All posts tagged: cheap fashion

“Watermelon Sugar High Seas” outfit

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When you buy a wicker watermelon clutch purse on the beaches of Isla Mujeres, make sure you pretend to eat it and spit out the seeds into the sand, so that when you later randomly pass a clutch of servers standing in front of a restaurant, they’ll mouth out your action and laugh. Making you a legend. A legend of the sandìa mime jokes. When I quit my job 8 months ago, I wanted to travel for one week out of every month. Finally, this year, I am nailing all my goals. Travel-wise and client-wise and money-wise. I’m exhausted, frankly. And I’m learning to adjust to reality. And realize the value of routine and a sense of place.   But I’m proud of myself. For going there. Over and over and over again. (Yes, this is my third trip to Mexico this year.) I’m proud of myself that I woke up at 5:30 am to catch the sunrise and silence of this abandoned shell beach house on the south tip of the island. Especially after …

“Snake in the grass” outfit

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You boys that pick flowers, and strawberries, near the ground, run away from here, a cold snake lurks in the grass. — Virgil, The Eclogues I went to Craters of the Moon with Ryan last week, a surreal landscape shaped from slithering lava rising out of “the Great Rift,” now a vast stretch of scaly encrusted black. Right now I’m watching the news on the mass shooting in Las Vegas. What will stop this firepower? And what sort of warped country will it leave in its wake? BCBG Generation black & tan snake-print flap dress with built-in black spandex miniskirt – $8.95, Idaho Youth Ranch thrift store | Frye ‘Sacha Moto’ black leather shooties – $100 (MSRP: $278), Bombshell Salon‘s Head to Boots Fall Make-Up Event («the next one is THIS SATURDAY, and it’s a bad-ass party to celebrate the 5th b-day of Bombshell Salon, come! Get cheap-ass new Frye Boots!)Ryan marvels at the oddity of native Idaho creatures. Featuring, at upper right, the real moon. Cheep it up to the moon and back.

“Screwed zebra” outfit

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If a pair of zebras needed a wild Air BNB to screw heartily (and look at the size of that schlong—it’s a real heart-stopper), I think this is the room they’d book. Calvin Klein black & white dress – $8, Idaho Youth Ranch thrift store | Liz Claiborne white tuxedo jacket – $1 (sale) – ReStyle thrift store | DKNY platform wedges – $20, Idaho Youth Ranch thrift store Etta Benjamin Cien gold floral art – $150, Renewal (Ryan bought this, obvi, as this is his guest bedroom, which he unfortunately does not rent out some Air BNB of the savanna) Cheep it in the hinterlands.

“Nice day for a (black +) white wedding” outfit

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Friday night, after Ryan and I came home from a gorgeous love-soaked/heat-stroke of a black + white rooftop wedding—too exhausted to take a Cheep photo—I slept in this (sans the hat). I woke up at 6:20 am, sweaty cakey makeup and all, thinking, “What the hell why not. Just put on the hat.” I struggled in the half-light for awhile, almost giving up, then this gorgeous glow infused everything for a time-ticking/camera-dying number minutes. Behold, I finally witnessed the golden hour of the morning. I don’t know if I’ve ever been this up/productive this early. Nice day (post a black +) white wedding. (Cue Billy Idol.) Calvin Klein black cotton w/ white stitched breast pocket – $5, Idaho Youth Ranch thrift store | vintage 1960s Sears Millinery white straw w/ black velvet ribbon hat -$25, In Retrospect |  DKNY platform wedges – $20, Idaho Youth Ranch thrift store The red Apocalypse Now chair is mine. I am slowly creeping in over the threshold. Cheep it up.

“I voted” outfit

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I’m sure it’s not easy growing up as any type of human, or lifeform for that matter, but evolving as a woman is a real mindfuck. A real onion of a mindfuck that only reveals itself over time through the tear-stinging process of peeling off—layer by layer—the stink of utter societal and historical bullshit, already seeping through your skin. Though probably somewhere in the deep internet of my brain, it blew my mind anew that women were only “granted” the right to vote in this country in 1920. #seriouslywhatthefucketyfuckingfuck! I voted this year so teary-eyed grateful for all the daring suffragettes like Susan B. Anthony. And to all the women throughout time—especially in this last 96 years in the US—who kept pushing forward in the face of a roar of disdain, dismissiveness, derision. To bring me, us, here. Today. “Now they’re gonna hear me roar,” Katy Perry and Hillary Clinton would say. You go girl. (Hopefully as I am currently freaking the fuck out.) vintage Liz Claiborne white tuxedo jacket w/ “I voted” sticker, $1 (sale) – ReStyle thrift store | Forever 21 …

“Ivanka Trump’s bidet” outfit

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Do you ever have that not so fresh feeling? Maybe you’ve got a real douche bag on your hands. We all feel a little unclean after this political season. But especially for Ivanka Trump—that enigmatic scion—all the gold-plated bidets & all the gaudy bathroom wallpaper & all the pussy bows in the world can’t wash that icky feeling away. (The above facial expressions made by imagining Donald is my creep dad.) But you can still wash your hands clean. Vote! vintage Joan Curtis pussy bow gaudy print dress (just imagine it as Ivanka Trump’s childhood bathroom wallpaper, because that’s what I did), $15 – Super Fantastic Triple Yard Sale | Shoe Strings red leather shoes made in Spain, $8 – Super Fantastic Triple Yard Sale Photography by Kim Philley.  Voting is cheap, cheep!

“Hard rain” outfit

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Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize in Literature today. I squealed like a schoolgirl at a Beatles concert. Or I should say, a Bob Dylan concert. I love Bob Dylan. I first saw him at 18 with my dad & he hit lit something on fire in me—with that nasal voice, those brilliant lyrics, that effortless scathing genius. I took him into my subconscious & into the wilderness. I wrote college papers comparing his writing to Walt Whitman’s. I memorized the battle-rap-like lyrics of “Subterranean Homesick Blues” on a long daily commute from the cow-dung hell of Caldwell to the corporate hell of DirecTV.  I soundtracked my last break-up with Blood on the Tracks & Blonde on Blonde. Thanks & cheers to you, Bob Dylan, the true love of mine. Oh, what’ll you do now, my blue-eyed son? Oh, what’ll you do now, my darling young one? I’m a-goin’ back out ’fore the rain starts a-fallin’ I’ll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest Where the people are many and their hands are all empty Where the pellets of poison …

“Last gasp” outfit

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Fill this in like a mad libs. Last gasp of: ____. Fall colors. Summer blossom dresses. Our democracy? Alice Polynesian Fashions orange & pink blossom print cotton dress – $7-$15, I can’t remember if this is from a yard sale or thrift store | Chia orange leather Victorian bomber jacket – $7.99 Serendipity Boutique vintage 1980s? Made in Korea | Frye ‘Sacha Moto’ black leather shootie – $100 (MSRP: $278), Bombshell Salon‘s Head to Boots Fall Make-Up Event Cheep, cheep.

“Mic drop” gown

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What you can become is the miracle you were born to be through the work that you do. –Kurt Vonnegut I dropped a mic a month ago. Over the past 7 years, I built a magical life from scratch, using the medium of mere words. Self employment. Stage popularity. Community figurehead-ism. Yet somehow, I ended up utterly caged inside my own creations. Lonely. Broke. Trapped. When at my depressive lowest, I would often stare at photos of deep space taken by the Hubble Telescope. The infinite release of a profoundly glorious and indifferent universe. So I quit it all. Though it took an act of God, I quit it all. And quitting my “dream life” has been nothing short of an ecstatic freedom. Dropping the mic on stage felt like dropping a world of weight off my shoulders. Boom.1960s Helen Bass California deep space print gown – $45, In Retrospect vintage/consignment  | Cindy Says green-gold hells – $I can’t remember but they were half off, Piece Unique | Feather earrings – $14 Record Exchange | Busted mic, gift from my rockstar friend Ned Evett (because I’m not an asshole who would drop a live …

“Lois Lane’s alter ego” outfit

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I’ll bet Lois Lane was also secretly a superhero, and both she and Clark Kent/superman were just using each other as norm-core beards. Shazam! This outfit’s like she’s plugging away at her day job as an award-winning journalist but left her superhero belt on. A fashion wink to alter egos everywhere. Kapow! no brand tag, possibly home-made coral, black & cream striped dress -$15 (I think), Super Fantastic Triple Yard Sale – previously sported by Boise artist Erin Cunningham, I think, but maybe Danielle Hurd, because things got a bit frenzied as I tried things on in the yard |  Banana Republic twisted black and tan leather slip-on heels, $4, Gold Mine thrift store (Ketchum, ID) | Black & gold arrow banded belt – $0.94, ReStyle thrift store Cheep!