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I thought I would have to miss This is CorpGoth’s Monthly Status Report this time around, until I realized that it’s not just Hidden Bat Day but an entire Hidden Bat Week! I’m not a fan of wearing Halloween imagery in most cases, but I do have a soft spot for bats. In addition to being cute, fuzzy little mammals, they have an incredibly interesting form that I enjoy looking at. Still, I only have two batty pieces in my wardrobe, and one is most definitely NOT so hidden. So I’m participating only one day this week with my Alchemy Gothic bat barrette.

This was the first Alchemy piece I ever purchased, at least 15 years ago. I didn’t even know the brand at the time! But this guy looked so serene in the jewelry case at a local Goth shop, and he seemed well-made, so I made him mine.

I have not been exhibiting much of my Goth side at my current job, because it’s a much more professional environment than my former office. I wear colors much more now and go for more classic, vintage-inspired looks. I try to wear black tights slightly less often in the heat of summer, and usually keep the edgier pieces at home. But I still opt for monochromatic outfits fairly regularly (combinations of black, white and grey seem to elicit far fewer comments than solid black) so I thought this would be a perfect outfit to complement Mr. Bat without drawing too much attention to myself on the job.

Today’s grey wool skirt is one of my current favorites. It appears to be from the 40s. A friend of mine who loves vintage shopping and who fortunately couldn’t fit in this skirt passed it on to me. Very lucky for me!! I found the satin blouse on eBay while searching for pussy-bow blouses to go with a vintage look.

The shoes are Aerosoles. I recently bought a couple of pairs because I had a brief foot issue a few months back and didn’t have any practical work-appropriate shoes (I find heels very comfortable under average conditions but not so much when injured!). I’ve been wearing these Aerosoles all week because our trainer had us doing some crazy high-impact, high-intensity cardio at the gym Monday and my almost-40-year-old feet and ankles didn’t appreciate such activity. I don’t feel like myself in such low heels and without even a tiny a platform.

It’s not too late to get in on the final days of This is CorpGoth’s Hidden Bat Week. Go check it out!

All images and text © Sophistique Noir Gothic Fashion Blog. Do not use any photos or text from this blog without providing a credit to me and a link back to the original post.

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This month’s Status Report over at This is CorpGoth calls for us to display our go-to shoes for work. This happens to be one of my favorite topics (SHOES are everything!). I enjoy wearing a variety of different shoes to the office, so I decided to share several of my favorites that are in my rotation. Depending on my mood, I have my “everyday” work shoes, my “something special” work shoes, and my “casual” work shoes (casual being relative, for me).

Everyday Goth Work Shoes

The shoes pictured above are my main work choices. These are the pairs I grab when I’m too tired to coordinate an outfit with “matching shoes,” because these go with everything. The ones at the top are my absolute favorites: 4″ stilleto Mary Janes by Pleaser. I’m lucky in the fact that I do not find heels to be uncomfortable for the most part (depending on the shoe, of course). These in particular are incredibly comfortable even on days where I’m running around to meetings all day long or walking over for my allergy shots in the medical building half a block away. The 3/4″ platform is a huge part of why these shoes are so comfy. Platforms serve as major shock absorbers when walking in heels.

The shoes on the lower left are a pair that I bought when I first started my current job, because I wasn’t sure whether 4″ stilletos would be acceptable. These are actually one of the most uncomfortable pairs of shoes I’ve EVER worn. Partly due to the lack of platform, and partly I don’t know why. The faux-suede peep toes on the right are from Target and were my go-to shoes for interviews.

Special Work Shoes

Pictured above are a couple of pairs that I love to wear when I want something a little more special. These take more careful outfit coordination, so I usually have to think it through the night before and have a plan for how to wear them. The top pair are from Newport News and the lower are from Victoria’s Secret. Both are incredibly comfortable! Again, platforms.

Casual Goth Work Shoes

Lastly, here are a couple of pairs I wear often for Casual Fridays. Don’t get me wrong – I would much rather wear my normal heels and office attire on Fridays but I do try to assimilate a bit since “casual day” is an incredibly big deal to most people at the office. The top pair are my Dr. Marten Mary Janes and the lower pair are Aerosoles. Both are, again, totally comfortable. The Aerosoles are the one pair of non-platform heels that actually don’t hurt my feet at all. I just wish they came with higher heels!

Thanks to Trystan of This is CorpGoth for such a great topic this month!
What’s your favorite style of shoe for work?

All images and text © Sophistique Noir Gothic Fashion Blog. Do not use any photos or text from this blog without providing a credit to me and a link back to the original post.

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For This is CorpGoth’s Monthly Status Report, I’m excited to unveil a brand new look – not for my wardrobe, but for my blog! I’ve been doing this site for nearly two years and have never really sat down and done a design for it. I was just settling with using templates plus a few customizations… Considering that I have been a graphic designer and web developer professionally for the past 15 years, I thought my blog deserved a better effort. So today it gets a new design, as well as a new backdrop for photos!

I’m one of the lucky ones who managed to get into a career doing what I always dreamed of. All through high school, I loved graphic design and set my sights on that as my future job. I went to college and earned my BFA in graphic design, but even then the professors warned us that it can be a tough field and that many of us would end up elsewhere. Luckily I had already landed a full-time design gig a year before I even finished college, so I knew I was ahead of the curve.

After about two years of doing print design, I became interested in building web sites. Since then, I’ve done both design and development in most of my various positions. I will say that getting into web work is the one regret I have in my career. While it is incredibly lucrative and has certainly helped me boost my income and has kept me working even through tough times, coding is NOT my passion and dealing with technological glitches all day really brings me down. However, I remind myself of those oh-so-encouraging college professors who told us most of us would never even be designers, and then I feel thankful that at least my work is 50% design.

In my last job, while I started off as both a designer and developer, over the 11 years I was there politics kicked in and because I was a contractor, all of the design work eventually was handed over to the “real employees.” I ended up spending 40 hours a week doing nothing but HTML coding. My boss refused to lift a finger to fight for me to keep the part of the work that I so loved. While that actually was not the reason I ended up leaving, I am so thankful that now I am in a position where there is a healthy balance of technical and creative. I feel like my career is much more where it is supposed to be.

All that being said, while it is a great blessing to do what you really love as a full-time job, sometimes it’s hard to get motivated to do more of the same on your own time. That’s why the design of my blog has never really lived up to my aesthetic standards before. Today I’m truly proud for the first time of how my blog looks, beyond just the photos, and I can thank my awesome career for giving me the ability to do it!

Head over to This is CorpGoth to see what other bloggers love to do, and submit your own status report!

All images and text © Sophistique Noir Gothic Fashion Blog. Do not use any photos or text from this blog without providing a credit to me and a link back to the original post.

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Another Mid-Month Status Report is due today over at This is CorpGoth! This month’s topic is Holidays in the Office; what you would wear to the office holiday party, etc. I lucked out because my department doesn’t seem to be planning any evening/weekend events (it’s busy enough this time of year), but we do have a couple of gatherings going on during office hours. In fact, there are quite a few gatherings going on during office hours. I’m not entirely sure why there are so many. Anyway, this is what I wore to one of them.

The berry-colored pencil skirt is the latest in Target’s line of tasteful, classic business wear. I just picked this baby up two weeks ago, so they are probably still available!

The ruched cowl-neck shell came from Express a few months back. This is the first time I’ve worn it because I had to alter the arm holes a bit for a proper fit.

I thought a blazer would be a bit too structured for a holiday vibe (plus I’ve done the blazer/pencil skirt/shell combo a LOT lately) so instead I chose a simple sweater shrug. Since it’s still been around 75 degrees here most days, the short sleeves worked out perfectly.

Does your workplace have a holiday party? Is it during working hours, or on the weekend? What do you wear? Share your festive Corporate Goth looks over at This is CorpGoth!

All images and text © Sophistique Noir Gothic Fashion Blog. Do not use any photos or text from this blog without providing a credit to me and a link back to the original post.