oatmeal jumper dress and black jacket

the look:

shirt - uo
tie - old gap
jumper dress - old, from a local arts and crafts import shop
jacket - kaliyana
cap - old
shoes - john fluevog

the tale:

it isn't so much that i am tired of summer. it's that i am tired of the heat and humidity of this summer. i always want a summer that is just hot enough, but not hotter than that, and a summer with zero humidity. for about a week, ending last wednesday, it was that kind of summer, for the first time this summer. i was happy. then, it got hotter and the humidity set in. the summer that has been the bulk of this summer. and it is persisting. i am less happy. but as my favourite saying of late goes: it is what it is. and i am giving myself lots of distractions to deal with my less than happy state. for example, i feel some exciting shopping coming up. i just learned of the wearable arts show, which takes place at the end of september. how did i not know about this (distraction) before? another example: trying on one of my favourite pullovers (the split back black one) with this outfit (sans jacket, of course). yet another example: wearing all varieties of swordfish footwear -- by far my all-time favourite fluevogs since i was inducted into the fluevog cult many, many moons ago -- i still remember the reaction of the unknown guy who, as i stepped off the subway, caught sight of my first pair of swordfish shoes and remarked, "hey, cool shoes!"

a pinch of chartreuse plaid shirt

the look:

shirt - uo
dress - old, from a local arts and crafts import shop
jacket - kaliyana
cap - old
boots - john fluevog

the tale:

earlier in the week, i told someone that i would be wearing a colourful outfit today: a chartreuse jumper dress, a green and blue plaid shirt and a striped chartreuse and turquoise jacket. i kind of laid low all day today, because, as you can see (or, rather, as you can't see), the only chartreuse in what i wore today might be found in the plaid shirt (and that would be stretching it ... it is probably yellow that is in the shirt not chartreuse ... and very little of it at that ... and not even perceptible in a photo). i didn't want to be called on my statement ... of wearing chartreuse today. i honestly tried to wear some bits of that colourful outfit. but i think that i am still recovering from the migraine that hit me earlier in the week. (remember: colourful outfits hurt.) i still want subdued, non-painful, outfits.

a little bit western shirt

the look:

shirt - uo
jumper dress - kaliyana
tie and jacket - old gap
cap - old
shoes - john fluevog

the tale:

when i wake up with a migraine, i can't put on an outfit that has any colour in it (unless it is so dark as to almost be indistinguishable from black -- dark navy, for example). even though i don't spend any day looking (directly or indirectly) at the outfit that i happen to be wearing that day, in my mind, i have this idea that, if i wear colour on a day when i have a migraine, the brightness of the outfit will hurt me. this morning, i woke up with a migraine, and all i wanted was to drape myself in soothing black clothing. i put aside all planned outfits (all involved colour) and pulled out this long, black jumper dress. instantly i put it on, i felt its calming effects.

friday's dress

the look:

tshirt and cardi - old gap
jumper dress - old lands end
cap - old
boots - old, from an army surplus store

the tale:

it seems fitting (ha ha -- sorry, i couldn't resist) that i end this work week of wearing "my" uniform by wearing a piece of clothing -- the jumper dress, of course -- that may very well be a "true" uniform (or part of a "true" uniform). i have been wearing some combination of plaid skirt or jumper dress, tshirt and heavy cardi for many, many years. (saying this makes me think that i should give it up -- you know, the "age thing" kicking in -- but i just can't. at least not yet.) wearing this outfit is, for me, like wearing jeans and a tshirt is for most other people. uber comfort. so how can i give it up?

blue boots

the look:

shirt - uo
jumper dress - old, from a local arts and crafts import shop
jacket - kaliyana
cap - old
boots - john fluevog

the tale:

you know that game that you sometimes played as a kid (or maybe even as a teenager or young adult or maybe even still play)? the one where you say a word and the next person you are playing the game with says a word that begins with the last letter of the word that you said ... and so on and so forth ... until you tire of the game? i feel like i have been playing a solitaire wardrobe version of that game for the past three days. i take a piece of an outfit from day one (say a jacket) and build an outfit around it for day two. then i take a different piece of the outfit from day two (not the jacket but say the jumper dress) and build an outfit around it for day three. fun stuff! and completely unconscious (until today)! (p.s. note the blue boots? they are the ones that, a couple of days ago, i told you to be on the lookout for.)

a little rusty jumper dress

the look:

shirt - uo
tie - old h&m
jumper dress - old, from a local arts and crafts import shop
jacket - anthropologie
cap - old
boots - john fluevog

the tale:

i bought something from h&m today. it has been some months since i made a purchase from h&m. as i inserted my credit card into the pin pad and watched (and participated in) the approval of my purchase, i imagined the credit card gremlins waking up and grinning at my return: "you're baaaack"! yes, i'm back. but it's going to be different this time around. (i also bought something from zara today. and it has also been some months since i made a purchase from zara. but i didn't feel any gremlin moments there.)

shades of brown (plaid) shirt

the look:

shirt - uo
tie - old h&m
jacket - anthropologie
jumper dress - from a local arts and crafts import shop
cap - old
boots - john fluevog

the tale:

i almost, almost, left the house without a tie this morning. but i didn't. phew. if you look closely at yesterday's outfit, you will note that it didn't include a tie. (yes, i know, "tie" isn't listed in the description of "the look". so, you are wondering, why would you have to look closely at the outfit to realize that it didn't include a tie? good question! i don't suppose it would help if i said i don't always list items that are included in my outfit if the items aren't visible. no? okay, i give.)  anyways ... getting back to the discussion at hand ... i didn't wear a tie yesterday because i didn't think that it would be visible and, thinking that, i let laziness take over. why bother with a tie if it can't be seen? lame excuse? you are right. it is what it is. but i wore a tie today!

blue plaid jumper dress

the look:

tshirt - old old navy
jumper dress - old lands end
cardi - old gap
cap - old
boots - old, from an army surplus store

the tale:

i may have mentioned that two or three days during the work week i rise early to practise yoga before work. while it is difficult to rise early, particularly when the days are short on daylight, i always feel good after yoga practice and am glad that i did rise early. that said, the result of rising early two or three days during the work week is that by thursday evening, i am physically exhausted. it is not unusual for me to just conk out on the sofa in the early evening. this practice of conking out on the sofa, while not distressing to me in and of itself, makes for a flustered friday morning, in terms of putting an outfit together, unless an outfit was planned out in advance -- a flustered morning is somewhat distressing to me. usually a last minute outfit is either an old favourite (low on the distress meter) or something new that i come to regret by day's end (high on the distress meter). there was no outfit planned out in advance of this morning. hence my thrown together outfit: a very old favourite.

sailing through the week jacket

the look:

top - old gap
jacket - old jcrew
gaucho pants - old nyc
cap - old
oxfords - old cydwoq

the tale:

i was so happy today to see pop up on the dear creatures website the fall 2012 collection. i know this: i want something from the collection. but what? the harbor sweater? the crosby pleated skirt? the madeline dress? (i still want the porter dress from the spring 2012 collection!) the shirley dress? the stella cardi? the striped cardi? so much to choose from! sigh!

a cyclin' we will go gaucho pants

the look:

top - old gap
gaucho pants - old nyc
jacket - old anthropologie
cap - old
oxfords - old cydwoq

the tale:

the other day, i tried on these gaucho pants with another top. i thought that the top would work perfectly with the pants. much to my surprise, i wasn't all that pleased with the combination. for some reason, though, i can't let the combination go. what i want is for that combination to please me as much as this combination. but sometimes things just don't work out. i need to learn to let go. there is so much more clothing in my wardrobe to play with. why do i have to hang on to outfits that don't work for me? but, then again, "they" say that one learns from one's mistakes.

going to the pictures cardi

the look:

shirt - old urban renewal
short - old american apparel
cardi - anthropologie
jacket - old anthropologie
cap - old
chelsea boots - old john fluevog

the tale:

i didn't want to put too much effort into getting dressed today. so i took the outfit that i wore yesterday and added to it a cardi (because it was cooler today than it was yesterday) and a jacket (because i was going to go to the pictures today and cinemas are always overly air-conditioned -- in my opinion). other than that, same old, same old suited me just fine. (p.s. i don't think that i have worn these boots since last fall. i have missed them! i am looking forward to another few months of wearing them.)

long weekend shorts

the look:

shirt - old urban renewal
shorts - old american apparel
jacket - old anthropologie
cap - old
chelsea boots - old john fluevog

the tale:

i welcomed the long weekend with shorts. as a teenager, these were the kind of shorts that i wore. i never felt comfortable with short shorts (and i am not talking hot pants here ... or short short shorts ... just top of thigh shorts). now i feel that i have reached the age when the shorts that i wore today are the only kind that i can (should?) wear. (i might make an exception in the fall, when i can wear shorts with tights.) it didn't bother me so much to wear shorts like these when i had a choice. now that i don't think that i have a choice ... well ... it still doesn't really bother me ... because i can't see wearing any other shorts right now. these shorts work with my style.