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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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- Tweed Sweater: Vintage Ralph Lauren, mommed
- Heathered Tee: Liz Lange for Target
- Jeans: Old Navy
- Black Croc Wedges: Stuart Weitzman via Bloomingdale’s
- Red Belt: Forever 21
- Necklace: BeadleBop via Etsy.com
- Earrings: Mall vendor
My mom kind of hates this outfit, and she can’t believe I’ve belted her sweater. Sorry, mom. Win some, lose some.
I, on the other hand, kind of loved it. It fit the bill for the first of two blissful, largely-responsibility free days at home with baby m. after I finished my exams last week. I’m a serious skirts and dresses girl for work and school, but on my home-with-baby days, I’m falling back in love with pants: it really is just easier. Other things I love? That this tee is stretchy enough that it’s simple to nurse in without complicated layering gymnastics (and yup, it’s maternity…I’ve got one more day, right?). For purely practical reasons (and sometimes, form has to follow function), it’s hard to beat a sweater that layers well under a waterproof jacket for a rainy day.
…All of which was a really long way of saying, I got to be home (and just at home!) for the first time in ages! And I wore jeans and a tee-shirt! But really, it’s an illustration of a broader kind of boundary-blurring that I’ve been struggling with all term, and am hoping to get a handle on before classes resume in mid-January. While I occasionally fancy myself a high-quality binary deconstructor (though sadly, never as cool as this binary-smashing superhero, who I am apparently the last person on EarthTwitter to discover), I’m in serious need of some brighter lines between my work life and my home life. And I’m working on ways to get them, both inside and outside my head. I don’t need stone walls, nor am I likely (particularly after having a child, which is a whole other kind of boundary-blurring experience) to have a life totally devoid of the liminal. But I’d like to get to a place where, when someone asks if I’m “home” today, I can just say, “yes,” and not “yes, but I have to …”, both because that’s actually the answer and because it’s one I feel at peace with giving. The first is a time management issue, the second raises broader questions.
But hey! Look at my jeans and tee-shirt! “Home” need not mean unconscious, sartorially or otherwise. Fellow work-at-home types (or work-that-you-occasionally-take-home types): what are your best time managing, balance inducing, head-clearing strategies?
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- Grey Nubby Sweater-vest: Vivienne Vivienne Tam via ideeli.com
- Heathered Purple Tee: Gap
- Necklace: BeadleBop via etsy.com
- Wide-Legged Trousers: Olian via eBay
- Red Pumps: Urban Outfitters
When I was pregnant, I remember being shocked at the number of clothing items on lists of what we “should” plan to have. She’s a baby! She’ll wear PJs and onesies all the time! We shrugged off mother-in-law’s suggestion that we’d need to plan on her wearing four complete outfits a day.
Yeah. About that. You sure did tell us so, in-laws and internet sources of mostly non-wisdom on parenting topics. And we have the water bill to prove it.
For the most part, baby m. is a “happy spitter” (which is, in and of itself, a disturbing but hilarious term), but we have our share of days when we’re going on six outfits between us by the time I’ve gotten her to the sitter’s and am on my way to class. Case in point: this was the fourth outfit I had on in the space of m.’s 90 minutes of awake time before her morning nap last Monday. That may explain the wild hair and the crazy eyes . . . sorry about that. It looks a little dark in these photos, but it paired perfectly with a bottomless cup of green tea as I worked my way through a take-home exam on a cold, grey Monday. To brighten things up a bit, though, I added a frighteningly bright orange pashmina as m. and I dashed off to meet Amy and Tania for coffee.
As an aside, I snagged this sweater/vest thing from ideeli.com, one of the 8719813498 flash sale sites around these days, which sucked up waaaaaay too many of my post-exam brain-dead minutes last week. I’ve got nothing but positive things to say about ideeli’s customer service, shipping speeds, shopping experience, etc., but I’m pretty ambivalent about the flash sale concept. On the one hand, I’ve got ooky feelings about the ease of getting sucked into a black hole of spending a lot of time thinking about buying stuff (or, sometimes worse, actually buying stuff). On the other, I’m sympathetic to the question my mother has often asked me about these sites: why are they all but giving the stuff away? Assuming you’re not on GAAD or a similar shopping ban, what’s your approach to flash sales? Any great success stories or miserable failures out there?
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- Magenta Dress: Olian via Nordstrom’s, gift from Mom
- Tweed Cropped Jacket: Tracy Reese via Nordstrom’s (2004)
- White Nursing Tank: Bravado Designs via Figure8Maternity
- Black Tights: HUE
- Black Booties: Franco Sarto “Artist’s Collection” via Nordstrom’s
It’s been a long and occasionally alarming semester, but it’s finally over! I wore this outfit last Wednesday, when I sat my last exam and then sat down for a celebratory coffee with M. of An Epic Battle in High Heels (and then sat down . . . to stop doing work . . . for at least 48 hours). I’m a big fan of “dressing up” for big academic and professional moments, whether that means tweaking a proven formula, trying out a much-anticipated new arrival, or letting necessity be the mother of invention. And on a day that marked a pretty major milestone, I couldn’t resist wearing an outfit that reminded me (and every non-colorblind person in the general vicinity) that I’m no shrinking violet, even when I’ve got, you know, kind of a lot going on.
This outfit is a mix of (very) old and new: I’ve had this cropped jacket for ages, the booties are brand new, and this dress is, well, yet another maternity dress that I’m still wearing (!). A pairing of two unexpected workhorses and a hoped-for new staple. And, slightly sadly, a sign that I’d need a new teasing rebuke for strangers who questioned the timing of M.’s arrival (because sometimes the appropriate response to rudeness is humor). While I used to claim that I’d never had so much as an unplanned pair of shoes, behold the pair that brought me down. What can I say? Apparently the sight of these in the half-yearly sale overcame my typically arduous decision-making process (and yes, I’ll spare you the in-retrospect-totally-inappropriate further extension of the metaphor, for both our sakes).
In all seriousness, though, it’s hard to overstate how emotional I felt about reaching the finish line of this term. However silly it may have been to feel that way, I shed more than a few tears of joy and relief when all was said and done. However much this was exactly what we had in mind, the number of stars that needed to align in situations in which we were largely out of control (and some in which we were in control, to be fair) was staggering. I can’t help but feel thankful and, indeed, a little bit proud and perhaps defiant that it all worked out in the end. When we said shehechyanu at our family’s rescheduled Chanukkah (faux-nukkah?) celebration on Saturday, I couldn’t have meant it more.
Many, many thanks are also due to you lovely folks, who have inspired me, cheered me on (and up!), shared parenting wisdom (and humor!) and counseled patience via Twitter during 4 a.m. feedings. You’re overwhelmingly fabulous. Really.
P.S.: Dear Interwebs: Thanks! Love, baby m.
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- Abstract Print Wrap Dress: Liz Lange for Target
- Black Nursing Tank: Bravado Designs via Figure8Maternity
- Red Cardigan: Vintage Michael Kors, mommed
- Black Tights: HUE
- Brown Riding Boots: Franco Sarto via Zappos.com
- Earrings: Old Navy
At some point, I really am going to be charged with criminal overuse of this red cardigan, and with continuing to wear a (dwindling) number of maternity items for far too long after delivery, but we can hold that off for a few more weeks, right?
I realize it’s a total cop-out to still be wearing what is technically a maternity dress with an eleven-week-old. That said, I’m secretly thrilled that this dress, which I struggled to style early on, has continued to be an outfit-maker (with a resulting average cost per wear of about twenty-five cents). It’s taken me from “oh, come on! I look pregnant! Really!” to “you’re kidding me! She’s STILL PREGNANT?!?” to my early post-partum days with relative ease. The bold print plays well on its own, too, when I’m not up to piling on the extras.
Like all stand-out pieces, though, its distinctiveness can be a double-edged sword. With dresses in particular, it can be a challenge to keep “making new” something that’s designed to be complete in its own right. In the hectic hurly-burly of the end of the semester (and by end we’re now talking a number of hours only slightly greater than twenty-four), I’m milking these kinds of unexpected workhorses for all their worth. While I appreciate the challenge of getting dressed with creativity and originality, sometimes nothing replaces walking up to your closet and knowing that a combination will just work.
What makes a distinctive piece into a workhorse? Where’s the line between those stand-out things you can use again and again and those that get used once in a blue moon?
I apologize for my slow replies and posting schedule during the end-of-term craziness, and thank you all for your patience! I’m very much looking forward to catching up and having some time off in the now-very-near future.
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- Wine Jersey Dress: Japanese Weekend via eBay
- Winter White Sweater-Jacket Thing: Vintage Piazza Sempione, mommed
- Necklace: Beadle Bop, via Etsy.com
- Black Tights: HUE via amazon.com
- Brown Riding Boots: Franco Sarto via zappos.com
- Earrings: mall vendor
So, I really, really hope y’all aren’t sick of this dress yet….
While I didn’t wear this dress as much as I expected during my pregnancy, I’ve been pretty much living in it postpartum. And why not? It’s a wonderful color, a forgiving fit, and, when I’m feeling particularly dextrous, the right kind of nursing access for the current ratio of baby m.’s head and the applicable food source to allow me to feel comfortable nursing in public. Even better, it’s one of the few dresses I own that actually can provide easy pumping access, as well. And even though I never would have thought to mix these this dress and this jacket on my own, one of Dotty’s great remixes of an off-white moto and a colorful dress caught my eye and I thought I’d give it a whirl. It doesn’t produce the world’s neatest, most hour-glassy rendition of my current proportions, but it has a funky, almost rock-and-roll vibe in a still-business-casual ensemble that I really, really love.
On a more serious note, I hope you all have a wonderful holiday with all those nearest and dearest to you this weekend. We were already overflowing with thanks this year when a very special Thanksgiving present arrived yesterday morning: our nephew! My sister-in-law, E., and her husband D2. welcomed baby o. Tuesday morning, and though little m. doesn’t quite understand what it means yet, we know she’s looking forward to meeting her cousin. And on a decidedly less cosmic note, we are looking forward to a weekend of snuggling with our little girl, who, believe it or not, is two months old!
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- Navy Maxi Dress: Liz Lange for Target
- Mottled Military Detail Sweater: Vintage Ralph Lauren, mommed
- Silver Necklace: gifted
- Teal Earrings: mall vendor
- Red Pumps: UO
I’m hoping that by the time you read this, my sweet SIL E. will have welcomed her son into the world! We can’t wait for baby m. to meet her newest cousin (my oldest brother’s daughter is 11 months older than m.), and are hoping we’ll wake up to wonderful news to kick off our Thanksgiving holiday (though we’ve been waiting with bated breath for updates, the time difference and the sleep constraints of life with a newborn likely mean we won’t be able to stay up all night waiting for the grand finale).
I don’t know quite why I feel so much like I should be frolicking among the lilies of the field in these photos (even though that’s a pretty far cry from life as I know it, with the end of term hurtling towards us and an increasingly-vocal two month old to attend to), but I just do. I think it’s that maxi dresses worn in the fall just screams, “I could go frolic, or maybe I’ll just wander around Brooklyn running errands on an effortlessly casual schedule.” (See, e.g.). But frolic or no, this is what I wore on a day at home with a sniffly baby m., intermixing snuggling and homework and attempting to use a bulb syringe without infuriating said congested infant.
This maxi dress was a workhorse at the end of my pregnancy, in the suffocating late summer heat, and even though it says “maternity” on the tag, I’ve been getting a kick out of remixing it post-pregnancy as the temps finally cool down. Not only is it a fun, on trend shape that I can actually wear in my state of bodily limbo, it’s emblematic of an interesting by-product of my postpartum, well, dearth of pants: I’ve found myself wearing skirts and dresses more on casual days than I ordinarily would. It still won’t work for going to the park, but for studying and playing with baby, a maxi provides a combination of comfort, modesty and laid-back ease that I wouldn’t necessarily have expected. And the counterintuitively figure-forgiving fit? An added bonus. I’ve glammed up this combination with red heels (that, wow, call attention to my pasty white skin), but flats or loafers would have worked for an even more casual (and easier to walk in) version.
While I love this look for a low-key day at home, or even an evening out, I’m less sure about the viability of the maxi in the workplace. What do you think? Long skirts or dresses at work: yay or nay?
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- Draped Cardigan: vince via Nordstrom’s, gift from mom
- Red Tank: Liz Lange for Target
- Boot Cut Jeans: Old Navy
- Red Heels: UO
- Necklace: BeadleBop via etsy
- Teal Earrings: mall vendor
Those of you who follow me on twitter know that it was not exactly a banner weekend around here. But though our Saturday had a less than ideal start, it had an unexpectedly lovely finish: with both baby m. and husband D. on the mend from their respective (and very minor) colds, we were able to take advantage of my parents’ generous offer to babysit and actually go on a (gasp!) date for the first time since m. was born two months ago. We had a delightful dinner at a casual brasserie near us, and while we were only gone for two hours and fifteen minutes (during which m. was sound asleep and my parents were watching the unexpected football resurgence of my alma mater on tv), it was wonderful to be able to indulge in some of those things that have been absent from our lives for a while: unpasteurized cheese, sparking wine, and uninterrupted adult conversation.
I had grander plans for what I was going to wear for this vaunted occasion, including this gorgeous blazer (a pregnancy gift from mom) that I can’t seem to wear without looking like Freddy Mercury, but I ended up wearing an outfit that felt like a dressed-up snuggie. I’d never tried to wear this cardigan with non-skinny jeans before, but I love the way it looks with this boot-cut pair and heels. And what do you know: yet another analogous color pairing, this time of bright red and red-orange (with a pinky-peach necklace thrown in for good measure). Was it the apotheosis of date night outfits? Of course not, nor was it the most glamorous, feminine thing I’ve worn since m.’s birth. But it was appropriate for the occasion and helped me mentally refocus for a relaxing, rejuvenating evening after what had been a very, very long day, which earns it at least an A- in my book!
Long cardigans with pants? Yay or nay? What do you wear when you want to feel glammed up and comfortable at the same time?
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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.
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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