It Turns Out It's All True!

 What they say about accessories, that is. I tossed on this dress and jacket a week ago to cope with a fairly hot day. The dress is a sundress, with just straps at the shoulders, and the jacket fabric is quite thin, providing sun protection without additional heat. For my morning walk i wore my flat riding booties (great for walking as well!) and a little hat. I ended up with a 'Depression-era country farm girl makes a little extra cash by moonlighting as a private detective in town' look - a vintage feel with a dash of kookiness.

When i got home i washed my hair, kicked off my shoes and jacket. When it was time to go grocery shopping, i decided on my nude sandals, along with the same jacket. This second look is much more up to date, almost 'Smart Casual' to use Angie's term.

The idea of using one rather 'clean', solid color dress (usually black) as a background to express various fashion personalities through prudent deployment of accessories is a hoary old canard. Many suspect it's not even true. But i was very struck by the difference a hat and different shoes made in this outfit.  Especially as this look is hardly equivalent to a 'little black dress' (plaid, big buttons, turn back cuffs and a studded belt, for goodness sake!).

I have to say that after this experience, concerning the power of accessories i'm convinced!  (time to go shoe-shopping.....)

No Repeats W & W: Day Nine

Yesterday i started feeling better and felt like wearing a little snazzier type of look.  So i paired the grey ruffle skirt with the crop pinstripe jacket and heels. Done!

So many of you commented on the helpful aspect of dressing up when you're feeling down, that i wanted to post this link to a New York Times interview with Tim Gunn (hat tip to mom!). The pertinent part:

"Q. Some people view fashion as frivolous. Do you see a connection between fashion and health?

A. I was part of Dr. Oz’s team last year. I was his fashion guy. My first assignment was a mother and daughter, each of whom had been diagnosed with breast cancer at the same time. They were in recovery, and my job was to take them shopping. I sat, and we talked for two hours. I heard about their journey, the cancer treatment, the resulting side effects. I was thinking how courageous these two individuals are, and what strength and tenacity they had. I told them, “I’m here to take you shopping. After everything you’ve been through, why would you care about this?” They said, “Are you kidding? When we look good, we feel better.’’ It was really an epiphany for me.

I’m always talking about the semiotics of clothes, how the clothes we wear send a message about who we are and how the world perceives us. When we look good, it shores up our confidence. We navigate the world with a sense of ownership. I don’t think of fashion as being something inconsequential or ephemeral, I think of it as being critically important."

New York Times, December 17, 2010 "Tim Gunn’s Advice for Making It Work" by Tara Parker-Pope

How you dress influences how other people see you - but it also influences how you see yourself.

I love this pendant - it's a working cuckoo clock which used to be my mother-in-law's. The detail is wonderful, with hanging pine cone weights and edelweiss flowers. Sometimes i have trouble getting this beret to stay in one place on my head, especially with 'small hair'. You can get a glimpse of my solution - i roll up a black bandanna and tie it on around my hairline. This adds enough bulk to my head (!) so the beret stays in place. This trick works with most hats - choose a bandanna that blends in with your hair or hat if you don't want to call attention to it.

Now, the last of the accessory sets!  I put these together using multiple strategies, which i've noted under the pictures. This post addresses how to 'match mismatching' earrings, but the principles apply to creating new combinations of accessories as well.

Bows with rounded danglers.  The roses on the chain belt are also a rounded shape, and the rhinestones echo the quartz of the hearts and the crystal of the watch.

This group is all about swirling lines - keeping the colors to gold tones, ivory, and soft pearl grey helps tie these items together.

The belt, metal bracelet, and pearl bracelet (worn as a necklace) all have a chunky, wide feel. The pearls in the necklace made simple pearl studs a good choice for the ears.

Here the pearl bracelet is worn on the wrist.  The earrings and necklace/pendant in this group put the focus on the chains.

Silver metal with pearl accent.  The earrings combine silver and pearl, thus helping to pull the whole group together. ( i put the earrings in the clothespins so they'd stay in place and you could see them - no, i'm not suggesting wooden clothespins as accessories, at least as part of this group!)

I've clasped two silver 16" chains end-to-end to make one chain that's closer to the length of the pearls. I felt that one or two silver chains so much shorter than the pearls wouldn't relate. As it happens, the pearl clasp makes it easy to shorten their length, so i could also wear this as two silver chains and one pearl strand at a 16" length, if that worked better with the neckline.

Pearls vs. silver/black metal. The heart and bow earrings snuck in there to emphasize the black tones.

I hope these posts have sparked some ideas for how you can get more use out of your own accessories through new combinations.

Anyone able to spot the x-rated item?

Beret: ???
Jacket: own design
Black Sweater: Royal Robbins (i'm still wearing it at this moment!)
Belt: vintage Coach
Skirt: own design
Over The Knee Socks: Target
Shoes: Clark's Passion

No Repeats W & W: Day Eight

 This outfit isn't anything to 'write home about'. It's fine, comfy, and with appropriate footwear would be fine for running errands, a trip to a cafe, etc. The real story of this outfit, for me, is how easy it was to get dressed on a day when i felt pretty creepy in the morning.

Unfortunately, i've spent years of my life bed-ridden and/or house-bound. Needless to day, this doesn't do anything for a person's emotional outlook. I have found that taking care of the little stuff - keeping your self and your surroundings neat and tidy - helps a lot to keep your head on straight. In other words, getting nicely dressed is important to feeling better. But it takes effort and energy to do this, and when you're feeling crummy energy and effort can be in short supply. It turns out that thinking through my 'workaday capsule' took care of the bulk of the 'getting dressed' energy up front, and putting this outfit together was a snap. A blessing on a low-energy day!

yep, that's a stegosaurus

I'm coming around to the conclusion that getting dressed nicely everyday takes a certain amount of energy and thought - there's no getting around it. You can put that energy in before you need to get dressed, by planning what needs to come into your wardrobe, which items are appropriate for which areas of your life, various ways you can combine different items, etc. and making a few lists or notes or taking pictures. Or, you can put in some high-energy brainstorms five minutes before you need to be out the door for that important meeting, or find yourself battling the crowds on December 30th to find a dress for that great party, blind date, etc. One way or the other, you're going to be putting in the time and effort. Personally, i prefer the less dramatic, more methodical approach.

Along those lines, here's a few accessory sets i put together and photographed for future reference. My idea was to have a 'library' of accessory looks that are already thought-out to look put together, that i can add to a number of outfits when i lack inspiration or time. The right accessories can really make a look, so it's an important area to think about when planning a wardrobe.

These first sets are created around color or finish.

Silver or brass toned metal with a large amount of 'black tarnish' or 'antiquing' finish.

Metal, stone, or leather with a strong  yellow undertone.

 Orange! The belt's leather is very orange-yellow toned, and this overpowers the silver of the buckle.

The next sets were put together based on what i think of as 'themes'. The different accessories depict the same or similar objects, or are related by a widely recognized style (nautical, punk, etc.).

Roses!

Flowers!The pearl necklace echoes the shape of the roses on the chain belt. The earrings and scarf are orange, so adding the butterfly made sense from a color perspective.  Butterflies and flowers are thematically related as well.

Southwest theme - belt, pin, earrings are all in this theme. I felt a bracelet was needed, and this one has strong silver to pick up on the silver in the other three items.

Tomorrow i'll post a few more of these sets and some thoughts on how i put them together. I hope they give you some ideas on grouping accessories in new ways, even if you don't want to go the way of documenting your own accessory sets.