Flowers and pollinators

In one of my recent hauls from Swap.com (you know the drill, click my affiliate link!), I picked up this ostentatious vintage button-front dress. While it could never pass for contemporary, I believed that the insanely cheery colors would help it earn forgiveness for its slightly dated design.

For its first wear, since I was already feeling over-the-top, I figured I might as well go for broke and don my bee-jeweled fuschia slide sandals. Why not? Bees and flowers go together like no other combination!

Tie Dye Trial

 

Since I'm pretty much obsessed with bright colors and hippie fashions, it's kind of a surprise that I'm actually not a fan of tie dye...but I'm not! So how did I come to be wearing a tie-dyed top for my OOTD? Well, that's why I have a blog and not an Instagram: a long story!

Let's start this one somewhere from six to nine months ago, when I was first informed that tie-dye was a trend to watch out for. As with all purported "trends," I don't recall exactly when it started, because initially I felt (being rather unattracted to tie dye, after all) that I'd probably just pass it by. But also as with many trends, after some time, the frequent reporting on it by fashion publications got me to thinking: could I maybe, just maybe, find some room in my life for some tie-dye-dabbling?

The question was answered when I came across this tie-dye T-shirt at the thrift shop a couple weeks ago. At $1.99, it would have been a steal any day, but at 25% off, it was an even better bargain! If I were ever to take the plunge with a trend I wasn't certain of, I couldn't do better than at a price of only $1.50. And as far as tie dye goes, this particular shirt wasn't half bad.

I can't say I'd ever wondered at the reason I'm not into tie-dye, but if I were to do so, I would probably conclude that I don't appreciate the haphazardness inherent to the technique—the blotchy shapes, the murky, bleeding colors, the sometimes-overwhelming garishness of it all. This shirt, however, belied my preconceived notions. Its two analogous colors, purple and blue, were subdued and pale, and interspersed with almost more white space than actual color. If ever there was a tasteful tie dye, this was it!

I bought the shirt.

When I wore it, we had just experienced a heat spell that had put to the test even my capacious tolerance for high temperatures. After a week and a half of highs in the upper 80's to 90's, the heat finally broke with a series of thunderstorms that brought the thermometer down into the lower 70's.

This first cold day coincided with the first day of the annual Drupal GovCon conference, which worked in my favor, since I usually struggle to find outfits that accommodate both the excessively warm outdoor temperatures of summer in DC, and the (usually) excessively cold temperatures of a conference center. With it being chilly outside as well as in, it was much easier for me to pick an outfit!

I went with darker purple pants to reflect the purple in the top, and some similarly hued ballet flats (which turned out much redder in the picture!). Simple!  So simple it almost makes me wonder why I was so afraid of tie dye to begin with! Do I see another fashion obsession coming my way?

Nah, I think one trial run was enough for me.

A Third-of-July Tradition

Let us not go into how I became the proud owner of a brand-new-with-tags pair of men's medium gym shorts, but let us instead discuss why the heck I'm wearing them!

I could have just sold them, but I tried them on on a whim, and they ended up bearing a more-than-passing resemblance to a skirt (this is, incidentally, pretty much the exact length and cut I originally associated with the word "culottes"). So I decided to keep them and see what kind of subversively feminine uses I could put these men's shorts to.

For example, maybe I'd take another stab at wearing shorts at the office! The first and last time I approached this final frontier of workplace fashion was a few years ago when I was stuck at the office on the day before Independence Day, so I felt it was appropriate to save my second attempt for the same date.

As before, my July third ensemble is nothing to write home about—just grey shorts, a black sleeveless top, and some black sandals—but that's kind of the point. When taking a fashion risk (shorts at work—so bold!), you might not want to call too much attention to it. At least I wore red earrings for a tiny touch of patriotism.

A cold day in June

 
Normally, by this time in June, I would have been wearing summer outfits for several weeks, but the air conditioning temperature at work, combined with some unseasonably cold weather, has had me wearing nothing but pants and cardigans. I blame that for why I haven't posted an OOTD in two whole weeks (am I going to have to start calling them OOTTW's?).

Friday was no exception to the unrelenting cold (by cold, I mean lows in the high 50's and highs in the low-mid 70's—in other words, perfectly acceptable to most people, but not optimal weather for my preferred wardrobe of sleeveless tops and sandals), but it turns out that the chilly weather actually worked in my favor for once, because it enabled me to wear these thigh-high boots embroidered with stars.

 

 

These tricky shoes have proven almost unwearable since I got them late last summer, since peep toes are usually incompatible with the kind of weather that suits thigh-high boots. But I figured for an night that would start out in the low 70's and drop into the upper 50's, I could probably get away with covered legs and bare toes.

Over the boots, I wore an old standby: my halter-neck LBD that I've been occasionally throwing on for nights out since 2014.

Since a celestial theme was practically mandatory with boots like those, I also wore a pair of star dangle earrings and some star barrettes in my (unusually voluminous thanks to an overnight updo) hair. 

 

 

This is one of my my more painful outfits in recent memory—half of my toes now have a blister on top from where the opening of the shoe rubbed them. I got enough compliments on the boots to make them worth the suffering, but I still stand by my opinion that peep toes are not for me! I'll be selling these shoes at the first opportunity!

For the love of used clothes

I'm a huge advocate for secondhand fashion. The last time I checked, 70% of my clothing collection was acquired used, and since I discovered online thrift stores (Swap.com and, just recently, ThredUP – links are referral links!), it's gone up to 78!

Today's outfit is a celebration of all things pre-loved, and what better way to represent that than with a dress covered in hearts? I got the dress at Swap.com, and found that not only was it pre-loved; it was also pre-refashioned! It apparently used to have sleeves, and I can tell that they were removed by the fraying fabric around the armholes. I'll have to do something about that, but at least I know there's one DIYer out there who's just as lazy as I am!

While the used dress and used sweater (hand-me-down from a friend) are a pretty good celebration in themselves, the real party in this outfit is the shoes.

Let's take a stroll down memory lane in them!

When I was in high school, shoes like this were at the height of fashion. I can still see me now, attending a function in our gym/auditorium with all the other girls in my class, rocking a long floral straight skirt and a cardigan-cami set (other iconic styles of the late 90's) and a pair of sandals much like these—skinny, asymmetrical straps, square toe, and, well, mine definitely had a much more aesthetically pleasing block heel, but I guess this flared look was fashionable too!

For a long time after the 90's ended, I was forced to eschew square toes because they were very clearly outdated. But what goes around comes around, and the square-toe shoe is back! After having had about 20 years to get over them, I am fully on board with their return and have gone all-in on finding vintage  sandals from the 90's to round out my collection. I've gotten three so far (and I should probably stop now!), but these off-white ones are probably my best find at only $3.49. So yeah, you can pay a couple hundred dollars for a cool, up-to-the-minute pair of vintage-looking sandals from your designer of choice, or you can head to your local thrift store right now and probably snag something decent for a couple bucks!

If that's not a reason to buy used clothes, I don't know what is!

ThredUP gave me this nifty "used" pin when I made my first order,
so naturally I had to take a photo with it for this ode to secondhand goods!

Fun with colors

"Fun with colors" is practically my personal motto, rather than a single outfit theme, but it's taking on special meaning as my latest hair color heads into its third week of existence. I probably shouldn't speak of my plans, since plans change, but this is the last unnatural color I intend on doing for a while, and my feelings about it are bittersweet.

On the one hand, I've made it through every color of the rainbow by now, and it's time to move on to something different. But on the other hand, I've been getting a lot of compliments on this color scheme in particular, and it will be hard to let go of that popular feeling I get when I'm the most noticeable person in almost any room.

Today was no exception, as someone stopped me in the hallway at work to comment on how she loved my outfit and how it matched my hair. It did, indeed. Not intentionally of course, but since it happened, I figured I'd better blog it—you know, before this hair color is gone forever and such a coincidence can never happen again.

Athleisure at the office

For last week's Friday Funday, I decided to take a turn toward the sporty side of things with a pair of jogger pants. But not just any jogger pants, naturally—these are unquestionably Unfashionista jogger pants. Why so unquestionably? Let me count the ways!

1. They feature a houndstooth design (albeit a very blurry, avant garde houndstooth!)—my personal favorite pattern!
2. They have all three of my favorite cool colors: purple, blue, and green.
3. The pattern and colors together make quite a statement—my favorite thing to make!
4. The cut and style is so 5 years ago (I actually thought these pants were funky enough to have never been trendy, but then I ran across a picture in which Taylor Swift literally outshone my pitiful pants with a much blingier matched set...back in 2015.

Unsurprisingly, the Unfashionista is late to the multicolor houndstooth joggers party, but she's just glad she made it at all! I'm really pleased to have found these pants (for $3.20 at Swap.com - hit my referral link if you want to shop!), for lots of reasons, one of them being that I've been wanting pants with a tuxedo stripe forever, and although I had planned to make my own, these ones saved me a lot of time and effort!

They also have turned out to be a great pant for work—loose and comfortable, but still with a certain sense of chicness and sophistication brought on by the tuxedo stripe and silky fabric.

They go equally well with sneakers and heels, so I wore them with heels for a slightly more professional vibe, and paired them with some subtly studded rhinestone earrings and top. While I've worn some sporty stuff to work before, I'm pretty sure this pair of pants is my favorite piece of office-athleisure yet!