Q is for Quirky

First off, cut me some slack for this highly subjective theme today. Q is a hard letter, and quirky is hard to pull off! 

What exactly makes an outfit quirky? Half of what I wear is, to some extent or other, what I would call quirky. That's part of my personal style—it's what makes me the Unfashionista!

So how do I distinguish a whole outfit as being so quirky that its quirkiness actually stands out as the theme? Well, mostly it's in calculated repetition. Wear one thing that's quirky, and it's just an accent...wear everything too quirky and it's a hot mess! 

Somewhere in between is something "quirky but worky" (as in work-appropriate—sorry, I just couldn't resist the cheesy rhyme). It's the outfit that makes people go, "Huh, that girl is quirky!"...but not go, "Yikes! That girl is fired!"

To succeed, I went with a bunch of off-the-beaten-path outfit elements, but made sure they were color coordinated! As such, I have a rather unusual outfit (I hope) that still looks put-together (I hope!).

Starting from the bottom and working our way up...

1. Boots - Boots in any color other than brown or black are an anomaly, so I'm hoping my green boots stand out from the crowd. The gratuitous laces and (also green!) fur trim should help give them an air of the over-the-top. If that wasn't enough, they have ridiculously long pointed toes. I'm not a huge fan of shoes with long toes, but when I bought these, I made an exception because the rest of them was so magnificent in so many ways!
2. Skirt - The more colors, the quirkier—that's what I always say! Tons of colors splashed all over a black background in a riotous design has to take it a step beyond. Not to mention that midi skirts of this shape and material tend to be the province of frumpy eccentric old ladies!
3. Tank top - The reason I had to wear a tank top is the sweater over it, which I'll get to in just a minute. When I was looking for the perfect tank, I almost went with a plain black, but fortunately it occurred to me to try this one in a shade of olive green to match the boots. As soon as I zipped the sweater over it, I knew it was the right choice. Not content to just skim my waist and go unnoticed, it flares out like a second skirt in the way of a strange – dare I say quirky? – outsized peplum.
4. Sweater - Not just any sweater of course—this one happens to be olive green to go with the tank top and boots, and cropped to waist-length! Who wears a sweater that covers only half their torso? Someone quirky, of course!
5. Pin set - Now we're getting to the jewelry. Jewelry is the area in which a quirky dresser can really shine, as you can take any crazy thing and make an accent piece out of it. In this case, I've chosen my "squirrel clutching for acorn" conjoined set of brooches debuted in "Squirrels love pink." Not only is a squirrel a pretty quirky animal in and of itself, but attached to its food source, it takes on an entirely new level of bizarreness, plus (best bonus of the day!) Quercus is the scientific name for the oak tree (from whence come acorns, were you not aware)!
6. Earrings - Not much can outdo a squirrel-acorn combo, and while I was tempted to wear some of my biggest, most outlandish earrings to finish off this look, I recognized that even quirky people must exercise some measure of good taste. I rarely wear big earrings together with any other piece of statement jewelry, but I wasn't about to miss out on my last opportunity to inject quirk into my look. I went with a small set of hedgehog earrings. Not many people walk around with hedgehogs dangling from their ears, so I feel this was a balanced way to keep my earrings discreet but still unusual.

 

So what do you think? Quirkier than normal, or Unfashionista as usual?