i’m trying to channel into the mind of elizabeth here. what goes on in your head when you’re planning out an outfit to wear? I get ideas for outfits from pretty random or arbitrary things. A lot of times it’s a song or a phrase that gets me thinking, or an idea to put together two things that don’t really make sense. Occasionally I’ll put together an outfit based on a runway show or a street-style look, but more often it’s something that has a story or a character behind it. I’d much rather dress up like a flapper, a 60’s stewardess, a librarian or a modern Brigitte Bardot than something I saw on style.com. (I also sometimes look through my old photos for inspiration – I’m definitely guilty of wearing different variations of the same outfit or re-using old tricks, and it makes me think, “You know, I haven’t worn tights over shoes/an upside-down sweater/my hair in a beehive/etc. in a long time…”)

now you must tell us about your fall inspiration. My fall inspiration? I’m not really sure. I do tend to dress more “dark” during the fall and winter, and of course I start to layer a lot because of the weather, so my look ends up being more complicated than in the summer, when I’ll just throw on a simple dress. When I feel stuck in a rut, I look through the Charles Addams and Edward Gorey books on my shelf and they always inspire me – the illustrations are kind of lovely and morbid at the same time. I’m also becoming really interested in the late 60’s/early 70’s – I watched The Graduate recently, a family friend gave me a huge stack of 70’s magazines, and I’ve been listening to a lot of music and looking through a lot of photos from that time period. I think it’ll be interesting to see how these two sources of inspiration get thrown together.
is there a list of elizabeth’s fall must-haves? I don’t have a list of fall must-haves, but in general, my must-have items are: something shiny, something frilly (preferably a tutu), something with sequins, something floral (preferably vintage), and anything red, white and blue. You can worry about little black dresses and pencil skirts and other “staples” when you’re older and working in an office – I’ve always believed that it’s better to dress a little crazy while you can still get away with it.

where do you usually shop for clothes? The places I shop aren’t really extraordinary at all – mainly thrift stores, and sometimes Urban Outfitters or H&M. I keep a spreadsheet of all my clothing purchases, and according to that, in the last year I’ve also shopped at TJ Maxx, Marshalls (they have great shoes sometimes), Target, Topshop, Forever 21, and an assortment of yard sales. I’m also a bit embarrassed to say that I bought 2 bathing suits (for $10 each!) from American Eagle, and a $4 over-sized pocket tank from Aeropostale. I kind of hate myself for shopping at such stereotypical mall stores, but I do enjoy it when I can find something I’d actually wear next to all the low-rise boot-cut jeans and graphic T-shirts with monkeys on them.

i’ve been following your style on chictopia for a while now and i’m so excited that you’ve started a blog! what inspired you to start doing outfit posts and to eventually start your blog? I only started getting really interested in fashion during high school, and at the beginning of sophomore year I decided to take a picture of my outfit every day (without posting it anywhere), just to have as a sort of fashion diary. Towards the end of that year I started reading a lot of fashion blogs, including some written by teenagers, and found out about Chictopia through them, so at the beginning of junior year I started posting outfits there. By the end of the year I was doing a lot of writing along with my outfits and posting other things that didn’t really fit into the “daily outfit” setup, so I made the jump to Blogger and started posting on my new blog in addition to Chictopia.

do you aspire to work in the fashion industry? Sometimes people ask me “So you want to be a fashion designer, right?” or “Are you going to be on Project Runway?”, mainly because not a lot of people at my school dress the way I do. I would love to do something fashion-related, but right now I’m not sure if that means working at a larger design house, or a magazine, or doing something more business-related, or finding a more stable job and doing fashion stuff on the side (since the fashion industry is depressingly hard to break into.) I’m also kind of fascinated by advertising and what makes people want to buy certain things – I think it would be really interesting to have a job that explored that side of the fashion industry.

you can see more of elizabeth at chictopia.com/queenelizabeth or at raisedby-wolves.blogspot.com.