Dressing for the occasion

To my immense pride, I found another way to wear the maroon-and-black shoes!

With a similarly maroon tank top, and similarly black everything else! I then proceeded to wear this getup to a sports bar.

While my color-coordinating skills never cease to amaze me, my talent for wearing situationally appropriate clothing remains questionable.

Love is under my heels

Despite being recently single, and having a generally jaded view of the holiday at the best of times, I was actually pretty optimistic about Valentine's Day this year. Until yesterday, when something happened to crush all my (apparently very fragile) cheer. And suddenly, my half-formed plans for my V-day outfit suddenly took on a lot more black.

I wore black pants, black tank top, black necklace and black (rose! How romantic!) earrings. I finished it all off with a pair of tough-girl black boots that promise (I like to imagine) to stomp romance into the mushy mess it deserves to be.

Take that, Valentine's Day! The only reason I'm wearing any pink at all is so you know I'm onto you. You better watch your back, because these boots are made for walking!

Skirt shirt

Yesterday, I had the brilliant revelation that a skintight skirt, in addition to being wearable as a belt, can also be worn as a top!

Of course, a tube top is not any more workplace-appropriate than a miniskirt, so I had to cover it up with a rather incongruous white cardigan. But at least I tried something new!

Camisolution

Today's challenge: Wear a hook-front camisole at the office.

I've had this camisole for months (got it in an eBay lot, of course!) and I really like it, but every time I've tried to wear it, it hasn't looked right. It's got too much of a sexy vibe to wear on its own, and anything I covered it up with tended to look stupid.

Finally, I lit on a solution, which is becoming a tried-and-true rule of thumb for me. When you want to wear something that's too sexy for work, pair it with a dowdy sweater! My oversized black cardigan nicely covered up most of the camisole, while leaving just enough of it visible that I felt it was getting a fair role.

A slim grey knee length skirt kept things sober without falling prey to shapelessness.

And of course, the perfect pairing to all this professional-looking attire was my good-old interview shoes.

I even found a necklace that went well with it all, though as usual, it was too long, and I had to clasp it unconventionally in back.

OpUnfashionista Style!

Despite a deep-seated love for dancing and dressing fab, I had, until yesterday, never been to a dance club. When a friend casually, not knowing what he was in for, mentioned wanting to go dancing, I bombarded him with a list I'd compiled of a dozen places in DC that sounded like fun places to dance (I'd been gearing up for this moment for far too long). And we went!

I have a couple of club-worthy dresses that came in eBay lots and were just sitting in my closet, waiting for their moment to shine. I picked the shiniest one, a green and black slinky tank dress with glitter all over.

I did up my eyes in an altogether too ostentatious shade of green (using eye primer made it almost impossible to get off once it was on, so it stayed despite my best efforts to tone it down) and debated between wearing my new black boots or my old black boots. Finally I went with the old ones, since with the cut of the dress and the color of my makeup, I decided I was looking more edgy than ladylike. Also, the oversized shafts are perfect for storing little extras in, such as my phone.

As a non-party-goer, I had yet to acquire any small clutches or tiny bags for my stuff, though now I finally realize how handy they could be, so they'll probably be on my list the next time I go thrifting!

I was concerned I might be underdressed for winter, but once I got to the club, I was relieved to see several girls standing outside in the line wearing nothing but strapless minidresses. At least I had a coat, I thought smugly to myself. A coat that cost me 4 dollars to check for the evening.

My friend said I looked gorgeous, and no one said I looked ugly, so I guess my first foray into club attire went off well. My only problems: The dress was so slinky, I had to wear bike shorts underneath because it rode up every time I moved my legs. I figured no one would notice in the darkness. And I lost one of my earrings. Fortunately it was one from my least-favorite pair. Just a reminder next time to put backings on my earring hooks.

Strangely, Gangnam Style was not heard once the entire night.

Break it up, Tie it together

The jumping-off point for this outfit was the gold sweater. I can't even remember the last time I wore it, so I decided I should fix that.

I had no plan, just a vow that I wouldn't wear it with black pants, because that's how I always wear it. So what did I wear it with instead? Black skirt. Very creative.

I'm beginning to think that I don't like this skirt. Despite being pleated, which is a style I'd wanted in my collection for some time, it just doesn't look good on me. It falls in a very straight-up-and-down drape, bringing out all the blocky shapes in my admittedly un-curvaceous figure. But that's all beside the point.

The point is that this outfit of unremarkable pieces has furnished me with a new motto.

When combining two solid-color pieces in one outfit, follow these two rules: Break it up, tie it together.

For example...

1) I wore the little belt for the sweater just a little bit below the waistband of the skirt, breaking up the expansive blocks of color.

2) I wore shimmering sheer pantyhose, for a subtle reflection of the gold in the top. (Also black shoes, which tie in with the black skirt, but black goes with everything, so does that really count?)