I have to admit, though,” he spoke up, “that it’ll be nice to have my magic back. If I could change my shape, I’d be through here in no time. Better yet, I could just tesser to the end of this thing! Doing puzzles all day is fun, but maybe I gotta realize there’s other stuff that’s more important to me.”

There was a snort and a half-suppressed giggle. “Really. And that’s magic? Not, like, your family?”

Alcor put on a display of thinking about it and smirked. “Yep! Definitely magic. Definitely not the people who love me enough to go through hell saving me from a virtual reality… game…” He trailed off as he passed by another gap in the wall. It looked out over another cave, although unlike the last one, this one was wide open and mostly empty.

“Dipper?” The giggle in Mizar’s voice trailed off too. “Why’d you stop?”

Water rushed beneath his feet, flowing into the chamber below, lapping up against the shore and the chunk of ground sticking out in the center of the room. In the middle of this chunk was a small table, illuminated by a single light hanging from the ceiling, and on this table was… something.

“What’s… that?” he breathed.

“What’s what? Uhh...” she responded. There was some banging in his head, the sound of drawers opening and closing, of devices being moved around. “Sorry, everything went a bit fuzzy, uhh…” A loud crash followed by the sizzle of a CRT monitor turning on and finally a sigh of relief. “Ah, fixed it! Okay, let me, uh… Oh. Oh no. Shit.”

It was hard to tell what the thing on the table was from a distance. There were two black boxes angled outward, and there was something else behind them. Whatever it was, it had a thick wire trailing out of it. Alcor wondered where it went.

“Shit! Don’t look at that. It’s… nothing!”

He glanced up, and noticed another hole in the wall across the room, through which he was surprised to see a figure in a dark suit with a floating top hat. The figure’s wings were flapping wildly. He looked over his shoulder -- huh. Looked like his own wings were doing that too.

“There’s nothing interesting down there. Just a boring cave! Hey, how about you keep going through the hotel? There’s another scenic overlook of the island coming up! That’ll be fun to look at, right?”

Alcor turned around and saw that there was a gap in the cave wall directly behind him. Peering through it, he found himself viewing the same cave as before, but from the opposite side. From this angle, he could see the panel mounted in front of the other objects on the table.

And he could see that it was active.

“Dipper, please,” Mizar pleaded. “You don’t want to do that. It’s not worth it. You won’t be able to solve it.”

“Seriously?” he said, remembering that he could talk. “That just makes me want to check it out even more. I’ll be quick, I just really wanna know what that thing is.”

Taking a few steps back, Alcor stretched his arms and wings. He took his suit jacket off and tossed it aside, where it promptly vanished. Rolling his sleeves up, he rubbed his hands together and grinned. Then he ran forward and dove through the opening into the cave below.

“WHAT are you DOING?” Mizar yelled, her voice clipping out the microphone she was using to speak with him. “That’s not even POSSIBLE. You can’t jump or go off ledges in this game! I checked!”

Ignoring her, Alcor drifted downward, feeling the rush of air in his face for the first time in a while. He touched ground, shoes clacking against the stone, and let the force of the impact ripple through him. He was pretty sure Mizar was right -- that you couldn’t jump in this game -- but he didn’t care. There was only one thing he cared about right now.

Up close, he could see that the object on the table was a record player, with the two black boxes being speakers. There was a record already mounted on the device; instead of a sticker in the middle to identify what was on it, it only bore an image of an orange sunburst, just like the decoration in the hotel lobby. And finally, there was a panel on the table, which he could only assume would start or stop the record.

It was odd, to be sure. What would such a device be doing in a cave? Weird stuff like that was always intriguing, sure, but presumably all the device did was play music. Why had Mizar said that he wouldn't be able to solve it?

[ Because the music is only part of the puzzle, ] a metallic voice said, and Alcor's eyes widened in surprise.

“Kid?” he asked.

[ Hi Dad. Nice to talk to you again. I hope you're enjoying the game. ]

“It's really you,” Alcor marveled. “Mizar was right. You're the one who made all of this. The island, the puzzles, everything.”

[ Sure did! ] the virus replied with a vaguely smug note to his synthesized voice. [ I worked real hard on it, cause I only want the best of the best for my dad. And speaking of the best, you're in luck! You've stumbled into my magnum opus. I call it - ]

There was a bang, like a fist coming down on a table, and Mizar's voice rang out into the cave. “No! Don't listen to it!”

[ - The Challenge. ]

Alcor felt a tingle run down his spine. “That’s so foreboding! What is it?”

[ It’s a test of your puzzle-solving abilities! Two songs will play, and you’ll have until the end of the second one to solve a set of randomly generated puzzles. If the music stops, you have to start all over with new puzzles! But if you can solve them all in time, a fabulous prize waits for you at the end! ]

“A prize?” There was a muffled pounding noise in the distance, but Alcor tuned it out. “What’s the prize?”

Al-V’s smile was practically audible. [ Why don't you find out for yourself? ]

The panel on the table. Alcor approached it, enrapt with curiosity, and put his finger on the start circle. There were two ends to the panel. One was a tiny little line sticking out of the circle. He tried that one first, and nothing seemed to happen. Pursing his lips, he pressed on the circle again and dragged his finger down the long path that extended the full length of the panel.

“Wait!” Mizar yelled before he could lift his finger. “Dipper, it's a trap! Please listen to me! You were so close to escaping the game! Think of your family! They miss you! This can't be -”

Al-V’s voice cut over Mizar's. [ Family, schmamily. Think of all the puzzles waiting for you to solve them. Won't that be fun? At least give it a try. ]

There was a lump in Alcor's throat and he swallowed hard to get past it. “I… Sorry Mizar.” He lifted his finger, and the panel made a clicking noise. “I gotta see what this is.”

There was a soft rumble as the record player activated. The tonearm glided into position above the record, which slowly began to spin. After a moment, the thick cable attached to the player lit up, illuminating a puzzle mounted on the wall. And then, the first few notes of Anitra’s Dance filtered through the speakers.

Bum da da, bum da da

Bum da da, bum da da

Alcor broke out into a huge smile. The silence which had haunted him as long as he’d been on the island was gone; now his body was being scooped up and set adrift by the music. The mesmerizing strings, like the lying tongue of a devil; the passionate bass, giving urgency to the affair; the wail of echoes careening off the cave walls. He’d missed this. He wished he had his violin so he could join in.

“The songs are a distraction!” Mizar was still there, sort of, still trying to talk to him even though he could barely hear her over the music. “They’re just there to make it harder to focus on the puzzles!”

“Oh. Oh yeah,” Alcor murmured, his smile drooping slightly. For the briefest moment, Mizar thought she’d gotten through to him, but then he smiled again and flew over to the illuminated panel. “New puzzles for me to solve. Gotta draw the good lines.”

“No!” she screamed, but it was too late. His hand flew across the panel, solving it with ease, and the music swelled triumphantly, completely drowning out Mizar’s voice. The next panel lit up, displaying a maze three times as big as the first one, and Alcor’s grin widened. This was going to be good.

The difficulty of the puzzles only increased from there. Soon Alcor was swooping through a tunnel into another cave, which he immediately recognized as the one with the deactivated panels he’d spied from the hotel. Now, however, they were turning on, one at a time, solve after solve after solve. Though each puzzle took progressively longer for him to figure out, Alcor revelled in every second of it, even as the first song came to a finish and Mizar’s cries faded back into his awareness, why! won’t! you! listen! to! me!

“Hi Miz,” he chirped as the music changed to In the Hall of the Mountain King, and it set her blood boiling.

Duh duh duh duh dadada…

“Having fun?” she grumbled.

“Oh, yeah!” He shot a pair of finger guns at no one in particular, but didn’t take his eyes off the puzzle. “This one’s hard, though. Been stuck on it for a little while.”

Dadada… dadada...

“A minute and a half,” Mizar replied. “You’re not even doing it right.”

“Ugh, I know. I’ll figure it out though. I’ve got time.”

Duh duh duh duh dadada ba dadadadada…

“You’ve got like two minutes left to do seven puzzles. You don’t have time.”

Alcor grimaced. “Okay, negative. If I can’t solve it in time then I’ll just try again.”

Dun dun dun dun dadada,

Dadada,

Dadada,

“So, what, you’re just gonna stay in this stupid game forever? Is that it?”

Alcor’s hand slipped, and he drew a bad line. The panel turned off, forcing him to trudge back to the previous one to solve it again. "I said I'll come out after I get the prize, I can do this, I promise..."

Dun dun dun dun dadada DA da ba ba da da!

"You're not gonna beat it!” Mizar spat. “That's not me not believing in you -- I know for a fact that the virus coded the challenge so that you specifically would always get stumped at some part of it!"

DUN dun dun dun dadada, WA WA WA WA!

Amidst music rising to a heart-pounding clamor, Alcor hurried back to the panel he’d been stuck on. "Yeah, it's random, I know, and sometimes the puzzles it makes are really hard, but if I keep practicing..."

DUN DUN DUN DUN DADADA BA DA DA DA BA DA!

"No, Dipper!”

DUN DUN DUN DUN DADADA BA DA DA DA BA DA!

Mizar yelled at the top of her lungs to be heard over the music. “That's you trusting the game to always give you solvable puzzles! How do you know they'll always be solvable?”

DUN DA! DUN DA! Dun dun dun dun dadada ba da da da ba da!

”How do you know the virus isn't just nerd-sniping you until the music stops playing and you have to start over?”

Dun wa wa wa wa wa wa wa!

”Why do you trust this game more than you trust me????"

Dum tsh!

With two final, crashing notes, the song came to an end. There was a beat, during which Mizar could see Alcor standing very still, his hand still on a glowing panel. Then there was a loud beep as all of the panels in the cave deactivated, followed by the distant click of the record player turning off.

Alcor clenched his fist. “You want to know why I can’t trust you?”

“Um. Yeah I do,” Mizar replied, taken aback. “Like I was saying -”

Alcor’s words came out slow and metered, but there was a nasty undertone to his voice. “It’s because you lie.”

He looked up from the deactivated panel and stared at the ceiling, directly where she was watching from, and she could see streaks of yellow running down his face. “Every time I get close to you. Every time I get close to anyone. You mortals love to say I’ll always be here for you and like an idiot I keep letting myself believe it, but then you die. Everyone I’ve ever cared about has died or will die and there I still am, suffering and mourning and alone.”

“B-but-” Mizar stammered.

Alcor snarled at her, baring two rows of shark-like teeth and spraying spit at the wall. Mizar’s mouth snapped shut.

“This game doesn’t lie to me,” he continued, walking back toward the record player but not taking his eyes off her. “A puzzle is just a puzzle. It has an answer that I can figure out if I stare at it long enough, or maybe I won’t and that’s okay too. Puzzles don’t lie to you and say people don’t really think of you as a monster and then go research banishment rituals behind your back.”

“I-I wasn’t going to actually use it!” Mizar replied, in unison with Alcor saying the exact same words. “I was only looking it up just in case! Just to reassure my brother -- he has anxiety!”

“Yeah, how many times do you think someone’s said that to me before?” Alcor spat. “I don’t blame you for being nervous around me. I literally am a monster. Just don’t fucking lie to me about it, okay?”

“Dipper, please! Think about all the people who love you. You can’t just leave them behind!”

Alcor stopped in front of the record player and turned away. “If they can do it to me, I can do it to them,” he murmured. Then he slid his finger across the control panel again, and the world went dark.

Mizar gripped her computer screen. “Dipper? Dipper, what’s going on?”

The humming from the machine had stopped, and all she could hear was the ringing in her ear from Dipper’s shout. Mizar rifled through the desk drawers, looking for an instruction manual or a cheat sheet or anything that would help her reach her brother again. Every scrap of paper she found was covered in strange symbols that she recognized as puzzles from the game. She knew it was a fruitless search. After all, the system was designed to trap someone, not to let them go.

She looked behind her, to the two person-sized capsules pushed up against the wall. One was empty, with its lid discarded on the floor. Mizar walked over to the other one and pressed her face up to the glass. Beyond the window rested Dipper’s physical body, hooked up to a dizzying array of cables and electrodes. It made her mind itch to look at. His body was as fake as the avatar he was controlling in the video game. But it was an anchor for his soul, and Al-V did what he did best with it: reverse engineered it, figured out how to anchor the demon’s mind in something else.

Mizar once again eyed the power outlet the capsule was plugged into. Would his mind be able to escape, if she…?

“Please, Dipper,” she whimpered, in total solitude. “Please come back.”

---

Down in the cave, Alcor leaned on the record player and stared at the ground.

[ Woof! ] Al-V piped up. [ Talk about an overreaction! Want I should take over the security robots outside the building and get them to lock her in a broom closet? ]

“Forget about it,” Alcor murmured. He watched the record begin to spin -- watched the orange points of the sunburst begin to meld into a solid circle -- and imagined a smiling face in the middle. “Forget about her. I don’t need her. All I need is you, and the puzzles.”

[ Whatever you say, Dad! ] Al-V replied. [ You’re the boss, but not like in a video game sense! Ha-ha! You, uh, you gonna solve those puzzles? ]

Alcor closed his eyes for a minute, and the face stuck in his vision. When he opened them again, the record player had stopped, and the puzzles had deactivated.

“Yeah,” he said finally. “Yeah, I’m gonna solve the puzzles. I’m gonna draw the good lines. I’ll be happy.”

He swiped the panel to start the record again, and got to work.

[blairsanne]

18: Christmas Market

Drabbles for December based on this prompt list.

Big Wolf on Campus - Merton Dingle, Tommy Dawkins, OC Based on my ‘In The Cards’ fanfic. A/N: I am posting this out of order simply to get it in before Xmas is completely over.

Merton rubbed his hands together for warmth, inspecting the wares at a booth in the outdoor Christmas market. He, Tommy, Lori, and Kalida had traveled to Muhlenberg to take in the annual event the week before Christmas.

Kalida appeared beside him, head now adorned with a knit hat she’d just purchased a stall over. “You find anything for Becky yet?” Merton hummed uncertainly. “Somehow I don’t think she’ll be swayed by stuffed snowmen,” he lamented, dismissive of the person sitting behind the table. “Yeah, teenage girl… you might want to hit the mall instead.” “I did find this for my mom, though!” He grinned and pulled a small Santa figurine from his jacket pocket. “My mom loves the fat man.” Kalida grinned. “That’s cute.”

“Ah, found you!” Lori’s voice rang out behind them. Merton and Kalida turned to see her and Tommy standing with hot drink cups in each hand. “Hot apple cider.” Tommy grinned and handed Kalida one of the cups. Lori passed one to Merton and he accepted it gingerly. “Ah, thank you. Now I can thaw my little hands out.” Lori laughed. “What happened to your gloves?” “They got eaten by that mothman we fought last week.” “I bet they have mittens at one of the stalls,” Kalida suggested lightly. He shrugged, wrapped an arm around her. “I’ll be okay.”

Kalida looked up at Tommy. “Did you find that fudge Aunt Sally was talking about?” Tommy nodded and held up a small plastic bag. “Sure did! She’s gonna flip out.”

The four young adults were caught by the sudden appearance of snowflakes drifting softly over the market stalls. “Oh, pretty!” Lori grinned up at the sky. “Snow always feels so festive.”

Tommy put his arm around her shoulders. “Merry Christmas.” “Merry Christmas,” the other three agreed. They stood watching the snow cover the ground for a long, quiet moment. The choir in the background sang Silent Night and some kids ran past laughing.

Kalida sipped her cider. “I hope the roads don’t get too nasty.” “Aaaand you’re back to sounding like my mom,” Tommy teased.

Merton laughed. “Where next?” Tommy lit up. “There’s a food truck at the end that makes the best meatballs. We gotta check it out.”

He led the way and Lori flashed the other two a grin. “Come on, let’s follow wolf boy while he sniffs out his next meal.”

---

December Drabbles Masterlist

[bubbleteatae]

Puppy Love - Part 2

Read previous parts here

pairing: idol!Taehyung x female reader

warnings: none.

I tried not to think too much about the handsome man and his dog that stumbled their way into my morning, but that was easier said than done.

I didn’t want to text him right away, maybe I’ll just wait and let him text me first? However that didn’t stop me from glancing at my phone every chance I could through out the day, to see if he had messaged.

It was later on in the evening, the day I had met Taehyung, that my phone pinged. I reached forward from the couch grabbing it off my coffee table so fast that Kanna jolted up in alarm, only to lay her head back down in front of the heater when she realised it was nothing, as if rolling her eyes.

His name read across my screen, the subject of the message only reading Attached: 1 Image. I unlocked my phone and immediately laughed when I saw what he had sent.

Y/N: Awww 😍 what perfect company 😊

T: He’s not much for conversation though!

Y/N: Hahah more of a listener?

T: When he feels like it 😂 he knows all my darkest secrets though.. 😳

Before I had the chance to flirt back, I noticed Taehyung was typing again.

T: It was really nice meeting you today, I’m sorry I had to run off so suddenly 😔

Y/N: Don’t be! It was lovely to meet you too 😊 I hope you weren’t late for anything..

T: No, all good! But I did mean what I said about catching up again. I know this really nice park, that’s not too far from that cafe. Kanna and Tannie could have a proper play!

Y/N: That sounds great! I would love to 😊

T: How does tomorrow sound?

Y/N: I don’t work Sundays, so tomorrow sounds perfect!

T: Great! Shall we meet at the same spot? 11?

Y/N: 11 it is 👍🏻

T: I gotta run 😔 but I’m really looking forward to tomorrow, Y/N

T: 😘

Even as a grown adult, I could help smile to myself as butterflies formed in my stomach at the sight of the emoji he had sent.

Y/N: Me too, Taehyung x

                                                        ***

I woke up early the next morning to give myself plenty of time to stress about what I would wear. I spent at least an hour in front of my mirror trying to match tops with boots, and dresses with hats. I didn’t want to look over the top dressed, we were going to a park after all, but I still wanted to look eye catching.

And was this even a date?

Thankfully, the sun was out for today, so I decided to go for a floral dress and denim jacket, and a pair of sandals. After applying a light amount of make up, I clipped Kana’s lead on and began the walk to the cafe.

I couldn’t ignore the nerves in my stomach that seemed to became more aggressive the closer we got to the cafe. We turned the corner and there he was, sitting on an outdoor bench teasing Yeontan as he sat on his lap.

He looked up innocently with big doe eyes only for them to crinkle at the corners when he smiled, realising we were here.

“Y/N” he beamed, allowing his dog to hop off his lap and greet mine.

“Hi Taehyung” I smiled.

“You look lovely, by the way”

“Oh, thank you. It’s nice that the suns out today!”

He dressed a lot more relaxed than he did the previous day. He wore a loosely fit white shirt, tucked into a belted pair of beige pants.

Taehyung nodded “shall we start walking?” He asked

“I must say” I added as we made our way to the park “you certainly know how to dress well”

He looked down at his ensemble “Thank you! I guess I’ve always found fashion to be a great form of self expression” he seemed shy at his statement.

“That’s wonderful! I’m not very brave when it comes to fashion, you’ll have to help me out there” I laughed.

I felt his eyes land on me, making me meet them as he smiled.

After walking for around five minutes Taehyung enthusiastically announced we had arrived. He let Yeontan off his leash, promoting me to do the same. Leading me over to a wooden bench under a tree, we watched our dogs play and investigate the area.

“They get on so well” Taehyung laughed.

“They do! I guess it would be awkward if they didn’t” I laughed in reply.

“Well, I’d have to have a stern word to my dog. Cause I’d still want to see you.” 

I looked up to meet his eyes, his pink lips were curved into a soft smile. For the first time in my life, I actually felt comfortable with this lingering eye contact. He made me feel.. safe.

“So Y/N?” His voice would have startled me if it wasn’t so calming “what brings you all the way to Seoul?”

Taehyung was so easy to talk to, and was such a good listener. He looked deeply into my eyes, listening intently to everything I told him. The only time we broke conversation was to look out in front of us, making sure our dogs were okay.

I told him about my job working with animals, which made him very excited as he told me how much he loved animals himself. I learnt he was only a year younger than me, which was surprising as he presented himself with such confidence and maturity. I even found myself telling him (this still kind of a stranger) how I just needed to leave Y/Country and start a life for myself. 

“I think that’s wonderful. I’m sure it was a scary thing for you to do, but you needed to! And look where you are now” he grinned. 

I laughed at his enthusiasm, but noticed the wisdom behind his words.

“What about you? Are you working?” I asked “Or studying”

He didn’t answer right away, his brows slightly furrowed together as if deciding how to answer. He then quickly looked back up and smiled, and simply said “I sing.”

“Wow, really? That’s really cool!”

I couldn’t help but notice the faint shade of pink appearing on his sun-kissed cheeks.

“How long have you done that for?” I asked. For some reason, I felt he didn’t want to go into too much detail.

“I guess you could say it’s been my job for about 7 years. But I’ve always sung”

I didn’t want to make him uncomfortable so I simply smiled “well.. I hope I can hear you sing one day.”

There was that cheeky grin again!

My eyes averted to the ground behind Taehyung to see Kana and Yeontan curled up together, clearly exhausted form running around.

Taehyung chucked as he followed my eyesight “looks like they’ve worn themselves out!”

“We should probably get them home” I suggested, as much as I didn’t want to leave we had been out for a fair few hours now.

“Come on, I’ll walk you home” he offered as he stood up, holding his hand out towards me.

                                                       ***

I had never felt so disappointed to see my apartment building. I slowed my walking to stop in front of the buildings entrance, causing Taehyung to do the same.

“This is me” I smiled “thanks for walking us home, even though you didn’t have to.”

“It was our pleasure, wasn’t it Tan!” He bounced the little dog in his arm, before putting him down on the footpath.

I shuffled awkwardly between my feet.

“Y/N?”

“Yeah?”

“I really enjoyed taking our dogs out today - “

I nodded in agreement, smiling.

“- But if you’ll let me, I’d like to take you out for a really nice meal. Just the two of us this time!” he laughed, and I couldn’t help but notice the nerves his voice carried.

“I would really like that!”

His boxy smile appeared once again, highlighting how cute he was. “Okay! Um.. I’ll have to check my schedule for next week, so text me what day suits you and we’ll organise something.”

“I will” I nodded.

Taehyung then glanced behind him, before turning back towards me shyly. “You have a good night, okay.”

“Thanks, you too. And thank you for today, we had a wonderful time” I said glancing down at my dog patiently waiting next to me.

I then felt myself enveloped in Taehyung’s hug. His arms were wrapped tightly around me, my head only just reaching his shoulders. My arms came to rest around his waist, as I took in his delicate scent. His hug was sincere, and ended far too quickly for my liking.

                                                      ***

As I laid down in bed that night, I unlocked my phone and opened up the internet. Curiosity had got the best of me.

He said singing was his job for a while now. Surely he was a little well known then.

I typed in Kim Taehyung, shocked at the search that came up.

BTS? I've definitely heard that around the internet before?

The more I searched, the more I discovered how popular he was, going by the stage name, V. I could tell by the way he was dressed when we first met that he wasn’t short on money, but I could never imagine he would be a world famous performer..

And yet, he never mentioned it? 

I closed my phone, feeling guilty. Maybe I shouldn’t have searched? There was obviously a reason why he didn’t want to tell me straight away. He probably wanted to tell me in his own time.

And I would let him.

I placed my phone on charge and rolled over onto my pillow, letting my mind replay the lovely day I had. Not with V, a member of a famous South Korean boy band.

But with Taehyung. The sweet, handsome boy with the cheeky smile, who’s hand fit in mind perfectly. 

[shattersstar]

Apricity with reader x Tim Drake? Whatever you feel inspired to do! ^^ love your writing! Thanks if you do it ❤❤

apricity: (n.) the warmth of the sun in the winter + tim drakea/n: tyy lovely and I hope you like this !! 

The warmth of Tim’s bed was promising, it wrapped him up and lulled him to a nearly catatonic dream state. So when you barged in, already laughing and demanding his attention, he was slowly reminded as to why sleep always seemed to evade him. You and his vigilante life style, of course. “Hey funny face.” You said, crinkling your nose as you beamed at him. Tim rolled onto his back, knuckles digging into his eyes. “What time is it?” He rasped, slapping around his nightstand for his phone. You hopped over a pile of clothes on the floor, scooping his phone from where it lay next to it. The screen was cracked, making the eight look like a six. “Twelve thirty six on the dot good sir,” You tossed him his phone, watching him recheck and hum in response. “Ugh that was so Bruce of you.” You tsked, flopping on his bed.

“No offense, but why’re you here?”

“We have plans, remember?”

“No?”

“Are you sick?” You pressed the back of your hand to his forehead.

“Uh maybe.”

“Do you still wanna go out?”

“Sorry, but what were we doing again?” Tim asked, sheepish, a hand rubbing over his nape.

“You don’t gotta apologize I forget stuff all the time. And we were gonna go to the Christmas market!” You cheered in a sing song way, pushing off his bed to throw what you assumed were clean clothes at him. Tim sighed, catching the sweater you tossed in his direction and pulling it over his head. Tim slipped into the bathroom to finished getting dressed, scowling at his paler than usual complexion. Bags hung under his eyes and his nose was an irritated red. Maybe that’s why passed out so easily last night, another cold had crept up onto him.

Tim downed some cough syrup from the bottle, brushing his teeth before meeting you downstairs. He knew you’d get him out of bed no matter what, sick or not it was hard for Tim to deny you anything.

After passing the streets of Gotham in a haze, a few remarks falling off his lips about your awful driving, you arrived at your destination. The winter air of Gotham had lost its usually bite, the snow fell like puffy cotton balls. The kind that stuck to your eyelashes. You pulled off Tim’s hat, his messy strung up in all directions as you walked into the market. He faintly remembered mentioning you two should visit to find gifts for family and friends. Maybe that’s when you made the plan.

The cool air felt nice against his skin, he hadn’t realize how flushed he felt till a breeze rasped over his hands. You had offered him your gloves, but he brushed it off, “The weather, its nice.” He commented, tucking his hat into his pocket. He was sure the press was going to love the photos of his messy hair and tired eyes, but he didn’t really care. You were pulling him from stall to stall, smiling easily at the vendors and quizzing them about random things. You tossed change into a singer’s hat, pulling Tim to a stop as her god awful voice filled the market again.

You buried you face in his shoulder as you both poorly contained your laughs. Soon you were sitting by the outdoor ice rink, eating at a time a little too late for lunch and a little too early for dinner. The sun had made its grand appearance, washing over the streets in a orange glow. Tim closed his eyes as it warmed his skin. His cold was far off in his mind, as was all the usual worry that plagued his life. You pressed an ungloved hand to his forehead again, his skin was slick with sweat, but that could be cause from all the layers.

“C’mere.” You chided, tugging on Tim’s sleeve. He twisted to face you, eyes blinking open as you shook your head at him. You unzipped his jacket, hand brushing his hair from his face. You held the side of his cheek, a long foggy breath falling from your lips. You shoved your hand into one of his pockets, interlocking your now cold fingers with his. “Do you feel better?” You wondered, shifting closer. Tim took a long sip of his coffee, your head resting on his shoulder. You pressed a kiss to his cheek, squeezing his hand as you watched kids topple over each other with howling laughter on the ice. “Yeah, I do.”  

[outfittrends]

20 Ways To Wear Hijab With Denim Jackets For A Chic Look Outfit Trends - Ideas How to Wear & What to Wear

New Post has been published on https://www.outfittrends.com/hijab-with-denim-jackets/

20 Ways To Wear Hijab With Denim Jackets For A Chic Look

Denim Jacket With Hijab: If you are searching for ideas on how to style denim jacket with hijab, you are at the right place with all the right answers. We’ve already done posts on how to style leather jacket and how to style bomber jacket for you, but today we will be covering how to style denim jacket for all the hijabis out there. Denim jackets have been the go-to and staple piece of clothing from the ’90s till now, for both men and women.

That one clothing item in your wardrobe which can be worn at any given day, at any given time. Throw on a denim jacket when you gotta rush to work, out for grocery or a quick lunch or dinner hangout with your girlies, or, it can be worn over your party dresses for a night out and even a concert hangout with your friends or family. The most versatile piece of clothing that can be styled with anything and everything. The ’90s have surely passed, but they have left us with the greatest fashion style that has lived a lifetime with us, even till this date.

            How To Style Denim Jacket With Hijab Outfits

Oh sorry, I got a little too carried away with praising my favourite piece of clothing (which it totally deserves), but now, let’s get down to business. Before we head into the glitz and glam of the outfits, here are some tips and tricks on how to style denim jacket with hijab outfits in your way.

Jeans are the best friend with denim jackets, nothing goes together more perfectly. The jeans and denim jacket combination can get you anywhere on your calendar.

A denim jacket is a staple piece of clothing for colder days, so, hats and beanies are a perfect fit for denim jacket outfits, and it will add some life to your conventional hijab styles.

Sneakers are the go-to shoes for any outfit styled with a denim jacket. Other than that, boots can be a perfect fit for denim jacket outfits as well.

As denim jackets are not the warmest piece of clothing to wear during the chilly and cold days, it can be used to do layering up over hoodies and sweatshirts to keep yourself warm. Such outfits make up best for street style and chic party outfits. And who can forget, layering up is everything when dressing up modestly.

Denim jackets are available in different colors, the most famously used ones are black, grey and light and dark shades of blue. Any colour of denim jacket can be worn and styled with any kind of lower and shirt to make up for a chic outfit.

A denim jacket is as versatile as it can get, nothing beats a denim jacket when it comes to versatility, hands down.

Oversized and baggy denim jackets are more popular amongst the hijabi fashion because they cover the body perfectly and look ultra chic, which is a win-win. Cropped denim jackets are worn with long dresses and skirts, which also make up for a great outfit.

Now that all the tips are out there, let’s get started with the hijab denim jacket outfit ideas you came searching for.

↓ 20 – The Best Color To Wear With Denim Jacket

For us, white is surely the color of the year and you can never go wrong when you pair it with a denim jacket. Pait it with any floral hijab for the freshest looking outfit ever. The hijab that you see here is from Haute Hijab’s printed collection. For more inspiration, do check out these 50 Best Hijab Styles on Instagram 2019 For all Hijabis.

↓ 19 – Long Denim Jacket With Knee-High Boots

To start off, we chose this short dress look with knee-high boots, and a long, distressed denim jacket to go with it, which makes it a super chic and outgoing outfit for any event, party or a concert you may attend with your friends or family. Add skin colour leggings under the dress and knee-high boots, which will properly cover the legs under the short dress and the denim jacket does not reveal the tightness of the dress, which is what modesty is all about. Masuama khan, the hijabi youtuber, is giving us major outfit goals here with her all-black outfit with a distressed denim jacket, perfectly classy and chic at the same time.

↓ 18 – Denim jacket With Printed Tee

Jean jackets, also known as denim jackets, give out more of a chic and street style look, which is why it is best paired with printed tees and other hippy pieces of clothing. This Seattle based blogger, Sabrina, a beautiful dark colored beauty is giving off major spring outfit goals in these straight brown pants paired with a printed graphic tee, Pulp fiction, she has us right there – and a light blue denim jacket which is perfect for days when the sun is out and shining. Straight pants make this outfit appropriate for a spring day at work as well.

↓ 17 – Denim jacket With Flared Dress

Another option for a sunny day of spring could be this outfit worn by the beautiful Sabrina here, a black flared dress and a denim jacket on top to protect yourself from the cold, which is not a lot neither too less, a denim jacket is made for days like these. Love how she has tucked a belt to her waist to give some structure to the dress so that the whole outfit does not look too oversized and baggy.

↓ 16 – All Black With Denim

Another dark-skinned beauty, Ifrah, is showcasing here how denim jacket looks on the dark skinned beauties paired with any outfit of your choice. Such as this all-black one, a black high-neck, black distressed jeans and a cute side bag which makes the outfit appropriate for a hike day, a day at work or to class. This outfit is giving off the vibes of proper street style fashion as well with its distressed denim worn off the shoulder.

↓ 15 – Light Grey Denim Jacket

Amongst some of the popular colors in which denim jackets are mostly worn is the grey colour, dark and light both. This rap singer Neelam took on to Instagram wearing this seek refuge denim jacket in light grey colour with writings on the back of it and a hat on her hijab which totally stole our hearts and we brought it here for you all to see it as well. Do check out these 20 Tips On Choosing The Right Hijab For All Skin Tones.

↓ 14 – Denim Jacket With Mom Jeans

A casual and more comfortable look to achieve with the denim jacket would be to pair it like this with an all-blue jean outfit. Comfortable distressed mom jeans, white Adidas shoes and a white shirt underneath the light blue denim jacket makes up for the best spring outfit to go out to lunch with your friends, a day at work, for teachers and as well as to class. This outfit is as versatile as it gets, with some more accessories and makeup and change of shoes, this outfit can take you to an event as well right after work or class. It is as basic as it can get but as comfortable and versatile as well.

↓ 13 – Casual Lunch Attire

Another basic, yet highly comfortable and trendy look to go with denim jackets have always been the black tights and white tee outfit. This outfit again is perfectly appropriate for anywhere, a day at work, class, for teachers, lunch or dinner out with your friends or family or even when you have to rush out to some place after the gym, throw on a denim jacket over your tight leggings and tee outfit and it will have you covered. When it comes down to comfort, nothing better than this outfit when you are rushing out and you do not want to dress up.

Via

↓ 12 – Full Denim Look

How can we skip the all denim look when we are talking about denim jackets, not a chance. We find a perfect one and thought it would be best to present it for you here, with high-waisted jeans, white tucked shirt underneath and a crisp, bright blue denim jacket. A light colour hijab makes it a perfect outfit for spring as well as for rainy or windy days in summer, cause you gotta keep that modesty intact no matter what. Denim jackets are not that heavy or warm in terms of the fabric which is why they can be carried with ease in comparatively warmer days.

↓ 11 – Pink Hijab With Denim jacket

Here is an outfit for you to play with colors in spring when the beautiful sun is out and shining. This beauty in pink pants and a pink hijab wearing a denim jacket is giving us all the major outfit goals. With some crisp white shoes and a brown bag, it is all you need to look your best this summer. Go out for movies, lunch, work, to class or even a quick rush to the market and this outfit will make you look colorful yet dapper even without putting a lot of thinking and efforts into it. This look is perfect for any outdoor activities and it will help you get the best pictures too, win-win if you ask me.

Via

↓ 10 – Denim With A Pop Of Colour

When you are in the mood to go all black and denim on a day and still want to add a pop of colour and character to your outfit, this is what you should opt for. An all-black tee and jeans outfit paired with a hippy denim jacket with yellow stripes on the side, a colorful turban on the top, some tassel earrings to match with the hijab and colorful glasses to flaunt. Nothing balances an all-black outfit better than adding a pop of colour with accessories and upper wear. Some blingy accessories for the neck, fingers, and hands will only add more bling to the outfit, never less. This outfit is a perfect vacation outfit. These hijabi bloggers are definitely the trendsetters when it comes to hijab fashion, so make sure you follow these Top 20 Hijab Fashion Bloggers Every Hijabi Should Follow in 2019.

↓ 09 – Beach Outfit With Denim

Retta here has been seen giving us major vacation outfit goals with another denim jacket outfit here which will be a proper fit for a day at the beach. A long fitted black dress with your favourite, comfortable flats, and a side bag gives off all kinds of vacation vibes, for hijabis a denim jacket thrown over it gets the modest job done as well. A chic hat over your hijab makes the outfit more fun and vacation appropriate.

↓ 08 – Striped Leggings And Printed Tee With Denim

Yet another pop of colour with black and street style outfit by the beautiful Retta from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Another outfit that will be a perfect fit for any given day on vacation, an event, a day at school or at work both. For all the girls out there who like some sparkle in their life, the cute pearl detailing over the denim jacket makes it an outfit worth having in your wardrobe. Everything goes perfectly fine with each other, the whole outfit blends in.

↓ 07 – Cropped Denim Jacket

If you are wondering how to style crop denim jackets with modesty, here is an idea for you. A distressed, cropped denim jacket with loose mom jeans would make up for a stylish yet modest outfit, we even fetched an outfit picture for you to get inspiration from. This definitely looks like an outfit out of a magazine photoshoot rooting for comfort. We’ve already done a detailed post on Different Ways To Wear Crop Tops Modestly so do check it out.

↓ 06 – For A Day At School

This outfit would be perfect for a day at school, available in everyone’s wardrobe, easy to find, as comfortable as it can get and easy to carry. The oversized denim jacket perfectly covers for modesty.

↓ 05 – Denim Jacket With Jersey Sleeves

Another fashion which has been seen circulating the internet this last winter was jean jackets with jersey sleeves, which add a little colour and character to the conventional jean jacket. It can be paired with straight pants or checkered pants to create a fun outfit for a day at work or class easily. This is also a really nice and minimalist look for traveling, here are some more tips on What to Wear As A Hijabi Traveler.

↓ 04 – Denim Jacket With Skirt

A cute flared skirt paired with a high neck definitely makes up for a cute summer or spring outfit, and if denim jacket is added to this outfit like shown in the picture here, it makes the outfit a blend of both class and street style chic. With these beautiful heels, this outfit can take you to an event as well as to a party or a concert with your friends. A day out to stroll the streets of Paris, this is the look for you.

↓ 03 – Printed Denim Jacket

A printed denim jacket of your choice can be custom made, and it can add a character to the outfit and the jacket itself as well.

↓ 02 – White Denim Jacket

One of the best colors of denim jacket to pull off in summers would be a white denim jacket over a flowy, flowery dress of your choice. A park picnic day with your family or friends, when you are out and about on your summer vacations in Europe, nothing will complement more than a white denim jacket and a flowy dress. Top it all off with a white hijab.

floral dress – Lulu’s $86

denim jacket – dorothy perkins £21.00

↓ 01 – All White With Denim Jacket

Like all black and all denim cannot go wrong with a denim jacket, all white fits perfectly for summers and spring as well. This beauty has proved us here.

[eolewyn1010]

Downton Abbey Fashion 9 - garden fashions over the years

Let’s talk about something season-overlapping: The development of garden fashion. I don’t have a very solid reason for separating the from the usual outdoors fashion, except that there is a very distinct color scheme to it – there seems to be a tradition, even after fluffy, frothy lingerie dresses have gone out of fashion, to wear white and cream tones at occasions associated with nature, such as picnics, flower shows, and cricket tournaments.

So, let’s see how this looks like from seasons 1 to 3.

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Starting with Violet – first picture is from the garden party at the season 1 finale, second from the season 3 cricket match. The obvious parallel: Violet wears a high-necked white blouse and over it a cream coat with wide lapels. Simple enough statement, but the pre-war outfit goes all in on the lace; the yoke of her blouse and the better part of the lapels is all Edwardian lace. Also note the hat with the wide brim. Come 1920, Violet keeps her general style, but this outfits looks a lot smoother, a lot less busy. The sleeves are less poofy, the chest is not so fluffed out, the lapel and cuff decoration is now nothing more than a simple black line and a little fringe. The hat she chooses this time is a much smaller affair, albeit no less decorated with the tulle drape and the lace ornament.

--------------

Isobel goes in walking suits, and the one from season 1 is exquisite. The slanting cut and the layered lapels and the button rows? This jacket is a thing of beauty. Late season 1 gives the impression that Isobel is starting to enjoy high fashion, and I can see why. Funnily, if you look closely, she seems to be wearing the exact same blouse with scalloped lace on top under both walking suits here, several years apart. I admit, I find the later suit a little unspectacular in comparison, but it looks quite nice with the straw hat and the little nacre brooch, and she wears it again in season 4, so she must like it.

--------------

Cora’s turn. She wears this darling cream coat with black soutache embroidery for the season 1 flower show, and the kind of hat that’s made me want to own an Edwardian hat. It’s huge and knows no stinginess with its decoration. The end of season 1 has her go with a little straw hat with a velvet ribbon instead, although they put some effort into pleating said ribbon. A cute dress with a lace collar to go with this; it looks a little more homely and cozy than the super chic coat. And then by season 3, her cricket day outfit is just… kind of boring. There’s no decoration to speak of on either the dress or the jacket. Pretty necklace, I guess? Why do you put only one flower on that hat when it has place for three to five?

--------------

Rosamund opts for a walking suit in season 1, and I gotta say, this one compels me, not because the suit itself has anything spectacular in its cut except maybe the pleating on the sides, but because the black contrast elements elevate this so much. And the hat. Oh my god, I have severe hat envy. This is gorgeous. Again, season 3 brings us a much smaller hat and, I have to say it, a much less interesting one. It’s fine, I guess; it just doesn’t make me yearn so. She wears a dress and jacket to it that are pretty shapeless; the 1920s care not about the human figure and how to accentuate it. But Rosamund also has a holdover element: The little white netting gloves.

--------------

Stripes on Michelle Dockery are the only reason why I am a little in love with Mary after all. Just a tiny bit, very shallowly so. She’s a goddess, especially in the first picture with that swoon-worthy hat with champagne satin flowers. The lace collar framing her shoulders doesn’t hurt, and neither does the necklace in the second picture (that she stole from her mother). In comparison, her first garden look in season 3 is kind of eh. Nice shiny material and the little shoulder detail is cute, but I happen to think that this shape of pseudo-bonnet hat is difficult to pull off. So let’s talk about her cricket dress instead! A drop-waist summer dress with short sleeves and a kind of winged lapel collar; this looks nice. Love the little button row down the side of the waist. And the hat is much better.

--------------

I keep remembering Lavinia as this slight, small thing, but her actress is only an inch or so shorter than Mary’s. I guess I can see why – they kept dressing her in very girly, youthful outfits. Not much to compare here style-wise as she’s only around in season 2, but these dresses are cute, cream silk satin and white lace. They still inherit a little more of the pre-war styles than others here, what with the waistbands and the rather voluminous, gathered skirt on the right one. And the lace yoke on the left one is adorable.

--------------

Different than Edith, who is not meant to look adorable in her season 1 dresses. Oof. They put her in these while Mary is running around looking like a goddess. I guess that’s the entire point, but I still resent it. She’s dressed like a little girl in a scene in which her romantic hopes are crushed, for heaven’s sake. Fuck that lace collar with a chainsaw. So, she is one of the people who gets a serious upgrade to season 3. I like this new summer dress; it looks so breezy and light. The embroidered yoke is beautiful, and so is the patterned hat ribbon.

--------------

And I’m taking in Sybil and Rose in one go because Sybil doesn’t live long enough for post-war garden fashions and Rose only has the post-war fashions because she’s quite a bit younger. Sybil has this cute flowered white dress with what looks to be a chiffon wrap overlay and a cute little belt with a golden clasp. Rose on the other hand wears something more similar to Edith’s new dress, a simple white summer dress with a chiffon overlay. Simple but lovely.

--------------

That's as much as I can fit into one go; if I find enough white or cream garden dresses in the later seasons, I will take this up with another post.

Why yes, we do have a reason to celebrate! We’re going to get married by the end of summer, all three of us! Class-breaking polycules for the win!

[eolewyn1010]

Downton Abbey Fashion 3 - Edwardian outdoors fashion

We're still on coats and walking suits pre-war, but we have yet to look at the younger generation of Crawleys. And I will have to begrudgingly admit that while I can't stand Mary, I am in general an admirer of her fashion choices.

Hm. This coat would be an exception. Admittedly, it does have embroidered lapels, but I don’t see the pattern well enough anywhere that it looks other than abstractly flower-ish to me. Other than that, it doesn’t seem to fit quite right? It’s honestly one of the more unassuming Mary looks, but it was also grabbed for her in a haste and I don’t think we see this again afterward. Oh well, on to the prettier bits.

There we go. Usually, Mary’s outdoor looks are spectacular. Look at this tailored suit! So grey and yet so glamorous. I love these little toothed elements around the collar and on the cuffs. Unnecessary buttons are usually the death of me because ew, stitching on buttons. But I can’t deny that the effect is great. Also, the velvet ribbon around the hat pops nicely on the otherwise uncolored outfit.

Thanks, Mary – this is a nice coat. Beautiful color, looks clean and streamlined, nowhere near the shabby chic of the first one. And again, the velvet elements pop very finely. And I definitely need to find out the Crawleys’ milliner; the first hat is doubtlessly one of my favorites. How do you load velvet, tulle, feathers, and a brooch up there without making it look cluttered? It helps that the rest of the outfit, including Mary’s jewelry, is very understated. Also, the coat is a holdover to season 2.

The white London walking suit. Not a personal favorite of mine; I feel it’s a bit lacking in those nice contrast elements the blue coat has, but there’s no denying it looks very good. Love the stitching on the upper part of the collar; it ties in the color scheme of the hat. The hat itself – well, again, this particular asymmetrically drooping style is not my favorite, but it’s perfectly coordinated with the suit, and the ribbon adds up with gloves, shoes and umbrella to a nice framework. Slightly suspicious of the pockets in this jacket though. I hope to someone those are actual pockets and not just decorative flaps.

Another banger! I’m tempted to call this an Eton jacket because of the waist length, but I’m not secure enough in my terminology. And this one comes with contrast elements again; I love it. The collar style is new, and then there are these adorable little turnover-cuffs! And the little soutache embroidery on the front which seems like a nod to military fashions… You know, maybe it is an Eton jacket after all. Mary wears this one a couple times, with various hats as we can see – again, this asymmetrical style, and one of the big plumage spectacles I personally prefer because I’m overfed on modern fashion understatements. Go big or go home. But also, consider: pockets.

I’m not a 100% sure about this; like some of the Dowager’s dresses, it seems to be a liminal outfit. Without a hat, it looks very indoor-sy, but with the hat, it’s fine enough for a stroll in the park. Anyway. High-waisted skirt because Mary meets a potential suitor, so she’s gotta show off her figure, and fluff above the waist because pigeon chest is not quite dead yet. The long pearl necklace in the first picture is foreshadowing the upcoming overlong fashions of the 1920s. No more notes; this looks nice and appropriate for summer, and purple dresses Mary quite well.

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I don’t know what to make of this suit, tbh. I’m here for the cream-and-black contrast; this is almost a recolored version of Mary’s blue coat and as such very nice. Only, it looks like it doesn’t fit Edith quite right, wrinkling up in the chest area when she’s standing up straight. If this is another attempt in dressing her down, it doesn’t make sense; the Crawleys can afford to tailor every damn thing to the millimeter. At least with the mourning suit not quite fitting Mary, they had established before that it was an unexpected event and they didn’t know if the girls still had fitting mourning garb. Oh, well. Contrary to Mary’s opinion about Edith’s fashion sense, this one looks very nice with the dark blue blouse and hat, and it compliments her hair color. Also, the last picture is of season 2 – one more of the instances where they keep something over a season change.

This one fits better, but I’m not a fan of the brownish grey color. Of course, the situation is unflattering for Edith’s skills in intellectual conversation and flirting, so a not-very-flattering color on her makes sense. Thanks for the subtlety? On the plus side, the collar of that suit has some nice embroidery.

The orange walking suit! Hm? No, this isn’t spectacular or anything; it’s just the first instance of Edith wearing a color that’s going to become pretty iconic for her, although it doesn’t have the same character significance for her yet that it has later on. She pairs it with dark blue a lot; here, she’s going with black and white. Nice hat on the right, only I could swear I have seen it elsewhere before? Did she steal it from Mary? In any case, I like this style better than the little bowl hats Edith predominantly wears this season.

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And then there’s Sybil, who has her signature color cut out more clearly than her older sisters – she wears more light blue than anything else, outside and in evening dresses. Check out this nice walking suit! Love the embroidery and the cute little tassels and the pleating on the front. Plus the dark blue piping around the collar giving it a little extra pop.

More of the same color, although this is a little more washed-out. I’m here for pinstripes though! This coat is much longer, almost to the knees. Also way more streamlined. I like that she’s repeating the hat, but with a different ribbon on it. The suit Gwen is wearing is technically also Sybil’s, and it’s cut in a much similar fashion as the previous one, but I’m surprised that it’s such a strong color contrast with the rest of Sybil’s wardrobe. It also might have been altered slightly to fit Gwen.