I suddenly had a hankering for this dress one morning, and just as suddenly realized that one of the perks of being a grown up is that I can wear whatever suits my fancy. Well, my fancy and the office dress code — hence my trusty Cartonnier blazer. But seriously, though, how much do I love this dress? A lot. It’s one of my old Winners clearance rack finds, and I still wax nostalgic about the days when finds like that happened regularly. I paid $60 for it, and love it enough to have spent another $60 having it altered after I lost a bunch of weight. That print is just so “Adina” — I can easily see myself wearing this in another 10 or even 20 years’ time. The problem is that I’ve relegated this dress to “special occasion” status, which means I don’t wear it nearly as much as it deserves to be worn. This was a nice reminder that it’s more versatile than I credit it.
On a completely unrelated note, I’ve decided to try out a new nail shape (hello, squ-oval!) and I had to cut my nails pretty short to accommodate the transition. Problem is, I hate short nails — I feel that they make my fingers look extra stubby. It’s a weird complex, I know. So I dug through my stash and found of my old fave “nude for me” (aka “mannequin hands” in the polish collecting world) polishes, OPI Tickle My France-y. As in all things, I love me a colourful manicure, but there is something so elegant about a barely-there nail colour.
Lastly, here’s my blogger confession of the day: when I got to work, I decided to switch to plain black pumps. I looked at these photos and decided the red ones were too bright. Sometimes, I swear all that minimalism talk is rubbing off on me …
I just adore this dress on you! The print is gorgeous. Please keep it forever and ever!
I love the dress and LOVE the shoes with the dress!
Also I need to find myself a Cartonnier blazer… They look just structured enough but not too stuffy on you. I’m heading to NYC next week and hoping to stalk some secondhand shops – fingers crossed I can find a gem or two!
I would love to see this dress without the jacket….so pretty!
Very pretty dress! One thing I did recently was add to my clothing spreadsheet a column for ‘average wears per year’. Since I have the purchase date and total wears I just divide the total wears by the difference between the current and purchase year. It has helped me find gems like this one that have kind of gotten lost in my wardrobe. It also helps when doing a closet purge. Yeah, maybe a piece is still in good condition and I’ve worn it a fair amount, but if none of those wears are recent then there is something about it that I’m probably not feeling anymore.
Just discovered your blog and binge-read every past post! Love your confident use of colour.and your witty writing style. I’ve been doing a capsule wardrobe for the last year on my YouTube channel, and pared back to a fairly minimalist palette of mostly neutrals…but your pics made me crave a bit of variety & drama. Living in London in the UK, there are tons of vintage & consignment and thrift stores on my doorstep, and you’ve inspired me to go plunder them as I used to do. Looking forward to reading and seeing more…
Thank you and welcome! London would be a treasure trove of vintage and unique finds — I’m jealous! I hope you are able to find some amazing scores 🙂