Balloons, Away

Talk about sleeve drama, yeah? I have never thrifted a Forever21 piece before, but I had to make an exception for this balloon-sleeve (probably not the correct term, don’t care) top. I don’t even like gingham, but I love me some dramatic volume. I love it enough to pay some preposterous amount ($12, I think? maybe more) because Value Village is nothing if not ridiculous in its pricing; I can say that with confidence, because this top still had its original tags, and the listed retail was $24. I was going to post a long rant about it on Instagram, and then I forgot and more exciting things happened in my thrifting life, and in the meantime, I got over it. I’m fine. I mean, I can’t be mad because look how cute this outfit is! I felt very sassy and yet also vaguely like a medieval page the whole time. I love these stupid sleeves way, way too much.

Long Over Slim

Another thing I’m currently loving (possibly) too much is this whole tunic-over-pants formula. It’s the sort of thing I used to associate with women of, ahem, a certain age; somehow, it now seems totally fresh and even slightly edgy. This could just be a symptom of my infatuation with menocore, I don’t know. In my mind, I am a kind of average-person version of Tilda Swinton; I don’t need to know that I actually resemble your Aunt Kathy who is Handling Menopause As Well As She Can In The Circumstances. Y’all don’t burst my love bubble, okay?

Anyway, how else can anyone wear this Sympli tunic? I love the draping detail of the hemline, but it makes it rather scandalous to wear without some sort of (substantial) leg covering. In the context of a tunic, leggings feel juvenile to me because that’s precisely what my 5-year old wears on a daily basis. Slim-cut pants, on the other hand, seem eminently suitable for an ostensibly mature adult. In any case, it’s a combo I really enjoyed wearing and will probably try to replicate. You have been warned.

Layering Experiment No. 698542

I love this Marni top. Ditto for this Rick Owens turtleneck dress. And, hey, they are even better together. My DYI Isabel Marant-lookalike belt ties it all together nicely. It’s one of my favourite ways to wear this top, but here’s a look at some other examples:

One of the regrets of my sartorial life is that I have few real opportunities to get properly dressed up. Weddings come up in my social calendar once every few years, and I don’t attend a lot of galas, cocktail receptions and the like. Forget red carpets. Currently, my one chance to get fancy is New Year’s Eve; for the second year in a row, my husband and I will be attending a NYE party, sans kids, where the dress code is, well, flexibly formal. Which is to say, you can get as glitzy as you want.

As you can imagine, picking what to wear for such an event is an Important Decision in my world; I have a lot of “special occasion” dresses hanging in my overflow closet, waiting for their moment in the spotlight. This year, the struggle feels especially real, as there is no clear “front runner”. One decision that was easily made, however, was my choice of shoes. If you watch my IG Stories, you will have heard by now about my Cinderella moment at Goodwill – where I found a pair of like-new Manolo Blahnik “Sedaraby” pumps for a magical $12.50. In my size. In just the colour (black) and with the right amount of sparkle to go with pretty much any of my dress options. So, I had to get serious about the whole dress-picking thing.

I had two new (to me) dresses in the line-up this year, so I started there. With important occasions like this, I like to “test-drive” my options in advance and see how I feel about them – both whilst wearing them, and in photos. In some cases, outfits can truly look better in person than on camera, but for the most part, I find photos to be a really valuable tool in evaluating how a particular outfit works. For purposes of this exercise, and the photos below, I threw on some accessories, but they’re not necessarily reflective of how I would ultimately style these dresses (shoes excepted).

First up, this absolutely beautiful Armani Collezioni dress I thrifted in Phoenix this past May.

Pros: It’s comfortable (stretchy) and flattering; does not require Spanx; it’s over-the-top glittery and makes me feel like a fairy, shedding sparkles wherever I go (umm, literally). Did I mention the twirl factor?

Cons: It’s fairly conservatives (glitter aside) so I could wear this to more toned-down events (possibly even some work-related functions); it’s stretchy and loose, so will probably fit for the next few years – no rush on having to wear it; accessorizing can be tricky (potential for accessories to clash with glitter).

Second, this Tadashi Shoji number I thrifted in Calgary last November (I think).

Pros: It’s slinky, flattering and still fits (may or may not in a few years); the purplish colour is gorgeous though hard to capture in photos; the neckline is surprisingly comfortable, even with a strapless bra; easy to accessorize.

Cons: Would probably benefit from some Spanx; while lovely, it doesn’t feel particularly glitzy – feels more like a wedding party dress than a NYE dress.

After looking at these photos, I am leaning towards the Shoji dress as my first choice, but am not entirely sold yet. I’ve been looking through photos from parties past, and I find myself yearning for the bigger drama factor of some of my other dresses. Remember these:

Well, I can’t wear the one on the right because I wore it to the same NYE event last year, but the other two? Definitely in the running. Ugh, why is this so hard, you guys?

Are you attending any fancy events this holiday season? How do you go about picking what you’re going to wear?

I always feel more cheerful once November is over. Apologies to all whose birth month it is. As a non-American, November doesn’t have a lot going for it. It’s long, and cold, and dark. December is festive, at least. And January … well, January is still The Worst, but November is a close second. But, hey, it’s over now!

A year ago, I took a break from the blog and while it was absolutely the best decision at the time, my traffic has never recovered. Whenever I feel uninspired these days, the temptation to walk away (again) is all the greater. In the past year, I’ve ditched most forms of social media in favour of Instagram, which more and more is hitting that sweet spot of “easy and convenient” and “meaningful interaction”. I think that Instagram still lags old-fashioned blogs on the latter front, but it’s quickly catching up. For example, as I have started posting Stories more frequently, I’ve been getting a lot more DMs – which are not that different from blog comments.

This isn’t a preamble to a farewell post, by the way. As much as I sometimes ponder ditching the blog in favour of IG, I like having my own platform (domain) and I do occasionally feel the need to navel-gaze in extended format which is much easier to do here. The main thing is that I am learning to pace myself. Conventional blogging wisdom says that posting frequently and consistently is the key to building an audience. And that’s not untrue, but I have to remind myself: why does that matter? I like having all of you to “chat” with – the more, the merrier. But at the end of the day, I’m not here to sell you anything, so whether you click on my website every day, or once a week, does it really matter? Meaningful engagement comes from authentic, interesting content and, frankly, that takes a lot of energy to create. I don’t always have it in me. The fear, of course, is that by blogging only when the mood strikes, I will be left behind, forgotten. Such is the nature of blogging these days. And while I’m not directly competing with anyone else, there are so many other blogs competing for your attention. But, like I said, I’ve come to realize that I can’t get hung up on that. It is what it is, and I’ll be here chugging along. Thank you, by the way, to everyone who reads and comments and makes me feel like less of a weirdo for taking photos of my clothes all the time.

Speaking of which:

First, let me say that I am quite satisfied with this line-up, and each individual outfit. On a few occasions, a pre-planned outfit turned out to be a “meh” once I looked at the photos, but rather than wearing it anyway, I changed it. Wearing an outfit I like makes a surprisingly big difference in my mood, so this was a worthwhile investment of a few extra minutes.

I did think this would be a more colorful collection than it’s turned out to be. I did stick with my pre-determined palette or blue, green, black and grey, but the colours were muted in some cases (I have mostly dark greens) so the vibe was fairly dark overall. Given my recent turn towards the goth side, this wasn’t an issue for me, though it might not make for particularly inspiring blog fodder. Alas.

Next month’s palette is going to be warmer – I’m looking at reds, pinks and purples (and black, of course!) – in line with the season, so the next round-up might be a little brighter. No promises, though, because Goth Adina is still going strong.

Lastly, I think that I’m getting better at consistently nailing my aesthetic (remember the Prince, the Artists, the Adventurer, and the Bohemian?) which is good.

So that’s about it for November. What have you been up to last month?