Thrifted vintage dress, Ashley Judd boots
For my YA class this week we're reading Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book, about a little boy who grew up in a cemetery. It's so lovely, but I'm incredibly biased because of my intense Neil love. I thought it was a great excuse to finally take a few photos at the old cemetery nearby (like I said I would ages ago!)
This is one of the best cemeteries that I've every been to-- half of it is new and looks pretty run-of-the-mill, and the other half is insanely old and dark with tall trees and lots of Spanish moss. It's actually kind of strange how the old half is appropriately dark and dreary.
I have to admit, doing this was so creepy! And I'm not afraid of cemeteries or anything, but all day it had been threatening to rain, and it was so cloudy and windy. I was the only person around so it was super quiet until the train came groaning through a couple of streets over. Train sounds have always creeped me out and I have no idea why (I suspect it's from too many scary ghost train stories as a kid).
I'm such a weirdo in cemeteries-- the last thing I want to do is be disrespectful, but I just want to take lots of pictures and hang out for a bit.
This dress was from that huge haul that I thrifted a month or so ago. The fabric is so thick, and it's in excellent condition for its age (whatever that may be), except for a few loose threads here and there. I love the buttons and the weird detailing. It's obviously not my favorite length since it just makes me look shorter, but I love the style so I'm not too bothered by it.
This is one of the best cemeteries that I've every been to-- half of it is new and looks pretty run-of-the-mill, and the other half is insanely old and dark with tall trees and lots of Spanish moss. It's actually kind of strange how the old half is appropriately dark and dreary.
I'm such a weirdo in cemeteries-- the last thing I want to do is be disrespectful, but I just want to take lots of pictures and hang out for a bit.
This dress was from that huge haul that I thrifted a month or so ago. The fabric is so thick, and it's in excellent condition for its age (whatever that may be), except for a few loose threads here and there. I love the buttons and the weird detailing. It's obviously not my favorite length since it just makes me look shorter, but I love the style so I'm not too bothered by it.
You look great in that dress - I can totally see why you love it and it seems like it's perfect for the colder weather (which I am loving over here, btw! It's finally hit Northern California). And that collar detail is pretty f-ing sweet.
ReplyDeleteI tweeted this, but oh my, YA classes are the best. Of course, I'm biased because I want to be a YA librarian. Go, librarians!
I've clearly had way too much coffee today.
Ohhh man this is one of my favourite posts by you ever ever which is really saying something. So pretty! You and your dress and this PLACE. How are Southern cemeteries so much prettier than most anywhere else? With those trees and that moss, omg. Want to go there!
ReplyDeleteAnyway. This dress is so pretty. You look so good in navy blues. And how lucky are you, to thrift a dress with so many buttons and still have ALL the buttons?! Impossible.
I'm flailing all over the place, pardon. xoxo
OH, PS. To throw some juju in with this comment, if you feel guilty about poking around graves you can always take a few shiny pennies with you and drop them on the ground when you get there. Or at the gate. Y'know. It couldn't hurt.
Oh wow, that dress is perfection! I love the color and that little swoopy thing that the collar is doing!
ReplyDeleteCemeteries are my favorite. My friend used to live near one and when I stayed over, we would hang out there all night long, and tell silly stories about what all of the people might have been like! Haha
I'm so jealous that you live near such a wonderful cemetery and that you thrifted the perfect Gothic dress!!! The navy looks so wonderful on you with your black hair, and those little boots!! So perfect :)
ReplyDeleteI love the details of your dress.
ReplyDeleteI love how it goes with the cemetery (in a good way!)
Your course sounds really different to mine! We don't do any literature, it's more business based. I would love to do YA! The dress is really lovely, perfect for a trip to a cemetry, it kind of reminds me of victorian mourning dresses haha
ReplyDeleteYes, I would be a lil creeped ou too, the photos were worth it though. that midnight blue of the dress is so so pretty.
ReplyDeleteOMG I LOVE NEIL GAIMAN! I am an addict, I've read almost every book and check his blog haha. he has a new kids book about like norwedgian folklore and I must admit I'm totally buying it even if its for children because anything he does is genius. graveyard book was quite a feat, i read it last fall around halloween, perfect timing. I have a feeling I would've liked it more if I knew more about the junglebook, but nevertheless it was charming and sweet.
ReplyDeletei too adore cemetaries, I love the old names and sometimes histories you can tell from dates. and that dress is beautiful and particularly haunting the cemetary
What a great dress! And it's definitely fitting for the graveyard scenery...and book. Did you finish it? I just did last night and loved it! I must admit - I'm a fan of Gaiman's, I am, his graphic novels are great and Coraline is wonderful...but after reading Stardust, I was a bit dismayed. I'm so glad this book reaffirmed my liking of him.
ReplyDeleteI'm totally creeped out by graveyards too! They're beautiful, but so...mysterious at the same time. Have you read Audrey Niffenegger's Her Fearful Symmetry? There's more graveyard love there.
Anyway..great dress and great photos!
wow love ur dress soo much, you looks awesome in that dress, that dress have awesome detail and colors, it's very perfect for winter season :)
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That dress is fantastic. The pics on the graveyard look so nice too...is it wrong to enjoy graveyards as much as I do?
ReplyDeleteI looove the pictures. You remind me a bit of Winona Ryder in Beetlejuice here, what with all the gothic themes and all. But seriously, that dress is a beauty to behold!
ReplyDeletewow that detailing is fab! you got some wonderful photos in your cemetary shoot! should go more
ReplyDeleteI really love the dress!
ReplyDeleteThese photos are so beautiful, haunting and goth they need to be on. Everything beautiufl--the dress, the boots and you!
ReplyDeleteI've read that book all with the rest of his works - Gaiman is a god. You look wonderful too :)
ReplyDeleteoh you look so great wearing that outfit. I love it!
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love this, quite gothic but in the best sense of the word. You reminds me of a Tim Burton heroine!
ReplyDelete... gorgeous dress, i'm dreaming !
ReplyDeleteThe details on your dress are amazing and I love the color! It really suits you:)
ReplyDeleteLovely pictures! I took some outfit pics in a cemetery once--definitely a cool place to hang out. Cool dress, too.
ReplyDeleteYou totally look like a character in a Tim Burton adaptation of a Neil Gaiman book, and I love it. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much everyone, you're all so lovely! ♥
ReplyDeleteDiane: Aww thank you! It really is perfect for cold weather because it's so thick and warm.
I love YA classes so much too! If I didn't take this one and my undergrad class I would have missed out on so many good books, because I didn't pay much attention to YA lit before. And now I have this big love for it, and I wouldn't say no to a YA position either!
Phoebe: Aww yay!! I'm so glad you like it. It's such a pretty cemetery.. it really is the moss that makes southern graveyards so gorgeous. And that is such a good point! I wish I had thought of that, about the coins. I think I'll do that from now on. ^_^
Penelope: Thank you! I like the weird asymmetrical thing too. And that's so fun, haha! I have a friend that has never been to a graveyard.. I feel the need to take her on a tour of my favorites.
Rhiannon: Aww thank you so much!! I thought of you when taking these photos.. I couldn't get that pretty dreamy quality that you're so good at, but the moss certainly helped to create that lovely atmosphere. I'm dying to visit the one that you went to in Charleston!
DIana: Haha thanks! I know exactly what you mean.
Helen: It reminds me of a Victorian mourning dress too! That's the first thing I thought of when I saw it. I'm so glad that we're reading and discussing books, I really missed doing that. Although it's not like my old lit classes, this is more geared towards how we would booktalk the books and discuss them with YAs, that kind of thing.
Eyeliah: It wouldn't have been so creepy if it weren't so quiet! Being alone on an overcast day was just freaking me out a little, haha.
Jayne: Oh me too!! I love him so much, I felt so awful that I hadn't read The Graveyard Book until now because I kept meaning to. Apparently The Jungle Book is the perfect companion book to it-- if I wasn't buried in school work right now I would so read it! I'll make sure to get to it eventually, though.
Lauren: Thanks! I had finished it right before posting this, I loved it so much. I couldn't believe that I actually liked it more than Coraline, because I adored that one. And you're a Sandman fan, yay!
I just saw that book at work the other day and wrote the title on a post-it so I could remember it, haha! I loved The Time Traveler's Wife so I can't wait to read it
Rebecca: Thanks so much!! Hopefully it's not wrong, because I adore them. I do feel guilty poking around, though, but I don't bother anything!
Isabel: Omg, thank you! You remind me of Winona all the time. ^_^
Danielle: So true! I love him.
Miss Woo: Ahh thank you!! It really is the perfect dress for being Tim Burton-y.
a cat of impossible colour: Ahaha that's the best of both worlds, thank you!
gnnnnnnnhhhhh this dress is SO good. Jealz. xxx
ReplyDeleteHow can someone who'd ever touched a neil gaiman book be anything but biased? He's close to a diety! :P
ReplyDeleteLove the connection with the book cover, location and the dress!
that dress is lovely, I love your style it's so beautiful!
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ReplyDeleteI love the clothes that litter the photos are also very good, congratulations, you did a great job.
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