The Long and the Short of It

My trousers are a bit high-waisted and long-legged, my sweater set is a bit abbreviated. The cardigan is fine, but I think it is time to retire that tank. The pants are lined, but the tweedy waistband is a little itchy - and a little snug this year. Not a very comfortable outfit despite looking nice. Never mind that it was also apparently photographed in a carnival fun house.

The earth is tilted on its axis!

When I left the house, I put on my brown denim jacket and my (hurriedly tied) skull scarf.

Remember when we were small and were given pictures of fall scenes and told to "find the Indians" hiding in the picture? It was the "Where's Waldo" of its day. Can you find both cats in the scene above?

The jacket sleeves are three quarter length, so I decorated my wrists:

In other news, I have met one of my wardrobe goals, yay! At Macy's, I found a Buffalo by David Bitton olive green, zip front, hooded (removable!) jacket. I wore it on a walk to the grocery store, the tags tucked up into my sleeve, and loved it.  Here it is without the faux fur trimmed hood. My hands slide sideways into the pockets and they are roomy enough for gloves. Its a keeper.

 
 
 

Dress n' Boots

I ordered a fantastic pair of Kenneth Cole boots when I was in Philadelphia in March, and it was almost 80 degrees. I had a vision of wearing them with cute dresses and short skirts. When the boots arrived, the faux summer had passed, and so had the boot/dress moment. When summer returned for real, the weather switched into meltingly hot, nothing but 90 degree days, which is too hot for anything boot-like on my feet.

FINALLY we had a day under 80, and I trotted those boots right out.

Again with the jean-ish jacket, this time over a tank dress from Kohl's. I felt a little silly at the mall after it had warmed up to 78 and I was the only woman in boots and a jacket, but I stood my ground.

I faced a harbinger of doom at the mall, because the Woodfield Talbot's store is closing. 

Bum bum BUM. The outlet store is also madly selling off its inventory with the exact same signage. Thinking of a world without Talbot's makes me feel like this:

Anxious Buffy.

Brown and Gold

Still thinking about colors. Today I'm wearing a brown Talbot's jacket, a gold Athleta corduroy skirt, brown textured tights from Target, a brown and green necklace from Kohl's and my trusty Golcs.

I must be rigorous whenever I pick up something brown and clutch it to my bosom. "The reason you like it," I tell myself, "is because you have five things like it at home." Off the top of my head, I have at least six brown jackets and sweaters, as many skirts, three pairs of pants and half a dozen tops. Conservatively.

Brown is my comfort color. Black has been a little too severe for me since I passed 40, and brown seems to be both dark (concealing!) and warm (flattering!) at the same time. Plus there are so many yummy shades. I love navy, it goes with many colors too, but in the end there's really one true neutral navy and everything else becomes a COLOR, and you have to start CONSIDERING it and what will work with it. And navy can easily make you look like a flight attendant. Navy and GREY makes you look like airport security. Brown has the UPS connection, but really only if you are wearing shorts.

The day started with the necklace.

It's still fairly cool outside, so I thought about tights, and from there it was a hop, skip and a jump to chocolatey happiness.

Brown, Red and Modesty Considered

On Friday I brought out a Nine West blouse I really like - and really don't like.  The color and pattern are really great, and it feels wonderful on, except when I bend over and I think that there is way too much bosom on display.  I wore a jacket over it today, and kept sneaking surreptitious looks downward. I am always reluctant to show any hint of cleavage; I got way too much attention as a teenager because of my cup size, and am always making an effort to Cover Up Up There. It's my area of Shame, nonsensical as that might be.

Taking the daily pictures has been making me think about this more and more. I realized I am always yanking my sweaters and jackets closed in the slightest breeze, pulling anything drapey across my chest, pulling up necklines. However, the camera tells me that wearing my cardigan open looks - FINE. If my jacket blows askew in the Chicago wind, I am not instantly drawing the Male Gaze. Wrapping that waterfall sweater around me  or crossing my arms looks defensive and kind of weird.

By the end of the day in this troublesome blouse, I was wondering what harm was done if someone got a glimpse of my bra. It's not exactly a plunging Victoria's Secret, and I'm revealing only a sliver. I concluded that I would wear that blouse anytime I felt like it.

Only now, looking at the pictures, I don't think it's very flattering on its own. All of that soul-searching was for naught.

Over the weekend I was introduced to the concept of the modesty blog by this wonderful article at The Blind Hem. There are apparently many blogs devoted to the idea and practice of dressing modestly, primarily for religious reasons. This had never occurred to me, as the bloggers I follow are all pretty covered up, as a rule. The modesty blogs are more than clothes, of course, they discuss dietary habits and sexual attitudes and religious practice as well.

Go ahead and Google "modesty blogs." I was kind of tickled to see such an assortment of women; white, Asian, African-American, frum(ish), homeschoolers, sewist, hipster. I came across at least a couple writers that annoyed and offended the crap out of me philosophically, but the clothes were mostly pretty cute. I saw ankles and knees and high heels and bare arms. They didn't look any different from what I wear every day.

Except of course when I am wearing a scandalous v-neck like the one above.  

Red, Gray and Brown - The Board Meeting

A couple of years ago I presented a project to the library board, and they declined to pursue it. I was surprised and disappointed. A colleague said to me, in jest, "It was your red suit. It inflamed them!" After that I trotted out the dark brown pantsuit and the navy ensemble. Occasionally I would splash out in olive green.

But I have a mission this week, to wear things I have not worn yet in 2012, and this Boden blouse called to me. Short sleeved and chiffon, it definitely needs a jacket. I intended to wear gray pants, but realized my gray "slacks" (it's 1950 in my head, clearly) had a hem that was stapled up. Huh. So, I pulled out the red cords (entirely different from the red velvet pants I've worn previously) and these brown croco boots that I found on eBay. The jacket is a favorite Talbots denim jacket.

The boots had a NAIL in the sole which poked me once I got to work, so I accepted my fate and threw them in the trash. They were overdue for disposal, and the nail rendered them un-donateable. Luckily I had a pair of leopard flats at work. As one does.

The jewelry was unremarkable.


I know I was taking a chance with the board, wearing red pants, but it worked out all right. I wasn't asking for anything special last night.