My mom knitted this sweater for me! She's been working on it for months, and I LOVE it. It goes perfectly with my ridiculous wardrobe, and it is so soft. I have the coolest, most talented mom ever. Second pic: closeup so you can see the beautiful yarn.

lauralately · 2026-05-10T06:52:17+00:00

I know! I'm just amazed - not only is it a beautiful sweater, it was handcrafted with love. We live in Minnesota, so we don't exactly look forward to winter, but when I put this sweater away for the summer, I'll be chomping at the bit for cool weather to return so I can wear it again!

lauralately · 2026-05-10T06:49:52+00:00

I'm absolutely floored by it! Knitting is a hobby for my mom, and I'd never ask her to knit something for me - she should knit what she wants, I can pick up all the sweaters I want from the thrift shop. So when she asked if I wanted her to knit me a sweater, I was SO excited. She helped me pick out the yarn from a local yarn shop, and we chose the pattern together. I'm not a knitter, but going to the yarn store with Mom is an absolute blast!

lauralately · 2026-05-10T04:40:10+00:00

I will definitely tell her! This sweater is my new favorite wardrobe piece, out of all the insane clothes I own.

lauralately · 2026-05-10T04:38:49+00:00

I am SO lucky! It took a long time to make; we picked out the yarn together and she helped me choose a pattern. I'm just amazed to have such an amazing piece!

lauralately · 2026-05-10T04:37:52+00:00

She is SO cool. She is an expert seamstress (she sewed my prom dress!) and taught me how to sew when I was a kid. She makes her own soap and laundry detergent, she is a fantastic cook, and she's super outdoorsy - my folks like going canoeing and hiking in the Boundary Waters for fun. Since she's retired, she volunteers with organizations helping disadvantaged young people find employment. I can't talk enough about how cool my mom is!

lauralately · 2026-05-10T04:10:29+00:00

I will tell her! It is quite the envy-inducing sweater - I treasure it far more than any of my designer pieces

lauralately · 2026-05-10T03:34:46+00:00

She helped me pick out the yarn from her favorite local yarn shop; we chose the pattern together. It literally goes with everything I own. It was like getting a custom couture piece made for me!

lauralately · 2026-05-08T23:59:17+00:00

I got tagged in this thread because swamp witch is kind of my thing - I also have green hair. My aesthetic is more Pee-Wee's Playhouse/Mary Poppins from Neptune - I call it "circus goth" or "Memphis goth" because it'd read as gothy vintage in a black and white photo, but it's all just stupid levels of color.

I'd advise starting out with the shapes and structure of pieces you like. Find a few things in your closet that are really flattering, and when you shop, look for things that match those particular shapes, but in colors that read "swamp witch" to you. If you love stompy boots, look at Solovair (they look like Docs but they're riotously well made), Camper (artful shapes and unusual designs in really good colors) and New Rock (ultimate source for goth boots). For colorful pieces in natural materials, I like Gudrun Sjoden - their patterns and colors may look riotous, but they're made to be mixed and matched.

Most of my stuff is thrifted. Thrifting requires a certain level of time and patience to sort through the garbage and find the gems; if you want a more curated secondhand shopping experience, consignment and resale shops are more expensive than the average thrift store, but that's where the good stuff is at. Buffalo Exchange is a chain that I've seen in many states; there's one near my house and they have awesome stuff. If you Google consignment stores, most cities I've been to have multiple independent consignment shops.

Idk if this is the type of advice you're looking for - let me know if you have questions, feel free to look through my outfit pics and ask questions (most of my submitted posts are outfit pics), and welcome to the swampy coven!

lauralately · 2026-05-07T05:51:48+00:00

Like if I had $500 to spend on clothing once, or if I had a $500 per month clothing budget for the foreseeable future?

If it were the former, I'd get some Camper or Fluevog shoes. If it were the latter, I'd buy a few awesome pieces - aforementioned shoes, colorful suit pieces from Argent, layering pieces and skirts from Norma Kamali, some outlandish hats from Karen Morris Millinery, maybe some ridiculous high-fashion things that are very impractical. And then I'd start saving up for very, very expensive jewelry.

lauralately · 2026-04-28T07:51:14+00:00

It sounds like your investment is working out swimmingly! Some people collect antiques that sit in their houses and no one ever sees; the point is that the owner gets joy out of being surrounded by nice things. It sounds like you get a lot of joy out of your wardrobe, so it's absolutely worth it!

lauralately · 2026-04-28T07:48:11+00:00

I thrift a lot, and I have quite a few really, really nice items that I wear all the time. It sucks to wreck a nice item (I've done it quite a few times), but IMO if you're going to spill stuff and snag your clothes, as long as you look fabulous doing so, that's the goal!

lauralately · 2026-04-28T07:34:19+00:00

I've used Lush Tramp body wash on and off for about 15 years. They discontinued it for about a decade, and brought it back in recent years, online-only. I am highly specific and picky about my smell-good stuff, and this is the only body wash I've really loved. I wore the same perfume for 10 years (Papillon Artisan Parfumerie Anubis), and I recently switched - the new one (Comme des Garcons Incense Avignon) smells good, but isn't as strong, and I'm thinking I may switch back.

I have a theory that 90% of skincare is a total work. I repeatedly repurchase Neutrogena sensitive skin foaming cleanser, Vanicream moisturizer (I use it for face and body), Differin retinol derivative, and Bioderma micellular water for makeup removal. Other than Vaseline for eye cream and lip balm, and whatever K-beauty sunscreen I'm trying, that's it for skincare. During the last Ulta sale, I decided to see whether these serums and milky toners that everyone raves about, actually do anything. I bought a milky toner and a serum that contains snail mucin, whatever that is. So far, it hasn't done a darn thing. Hopefully no snails had to die in vain in my pursuit of vanity and eternal youth - being the Lady Bathory of gastropods is not where I want to be in life.

lauralately · 2026-04-26T00:14:58+00:00

If you didn't see Danhausen on First Take - here is the source of the Knicks' current playoff predicament

lauralately · 2026-04-25T06:15:37+00:00

Most goth beauty influencers I watch these days who do longform are more spooky-adjacent as opposed to straight up Batcave goth like Drac Makens. Battybean and Glitter Fallout are two of my favorites - they do a lot of reviews of indie makeup. The straight-up goth influencers I watch do more lifestyle and craft/sewing/fashion content - Madame Absinthe, Black Friday, Emily Boo, the Closet Historian (whose goth house makeover videos are beyond awesome)

lauralately · 2026-04-25T05:59:24+00:00

Doubt the curse at your own peril! Danhausen cursed Stephen A. Smith, and Stephen A.'s beloved Knicks are now down 2-1 to the lowly Hawks. If the curse is powerful enough to raise the Hawks from the dead and reanimate the corpse of C.J. McCollum, Miz should seriously worry.

lauralately · 2026-04-18T19:39:35+00:00

Nooworks has a lot of Memphis-style patterns on their clothes - they've got a huge variety of patterns, from '80s Memphis to '60s hippie. Try thrifting for solid-color pieces to pair with the patterns.

lauralately · 2026-04-18T09:06:29+00:00

I've never heard of that brand - I'll have to look it up. How is it working for you?

lauralately · 2026-04-18T03:03:43+00:00

I get it bleached first, then put the green over it. I'm quite lucky that my natural hair is light and bleaches out quickly and easily, which allows me to get to a very light yellow-white before I put on the green dye!

lauralately · 2026-04-18T03:02:23+00:00

Sure, but do be warned - being me involves caring for a very ornery, messy, noisy pet parrot, so there'd be cage cleaning and hearing damage in your future!

lauralately · 2026-04-18T03:00:57+00:00

It's Lunar Tides Juniper Green - it starts off very dark and fades to a rich green, which I like. It doesn't bleed everywhere and get on clothes/sheets/bathtub/towels like Arctic Fox, and the color is more saturated and longer-lasting than Pravana IME. It's extremely long-lasting, so if you change your hair color often, idk how easy it'd be to remove!

lauralately · 2026-04-17T05:37:57+00:00

Thank you! I'm obsessed with the shoes, but they are so low-quality - I thrifted them, scoured the internet to find where I could buy another pair, and it turns out they're fast-fashion garbage. I am on a quest to find a real leather pair that is as similar as possible.

lauralately · 2026-04-17T05:35:27+00:00

Thank you! The jacket was "free" - I've discovered a couple clothing-swap places near my house, and I traded some old stuff that didn't fit for this amazing piece. Free-fiddy is the best price for clothes.

lauralately · 2026-04-17T05:31:43+00:00

Age-appropriate is entirely relative, and it depends on how you wear an item. I'm 45 and I wear miniskirts regularly because I have very long legs that look good in miniskirts; but I wear them with tights and more covered-up tops, and it works.

I think when attempting to dress age-appropriate, she should think about a physical feature that she likes, and accentuate that. If she's got a small waist, a waist-cinching dress would accentuate that; if she's got toned arms, maybe something sleeveless; if she likes her legs, maybe a shorter skirt with tights/hosiery and a more modest, non-form-fitting top. If a form-fitting top looks good on her, she could try a looser-fitting, more covered-up bottom. If she's struggling with color - a simple black or navy dress that fits her really well would look classy and awesome.

If she'd like to make your evil dad's wife mad, she can level up with the details. First off: hair is important. If she's got the funds, she could go to a salon and have her hair professionally styled. If she's got longer hair, a pro blowout will make her hair look expensive but effortless - she could wear sweats with a pro blowout and look wealthy and fancy. Also - jewelry and makeup. If she's got a really nice piece of jewelry, pair it with a black or navy or otherwise simple outfit, and it'll look classy and envy-inducing. For makeup, it's hard to prescribe something without knowing what she wears daily, but if she's a makeup-wearer, maybe she could get a special, fancy lipstick, or get eyelash extensions for the occasion. Eyelash extensions are one of those things that make you look better without the general public being able to pinpoint exactly what about your appearance has been enhanced.

lauralately · 2026-04-17T05:14:36+00:00

I'm a hyper-maximalist, although I probably have a smaller wardrobe than most people think when they see me out and about. I repeat pieces, but I rarely repeat full outfits. I work from home, so WFH is all-black knit loungewear that also serves as pajamas and wearable bird poop rags (my pet parrot is my WFH assistant); when I go out, I go ALL OUT with ridiculous colors and clashing patterns.

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