“so how many pieces of clothing do you have, anyway?”

someone commented the other day that i almost never seem to repeat the same outfit twice. “you must shop a lot!” said she, almost accusingly. “so how many pieces of clothing do you have, anyway?”

once i had brushed aside the implication that i was a flighty little ding-dong for being fashionable, the question intrigued me. how much IS there in my closet? i tried doing a mental inventory — this many jeans, this many skirts, this many dresses, scratch the 5, carry the 2, take off my shoes to count on my toes, etc — until i finally gave up due to sheer numbers and failing memory.

what thinking about it made me realize:

1. i have a lot of clothes. this doesn’t necessarily make me a complete fashion ho. i have a stable of pieces i’ll rely on to hold outfits together (my wardrobe glue, upon which i will expound in another post), and i like getting a new piece or two to liven things up every once in a while. i am easily bored, and i love trends.
2. none of my clothes are at all expensive. we have all seen my love for/addiction to the thrift store, and i mostly shop online otherwise, mostly because i can find a coupon most days, and partly because then i don’t have to drag bf out with me and have him make long-suffering faces while i try things on.
3. all of my clothes get worn. this can be incredible to believe, but there are no orphans in this closet; the only items that have yet to be worn are the ones thrifted out of season that i have to wait to wear.
4. therefore, you, first paragraph someone, can suck it. i will not be made to feel guilty about caring about how i look. and you shouldn’t either.

some people subscribe to the philosophy that a small wardrobe of classic, well-made pieces is best. that’s cool. some people subscribe to the one-in-one-out policy. that’s cool too. my budget doesn’t allow for a lot of expensive stuff, and i often cull-and-purge, but that’s mostly a space issue. teeny tiny studio = nil closet space. to each his own, yes? as long as you’re managing your finances and you’re not going broke on fashion, i don’t see any harm with having a little fun with your look.*

now that i’ve thought about it this much, though, i’m actually curious as to the actual numbers. i’m going to hazard a guess that the list goes, in order of number of appearances in the wardrobe:

• cardigans
• tops
• dresses
• jackets
• skirts
• jeans
• other miscellaneous bottoms (pants, walk shorts, etc)

your turn? 🙂

*i wish i’d thought of this while i was actually talking to that someone, of course, instead of my lame reply of “oh. yeah.” and a weak smile. homegirl is not good at the thinking on her feet thing.

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really good deal: 30% off gap, old navy, banana republic.

youlookfab forum member mariannacecile alerted us to this in-store coupon the other day, valid at gap, gap outlet, banana republic, BR outlet, and old navy from today till august 2nd. click, print and enjoy!

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fashion observations in my office.

as you can probably tell from the what i wore posts, my office is casual. very, veryyyyy casual. so if you want to fit in, here’s how:

FOR THE MEN:

• bottoms – your rattiest pair of jeans should serve well. the men in my office got very excited that they are allowed to wear shorts this summer as well, and i have seen varying degrees of brown and plaid everywhere. no jean shorts, so that’s a plus, but then it was ruined when someone broke out a pair of tight white short shorts for the whiffle ball company tournament. if you’re asking yourself, should i wear tight white short shorts in public? i would ask you if you are a) 16, b) a girl, and c) really really fit. and should you say no and are, in fact, a 45-year-old male, you should probably resist that urge.
• tops – t-shirts of all kinds, in whatever motif you choose. graphic tees, polos, the occasional short-sleeved shirt. unironed, obviously. once someone came in with a somewhat offensive slogan tee about jews; that went down well.
• outerwear – hoodies. yup, don’t ever toss out that ratty hoodie that you lived in in your college days. you know, the one with the name of your university emblazoned accross the front that was like, standard issue for every student. the one you wore to class and back from class in the dorm when it was cold and in the library when you wanted to study and it was chilly. nothing says professional like a relic of your glory days.
• shoes – flip flops will do. the stylish euros in the office go with trendy sneakers in bright colors. don’t even get me started on the tevas.

FOR THE WOMEN:

• okay, so i make fun of the men, but the women do really have it quite tough. me, i no longer care — i’m the one who “dresses up” at work; but sometimes it seems like it would be REALLY easy to give up, toss on some ratty jeans and a hoodie, and be done with it. we’re in a male-dominated office, and frankly everyone has stopped thinking about us as anything other than “coworkers” a long, long time ago. i’ve resisted, but there are days i wonder why i do. it’s not like anybody notices the clothes i wear.

so how do you do it? how do you battle office culture and keep up your personal style? and why? wouldn’t it just be easier to fit in?

i can tell you why i do it — i love the act of getting dressed and looking good. what i wear affects my entire mood, and turning up in jeans and a tshirt and flip flops just spells out a day of unproductivity for me. i need to feel put together in order to act put together, and the simple act of tossing on a pretty dress and a nice pair of shoes energizes me. so what if my coworkers can’t see it? i dress for me — not for them.

do you battle that kind of mindset at work? how do you handle it?

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what i wore: blue summer.

can somebody please tell me to lay off the blues? i just looked through my outfit photos, and i swear, there’s like one day where blue doesn’t make an appearance. navy, cobalt, smoky, what have you, I HAVE AN ADDICTION. this can’t be healthy.

observe.

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time to get your ass off that couch.

get off the couch!

part of the reason i’m having so much trouble blogging lately is because i flat out don’t feel good about my body right now. it’s not that i think i’m fat – it’s that i’m just worn out all the time. i feel flat and uninspired and dull, and it affects my ability to be interested in fashion or in how i look.

mostly i just want to eat.

BUT. i have come to a decision, and i’m sharing this with you because then you can hold me accountable. i am on a Mission, and that Mission is very simply, to get fit. that’s it. i just want to feel good about my body again. i want to feel like i can take on anything. and i think once i get there, it’ll be much easier to start being enthusiastic about getting dressed again.

again, this is NOT about thinking of myself as fat. i am not. but i am also not healthy.

so here is the plan, and i apologize if you didn’t really want to read this — you’re welcome to ‘x’ out and go read something actually style-related — but i need to get it out here so that  you can call my lazy butt out if i punk out:

• i’m cutting down on the sweet stuff. i have a severe diet coke addiction, mostly because when i need a pick-me-up at work, i turn to it for the caffeine hit (i don’t like coffee). i haven’t had a diet coke for the past week. that’s momentous for me!
• i’m doing the couch to 5k program, and i’ve enlisted the boyfriend to do it with me, so that he can keep me motivated. i have ZERO stamina at the moment, which is why when he entreats me to play a game of tennis or whatever, i can’t be bothered to say yes. i need to ease myself back into it, and this, i think, will do the job. and i can’t punk out, because i just spent $2.99 on an iphone app to help me train, and i NEVER spend money on iphone apps. homegirl needs to get her money’s worth.
• i signed up for a dance exercise class at the local fitness center – one class a week, for 8 weeks in the fall. i’ve figured out that i hate the ACT of working out in the gym – staid, boring, shut in. but if i get to be outside, or doing something FUN – and i’ve danced all my life – sign me UP.

i know these are very basic first steps, but you have to understand: after years of little to no exercise, i need to get into it slowly, or i get discouraged and give up before i even start. hopefully, the fact that i’ve already been productive and DONE something – plus the fact that i’ve just divulged my plan to the world! – will give me the momentum to complete the 9 weeks of c25k and the 8 weeks of dance classes, and move on to bigger and better things…

…and then we can get back to concentrating on fashion. 😉

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i’d rather not kill a muppet to be fashionable.

while bumbling around online looking at shoes, as i am wont to do when work gets boring, i stumbled upon these darling flats over at 6pm.com: two lips taini.

two lips taini, $33.93 at 6pm

cute, right? i love the color, and the button detailing is right up my alley. unfortunately, they came today, and what i thought was a cool textural element looked more like, well…

cookie monster

…like i killed cookie monster, skinned him, and sewed buttons onto him to adorn my feet.

needless to say, “making me feel like a muppet murderer” is not high on my shoe wishlist. most definitely getting returned. sort of a pity, since i’d already started building super cute outfits around their color and cutesyness — again, as i am wont to do when work gets boring. perhaps the lesson to be learned here is less to do with shoes and more along the lines of “find something to do at work, stupid.”

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a series of random (mostly) fashion-related thoughts.

1. oh dear, how long have i been away from this blog? apologies, all. i got back about a week ago and spent a week catching up on work things and life things and getting used to sleeping on a REAL LIVE BED again instead of on an air mattress in a tent. oh the luxury.

2. i did a clean-and-purge of my closet today and, in a revolutionary move, organized my hanging things by COLOR instead of by TYPE OF THING, and golly, i love staring at my closet now. look at the colors! look at the textures! how much easier it is to wake up in the morning thinking ‘i’m feeling an aqua, seafoam green type thing today’ and be able to reach right into your closet and FIND it. glorious. a clean-and-purge always somehow re-inspires me, like i’ve rejuvenated my tired ol’ threads just by moving some things around. i can’t wait to start putting more outfits together.

3. hello, i love you:

zipper stud toe strap sandal in taupe, gojane.com.

here’s a confession: inner me wishes i had a tough girl side. you know, an EDGE. inner me wishes i was the kind of girl who could get away with a zippered moto leather jacket over a floaty floral dress and some bitchin’ booties and you’re just gonna have to like it or otherwise you’re gonna GET YOURS. outer me realizes that in a sea of delicate pretty-pretty and classic cuts and bright colors, tough things like this get totally lost and never get any use because i just can’t. wrap. my HEAD around it.

but this is only 16 bucks! and it has zippers! and studs! and as that snappy title says, a toe strap! i don’t know, i get the feeling it has just the right amount of tough and hardware that i could get away with it. and for $16, i could be tempted to give it a whirl. what say you?

4. can we discuss olivia palermo?

(click to be taken to image source)

in theory, i do not like olivia palermo for several reasons: she’s a socialite, she’s famous for being on a shitty reality show that is a spin-off of a shitty reality show, she’s pretty and vapid and taking the path already well-trodden by other pretty and vapid socialites who have risen to, then fallen from, fame.

in reality, i covet olivia palermo’s wardrobe. also, her hair. love the hair.

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