Dress, Old Navy; sweatshirt, J. Crew; boots, Hunter; bag, MbMJ
A couple of days ago we had Ugly Chic, and now we have Toddler Chic. Up to about the knees, this is a regular sort of outfit; from the knees down, this is pure Teddy: brightly coloured tights and (non-matching) rubber boots. It’s what happens when the weather can’t decide what season it wants to be, and I get tired of wearing jeggings to the grocery store.
rainboots? eh, why not
So, this is a cute combo except that the chambray dress has really bunchy sleeves, and I haven’t yet found the solution to avoiding the “mutton arms” look. Part of me wants to cut off the sleeves to help the layerability (not a word, don’t care) factor, but the other part questions whether that might be a cut-your-nose-to-spite-your-face situation. We usually look for sleeves in dresses, no? For what it’s worth, roll-tab sleeves are the worst of the lot, so if any sleeves deserve the chop, it’s these ones. Still, the weather being its unpredictable self in Edmonton, who knows when a sleeve – any sleeve – will come in (wait for it) handy.
Har har.
My puns are worse than a toddler’s, that’s for sure.
Dress, 3.1 Phillip Lim; cardigan, J. Crew Factory; belt, H&M; shoes, Nine West; bag, YSL (via eBay)
Is the whole hi-low mixing thing still, well, a thing? I hope so, because I feel like I totally nailed it with this outfit. The dress, bag, and my coat (which you can’t see here, but is my camel MaxMaraworkhorse) are tres, tres expahnsiv, even with the sizeable gift card that went towards their purchase. On the other hand, the shoes, cardigan, and belt? The very definition of affordable fashion. The whole look together? One of my favourite outfits of the year. Writing a post in question format? Probably more amusing to me than you. (My standards for amusement are low to nonexistent.)
bag lovelipstick, Rimmel Colour Rush – The Redder The Better
Think you could guess the total out-of-pocket cost of his outfit just by looking at it? We haven’t had some fun with wardrobe statistics in a while, so feel free to play along at home. I can offer you no prize for getting the right number, but you have my blessing to toast yourself with a glass of wine or other beverage/snack of your choice.
Ready?
Ok, so the total retail cost was approximately $3,670 – say it with me, “holy s**t!!!” – and my out-of-pocket cost was $890.* All I can say is: Thank God for eBay and generous gift cards. You’ll be happy to hear that the current Cost-Per-Wear of this outfit is a fairly reasonable $62.74 … not a bad price for feeling like a fancy fance for a day. Which goes to show – spending big bucks on the things you wear most, and that last the longest (like coats and bags) is the way to get the most bang for them bucks. With that said, I don’t know if anyone else thought I looked fancy or just, you know, plain old “nice”, which also goes to show that the main benefit of “investing” in expensive clothes is nothing more tangible than the confidence boost you’ll get out of them.
Have you ever tallied the cost of the outfits you wear? What is looking good for 10 hours a day “worth” to you?
all the favourites
* Technically, the total should be $830, because the shoes were a gift; I included them in the calculations so that the totals would reflect the cost of the entire outfit.
On the plus side, this dress is still hella cute, and I am learning from my past mistakes, yes? On the downside, this is dress is made out of the worst kind of polyester – thin, staticky, not terribly nice-feeling.
polyester blergh
But it’s cute. And the geometric print adds some visual interest without being overwhelming and in-your-face about it. And it’s a great backdrop for some accessories action. See:
belt, H&Mnecklace, J. Crew Factory
As you may remember, black + white + accent colour is one of my go-to outfit-making formulas, and this should make it clear why. It’s practically impossible to screw it up. And, listen, sometimes you just need something that’s un-screw-uppable. Sometimes, it’s Monday morning and you’ve already given up on the week, and you still have to get dressed, and something simple and easy is just the lifeline you need. Ahem. Or something like that.
