Pin(k)stripes

 
I have an unexplainable thing for girly suits. I keep buying them on eBay, even though they have no place in my day-to-day wardrobe. If, for example, I wore them to work, the rest of the people in my casually dressed office would wonder if I was sneaking out to job interviews on my lunch break.

My solution is to take the ostentatiously matching separates and wear them, well, separately. I pair my severe blazers with flirty summer sundresses or shorts. Sometimes I go the opposite route and wear my tailored suit dresses under casual sweaters—like this one!

This pink pinstriped dress came with a matching cutesy one-button jacket. After a lot of altering (it was too big) I managed to make the two pieces look decent on me, but not quite well-fitting enough to actually wear as a suit—even if suits were the norm where I work. Fortunately, I have a lovely flowy sweater that just happens to be almost the exact same shade of pink and have almost the exact same pinstripe pattern as the dress. Usually, when I try to pair pieces that are almost the same color or pattern but not quite, they clash with each other. But for some reason, I really liked the look of the sweater with the dress.

My favorite off-white boots and an almost-matching set of pearl jewelry finished it all off.

Celebration of springishness

Seventy-four degrees. Seventy-four degrees! That was the forecast high for the last Monday in November...and I was stoked (an appropriately furnace-related word for an unseasonably warm day)! Even more fortunately, I had just the thing to celebrate it in—a sequined dress that has been likened to a disco ball!

I toned down the excessive sparkle of the dress by topping it with my black and white zipper vest, and tempered the short hemline with demure flat shoes.

The original plan for this outfit (I had intended to wear it several weeks ago, but a sudden shift to winter weather stopped me in my tracks) called for black knee socks, but they were in the laundry. This turned out to be another stroke of good fortune, because their absence inspired me to reach for the wilder and crazier black-and-white striped knee socks, which just added to the festive mood.

[Also, I've returned to full bangs for the first time since June of last year!]

High Heel Hippie

I bought this dress on eBay, even though I had a lot of reservations about it being backless, because it was only 99¢ including shipping (I'm sorry for the seller, who definitely lost money on this auction).

After it arrived, I thought about it for a few weeks, and finally decided there was no circumstance in which it would be chilly enough to wear a sweater dress and still warm enough to go backless—besides, backless dresses are inconvenient (stick-on bra, anyone?) and inappropriate for work, so I decided the only way I'd wear this dress was if I found a way to make it unbackless.

Layering over a tank top was out, because the straps showed in the back, looking quite silly. Eventually I just cut a piece out of a not-too-beloved T-shirt and sewed it on. Not terribly graceful, but enough to, well, cover my back.

Wearing it to work was still proving to be problematic, though. The fit was a little too snug, and the bottom few unlined inches were translucent, making it effectively too short. I think I could get away with wearing this dress with high boots and opaque tights, but this time I decided to take the high road and wear it with an even more modest pair of brown pants.

The tunic-and-pants look is one I consider very earthy, and the muted colors are the very definition of earth tones, so I accessorized to emphasize the hippie vibe: a matching necklace made with lumps of greenish and brownish polymer clay, my carved fish earrings, and a peacock ring because, well, why not?

And then, because the inevitable lumps and bumps caused by pairing a tight dress with thick pants were making me feel frumpy in the extreme, I decided to add some class and completely undermine the aforementioned hippie vibe by wearing high heeled shoes.

Once Wounded

Some of my favorite outfits end up being the ones I build around a pair of shoes.

 

One of my newest pairs is this cute little set of yellow low-heeled Ed Hardy wedge sneakers. Now, yellow is not a color I have a lot of (warm colors in general are quite underrepresented in my wardrobe), so I hesitated to buy them, but I ended up doing it anyway because, out of the three designs & color schemes available, these ones had a bird and didn't have a skull. They also feature a bleeding heart and the phrase "Once Wounded, Twice Shy", so I'm sure I'll have lots of use for them should I ever suffer from a painful breakup.

However, I'm not waiting for such an occasion to actually wear them, so I decided they'd be perfect for Trivia Night at the bar (this of course means bad lighting, so I'm sorry about the quality of the outfit photo!). The yellow shoes enabled me to finally use the yellow camisole that has been sitting with its tags in my closet for at least a year and a half (again, not a yellow person!), so I'm glad I got them. I am expanding my horizons left and right! So anyway, the yellow camisole needed a little something, so I covered it up with the lace top that is proving to be one of the most versatile items of clothing I own.

 

Then I put on some black jeans. This marks the third outfit in a row that prominently features pants!

Divinity

For this outfit, I went all-out angelic with wintry whites, lots of glitter (in the bracelet I wore over my sleeve, for example), fluttery feather earrings and a braid crown.

Yes, it's taken 3 years, but my hair has finally grown long enough that I can wrap it around the top of my head. Glory be! Guess it's time to start thinking about cutting it short again.

Bowling for compliments

 

The Unfashionista is a princess at her core, fond of looking pretty and usually preferring to wear a dress rather than pants. She's always looking for an excuse to get gussied up, which may (so I hear) be her primary motivation for leaving the house most of the time when she goes out. When the Unfashionista has to make sartorial concessions (such as having to cover her beautiful outfit with a coat so as to not freeze to death) she does it with as much flair as possible. What happens to an Unfashionista when she goes bowling? Read this first-person narrative to find out.

I really wanted to look glamorous. I really wanted to wear a dress. Unfortunately, I didn't think that would be practical for a casual evening at the bowling alley (little did I know the lanes to our left would be swarming with girls in their clubbing clothes), so I reluctantly settled on jeans. But then I couldn't find a shirt that made me happy. I tried on many, then, out of desperation, grabbed a plain black T-shirt, black high-heeled boots, and plain silver jewelry. If I couldn't look flamboyant, at least I could look sophisticated.

I felt the outfit was barely presentable, but my trusty photographer found it photo-worthy, and I have it on good authority that at least one other person thought I looked "hot."

The hideous shoes that were foisted on me

Here's me pretending to bowl in non-regulation footwear.

Fashion photobomb!

Flower girl

The pink shoes that I was so excited about two and a half years ago are starting to show their age, and I've been on the hunt for a suitable replacement. I wanted something that was a little less raspberry and a little more fuchsia. When I stumbled upon these pink floral heels on eBay for 13$, I decided the time was ripe.

Of course, as soon as they arrived, I realized I had probably made a mistake, seeing as the floral pattern really limits what kind of clothes the shoes can be worn with...and I'd wanted a versatile shoe that could complete almost any look.

Oh, well. No regrets is just one of many philosophies an Unfashionista stands by, so I set them in my closet and waited to see what kind of miracles I might work with them.

One chilly November evening, having procrastinated too long in picking out my clothes for the next day, I grabbed this grey dress with pink sleeves, thinking at least it would keep me warm in our frozen office but not be too hot come afternoon when the temperature was predicted to reach 68. I was going to wear it with boring grey booties, until I woke up in the morning and realized, under the harsh light of day, that the two shades of grey did not work together at all!

Then I remembered my pink shoes.

I almost put on some pink jewelry, but luckily I had the presence of mind to realize that there might be such a thing as too much hot pink. Instead I opted for simple silver, which opened up the opportunity to wear a matched set of rose earrings and necklace—roses being a none-too-subtle tie-in to the flowers on the shoes!

One Skirt, Four Seasons: Fall

It's finally here—the last installment in my One Skirt, Four Seasons series (Here are Winter, Spring, and Summer)!

When I first conceptualized this series, fall was intended to be something completely different, but I never liked the shirt I'd chosen, and at the last minute, I decided I'd better do better. Incidentally, this skirt / shirt combo was originally intended for winter, but I couldn't find shoes that worked with it, so I ditched the idea and invented the winter look kind of at the last minute as well.

Serendipitously, I acquired this ornate pair of purple and gold brocade shoes just a few weeks ago. I had no idea at the time what I would ever wear them with (they don't exactly scream versatility), but my boyfriend was all in favor (he always supports my purchase of purple apparel, for reasons which will be revealed in a future post!), so I caved and bought them...never even thinking that they would provide the perfect finisher to my 4 seasons series! But they did!

The gold in the shoes was an excellent complement to the gold sweater that I'd been unable to match last winter. I even worked in a pair of shimmery gold-toned pantyhose...which promptly busted a giant run all the way down the front of my leg as soon as I arrived at work. Malfunctions aside, I was quite pleased to be using so much gold. The other 4 seasons were heavy on the greenish end of the spectrum, so it's about time I brought some warmer colors into the mix.

I also changed things up by tucking my sweater into the skirt rather than wearing it on the outside as I had for all the other seasons. I think the skinny fabric belt that came with the sweater did a nice job of breaking up the blocks of color (rather as it did the first time I featured it in this blog), and the big purple necklace provided the finishing touch. And then I wore a gold ring with my name on it, because I love overkill.

Is that you, Aunt Jemima?

My latest technique for covering up my blond roots is to wash my hair daily with dye-infused shampoo. It makes the blond darker, but it doesn't completely cover it up, so on with the head coverings for me! Today's is a plain pink bandanna (homemade from a damaged bedsheet) that I tied into a simple wrap. I picked it because it was the same color family as the shoes, which I picked because their brown soles went with the dress. One of people in my building was quite enthusiastic about the shoes, which made me reconsider my decision to sell them after this, their second public appearance.

There's not really much else here to note except that the earrings also feature the same berry shade, and that I'm wearing a nice set of brownish metal bangles I got for 75¢ from the thrift store.

I thought if this outfit made me look like anything, it made me look like a gypsy. I certainly did not go into it intending to channel Aunt Jemima, but such is the assessment I got from my coworker, and I'd be remiss if I didn't report other people's reactions to my ensembles. What do you think? Would I look at home on a syrup bottle? And should I keep the shoes?

Flower and Dots

 

This outfit was one of the rare few that wasn't planned out in advance. I got home late one night and decided I would wear my polka-dotted white dress because it was new, and black and white is easy to accessorize, and thus I could go to sleep without trying on my entire closet. So I did.

I then got up in the morning, pulled the dress out, and decided what to wear with it. I could have gone all black and white, which would have been easy, but even in my hurried state, I knew that wasn't going to make me happy, so I went for my teal boots.

I quickly tried on several necklaces, none of which quite worked, before once again reaching into Grandma's Brooch Collection to make use of the last of the unworn pieces: a blue daisy that had proved particularly challenging because usually when I want to wear that color, I wear one of several necklaces or earrings that I think of first. Fortunately, I have run out of teal necklaces and earrings, so I was forced to branch out into brooches. The center of the daisy was a very similar shade to the boots, so it worked well. I placed it smack dab in the middle of a polka dot, ensured the stem didn't compete with any other dots, and considered the deal done. The shell earrings with pearls were a no-brainer because their color was teal and their shape was so dotty!

I put my hair up in a bun mainly because it's quick and easy, and, because I was feeling sort of mod about the whole outfit (polka-dot shift dresses do that too me), I added a broad black headband (also helpful in my neverending battle with my growing-out dye job). I wore leggings mainly because the dress was pretty short and I just didn't feel like doing endless modesty checks, but in the end, I think I like the way they work with the outfit as a whole.

The Sea and the Old Man

This year, I participated in 4 Halloween events. I had 2 costumes planned (Spiderweb and the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland) and one backup idea (fairy, which obviously is a cop-out one can wear at almost any time!) but the day before the Night of the Living Zoo, I realized that none of my costumes were suitable for spending a late October evening outdoors.

Last-minute costume-planning ensued. Fortunately, I keep a box of costumes in my basement, because (who's surprised?) I like dressing up. The blue dress that looks like water is the warmest costume piece I own, and it only took a few minutes of brainstorming before I had come up with an appropriate theme—the ocean!

I gathered all my stuffed marine animals and aquatic jewelry and started pinning!

Seashells in my hair, pearls around my neck, and an octopus on my shoulder! I tried to ocean up my face with blue eye makeup, coral lipstick, and blue mascara on my brows, but the effect ended up being too subtle to really show up in pictures. I also wore dangling fish earrings.

Shortly before leaving home, I found this little walrus in my backpack (I'd brought him home to use in  my costume and promptly forgot about it), so, thinking quick, I pinned him to the top of my head too. I liked to imagine that my walrus was sitting on some outcropping of rock surrounded by deep blue sea.

 Other creatures which graced my costume were a toy snail and a fish pin.

I accessorized with this nifty fish-themed purse I just happened to have lying around, and kept my extremities warm in navy blue boots and gloves.

My boyfriend wore a hideous old man mask, white wig, and a robe, and sometimes tried to say he was a wizard, but lacking a hat or a staff, his costume didn't have much credibility. It was, sadly, only after we'd already left the event that it occurred to me we should have presented ourselves as Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea!