Quaking in my boots

Today is the last day of the challenge, and we were supposed to try something that scares us. Not something like sky-diving, but something like wearing neon, or, in my case, boots over jeans. When this trend started, I thought it looked fabulous on tall, willowy people, but I thought, "Oh, I could never wear that." I'm not tall or willowy. I'm 5'2" and curvy. When I bought this pair of skinny jeans last summer, I immediately tried them on with boots, you know, just to see. It made me feel like I was all hips and no legs. Fear of wearing something often relates pretty closely with body issues, doesn't it? I'm generally content with my figure. But I want to dress in a fashion that says neither 'I'm a frumpy librarian,' nor 'Hey, check out my curves!' It can be hard to know if I'm erring too far one way or the other, and boots over jeans made me feel like I was erring in both directions at once. Weird how we can have such an emotional reaction to clothes, isn't it?

I didn't wear this yesterday. I tried it on last night and had James take pictures. I'm wearing it today since Friday is jeans day at work. I'm actually really glad we took the picture before I had to wear it in public, because I feel much better about this look after seeing the photo than I did seeing it in the mirror. So once again the challenge has pushed me to wear something I wouldn't have otherwise, which I ended up liking. A big thanks to Kayla for hosting this shindig, because I've found it so valuable both times. Even though after two challenges, totaling a full month of outfit posts, I still feel ridiculously awkward getting my picture taken and posting it on the internet for any to see.

Sweater, the Limited. Jeans, thrifted (Ann Taylor). Boots, TJ Maxx. Necklace and earrings, made by my sister-in-law. Bracelets, made in Africa.

Penciled In

Today our mission, if we chose to accept it, was to create our own interpretation of this outfit:

Image source: J. Crew

This is part of the Open to Interpretation series that Kayla, our challenge host, does along with Amy and Erica. I did it once before. Since we just have to interpret the outfit, and not recreate it identically, this is not Mission: Impossible. It's actually pretty fun. You should take a look at all the variations on the theme. I had the wardrobe pieces to do a pretty close approximation this time. My thoughts with this inspiration pic were: OK, brown sweater, green pencil skirt. I can do that. Since my skirt has the white pattern, I decided to skip the white shirt under the sweater. Instead I opted to wear a black t-shirt. I wanted to incorporate the brown and black together element of the inspiration, and I hoped that layering black under the brown sweater would tie the two together the way the two-toned bag does.

I don't think I would ever have put this outfit together if it weren't for the inspiration. Usually I play it safe and wear this skirt with a white or green top. So both Kayla's challenges have gotten me to try pairing this skirt with something I might not have otherwise. Nice to be expanding my options! I wore the ponytail to further match the inspiration picture. I did not skip earrings because of the picture, though. I am wearing pearl earrings, but unfortunately this picture turned out a bit blurry so you can't really tell. We took a few photos, but this was the best one.

It worked out well to have a dressy outfit for yesterday, since we had Evening Divine Liturgy for the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. Blessed feast to all!

Skirt, Ann Taylor Loft. Sweater, Kohls. T-shirt, thrifted. Shoes, Casual Corner. And it may be warmer than usual in Indy, but it's not bare legs warm. I'm wearing hose. Target, I think.

Cover-up

The challenge for today was to dress up a coat. Ironically, the weather was unseasonably warm in Indianapolis yesterday. Thanks to the Super Bowl, you can read about our typical (cold, snowy) weather this time of year here. But we had a balmy high of 58°F, and an overnight low of 47°F. It felt like late March or even April rather than late January, so I did not bundle up in my usual woolens. Instead I wore this lightweight green jacket. I dressed it up by adding a couple of pins. I frequently wear a pin on my winter coat, but the two pin thing was new for me. I was amazed at how much harder it is to put two pins on than one. It took me a surprisingly long time to arrange them! I may or may not have accidentally pinned my coat to my shirt during the process. The dove is my current favorite. I bought it for my grandmother at James Avery when I was in college. My mom found it in her jewelry and gave it to me after my grandmother passed away. The other pin was attached to a Christmas gift, and it conveniently doubles as a Christmas tree ornament.

Here's the rest of my outfit, since there aren't nearly enough awkward pictures of me on the internet yet. But more importantly you can see more of the fun paisley lining of this coat. Also, I liked this outfit, to my surprise. It's the first time I've worn this sweater as a vest. Since I went to high school in the '90s, I kind of have a thing against vests, but I thought this turned out classic and preppy. And have I mentioned I like green?

Coat, hand-me-down. Vest, trouser jeans, shoes, all thrifted. Shirt, Eddie Bauer.

Color me happy

I love to wear bright colors, so the prompt to do so was a welcome one to me. My two favorite colors are green and coral. I went with coral today, since I've worn green for the past three prompts. I added this scarf, which was a Christmas gift. It's part of my effort to insert more pattern into my wardrobe. My Mom gave it to me, and I really love the colors in it. I've worn it several times now (every time I was going to be around a different group of people), but so far I've used it to brighten up brown sweaters. I liked changing it up by pairing it with the coral. I want to try it with my orange shirt, too. I also tied it differently today than I've been wearing it.

Sweater and scarf, gifts. (My mom said the scarf is from Charming Charlies) Trousers, Stein Mart. Shoes ?

Decadent

Last week I joined in the challenge at the last minute, so I wore all my outfits on the day of the challenge. This week I decided to get ahead of the game, and I wore this to church yesterday. The prompt was to wear an outfit inspired by a decade or region. Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling very inspired, so I think this is pretty blah. But it's also very me, since I usually just put together basic (often green) pieces with not much accessorizing.

Can you guess what I took as my inspiration? No? It's the '50s. A cardigan over a tucked in shirt, and a long, full, skirt are the fifties inspired elements. I went modern by wearing it with boots. This is also very me. I wear skirts with boots constantly in the winter. I love skirts, but I hate to be cold. Heels mean cold feet, so even though that would have been a stronger fifties look, I stuck with my boots and socks.

Once I saw the picture I realized I should have added a short scarf à la Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday to jazz this up a little and carry the Fifties theme a little more strongly. Or layering the skirt to give it more fullness would have been a good idea, too. It may look blah, but it feels a bit decadent thanks to the fabrics. The skirt is velvet, and the cabled cardigan is a silk-cotton-cashmere blend. Even the shirt actually has some white, lacy looking embroidery, making the outfit a little more textured and layered looking in person than it came off in the blurry picture. I guess if I'm going to blog about my outfits, I should get more than one picture of them. :) Oh well, live and learn. I'm looking forward to bright colors and the OTI this week. I'm not so sure about the coat challenge or the last day, but I am sure the second week of the challenge will continue to be fun and educational.

Skirt, Target (old). Shirt, hand-me-down. Sweater, thrifted. Boots, probably Lazarus, which is now Macy's.

Mixing it up

I never got around to posting this last night, but yesterday the prompt was to mix patterns. After the rest of the prompts this week, this one felt easy. In actuality, most of my clothing is solid, and that goes double for my winter clothes. So the fact is, I didn't have all that many options. I put this together pretty quickly. I really liked this outfit, but I didn't feel like I was stretching myself with it. I don't bat an eyelash at stripes with patterns now. :) It was fun seeing everyone else's pattern mixing. Quite the stripy group!

The 10 Day Winter Challenge is weekday gig, so I'll be back Monday with another outfit.

Sweater, The Limited. It was a gift several years ago. Striped shirt, jeans, shoes, thrifted.

Anything you can do...

The prompt today was to channel someone--to create an outfit inspired by the style of a person or fictional character. So far the challenges have gotten progressively harder for me every day. I was so stumped with this one! I kept trying to think of someone whose style I admire, but I couldn't seem to build an outfit from there. Finally, I stood in my closet and tried to think about whether any of my clothes reminded me of anyone. That took me in an unexpected direction. I decided to channel the sartorial style of Annie Oakley. She definitely a had style of her own, and she was one of the first female American celebrities, in the modern sense.

Image Source

The reason I settled on Annie Oakley was I spotted this shirt. It was the fringe that made me think of her. The shirt was given to me by my grandmother when I was in college. I was completely befuddled by the gift, since it seemed totally outside the realm of my usual wardrobe. I couldn't imagine why she might have given me such a shirt. The only thing I could figure was that she gave it to me because of the Western look, since I went to college in Texas. She must have been on to something, though, since I still have it. I can't remember the last time I wore it, but I guess I have a sentimental attachment to it, so it hasn't ended up in the donate pile.

I was kind of nervous my outfit too costumey, but my husband actually liked it. An Annie Oakley look requires boots, and the shirt has all the shape of a potato sack, so it cried out for a belt. Thus, the same belt and boots as yesterday, totally different look. I added my twirly denim skirt, red tights, and I was ready to go. This was a pretty fun outfit to wear, and it was very comfortable and warm. Since James gave it the thumbs up, I may wear it again.

Shirt, gift. T-shirt & skirt, thrifted. Tights, another item I've had since high school (Express, I think. Can't believe they've lasted this long.). Boots, TJ Maxx, Belt, Kohls.

Orange you glad I didn't say banana?

I thought the challenge to embrace a trend was going to be really hard, since I am just not a trendy person. I like what I like, and I don't really worry about trends. Hey, I still wear clothes from high school!

And I read through Kayla's list of suggestions with mounting concern about my ability to meet the prompt. I rejected trend after trend basically because I owned no clothes that fit the bill. And nail polish wasn't going to happen. Fun fact: I don't mind toe nail polish, but I can't stand how it feels on my fingernails. My options seemed pretty limited.

But then at the bottom of the list was ”Tangerine.” And I thought, "Oh, yeah. Orange!” I knew all about the Pantone color of the year. And because I'm so in tune with the zeitgeist, I bought this orange shirt at a thrift store at the beginning of November, before the color was even announced. It's been in my special needs laundry pile ever since. So last night I gathered some other delicates and washed it.

Being as it's cold here, I layered it with this cream colored sweater. I decided to wear it with this blue skirt, because thanks to my knowledge of the color wheel, I knew pairing the orange with its complementary color would play up its orangeness. And you can't tell in the picture, despite the fact that I forgot to zip my boots, but my tights have a chevron pattern. So I believe that's actually two trends in one outfit, even if chevrons are like, so totally 2011.

Shirt, thrifted. Sweater, hand-me-down. Skirt, Stein Mart. Belt, Kohls. Tights, Target. Boots, TJ Maxx

Don't take my monochrome away

Today the prompt was monochrome: to wear clothes from only color family. We did this one in the summer, too, and both times it was super hard for me. Head to toe neutrals is not a look I feel like I can pull off, but I don't have any colored pants or skirts for winter at the moment. I do have this reddish brown skirt, so I went with maroon. I can't remember if I've ever worn this combination before, so I don't know if met my novel outfit criteria, but it was my only option that wasn't brown, blue, or black.

Since I thought I might have worn this before, I added jewelry, which I normally wouldn't bother with. Not sure I loved the jewelry I chose with this outfit, but at least it was different than what I would typically do. I've had both the jewelry and the shirt since high school (probably 16-18 years). The shirt is very comfortable and doesn't have to be ironed, so it's always been a favorite. Plus, I like the colors, and it's still in great shape. Go cotton velour! It was from American Eagle. I wonder if their stuff generally holds up this well? The skirt is a hand-me-down and probably from the late '70s, early '80s? I like how it flares at the bottom. The movement when I walk makes it fun to wear. All in all, I'd say this outfit gets a passing grade. I was satisfied with it, but not excited about it.

Skirt: vintage. Shirt, jewelry: vintage-ish. Boots: TJMaxx. Tank: thrifted.

Layering

Kayla over at Freckles in April is hosting another clothing challenge. This time it's only 10 days, not 21. Since the last time was so educational and inspiring to me, and 10 days doesn't seem too daunting, I thought I'd try it again. I hope it's not boring for people to see what I wear everyday, since I'm certainly no fashionista. For me it's kind of an interesting creative exercise. The 21 Day Challenge in August led me to introduce more stripes, scarves, and belts into my wardrobe, so we'll see what happens this time.

Today, the prompt was to wear layers. This was not outside my comfort zone at all. I frequently layer clothes but usually for practical reasons: warmth or modesty. I have a lot of go-to layered outfits, but my personal goal with this challenge is to combine my clothes in a novel way each day--to come up with an outfit I've never worn before.

Today I layered a short sleeved pale pink cashmere sweater with a long sleeved red tee. My guess is the sweater was once part of a twinset, but I got it at a thrift store (I actually bought it during the last challenge), and it is sadly divorced from its matching cardigan. I liked it with the red t-shirt, because I thought it was kind of a fun, modern look for the soft, sweet, vintage sweater. Plus it was bright and cheerful on this grey, gloomy day. The necklace I made for the statement jewelry prompt in the 21 Day Challenge, and I just remembered I wore it on the last day, too. I forgot about that! We could just pretend that I was intentionally bridging the two challenges, though. :)

Shirt, sweater, corduroys all thrifted. Necklace made by me. Shoes, from Kohls, forever ago.