New Things and Old Trends

There's this game I play when I'm struggling for sartorial inspiration. It's called One New Thing, and, unsurprisingly, its objective is to wear one new (never-worn-by-me) thing every day. Complicated, right? I invented this game in 2018, as a way to quickly burn through a glut of unworn clothes in my closet, but it's evolved into a sort of Fashion Challenge that I use to give me creative direction when I'm feeling unmotivated. I've been playing the latest game since early January. Unlike most Fashion Challenges, I don't usually document my progress in One New Thing (as it can go on indefinitely, given my almost limitless supply of new clothes), except when the New Thing in question inspires a particularly interesting outfit...like this one!

The Thing that started it all off is this skirt. If I had to guess at its actual age, I'd say it was made sometime around when I finished college (2005), as I had a skirt with a similar cut that I wore for graduation. But its design is definitely intended to evoke a bygone era—the brown-and-gold color scheme and pattern of overlapping ovals just jump up and scream 1960's!

Just wearing this skirt wasn't enough to really make me feel inspired (it's that time of winter!), so I had to up the ante and devise a complete outfit around a 60's theme.

First stop was footwear. My brown pumps with the square toes and block heels wouldn't have looked out of place in the decade; and while bare legs or colorful tights seemed much more popular options in the 60's, I was really feeling the knee socks. It's OK to not be totally historically accurate, I had to keep reminding myself; this outfit was supposed to be evocative, not costumey!

In the interest of being less costumey, I passed on the huge mod dangle earrings and went with another New Thing for my jewelry: a brown necklace that has been sitting in my unworn jewelry basket so long it practically qualifies as an old thing. My plain ivory sweater completed the clothing portion of the look, but I still had to do something with my hair.

It's fortunate that my hair has grown long enough that I can style it a variety of ways, and today, I tried to style it in a way that reflected the 60's. Alas, my limp locks will never achieve bouffant volume, but at least I could accomplish some romantic parted bangs and a half-updo. To be fair, this is how I've been wearing my hair most days lately, but today, I can claim to be channeling Brigitte Bardot.

Sewnday

 
These dark days just before the official beginning of winter always fill my heart with sadness...but they also inspire me to work extra-hard to cheer myself up...sometimes resulting in an exciting fashion challenge!

This time around, the challenge is thus: to come up with an outfit to represent each day of the week—like those days-of-the-week-themed socks / underwear you had as a kid (you did have some, right?) but with a literary twist. Since wearing clothes emblazoned with the days of the week wouldn't be much of a challenge (and would probably read a little juvenile, even for my taste), I'm taking a more subtle route and injecting my fashion challenge with some good old wordplay. Each day, I'll wear an outfit that represents the calendar day, but with the word altered just enough to make it fun!

So today, Sunday, becomes "Sewnday"—a day to wear something I've sewn!

That something is a tunic which has its own rather convoluted story to tell. It started out as a black dress which I got in one of my earliest Swap.com orders. When it arrived, I found that one of the sleeves was torn halfway around the wrist (you can even see it in the picture!), so they refunded me and let me keep the dress! I cut off both sleeves at the same length so they would match up, and it helped, but more was still needed.

The skirt had that goofy low-high shape I dislike so much, so I opted to cut the front in a reversed curve—to make it into a high-low shape where the center was the highest part. I made the mistake of not measuring first, and I ended up cutting it a little too short. I couldn't wear it with leggings as I'd planned. Some people are OK with putting their crotch on display, but I am not!

So next, I used a roll of black lace I had purchased specifically for cases like this to get the skirt to a decent length. Unfortunately, the cheap polyester lace was very stiff, so it looked silly, and clung to my leggings like glue, causing the skirt to bunch up with every step.

I removed the lace and let the skirt rest all summer, trying to think of alternative strategies for lengthening the skirt at the front.

Somewhere, possibly Refashion co-op, I had once seen a pretty neat trick wherein a square piece of fabric was inserted into a side seam to add some length, volume, and allover flowiness to a top.

I could do that with this tunic, adding a panel like that to the front to make it more modest and more flashy at the same time.

But what to use for the panel? I had a scarf I'd been trying to sell for a while on eBay with no success. It was a huge satiny square with a motif of pink and blue chains and Chanel logos and...leashes? I wasn't sure what straps and chains were supposed to be, only that I wasn't a huge fan (not a big lover of logomania, me). I have to assume the scarf was a knockoff, given its cheap polyester feel and failure to sell, but if it wasn't, I just sliced up a valuable brand-name item to make into a tacky dress! Call me a rebel.

I ripped out the side seams  of the dress to one-half the width of the scarf. Then I pinned the whole scarf into the gap, just to check that I liked the look. It was a go!

From there, it was just a matter of cutting the scarf into quarters (gasp! The point of no return!) and sewing them into place on the dress (harder than it sounds, figuring out how to get the right sides all facing out!)

The next scary part was cutting up the center of the front to make the home for the final scarf panel. I measured it out to start at the same height as the other two side panels. Because the skirt was shorter in front, this meant that the front slit was shorter than the side ones...which meant the scarf piece didn't fit exactly as the others had.

I positioned it multiple times before I got the bottom edges to line up (I was using No-Sew glue to baste it in place, which was immensely helpful!)

The next part was cleanup. All of the panels had a tiny gap at the top point, which I had to sew shut. The front panel, because it was shorter, also had some excess scarf fabric hiding out at the top, which required sewing down so it didn't reverse itself and pooch out at the front. I also zigzag-stitched over the raw edges of the scarf panels to keep the very fragile fabric from fraying.

I wasn't really happy with the way the front panel lay – it tended to collapse to the inside of the dress – so I tacked it down a few inches from each side seam. It only took a few stitches, but it effectively held the scarf on the outside where it belonged.

I finished the dress yesterday afternoon—just in time for the planned first day of my newest fashion challenge!

Fortunately, my boyfriend and I actually had somewhere to go today (some Sundays, I don't even leave the house!), so my scarf dress got to see some action. Not much, because the restaurant we had lunch at was so cold, I kept my coat on the whole time. But enough.

And, just to make this blog post longer than it is already, I have to mention that the boots I wore with the dress are one of my favorite recent purchases! I almost didn't buy them (because they were grey, and I already had grey boots), but I'm so glad I did. They have low heels, so they are eminently practical to walk in, but they also have gems embedded in them!

The first time I wore these boots, I got so many compliments, I knew I'd made the right decision. Sometimes, blingy neutrals are better than brights!

Style.css

Here's a question for you: Is it possible to build an entire conference-worth of outfits, based on nothing but promotional T-shirts, and still look stylish?

That's what I wondered when faced with the imminent arrival of yet another Drupal GovCon. I've now been to this conference 4 or 5 times (and its big sister DrupalCon 5 out of the past 7 years), and every year, it's the same thing. It's a tech conference, and attendees are encouraged to dress casually and comfortably, so usually I wear neutral pants, sensible shoes, and a knit shirt and hoodie every day. It's easy, it's warmish (why are conference centers always freezing?), and I know I can walk around all day in it with ease.

Sometimes I try to mix things up with a floral ensemble, but this year I wanted to challenge myself. Could I go full-out nerdy in my conference tees every day and still feel like the Unfashionista at her best?

That sounds like a Fashion Challenge!

Wednesday

The first day was a no-brainer, because I had the world's best Drupal shirt just waiting to be worn. I've been trying to be more restrained about acquiring free T-shirts lately, because I never actually wear them, but I made an exception for this one, because, well, what dog mom wouldn't wear this one!? At a size XXL, it definitely didn't suit me out of the box, but after lopping off the sleeves and tailoring the sides, it made a cute tank top that I couldn't wait to wear!

wow

To make sure the star of the show (the Doge!) received all the attention, I wore black pants to blend in with the black shirt. I also went with the same black sandals I wore the last time I blogged a conference outfit.

While I was trying to keep the rest of my clothing muted to keep all eyes on the Doge, I figured it wouldn't hurt to highlight the color with some strategic repetition. The earrings were the exact same shape and shade as the graphic on the shirt, and I also managed to rustle up some matching blue sunglasses, for those moments when I was able to venture outside.

I could never blog a Doge shirt without letting my own doges join in on the fun!

Thursday

For the second day of the conference, it was time to debut the official T-shirt from my last conference, DrupalCon Nashville.

The shirt was a fun pink color, which started me off in the right direction, but you need more than a fun-colored shirt to make a fun outfit. Fortunately, I've been absolutely obsessed recently with shopping for "interesting" pants. These pale pink cargo pants are just funky enough to be forgiven for being a decade or two behind the times.

For shoes, I went with white chunky heeled platform sandals. Unlike sky-high pumps, which are my usual go-to, low-heeled platforms don't kill your feet while you're walking around from session to session. I think I've decided that... Platforms are the perfect shoe for a conference (or really any time when you want to look great while still being able to walk around for hours). They both heighten the interest level and heighten the wearer!

Friday

The final day of the conference was here, and I was running out of ideas. I didn't have any unworn conference tees left (my boyfriend had nabbed this year's shirt as soon as I brought it home), so I went with the most interesting of the ones I already had, which was my shirt from DrupalCon Baltimore.

Grey and white? you're thinking. That's your most interesting shirt!? I admit to being a little disappointed when I received this boring-colored shirt in 2017, but a neutral backdrop means you get more liberty for decoration!

The day I got it, I tailored the sides, then spiced up the graphic with a small red rhinestone in the place of the raven's eye. It's easy to overlook, but it's there for those who care to see it. A red-eyed raven meant red accessories, so I went bright and bold with my red jeans (cuffed to a summery length), and a pair of wedge slide sandals with a multicolored strap. These sandals remind me of my youth at the end of the 90's—they're probably from the end of the 90's, but I have been pleased to see that wedge slides are coming back!

I was also pleased to note that, at no point during the conference, did my feet get too cold. Much as I have complained about the climate at conference centers, I was able to stay warm this entire week, even in sandals, and even without the sweaters I brought just in case. Maybe NIH has finally conceded that 68 degrees really isn't the optimal temperature for humans to work in, but whatever the reason, I was happy and comfortable in sandals every day!

Dare I say, this was my most stylish website technology conference yet!?

So lucky they get to wear pants

Once upon a time, in college, a girl I only sort of knew became associated with the catchphrase, "They're so lucky, they get to wear pants!" I only sort of knew the reason for this, which is silly and boring anyway, but for some reason I could never get out of my head. So I'm pleased to finally be able to use it as the title of a blog post. And why is it the title of this blog post? Well, this blog post marks a special occasion: an entire week of pants at work! While I usually wear pants at least once a week, I never wear pants every day of the week, so I decided to do just that! Hello, fashion challenge!

Monday

Before I had even conceived of a whole week of pants-wearing, I planned this simple outfit to reintroduce the jade-and-gold pants I first wore last month. This time, I paired it with a black sweater with balloon sleeves. I wasn't feeling particularly creative, being especially ready for bed on a Sunday night, but I do like the combination of big legs with big sleeves.

Tuesday

 
I wanted to wear one of my three new pairs of thigh-high boots, but I feel like thigh-highs and jeans might just be a little too punk for work, so I chose to wear them instead with leggings and a tunic (since the tunic has the shape of a dress, I like to think it reads as more professional). Since I last pictured this tunic, I decided I hated the fit—no waist, looked like a toddler dress. After resizing it to a more body-skimming shape, I decided it was ready for one more wear. I matched my earrings to my pink boots (and my hair, a coworker noted). For the pants portion of the outfit, I wore black leggings. Are leggings pants? The debate rages on, but for the purpose of this blog post, I have to say they are.

Wednesday

The first two days of this week saw me in flowy, pajama-like pants and leggings in turn, so I decided Wednesday was the day to buckle down and start dressing like a professional. I put on my most conservative of khakis and combined them with my most classic of cardigans. Of course, I was positively compelled to balance out the boring style of my clothes with exciting colors, so I chose lemon yellow for the cardigan and kelly green for my camisole and shoes.

Thursday

The forecast was 74 degrees, so I really wanted to wear a summery shirt, in case it would be warm enough to bike home unencumbered by a coat. Conveniently, I'd just refashioned an old silver sleeveless top, which had been out of commission for over a year, and now was ready to start its new life! Inconveniently, a miscalculation on my part left the arm holes too big, revealing my bra, so I still had to cover it up all day with the red open-front cardigan I wore to keep me warm in the morning. I also wore red shoes, and the pants today were a pair of grey skinny jeans.

Friday

There was one type of pants that had been conspicuously absent from my week of pants at work, so for my fifth and final day, I wore blue jeans! I went with the most wide-legged pair I have, since 1) they were new, and 2) the prior day I'd worn skinny jeans. I had planned on wearing my black and white striped sweater since the weather was supposed to get drastically colder by the end of the day, but when I got up in the morning, it was still too warm outside to bike to work in such a heavy top. So I switched at the last moment to this thin aqua long sleeved T-shirt, which ended up looking better with the jeans anyway!

A is for Argyle

 

No sooner had I realized that I was sick to death of my autumn wardrobe, than I immediately also realized what would help cheer me up: a fashion challenge! Even if I've worn all my transitional garments a hundred times, they'll still feel fresh and fun when they represent a theme! Compression Sock Chic notwithstanding (it doesn't count because it was forced upon me), I haven't issued myself a fashion challenge since 2014, when I attempted to channel 5 countries in 5 days...and failed because one of the days I was sick!

I've been toying for months with the idea of theming a series of outfits around the letters of the alphabet, and now, with nothing to lose except a case of the doldrums, I'm going to go for it! For 26 days, I'll be wearing an outfit that strongly features something beginning with a different letter each day. I may not post every day, and I may postpone a day (life happens, and sometimes funky knee socks have to take a backseat to more practical concerns) but I hereby vow to get through every letter before I quit!

The inaugural outfit of this challenge is built around a pair of blue argyle knee socks. Speaking of challenge, these socks are quite difficult to coordinate. I honestly can't recall if I've ever worn them since the first time I posted an outfit with them nearly 5 years ago—which also happened to be during my first ever published fashion challenge—Unfashion a Day! This might be the last time I wear them, since they're starting to sprout an unmanageable number of loose threads. 

I almost wore them with the same blue shirt I wore them with last time, but it was just too long to look good with the long blue skirt I wanted to pair it with. I gave up on the long blue skirt, switched to a short aqua skirt, found that the hue no longer worked with the original blue shirt, and switched to this blue sweater. A short skirt and short sleeves sound like a terrible choice in November, but I did it for fashion! Fortunately I have a space heater in my office!

When all was said and done, I had a completely tonal outfit in shades of blue and blue-green. Apparently A is also for Aqua!

Compression sock chic

This week, I had endovenous laser ablation done on my great saphenous veins on both legs! Those are a lot of new words to me, but what it boils down to is that I had to wear thigh-high compression stockings for 7 days.

I realized that having to wear compression stockings was going to cramp my style quite a bit, especially if the weather warmed up, but I realized also that one week of compression stockings = Fashion Challenge! So let's have at it!

Tuesday: Comfy Hippie

Excuse the mirror selfies. Most were taken in a rush before or after appointments!

The first day of my CS challenge, I went in to get my first treatment in the early afternoon. I was only getting one leg done, so I'd only have to wear the stocking on one leg. Not knowing what to expect, I figured my best bet was to go covered-up and comfortable. I wore soft loose pants, a comfortable tunic over them, and a pair of medium-heeled brown boots. No sign of my legs or my single stocking in this modest ensemble!

Wednesday: Goth Grandma

My other leg was scheduled for ablation this afternoon. For most of the day, I'd be wearing only one compression stocking. Now, I'm all about asymmetry in my clothing, but a different color for each leg seemed a little too much. So once again, the goal for the day was full coverage. I decided to go with the long black pleated skirt that hasn't seen much air time since I wore it in this blog over 3 years ago. For my top, I wore a black lace mini-dress that I folded up underneath to turn into a shirt. With forecast temperatures of only 60 degrees, a sleeveless shirt wasn't going to cut it, so I covered up further with a beige sweater that complemented the beige in the shirt. 

 

Laser ablation isn't crippling, but it does sting a little, and it's surprisingly hard to bend one's knees whilst wearing compression socks. So knowing that I might be stiff and clumsy coming out of my procedure, I decided that sky-high stiletto heels were out. And because of the need to cover my entire leg and foot, basically my only shoe choice was some kind of boot. I felt like I had a pretty good granny vibe going with the long skirt and the cardigan, so I decided to play it up with a pair of lace-up boots that have a vaguely Victorian feel. At the same time, the sheer amount of black put me in mind of something a little less grandma and a little more heavy metal. So I ornamented my neck with a metal rose on a black cord. I always feel edgy when wearing that necklace. 

 

The best thing that happened that day was I got asked by my ultrasound technician if I am a model (on account of my legs, which are apparently long—not, I'm sure, for my fashion-forward ensemble).

Thursday: Pastel Shopaholic 

 

I was tired of all the dowdy dressing and the shades of neutral that I'd been wearing all week (I'd actually dressed for compression stockings on Monday, too, having gotten the date of my appointment wrong). But as it turned out, almost everything in my wardrobe that's suited for low-seventies weather and thigh-high stockings is also in those colors. I probably spent nearly an hour scouring my closet for something colorful and flattering to wear on my third day. 

 

It was hard work, but when I scored, I scored big! This outfit comprises not one, but two new additions to my closet—the asymmetrical layered black skirt, and the mint-green lace top. This was the first day that I'd be wearing compression stockings on both legs, so I thought it was high time I actually let them show. Black compression stockings or tights—they're all the same to the casual onlooker, right? 

 

Actually, they're not. The compression socks are much thicker than any pair of tights I would wear, and it shows. I felt there was too little contrast between the skirt and the stockings. If I were going to do this outfit again, I'd wear it with a more flared skirt.

Friday: Lady in Red Shoes

 

My black compression socks enclose my whole foot, but my beige ones have open toes. I didn't imagine I'd like them much when I bought them (but they were the cheapest pair available, so I did it anyway), and they have proven to be just as bad as I feared! But when life hands you lemons, you make lemonade! I decided to make the socks' most annoying feature work in my favor on this unseasonably warm (as forecast) day, by wearing them with open-toe shoes.  

 

I swore off peep-toe shoes a few years ago, but I keep going back on my vows. When confronted with the sheer awesomeness of this unworn pair on eBay for just 17.69$, I had to backslide again. 

 

See any compression socks? I don't think so!

I figured the open lace of the shoes' body would make up for the ventilation problems with open-toed boots that I'd surmised about when I first expressed my tragic love for them last year. Designing an outfit around this pair of boots was another hour-long endeavor. I had to find something to wear on my legs that was long enough to hide the tops of my stockings, but short enough not to hide the tops of my boots. I had to find something that looked good with red, and something that was suitably light for warm weather. Finally I found it in this grey plaid dress (also last featured with red) and black vest. I tied everything together with some red jewelry. 

 

I am sure that people who are observant can see that it's not actually my legs on display, but rather a pair of support hosiery, but I'm actually pretty pleased with how the compression stockings look on me. They are a better match for my skin tone than pretty much any pair of pantyhose I've ever found.

Four days of compression socks down, three to go! I ended up being a lot more verbose in this chronicle than I intended (what else is new?), so I'm going to give you a break and present it in two parts. You can expect the conclusion of my compression sock saga after my follow-up appointment next Monday!

International Fashion Week: Indonesia

Last Sunday night, feeling uncreative but wanting to celebrate the first really warm work day of the year, I grabbed a dress out of my closet I'd never worn, and set it out to wear on Monday. It was a simple blue batik dress that my boyfriend had brought me from Indonesia.

Later in the day, I started mulling the possibility of doing a themed clothing week (I do that sometimes, just to amuse myself and see if anyone notices), I originally thought I'd go with all blue outfits (again). But then I decided that would get boring. So I thought,  a rainbow! Different color every day! But then I decided that should really start with red. So then I thought, Indonesian dress? Why not feature clothes from different countries? Seeing as I don't really have a lot of "traditionally Insert_country_name_here" clothing, I knew I might have to stretch the definition a little.

How did it turn out? Well, stay tuned, because I'll be sharing one of each of the week's outfits over the next few days!

Blue-Green Period

Now that Unfashion A Day has come to an end, I am, as predicted, far too enamored with the Daily Photo routine to give it up cold turkey. I decided to set myself another challenge—wear the same color every day for a whole week. The logical choice for this challenge was blue-green, since the last two eBay lots I got have featured a number of articles in this hue. Without further ado (and with minimal narration), here are my outfits of the last 5 days.

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

This is the only day for which I have commentary, and that is only to say that my camera seems to really have trouble shooting this shade, which is a sort of bright robin's egg Easter egg crazy intense shade of blue-green. My camera, however, could only manage to wash it out completely, or make it look dark and straight blue. A lot of photomanipulation got my shirt looking approximately the right shade in this photo, but as you can see below, the attendant jewelry still looks pretty bad. There are, in fact, three shades of aqua in the bracelet, but in the photo it looks suspiciously like 1 shade of blue.

An Outfit a Day

When I was a student teacher way back in 2005, I had just one goal. No, it wasn't to be the best student teacher the school had ever seen. No, it wasn't to make a difference in one child's life. It was to wear a different outfit every day for the entire semester. You can see why I went into design rather than education.

Now, as I start my new job, I have that same goal (in addition to, of course, being the best developer/trainer the university has ever seen).

It was a little challenging for me to meet the goal back then, but fortunately my assignment only lasted 3 months. Now, while the semester is considerably longer (Jan 3 through May 18-ish), I also have the advantage of being a clothes-hoarding Unfashionista with a much larger budget. I think I can do this!

The rules are simple:  An "outfit" comprises up to two signature pieces—for example, a top and a skirt, or a top and a pair of pants, or a dress and a pair of shoes. I may never during the study period wear the same outfit twice. But I may wear the same elements in different combinations.

So every week until the end of May, I will document my Unfashion hijinks with pictures and maybe a little commentary. This is a new project, so I'm not sure how it will evolve.

TUESDAY:
I started the week off right (Monday was a holiday) with a colorful skirt and a green layered-look top, both of which I got at the thrift store. I discovered midway through the day that my brown vegan shoes were rapidly deteriorating, so one of my goals for next week is to find my Amazing Goop and see if I can extend their lifespan.

WEDNESDAY:
A drab day following a dressy day, I traded in my skirt for pants, and my colors for varying shades of beige. Basically, the neutral tones served as a backdrop for the outrageous chandelier earrings that I had bought for 2 dollars over Christmas.  And whaddaya know! My fuschia arm warmers (fair trade--very expensive, but worth it) just happened to match perfectly!

THURSDAY:
I started this outfit with the purple sweater and went from there. I discovered that the black tiered skirt that usually looks awful with everything I try to wear actually went well with the "I mean business" interview shoes.

FRIDAY:
You might recognize this outfit from "Little Ballerina" of a few weeks ago. Basically I traded in the goody two shoes for some "toughie" black combat boots that I had bought myself as a Christmas present.