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[ Top row, from left: February 2012 / November 2011 / July 2011 // Second row, from left: November 2010 / January 2011 / February 2011 // Third row, from left: December 2010 / April 2011 / February 2011 ]
If I had had my act together today, I’d have (a) actually picked out a pair of green pants instead of continuing to endlessly search for the perfect one, (b) worn said pants and made it long enough into the day without getting baby spit-up on them to take photos, and (c) actually edited and posted said photos amid a blur of deadlines and an allergies-without-medicine induced haze. Because you all know part (a) was by far the least realistic of the required elements, I bring you…this recap of some of my favorite ways to wear green and green-ish through the ages, settings, seasons and stages of being not-yet-pregnant, barely-pregnant, hugely-pregnant and thankfully-not-pregnant-anymore.
*and I would love, love, love your suggestions on green pants. I tried those adorable tiny babypants from Target, but the pants-kryptonite of my waist-to-just-above-the-knee ratio proved their undoing (terrible pun intended). Have a wonderful Tuesday!
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- Black and Red Faux-Wrap Dress: Express, circa 1999
- Red Cardigan: Vintage Michael Kors, mommed
- Black Tights: HUE
- Black Croc Wedges: Stuart Weitzman via Bloomingdale’s
- Necklace: gifted
I didn’t plan it this way, but this outfit is doing the time warp in a serious way, blending a dress I got in eleventh grade with the first ever pair of “grown up shoes” I got when I had a job that could pay for food, heat and rent at the same time with a sweater that was the first of many workhorse items I’ve inherited from my mother. It’s one of the great—and continually surprising—things about clothes: I’m willing to bet every item in your closet has a story, and they come together in often-hilarious ways that reveal things about us. For example: if this outfit could talk, it would say, “yup! Still kind of into red. And still here. Really. If I were a person, I could have had a bat mitzvah by now, and I’m still in your closet.”
Setting aside for a moment the absurd age of this charming fire hazard of a garment aside (seriously, folks, the biblical prohibition on poly blends is there for a reason!), this last red-out look is another red-on-black combination. Instead of red on white and black, though, it’s red on wine and black, giving this red topper a slightly different kind of emphasis. And instead of using a neutral base to mute or calm a bright colored accent piece, here, I’m doubling down on the brightness, using the interplay between the sweater and the dress to downplay the slightly goofy pattern and make the bright sweater pop even more. It’s not a strategy for the faint of heart, but I liked the way it worked out here, making an outfit whose demure silhouette says “I know how to play by the rules” into something much more special.
Remixing a beloved and boldly-patterned dress can be a trick, no matter how versatile the piece originally seems. Drawn as I am to these items, after a few iterations, I often feel like I’ve run smack into the wall of cardigan-and-blazer rotation and am fresh out of new things to do. But it’s in the ability of these kinds of pieces to function both as blank canvases and as one-and-done standbys that their real value lies; as I was trying to get out the door this morning, knowing that I could combine this dress and a pair of black tights and end up having something to wear, no matter what else I did, gave me that little extra oomph to try something new, and end up wearing a 13-year-old dress in a way I’d never tried before. Partying, I suppose, like it was 1999.
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- Necklace: Swapped
- Sweater/Jacket Thing: Vintage Piazza Sempione, mommed
- Maroon Maxi Skirt (worn as a midi dress): Old Navy
- Black Boots: Born ‘Mallory,’ gift from husband D.
- Brown Woven Belt: Loft
- Not Pictured: Black Tights: HUE
Well, hello there! We’re back from two (two!) trips with our big-girl 5-month-old (yikes!) in one week (about which more later), and though rejuvenated by visits to friends and family, we’re all a bit exhausted and facing a monster case of the Mondays, so I’ll keep this one short and sweet. This is another attempt at remixing this Old Navy maxi skirt as a midi dress, using some of the same techniques I used here: a topper to hide the nursing bra straps, a belt to provide some waist definition and hold the whole thing in place. This version is a bit more obviously wintry, but has a bit of a funky, country vibe with the boots overlapping the skirt hem. Though I’m not 100% sold on the proportions (which somehow managed to feel slightly Hey, Dude! (dare I date myself), and give me a serious case of distressingly-flattened hindquarters), I love the combination of cream and maroon here, with the pop of turquoise from the necklace. This boxier-than-I’d-normally-wear jacket has also become an MVP of my new-mom days, at the right level of formality for a bigger range of situations than I’d have initially imagined. All in all, I think the first attempt was more successful, but for a combination of not-quites on a crazy Monday morning, I’ll take it and run.
Midis with boots: awesome or a little too cowgirl for big city life? I’m thinking of chopping the hem on this skirt to turn it into a proper high-waisted midi skirt in the near future. Thoughts? Tips for hemming jersey?
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One last thought: I’d be so honored and thankful if you’d take a minute to vote for me in the Circle of Moms’ search for the Top 25 Fashion and Beauty bloggers! You can click here to vote (or the button in the sidebar), once per day until February 28, 2012. (No registration required).
- Patterned Shirtdress: Target
- Red Jacket/Sweater: Cabi, gift from MIL
- Black Tights: HUE
- Black Croc Wedges: Stuart Weitzman via Bloomingdales
- Necklace: gifted
- Earrings: Old Navy
In the spirit of the season (and, okay, it also might be my favorite color!), I’m featuring a series of red-inspired and red-inclusive outfits this week, with hues from wine to tomato to magenta and back again. For yesterday’s “Everybody Everywear” challenge, I paired bright pink and maroon. Today, I’ve gone for perhaps a more classic combination, the stuff of cute firehouse Dalmatians and newspaper jokes: black and white and red all over.
As promised, I’ve been remixing this shirtdress, which I love for its slightly swishy swirly shape and fun, pop-art-like pattern (for some reason I seem to be collecting Target dresses that invite art-history allusions. I must miss the chics!). It’s continued to impress with its versatility, and with its surprisingly wearable shape: though I can count the number of actually-well-fitting button-ups I’ve had since puberty on one hand, the dress fits well and comfortably, with no awkward gaping or need for crazy fashion-tape experiments. I think it will work well in the spring with bare legs and fun shoes, but I like the slightly modish feel of black tights into black shoes.
This version pairs it with one of the more misunderstood pieces in my closet: this red quasi-blazer cardigan my MIL gave me a few years back. It’s the kind of piece that should be a standout in my closet: it’s my favorite shade of slightly-bluer tomato red, the collar has an interesting shape, it has a built-in belt…yet I’ve struggled to find good ways to wear it. I think that may come from one too many attempts to remix it with pants, since this version seems much more promising. It’s yet another reminder to be mindful of proportions in context: sometimes it’s not the piece itself, but what you pair it with.
Have you had a piece that you’d struggled to style for a long time that just clicked when worn a different way?
However you marked (or didn’t mark!) the occasion, I hope you all had a wonderful, affirming, love-filled February 14th. I’d give you all a big hug of thanks for all your inspiration and insight, but my arms don’t reach that far!
Like what you just read? You can subscribe to Narrowly Tailored via RSS or bloglovin’, or follow me on Twitter to be the first to know what I’m up to. Note: Google Friend Connect will be discontinued in early March, so please shift your subscriptions to RSS or Bloglovin’ before the end of February!
One last thought: I’d be so honored and thankful if you’d take a minute to vote for me in the Circle of Moms’ search for the Top 25 Fashion and Beauty bloggers! You can click here to vote (or the button in the sidebar), once per day until February 28, 2012. (No registration required).
- Maroon Skirt: Kyla‘s closet sale
- Pink Knit Blouse: Banana Republic (2008)
- Tweed Cropped Blazer: Tracy Reese via Nordstrom’s (2004)
- Black Tights: HUE
- Black Croc Wedges: Stuart Weitzman via Bloomingdales
Happy Valentine’s Day (if you feel so moved!)! I couldn’t help but fall for this month’s Everybody Everywear theme of pink and red together, since I (a) adore the color red and (b) have apparently never met a pairing of tightly analogous colors that I couldn’t find a way to love. Laughing in the face of color-matching “rules,” I’ve worn red-based tight pairings on dates, at home, at work and school, while pregnant, while postpartum (and still wearing my maternity jeans). I’ve also waxed poetic about my love for these kinds of clashing-but-not-clashing color combinations, which, once you get used to them, can feel downright visually soothing.
This outfit is a version of red and pink together that would work even in a moderately conservative office. I wouldn’t wear it in an environment where I’d never seen anyone wear anything that wasn’t a black suit with a white shirt, but if I’d been there a while and had seen matched separates and the occasional texture or color walk by, I’d give it a whirl. While a brighter skirt would also have worked, I’ve chosen a darker shade here, which preserves the playfulness of the red + pink combo, but adds a touch of sophistication and makes it decidedly office friendly on days other than Valentine’s Day. I’m using the cropped blazer to add a little extra punch of formality (and let’s face it, it’s pretty cold outside), and to provide a kind of a decoy for the color blocking below: in a funny way, it serves the neat function of letting the bright elements in the outfit stand out and blend in at the same time.
Are brights and “clashing” colors a go in your workplace? Do you have a favorite color pairing or strategy for making brights work for work?
Never one to be left out of the party, baby M. decided to play along, as EBEW’s youngest participant. In fairness, she would like you to note that this was totally by accident (i.e., mom discovered as we were leaving that baby was wearing red and pink, too!), but also that ever since grandma bought her this adorable hot-pink-and-tomato-red jacket, she rocks tightly analogous color pairings almost every day. It was also one of those I-should-have-worn-a-raincoat spit up days, so this outfit lasted for approximately fifteen glorious minutes.
On baby M.:
- Pink and Red Fleece Hoodie: Carter’s, gift from MIL
- Ballet Pink and White Striped PJs: Hanna Andersson, gift from my mom
- One of two kinds of socks that ever manage to stay on her feet: Target
Like what you just read? You can subscribe to Narrowly Tailored via RSS or bloglovin’, or follow me on Twitter to be the first to know what I’m up to. Note: Google Friend Connect will be discontinued in early March, so please shift your subscriptions to RSS or Bloglovin’ before the end of February!
One last thought: I’d be so honored and thankful if you’d take a minute to vote for me in the Circle of Moms’ search for the Top 25 Fashion and Beauty bloggers! You can click here to vote (or the button in the sidebar), once per day until February 28, 2012. (No registration required).
- Ubiquitous Black Jersey Dress: Ann Taylor
- Cream Cardigan: Halogen via Nordstrom’s, gift from Mom
- Suede Obi Belt: Garnet Hill, gift from SIL E.
- Black Nursing Cami: Bravado Designs via Figure8Maternity
- Black Tights: HUE
- Black Boots: Born, gift from husband D.
- Necklace: Gifted
- Earrings: Old Navy
This post could also be called “when you are engulfed in mucous,” or “dressing to impress medical professionals.” Much to our chagrin, baby m. has yet another cold (le sigh…). According to our pediatrician, it’s more theatrically spectacular than medically problematic, but it has still made for several quite long and messy days around here. We’re pulling out all the stops (or as many as you can at this age!), and keeping our fingers crossed that she rallies in the near future.
For a long time, black was the foundation of my closet. Then I bought a pair of brown riding boots, and it was more or less all downhill from there. I started cheating on black with other neutrals. I became less and less discriminating, falling hard and fast for grey, navy, and even off-white and camel. Then I got pregnant, and every list of maternity wardrobe essentials and pregnancy style advice I found urged me to build a wardrobe around slim black pants, black tank tops and drapey sweaters and I just rebelled. It was more than 95 degrees outside for many, many weeks of my pregnancy, and I was having none of this all black nonsense.
But now that Baby M. is thankfully outside of my insides (and much cuter for it), and the weather has cooled down considerably, black and I are beginning to reconcile. I still think black plays best when paired with other neutrals, or with other neutrals and an accent color, and I’m still on something of a break from black suits, and I still have to watch the tendency of too much black with my stark-white complexion to appear slightly vampiric. But with those caveats, black and I are making peace. Black, as it happens, can live up to some extraordinary demands, lending instant sophistication and credibility while having an obliging attitude towards spit-up stains, which, come to think of it . . . is a powerful metaphor for the state I’m in right now, don’t you think?
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- Peach-Orange Top: Japanese Weekend via eBay
- Red Cardigan: Vintage Michael Kors, mommed
- Skinnies: Gap Maternity
- Brown Metallic Loafers: Naturalizer via DSW
- Earrings: Mall Vendor
And with that, friends, our experiment comes to a close. There’s not a ton to say about this look, which was perfect for a day I spent at home with baby m. and not getting nearly enough work done, save that it wouldn’t have happened had it not been for my oh-my-goodness-totally-desperate need to do the laundry. How is that, you ask? Well, if I hadn’t needed to wash them, I would have worn my boot-cut jeans, and then this top would have been too long and so on and so forth and I never would have found myself, at 5:00 p.m., taking photos in the fading afternoon light while waiting for m. to wake up from her nap. Which goes to show that Amy is so right: there’s almost always a way to turn “clothes” into an “outfit,” and it’s probably worth trying, even if you aren’t really planning on leaving the house (and perhaps especially if you aren’t planning on leaving the house because you’re spending it at home with an infant!). And really, it was worth it: I felt better, and I managed to salvage a crazy morning into a productive afternoon and evening. In an ideal world, I’d have worn this combination (which is my favorite analogous pairing) with a gray or navy pencil skirt and brown heels or boots, but this more casual version worked well for the day I was, you know, actually having.
As an aside, baby m. is 8 weeks old today. How did that even happen?
Have a wonderful weekend, friends, and safe travels to everyone heading out early for the holiday!
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- Wine Jersey Dress: Japanese Weekend via eBay
- Black Tights: HUE
- Brown Riding Boots: Franco Sarto via Zappos.com
- Red Cardigan: Vintage Michael Kors, mommed
- Earrings: Old Navy
- Belt: American Eagle Outfitters, circa 9th grade
I really did have plans to get this post up earlier today . . .
In another funny chapter of Camera v. Mirror, when I wore this, I remember thinking that the tightly analogous pairing of wine and bold red looked so much more mellow and soothing here than in the previous rendition, but looking at the photos, it seems the facts were otherwise! So, if you saw me in the hallway and thought, “wow, that woman is wearing a lot of color today!” . . . I bet you weren’t the only one.
That said, I loved this rendition of my analogous pairings mini-remix. This “during & after” dress, which I love dearly, is one of my only pieces of nursing-specific clothing, and has made me want to reconsider my general unwillingness to spend money on limited-purpose items. (While much of my wardrobe can be adapted for nursing access more easily than I would have originally thought, it turns out it’s actually pumping (which requires access to both sides at once) that represents the bigger wardrobe challenge.*) The black tights are kind of a cop-out here, but I’m quite fond of the effect the boots have on the overall look, converting a dress that I’ve typically dressed up for more formal occasions into something a little more laid back and a little edgier. The belt’s making an uneasy peace with the under-bust seaming on the dress, but it provides a necessary hint of waist definition and keeps the bright colors looking grown-up rather than, well, like the dress I just bought m. for the holidays!
Tomorrow (really!), the thrilling conclusion!
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* Something I should have said a long time ago, with the note that a vague disclaimer is nobody’s friend: For sometimes well thought-out and sometimes not very coherent reasons, I am (at least for the time being) exclusively breastfeeding baby m., which does lend itself towards some discussion of how functional my clothes are or aren’t for nursing and/or pumping. That said, please, PLEASE be assured that I have absolutely no opinion on how you feed your child or how you may feed your future children or really anything about your reproductive and family life, save this: I hope you and the people you love make the decisions that are right for you and that you all feel comfortable with them — and really, actually comfortable with them. Seriously. Go happily with (or without!) God in whatever direction you feel so moved. Parenting is hard enough; there is no judgment here. I’m happy to talk (or not!) about the various choices we’ve made, but I don’t — even for a second — pretend they’re the right choices for everyone.
- Black Jersey Dress: Ann Taylor
- Berry Tights: HUE via Bloomingdales
- Black Croc Wedges: Stuart Weitzman via Bloomingdales
- Woven Belt: LOFT
- Red Cardigan: Vintage Michael Kors, mommed
- Silver Necklace: Gifted
- Teal Earrings: Mall vendor
So remember last week, when I wore this belt and a pair of colored tights and felt instantly back in control of my closet, for reasons possibly passing understanding? Since I’ve never met an argument I couldn’t take to its illogical conclusion if sufficiently prompted, I seem to have decided to wear a whole line of outfits inspired by that one…all in one week! It was probably really boring for the people around me, but it was an instructive and fun remixing exercise.
Like colored tights, tightly analogous color pairings scream “intentional!” (and sometimes “intentional regardless of taste!”) to me. All the same, they’re one of those self-consciously style-blogger-y outfit tricks that I fell deeply in love with nearly at first sight. These are not clothes you would pair by accident, but I’m always amazed at how soothing these pairings can be in practice. (See, e.g. …). For whatever reason, my favorite analogous pairings are in the red family, so these three looks combine berry/aubergine, wine, red, and peach-orange. They also all make use of one of my most-beloved wardrobe workhorses, a beloved cardigan in what is unmistakably my “power” red.
I’ve remixed this black jersey dress 9,000 ways to Sunday, but many of them have followed this same basic formula: dress + cardigan + tights + belt. This time, instead of varying what passes for the “belt” element, I’m relying on the unusual pairing of tights and cardigan for visual interest. And while I liked this take on the tightly analogous pairing, it felt both too safe and too discordant to me in some respects: the distance between the two colors seems to drain some of the punch out of the look and raise the specter of “did she really know those colors don’t quite match?”
Later this week: parts 2…and 3!
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- Floral-Print Dress: Gap Maternity via gap.com
- Orange Paisley Pashmina: Gift from D.’s Aunt L.
- Saddle-brown Die-Cut Flats: LifeStride via Zappos
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Hi! I'm S. Welcome to Narrowly Tailored, a blog about life and style from a law student and new mom. In short: work and life gets dressed; balance mostly gets amused.Follow Along
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