17 Days of Beauty and the Beast - Day 7: Cogsworth

Yesterday was Lumiere's day to shine. And what's Lumiere without his "Overgrown Pocket Watch" comrade, Cogsworth? Today's outfit is dedicated to this tightly wound but lovable character. I'm wearing one of my favorite Beauty and the Beast t-shirts, with a retro movie-poster-esque design on the front. I believe this shirt was from Target, but it was from a couple years ago and is likely  no longer available.

To mimic the gilding on Cogsworth's lovely self, I'm wearing sunflowers in my hair, and a gold wrap ribbon belt. I've paired this with a sheer black pleated high-low skirt and simple ballet flats. An easy comfortable outfit. After all..."If it's not Baroque, don't fix it!"

Finally, I wanted to share my Beauty and the Beast limited edition magic band. Magic bands are used at Disney World to do everything from open your hotel room door to paying for all that you buy and getting into the parks and onto rides. The new magic band style has a removable puck at the top that makes the design look quite a bit like a watch, so I thought it was apropos to wear with this ensemble. I believe the magic band is still available to buy on the Shop Disney Parks app.

 

17 Days of Beauty and the Beast - Day 6: Lumiere Cartoon Gothic

I call today's outfit "Cartoon Gothic." I really tried to ham it up for the photos, imagining myself wandering through the corridors of a mysterious old castle, Lumiere in tow lighting the way.

The tank top is from Hot Topic. I love the image on it, but don't wear it often because shirts with that dumb "dip down" curve on the front were NOT made for hourglass figures. It emphasizes all the wrong things in my hip/waist area. Recently I realized that I could just have mom help me cut it straight across in the front. Hopefully when I do that, I'll end up wearing it more often.

I decided to try wearing it almost like a corset, with a cobalt blue peasant blouse underneath, a brown rose in my hair, and a blue heavy crushed velvet floor length skirt, with a patterned ribbon belt at the waist.        
            

17 Days of Beauty and the Beast - Day 5: Human Again

I admit, I have a preference when it comes to my retellings of Beauty and the Beast: I prefer the Beast to not transform at the end. It just seems like such a cop-out to me for Belle to fall in love with Beast for who he is, and then have her "rewarded" by him turning handsome. What?? But despite this, I still adore Disney's movie as-is, including the ending.

I'm wearing a new shirt from Kohl's. I saw it on their website and loved it immediately. I'm a sucker for "cold shoulder" tops, and I love the asymmetrical hemline on it too. I've paired this with a rose headband from Claire's, a pixie-hem skirt and patterned tights I've had for ages, and granny boots that were a gift from my friend, Lisa. The necklace is a licensed BatB one from Hot Topic, who are single-handedly putting me in the poorhouse with all of their new licensed BatB merchandise. On the necklace is a rose (the original was way too pink instead of red, so I "repainted" it with red nail polish), mirror, bell jar, and a medallion with a silhouette of Belle and Beast.

I'm holding the 25th anniversary ornament from Hallmark last Christmas. It's a beautiful piece, and I couldn't put it away after the holiday, so it's out on display.

17 Days of Beauty and the Beast - Day 4: Comfy Weekend Time

Sometimes, you just want to be comfy. Sweatshirts are great for this. And this sweatshirt is my go-to for a comfy weekend top. I got this particular one from the Disney Store last year, and of course like many officially licensed Disney items, it's no longer available (believe me...if you really love something...grab it when you see it). I love the sketch of Belle and Beast, and the gold roses at the bottom of the design are actually embroidered.

Today I'll also share with you something I use daily: my purse! I confess I spent more on this handbag than any I've ever bought...I'm usually a "find a bag at a garage sale and use it until it falls apart" gal. But when I saw this design, I was smitten. I loved the feminine floral design and the way you have to look at it twice to see that the yellow pattern isn't actually flowers, but Belle. Not to mention I'm picky about my Belle art, and these depictions of her are spot-on. If you're equally smitten with it, you can still get it on Amazon!

Black leggings and a delicate pink rose flower crown finish off my casual weekend ensemble for kicking back around the house.

17 Days of Beauty and the Beast - Day 3: My Books

Late last year, I found this shirt on Amazon, and it was right after my mom had asked for a link to my Amazon wish list for gift ideas. It wound up being a Christmas gift from my Grandma, and I love it. It's a great shirt for me to wear to work at the library.

The confusing thing for me was that the words on the shirt are presented as a quote, and for the life of me I couldn't recall Belle ever saying this in the film. But it looks like, after a quick Google, she says this line in the Enchanted Christmas film, which I've only seen once.

I've paired this shirt with a pair of white bloomers. Yes, white bloomers! I'm wearing a pink rose flower crown, (both bloomers and crown were secondhand scores from my friend Lisa) and a necklace from Etsy with an image of deliciously old leatherbound books. My earrings are delicate cameos, and were made by my mom for me. I'm wearing cream-colored sweater wristlets.

The book is a gorgeous hardcover from Amazon of the tale by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve that was just released in celebration of the film. There are all sorts of interactive illustrations and pop-ups in this version, and I'm greatly enjoying it so far.
 

17 Days of Beauty and the Beast - Day 2: Beast!

Confession time: I am not entirely coming up with these outfits on the fly. I wrote down a rough list of outfit ideas ahead of time to make sure I'd have enough to fit all seventeen days. When I thought of this outfit plan, I knew I wanted to wear these ram horns with the shirt. But I pushed it forward in the "schedule" when a friend told a story about a stranger she saw who wore a pair of ram horns to Lowes. Good for her! In solidarity, I decided to wear and share this today.

Over the centuries since Beauty and the Beast was first written (and in various similar tales before that), the Beast has been visually represented in a variety of ways. He has been simian (monkey-like), appeared as a warthog, a bear-type creature, oxen-esque, horned, and antlered. In celebration of this variety, I'm wearing my ram  horns from Linden Sidhe Designs with a deer antler necklace from Etsy. The shirt I got from Macy's...despite it being a men's baggy shirt design, I loved the sketchy image of Beast on there. And it works well over leggings because it's longer than a woman's shirt. For a finishing touch, I'm wearing my black sweater wristlets with (100% faux) fur on the edge from Amazon.

17 Days of Beauty and the Beast - Day 1: Stained Glass Window

For day 1 of my 17 Days of Beauty (and the Beast) challenge, I'm wearing a cheap but fun dress from Amazon featuring the stained glass windows from the beginning of the animated film. Sorry if the photos look blurry...it's a stormy evening here in Ohio with very little light.

I'm wearing the dress with a bell-sleeve black shirt underneath it, black leggings, and a red bow belt (also from Amazon). A red and black stained glass floral velvet scarf is at my neck, and I'm wearing my homemade pair of Beauty and the Beast stained glass window mouse ears.