Shawling
Or, the Art of Properly Sporting a Shawl
The other day (meaning 'a while ago') on facebook, a friend of my mom had posted this really cool video on all the different ways to wear a scarf. Then, this past Tuesday, I was home alone, and I was just thinking about all the different ways I wear my shawls. And then I thought, I could do a blog post on this! And so I took my camera and my Sunday shawl (the one I keep nice and reserve for semi-formal occasions, such as church, speech, and prom) and had myself a photo shoot, and hence I shall now explicate the versatility of the shawls I regularly enjoy sporting.
At first I tried doing the photo shoot in our living room, holding the camera in one hand and the shawl in the other and doing things selfie-style. I quickly realized, though, that this wasn't going to work, and so I headed to the basement. My shawl doesn't normally seem so translucent, but that's an effect of the lighting, I suppose.
First, I will establish for my blog readership what my shawl looks like. Voilá! (I know the accent is going the wrong way but that's the only accent the alt button gives.)
Attempting to show the length of my shawl as compared with my height. It looks almost like I'm wearing a Sari here. I suppose, if I knew how, I could wear my shawl as a Sari, too. That might be cool to learn. I could probably find it on the internet.
I had to fiddle a little with the lighting before I got it all figured out, but this does look kind of cool with the glowy-ness of the sun behind me.
Here my shawl looks all translucent. It's neat how you can see me through it.
I feel like this is the best display of what my shawl actually looks like, the size and shape of it. You can see I had to close the bathroom door a little to make the light more normal and to make myself and the shawl a little less backlit. I'm in the bathroom because I sat my camera on the sink-counter. All of these pictures, like my awesome trick photography back in digital camera, were taken using the ten-second timer on my camera, though it was easier to line myself up with the camera picture this way. Being as each of these pictures was on a ten-second timer, these aren't all of the pictures I took, and there was time in between, you can probably infer I spent some time on my photo shoot that night :) 'Twas rather fun modeling.
The first shawl style is that of the furtive, mysterious stranger or of the elderly, wizened witch, cloaked and lurking in the dark shadows of a mystical forest. It's basically just wearing it like a cloak with it up on my head. While wearing this style, you must make every effort to be mysterious. It is not recommended, however, that you offer poison apples to people, though this is the style one would wear while doing such a thing, if one were to.
It can be more spread out. This is probably the warmest way to wear it.
Makes for a great traveling cloak! Also works with a red cloak. Or, in Belle's case, a lovely green-blue-gold one. (I would include such a picture but I am running short of time.)
The next style, though not much varied, is with the hood down.
look back over your shoulder as you walk away. (The hood doesn't actually show very well here).
Sometimes, when I really want the hood to stay in, I actually pin it here, at the neck, where my upper hand is holding it.
Sometimes it will stay without holding it, too.
Here is where the hood part shows best.
For the most traditional shawl style, just hold the shawl up and cast it dramatically about your shoulders. (I find myself thinking of the line from my storytelling piece, Tinúviel ... about him cast her shadowy hair. It's a similar motion.)
the picture's a bit faded out, but it shows the full shawl style well.
I know it's not that different from the last style, but there's no hood, and you put it on different. To do the second style, you do the first style first and then put the hood down, but for this one, you just toss it on your shoulders and let it hang, flowy-like.
You can put your arms out to, like, do things and stuff. Hehehe so specific I am.
you can also wear it a little more tucked in.
You can open the shawl up, the equivalent of unzipping your sweater. I often wear a shawl in place of a sweater to school, when I'm in a mood for it. I do think shawls are sort of cooler and more unique than sweaters. They're an important part of my fashion-style. B) (sunglassses smiley) Hehe I'm so fashionable. I'm suddenly thinking of that episode of Spongebob when Mr. Krabs starts hanging out with Spongebob and Patrick because he wants to be cool and youthful and Spongebob and Patrick are like "we got STYLE!" hehehe. I'm totally up on all the popular fashion trends, because I totally care. <sarcasm>. I just wear what I like, say, for example, shawls.
the shawl closed again
open again, though with my hands together, so it's almost partly closed.
The next style is slightly off the shoulders. It's more of a shrug-type style. To me, it feels kind of movie star.
Holding my movie star shrung together
a back view of the movie star shrug. I actually really like this picture of myself. Some pictures you take, especially with the timer, surprise you when they turn out well, and you just look back and go, hey, I look good in that picture. This is one of those pictures for me.
The next style isn't all that different, but the shawl is a little more gathered. This is like the how-to step where I gather the shawl, which was a little hard to do in the narrow hall that leads in to the bathroom, but I think this shows the gist.
It's more of an elbow-shrug style.
you can gather it in the front.
or have it come straight down from your elbows.
a couple of back views of the elbow-shrug style
Me being fancy, in the way where you try and say fancy with a funky accent so it's like "fon-say"!
This next style is the belt style. It kind of starts out like when you get tired of wearing your sweater or too hot or whatever and so you tie it around your waste. Shawls are somewhat more high-maintenance for wearing than sweaters are and so this may happen more often. It can just get a little fiddly sometimes to keep your shawl draped properly in all the drapey shawls, and so sometimes you may just want to tie it around your waste. When this happens, tie it at the side, spread it a little at the other side (or don't spread it, for a different style) and you actually get a really cool, pirate-y looking belt.
modeling the awesome pirate belt style.
and at this point I thought, you know, what's a pirate belt without a cool pirate sword? Fortunately, I just happen to have one. Actually, I wear my cool pirate sword with my cool pirate belt a lot. I obviously can't wear my plastic pirate sword to school, for one because it's a weapon, albeit a fake one, and for two because it would be a little weird, and for three because my sword is somewhat top heavy and it likes to fall out of its sheath. But here's where I decided to go get it.
When I went upstairs, the sun was setting, and I couldn't help but take a couple of pictures of it. I love sunsets. My window is really dirty, but you can still see how pretty the sunset was, at least a little. A camera never quite gets it all.
I like how in this one you can see all the cool stuff around my window with the sunset. I really do like my epic window décor. It frames the sunset nicely, though it makes it small.
Now with the light on in my room, I thought I'd show you a glimpse of my somewhat disarrayed but still utterly epic closet and the toy weaponry rack therein. Why do I have a toy weaponry rack in my closet, you may ask? Because I'm just awesome like that.
See how many things about me you can deduce from this picture. There's quite a few aspects of my personality reflected herein, from Norway to cats to my flowy church-skirts. Sorry, spoilers for your hunting.
Me coming back and coping with the changing lighting.
Too much light now.
no...
There we go, though it is somewhat of an odd glow behind my head. But it's what I went with. So anyways, here's the belt (the thin one in my left hand, on the right in the picture, that I can actually fasten my sword to) and my AWESOME SWORD. I fasten the sword-belt under the epic pirate-belt of my shawl.
Me being epic with my pirate sword and shawl-belt. Remember in that post about me not hating Hook but just not wanting him with Emma because she belongs with Neal, but when I said I had a thing for pirates? Oo, remind me to show you my spyglass some time. I should of had that in this photo shoot! Seriously, I have an epic spyglass. And I'm excited for more RUMPEL!!! WHY AM I USING CAPS LOCK? CAUSE I'M EXCITED! 'nyways.
Of course, at this point, it becomes all about the sword and its epicness and my getting all hyper-little-kid and posing with it.
I draw my sword from the sheath...
and I am off.
Ah, and I would be remiss if I didn't wear what is technically actually a scarf, as a scarf. So here's that.
Before stopping, I had to take at least one classic mirror-selfie, shawl in movie-star shrug form, sword still in hand.
sword with movie star shrug, and an end to the photo shoot.
Thus is the art of shawling, or wearing the versatile snatch of fabric that is a shawl. Beyond the violet mist, our wardrobe is unspeakably epic, and everyone is encouraged to follow their own fashion styles.
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