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Costume design and color theory analysis, geek fashion and makeup how-tos, shopping recommendations, and general musings

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Lifestyle, Fashion Alyssa Bradley Lifestyle, Fashion Alyssa Bradley

7 favorite shops for dark and elegant gothic fashion

The other day on Instagram, I asked if it would be helpful for me to share a quick list of my favorite places to shop for clothing and accessories. While I frequently share where I get my specific pieces in my Instagram posts, having store recommendations listed in one place can be helpful too. The poll results were overwhelmingly positive, so 1) thank you to everyone who voted and 2) consider this your short and sweet guide to places where you can shop for dark and elegant style fashion.

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Costume Design, Film Analysis Alyssa Bradley Costume Design, Film Analysis Alyssa Bradley

How Loki's costumes in his TV series reflect his character's journey

Loki's costumes in the first season of Loki on Disney+ brilliantly reflect his character journey and emotional state in a way that we have not yet seen from him in the MCU. The costume designer, Christine Wada, did an amazing job communicating and emphasizing Loki's character journey through what he wears. Let's break it down.

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Makeup, Beauty Alyssa Bradley Makeup, Beauty Alyssa Bradley

A makeup look inspired by Grogu from The Mandalorian

I love creating makeup looks inspired by my favorite characters, and I actually previously created a Grogu eyeshadow look in my blog 4 makeup looks inspired by the Mandalorian. However, since that was a couple years ago and my makeup skills have greatly improved since then, I really wanted to create another Grogu inspired eyeshadow and makeup look.

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Film Analysis, Costume Design Alyssa Bradley Film Analysis, Costume Design Alyssa Bradley

How Glass Onion uses masks to tell us about its characters

Glass Onion takes place in May of 2020 at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. Because of this choice, costume designer Jenny Eagan made the brilliant decision to not only incorporate masks in the costume design, but also utilize who is wearing them, what kind of mask they are wearing, and how the mask is being worn in order to communicate important details about each of the characters in this wild ensemble.

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Film Analysis, Crimson Peak Alyssa Bradley Film Analysis, Crimson Peak Alyssa Bradley

Analyzing the color motifs in Crimson Peak

Crimson Peak is my all time favorite movie for many reasons. It’s a feminist love letter to classic gothic storytelling that modernizes the genre by subverting many of its tropes. Every single shot of this movie is filled to the brim with so much eye protein that it takes multiple viewings to fully see and appreciate every piece of furniture, the jewelry and fabrics of the costumes, and even the hidden messages and designs in the wallpaper.

However, one of the biggest reasons why Crimson Peak is my favorite is the way it’s completely masterful in how it uses color to add a deeper layer to its storytelling.

I’m going to break down the main colors Crimson Peak features and how they are used to represent characters, emotions, and even continuously foreshadow the final villain. If you haven’t seen Crimson Peak yet, I highly recommend you do as there will be spoilers ahead!

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Recommendations Alyssa Bradley Recommendations Alyssa Bradley

My 4 favorite tea shops

As an avid tea drinker of 15+ years, I’ve found myself clinging to the calming effect of delicious teas even more than I have before over the last couple years for obvious reasons. However, as much as I love drinking tea to relax, sometimes shopping for tea is the better stress relieving activity.

So, this article got me thinking that it was high (tea) time I shared my 4 favorite tea shops with delicious, creative blends that have me visiting them over and over again!

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Geek Fashion, Marvel, Cosplay Alyssa Bradley Geek Fashion, Marvel, Cosplay Alyssa Bradley

Recreating an outfit from WandaVision (no sewing required!)

With the premiere of WandaVision earlier this year, we had 9 episodes filled with so much new and glorious Wanda causal wear from all different eras. However, I was particularly enamored with this simple but stylish outfit from episode 8. Since I already had most the pieces on hand I thought it would be fun to recreate this outfit for myself! It’s basically the world’s most low key cosplay.

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