One-Dollar Wonders

Manspiration Month Roundup (Pic Heavy)

July 2, 2012

June's over and, with it, so is my self-imposed manspiration challenge! It's been a fun-filled, somewhat goofy ride - sometimes I wanted to rebel against the manly looks and, by the end, I started to worry that I didn't have enough heroes to fill the month. Still, it was a great exercise and a fun way to explore a wide range of menswear influences.

The challenge also helped me learn a few things about my relationship with clothes and my personal style. First, I love a challenge! Who knew, right? Although I often feel bored getting dressed in the mornings, I didn't feel bored at all this month. Forcing myself to dress to inspiration photos really made me see my closet in a new light. Second, menswear is totally me. I'd been adamant before that I loved the tomboy look but hated menswear - well, it's still true, but only about a certain kind of menswear. Rugged, swashbuckling, bomb-making, spaceship-piloting, jailbreaking, hulk-smashing men's outfits are actually quite close to my heart. Third... like... woah, do I have a type or what? Apparently, I should have either been a rock star, crime fighter, or robot, because that pretty much sums up the bulk of my hero worship.

For anyone who may have missed the original outfit posts - or anyone who might want to review the manspirations after the fact - I've added all the side-by-side shots below. In order of appearance, the manspirations are:

Captain America
Colonel Saul Tigh (Battlestar Galactica)
Kurt Cobain (Nirvana)
MacGyver
Captain Malcolm Reynolds (Firefly, Serenity)
Billy Mack (Love, Actually)
Bryan Mills (Taken)
Lord Eddard Stark (Game of Thrones)
Frank "Punisher" Castle (Punisher)
Tom Petty
Tom Waits
Rick Deckard (Bladerunner)
Special Agent Dale Cooper (Twin Peaks)
Rorschach (Watchmen)
Tristan Thorne (Stardust)
Remy "Gambit" LeBeau (X-Men)
Papa Rae (*Father's Day post*)
Erik "Magneto" Lehnsherr (X-Men)
Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails)
Andy Dufresne (The Shawshank Redemption)
Oscar Wilde
Inigo Montoya (The Princess Bride)
Wolverine (X-Men)
Data (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Jason "JD" Dean (Heathers)
Dr. Henry "Indiana" Walton Jones, Jr. (Indiana Jones)
Luke Skywalker (Star Wars)
Bruce "The Incredible Hulk" Banner

Huge thanks to everyone who followed along with me this month and guessed the inspirations despite my cryptic riddles. You all made this much more fun than I had ever anticipated!

*Note: I did not create any manspiration outfits on the 24th or 25th, as I was preparing for a meeting - this is why there are only 28 pictures for a 30-day month.

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Posted in the Inspiration category
This post is also published in the youlookfab forum. You can read and reply to it in either place. All replies will appear in both places.

21 Comments

  • Amy replied 11 years ago

    Rae, this was a spectacular month for you. Lots of fun! Bravo.

  • AJ replied 11 years ago

    Rae, all month long I looked forward to seeing what you wore each day. Thanks for being a great example of how to have fun with fashion!

  • MsMary replied 11 years ago

    Holy cow! My hat is so far off to you I can't even stand it! Such creativity and fun and not only that, you looked amazing in every outfit!

    Well done, my friend! Well done!!

  • replied 11 years ago

    So much fun seeing these all at once (I missed a bunch of them). Thanks so much for the inspiration.

  • goldenpig replied 11 years ago

    Wow Rae, I am super impressed by your style, creativity, artful interpretations and witty writeups! It's even better seeing all of the outfits side by side with the inspiration photos! You've got killer style!

    Standing ovation!!!

  • Sylvie replied 11 years ago

    Rae, this was a really, really amazing challenge. It was such a treat to see your beautiful outfits, enjoy the fun poses and witty descriptions and try to figure out to whom you were referring. I am sad I missed some of these, particularly Andy Dufresne, Luke Skywalker and Inigo Montaya. I'm so impressed by the effort and thought you put into this - your creativity is off the charts! In each picture, I can see the link between your outfit and your inspiration man clearly. I particularly liked how your men came from a variety of genres and backgrounds.

    If you feel up to doing a feminspiration month, I'm sure you'd come up with some equally fun looks based on somewhat obscure, yet interesting women.

  • wilson replied 11 years ago

    Oh my goodness!!! This was a blast to see! Thank you for the side-by-sides and for sharing your creativity! It was a great way for me to cap off my night :)

  • ManidipaM replied 11 years ago

    Rae, I looked forward to your posts all month, and was impressed as much by the creative outfits you came up with (still in awe of Blade Runner's striped shirt and Data's 'handbag' and Tristan's coat doubling as Luke's doublet and Indiana's map bag!) as your clever, witty clues. I had so much fun trying to guess and meeting new characters I hadn't met before but now *have* to look up. These postings have been utterly inspirational --- as AJ says, you are a pioneer of having fun with fashion!

    Did you end up with any new silhouettes or pairings along the way? Or did you work within your own style rubric (triply impressed if so!).

    Also, thanks for this round-up. I was really hoping you could and I can imagine it is a LOT of work to put together the collages and file them all, but I was rather looking forward to this, hoping... Thanks so much for this fantastic, fun month of WIWs.

  • CocoLion replied 11 years ago

    Thanks for putting this together, I love seeing your outfits with the inspiration photos! I see I missed many of them. I need to spend more time on YLF!

    I love the outfits featuring your green shorts (2 and 28) and those with the white Bebe jacket (6 and 27).

  • Ornella replied 11 years ago

    Wow, Rae, IMPRESSIVE!

    I'll be back to this thread later when I have some more time because there's so much fabness on offer I have to take it in small doses (btw, my son's firm favorites are are all your super-hero outfits), but just wanted to say I am so happy you did this round-up as I've missed the beginnings of this challenge and was only guessing along the way. It's great to read about your learnings.

    Well done for sticking to it for a month, wow! And what a great, great inspiration!

    Aren't challenges great to learn about our style and preferences in general? I find they require a lot of self-discipline but the payback is great - there is a bigger (wardrobe) clarity at the end of it if nothing else. Just this weekend I've been thinking how I miss doing my own themed weeks and how much I've learnt doing them, so it's nice to come across your challenge summary and learn from you too. (You can check here what I've learnt at the time, perhaps it can be of help.)

  • harmonica replied 11 years ago

    Wow, Rae! IMPRESSIVE! You rock all of these and have AMAZING style! Very inspirational and just S T E L L A R outcome of the challenge.

  • krishnidoux replied 11 years ago

    So much fun! You are so creative. It was a delight to browse through your pics.

  • Transcona Shannon replied 11 years ago

    We enjoyed Manspiration Month as much as you Rae!

  • Diana replied 11 years ago

    This is amazing, Rae! So cool to see all the outfits with their inspirations all together. I really looked forward to seeing your posts every day and trying to guess the inspiration.

    I've faved this thread. =)

  • rae replied 11 years ago

    Sylvie, a femininspiration month is a fab idea! It would be a more challenging challenge for me, since I haven't always had much in the way of female heroes (I've been collecting the men for a lifetime). It would be great to maybe take suggestions and learn about some new girls to admire!

    Manidipa, I *tried* to use my rubric as well, hoping that it would help keep the outfits from looking like costumes. The Eddard Stark outfit was a new silhouette for me - I had not done a "true" tuck into skinny jeans before.

  • Diana replied 11 years ago

    Rae, here's an article I just came across that might give you some femininspiration ideas.
    http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2012/sci-fi-women/

    (am going to go post this in the link love thread too).

  • Angie replied 11 years ago

    *applause* !!!

  • Tanya replied 11 years ago

    This is incredibly impressive, I can not even find adequate words. All I can say is, WOW!

  • Jonesy replied 11 years ago

    What a glorious month you've had! You are so amazing!

  • Kari replied 11 years ago

    Rae, this is such an incredibly fun roundup and really pays testimony to your incredible creativity. I just added this to my inspiration board on Pinterest. Thank you so much for sharing such a fun theme! I'm quite inspired to throw in a "Manspiration" challenge myself one of these days...

  • JulieJohn replied 11 years ago

    Incredible! I love your outfits and I love your choice in menspirators. I definitely need some Indiana Jones influences in my wardrobe, not to mention Macgyver! Kudos to you and your creativity!

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I'm just your average working stiff who loves nice things and hates to pay for them. This blog outlines my efforts to navigate that treacherous shopping/saving divide through swappin', thriftin', and even a little resellin'. Many of the pieces in my wardrobe cost me just $1! We've heard a lot about people "living above their means" in recent years; I'm championing the concept of living large *below* your means - whatever that means for you. :)