frocktober

ey Guys!  Today I've partnered up with Ruche for their fun Frocktober campaign!  Ruche is celebrating dresses all month and I decided to get a little glam for my style.  After spending the weekend at BurlyCon I'm coming down from a glam-high, so it only seemed appropriate!  When I first saw this dress at Ruche I wasn't sure how sparkly the top would be but I love that it's even more sparkly in person than it is in the photos on their website!  I've been embracing sparkle more these days, perhaps due to my incursion into the burlesque scene.  I've always been more of the kind of girl to eschew sparkly, "girly" things.  I grew up as a dyed in the wool tomboy who almost exclusively hung out with the guys.  I never wanted to be associated with anything girly or super femme.  I felt like girls got stuck in a girly box that was full of pink and glitter and weakness and I wanted nothing to do with it.  Now that I'm older I've ben exploring more feminine styles over the years, enjoying the fact that I can swing from one style to another, from ultra glam, to masculine, to casual, and continue to be authentically, wholly myself.  I love that being a girl means, well, nothing really.  It doesn't mean anything except that I'm a human and that I get to express myself however I want, regardless of my gender or sex.  I now feel free to be glittery or butch without feeling boxed it, and it's awesome. 

 

dress/courtesy of ruche :: shoes/seychelles, courtesy of modcloth  headband (similar)/courtesy of BHLDN necklaces/adorn by sarah lewis, moorea seal, handmade Being at BurlyCon was an interesting study in people, and that aspect was almost more captivating that the classes themselves.  I'm not heavily into the burlesque or alternative scene yet so I almost felt like an outsider peeking into a world I'm not really a part of yet.  It was cool to see so many iterations of feminine and masculine, and yet everyone there was (or is working towards being) a burlesque performer.  Everyone from the most flamboyant boylesque guys to mousy, quiet, and unassuming girls.  From fully tattooed gals with pink hair, to plain janes.  And everyone in between.  It seems like burlesque means something different to each and every person.  It's vulnerable and bold, both hiding and exposing parts of oneself.  In a lot of ways sometimes blogging feels a bit like burlesque.  Choosing which parts of myself I expose to my audience.  How much I take off, which styles I choose to portray in each post, how much I say or don't say.  Blogging is a sort of internet burlesque.  Sometimes it's a tease with the audience, sometimes it's more raw than we even realize.