Summer of Pixar Look 10: Up- Russell

Good afternoon. My name is Russell, and I am a Wilderness Explorer in Tribe 54, Sweatlodge 12. Are you in need of any assistance today, sir?

Disclaimer: I had a very high fever when writing this post, but honestly I wouldn't change a thing about it.

I feel like more often than not, many aspects of the film Up are overlooked. Yes it's a beautiful heartwarming tale of an old man and his dead, baron wife, but it's also a super fun action adventure story about a kid that just wants to earn his last Wilderness Explorer badge and ends up looking for some bird in South America and almost gets murdered by some other old guy who's time in the sun is long gone. Also Kevin is a girl. I think this is a fairly good synopsis of the film. 

For this bound, I decided to overlook the old guy and the dead wife and focus on the real star of the film: the small Asian boy. It seems to be a huge challenge to most people to recreate Russell's Wilderness Explorer look without wearing a costume, but to me the key to the look is this: to just not wear a costume. For the top, I chose one of my closet staples: a yellow peasant top from Pinup Girl Clothing. While I've seen many designers recreate this peasant top, I have yet to find one as high quality as the ones they sell at Pinup Girl Clothing. For the pants I picked these super cute suspender, elephant legged pants from Collectif Clothing. I thought the suspenders were a perfect way to bring in the idea of Russell's sash without actually wearing a sash. For shoes, the only option to explore the wilderness were of course, hiking boots. To accessorize the outfit, I added a yellow beret, an orange neck scarf from Sidecca, and of course, a Wilderness Explorer badge.

The wilderness must be explored!

  

Seconds of Style: Wall-E

Let's all continue to destroy the Earth so we can live in a Wall-E like utopia.

Summer of Pixar Look 9: Wall-E- Wall- E

And that is all that love's about...

One of the best things about this challenge is that I get the opportunity to go back and watch films that I have not seen in years. There is no question: Wall- E is my favorite Pixar movie of all time. It's such a beautiful love story told in such a simple way. With almost no dialogue in the entire film, it manages to make you feel emotions you didn't even know you could feel. It's visually stunning, it has an incredibly moving score, and it conveys an extremely important message. Also, no doubt about it, Wall-E is the cutest robot in the galaxy. The way he just goes about with his job a la Dodge in Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, despite the fact that the world around him has ended, is the most lovingly pitiful thing I've ever seen. I have not one bad thing to say about this absolute masterpiece of a film.

Wall-E was one of the bounds that I was most excited about. Since Wall-E is such a curious little robot, I decided that this look should be something slightly bohemian and artsy. Believe it or not, I was actually inspired by someone I knew, or rather used to know, for this outfit. In high school, my best friend was the most incredible girl I had ever met. She did not care in the slightest what others thought of her: she dressed how she wanted, said what she wanted, and always smelled like spearmint and eucalyptus. She was always kind and nobody ever had a poor word to say about her. So this one's for you, Brinn.

I started off, believe it or not, with a bathing suit. Yep, that's right, my black and white striped top is in fact a bathing suit. On top of this, I layered a mustard colored skater skirt, and an incredibly comfortable dolmen sleeved sweater. All three of these pieces were purchased from Amazon and you can find them in my Amazon storefront here.

To accessorize this look, I picked a Betsy Johnson bag with stars on it because, ya know, Wall-E is in space. I also added some brown boots that reminded me of the boot that Eve transported the plant back to the Axium in, and some fishnet stockings for flair. Because Wall-E has goggle- like eyes, I wore my Moonshine Deluxe sunglasses from Crown Deluxe Sunglasses.

The absolute crowning glory to this look, however was the Directive pin from Fan Flaire. Fan Flaire honestly makes some of the cutest accessories that are perfect to support your favorite fandoms in a subtle way.

 I consider myself to be a fairly creative person. I love art and being able to express myself through various avenues such as music and fashion. I often times get ideas for projects at the most random times, so I always carry a notebook with me. There's always one in my purse and one by my bed. I'm not very good with technology, so to me this is the best way to keep my thoughts organized. It just so happened that one of my idea notebooks had Wall-E on the cover, so I thought I'd use it as an addition to this look, and as a fun way for you to get to know a little more about me.

Seconds of Style: Linguini

Find me a more stylish chef, I dare you.

Summer of Pixar Look 8: Ratatouille- Linguini

Anyone can cook...

All Linguini photos were taken by @nicwise

When I was in high school I wanted to take ASL as my language elective, but ASL was full and I would be damned if I took Spanish like all the basic kids, so I took French. My freshman year, Madame Deich was our teacher. She was German and taught us next to no French. My sophomore year, things got interesting when Madame Taylor was hired. She was young and beautiful and engaged and we spent the better half of the year planning her wedding. She would project her computer screen onto the board and we would help her pick things like bridesmaids dresses and flowers. Then Madame Taylor got fired for sleeping with a student, who also happened to be my boyfriend. So we ended up having subs for the entire rest of the year while the school struggled to deal with what just happened, and our class watched Ratatouille on repeat every day for almost an entire semester. So Ratatouille is just not my favorite.

There were really only two options for bounds from this movie: Remy, and Linguini, and I actually had bounds picked out for both, but when it came down to it I figured that Linguini was just the cuter option all around. But who knows, maybe one day in the future I'll pull out that Remy bound and you'll have heard about it here first.

For my Linguini bound, I decided to go full pin-up. I started with my white peasant top from Pinup Girl Clothing, and these adorable checkered shorts from my friends at Tatyana Boutique. I especially love the button details on these shorts, it  gives them that little something extra. Instead of Linguini's classic high-tops, I once again reached for my TUK Starlet peep toe heels, this time in red. For my hair, I went with a relaxed poodle-do to mimic Linguini's curly hair. To top the look off, I found an adorable true vintage mouse broach to be my personal "little chef".

 A very special thank you to Chef Goofy for allowing us to borrow your kitchen for this shoot.

Seconds of Style: Lightning McQueen

Life is a Highway by Rascal Flatts is a beautiful song and an emotional experience. Rascal Flatts is better than Billy Joel. Fight me in the comments. 

Summer of Pixar Look 7: Cars- Lightning McQueen

KACHOW!

All Lightning McQueen photos
by Nicole Wiseman
@nicwise on Instagram

I have to be honest with you family, I have never seen Cars all the way through- KACHOW! I remember trying to watch it with my mom, and she left about half way through because she "could not take it anymore", shortly after I lost interest. My mom also left my sister and I in the theater during Chicken Little to go to Office Max because it was "the dumbest movie" she had ever seen. I love my mother so much. KACHOW! I also have not seen Cars 2 or 3 at all*, and I refuse to even acknowledge the existence of Planes.

*It stands to be noted that I plan to watch both sequels as a part of this Disneybound challenge, and that the first Cars movie is playing as I write this. The movie is approximately 4 minutes in and I've already heard "Kachow" seven times. 

Cars is one of the only Pixar films that I did not see in theaters because, even as a child, I had zero interest in a film about talking cars. I understand that people "love Cars" but let's put our opinions aside and get some actual perspective for a second. In 2001, the Academy Awards introduced a brand new category: Best Animated Feature. The first movie to win in this category was Shrek. Shrek won an Oscar. In the 17 years that Best Animated Feature has been a category, Pixar has been nominated 12 times. Of those 12 nominations, only 2 movies have lost. Cars is one of them. And yes, Cars did win a Golden Globe, but the other nominees were Happy Feet and Monster House, and anyway the Golden Globes are just a knock off of the Oscars. Life is a Highway wasn't even written by Rascal Flatts, it's literally a cover song.  KACHOW!

For this look, I was inspired by the one and only Lightning McQueen, because he's just about as full of himself as I am, and my headlights are also just stickers. Being a car, Lightning has a pretty basic color scheme: red, so I took some creative liberties with this one. In all honesty my biggest inspiration for this bound was Cha Cha DiGregorio (the best dancer at St. Bernadette's) from Grease. Any interest I have in cars whatsoever (which is little to none) originated from my love of Grease. 

I started this look with my red Deadly Dames capri pants from Pinup Girl Clothing, and added a red tie up top from Hemet Clothing. I was having a particular skinny day, so I decided to just go for it and not wear a top underneath (oh she's so daring). I broke up all the red with a black belt which FUN FACT: I forgot at home, so we edited in later. Because Lightning has tires and not feet, I picked my black peep-toe Starlet Heels from TUK footwear, 

To accessorize the look, I picked some lightning bolt earrings, and a hair scarf that was reminiscent of a checkered racing flag. I also added some black and white bangles because I'm a bangle type of girl, and some cat eye sunglasses because Lightning is a celebrity and if he were a human, and not a car, I firmly believe that he would wear sunglasses at all times.

Seconds of Style: Elastigirl

Hate reading? Here’s a visual so there’s no need for you to read the description whatsoever!

Summer of Pixar Look 6: The Incredibles- Elastigirl

Forgive me my fans and my public, but when it came to The Incredibles I could not, for the life of me, bring myself to do just another red and black look. It's easy, it's an obvious choice, and I just can not stand it. This whole series is about stretching my mind and pushing my creativity to do looks that I've never seen before. So for this look, I chose Elastigirl, before she was Mrs. Incredible, in the outfit that she shows up in for less than a minute to punch a bad guy in the face before she gets married. Which, in all honesty, is the most bad-ass thing I've ever heard of. She quite literally appears on the screen for only a small blip of time and the amount of seduction and bad-assery that is demonstrated by her is like- astronomical. Go ahead and re-watch the scene and tell me she's not a role model for all you want to be when you grow up. In fact, here's the scene for you right here. Elastigirl doesn't come in until about 2:50, so you can feel free to skip all that loser junk that Mr. Incredible does with the cat in the tree or whatever.

For this bound, I decided to go with something beachy for a summertime look. I figured since, in the short time that we're introduced to Elastigirl, she overpowered the screen with sexuality, I should do something fun and flirty. I started off with an adorable, flowy, white romper that I found via Amazon Prime, the world's modern super hero. I thought that this created a nice, casual base without looking too costumy (I tried to stay away from anything too fitted for this reason). 

All Elastigirl photos are taken by my
lovely friend Nicole, @nicwise on Instagram

I accessorized the romper with a red belt from Pinup Girl Clothing, perfect for snatching that superhero waist. I also added a vintage headscarf for Elastigirl's headband, and vintage red and white bangles instead of gloves, and I even added some red sunnies to hide my secret identity. For my hair, I decided on a classic flip as an homage to Helen's classic do. 

For the shoes, it was honestly a huge struggle for me not to go with some red, thigh-high boots, but I settled on these strappy red wedges that I legit stole from my friend Savannah and will probably never give back. 

 Don't forget, as Elastigirl says, "your identity is your most valuable possession, protect it"

Seconds of Style: Nemo

If you don't like to read, here's an in-depth look at my Nemo bound for my Summer of Pixar

Summer of Pixar Look 5: Finding Nemo- Nemo

Okay. I'm thinking of something orange, and it's small...

I remember seeing Finding Nemo in theaters with my mom and my sister and being so moved by the love that Marlin had for Nemo that I literally went home and cried with my dad for several hours. I was an extremely sensitive child, clearly. Finding Nemo just does not get enough recognition as a whole. Yes, everyone loves Dory, and so do I, but the beautiful story of a father's love is often overlooked because of her comic relief. I could go on for hours about this, but I don't want to cry today, and this isn't a movie review, it's a fashion blog.

With Nemo, I really wanted to do a nautical 60's theme and I was very inspired by Sally Field's Gidget. Growing up, my mom always told me that I reminded her of Gidget, and this film being about the love between a parent and child, I thought it was appropriate to make this look a little homage to my mother as well- the woman who always raised me to follow my passions and express myself through every avenue possible.

As I said, I was very inspired by the 60's nautical beach looks for this outfit. It only made sense to me to pull inspiration from a time period that was inspired by the ocean, for a film who's primary setting was the ocean. So I started with a true vintage orange corduroy play suit. Whoever decided to make a summertime ensemble out of courtesy was absolutely out of their mind if you ask me, but nonetheless, it made a perfect base for this look.

Nemo has a pretty basic color scheme, and doesn't provide a lot to play around with, but I still had fun selecting accessories that I thought complimented the overall look, including this wide white belt, a white headband, and white flats (yes, I do wear flats sometimes).

I also threw on these white and black bangles to represent Nemo's stripes, and even did a mod 60's eye look to bring everything together.

As I was writing this post, I was rewatching the film, and I was reminded of Dory's iconic phrase, to "just keep swimming", which resonated with me in a way it never had before. Today I wanted to remind you all to just keep swimming, no matter how high the waves are.

What do we do? We swim, swim...

Seconds of Style: Celia

A more in-depth look at my Celia Mae Disneybound for my Summer of Pixar

Summer of Pixar Look 4: Monsters Inc- Celia

Boo Disneybound outfited completely
by Sidecca

As you already know, I am not one for repeating, and having already done an adorable Boo Disneybound for Spring Dapper Day 2017, I knew now was Celia's time to shine.

Monsters Inc was released when I was 6 years old and I remember thinking that Celia Mae was exactly who I was going to be when I grew up. Honestly, what could be better than being a receptionist at a company where your boyfriend works? Mike and Celia were the original Jim and Pam and there is nothing you can say to change my mind. In fact, nothing Jim ever did for Pam compared to Mike being able to get Celia a birthday dinner reservation at Harryhausen's. And let's not forget he also had plans to take her to a monster truck show after. Mike Wizowski is such a romantic. On my last birthday my boyfriend made me take him to JC Penny so he could buy a bow tie because he "forgot to" in the several weeks prior, and then made me drive us to Magic Castle because his car was too old and couldn't take the 2 hour drive, where he made my parents pay for a $400 meal for us. He didn't even wrap my present- he gave it to me inside the package it was mailed in. Despite their date having been ruined by a disgusting human child, Mike Wizowski still wins boyfriend of the year in my book just for the attempt.

Michael Wizowski! And on my birthday!

For Celia I wanted to do a very Mad Men, 1960's receptionist inspired look. For me, there really was no other option. She was the epitome of everything a real secretary used to represent. The key piece of this look was the Camila Dress in Jade from, you guessed it, Pinup Girl Clothing. This dress is gorgeous. It is comfortable and hugs in all the right places. and the slit up the side provides just the right amount of va va voom without being over the top. If you threw a blazer over this dress you could almost wear this to your actual secretary job, if you don't mind getting fired.

All Celia pictures provided by @nicwise

 For the hair, I decided to stray from Celia's traditional flip, and go with a poodle do. To me, the curls in the poodle were reminiscent of the snakes that made up Celia's hair. And to give it that extra bit of glamour, I added this beautiful hair flower from Monarch's Flowers. I adore the body and volume these flowers add without having to put so much effort into a style. The purple color as well as the pearls, also made me feel as though this piece would be a perfect representation of the "hair snakes".

 I also thought it would be appropriate to sport my Mike Wizowski pin as a way to show my devotion to my one true love.

And of course, because every look must be complete from head to toe, I finished off the look with the "Starlet" heels from TUK Footwear in lavender. I own these shoes in four different colors which should attest to how incredible they are. They are so comfortable and cute!

Seconds of Style: Stinky Pete

For those of us that are visual people, here is my Seconds of Style video for Stinky Pete