Roller derby!!

In August, I went to my first roller derby bout and was immediately caught up in it; I'm super-competitive, love terrible puns, and am all for women doing awesome fun things. So of course I fell hard for the roller derby.

This past weekend, Karen and I went again (as I mentioned in Out and About and Karen did in Science Fair), and we both agreed that we want to give it a try. Wacky, right? We've already gone to a roller-skating rink and rented quad skates, but all we've been able to talk about the past couple of days is when we're going to go get our own skates.

Anyway, after my first trip to the derby back in August, I was inspired to create a Polyvore set of a roller derby player for a made-up team, because part of the fun of derby is taking on a persona and accessorizing accordingly. The Oakland Outlaws, for example, have Pandamonium who paints big black panda-circles around her eyes. The Richmond Wrecking Belles have a fierce blocker, Demanda Riot, with full face paint -- all white except for a black stripe across the eyes -- and doubled-up tights. (You can see her on the Wikipedia roller derby page, too.) It's really inspiring and a lot of fun, and so I had to play around with the idea.

I started with a pink Dickie's dress, which would obviously be shortened -- most derby girl dresses/jerseys/tops are cut to the hip to allow for more movement. Thus, underneath, the navy blue booty shorts from American Apparel. In addition to all of the protective gear (wrist, elbow, knees, and, of course, helmet), I added fishnets (of course!), pink-and-black striped armwarmers, and pink laces/wheels on the black skates.

The pink star means that this skater would be a jammer -- the skater who has to break through the pack from behind, then lap the pack to start scoring points. These stars are on fabric helmet covers, which the girls pop on and off of their helmets depending on which jam they're in. I think that the jammer might be a role I'd be good at, since I'm little and (somewhat) speedy. Therefore, the jammer!

I also focused a lot on the make-up, since that's something I'd definitely want to play with. There are pink and purple eyeshadows, including the MAC Heatherette palette from last spring. That said, a lot of the new Mineralize eyeshadows from the new "Red" She Said collection would be awesome, especially the Danger Zone trio (not pink and purple, but definitely derby-friendly with its hot red/silver/black combo... so I think I might have to have it). I also threw a red lipstick in there, because you need to have some of that going on too, and MAC always does great reds (thus why the red lip is the basis of their new collection). I included the Urban Decay black liquid eyeliner as well, since you need strong long-lasting liner when you're sweating like crazy. (It goes without saying that one would be using Primer Potion, right?)

Finally, since I love nail polish, there are four options for nail color, depending on how cute and girly (red or pink) or dark and tough (black or navy) the skater wants to go. I know I'd be going for the dark nails, because it would just look so awesome.

What have you been inspired by lately? What fun sporty things are you enjoying? (I could just as easily do a baseball or football inspired theme, and I know I'm not the only one who picks her colors based on her team!)

And, if you were a derby girl, what would your name be? (I'm not telling mine, because someday it will be mine for real...)

image from polyvore.com