My hastily-bought jeans, it turns out, lived up to their “dirty-washed” name, and I decided the boot-cut was just a little too flared for me. So the jeans ventured into the Changing Your Clothes day spa for a much-needed makeover. Day One: Dye with mixture of navy and black:
Spa Day One: The new color isn’t as dark as I expected, but they’re at least not so “dirty”!
Last weekend, as part of my ongoing effort to expand my dance-class wardrobe, I made myself this stretchy little top:
My new top: my version of this one-color top, View B of Vogue 8856.
Perhaps this is not quite as newsworthy as my jeans’ recent visits to the CYC Day Spa, but there is at least one unique aspect to this project: I made it entirely out of fabric scraps.
I admit it: I’ve held on to certain garments for years a while now, long enough to know they’re well past their fashion expiration date, but somehow I’m unable to just let them go. (Hello, Lindy? This is the 1980s calling. We’d really like our leather jacket back. Yes, the shoulder pads too.) Don’t we all have at least one thing in our closet clinging doggedly to its hanger, way back in the darkest corner?
Refinery29 to the rescue: their latest slideshow will inspire you to shake the dust off those oddball items by mixing them with more modern pieces! I’m noticing in particular the creative use of accessories; in the example below (the oddball being the bridesmaid dress), sharpening up the soft color of the dress with the black jacket and clutch does wonders, along with the bright golden accents, and the little pop of red in the earrings.
Bridesmaid dress remix! (Click on the picture to go directly to the slideshow.)
I just ran across this slideshow from Refinery29 (my fave!), and had to show it to you. They’re calling it “Fashion Math”; each of the 3 sections starts with a particular type of winter coat, then adds various pieces to form a complete ensemble equation. Here’s one of my favorite looks:
Winter Math: What to wear with a parka. (Click the picture to go directly to the slideshow.)
As much as I always look forward to cold weather (at least since I moved away from Ohio’s sub-zero winters), I’m sometimes stymied when it comes to giving all those sweatery layers a good dose of style. Let’s face it… the practicalities of dressing for winter weather tend to outweigh my parallel urge to make a fashion statement. If I’m starting with, say, a thick (read: less than shapely) sweater, how do I raise the style quotient without sacrificing warmth?
Refinery29, bless their fashionable hearts, sent me this slideshow today, showing 7 fantastic ideas for giving your cold-weather staples a glam upgrade. Here’s one of my favorites (and an answer to my previous sweater question):
Great idea for layering a thick winter sweater, courtesy of Refinery29! (Click on the picture to go to this picture in the slideshow.)
Is your fashion vocabulary a little out of date? Confused by terms like “manthropology” and “fashion shower”? Brush up on the current jargon with this hilarious video, courtesy of Refinery29!
Fashion Catchphrases from Refinery29. (This is a screenshot from the video; click the picture to go directly to the video.)
Airports Made Simple sent me this note today: “I have a question for you – this occurred to me today as I was walking my dog. It’s cold here, so I typically wear a warm cable knit hat that fits over my ears or a beret/beanie that’s warm. However, as you know…it doesn’t protect my skin from the sun like my ‘summer hat’ (a large garden hat or wide-brimmed beach hat), and I sometimes forget the sunscreen in the winter. Besides always wearing sunscreen (which I should do anyway!!), is there a winter hat style that is warm and also provides sun protection for the face?”
This is such a great question! I am very fair myself, so I’m a lifelong sunscreen user, but sunscreen alone is sometimes not enough. (Did you know that, even on a cloudy day, up to 80% of harmful UV rays still get through?) So I also love my wide-brimmed summer hats, but in the winter, they just look… wrong. Airports Made Simple raises a good point: in the winter, can a hat protect you from both cold and sun? Does the perfect winter hat actually exist?
I love hats myself, and coincidentally, I happen to have a wide-brimmed wool hat, for which I braved the blog camera (oh, the lengths I go to for you, my wonderful friends!):
My wide-brimmed wool hat: Yes, it keeps me warm and dry, but let’s be honest— it’s pretty dull, and not all that flattering. Which is why it’s mainly my rain hat. Continue reading →
Last night, I was trying to decide what to wear to the Portland Art Museum’s member party. Since this was the first time I’ve gone to an event like this in Portland, I wasn’t sure exactly what would constitute an appropriate ensemble; all I knew was that it was in the evening, there would be food, wine, live music, and dancing. A dress seemed indicated. However…
You know how sometimes you base an entire outfit around a fabulous pair of shoes? Well, as I was trying to get ready, it dawned on me that I might just have to choose my dress to go with a coat, instead of the other way around. To the coat closet I went, only to discover that anything that could remotely be construed as “evening” was not going to work with any of my dresses. (In my defense, I have been uncharacteristically ruthless with my recent closet purges, and it was warm and dry for so long this year that this issue really hadn’t come up.)
What kinds of coats actually do work for evening? I suspect most of us don’t really want to invest in coats we’ll only wear occasionally, so is it possible to find coats that work for day as well as for dressier events? If so, where can we find these happy hybrids? Continue reading →
I hope you don’t mind me posting 2 slideshows in a row, but I just had to show-and-tell you this: on November 15, H & M will debut a fabulous collection that’s a collaboration with the amazing Martin Margiela! Here’s one of my personal favorites:
Maison Martin Margiela for H & M dress, from the collaborative collection available beginning November 15. Love the peek of leg! (Click on the picture to go to the slideshow.)Continue reading →
Yes, the fickle fashion cycle has swung around again to embracing the oversized, but as the ensembles in this Refinery29 slideshow demonstrate, the key to making this look work is in keeping everything balanced.
Oversized skirt, fitted sweater; this look works because the sweater is proportionally as fitted as the skirt is voluminous. And I’m loving the pastel-with-bright color combination! (Click on the picture to go directly to the slideshow.) Continue reading →
Changing Your Clothes 