Unfashion a Day, Week 9

Monday
Dressed to Impress

Monday, I had to participate in a videotaped teleconference, so I wore my most professional white blouse. I don't own a similarly professional skirt, so I just wore the black tiered one and the professional shoes. They were hidden by a table the entire time anyway.

Because I was wearing white, I also sported a bracelet (cuff, wristband?) I had made from an old worn out glove. While I am fond of cutting the fingers off my gloves and wearing them at my keyboard when my hands are cold, there are only so many pairs of fingerless gloves a girl can own. So with these old gloves, I got creative, cutting off the entire hand, hemming the wristband, and attaching a pair of clip on earrings I'd inherited from my grandmother. Here's a closeup of the result! (with the other, unchopped, glove in the background. Hmm... what to do with that one?)

Tuesday
Shades of maroon

Looking at this photo, I am again astonished at how short my sweater dress is. I swear it looked more modest in the mirror! Normally I wear these dresses with leggings and/or tall boots, but I really wanted to have another shot at the pinkish-beige heels I bought myself for Christmas—the first time I wore them, they were basically hidden by my pants. Now that I've got those shoes out of my system, I swear I'll counteract my short dresses with more coverage on the bottom! (I say that now....) I have one more unworn sweater dress in my Unfashion a Day arsenal.

Wednesday
Valerie, why are you still wearing those hideous shoes?

I am beginning to see why these shoes (the clown shoes, a.k.a bowling shoes) were so heavily discounted when I bought them. At best, they're out of style. At worst, they do not flatter. I'm going to pack them away while they're still in good shape, to bring out later when the 90's are long enough ago that kids will pay good money to buy that retro look. The rest of the outfit is just classic, "I'm tired of dressing up; I think I'll just wear something reasonably comfortable."

Thursday
Jailbreak

This is my favorite outfit of the week. I looooove that striped top. It was very cheap at the thrift store because clearly someone had loooooooved it a good bit before I got to it. The fabric was pilled, and it was starting to develop holes in places. Well, I cleaned up the pills, and the holes were small enough to ignore. And now I wear this shirt with looooooove until the day it finally bites the dust.

I also loooooove the skirt because it is just the right length with just the right amount of flare...not too dressy, not too casual....it is just perfect. I bought it from Indigenous Designs, because they have a good mission and I had a coupon.

And lastly, the boots. At first I wasn't sure about them. The whole folded-over-top thing didn't really strike me as all that classy, but you might remember they were on sale for 10 dollars, and I was sorely lacking in mid-heeled black footwear. So I bought them and fell in loooooove. They are comfy, and, like leg warmers, their bulk helps compensate for my overly broad shoulders.

Friday
Da Ba Dee Da Ba Di

My new colorful shoes arrived in the mail 2 days ago, and I thought that I could wear the pink pair with this blue top and my grey pants and this set of blue jewelry. I thought, even though the shoes are a completely different color from the top, the jewelry would pull it all together, because it has tiny pink roses in the center of every blue link. I was wrong. Firstly, the pants were too loose, and what with the loose top, I looked like the exact opposite of a loose woman. Secondly, there was not enough pink in the jewelry to make the pink shoes look right. So, I was obliged to wear a pair of sensible flats and tighter black pants. Having to make this compromise made me slightly blue, but I pressed on and realized that I learned a valuable lesson today:

Colorful shoes look best when that color is prominent elsewhere in the outfit. It is a bad idea to wear pants one color, shirt another color, and shoes another color still.