Crazypants! The blog.

I've been gone from the forum recently - I've been much busier at work. Sorry to pop in just to post this.

My boyfriend got me the longed-for R13 crossover jeans! I love them. These photos aren't the best, but hopefully the look comes through. In the future I'll wear pointy-toe flats or heels, but I had to walk a lot today and these shoes won out.

1-2: Zara cropped cotton sweater, R13 jeans, falling-apart FS/NY flats.

3: Wednesday's outfit for meetings: Alice + Olivia wide-leg linen trousers, Uniqlo white tee, Helmut Lang cotton wrap cardigan, Fluevog oxfords

4: Bonus: a tiny new addition to my house!

I realized I'd worn this outfit - or close to it - two or three times in as many weeks. That's more repeating than I usually do, but it's both comfortable and flattering. It's a bit basic - I have a wrap sweater that adds a bit more dimension - but the weather's been warm again so a tee is just about right.

Uniqlo tee, Zara skirt, Tsubo boots. And new Hue tights a size bigger than the size chart suggests - infinitely better! All purchased new this season, come to think of it - that's a big shift for me.

How do you feel about the skirt length? It's on the short side. Funny - I always err in the other direction, wearing skirts that look too long on my short legs and thus frumpier than expected. I like this one, and I'm comfortable with the length for work. What do you think? (Mid-30s lab scientist; supervising a grad student but not teaching.)

(The photo angle is odd and the mirror might be one of those slender-izing ones in a fitting room so it's hard to judge.) 

One of my favorite shows so far of fashion week was Marissa Webb's low-key collection.
http://www.style.com/fashionsh.....RTW-MWEBB/

Recently I've been gravitating towards black and grey tweeds, plaids, masculine tailoring, and drifting away from avant garde black (not entirely!). Even the pieces I've pinned from Kate Lanphear, the reigning queen of solid black, are her most tweedy and androgynous.

Some of this is me finally, slowly giving in to the hipster aesthetic of my town. By hipster, I mean a bit vintage, a bit heritage, and a bunch of other things I can't put my finger on. Chambray shirts, classic oxfords, etc. There's a style trend in the fashion world I think of as "french hipster" (no idea if that name makes sense to anyone) - the less boho of Isabel Marant's looks, for instance.

Anyway, Marissa Webb's very wearable collection somehow crystallized some of the images I had in my head, plus as a 90s grunge teenager I loved that side of it. And as luck would have it, that plaid shirt I posted as a K/R last week is exactly the same plaid in her collection. 

Image 1: My favorite look from her collection. Love the slouchy pants, the plaid, and the peacoat. I'm still searching for the perfect soft pants...

Images 2 & 3: My first-pass interpretation (with very wet hair and bad lighting...). Aqua plaid shirt, old BR wool sweater tied on my waist, R13 slouchy skinnies, comfy Paul Green heels.

Image 4: In which I try the fashion week streetstyle "coat as a cape on my shoulders" trend and find it good, with my standard Helmut Lang wool jacket (which adds a touch of my usual asymmetric black layers).

ps - while trying to open these photos, I accidentally printed them to my OLD job's office printer. I hope I cancelled the print jobs in time! Else, holy awkward, batman!

I was inspired by Angie's post yesterday to pull out an old favorite outfit that I haven't worn as often recently. I'd love to add a loose-knit tunic to this like she showed from Eileen Fisher.

Photos 1-3: Equipment silk tunic/dress, R13 waxed skinnies, thrifted Theory sweater, Theyskens jacket. New-to-me thrifted Born flats - are these as good for me as my old FS/NY flats that I need to replace? I can return them if not.

Photo 4: One bad shot from my trip to NYC last weekend, bundled up against the polar vortex. I love cold - I decided to walk to the theater (via some shoe stores...) instead of taking the subway, so I'd get more cold weather. Wool J Crew minnie pants, Tsubo boots, Aqua sweater that you can't see, lovely thrifted Club Monaco coat that is too warm for San Francisco.

Photo 5: a repost from a few months ago, another version of the tunic look with a longer sheer Vince silk tunic and the J Crew pants.

Photo 6: a repost with the old FS/NY flats for comparison to the new Born ones.

Looking through all these, it's obvious that my go-to look is silk sleeveless button down (of varying lengths) and skinny pants!

Angie's blog post reminded me that I never posted this outfit that fits her lilac and black theme for today! The cotton sweater is a lighter shade of dusty purple than it appears in this photo. It's a consignment find and it has really nifty shaping in the way it's knit.
Jil Sander sweater, R13 jeans, Rachel Comey boots.

Two others from my backlog:
 
Casual work clothes. BR silk top, R13 skinny jeans, Theory sweater, and my great new Madewell lightweight wool scarf.

In-laws casual post-Christmas dinner in Peoria. Hat inspired by Una! White j crew shirt, metallic silk sweater, AG boyfriend jeans, Fluevog oxfords.

(Everything was second-hand/consignment except the R13 skinnies and all the shoes and scarf.)

This is my first YLF purchase: the Aqua zippered sweater that Angie recommended. I've narrowed down my massive sweater search to this plus two other sweaters that are on their way. I love the size and shape, almost a tunic on me. Great for those days when I feel like nothing fits quite right.  It's so warm, perfect for my Christmas trip to Peoria (inlaws) where the lows were hovering around 0F.

The new Tsubo boots are here, too. The zippers aren't as obvious in these photos but it's fun to have two big exposed zipper items in one outfit. I felt like the zipper trend was over, but in both these pieces I really like it and think it's quite current. The boots are perfect on my short legs, I think. Opinions?

(I think I found a buyer for my previous tall boots, so I'm breaking almost even on this purchase.)

Bonus WIW: my favorite Theyskens blazer now back from the tailor with arms that are the right length! I think this is the same blazer Shevia scored recently. It's a big boxy boyfriend cut with very sharp shoulders, a few years old but I'm sticking with it.

Anyone else being tempted to horrible excess by post-Christmas sales? I'm trying not to give in to the temptation to buy huge, lovely wide leg trousers that are 70% off on shopbop but still far too much.

Angie asked if I wore skirts, and I do!

The first outfit is from a party last weekend. It was my favorite type of party: a house full of dozens of my friends, since the hosts are at the nexus of a lot of social groups. Silk/cotton knit BCBG skirt (bought used), silk BR shirt, and my magic LD Tuttle shoes. I love the pattern on the skirt. It's knit that way, not printed. Jacky pointed out that it looks almost like animal print, but more geometric.

The second is from my dance group's annual Christmas party last night, bittersweet because our teacher just retired and we all miss him immensely. I decided to go with something simple: a leather a-line skirt (BCBG, bought used) and white blouse (Everlane), and the same Rachel Comey boots that I was afraid I couldn't wear (solved wonderfully with insoles!). I wished I had a dramatic necklace like this to make it more festive:
http://www.jcrew.com/browse/si.....FOLDER%3C%
but I don't.

So, skirts. I have trouble with hemlines - my mental image and the reality are not always in sync. What do you think of the proportions on these outfits? The white shirt looks longer than idea though I like the overall effect enough that I decided to wear it.

Funny thing - I just redid the almost-shaved side of my head last weekend. When it's an inch long and my hair is down, people hardly notice it. But my dance group is full of older, more traditional Irish people (plus my wonderful flamboyant-but-traditional-Irish teacher!) and they were more shocked than I expected. One woman kept saying in dismay "Why did you do that? Your lovely hair!" and my teacher gave me a big smile, grabbed my head and rubbed the side. I swear it's been like this since June, more or less, and they just hadn't noticed til I put it up!

Thanks to all your feedback about my boot question, I returned the expensive Barneys boots. You're right - they weren't exciting enough for me for the price. Then, from a comment on Ironkurtin's post about shopping secrets, I discovered Yoox. And at Yoox I discovered these awesome Newbark boots for a very good price! So, now I have my birthday present from my boyfriend! And I have a Yoox addiction, which might be a problem for my budget.

The rest of this outfit is secondhand clothes, amazingly. I had a few specific items I was looking for this season, including gray boyfriend jeans (found a pair of AGs new with tags at Crossroads in October!) and a sparkly sweatshirt-style top (found this one a few days ago - it is silk and cotton, rather than synthetic, which makes overly-picky-me very happy). The coat was an amazing find a year or two ago, a practically new Club Monaco wool & cashmere overcoat for $30 that is the perfect compromise between a big man-coat and figure-flattering tailoring.

The boots have a bit of bling too, a sparkly texture on the back. Between that and the sweatshirt, it's the most sparkle I've worn since prom!

So, if you can't tell, I love the thrill of the thrift store chase and I'm finally getting better about being picky and not settling for less than ideal. That said, the sparkly top is actually a bit more fitted than I'd been searching for, but I like it better than any others I'd tried on. At $15, if I don't end up wearing it much, I'll just sell it back to them.

After doing Irish step dance every day for the past week, I had to give my feet a break. A foot injury (two years ago) led to custom orthotics to support my strong but very high arches and take the weight off the balls of my feet. The only shoes they fit in are my beloved Converse. I no longer wear the orthotics often, but I slipped the Converse on after my performances on Sunday and my feet felt sooooo good that I decided to wear them all week.

I got bored of them after three days. So, here are three WIWs, and tomorrow I'm back to other shoes.

Day 1:
I have a pair of loose, slightly bootcut wool trousers that I never wear. I tried to make them work with the sneakers by pegging the bottoms to make them a bit avant garde. I don't think it worked, so they are probably going to the consignment store. They are a size too big at the top, anyway.

Day 2:
A very me look. My J Crew wool Minnies, a long wool cardigan from the Gap that I wish I'd bought four of, and my new biker jacket. In putting this together I remembered that all my layering tees have holes. Time for new ones!

Day 3 (today):
Outfit fail. These jeans are folded under because I never got them hemmed. I need to hem them or replace them (they are baggy in the butt). I thought the pointed hem of the tshirt would work well with the cropped, draped sweater (which I love - Helmut Lang, total score at the thrift store) but they don't harmonize at all. It looks particularly bad from the side (not shown). Oh well!

Last year I waited in a long long line to get these crazy pants from the H&M Margiela collab. They're a reissue of an old Margiela style. Boosted by all your positive comments on my WIWs, I was brave enough to wear them to work today. Later, we're heading to a fancy dinner with my new department.

They are essentially giant men's trousers, folded over at the waist in front and taken in in two huge pleats in back. I love them and whenever someone compliments me on them, it's hard to resist undoing the hook & eye to show them how they work! (See the photos).

Do you think the v-neck cotton T works with the pants? I like how it tones them down to be more casual, and I like the geometric look of the deep, wide V, but I'm never quite sure what to wear with these pants.

I didn't get a good photo of the full look with my wool jacket, but I just took a quick shot of it in lab. 

I've been putting so much more thought into my outfits since I started reading this blog a few months ago - and my new job is a more grownup job, so I'm marking the transition by bumping up my style and not being afraid to look more dressy. It's making me so happy to be able to wear these things I've collected over the years.