Monday, October 31, 2011

Know Thyself Sweater Dress








I had the day off today, which was very good thing, if only because it took me about a hour and a half to settle on what to wear and had I had to go to work I definitely would have ended up wearing something that I wouldn't have been happy wearing or I would have been late for work.  At the end of the hour and a half of trying out different outfits, I was reminded that I should just accept who I am and that I shouldn't try to be someone other than who I am.  Pretty obvious, I know.  But, where clothes are concerned, I sometimes forget the obvious.  This doesn't mean that I can't experiment, just that I have to experiment while staying true to who I am.

I am wearing an old Miss Green Originals sweater dress, an old H&M vest, an old souvenir scarf, an old H&M coat and an old wool beret.  My winklepicker chukkas are Fluevogs.  I am carrying a bag from American Apparel.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Mute Button Sweater Vest Dress







This morning, I bundled myself up and took myself to the yoga studio, with the happy intention of practising.  But I forgot something.  My yoga practice clothes.  So I bundled myself back up and took myself back home (stopping along the way for some hot tea and pastries).  For a while, I felt lost.  I had some found time, about three hours of found time.  What to do.  Eventually, I settled down (the hot tea and pastries helped) and used the time to catch up on laundering and stowing away some clothes that I won't be wearing now until Spring/Summer 2012 (and watching some scary old movies).  Today was the first truly cold day since last Winter, signalling the coming Winter.  While I was ironing some clothes, I turned on The Weather Network to keep me company.  I learned that Winter (meaning snow) had already hit some places in the Eastern United States and Eastern Canada.  Brrrrr!  And so it begins ... again.

I am wearing an old turtleneck under an old Precocious sweater dress, a wool wrap cardigan from H&M, a faux shearling aviator style jacket from Joe Fresh, an old Banana Republic wool newsboy cap  and fingerless mitts from H&M.  My boots are old Fluevogs.  I am carrying a bag from American Apparel.

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Double Breasted Sweater Vest






Today, I was in a shop that sells new clothes made of old clothes.  In the past, when I have been in this shop, I gravitated towards colour -- I wanted to see reds, greens, blues, yellows -- and I thought it strange that one would want the clothes in brown, black or grey.  How safe.  So what should I do today but the opposite of what I used to do in the past.  I turned away from colour and sought out brown items.  I had become that which I once thought strange.  Perhaps because of this, throughout my time in the shop, trying on all sorts of brown items, I kept wanting to say that I wasn't afraid of colour, as my outfit showed.  Would a person who was afraid of colour wear red and yellow?  It was just that, for some reason, for me this Fall was becoming all about brown and grey.  An explanation more for me, I think, than for any one else.

I am wearing an old Gap gingham shirt with an old Gap tie, shorts from H&M, a vintage wool sweater vest, an open wool cardigan from JCrew Factory, a cropped coat from Anthropologie, fingerless mitts from H&M and an old wool beret.  My winklepicker chukkas are Fluevogs.  I am carrying a bag from American Apparel.

Friday, October 28, 2011

Summer Flowers Peeking Out From Under Fall Leaves Jumper Dress





I really wasn't expecting to come across the fluorescent satchels today.  In fact, I really wasn't expecting to be in the store in which I came across the fluorescent satchels.  But there I was and there they were.  I was riveted by them.  They were what I have wanted since about mid August.  The most difficult part was choosing one of the four fluorescent colours.  Two I ruled out right away: pink and yellow.  That left orange and green.  I won't say which colour I ended up going with.  I would rather show it.  The bag definitely won't be missed when it finally puts in an appearance.

I am wearing an old Gap shirt with an old Gap tie, a floral flouncy tiered jumper dress from the Gap, an old JCrew jacket, an old H&M coat, an old wool/silk blend scarf and a hat and fingerless mitts from H&M.  My winklepicker chukkas are Fluevogs.  I am carrying a bag from H&M.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

In The Style Of Elphaba Jumper Dress






There is one person at work who usually gets what I am going for with my outfits.  Unprompted.  No hints.  She is great at it.  In fact, she is so great at it that sometimes, like today, she gets what I am doing well before even I know what I am doing.  I think that it was around this time last year that I saw the musical Wicked for the second time.  I was quite taken by the costume design.  It is surprising that I haven't turned to it for inspiration before.  Better late than never, I guess.

I am wearing an old H&M shirt with an old Gap tie, a faux leather jumper dress from H&M, an old H&M open cardigan, an old H&M coat, an old wool beret and fingerless mitts from H&M.  (I guess it was a heavy on the H&M clothes day.)  My boots are old Fluevogs.  I am carrying a bag from American Apparel.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

You Can Never Have Too Much Of A Good Thing Ankle Boots






I think that I am a pretty careful shopper, when it comes to clothes and shoes.  But every once in a while, I slip up and I miss some detail, a detail that I notice later, almost always after the time for returning the item has passed.  This morning, I put on a sweater that I bought a couple of months ago and, for the first time since getting the sweater, I realized that it had a flaw: One of the sleeves was bigger than the other.  The same thing happened last week.  I put on a pair of boots and, for the first time since getting them, I realized that they had a flaw: The tongue on one boot had a lace loop, while the tongue on the other boot did not.  The sweater flaw was slightly annoying for me, although I am not sure that anyone other than me was aware of it.  (In case you are wondering, I am not talking about the sweater that I am wearing in this post.)  The boot flaw led to some internet research, which resulted in my learning about the "button trick" to keeping the tongue from shifting to the side, as tongues on shoes and boots are sometimes wont to do when there are no lace loops.  Interesting.

I am wearing an old Zara sweater dress, an old H&M wrap cardigan, a faux shearling aviator style jacket from Joe Fresh, an old newsboy cap and fingerless mitts from H&M.  My ankle boots are old Fluevogs.  I am carrying a bag from American Apparel.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Chamois Cloth Shirt





I am bit behind on posts.  I wore the chamois cloth shirt on Sunday.  On Monday, I transitioned to wearing tights, full-time now (I expect) until next Spring, which means that I have also transitioned to wearing shorter skirts and dresses.  I should post one of these "new looks" soon, maybe even tomorrow.

I am wearing a chamois cloth shirt from LLBean, old Hue jeggings, a wrap wool vest from H&M, an old Old Navy wool zip-up jacket, an old JCrew scarf, a cotton knit beret from American Apparel and fingerless mitts from H&M.  My chukkas are from LLBean.  I am carrying an old cotton canvas souvenir satchel.

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Long Black Wool Cardigan





This is what I wore yesterday.  I had planned on wearing something slightly different, but, when I woke up, I was feeling so crummy that I discarded some of the pieces in the planned outfit in favour of comfort pieces.  In particular, a jacket went back into the closet and instead a cosy sweater was pulled out.  Also, high heels were rejected in favour of low heels.  It was a long day, one that, today, I would like to leave behind me.  So, on to today.  I went hat shopping.  I think that I may have found some nice ones for Winter.  For some strange reason, I am really wanting to embrace Winter this year.  Part of this embracing Winter thing is dressing appropriately and stylishly throughout the entire period.  I don't want to succumb to the Winter doldrums!

I am wearing an old Mexx shirt with an old Gap tie, an old linen jumper dress, a long wool blend cardigan from JCrew Factory, an old Lands End field jacket, an old JCrew scarf, a cotton knit beret from American Apparel and fingerless mitts from H&M.  My boots are Fluevogs.  I am carrying an old batchel from The Cambridge Satchel Company.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Caramel And Chocolate Swirls Blouse




About two years ago, someone told me that body heat does not escape through one's shins and calves, so it is possible to wear knee length shorts in the depths of Winter (without tights) and still be warm, so long as one wears a hat and keeps one's neck and other parts of the body covered.  I was doubtful at the time.  And I certainly don't intend to bare my shins and calves in the depths of Winter to test out the statement.  But I can say that, so far, with temperatures just hovering around ten degrees celsius, I am not in the least bit uncomfortable going with partially bare shins and calves.

I am wearing an old Mexx blouse with an old Gap tie, an old jumper dress, a wrap sweater vest from H&M, an old JCrew scarf, an old H&M coat and an old Nine West cloche hat.  My boots are fluevogs.  I am carrying an old batchel from The Cambridge Satchel Company.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Blue Swirls Dress




The other day, I was clued in about an online shop that carries many (I mean many) shoe labels, including one of my favourites, Fluevog.  I went to the shop originally to check out some of my favourite shoe labels other than Fluevog, for why would I need to shop for Fluevogs online when I have a real live Fluevog shop in my city.  I am not sure why I clicked on the Fluevog icon, but I did, and into the Fluevog section of the online shop I went.  I browsed row after row of Fluevogs.  Then, all of a sudden, there they were.  I stopped dead in my tracks.  Where did these come from?  I had never seen them in my real live shop, at least I couldn't recall seeing them in my real live shop.  Were they old?  Were they new, yet to appear in my real live shop?  Where on earth did they come from?  I need to solve this mystery.

I am wearing an old H&M blouse and dress, a wrap sweater vest from H&M and a jacket from Zara.  My shoes are Fluevogs.  I am wearing an old Nine West cloche hat.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Fingerless Mitts Addiction





I was soooooo k-k-cold yesterday that, today, while I wore something similar to what I wore yesterday, I introduced some variations.  One:  Yesterday, I wore a short sleeve tshirt underneath my sweater.  Today, I switched out the short sleeve tshirt for a long sleeve thermal tshirt.  Two:  I added fingerless mitts.  (I would have said fingerless gloves, but they are not, strictly speaking, fingerless gloves, having only two openings, one for the thumb and one for the four fingers, like mitts.)  I can't tell you how much warmer I felt having my wrists, palms and backs of hands covered in wool.  I may have just become addicted to fingerless mitts.  Finally:  I layered a jacket over the sweater.  As soon as I put the jacket on this morning, it occurred to me that I had done what The Sartorialist had featured yesterday -- short over long.  I thought that I had done something new, until I was reviewing some of my past posts and realized that I  had done short over long on more than one occasion, and recently, usually with the same jacket.  How disappointing.  I was so excited to think that I had done something new today!  Oh well.  Tomorrow is another day.

I am wearing an old Old Navy tshirt, an old H&M sweater, fingerless mitts from H&M, an old Anthropologie jacket, a skirt from Madewell, an old Kensie coat, an old JCrew scarf and an old Nine West cloche hat.  My shoes are Fluevogs.  I am carrying a bag from American Apparel.