Scavenger Style: Maroon Raccoon

Shoes: Guess, DSW

Bag: Sleepyville Critters, Amazon

Dress: Kohl's

Belt: Marshalls

Jeans: City Streets, JCPenney

Bag: Lily Bloom, JCPenney

Sweater: Modcloth

Boots: Charles Albert, Alloy

Skirt: Tinseltown, Kohl's

Shoes: Betsey Johnson, DSW

Top: Xhilaration, Target

Skirt: Mudd, Kohl's

Bag: Nine West, Kohl's

Top: Who What Wear, Target

What a Sight Necklace

Bag: Betsey Johnson, Macy's

Headband: Express

Dress: LC Lauren Conrad, Kohl's

Marooned is a word that sounds like macaroon but that means anything but.  Macaroons whisper in pretty pastels; maroon blasts in like a foghorn, its hue matching the foghorn's rust.  Still, marooned takes on a certain kind of romance in the context of quarantine.  Like a velvet Victorian Christmas.  As in, I'm marooned in my house with an old-timey Santa.  Or, in my case, the husband and at least one raccoon.  Just kidding.  Or nearly.  

The raccoon, after all, made its exit.

Let me explain.

A few weeks ago, the husband went up into the attic to check on his pine cones, as you do (he's making a wreath), and discovered these dizzying footprints.  He never found the rodent-that-was-most-likely-a-raccoon, though, just the hole it slunk in through.  Apparently, the pine cones were not to its liking and it took off in search of something better. 

Speaking of the husband, when he saw the polka dot maroon babydoll dress of the last outfit hanging on the bedroom door, he said that it didn't look like something I'd wear.  I knew what he meant; it's kind of conservative.  But when it comes to clothes (and wildlife), I like the challenge of making them my own.  Also, I was drawn to this dress because it reminded me of the one I wore the Christmas I was nine, in the early '90s.  That one was roughly the same cut and color although more wine than russet, with a trio of chiffon roses instead of the tie at the neck.  So not quite as much like it after all, but enough to make me think of bubble pendants and the TGIF sitcom lineup.  It's true what they say about nostalgia from your formative years: even a little bit really sticks with you.  

I guess that's why I started making a '90s fashion Pinterest board.  I love collecting the mix of gritty (flannel, earth tones, dirty denim) and throwback '60s/'70s (daisies/sunflowers, neon, rainbow stripes) pieces, even if in real life the gritty always escapes me.  It's weird to think that I wasn't aware of any of it back when I wore it.  It was just, you know, the stuff that was in my closet.  But now it's a slice of history, both mine and everyone else's.   

Perhaps the raccoon and I aren't so different.  We're both scavengers, it of refuse and me of style.  Also, by the end of the day, when my eyeliner's melted, I rock a mean racoon eye.  Or, as my sister used to say, Gene Simmons face.

Which is fine, as long as that raccoon isn't rocking and rolling in my attic all night and partying in my pantry every day.