Day Twenty-Six: Houndstooth, My Favorite Dress Ever and Ethics Be Damned

Thoughts on a slow fashion day....

This is my very favorite daytime dress, ever:

As I write this, my teenage daughter is home from college for the week. I quote: "Wait. THAT'S your favorite dress, ever? Are you a crazy person? I can see liking it. But...really?"

And Tim Gunn would probably say: "Hm. That's a lot of look."

This is one of those times when I wish I'd already invested in a dress form so you could see what the dress actually looks like. I'd model it for you, but it's about five pounds too tight on me right now. I could get away with it, but, uh, no. It fit me wonderfully when I was 127 pounds. Form-fitting in that (this is for you, Joan!) sexy librarian way.

The cuffs, collar, and pocket trims are all black velvet. Buttons are also covered in black velvet. 100% wool with an amazing stretch to it. Just below the knee length. Very chic for 1988, when I bought it at the Adrienne Vittadini store in Frontenac in St. Louis. (I did remove the shoulder pads right after I bought it.) It cost me about $300. I was probably still paying off that credit card three years later.

I know. It's houndstooth. Who wears houndstooth? Houndstooth is terminally retro and I do love it.

See, I even loved it in 1965:

Kudos to my mom, Judy, for selecting this awesome ensemble!

To Walmart**:

 

The jury's out on this one. I like the idea, and the ribbed knit cuffs are a nice detail. It's double-breasted, though, and has a very wide collar--two design elements that don't much complement my rather squarish torso and broad shoulders. I haven't seen it in the store, yet, and so haven't been able to try it on. May or may not order it. Thoughts?

**Photo from Walmart.com website.

Okay. So now the squishy ethics part.

Here's the outfit I wore on Saturday. Red sweater, black pants. (The pants pictured may be the black NK jeans I'm having altered. I actually wore NK Black Classic Career pants. Like the pants very much. Nice drape, long enough to cover a 2" heel.) Ralph Lauren Sweater: $21.47 (Sam's Club); Norma Kamali Black Classic Career Pants: $15; Shoes: Black Earth Spirit Mules $30; Jewelry: Silver stud earrings $7

The sweater is Ralph Lauren, from Sam's Club. I bought it in red, gray and off white because I usually wear a LOT of sweaters as soon as the weather turns and there's next to nothing available at Walmart that's not acrylic. This sweater is 100% cotton and fits me like a glove.

Of course, RL is the same purveyor of this b.s. But I figure that, with many people, I'm already considered to be about as principled as a baby seal hunter with a backpack full of baseball bats for shopping at Walmart anyway. *sigh* In for a penny, in for a pound as they say. : )

Happy Monday!

Days Twenty-Four and Twenty-Five: Frump, etc.

It seems that whenever I take on a new project, I find that at least one other thing in my life atrophies . When I'm writing a lot, I don't make time to exercise. If I'm working out a lot, I forget to clean the house. If I'm decorating, remodeling, gardening, cooking, etc., I tend to slack off on my professional relationships. And I almost never get enough sleep. New projects should come in a package with at least two extra hours in a day.

My life used to be much less full. When we lived in West Virginia and our now seventeen year-old daughter was small, I seemed to have time for all the things I loved.

Now I realize why I had so much time. Around the age of thirty, I began to disguise myself as a sixty-something year-old woman. Well, not even that. My mom is almost seventy and she is far more fashionable now than I was back then. Can you say, "someone gave up?"

Exhibit A:

 

I was heavily into the Country Matron look: Boiled wool sweater jacket, Orvis hat, LLBean turtleneck, mom jeans. What was I thinking?! I was probably also wearing the pearl stud earrings I've worn 6 out of every ten days since 1977.

The only excuse I can think of for such careless dressing is motherhood. You can see Nora, our daughter, toddling by my side. (That was the day she was almost lifted into the air by the seriously large kite we were flying.)  I did give myself an occasional break. My Laura Ashley period had begun two years earlier and ran concurrent with the Country Matron period for a almost a decade. I was in definite recovery by the time our son came along in 1999.

But I will always have a fondness for beautiful prints. Haven't seen many of those on my most recent shopping expeditions. There seems to be some kind of unwritten Walmart rule that says that prints should look as cheap as possible. I'll stick to my classic solids--mostly--thank you!

Day 24:

This is a Lee brand shirt. There were tags all over it declaring that its Princess Seams would make me look slimmer. Uh, okay. Mostly I just bought it because it was on sale for $7, it was cotton, and the weight of it made it feel more substantial than other shirts I've bought recently.

Lee shirt: $7; Faded Glory jeans: $15; Earth Spirit shoes: $30; Earrings: $7

Total: $59

Day 25:

I kind of cheated on Friday. I already posted what I was planning to wear while traveling.

 

But my good friend, the writer J.T. Ellison, saw my outfit, she said she thought it would be perfect for our panel at the Southern Festival of books. And she was right--particularly about the red rain boots. I had tons of compliments on them. Here we are, left to right: Meredith Cole, J.T. Ellison, and me.

I've noticed lately that I'm actually kind of short. Probably my first big revelation since I started this project. Weird.

Have a great week!

Day Twenty-Three: Me. In Color. Don't Know If This is a Good Thing.

Off I go, driving in the rain to the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, Tennessee, today. I'll be on a panel with J.T. Ellison and Meredith Cole, two thriller writers I am delighted to call friends.

The first time I went to the festival was back in 1994 or so, when Pinckney was there with Dogs of God. I was totally starstruck with all those professional writers--acres and acres of them. The day was incredibly hot, and there were tables set up outside. But I certainly didn't mind the heat as I went scrambling from table to table to stand in line to have my books signed.

I know it sounds silly, but I am thrilled to death to be going back there with my own books today. I only wish Pinckney could be there. Unfortunately, Bengal has the flu (not a terribly intense case, which is good news) and needs Daddy's TLC to get him through. It would be sweet, though.

Here's what I wore on Wednesday, Day 23.

Here are my issues with the outfit:

Skirt is too big. I had to buy a size 10 because they were out of 8s. I think even an 8 would've been loose because the skirt stretched a lot and didn't shrink at all. The sweater. Um, not a good style for me, I think. Even P said it made my waist look wide and it definitely isn't flattering in the shoulder area. (The belt was P's idea. It made the whole thing work a little better I think. Shoes--Very few options here. I took back a preppy pair of brown Earth Spirit flats because they were too bulky. Thank goodness it was warm enough for neutral sandals.

White Stag Sweater: $9 (clearance $12); Skirt: Faded Glory: $5 (clearance $11 ?); George blouse: $12; Shoes: LEI (I think) $7 (clearance $11) Belt: Faded Glory or No Boundaries $7 or 8. That Damned Necklace $7 and Earrings $7

Total: $61

What I'm wearing on the road today:

Can't see my feet--was in a major hurry. Red rain boots are in order!

Must run. Have a fabulous day!!!!

Days Twenty-One and Twenty-Two: Procrastinate? Me? and a Link of Shame

There are several possible reasons for my putting up this post (and yesterday's) so late: 1) I'm super-busy; 2) I've been writing fiction; 3) My kids are sick; 4) I'm afraid of something.

I'm a big fear procrastinator. If I'm not pretty certain about how something's going to work out, I'll often delay, delay, delay. (That's probably why it took me almost twenty years to publish my first novel. I had no idea what would happen if I did. Turns out, it went very well.) I expect the other three reasons are self-explanatory.

Seems that with this project, I may have to add a fifth reason. Let's just call it the Ew! Factor.

The outfit I wore on Tuesday looked like this:

 Not bad. Simple. But kind of blah. It's the brown shirt, I think. It's a fairly thin cotton, which is good for layering, but that's about it. Once again, Faded Glory has gone a tad overboard on the trendy detail. You can't see them very well in the picture, but there are decorative seams with a smidge of gathering about three inches from the top of the shirt. They're--I don't know--just not attractive. It helped to put the gray Miley Cyrus/Max Azria tank beneath it. Made the brown less boring, anyway. And I confess that I'm getting a little tired of this pair of jeans. *yawn*

Want to hear something totally bizarre? I bought the same shirt in two more colors--while I was wearing this outfit! Have oodles of things in my closet that need to go back. Waaaay too much poly jersey. Makes my skin tingle in an unpleasant way--plus, I get cold!

Faded Glory LS Brown tee: $7; Faded Glory Jeans: $15; Miley/Max tank: $6 Shoes? I think I was wearing them. Must have been these: (It was a cool day.)

 They're comfy. And leather: $30 Total: $58

Here are the shoes I bought on your-alls' advice! They're Dr. Scholl's (again). They have  gel inserts built into them that look like they should light up. I like them. I think. They remind me a little too much of shoes my second ex-mother-in-law would have worn. (Lovely, funny woman--didn't like me very much, though.) But, seriously, they're damn comfortable.

 

Tuesday's ensemble:

You know how much I love the Norma Kamali Athletic Dresses:

 

The tee beneath the dress is actually a Miley/Max tee. The London phone box is cute. It's the only Miley graphic tee that I've been able to bear. The Walmart juniors' dept is pretty much all Miley, all the time, now.

Don't know why I'm so goofy for these NK Athletic Dresses and Leggings. I do like leggings, and this seems an acceptable way for me to wear them without looking like I'm pretending to be a teenager. Another plus--It's an outfit I don't have to give much thought to. I need at least a couple of those to get through the week!

Link of shame: I posted this on Twitter and Facebook today. If you haven't seen this horrific Ralph Lauren ad or read about their ridiculous response, click here.

Tomorrow: Did you know that in the fashion world, size 6 and over models are considered plus-size? Well, get ready, because my chubby calves and I are going to occasionally model these outfits ourselves. (As long as I can manage to throw some makeup on, too. Or maybe a mask....)

Hope your day is beautiful--We're celebrating my son Bengal's birthday today. He's ten years old!

Day Twenty: Something Orange This Way Comes

Have you ever had your colors done?

About a 100 years ago, I had a part-time job in a temp services office in Louisville. They hired me to do telephone cold-calling to sell our services to businesses. (Yes, I was one of those telemarketers--though I never called anyone at home for the agency. I did do that one evening at/for an investment firm during college. Felt like a heel engaging in that.) Back then, I was terribly shy on the telephone. I found talking on the phone to anyone except my friends extremely painful and embarrassing.

The agency gave me a script, and all I had to do was follow it. I didn't have to say anything that wasn't on the laminated page. Should have been a no-brainer. But I was paralyzed with fear every time I picked up the phone. I didn't want anyone to get mad at me. And this was even waaaaay before the days of caller i.d. Suffice it to say, I totally sucked at it. Made like four calls a day and only arranged two appointments for my boss (who was/is ostensibly the actor Kevin Kline's Auntie Rosemarie). She was quite unhappy.

After a month or so, they took me off cold-calling, but didn't fire me. I guess they must have liked me. The irony is that they kept me on to answer phones! I didn't mind that, and eventually became quite good at it. It's a skill that's served me pretty well over the years--communicating clearly and politely on the phone. But I would probably be much less sensitive in the rejection department in my writing career if I'd stuck with the cold-calling.

What does this all have to do with colors? The agency  offered occasional seminars to its temporaries on everything from fashion to time management to improving typing skills (yes, it was that long ago--word processing was in early days). One evening a woman came in to "do our colors." (If you're not familiar with the whole color season concept, go here. I'm not endorsing these folks, but you can read their info.)

I'm a summer. My skin is complemented by lots of pastels and rich browns and ivory.  Strong colors like bright green, orange, bright red, or black, not so much.

You've heard of Van Gogh's Blue Period? Welcome to Laura's Black Period. Everything I own now that is even vaguely chic is black or gray. (Except for my Norma Kamali red patent pumps and Wine All-in-One-Dress.)

I like wearing black, particularly when I travel. But I've worked hard to get away from it just a bit in recent years, and have done a darned fine job, I think. The starkness of black accentuates my *ahem* wisdom lines. Softer colors definitely still work better for me.

 I don't really mind the color orange: on pumpkins, toddlers, oranges, zinnias, and sherbet. And I really like to be able to spot hunters coming at me through the woods. So, in the interest of keeping my wardrobe interesting and un-nun-like, I tried to branch out with a seasonal burnt orange shirt:

Don't get me wrong. I love the neckline. It obviates the need for a necklace, so I can wear only bronze earrings and some bangles with it. I just felt incredibly conspicuous. And orange!

Hope, one of my style mavens, commiserated with me when she saw me wearing it. She did say that she thought the color was nice, and very rich. Not quite orange. Another woman told me a great story about a sweater she bought but couldn't bear to wear because its back and sleeves were orange. P likes it. For me, the jury's still out.

I bought the shirt in Ivory and Black as well. Will wear them eventually. Don't know about this one. Halloween, maybe?

One more note: Couldn't wear the cardigan pictured because the pintucking (sorry you can't see it--it's pintucked on either side of the "v" opening) clashed w/ the shirt's neckline. And the pants. Ugh. The pants. Cheap poly jersey is just not lovely. The pants feel like cheap yoga pants. Fine for yoga. Or sleeping. Cheesy in the pew or at a restaurant. Like the drape of them. But it's a good thing I bought a pair of Norma Kamali Wide-leg Jersey pants in black, too. I need something to wear with the Ivory and black tops.

White Stag Orange tunic shirt: $10; White Stag Black jersey pants: $10; White Stag Black cardigan: $14; Shoes: Norma Kamali Ballet flats: $20; Jewelry: Earrings $7, Bangles $8 (part of set) Total: $69

Later this week: Appearance time at the Southern Festival of Books. What to wear?!