It’s time for Songful Style again! And this month, Marsha chose our song… or should I say songs? Because she gave us a whole musical to choose from: The Phantom of the Opera!
If you haven’t come across Songful Style before, it’s a monthly challenge that I do with my lovely blogging friends Marsha and Shelbee, where one of us chooses a song and we each put together an outfit inspired by it. I absolutely love seeing how differently we all interpret the same piece of music because, of course, we all hear something different in a song.
Last month, I chose Carolina by Taylor Swift, inspired by the film Where the Crawdads Sing. I had such fun with that one, especially creating that dreamy, slightly mysterious look. If you missed it, you can have a peek at how I styled Carolina here.
The Phantom of the Opera
Now, I have to admit something right from the start. I’ve never actually seen The Phantom of the Opera. Not the musical. Not the film. Nothing. I know. How have I managed to get this far through life?!
I am, however, very familiar with some of the music. My late in-laws had the CD and used to play it quite a lot, so I grew up hearing songs from it regularly. And I have to say, I do love some of them. They’re really quite beautiful, especially those big, dramatic, sweeping songs that seem to go on forever in the best possible way. One of these days I really must get round to actually watching it.
The Phantom of the Opera is Andrew Lloyd Webber’s hugely famous musical, based on the 1910 French novel by Gaston Leroux. It’s set around the Paris Opera House and tells the story of Christine, a young soprano who becomes caught up in the strange and obsessive world of the mysterious Phantom who lives beneath the opera house.
It first opened in London’s West End in 1986 and went on to become one of the world’s best-known musicals, with songs including The Phantom of the Opera, Think of Me, Angel of Music, All I Ask of You, Masquerade, Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again and, of course, The Music of the Night. And that last one is the song I decided to go with for my outfit.
So… what on earth was I going to wear?
I’m not going to lie, I struggled with this prompt BIG TIME. I mean, what do you wear when someone says Phantom of the Opera?!
My first thought was something elaborate and theatrical. Maybe a beautiful vintage-inspired dress, a mask, something very grand and opera-ish. But then I remembered that this is Songful Style. I don’t actually need to dress as a character or recreate something from the musical. I just need to take the feeling of the music and turn it into an outfit.
And when I thought about some of those songs, especially The Music of the Night, I kept coming back to the same thing: darkness, gothicness, mystery and, well, my love of all things slightly witchy! So in the end, I decided to embrace that.
I went for an entirely black outfit: a black lace top, a floaty black skirt and a pair of slightly witchy black shoes. And because apparently I can never just leave things alone, I added a black feather to my hair. Just because it suited the vibe.
And actually, I think that’s what I love about this challenge. Sometimes you don’t have to make the connection too complicated. You can simply listen to a song, pick out the feeling it gives you and run with it.
For me, The Music of the Night immediately made me think of being surrounded by darkness and shadows, with something a little mysterious and magical lurking underneath. So black it was. Lots and lots of black.
The problem with being gothic in Portugal…
There was just one tiny problem. Today, as I’m writing this, is officially the first day of autumn. And it is STILL HOT. Of course it is.
So I put on my lovely black lace top, floaty skirt, black shoes and feather in my hair, ready to embrace my inner gothic heroine… and immediately wanted to take it all off again. Honestly, wearing black lace when it’s still roasting outside is not quite as romantic as it sounds. Still, I persevered long enough to take the photographs!
And I have to admit, I really do love how the outfit came together. It feels dark and feminine without looking like I’m actually dressed for a Victorian funeral. There’s something a little witchy about it, something a little romantic and, hopefully, a little mysterious too. Which feels just about right for The Music of the Night.
I obviously had to ask AI to put me in the right location for some of the photos. LOL ha ha ha….
So, what do you think?
I think this is probably one of my more obvious Songful Style interpretations, but sometimes I think the simplest ideas work best. I could have spent ages trying to recreate a specific character or costume from The Phantom of the Opera, but that really wouldn’t have felt like me. Instead, I took the mood of the music, added a little of my own gothic, witchy style and ended up with something I’d actually wear. And now I really do need to watch the bloody thing, don’t I?!
Thank you, Marsha, for giving me such a difficult prompt! I’m off to see what Marsha and Shelbee have done with it. I have a feeling their interpretations might be very different from mine, which is exactly why I love this challenge.
And next month we’re styling a GREAT tune: Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Which, of course, is absolutely perfect for the Halloween season. I hope you’ll join us then! But for now, please link up all your posts, below.
