Sporty

Once, when I was in high school, I went out for breakfast at Bob Evans with a friend who worked there with me, and we happened to run into one of our regular customers. He, being used to seeing us in khakis and white button-downs every day, was inspired to comment on our outfits. Hers, with the flowing silky top straight out of New York & Company, was assessed as "glamorous." Mine was labeled "sporty." When I heard that, I had to do a mental double-take. I have never been a very athletic person, and I was even less so back then.

In retrospect, my daily summer uniform of sneakers, half-length white crew socks (they were in style then!), jean shorts, T-shirt, and a ponytail was tomboyish to say the least, but I never thought of it that way—it's just what I always wore. However, that comment inspired me to consider more carefully the image my apparel projected. Since then, I have edited my style to hit more often on the "glamorous" end of the spectrum. The only time I sport anything sporty is when I'm going to the gym.

But yesterday, as my look came together at the last minute (amid a pile of discards all over my floor), I found the athletic aesthetic working its way into my outfit.

I started with a pink tank dress, which is basically a blank slate that has the potential to be very ladylike. But once I topped it with my black zippered vest, the sporty transformation had begun. There's something about this vest that reminds me of a golf or tennis outfit. 

The next element I added was the pink elastic headband to cover my roots, which has a definite "aerobics" vibe to it.

The shoes were the finishing touch. With all the black and pink going on, I just had to wear my black and pink wedge sneakers. Generally, sneakers with a dress is not something I go for, but apparently this combination is all the rage in the fashion world (although wedge high tops are probably passé by now), and I like doing something weird once in a while.

So there you have it, folks. This is about as sporty as you'll ever see the Unfashionista get! (And you'll notice that I couldn't resist adding black sparkly dangly earrings!)