An Outfit Inspired by Cinerama's Chocolate Popcorn
At Cinerama, my favorite Seattle movie theater, there is chocolate popcorn.
This isn’t just any chocolate popcorn. This chocolate popcorn is miraculous. The chocolate coating isn’t too dense. It isn’t cloyingly sweet. The popcorn keeps its crunch and is never soggy.
My preferred style of chocolate popcorn is a bag of mixed: half chocolate, half regular. It is particularly excellent paired with red wine. (They have wine! Thank goodness for theaters with booze.) Then, no matter what action movie we may be attending, I have a little sweet, a little salty, and a plastic cup of wine to get through it.
It’s Food Month. All month long, I’ll be breaking fashion rules and experimenting with food as my inspiration. Today, I pay homage to Cinerama’s chocolate popcorn.
Let’s get into the lab!
THE EVENT: Seeing Avengers: Endgame at Cinerama
THE BROKEN FASHION RULE(S):
Women shop in the womenswear department. (That button up shirt was Christian’s. I dug it out of his for-Goodwill bag.)
Heels are too much. This is Seattle, after all. (Those heels are short, but they’re heels nonetheless!)
I wore three different patterns in this outfit - while I don’t have a specific rule about that, I’m sure someone does.
THE OUTFIT: As I pondered the many admirable traits of Cinerama’s chocolate popcorn, the word I kept returning to was opposites. That bag of mixed popcorn is so good because of the contrast between the regular, salty, popcorn and its opposite - the perfectly sweet enough chocolate version.
This sparked an idea - HIGH-LOW!
Last year, I followed guidelines set forth in a Cupcakes and Cashmere article to create outfits that were a mix of opposites. Each outfit combined something fancy or prim with something casual, utilitarian or athletic. It was, and still is, one of my very favorite Costume Parade experiments. I loved the resulting outfits and I loved how it altered my perception of mixing pieces, too. (Click here to read The Great Lie Told to Actors, and 3 Days of High-Low Outfits.)
So, it was decided. I’d create a high-low outfit to honor the balance of delicious opposites in a mixed bag of popcorn at Cinerama.
I dug around in my closet for awhile. I tried on numerous outfits with dresses and skirts before remembering we’d be in a movie theater where I’d likely be cold and seated for three hours. (Endgame is loooooooooong.)
Finally, finally I came up with this High-Low Outfit:
High-waisted, heart-print Madewell jeans from April’s Stitch Fix (LOW)
A white, racerback, Everlane tank top (Neither a high nor low piece.)
Floral, block-heeled, sandals (HIGH)
Christian’s old green and white striped button-up shirt (This was a HIGH piece for him, but could be argued as a LOW piece worn open and oversized on me.)
THE EXPERIENCE: Well, I’ve offended my husband. For the first two hours of Avengers: Endgame I was bored. It’s been two days since we saw it, and he still can’t get over it.
But boredom aside, this outfit worked out quite well! I was comfortable in the jeans, and the button-up kept me warm enough. I felt more fun and interesting because of both the pattern mixing and the contrast between the oversized shirt and the heels.
This outfit wasn’t conventionally flattering. It didn’t follow any guidelines for complimentary a pear-shaped figure. Yet, I still felt more like myself than I would have had I altered the outfit to nip in at my smallest bits.
THE CONCLUSION: Now, I have questions for you.
Have you tried high-low dressing? Have you sought outfit inspiration from a snack food? And most importantly, have you tried Cinerama’s chocolate popcorn?
I’ll be back with another blog post on Sunday but, if the wait is just too long, I’m always around on Instagram, Facebook, and Reddit. (There’s even a Costume Parade Reddit board!)
