No Repeats W & W: Day Nineteen

pretty cute, if i do say so myself.

Well, i wanted to end this 'workaday capsule' series with a bang - nice outfits, somewhat creative pictures in fun settings....and Day Nineteen went pretty much to plan. See above.

However, Day Twenty (the grand finale) was a bust.  I planned to wear the beige dirndl with my palm tree jacket and red clogs. I had to wake up early early to drive with Mr. E to work so i could use the car to get the oil changed, do a blood draw, etc. I'd struggled into my bra, cami, sweater, tights, slip, skirt and clogs when Mr. E commented (from his rightful place on his throne) that i had a big stain right on the middle of my skirt back.  Even i had to admit it was too gross to wear in public, once i inspected it. (I've been known to play fast and loose with bitsy stains, little tears, and so on. I mean, who can tell that it didn't happen since you left the house?)

Overnight, the weather got vewy vewy foggy as well as a good ten degrees colder than it's been. Even with expert layering my chances of pulling off my cotton canvas palm tree jacket without risking hypothermia were nil. At that point, i put my whole closet up fro grabs in order to pull together whatever clothes would keep me warm, be comfy, and preserve public decency.  My choices, as it turned out, were pretty darn slim. See result below.

Frankly, I was skeptical about learning much from taking on this challenge. But i was wrong wrong wrong. Limiting myself in this way has showed me just how low i can go in terms of the number of basic, everyday workhorse pieces i need in my wardrobe. I can get away with a pretty small number.......for a while.

But, trouble ensues when you're relying on one piece to fill a central wardrobe role and that piece gets a naughty stain. Or that piece is realistically too uncomfortable for your leg to tolerate thirteen days out of fourteen. Or that one item is your go-to piece for cold weather, but the cold weather drags out for twice or three times as long as usual. Or that skirt just plumb wears out before you can make or find a replacement.

In other words, i could stand to be more honest with myself about a) what i truly feel comfortable wearing comfort-wise and b) building some buffer pieces in my wardrobe, especially with my workhorses. I'm certain i wouldn't have found that out (or believed it enough to act on it) without participating in this challenge.

Thank You Cynthia and Anne!

No Repeats W & W: Days Seventeen & Eighteen

Not much to say about this outfit other than sometimes the pictures look a lot cuter than you felt when you were wearing the clothes.  I'm pretty sure i'm still stuck on 'too comfy = sloppy looking'. But that equation is false.

Here you can get a glimpse of some aquamarine beads i bought on Telegraph for six bucks. Everytime i string beads, the string stretches out after i wear them a few times and it looks bad. So i'm trying wearing these ones before i finish the necklace with findings, clasp, etc. to see if i can avoid the problem. Any input/feedback on this issue is avidly anticipated!

I wouldn't consider this outfit completely successful as an outfit - but it has some elements i'm very glad i stumbled upon. Angie at fashion me blog, Serene at The Elegant Bohemian, Katie of Interrobangs Anonymous, and others i can't recall at the moment have all been really rockin' the 'scarf as blouse' trick.  I've been attempting it myself a few times recently, and this time i finally got the hang of it!

I also really like lacey anklets with these boots.  With skirts, with skinny cargoes, or with fishnets in nude or brown......it really expands the range of these booties.  And using just a couple of lacey touches (scarf and socks) on a neutral base to lend a romantic air to the whole outfit is a nice strategy. But those black leggings under the skirt got under my skin as well.  It's too blunt. But i was too busy, too cold  and too tender to change them out for, say, nude fishnets or my gray lace Betsey Johnson tights. 

That's the beauty of a daily outfit blog - you can stash these elements away for future use.  In real life, i'd remember how much i liked these details but most likely forget precisely how i pulled them off....

I've had this rutilated quartz bead for three or four years now. I tried wearing it a number of ways, but none really felt right. Terri has featured acorns in a number of her DIY projects, and it finally occurred to me to go see if i could find one for this bead. I found one and burnt a hole in it for the wire. I also bought a couple of strings of iolite beads on Telegraph from the same vendor as the aquamarine ones. That's an iolite bead at the base of the 'acorn', and i've strung iolite beads to make a necklace for this 'acorn' pendant. Here i used a black ribbon, as the iolite string is in 'the stretching process'.

I can see the end of the workaday capsule challenge!  I'm doing my best to 'go out with a bang', but the weather and random evil stains conspire against me.  Wish me luck!

No Repeats W & W: Day Sixteen & Bonus Look

In the 'No Repeats' spirit, i incorporated a neglected coat and pair of boots into this workaday combo. The waffle weave crew neck is Mr. Es' - i've been on the lookout for 2-3 warmer henleys since September, but haven't found any worth buying yet. I just don't have enough warmer long-sleeved tops to make it through, so my husband granted me use of his waffle-weaves as long as i don't 'stretch them out in the bust'.  I also realized that i've neglected my perching poses, and thought the toyon berries in the background would look particularly festive with the red boots.

With the parka, the fluffy over the knee socks (new from Sock Dreams), the petticoat and touch of red this whole look made me feel quite 'holiday in the snow'. At least what i imagine 'holiday in the snow' would feel like - i've never experienced one.

Below you see my look from last Sunday.  I spent quite a while putting together this look. Not that it was difficult or ground-breaking (hello), it was just fun to have all my closet at my disposal, in addition to a bunch of new leg-wear choices.  So i dragged it out for fun.

This is how i looked as we walked the neighborhoods in Berkeley. It was quite the rainy weekend, with plenty of mud moving down the hillsides, but we only ran into a few sprinkles during our hours 'on the streets'.

 Earlier in the day i looked like this. With one exception - i wore my new brown fishnets in the house, then switched them out for brown wool-blend tights when we ventured into the weather.

This seems like my best photo showing the detail on this blouse so far.  I finished it this last fall, and figured i'd be waiting until April or May to get much use of it - the fabric is voile-weight cotton. I'm happy to report i've found it quite wearable in the winter.

My new Sock Dreams lace anklets cuffed over the top of my boots.  Aaaahh..........

No Repeats W & W: Days Fourteen & Fifteen

 So i bucked up and dealt with my clothing capsule boredom by making a species of suit (see above) and using accessories to bring color into a neutral look (see below).

For me, combining any type of blue with greys always brings out the blue in the grey, instead of toning down the blue.  So my outfit yesterday felt very 'blue' to me, even though only the legwarmers and scarf are blue. (And of course, the blues looked more blue in real life.....) Does it seem that way to any of you? Maybe it's because there's a blue briolette in the earrings, and i did wear a blue stone ring.

Photography conditions have been very trying recently. I actually woke up this morning, got into my clohtes from the day before, and re-shot this 'blue' outfit, because the shots from yesterday afternoon were so atrocious. Even so, dappled sunshine isn't the greatest for detailed depiction of costume.  But it's the best i could come up with!

This look was fun because it felt like i used the bare minimum of accessories in order to get the look across and make it interesting, without crossing the 'boring barrier'. I've had a good time skating towards the minimalistic end of my style spectrum, and i've been getting a lot of compliments, too. I think it makes my style more understandable without people needing to study it in depth beforehand.

So i finally get a decent pic of these earrings and my ear is blazing red. Just think of it as a festive holiday tribute to our favorite little reindeer. From top down that's a sterling acorn, a sterling and marcasite salamander, and my regular bird filigree and pearl (half of a pair - the others have become single over the years).

The past several years, Mr. E and i have made a tradition of going out to a swanky eatery around 5 or 6pm on New Year's Eve. That way we don't need to worry about reservations or getting a great seat, and if you keep ordering they don't kick you out. We tend to go to Cesar's on Shattuck in Berkeley, but tonite the hubby has scoped out a new tapas place in the Temescal neighborhood in Oakland. Yum!  I hope you all have a great, safe, non-hangover-inducing evening!  Best wishes to you and yours for the coming year!


Species of Suit:
Jacket, Skirt: own design
Black Sweater: Target
Leggings: Carushka
Shoes: Ariat
Belt: vintage Coach
Tiger-Stripe Socks, Lace Scarf, Jewelry: gifts


Blue or Grey?:
Grey Sweater: Tweeds
Ivory Sweater: Royal Robbins
Lace-trimmed Cami: Old Navy
Jeggings: Target
Legwarmers: gift from mom
Scarf, Earrings: own design
Boots: Bass Lamont

No Repeats W & W: Day Thirteen

This week is turning into 'Mr. Eccentric's Greatest Hits'.  He bought me this jacket as well. I wore it Tuesday (day before yesterday) on my walk. It's great - not too warm, big enough to wear a sweater underneath, fun faux fur trim, easily worn with skirts or pants, classic aviator style-feel.  So much for the stereotypical 'men have no taste' meme!

This outfit was when i 'hit the wall' with this workaday capsule. I got bored. I'll stick with it - that's the point of a challenge, right? I did realize that i could live with this small of a wardrobe IF i had a larger, more varied accessory wardrobe. After all, when you're dressing in neutral-colored basics most of the visual interest comes from the accessories.

These thoughts tie in with what Cynthia at Be Fabulous Daily has been writing about recently. She wrote a post on her closet clean up which ended with the question, 'Do i have too many clothes or a normal amount?' (paraphrased). She also did a well-thought out post defining her personal style preferences. To my way of thinking, a person's style strategy will influence what is the optimal amount of clothing for them. Cynthia said it well herself - she relies on a lot of color and pattern combos in her outfits, and thus usually only needs one accessory - scarf, necklace, earrings - to pull the look together.  Right there you can see the contrast between what would be optimal for Cynthia and what would work best for me in terms of clothes to accessories ratio.

I've always felt that the 'perfect number of clothes' will vary from person to person and across a person's life.  There are many factors to take into consideration - budget, tolerance for laundry, how 'hard' you are on clothes (how long they typically last), climate, lifestyle, special interests (workout clothes, clothes for hobbies such as horseback riding or dancing, fencing, etc.), type of social life (clubbing, charity balls), professional requirements, and so on.

I can think of a few question to ask yourself in order to determine how close you are to your optimal wardrobe (# & appropriateness of items).  How often do you find yourself with nothing to wear? Do your laundry duties seem reasonable?  Can you put together outfits appropriate to your daily, weekly, monthly, and annual activities out of your current wardrobe? Can you bundle up and cool off? Do you feel comfortable with the image you project? Are you aware of any 'holes' in your closet, and do you have a plan in place to fill it? Do you feel you are spending the appropriate amount of money and time (shopping, planning) on your wardrobe? Are you bored with your clothes? If you got an unexpected opportunity to do something spectacular that you've always wanted to do (trip to Antartica, ball at the White House, invitation to Carnivale in Venice), would you have a pretty good idea of how to go about clothing yourself for this experience?

Now, everybody go read Cynthia's posts. Then, tell us how do you/would you go about determining how close you are to your optimal wardrobe? (If you've got it figured out, you can start a church!)

Jacket: Victoria's Secret
Hat: gift, trimmed by me
Cardi:  Charter Club by Macy's (turtleneck, cut up the center)
Earrings: gifts
Tee: Target
Lace Cami: Old Navy
Belt: Thrift Town (?)
Skirt: own design
Wool Blend Tights: Hanna Andersson
Shoes: Bass Lacey

No Repeats W & W: Day Twelve

talking to mom's dog

 I wore this look last Sunday, the day after Christmas. We went up to Napa to spend the day with my mother and take her out to dinner. Mr. E came up with the idea of going out for the holiday dinner on the day AFTER the holiday.  It worked out pretty brilliantly, too - no crowds, no need for reservations, no weird 'holiday fare'. We went to Grace's Table in downtown Napa (a few doors down from Pleasures Unlimited, the adult supplies store). A wee bit pricey, but not outrageous. Delicious food. My only regret is that mom and i shared a piece of Devil's Food cake, instead of getting two pieces.

here's Jack!

The belt is an amazing hand-embroidered Central American piece. I found it about a year ago at a private sale up in Mendocino which we stumbled upon while staying in town for our tenth anniversary. I'd been on the lookout for a similar belt for years. This one is almost 1/4" thick, it's got that much work on it, and was $35.00. I've never seen anything remotely similar for under $100.00. The sale is run by an older lady who's been living/traveling in Mayan country since the 1960's, and importing various handwoven articles.

The only trouble with this belt, as far as wearing it goes, is the pink dye. It's not fast at all and wears off on whatever comes into prolonged contact with it (jeans, purse, etc.). So i've been wearing it with black. It really looks stunning with jeans. I haven't worn it with jeans that much because of the dye trouble - but frankly it washes out very easily.  Looks like i've just shot down that reason - prepare to see more of this belt in future!

In this close up you can get a better look at the jewelry. The beautiful garnet and marcasite necklace is from my mother, who i think bought it at an antique shop. The garnets have a really nice color, and are set high to catch plenty of light. The earring is the Thomas Mann piece my mom and i discussed a couple of days ago, in the post and the comments. Both the arrow and the striped piece are moveable.

And here's my outfit from Monday. I realized sometime over the weekend that i've been keeping track of my No Repeats Workdays and Weekends outfits in a misleading manner - i've only been 'numbering' the workday outfits. So this last outfit in this post is 'Day Twelve', while the first outfit is kind of a 'bonus' look. Well, folks, i suppose it would be possible to go back and re-count, re-number, and re-name all this to make it make sense. But with this brain, it would take a ridiculous amount of blood, sweat and tears. Those posts are going to stand as they are - i'll be numbering outfits #1-20 in my 'workaday capsule' as part of the No Repeats challenge, and i'll be showing the weekend outfits without numbers.

 Just goes to show what happens when you try to organize the human brain.

Boxing Day Outfit:
Hat: The Berkeley Hat Co.
Tunic: Converse One for Target
Skirt: gift
Over The Knees: Target
Boots: Bass Lamont

Day Twelve Outfit:
Black Wrap Cardi: Nine West
Henley: Aeropostale
Skirt: own design
Belt: Betsey Johnson
Wool Blend Tights: Hanna Andersson
Shoes: Maine Woods

No Repeats W & W: Day Eleven

 Whew! Not exactly a whilrlwind of a weekend, but pretty active nonetheless.  Movies, shopping, eating out, making salads, visiting, catching up......I hope all of you had a great time with your friends and families as well!

Lotta pictures in this post, and two outfits.  This first outfit is what i wore on Saturday, Christmas Day. (My No Repeats Workaday outfit is further on down the post.) I tend to dress for a special function at the beginning of the day, especially on holidays. It makes the whole day feel more festive. It's also one less thing to do (get 'dressed up').

This wonderful coat is April Cornell from a few years back. It was a Christmas present from my husband, with no input from me. Husbands have a reputation for being the last person you'd want to involve in fashion decisions. Completely not the case in this household! And i would never have bought this coat for myself, as the black jacquard tends to catch and pull threads out. I'm very glad that Mr. E isn't practical that way! At some point in future i'll use the black fabric as a pattern for a new outer layer, when i find the right fabric. I plan to extend the life of this piece for as long as i can.

I love the shape of this coat, and the faux fur is warm and soft and lends it a wonderful weight. It's one of those pieces that makes you long for cold, frosty weather. Not every woman can say so, but my husband has better taste than i do! Lucky me.

Click on the above picture for a better look at the detailing on the alpaca blend sweater and the swiss dot blouse with pintucks.

This Christmas Eve outfit was a lot of fun and worked well for running around doing last minute shopping, walking around generally, and taking in a movie. Our landlord and next-door neighbor has a huge, fun family and he invites all of them on Christmas Eve for a spectacular party and feast. There's plenty of kids having the time of their life as well, so our Christmas Eve tradition has been to make ourselves scarce on that night. Usually we've spent the night at bed and breakfasts' or at my Dad and his wife's traditional 'eve soup' dinner. But this year we took in a movie instead. We saw The Social Network, and it was very well done and enjoyable. I liked it more than i expected and would recommend it.

This look was comfy and warm and didn't have fussy parts to get in my way. And with a snazzy hat, no worries about your hairdo!

I love the way the back of this sweater looks like a sailor top's collar. It gives it an old fashioned, romantic vibe.   I made the little heart pin on this hat to showcase a piece of embroidery that i saved off of a worn-out cami top.

It's funny how sometimes i get an idea for accessorizing or putting together a couple of pieces just 'from the gut', and then later it turns out there is a very sound aesthetic principle behind the choice. Afterwards i can see how it could be put together by 'thinking it through' using established rules, but at the time it just came to me.

In this outfit i wanted a necklace, and my hand just went for this naja and pearls. I had no idea why, but it looked great. Later i realized that the naja and the 'leggers' both feature a stirrup or upside down horseshoe shape.


First Look:
Hat: Ren Faire vendor, own trim
Coat: April Cornell
Sweater: Peruvian Connection
Blouse: own design, inspired by The Style Underdog
Skirt: own design
Belt, Tights: Betsey Johnson
Shoes: Clark's Passion

Second Look:
Hat: gift, own trim
Sweater: Charter Club by Macy's
Tee: Target
Skirt, Pearl Bracelet: own design, inspired by The Hidden Seed
'Leggers': own design, the term 'leggers' is courtesy Misfit Vintage
Belt: vintage Coach
Naja: Gathering Tribes
(pearl necklace is own design)
Shoes: Bass Lacey

No Repeats W & W: Day Ten

This is what i wore yesterday.

Today it's Christmas Eve - i'm off to the races, hopefully i'll start posting again on Monday.

Thank you so much to ALL of you for reading, commenting, and following - and of course a huge Thank You! to all of you who maintain your own fascinating and inspirating blogs! I enjoy taking the photos, putting together the outfits and writing just for the doing of them, but the conversation that develops online is a HUGE bonus, always thought-provoking and lots of fun!

focus on sock layering - warm!

Best wishes to you and yours for a happy and safe holiday weekend!

Steph

Gorgeous Red Berries in the Background: Toyon bushes, a California Native plant
Jacket, Sweater, Capris: Royal Robbins
Lace-edged cami: Old Navy
Lace Scarf: gift
Necklace, Leopard scarf: own design
Belt: Betsey Johnson
Boots: Bass Lamont
Pink OTK Socks: Target
Black Wool Socks: Smartwool