Category: Uncategorized

Pushing the Boundaries

What I Wore: May 7

J. Crew loafers, Marc Jacobs Turnlock Teri
pants, AG (via Kijiji); shirt, Old Navy; trench, Gap; shoes, J. Crew (via consignment); bag, MbMJ (via eBay)

Having No Good, Very Bad Days seems to be turning into a habit of mine these days; as you might imagine, I am not thrilled about this. One of the side-effects of toting around my own personal black cloud is that I am. Never. Happy with whatever outfit I manage to cobble together. And that makes writing this blog tricky, because “grumble, grumble, grumble” surely has a limited appeal. You’ve heard one grumble, you’ve heard them all.

Anywhoodle, the title. It’s about the shoes. I know, it’s just a pair of loafers we’re talking about, but these are style-boundary-pushing shoes for me, you guys. I don’t really do menswear-inspired anything, least of all shoes. I’m not sure this was the best shoe choice for this particular outfit (seeing as it adds a third, unnecessary shade of mismatched tan/camel to the outfit), but I’d like to think I still get a gold star for effort. Half a gold star? OK, fine, I’ll settle for a cookie.

Here’s a closer look at the shoes:

J. Crew loafers

They were a pretty good consignment score from last summer, or possibly early fall; that whole period is pretty much a blur of late-pregnancy hormones and post-delivery sleep deprivation slash exhaustion. All things considered, buying them was not the worst decision I could have made at that point. Judging by the soles, they were new, and they set me back a whole $46; I don’t veer into uncharted style territory unless the ride is cheap, cheap, cheap.

Speaking of things that were trendy 3 years ago, here’s my “arm party”:

bracelet stackObnoxious or cute?

 

Tinkerbell

What I Wore: Mother’s Day/Family Gathering, pt. 2

Rachel Roy floral chambray dress
Dress, RACHEL Rachel Roy (via consignment); cardigan, J. Crew (via eBay); shoes, Zara; clutch, Rebecca Minkoff

This is the outfit version of “A Few of My Favourite Things”. Instead of kittens and whatever, we have my holy grail dress, my new sparkly Tinkerbell flats, and a cheapo Old Navy ring I bought last week because I have no self-control. But, look, it’s really cute:

Weird upside down angle, because.
Old Navy ring

And it is already turning black as we speak, which makes me sad. I think I want a more, um, durable version of this ring, but my Google-fu isn’t working. Help a blogger out? Find me a less tarnish-prone ring like this, and you will get … my eternal gratitude. Sorry, I’m terrible at incentivizing – which probably explains why I can never seem to get my kid to eat his vegetables.

Another thing I can’t seem to do? The ironing, apparently. Obviously, it’s not so much that I physically can’t. It’s just that … well, when you’re trying to wrangle two kids into their “Sunday best” and out of the door within a 2 hour span, certain things fall by the wayside. Ironing is a distant fifth on the list of things I won’t get a chance to do before we leave the house. Sorry, folks!

But, hey, how about another look at my wrinkly dress! Double down or nothing.

Rachel Roy floral chambray dress
The sun, it burrrrnsssss!!

Mustard, Plaid, and Navy

What I Wore: Sunny Day

Adriano Goldschmied Stevie slim cropped cords
Pants, Adriano Goldschmied (via Kijiji); shirt, J. Crew Factory; jacket, LOFT (via consignment); shoes, Tory Burch (via Kijiji); bag, Target

This was one of those thrown-together-in-30-seconds-or-less outfits that turned out … kinda cute. At least, I thought so at the time. It was a bright, sunshiny day, and my winter-addled brain may have suffered a temporary, joy-induced malfunction, leading me to overestimate the cuteness factor of this whole thing. To be fair, every time I type out “mustard” in a blog post, I suddenly feel like I need to start questioning my sartorial choices.

Anyway.

At the first glimpse of sun, plus flats-friendly sidewalk conditions, I immediately pulled out my AG Stevie slim cropped cords. I’ve been waiting to wear these since I bought them last fall, in a Kijiji-deal-of-the-year situation. They are sooo soft and comfy, and totally worth the $20 I paid for them. Did I mention they were new? Did I also mention that I subsequently went to Anthropologie to look for more pairs, and had a bit of an ugly cry when I saw their regular price? That, my friends, is the downside of being really, really, ridiculously good looking* at finding bargains; you come to have impossible-to-meet price expectations. I know, I know. Don’t y’all whip out your tiny violins at once.

* I could not resist a reference to the best movie about fashion of all time.