All in Good Fun

Pixelated floral shirt dress
Dress, Katherine Barclay; cardigan & belt, J. Crew Factory; coat, MaxMara; boots, Ecco; bag, Rebecca Minkoff

In case you haven’t heard me complain recently in the last 24 hours, let me tell you again: I haven’t had much fun lately. But that was not the case last weekend, when my husband and I (along with a couple of good friends) hit up Breakout. If you’ve never heard of Breakout, it’s basically a interactive, locked room puzzle game: you have up to 5 teammates, and 45 minutes, to figure out the code to “break out” of the theme room of your choice. It’s insanely fun, and I highly recommend it if you live in a city with a Breakout franchise.

What does that have to do with my outfit? Well, for my fun afternoon out, I wanted to wear a fun dress – and what screams “fun” louder than my pixelated rainbow floral sprinkles dress? Here’s a hint: nothing.

Pixelated floral shirt dress
Flash!

I usually pair this dress with cool tones (like teal), but I decided to switch things up and wear another one of my wardrobe palette-approved accent colours from the opposite side of the spectrum: burgundy. The final result may have been a tad too matchy matchy, but I love how the burgundy made the other colours in the dress pop.

Pixelated floral shirt dress
but first, let me #selfie

I also went for some major red lips, because when you’re wearing the rainbow, you might as well go for broke. But here’s the truth, guys: I think red lips are too high maintenance for me. I don’t have time to constantly check and/or re-apply my lipstick (especially when I’m having fun), and I hate leaving marks on everything that touches my lips. [I know I’m irrational; indulge me.]

Kind of ironic, considering my blog name, huh?

Pixelated floral shirt dress
see you next summer, pretty dress!

A Floral Shift

office outfit
Dress, Ralph Lauren (thrifted); sweater, J. Crew Factory; blazer, J. Crew; shoes, Cole Haan; necklace, Avenue Clothing; bag, Mulberry (via consignment)

Sooooo … I’m not feeling this dress, you guys. Not feeling the florals right now, in fact. I don’t know whether it’s my crabby mood, or the end-of-winter-blues, or what, but I just want black. And white. And lots of it. In fact, I was just about ready to put this dress into the consign/swap pile, when I gave it one last try. This outfit was supposed to be a lame hat-tip-to-the-capsule-that-really-isn’t-a-capsule attempt at remixing, but it worked out beyond my expectations: it looked more cohesive (and, dare I say, cute) than I had hoped, plus it made this dress a little more appealing for some reasons. Maybe because you can see less of it in this combination?

office outfit
not bad?

Leaving this outfit aside, what does my sudden dislike of this particular floral pattern mean? Maybe I’m just going through a phase. Maybe that perfectly minimalist black and white wardrobe is in my future after all.

Hahahahahahahaha!! A … hahahaha!!!

Probably not. All the same, it’s probably also safe to say that I will now longer single-handedly be keeping Value Village in business with my grandma’s floral couch-print buying obsession.

office outfit
bye bye, florals?

Like an Architect

Banana Republic Sloan check pants
Pants, Banana Republic; sweater, J. Crew Factory; necklace, J. Crew; shoes, Manolo Blahnik (thrifted); bag, Mulberry (via consignment)

“You look like an architect” was the first (and only) thing my husband said when he saw this outfit. He would know: he has a Master’s in the subject. [Edited to add: my husband happened to look over my shoulder when I was writing this post, and he MADE me add this link as the addendum to his earlier comment. He seemed to find it highly amusing. Humph.] Now, this wasn’t my intention in putting together the outfit; in fact, I wasn’t aiming for any particular style statement. I had spent the previous day in bed dying* with the stomach flu, so my focus was simply on getting dressed and getting to the office, period. Black and white seemed like the safest choice for looking put together without a lot of effort and the maximum of comfort. And it worked. Because, while people could deduce the state of my health psyche from my general demeanour, they seemed to find the outfit perfectly fine.

Banana Republic Sloan check pants
the details …

I don’t know if I could wear black and white every single day, but it’s a nice change of pace for me. In fact, after watching the video that amused my husband so, I’m thinking I may need to find a pair of pants with a bigger black & white check print, for added visual impact – maybe even a windowpane print? I know I’ve seen them on other bloggers, so they were probably super trendy for about 5 seconds 6 months ago, but … yea or nay? How do we feel about black & white print pants, peeps? [Say that 3 times fast, I dare ya!]

Banana Republic Sloan check pants
arty … or, should I say, archy black & white

* perhaps the tiniest of exaggerations.