Unfashion a Day, Week 18

Monday
Looking Springy
The weather continues to throw me challenges, as I try to decide what's the best outfit for temperatures in the high 60's and low 70's. Long sleeves are too much, short sleeves are not enough. I've been making ample use of my 3/4 sleeve shirts, such as this beige one which I've only worn once since starting this project. I've had this floral skirt for almost 7 years, making it one of the longest-lived articles in my clothing collection, but it still serves me well. Upon seeing it, one of my coworkers commented, "You look very springy today," which I will take as a compliment. Note, however, that she did not say, "You look very stylish," only increasing my suspicion that this skirt is beginning to look a bit dated. I bought these shoes for just 5 dollars, even though I thought they were a little ugly, because I needed a pair of brown flats. But because they are a more beigey brown, I've had trouble matching them to anything. They did, however, go exceedingly well with Monday's outfit.

Tuesday
Summer Sweater
I can't resist a bargain, even when it's on something that's going to be difficult to wear. Such is the case with this long striped sweater, which was marked down to 6 dollars. Too short to wear as a dress, but too long to wear with a skirt, this sweater limits itself solely to long pants—and preferably tight long pants at that. The colors - tan and dark olive green - are incredibly difficult to match, as they can't be worn with any bright colors or even "pure" neutrals such as black or white. I thought I was going to be stuck wearing this with jeans only, but then I remembered this pair of muted brown pants. I had been planning to get rid of these pants, since they are a little too big, but now that they are the only thing I can wear with this top, I just might have to keep them. Curses! My second dilemma occured because the top is a heavy knit with short sleeves. Again, too warm for hot weather, too skimpy for cold weather. It happens to be a decent choice for these late days of spring, but I can't see myself ever getting much use out of it after that.

Wednesday
Tennis Club Meets Yacht Club
Wednesday's outfit was another challenge. I wanted to wear this polo top, simply because I haven't yet, and a skirt simply because I wore pants the day before. The top went swimmingly with my khaki skirt, but when it came to footwear, I was stumped. I didn't want to go too dressy, since the top was so casual, but the earth tones of the clothes necessitated similar shades for the shoes, and all my casual shoes were the wrong colors, and I'm still not sure if I can get away with wearing flip-flops at work. After much deliberation, I finally settled on my zigzag striped heels, which were the perfect colors (they even have a maroon stripe that almost exactly matches the shirt), but definitely too fancy.

Thursday
Ice Princess
I started this outfit with a pair of blue/teal knee socks, which I've only worn once this year and wanted to wear more. To go with them, I picked the blue bolero that I got in Denver. Sadly, when I tried them together, I realized the shades of blue clashed, and I couldn't pull it off. Fortunately, I have the fabulous blue shoes I gushed about so much last week, which matched perfectly. Since there was so much blue on top and on bottom, I went all white for the rest of the outfit, choosing a white skirt and white tank top. That was almost white overkill, but since I balanced it out with all the blues, it worked pretty well. I also have an abundance of blue/teal jewelry that I got in an eBay lot. This time, I wore a cheap teal necklace with matching earrings. The mix of blue and white reminds me a bit of winter, but it's such a fun combination that it reminds me of spring!

Friday
Operation: Code Pink
In this, the second-to-last week of Unfashion A Day, I guess I am beginning to take requests for my outfits. Faithful reader Geoff wanted a predominant color of "dark pink." I hope by "dark pink," he meant "brilliant magenta," since that's the only shade of pink I have in my collection other than "pastel." And since my pink dress is out for the count, I was basically left with two choices: a pink tank top or this pink tee. Since I wore a tank and bolero the day before, the Tees had it. The first and most recent time I wore this top, I sported black pants, so I decided to steer clear of black. I chose grey pants, mainly because they gave me a good excuse to wear my recently neglected grey ankle boots. To keep the pink predominant, I also chose my most blaringly pink rose earrings.

Unfashion a Day, Week 17

Monday
Electric Blue Galoo

You can barely see 'em in the photo, but the inspiration for this entire outfit was the shoes on my feet. An ornately stripey mix of blues and browns, with a healthy helping of glitter just for kicks, these kicks are definitely lots of fun. They bear the honorable distinction of being the first pair of flats I've owned that I've ever felt I could call "fabulous." The blue in them is so vibrant, I had trouble matching them to anything, but fortunately they are a dead-ringer for this blue tank top. Brown was the only logical choice for my skirt, and it just so happened, with its flutters and frills, to be the perfect counterpoint to my snug-fitting tank. The brown bolero I picked up in Denver kept my arms covered, and I topped it all off with some turquoise dangly earrings.

Tuesday
Poison Ivy

Warm weather has at last hit us, inspiring me to wear short sleeves ... without a jacket! Tuesday's selection was almost an arbitrary choice; however, I must say I'm still a fan of pairing this green skirt with black because of the slightly evil vibe it projects. Or maybe that's just me. Since the last time I wore this color combination, I wore my Interview Shoes, I decided to step down into flats for this attempt.

Wednesday
Miss Business

Abandoning my love for color in favor of making a smashing impression at a seminar, I donned my black sheath dress and Interview Shoes. I've worn this dress only once before—on a sweltering summer day—and thence I learned that even though this dress is sleeveless, it is much too thick to wear in hot weather. So why I chose to wear it on a day when the highs were predicted near 90, I have no idea. Fortunately for me, the location of the seminar was air conditioned to polar temperatures, and it never even got hot outside! I was grateful I had thought to bring a white shrug with me. To break up the black monotony, I wore an ostentatious pair of turquoise earrings.

Thursday
Miss Ready for Anything

Thursday was a special challenge, as it was the Spring Convocation and Awards Ceremony where I work. I was not receiving an award; however, I was expected to be present for the entire event. In addition, I was expected to help set up and take down! What to wear when you must look formal enough to be respectful, but casual enough to be able to handle any number of manual tasks? I decided on pants rather than a skirt, a collared knit top rather than a blouse or casual top, and low-heeled shoes. Ironically, since I stretched these shoes because they were too tight, they are now too long, and they were falling off everywhere I walked the entire day! However, I think I made a good choice with the rest of the outfit. The red top was even one of the University's colors!

Friday
Little Miss

As I'd been sporting sober outfits and long skirts all week, I wanted to wear something fun on Friday! I chose my orange and blue skirt (which is so fun, I think I'm going to run out of ways to wear it very soon). This white top is new to me, and I'm really liking the bow at the neckline, which makes it cute and girly, just like the skirt! I wore  my white-going-on-yellow deck shoes again, cause they're the only ones that could have matched, and vowed that I will acquire some new white shoes or sandals before the summer is out.

Unfashion a Day, Week 16

Monday
The Recital Look

Immediately after bidding on these black velvet pants, I regretted it. Meaning, of course, I won them. Seriously, who can wear velvet pants to anything but a piano recital and get away with it? I at least tried, pairing them with one of my dressiest tops so they wouldn't seem too out of place. It may have been overkill for a Monday at the office, but at least I finally have black pants long enough to wear with high heels—which is the best way to wear black pants!

Tuesday
Suffering to Be Beautiful

I haven't gotten nearly enough wear out of these "blush" shoes I'm sporting in the picture, so I chose Tuesday's outfit with them in mind. To be honest, there's not much in my wardrobe that looks good with off-pink shoes. I originally tried this outfit with a magenta blouse (at right), but it didn't really match the skirt, so I had to choose the almost-too-casual pink knit top instead.

Someone at the office commented on how pretty my shoes were, but little did she know that, at that moment, I felt like they were about to slice my Achilles tendon clean through. I've done my best to stretch them, but I think it may be time to say adieu to these cute, but hard-to-match and uncomfortable, shoes.

Wednesday
Hippie Cowgirl

I finally decided to join the teeming hordes of ladies who follow the trend of  tight pants under boots. To accomplish this, I first had to acquire some tight pants, which I found at Rugged Wearhouse for 7 dollars. They are actually boot cut, which, if you were not aware, is a cut designed to fit over boots, not tuck inside them, so I had to fold over the fabric inside the boots and let out the laces just a little. Fortunately, with lace-up boots, that is something you can do. On top, I wore a sheer, hippie/boho top that is not quite as trendy and not quite flattering either. All said, I don't think I'll be sporting this look much, if ever again. Though maybe I'll give it another shot when I get out my winter boots next year. That is, if it's still trendy.

Thursday
You Had to Buy the Green Pants, Didn't You?

Bored with black, brown, and khaki pants, I finally let my legwear follow in my shoes' footsteps and started supplementing the collection with more colors. I have learned two things from this endeavor: 1) I have to stop buying Old Navy pants in a size 6, because they run large, and 2) I have no butt. If you haven't guessed, the pants were a little too big for me. Some graceless alterations made them fit tolerably well, although they still look a little bulgy in the back. They were the perfect match to my zigzag striped shoes, but apparently finding a shirt to go with green pants is a bit more of a challenge. I went with plain old white.

Friday
Avant Good Gracious!

This marks the third time I've worn this pink dress, and I think that means I have to put it on the bench for a while, since it's kind of, in my opinion, unforgettable. However, wearing it gave me the opportunity to also wear my black knee socks with the pink band around the top, which I haven't been able to wear at all, since nothing else matches them! As I am sick to death of being cold (The weather has been such a tease this month), I wore a tight fitting black top underneath, which gave the dress a kind of weird, edgy look that I guess was OK to try once, but probably not all the time. However, my new (future) housemate complimented me on the outfit, so it must not have been too weird/edgy. On the other hand, she has orange dyed partially shaved hair and tattoos all up and down her arms, so her fashion sense may not mirror that of the general public.

Unfashion A Day, Week 15

With forecast highs in the sixties every day this week, I officially put away my winter clothes and got out the summer ones. Technically I should have waited until the actual highs were in the sixties, but I was just tired of waiting! That means the clock restarts here. Although there are officially 4 weeks left of it, this challenge is all but won. I have a whole summer wardrobe to work through, which includes 21 never-worn shirts, 13 of which I would consider workplace attire. But a promise is a promise. I will continue to inundate you with weekly posts until May 18, upon which I will be certain to take a break.

Monday
Go Dolphins!

When I came to work wearing this turquoise top and orange-and-turquoise shirt, my coworker thanked me for representing the Miami Dolphins. That was not my intent, but hey, whatever it takes to get people interested in fashion! I don't think I'll sport this particular combo again, because the shade of the shirt kind of clashes with the shade of the skirt. And the white shoes I wore have reached the point of being mistaken for grey.

Tuesday
Business on Top, Disco on the Bottom

I'm getting better at layering, and I'm beginning to appreciate the value of adding interest to a monochromatic shirt by adding more clothes under it, but I still prefer the easy, one-step process of putting on a single shirt. That's why I love the layered-look shirts that are one piece designed to look like two. When I first saw them back in the early 2000's, I thought they were pointless, but laziness and higher fashion standards have won me over. This one is especially cute because the plaid fabric peeking out the bottom is all frilled and skirt-like! I wore it with white pants and, yes, white disco shoes (in the photo, for some reason, I am not wearing any shoes). The disco shoes gave me a humongous blister and I don't even like the way they look, so this is probably the first and last time I'll wear them.

Wednesday
Good Thing It Was Cold Out

A week ago, I went to a winter blow out sale at my favorite thrift stores. All winter clothes were 50% off. Of course, by the time I got there, slim pickings were all that were left, but I was able to score this nifty sweater set. I thought I was going to have to wait till next fall to wear it, but fate and the weather were on my side, and Wednesday came up dreary and cold. I thought about wearing this with a brown skirt or pants, but decided that would be too brown, and anyway, all the browns were slightly mismatched. I did, however, wear brown shoes. Considering the agony of my blister, it was the perfect day to wear backless clogs.

Thursday
Colorific

You've seen this dress before; I wore it in February with my souped up socks. Its greatest feature is its abundance of beautiful, saturated greens, blues, and purples. The little purple bows on my socks in that outfit kind of complemented the effect, but this time I took it even further and wore it with some neon green shoes. I guess it was a good choice, because a coworker complimented me on my "shoes and pedicure." (I'm wearing yellow toenail polish.) I guess this outfit would have been a perfect 10 if the heels were black instead of brown, but we can't win 'em all.

Friday
Triumph of the Underdogs

This is an interesting sweater. I never would have tried it on in a store because elbow-length sleeves usually look bad on me, but since it came to me via eBay lot, I gave it a fighting chance. And maybe it's because of the unusually fluttery nature of these particular sleeves...or maybe it's the empire waist or the low hemline, but it looked just fine. The necklace is one that I got a while ago in a big collection of jewelry. My first instinct was to get rid of it, since it was made of lumpy beads of polymer clay in dull colors, meant to look like rocks, and it struck me as both dull and tacky. But after finding it recently in my pile of Stuff to Sell, I decided to give it a fighting chance as well. I ended up liking the effect! Just a note: I switched the shoes for my clogs before leaving, because my blister was still tender.

Unfashion A Day, Week 14

Monday
Pink Spring

When I bought this shirt, I was wearing these black pants, and, trying it on, I was delighted with the way the slim fitted top merged seamlessly into the slim fitted pants and then flared out at the bottom. I knew, a whole month ago or more, that the first time I wore this top, it would be with these pants. A monochromatic shirt and neutral pants are the perfect backdrop for colorful accessories, so I wore a pearl charm bracelet in various pastel shades. Next time, though, I think I'll steer clear of the black bras.

Tuesday
Fancy Feet

The focal point of this outfit (although you can't tell from the photo) is the shoes. I'd been fantasizing about these zigzag stripey shoes ever since I first saw them on one of the three shoe clubs I belong to, but I wouldn't buy them because 40 dollars is more than an Unfashionista ever pays unless she's desperate. But when I found them again on Shoe Carnival, with a coupon-discounted price around 24 dollars, I indulged in a little splurge (hey, I needed those shoes to get my total high enough to qualify for free shipping!)

Here's a closeup. The multicolored stripes mean they go with almost anything—except the socks I chose to wear with them! I had to take those off halfway through the day because I was so embarrassed by the color clash.

Wednesday
Fluffy Feet

As on Tuesday, the focus of Wednesday's outfit was also the footwear. I really wanted to show off these leg warmers one more time before the end of winter, so I scrounged up another outfit to match them. Last time, I wore them with a green khaki skirt and a light purple sweater; this time, I did almost the same and wore them with a tan khaki skirt and a dark purple sweater (and the same shoes). Although it seems to be hard to wear these accessories with anything but khaki and purple, I still love them. I hope leg warmers stay in fashion for a good long while!

Friday
The Unfashionista Outdoes Herself

You'll notice I skipped Thursday, because I skipped work on Thursday to visit with family. But you still won't miss a single fabulous example of Unfashion, because I wore two outfits on Friday! I left for work in the morning dressed in this grey and black sweater dress in another "last chance" effort before I put away my winter wardrobe. Originally my plan for this dress was grey leggings and black leg warmers, but I decided leg warmers twice in two days was just too much, so the leg warmers will have to wait until next year. Instead, I wore black leggings and black foldover boots.

I went home around noon to take care of a household issue. I had planned to take the bus, but the buses were running behind, so I chose to start walking home and catch one at a later stop. I ended up walking almost 2 miles, so no one should be surprised that by the time I got home, I was pretty hot. It was nearly 65 out by that time, and here I was tramping across town in a sweater dress! Since I was home anyway, I traded the dress for a black skirt and a red 3/4 sleeve top, keeping the leggings and the boots. At first I worried that three black articles of clothing on top of each other was a bad move, but I think I like the look of all black accented by a splash of color, and the interesting profile created by all those different layers.

Unfashion A Day, Week 13

Monday
Wintry Spring

Since the weather has dropped into the icky range again, I decided to focus on sweaters—particularly this one, which I've only worn once. I'm not crazy about it. The sleeves are just slightly puffed, enough to make my shoulders – already a sensitive issue with me – look even bigger! However, I found that it looked pretty decent with a tank top underneath it. To help avoid the color-blocked look, I pinned the butterfly that had last been seen gracing my head to the collar. I wore it with some neutral, transparent, lace-covered shoes, which have not yet been seen in this blog!

Tuesday
If only we just wore uniforms

Lacking any real inspiration this day, I simply picked out the first thing I could find that I hadn't worn recently. If you recall, the last time I wore this shirt, it was with khaki pants. So this time, I really changed things up and wore it with ... a khaki skirt! Will the flow of creativity never cease!? The leggings underneath prompt me to make an ironic observation: While all my pantyhose are just dark enough to make me look like I stuck my legs in a tanning booth and forgot the rest of me, these leggings make me look just the opposite. There appears to be no way a girl can cover up her legs unobtrusively! Unfair!

Thursday
Happy Medium

Over the few months I've owned it, I have come to the conclusion that this is my favorite shirt. It fits snugly, but not so snugly as to be tasteless. The wide neckline helps reduce the apparent size of those omnipresent broad shoulders and opens up the perfect viewing area for cool necklaces, such as the multi-stranded beaded one I'm sporting in the photo! I chose a white skirt simply because it would match the silver stripes in the top, and I chose a long one, because after yesterday's legging disappointment, I wanted a no-fuss way to keep my legs warm. I wore black flat shoes, not because they matched, but because they looked more sophisticated than the white deck shoes which were my only other choice.

Friday
Hooky Look

Today was a weird day, because I got all dressed up for work, then at the last minute decided to stay home since I wasn't feeling well. So the only people who will ever see this outfit are you, my loyal readers! It's OK, really. This outfit kind of sucked. The blouse is too big (and did I ever mention I really don't like button-up blouses to begin with?), the pants are too long (even with 5-inch heels) and the shoes, while they matched the blouse perfectly, with their peep-toes, were not a great choice for today's weather.

Week 13 really was unlucky for me—3 of the 5 days, I wore an article I kind of don't like – the white sweater, the white skirt, and the green blouse – and made a leggings faux pas another day. Week 13 is my record-breaking week for not repeating any outfit, and it's beginning to show. I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel here! If warm weather would just arrive, I would have all sorts of new and exciting clothes to wear, but until then, it's going to be blah, blah, blah.

Wednesday: Web Development Nerddom Meets Unfashion

Normally, I would not consider an outfit comprised mainly of a souvenir T-shirt to be the epitome of classy office attire.

So why am I devoting a whole post to it? Well, I'm not...not really. But I am beginning with it.

You see, on Wednesday, a group of us who had attended DrupalCon (that's the conference I alluded to a week ago) made a short presentation to others who had not attended DrupalCon. And those of us presenting wore our DrupalCon T-shirts.

It is worth mentioning that I had ordered a women's large, because women's T-shirts notoriously run small, but when I picked mine up, it was equally as big as a men's large. I traded it in for a medium, which still needed a little taking in. Since I did work my alteration magic on the shirt, I suppose that alone warrants it a spot on this blog.

But the real reason I'm posting today is to show you the earrings I wore. I picked them up during one of my post-conference shopping excursions. I was casually looking for earrings, but when I saw these, I knew I had to have them because of their uncanny resemblance to the Drupal logo!

Drupal Logo

My Earring

Amazing, isn't it?!

Besides being the perfect souvenir of a conference, which – unlike the T-shirt, for example, doesn't scream out, "She got me at a nerd conference!" – it also features a seagull, which is one of my favorite creatures.