A Wack-a-Doodle Day

shorts -- Fabulosity (J. C. Penny)

shirt -- Adrianna Papéll (freebie from Freecycle -- yes, I am a scavenger)

shoes -- Chuck Taylor All Star (Zappos)

So, I warned you that my Day 3 of the Summer Trends Fashion Challenge was bad. And now here's the proof -- the proof is in the pictures (but not in the pudding). This is bad -- I mean, really, really bad. I both look and feel completely and utterly ridiculous. I can't think of anywhere that I would actually wear this outfit, except for maybe to a Halloween Party, and even then I don't know what I would tell people what I was dressed up as. 

In case you don't remember (or can't tell by my wack-a-doodle outfit), Day 3 of the challenge was Sparkle for Day. The top half of me was sparkles and my bottom half was day. Let's break this disaster down, shall we? (Don't I sound like Gracey over at Fashion For Giants? You need to stop by her blog and say Hello if you haven't already.) Anyway, my top half and my bottom half are each fine on their own, but together? No ifs, ands, or buts -- it is a disaster. I may have been able to wear the sequined top as a day look, but it probably should have been paired with a pretty flowy summer skirt. My shorts (capris, or as Doreen at Northeast Chic calls them -- weird pant-like things) and Chucks were also fine ON THEIR OWN, but again, maybe I should have paired them with a much looser top.(On a side note, these shorts are really comfortable, but I haven't quite figured out how to wear them so that they look good on me. I bought them last year when I decided that I needed to have more color in my wardrobe. I don't regret that decision, but I'd love to figure out how to make them work.)

One trick that I did in this outfit, which I would definitely use again, was to use a bandeau (growing up, I always called these things tube tops) underneath my sequined top to make it a little longer. My shorts were a little low, so when I just had the top on -- it exposed way too much of my belly fat for me to be comfortable. Being 53 years old, I am well beyond the belly-baring age! I tried to wear a camisole, but it was just too bulky (for the top and for the heat), and I didn't like having three sets of straps on my shoulders to worry about. So, I just slid the bandeau down around my waist, and voilà!

The top is really quite pretty. The woman who gave it to me said she got it for a New Year's Eve party, but then felt it was too low cut to wear. Score!

One last note -- I wore sparkles to work one day over the winter. And I don't know why, but I also wore my Chucks on that day too. I don't know what it is about sparkles and Chucks, but for whatever reason I seem to like the way they go together. I don't think that I succeeded all that well on that day either, but what the heck ... that's one of the reasons why I'm doing this blog. You can see more of those pictures here.

 

Once again, I want to thank Megan and Keely for sponsoring the Summer Trends Fashion Challenge. It's definitely been a great way to get out of my rut of wearing boxer shorts and t-shirts. Head on over to Megan Mae Daily and find out who else was crazy brave enough to wear sparkles for day.

Borrowing a Page

Friday, February 25, 2011

I've been working a lot this past week -- overtime at my 9 to 5 job* as well as some freelance jobs. And then instead of going to sleep when I got home from work, I've been surfing the Internet. By Friday morning, I was exhausted.

I crawled into bed at 5 am, after setting the alarm for a scant 4 hours later. Needless to say, when that alarm went off at 9 am, I was not very anxious to get out of bed -- to get moving, let alone figure out what to wear to work or get dressed. The one saving grace, however, was that it was Friday, casual Friday, which meant I could wear jeans! I never have a problem figuring out what to wear with jeans! It's easy, and I can wear almost anything with jeans.

I was kind of feeling down in the dumps -- probably a combination of being very tired and looking out the window and seeing the weather. It was gray out -- rainy and overcast. And then I had a flash of inspiration! 

I decided to take a page from Jentine's style book. Jentine is this amazing wonder thrifter, with an awesome sense of personal style. You can catch her finds over at My Edit. This past week, she suggested pairing fancy sequin tops with a pair of jeans in her Thrift Thursday post. What a great idea!

Jentine from My Edit

Isn't this great? I don't have the fancy sequin tops that she has, but I did have a beaded camisole that I bought maybe 10 years ago and never wore -- I don't know what occasion I have been saving it for. So I figured why not wear it, under a blazer, with my jeans?! The minute I thought of that, my mood lifted! It just seemed like kind of a fun thing to do. 

* My job doesn't have your typical "9-to-5" hours -- I typically work the 2 pm to 10:30 pm shift, with a 30-minute break for dinner. However, even those hours aren't cut in stone, and they can be switched on almost a daily basis. This week, it has been noon to 10 pm. The shifting shift hours makes it pretty rough on the body. And with the overtime and extra work, it just seems like all I was doing was sleeping (barely), eating, and working. 

It didn't end up looking the way it did in my head -- I didn't realize that the blazer was so big on me, but it was still a lot of fun to wear, and I felt comfortable wearing it. And now I have a better idea of how to wear it the next time. The bar has been set.

The funny thing was that I thought the guys at my office (I work with almost all guys) were going to give me a lot of grief about my top, but they didn't pay it any mind. It was my shoes that caught their attention! They loved my Chuck Taylors! They saw them, and immediately started reminiscing about their youth.They were actually disappointed that I wore a pair of black socks and not a pair of white sweat socks.

I had to post this picture of my cleavage. The last time I had cleavage like this, I was nursing my kids. I can't believe that menopause affected this part of my body!

 camisole -- P phosphorus (Marshalls)

blazer -- Miley Cyrus & Maz Azria (thrifted)

belt -- Aeropostale (thrifted?)

pants -- The Limited

sneakers -- Chuck Taylor Converse All Star (Zappos)