My mood dictates heavily what I wear. This night, Story Story Night, I planned on dressing more glamorous and wearing my Kim Basinger cream wool dress circa 1990’s Batman. Earlier in the day, I had even made it over to Tanzanite Salon and stylist Jen Brown fixed my hair into this 2012’s popular side swept look.

 ooooo . . .

2012’s popular side swept hair: Tanzanite Salon, styled by Jen Brown

My female cycle is coming. That night I was feeling emotional and vulnerable. I wasn’t wanting to embody the feminine and delicateness of my preselected dress or it’s white coloring sure to spotlight against an audience of dark colors. This is my last minute scramble for an outfit styled by PMS.

Gray campy t-shirt: GAP, over a year ago
Emerald velvet dress: Betsey Johnson, Lux Fashion Lounge, Christmas gift from Jessica

Anna wrote this week about chromotherapy and how color can change a person’s mood. Anna, I’m not sure if I believe in it either but I am definitely drawn to certain colors based on what I feel or want to feel. When I am emotional, I usually want to counterbalance and dress for strength, which usually translates into minimal and or darker colors.

Tibetan breastplate: Armor Bijoux

Adding to the empowering strength of a dark color palette, I also like to wear big and bold jewelry for extra emphasis. Accents of fierce colors such as the red in this Tibetan breastplate helps too.

 Vintage rings: old pawn Navajo, gift (see this post for close up photo)
Black lace-up leather boots: We Who See, Urban Outfitters 3 years ago

Why stop with color and big jewelry might as well wear black lace-up ankle boots that say I am durable.

Photography by Anna Demetriades

My female cycle has a pattern of inspiring me to want to move to another country, change careers, and save the world in one week.

My current fantasy for a better world is wage laws that make it so that everyone who works a full week can afford a humane way of living, which includes the occasional vacation, healthy organic food, day care, health insurance, housing, and time to be physically active. It would also be nice if there were laws that regulated how businesses operate, i.e. not over working people because of labor cuts or slave driving people over seas because they have less protection. Maybe there are some laws, but right now it seems too easy and acceptable to exploit another person for profits. We need more accountability.

What is the psychology of how you dress?