Introduction: Diane from Darling Darling

Published 06/09/2009 | By Diana

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I don’t think there is such a thing as a bad trend, but I have to be realistic. Ripped tights, leggings as pants, the Olsen Twins overdone bohemian look, pegged jeans. These are the trends looking back at my computer that I was not inspired by. Then I discovered Darling Darling, thanks to my Google Reader recommendations (have you tried it? I discover so many amazing blogs like this) and I discovered what is now one of my favorite blogs. Diane was donning peter pan collars, dresses with salmon colored flats, hoodies and plaid and to supplement her blog, she is a library student! We soon discovered she was a fan of my husband’s work, we emailed, and swapped cd mixes, and we stay connected. Most of the readers are familiar with Diane, but I wanted to take the extra step to acquaint yourself with such a cool person. She blogs about fashion, typography, libraries, art, photography, it’s all here.

you don’t have the conventional outfits you see on the internet. when you are choosing what to wear, what is your inpiration?

Other bloggers, most definitely! I don’t believe that every outfit I have is original – it’s almost always a combination of different outfits I see on street style sites or blogs but taking these little bits of inspiration from here and there is ultimately what makes my outfit mine.

one of the first blog posts i ever read of yours, was your love for color palettes. tell me your ultimate color palette.

Gosh, this is a hard one! I think I fall back on autumn colors a lot; subtle earth tones like green and brown. However, this summer I’m more drawn to the mixing of neutrals and pastels. For example, I love to pair dark greys or blacks with lighter shades of blues and pinks. I’m quite fickle, though, so if you ask me on a different day, you’ll probably get a completely different answer.

you woke up late. you have less than five minutes to leave in order to arrive on time. what is a no fail outfit?

This happens to me practically everyday! A no fail outfit for me would be a loose top (or a t-shirt), belted high-waisted skirt, tights, and oxford flats. I have many variations of all these pieces so it’s always super quick and simple to put together when I don’t feel like thinking about my wardrobe!

for being a library student, there always has been an unspoken image of the library student- the shoes get uglier, the colors become more neutral, and the ponytail turns into a bun. you prove this theory very wrong. for having a love for fashion, but working in such a non fashionable place, how do you harmonize the two?

I don’t think I can really harmonize the two. I decided to become a librarian because of my love of books. Books and stories are a form of escape for me (and of course, many other people) and I see fashion in the same light. As dorky as this sounds, I feel like I’m creating characters when I construct outfits and it’s become very natural for me to view literature and fashion as art forms. In this way, I think I harmonize books and fashion well, but harmonizing libraries and fashion is much more difficult because of the stereotypical stuffy-librarian image. I think it’s funny that if you look at old film clips of libraries from the mid-20th century, librarians are wearing flowy button-up blouses with cute ascots, high-waist pleated skirts, and little heels. I suppose these were stuffy conservative outfits back then but if I wear these same outfits or vintage dresses at the library now, all of a sudden I’m some sort of hipster. So I guess in an ironic way, I can harmonize the stuffy-librarian image with fashion!