Stripes and Yellow

When I think of black and white stripes, the next color I think of is always yellow. Is it some kind of stripes-bees-association thing? I don't know.

In any case, my yellow ankle-strap heels were a natural choice for pairing with this black-and-white-striped dress. I've only worn this dress once before, and I think I wore it with these shoes that time, too!

 
But this time I've upped the game by adding a yellow rose to the collar. I'm always excited when I get an opportunity to wear one of my grandma's ostentatious floral brooches (I have about 6, including the red rose that I've pictured on this blog a few times), so, even though I'm back to my monochromatic games, there's something special about this outfit.

Contrasting colors, no way!

 

My love for colors is well known (funny story—I encouraged one of my coworkers to buy some bright-colored pants he found while we were at Rugged Wearhouse together on lunch break. When he started wearing them to work, my boss told him, "You're turning into Valerie."). However, wearing many colors in the same outfit is not something I often do. I call myself (since about right now) the Queen of Monochrome. Especially when it comes to accessories—I would (almost) never dream of wearing one in a color that couldn't be found somewhere else in my outfit.

That's why, when it occurs to me to wear jewelry in a different color than my clothes, it's a momentous occasion worthy of a whole blog post.

I was all set to pair a pink necklace with this raspberry blouse (inherited from a friend) when I realized I was tired of matching all my colors so meticulously. I was going to wear it with blue, by golly!

So I grabbed my aqua heart earrings (my favorite among the earrings my boyfriend gave me for my birthday—look how they are coated with tiny blue beads that give them a soft misty sparkle!) and a vintage blue-green necklace, and the zigzag shoes that coincidentally have both blue-green and pink, and considered myself a color coordinator with unprecedented courage!

Also, did you notice my hair is curly?

Green but not mean

What could be cuter than a polka-dot top and a necklace with a bird on it, and a slightly comical amount of green in one outfit? I don't know, but at least a couple people said they liked my choices today.

Now on to the topic of aesthetic balance. I have trouble with necklaces because I feel like they always conflict with my shirt's neckline. But in this case, the bird perches charmingly right on the border of black and green, which I feel anchors it without making it lose its flighty, natural feel.

Good work

 
The outfit started from the top, with my hair. This was but a day after a deep-conditioning treatment, and it was greasy as sin! The only thing I could do with it was paste it down on my head, twist it into a bun, and pretend I was going for the sleek look.

However, lest anyone think my "sleek" hair was a sign of a retiring or conservative nature, I had to amp up the look with wildly gaudy clothing. Enter the brilliant kelly green jeggings.

Jeggings, ugh! terrible word, useful article. Much like the fanny pack, which I hear is desperately trying to make a comeback! The particular jeggings in question had been sitting in my closet for weeks, making me fear that I had made a bad purchase. Purchase was, by the way, at Rainbow, and price was 7 dollars. I'm so glad I got the chance to finally wear them.

Combined with huge emerald earrings, equally ostentatious green makeup, fuchsia-trimmed sneakers, and sunglasses in three shades of neon, I'm pretty sure my outfit didn't give anyone the impression of retiring or conservative.

My boyfriend wanted to snap a picture of me with this sculpture, and I made sure that, unlike last time, he got the whole outfit! He did great. High-fives all around!

Now without sleeves

Do you know how many T-shirts I've tried to convert into tank tops?

Many. And they've all ended up as resounding failures, despite the neverending stream of YouTube tutorials on just that subject.

Let this post document my first successful foray into T-shirt surgery!

Technically the top I chose to alter wasn't a T-shirt, which might explain my unprecedented success.

I never much liked the sleeves on this top. I felt, as with many shirts, that the sleeves put too much emphasis on the horizontal lines of my shoulders and made me look blocky. Once I got up the courage to put this shirt to the knife, I first attempted to just slit the sleeves to get rid of the shoulder-poof.

 But that didn't work, so I took a deep breath and cut them off entirely.

Instant improvement! I felt ladylike and delicate in my flowing, newly sleeveless garment, rather than like a sturdy piece of playground equipment.

From then on, it was a simple case of shoring up the ragged edges. I just folded them under and affixed them with Res-Q tape, but when I bring this garment out next spring, I'll probably sew them good and proper.

Welcome / Back

 
I took advantage of one of the first chilly days of fall to break out my new boots from JustFab! And combined them with the pink dress I haven't had cause to wear since last Valentine's Day. The sweater was from an eBay lot, and this is the first time I've worn it in public.

Whoa, what have I done with my hair? Well, it's been feeling kind of blah since all those bleachings I gave it to get rid of the blue. So this weekend, I deep-conditioned with honey and olive oil. I still haven't gotten all the oil out, so I just keep on putting it in these crazy sloppy updos. The oil actually helps it hold a style rather than falling out as soon as it's dry, which is the usual way of things.

Spring / Roll

 With temperatures forecast in the 90's (last week, it was probably the last warm week this year—sigh), I knew I would be dressing light.

This blue, purple, and green sleeveless top hadn't been worn in a while, so I thought I'd wear it with green pants and bring a little springtime vibe to this early September day.

The green capris are fairly new to my collection, mine courtesy of an eBay lot.

Now, wide-leg capri pants are totally out these days, but I love them for their color, and it would be a shame to not wear new clothes just because they're a little out of style.

What is in style is the weird baggy-then-cinched harem pant. Some harem pants are as ugly as sin, but here are a few less-extreme styles that I'd be willing to wear.

• http://www.examiner.com/article/harem-pants
• https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX57rjRxDi789v1LX_oHRcdqG88SEv_qkqgtbPaFpV5MtjyciiqNzqgbXQ61RiIoKlcWXRGb6sj6wu4sKf0nj3N1ol6541Nt8hPegfs-xQRHoxL9laFOmUbT9JjxpT7YAlqlMH7fXsOVtW/s640/ralph-lauren-harem-pants.jpg
• http://ritzbrits.wordpress.com/2009/12/11/harem-pants/

I tried to emulate that look with my granny capris, using an age-old trick passed down to me by an ex-boyfriend who grew up in the 80's—hem rolling!

I've tried rolling up my wide-leg pants plenty of time – to avoid dragging them in the mud, to avoid snagging them on a bike chain, etc. – but they've always ended up straightening themselves right out in record time. Turns out the trick to getting your pant legs rolled and keeping them that way is to fold them first!

How to roll your pant legs.

Pinch all the excess fabric in one hand so that the pants fabric is fairly tight around your leg.

Obviously, in this example, the pants are on the ground and not on someone's leg. I hope you can use your imagination.

Keep on pinching.

Holding the pinched spot still, fold the excess material to one side and lay it flat against the pant leg. You will have three layers of fabric folded on top of each other.

Fold up the hem once, about an inch is a good width.

Fold up one more time to lock the folds into position.

Ta da!

Finishing touches:

The night before I wore this, I had a few extra minutes, so I did my toenails to match my shoes. I would only have 3 toes showing, but what the heck, why not? Unfortunately, they apparently weren't completely dry before I went to bed, resulting in the sad smudging you see on my right big toe. But, points for effort? Please?