Oxymoronic Fashion

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‘Ugly Pretty’ is probably something that most people are familiar with especially when you scroll through my Susie Styles section and find looks that are never entirely pretty and to some are just downright ugly.  It’s my natural tendancy to want to ruin things a little, mush things up a bit and play with an item’s prettiness level.  A darling pink ruffly dress cannot be left alone in its pretty pink glory because the saccharine levels would quite literaly suffocate me. 

With all the ‘prettiness’ about for this season (does it seem like we’re sick of SS08 already…. I hope not….)…ruffles, florals, fairies and lace (well a sign of next season really…thanks Prada…), these play right into my ‘ugly pretty’ mentality and instead of looking at them in isolation, I end up tacking words onto them that make sense to me and get a partially oxymoronic thing going on….

Floral Rage – Pile on as many florals as possible, thus playing up a florals’ frump factor and doing the Hyacinth Bucket from Keeping up Appearances thing to the max. 

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Vintage blue floral puff sleeve dress, vintage ‘WTF’ fabric skirt shortened to make a dress, vintage tropical floral skirt stiched up, vintage blue straw belt, American Apparel blue tights, Topshop black patent multi-strapped platform shoes

Slicked Ruffles – Liquid, shiny, melted black plastic oozing in and trying to fight with the ruffles.

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White felt ruffle attachment made for a jacket but worn as a scarf here, Collection Privee cream leather ruffled skirt, Topshop Boutique grey ‘mille feuille’ tutu, Topshop black PVC trousers, black patent ankle boots from Paris (forgotten the store!) 

Neon Fairy – Layering sheers over neon as if a dusting of sherbet had blanketed the neons.

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Vintage orange and black cheerleader skater dress worn inside out, vintage slip skirt pulled up over dress, Urban Outfitters black patent belt, vintage pleated gown worn underneath, vintage pink leggings, neon tights cut up as sleeves and as headband, Poste Mistress silver flats   

Lace Robot – Bacofoil and lace is a good combination.  Definitely.

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Vintage pale blue lace dress, vintage silver strapless lame dress, vintage silver gloves, American Apparel silver leggings, Jenne O silver lace-up shoes, boyf’s vintage black sunglasses   

57 comments

  2. Ahh, thats really cool,
    I love the ruffles, they literally look like theyre fighting, def. an interesting outfit, && i love the blanketing of the neons..
    very inventive =]
    loving it =]
    x

  6. I love the sort of ombre effect in the “slicked ruffles”, and of course the contrast between the materials… very cool 🙂

  8. hey I really like the second look. Nicely put together! The first one rocks as well, but I think it’s too much color for my (black-loving) style.

  10. Keeping up appearances is my mums fav show…so i know exactly where your coming from!!!
    O yea and i adore the way you photoshop yourself with the backgrounds…. neon fair really works!!!
    Best of all wonderful styling…slicked ruffles is my fav outfit….. you layer skirts so well…..x

  13. Hehe…love the slicked ruffles outfit, mainly because it features that skirt as a dress.
    I like the way you play with “conventional” fashion rules and create really intriguing outfits by just doing things your own way.
    The outfits are so interesting to look at!

  14. The ruffles look is my favourite, I now what you mean about ‘pretty ugly’ I prefer it that way. I was the kid at school who did a really nice picture but just kept adding stuff until it was utterly ruined, I’m still the same now 🙂

  15. i love how youre always so experimental with your clothes!!
    this might be my favorite post of yours so far

  16. Really love the clashing florals, not sure I would have the nerve to carry it off!

  18. First two looks are scandalously wearable, do you actually go out into the streets with those? Too awesome!

  19. this must be one of your most exciting posts ever! the styling is really refreshing and it is indeed inspiring!

  20. These are all so awesome! The “Lace Robot” got the Flight of the Conchords stuck in my head, but that’s not a bad thing! The “Slicked Ruffles” is also really neat — Siiri got it bang on by mentioning the ombre effect. I really love how the “Floral Rage” all comes together with the blue tights, too.

  21. Very artistic! Inspirational. Adore your ‘oxymoronic’ fashion; you have such a bold and innovative take to outfits. You can pull things off well which most others can’t.

  22. oh my, this is amazing- have you ever considered styling shoots?! i recognise the balenciaga-esque blue dress and wtf skirt from ‘floral rage’, and they all meld together freakishly well

  23. Love the ruffles look – how knew how tough and hard ruffles could be teamed with patent and PVC. Lots of inspiration in this!

  30. oh wow… getting sick of a season before it’s begun… i know the feeling, but i wonder if it’s a blogger thing?
    personally, i love the the silver and lace, it’s a great combo…

  31. the second look has a nice colour palette and silhouette. the rest are just a mess, but if that is what you are going for then so be it.

  32. Thanks for all the comments! Too much time and too much snow/hail in London results in what Kate (19:10) calls my oxymoronic ‘mess’ (yup, I’m a mess and I like it!)
    EDIT: By the by, Kate from Georgia, USA, I’ve noticed you have left a few malicious comments on the blog. If they continue to follow the same pattern, and it’s not a personal thing, I will have to ban the IP address….
    Martin: I have actually worn the Neon Fairy outfit out once so that one is a repeat outfit…!

  33. I love how you push the envelope, so to speak. The neon fairy look is my favorite, but they’re all inspiring. The sheer fabric over neon has such an interesting effect.

  34. Love the ruffle and lace versions. I’ll have to try something like this with the sweet clothes in the back of my closet.

  37. This is insane – how can you possibly come up with all of these new ways to wear clothes? I love the “ugly-pretty” look, I really need to try it more!

  38. god i LOVE LOVE how creative you are! the slicked ruffles look is definately my favourite.
    can i ask a question? do you wear your fabulous avant-garde ensembles out in public? do people look at you strangely? im so inspired!!! i adore it!
    xxx

  39. i so love the slicked ruffles look. the ruffle attachment creates a great balance in the silhouette imho and the pvc trousers and patent boots are a perfect finish to this.
    but with the neon fairy look i kinda only see the pretty for some reason. which doesn’t mean it’s bad. just saying i don’t see the oxymoronic effect there 🙂

  41. My goodness Susie, your creativity is absolutely astounding! I adore the top two outfits. The top one has essences of balenciaga and dries van noten, lusciously deadent and beautiful, and the ruffles are hmmmm…words escape me but it looks incredible. I could see this look marching triumphantly down a runway!

  42. Some fantastic ideas and with all that layering you’ll survive the unpredictable weather we’re having of late!

  43. Hey Susie,
    I must say I’m not quite a fan of your style BUT you always surprise me with your delightful outfits! 🙂

  44. I love keeping up appearances! I think you are absolutely wunnderfull.

  46. I love your work Miss Bubble. It is all about Onslow from ‘Keeping Up Appearances’ – now he was a true style icon!

  52. you are honestly so amazing… everything is so “wrong” (according to alleged experts anyway!) but you make it look so effortless, creative, chic, basically just nifty all round… if you don’t mind, can you please please PLEASE let me know how you do your hair?! i’ve done a few amateur attempts of my own but can’t get the puffy bit of hair at the top right; it looks all messy and weird!

  54. I really got sick of that Balenciaga dress that I see EVERYWHERE — and was reminded of it in your Floral Rage.
    What I’ve got to say, though, is that you made that look super interesting, I really, really luvs it soooooooooooooooo much! I can’t stop staring at it, it makes me want to dive into a pile of floral printed skirts and dresses my big sister discarded in the 90s and pile them on in every which way.
    This is what I love about when you play dress up — you take so many disparate things that logically wouldn’t make sense and somehow make it look SO RIGHT, SO FRESH. Much luv, Susie!

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