Popping daisies

A year and a half after I first started, I'm still making a concerted effort to bring more orange into my wardrobe. It's been slow going, especially when it comes to shoes. I finally found a pair of suitable orange sandals at the thrift store over the summer, and with great effort, these "sienna"-colored boots at JustFab. Sienna, as it turns out, is less orange in person than one might imagine by looking at it on a website, and I found that it didn't go well with most of the outfits I tried.

But finally I discovered a shirt that complemented rather than clashed with the boots.

It's a very cheerful sweater with orange and yellow daisies reminiscent of 60's pop art. The orange of the petals is subdued (almost, dare I say, a salmon hue?) but it works as a slightly more pastel variant of the color of the boots.

Since I was already channeling the 60's, I decided to wear my oversized yellow earrings which remind me a little of mod fashion.

 

Frumpiness fix

At the beginning of the day that I wore it (I'm a little behind in posting, so that was not today!) this outfit was one of my ordinary old work outfits that are so unremarkable, I never give them a moment's second thought. Even if the colors are bright and fun, the individual elements have been worn enough times that they no longer excite me. The one new part of this outfit was the pink cardigan, which is a fairly recent acquisition. Unfortunately, the long-line cardigan combined with the calf-length skirt to create a total appearance that was shapeless and dowdy. High-heeled shoes usually help make a midi skirt more flattering, but the chunky heel on these ones might have hurt more than helped.

I wasn't going to blog this outfit at all, except that midway through the day, I discovered a styling trick that improved its appearance so greatly, I had to share it!

Looking at my blocky shape in the mirror, with the cardigan billowing out around me like an extra 20 pounds of flesh, I suddenly realized that I'd look more streamlined if I just defined my waist. I tied the dangling front parts of the cardigan around my midsection, and the improvement was instant! Suddenly I felt proud of my appearance again!

Tie baggy clothes around your waist to create a knotted belt and a more streamlined silhouette! 

Spring for the Solstice

I love dressing in spring colors out of season! It's one simple way to boost my mood, even when the weather is depressingly wintry and cold as an icebox outside.

Today's outfit, which just happens to coincide with the winter solstice, is a study in springtimey motifs.

I started with a pale green shirt that I got months ago and haven't worn yet. I tried it on last week and was absolutely horrified by how short, tight, and low-cut it was. How it passed my initial review when I first got it, I had no idea, but it was way past the return period now, and I was going to have to make it work. After giving it some thought, I realized I could raise the modesty factor by layering a camisole underneath it, which made the neckline a little more appropriate for work. It's still tight, but with all the wrinkles of several layers of fabric filling it out, it looks less like a skin suit. I like the way the camisole peeps out at both the bottom and the top, adding more pops of springtime hues.

For the bottom half of my outfit, I chose a midi prairie skirt bursting with pastel colors and floral shapes.

Navy being the darkest color in the skirt, and me wanting to exercise at least a modicum of restraint, I decided to go with navy blue for my shoes. I considered wearing a new pair of slouch boots, but ultimately decided that the boots looked too bulky when combined with the skirt, so I went for a more streamlined look with some (also new!) pointy-toe pumps.

To round out the look, I couldn't not wear a ridiculously vernal butterfly jewelry set!

It might be the first day of winter, but that's not stopping me from celebrating in springtime style!

Asymmetry Serendipity

The heat is broken in my office – again! – and it is totally the wrong weather for a sheer blouse, but I don't care! I've been so bored of my clothes since it got cold this fall (even all my new boots failed to cheer me up), that I'll brave the cold without (much) complaint, just for the opportunity to wear something new and exciting.

New and exciting is, today, a sheer brown blouse with pink, yellow, and teal paisley accents, and just a hint of metallic thread. This top is probably my favorite of my recent acquisitions from Swap.com (get a discount on your first purchase by using my referral link!), which included the (Millennial!) pink pants I'm wearing as well.

I basically picked out the pants because they went well with the colors in the top, but as soon as I put them on, I discovered another benefit: the lace accent on the right hip was positioned just so to peek out from below the higher side of the shirt's asymmetrical hemline. The pants only have the lace on one side, so how fortunate was it that both asymmetrical pieces happened to be asymmetrical in just the right way? That's what I call a lopsided win!