Design and Style
I like a contrasting elbow patch. A lot.
A lot a lot.
How great for the patch to have in so many cases emancipated itself entirely from its original purpose of correcting or preventing injury to the garment, and made its way to the realm of the purely decorative. So much so that now I sometimes see bright or loudly patterned patches (especially neat on a somber base), and they can be the star of the show.
This generic stocking cap/beanie has been sitting in my closet for years, forgotten (why did I ever get it in the first place?), but I came across it on a bad hair day recently and what do you know, I like it. It has the effect [like baldness, or very short hair, or a swimming cap] of isolating and so throwing a spotlight on the face, which results in a whole new set of instincts about presentation. Namely, I want to wear unprecedented volumes of eyeliner.
After years of passively owning both the stocking cap and this cute little whale patch (which I think I got when I was 10 or so, and have somehow preserved all this time), I finally happened to think of them both in the same moment, gathered needle and thread (I sewed a thing!), and lo, a new and improved hat was born.
Theorize that part of me has the precise aesthetic appreciation of a little Korean girlchild*.
*Exhibit A: my current cellphone charm is a stuffed baby turtle:
I want to wear it all the time now, provided eyeliner. And black eyeliner, too, which I almost never wear. Like so:
I like accessories like this; something slightly out of my normal style range that inspires me not to look like myself and to experiment with entirely new patterns. Thus expanding my range and allowing for still greater expansion.
The only thing is, once I put it on, I am committed. Can’t really take it off…disaster underneath. [This is the trouble with hats, for me. Also my head is kind of big?]
Still, satisfying to have raised a dormant object up into a state of usability.