Today marks the last day of this year’s “virtual” Fall Fashion Week in New York City. As I understand it, 2020’s NYFW started September 13th and has included a mix of virtual shows and even a few in-person runway events with very limited audiences. I’ve never been one to actually “follow” fashion (and clearly I don’t keep up with that many trends), but I’ve still always dreamed of attending fashion week. The glitz, the glam, the free goody bags… What can I say, it all sounds pretty awesome. (Although, based on what I’ve heard from “real” fashion bloggers and even based on my own experience at Denver Fashion Week, it seems that the glamour and allure of fashion week might be a fallacy.) But nonetheless, I still hope to go someday! So, in celebration of this fashion-filled month, I decided to round-up a post of my fashion-related bucket list items. Maybe I can’t do them just yet, but someday soon I’ll be back in the world and struttin’ my stuff!

Attend a Masquerade Ball. Doesn’t everybody dream about this? No? Just me? Well anyway, I’ve always been fascinated with masquerades and have several masks hanging in my room at home (including this jester one) so I’ve got options for a fabulous gown and outfit, when the time comes. And going to a ball isn’t that unrealistic, right? Big cities have events like that… I think… I hope…

Crash a Wedding. Okay, to clarify, I would “respectfully” crash a wedding. My boyfriend told me this story that he and his friends were in downtown Denver, dressed up really fancy, and some doorman of a building told them, “Oh, the wedding is just upstairs.” The doorman let them in, so they danced the night away at some random person’s wedding! They even met the bride and danced with her. I SO want that to happen to me! But the key is all in the outfit (and location). Just gotta be dressed really elegantly and in an area with lots of wedding venues nearby… I’m already thinking I’ll wear this mauve dress.

Start a Fashion Blog. Oh wait! Checked that off in 2016. Now the next step is…

Make Money from My Fashion Blog. Wanting to make money from my blog isn’t so much about greed/earnings as it is about validation to myself that my blog and content is good enough to be monetarily successful. I don’t know if that makes sense, but I’ve always wanted people to read and enjoy my content, and to me, brand sponsorships and affiliate earnings would prove that people like and interact with my work… that my blog is good enough. But of course, there’s no denying that it would be amazing to make a side income from this hobby just for the sake of making money, especially considering how much time I invest into Graceful Rags! Oh, and did I mention blogging isn’t free? Gotta offset those WordPress costs somehow.

Get Married and Make My Own Wedding Dress (?). I always have SUCH a dilemma when I think about what kind of wedding dress I want—I just love so many styles, and after watching “Say Yes to the Dress” all the time when I was younger, I can imagine lots of different dresses for myself. My aunt made my mom’s wedding dress for her, and I always thought it would be so cool if I could make my wedding dress. However, it’s never really been a dream I’m that invested in, so I doubt I’ll make it happen. (Plus it seems super fun to go through the process of shopping at an actual bridal store and trying on everything.)

Learn to Sew. The other reason I figured I’d never make my own wedding dress is because I didn’t know how to sew! But hey, since I just learned over the summer and I don’t plan on getting married any time soon, I suppose there’s a slim chance it could still happen.

See a Performance at the Sydney Opera House. I’ve long been fascinated with Australia, and of course, going to THE Sydney Opera House requires an elegant and sophisticated look. I imagine it to be something like the sparkly navy dress Ana wears in the movie Anastasia (one of my favorites, by the way).

Design a Pair of Shoes. The Nordstrom store in Seattle used to have the coolest “shoe bar” where you could design your own pair of shoes, picking everything from the material, to the toe shape, to the colors and textures, to the heel height. And it was only $100! My middle school self thought that was so expensive, but now I wish I had done it when I had the chance—that Nordstrom doesn’t have the shoe bar anymore.

Go to a Music Festival and “Dress Cutesy”. Those are the exact words written on my bucket list, I kid you not. But yah, I basically just want an excuse to wear an outlandish outfit with glitter all over and a crazy hairstyle.

Dress Up as a Very Convincing Zombie and Dance to “Thriller”. Y’all know how much I love costumes, and every year around Halloween there are these big “Thriller” flash mobs where people gather, dressed up as zombies, and do the famous “Thriller” dance. But I don’t want to half-ass it… I’m talking FULL zombie makeup, with fake blood and fake chunks of skin and all.

Walk a Red Carpet. Obviously I’m never going to be famous (nor do I want to be!) but some fancy events, galas, etc. have little fake red carpets. I would EAT IT UP, as I’m sure you can imagine (just like I strutted down the Denver Fashion Week catwalk). I’ve always told myself that I need to get a job that involves lots of galas so I always have a reason to dress up. In fact, I want my wedding to be a black-tie event so that all my girlfriends get a chance to wear a gown because that’s always what I’ve wanted.

Attend New York Fashion Week. And of course, I would love to go to NYFW, even if it is as stressful as “real bloggers” say it is. While influencers usually wear pretty “out-there” outfits to NYFW, my look in today’s post is my take on a wearable, more functional street style outfit. This hot pink blazer is borderline neon in person, and my faux Valentino rockstuds are my absolute favorite shoes ever, though I rarely have a place to wear them. What would you wear to fashion week if you could go? Something super dramatic or a more laid-back look like mine?

I hope you enjoyed today’s blog post! It was really fun to write. What sorts of items are on your fashion-related bucket list, if anything? I pulled all of these events off my actual bucket list (as in, I didn’t just make up this list for the sake of today’s post), but I realized that pretty much any of my bucket list items could be considered “fashion-related” because every event deserves a special outfit, in my opinion. Sorry this post is going up so late—it’s been a super busy week—but I hope you all enjoy your weekend!

 

Miles of smiles,
Grace

 

Pink Blazer: JCPenney, $35, last worn here | Black Cami: JCPenney, $6, last worn here | Skinny Jeans: JCPenney, $25, last worn here | Faux Valentino Rockstuds: DSW, $42, last worn here | Box Purse: Envy Boutique in Tacoma, Washington, gift, last worn here | Pearl Belt: Francesca’s, $5