Faking Fall

 

 

 

After a few deceptively cool days, summer has planted its flag here in the midwest and announced that it has no plans for leaving anytime soon. On the weekends, this is fine. We've spent Saturday tailgating and Sunday at the beach, and doing those two activities the 95° weather doesn't bother me one bit. But during the week, when I'm teaching classes and meeting with students, I really wish the weather was cooler. (And so does my hair... humidity frizz for the win!)

This outfit uses trick to make it feel more like fall even though wearing sweaters and boots is totally out of the question. Audrey wrote a post a few days ago about how ankle boots can make any outfit look more fall-ish. She recommended black ankle boots, but this dark teal pair seemed even better. I wore a jean jacket, too, not just to simulate fall but also because it's freezing in some of the buildings on campus! This outfit didn't send any cooler weather our way, but it helped me fake fall a little bit.

dress: Target | jacket: Target | necklace: Fossil [thrifted] bracelets: borrowed | ankle boots: Nine West

Better Basics

 

One of the surprising things I've found about doing this insane thing of taking photos of myself and posting them on the internet is that I've had to look some of my style choices and realize that how I actually looked wasn't the same as what I imagined in my head. A simple black and white basics look from last week is a good example of this. It wasn't disastrous, but I certainly didn't look my best. The biggest issue was a pair of black cropped pants that were a little too tight, a little too short, and no longer quite as black as they used to be. I'd been wearing them  regularly and pretending they were OK, but seeing photos of them up on the screen made me realize it was time for them to go. They're now sitting atop my donate pile waiting for my next trip to Goodwill.

This black and white outfit is so much better. It's a little less basic -- stripes instead of solid white on top, and the addition of a teal statement necklace -- but what really makes it better are the pants. These are the Dannie Pant from J.Crew, which is sold out in almost every size now but which I hope they will bring back this fall or winter. They fit so much better, the longer length is  much more flattering than the old ones, and they're actually black. Plus, they have a cool zipper detail in the back which, though I didn't get a photo, has gotten me more compliments than I'd like to admit (because they mean that the complimenters were definitely looking at my behind). Which is all to say, one of the lessons I'm learning from blogging is, it's all about the basics.

pants: J.Crew [yeah, pretty much totally sold out] | sweater: LOFT | necklace: Fossil [thrifted] | shoes: Banana Republic

 Oh, and the shoes have sweet zipper details too. Aren't they great! Also, are everyone's feet so veiny?

On Faking It

It happens more than I'd like to admit: the alarm goes off in the morning and I have no plan at all. No outfits picked out, no lunches made, no gym bags packed, no breakfast prepared. On those days, we usually also have piles of laundry in the bedroom, piles of dishes in the sink, and piles of junk all over the rest of the house. My first line of attack on days like these is to hit the snooze button and see if the morning goes away. When that fails, my husband is there with a plan of his own. His plan is called "faking it."

Once we have decided we're faking it, I can stop beating myself up for falling short of domestic and sartorial perfection. I can put my hair in a bun, eat a handful of nuts for breakfast, wear jeans to work, and buy lunch once I'm there. (As my wonderful husband regularly reminds me, money can be exchanged for goods and services.) I wouldn't want to fake it every day, but every once in a while it can save my sanity and turn a horrible day into something pretty good. Especially when I manage to scrounge up an outfit that doesn't look half bad. A striped drapey cardigan helps: looks like effort, feels like a bathrobe!

cardigan: boutique in Stellenbosch, SA [similar, similar on sale]  | tank: Old Navy [exact] | jeans: Gap | belt: Old Navy | bag: Francesca's | sandals: Franco Sarto

Woah, you can see how dinged up my bag is in this close-up... as I said, we're faking it...

Oldies but Goodies

This outfit is made up of items that have managed to escape my recent closet purge despite their advanced age. The blazer is actually the top half of a suit that I bought at a church thrift shop when I was still in college, the belt is a J.Crew outlet find from my first year out of school, and the shoes were saved by the miracle of superglue after one of the the fabric flowers unravelled. And all three of these items were purchased by my mother... thanks mom!

I wore this to bike to campus for an afternoon of reading.

blazer: Banana Republic [thrifted, probably circa late 1990s] | t-shirt: LOFT | belt: J.Crew outlet | jeans: Gap | flats: Target | giraffe charm: gift

Our Garden Party

I've read a lot of blog posts lately advising me what to wear to a garden party. While I have quite a bit of academic knowledge of garden parties -- reading lots of Katherine Mansfield and Elizabeth Bowen will help with that -- I've never been invited to a garden party and don't imagine I will be anytime soon. I guess I don't know the right type of people.

With no invitations to garden parties forthcoming, my husband and I had our own little garden party at a botanical garden in the area. Since we were the only two attendees at our little garden party I didn't feel obligated to wear a white eyelet dress (which seems to be standard blogger style for garden parties). Instead, I wore my new favorite skirt, this time with a yellow tee, teal purse, and white flat sandals. This means I matched every color in the stripes and was able to trek through the marshy areas no problem.

I wore this on an adventure to a botanical garden and out to dinner.

dress (worn as skirt): Urban Outfitters | t-shirt: J.Crew | belt: Old Navy | shoes: Franco Sarto via DSW | bag: Francesca's

Simple

I have always avoided maxi dresses because of my height. I was worried they'd overwhelm me, making me look even shorter, and besides they were always too long. But they just look so comfortable and easy that I decided to try one. I figured that an unadorned solid black dress would be simple enough that it wouldn't make me look even shorter. This dress is a petite -- ordered online from Old Navy -- so it's not too long. Since it's so simple, I can style it many different ways, and since its so easy and comfortable I probably will! 

I wore this for a marathon formatting session on Microsoft Word. Blerg. At least I was comfortable.

dress: Old Navy [exact] | cardigan: Target | necklace: Fossil [thrifted] | sunglasses: LOFT | purse: Francesca | sandals: Franco Sarto via DSW

My New Favorite Skirt

My new favorite skirt....

...is a dress!

I have been wanting to try a midi skirt for a while (since I started dreaming about spring two months ago). My Evernote shopping list, which I have started using to keep me honest in my shopping adventures, I wrote "midi skirt, full, print, casual" and whiled away free minutes searching the interwebs for something that fit that description. But everything I found wasn't right... too tight, too formal, too made of polyester (which I've been trying to avoid), to expensive for a style I didn't even know if I would like.

But then, inspired by the insistence in this book (which I've been reading obsessively) that I can style a dress as a skirt and by the fact that I LOVE the bottom half this dress, which I bought on clearance from Urban Outfitters a few years ago even though the top half is less than flattering, I did something I never would have even considered: I made if into a skirt! The skirt is full, so I simply folded the top underneath and used a belt to smooth things out. And it's perfect! I love the colors, yellow, teal, and white against a navy. I love the bais cut, which means it moves beautifully. And it has pockets!

I wore this for a weekend trip with my husband's family. And plan to wear it every weekend hereafter.

dress (styled at skirt): Urban Outfitters | shirt: Banana Republic | sunglasses: LOFT | necklace: Fossil [thrifted] | belt: American Eagle [ancient] | shoes: Guess via T.J. Maxx