Wear It 2/14/2011 and THE FIND

You know how certain girls always seem to find the cutest vintage dresses in their grandmother's closet or at their local thrift store? I hate them too. My grandmother only wore saris (pretty but have you ever tried to wear one?) and my local thrift stores never seems to have anything cute certainly never at a price I can afford.

But a few weeks ago I made THE FIND. I was browsing through Etsy and saw this dress for $8. It was being sold for resale so there was no size or any info besides "good vintage condition." Since I am in the lucky (???) position of being overweight and changing sizes - I took a chance and ordered it.

Guess what gentle reader - it fits. Now. Instant gratification. I do think the dress will look better when I am not so chubby but making things smaller is far easier than making them bigger.

So with that very long boring prelude - please welcome the dress to my wardrobe. I would not ordinarily wear something so blingy during the day but it is Valentine' Day and I wanted to be cute just in case mr. deathstar takes me out tonight.

What do you think? I am convinced that this dress would look 100X more perfect if I had burgundy tights, but I don't (and I have looked high and low).

Also, check out the SHOES. These shoes have been in my closet for years and have never seen the light of day. I bought them because they were $10 and I loved the color. Although they are (IMO) sexy as hell, I have never been able to walk in them. However, since walking in heels is my only exercise routine I decided to throw caution to the wind and wear them. For those of you who remember the great ankle break of 2009, don't fear I have flats to change into in case I need to walk for more than a few minutes.

Dress: vintage via Etsy
Tights: Old Navy
Shoes: Nine West circa 2004?
Cardigan: Target clearance
Necklace: gift from bff

Wear it 2/11/2011

I have always shied away from colored tights as being something you can only wear if you are under the age of 25 and have supermodel legs. Nonetheless, when I saw these tights at Old Navy for $2 I decided to give the trend a try. What do you think? Do I look ridiculous?

Skirt - Gap
Blouse - H&M (very old)
Tights - Old Navy
Shoes - Fly of London

Wear it 2/10/2011

Today's outfit was devised solely around my desire to wear flat heeled shoes so I could walk to the mall later. Since the office dress code requires I wear more than just shoes, I tossed on jeans, a blouse, and a cardigan. Although I have worn it a bunch of times, I am still undecided about this blouse. As a general rule I don't care for lavender and don't think it looks good on me. But for some inexplicable reason I find this shirt sort of charming. What say you? Also - check out my new necklace purchased at the local consignment store for $6.

Wear it 2/8/2011

A fairly dull outfit today but also pretty typical of my preferred winter uniform. You may be asking yourself - why did she paint on a pair of jeans this morning. The answer is that I have been wearing the same pair of jeans for over a month and decided I had break into my stash of "pants in waiting" - i.e. jeans the next size smaller. Clearly these are still too snug but they didn't split when I sat down and since I sit behind a desk all day, I decided to risk it. Besides who doesn't love a muffin top*?!?

*What? That doesn't mean delicious pastry? Never mind.

Also featured today is a J. Crew (clearance) sweater and a Hayden Harnett scarf that is making its first outing today. Welcome her aboard and if you have suggestions on how to wear her so I don't look like a gay may from 1978 - I'd appreciate them.


Scarf:

Wear it 2/4/2011

Today's outfit is brought to you by the letters BRIGHT. As a service to your retinas I took a muted photo but I can assure you that in real life you need sunglasses to look at me.

I am so happy I bought this Tucker for Target blouse last year and had the foresight to buy a smaller size so I can wear it now.

The fast had a small setback yesterday when I took a detour to the mall on the way back from court. I did score some awesome bargains including a gorgeous dress from Ann Taylor loft for all of $5.98. I need to lose some more weight before I can wear any of my purchases but I am all about delayed gratification (not).

Wear it 2/1/2011

Forgot my camera this morning so no full length photos today. Trust me when I tell you - you are not missing anything. I did take a quick snap with my camera phone of my gorgeous necklace which an invisible internet friend made me. Every time I wear it I am reminded of how lucky I am to live in a world where I can meet cool people and reap the benefits of their random acts of kindness.

I am also sad to report that this will probably be the last day I will wear this sweater. I love the color and it is warm and soft (cashmere) but it is too big and no longer flattering. Into the consignment pile it will go. Join me in wishing her a fond farewell.

Wear it 1/31/2011

Sweater: BCBG clearance
Skirt: H&M used via Bonanzle
Leggings: Old Navy
Boots: Miz Mooz
Socks: J. Crew


I am so in love with this skirt. I might ask it to be my co-Valentine (mr. deathstar gets first dibs since he's stuck with me since 1991 and I've only had this skirt since Friday).

I scored it for $15 on Bonanzle on a whim and am so excited. The skirt is about 3 inches too long (it hits mid-calf) so I need to learn to sew or take it to a tailor*. In the meantime I have rolled up the waistband and will have to wear it with a bulky sweater to hide the band. I may be delusional but I think it looks okay.

Speaking of sweaters - I picked up this BCBG sweater on clearance months ago and it finally fits. When I bought it it looked HUGE on the hangers and I assumed I should buy a small which, of course, they did not have. So I got a medium thinking I'd wear it while I was still heavy. But when I got it home, it didn't fit. You saw that coming didn't you. But now it does so yay!


* I am postponing the alterations as until I lose the rest of the weight because I plan to keep the skirt for a while.

Wear It 1/26/2011

Not happy with this outfit. I think it would work better without the blue tank but the under tank is sheer and my bra is black and I am not Carrie Bradshaw. I am happy that I finally got to wear this skirt. I think I bought it in 2005 but it has never fit until recently. I am also pleased with this sweater which I scored at an after Christmas sale at the GAP. Although mass produced cashmere has a tendency to be thin or itchy - this is actually decent quality and quite warm.

Wear It 1/25/2011

No full length shot today since all the ones I took made me look like I had no feet. Which, in my morning haze, seemed like a VERY BIG DEAL. I may revise my thinking tonight.

The good news is that if you use your imaginations you will be able to recreate my outfit in your head. When creating this mental image please take a few lbs off my thighs. Thanks.

Today I am wearing a pair of black cotton wide legged pants which would be fabulous if it were springtime. They are not cut out for the 20 degree snow storm we're having but they are clean and my office has heat so I threw caution to the wind. On top of said pants I am wearing one of my favorite sweaters of all time. It is a (adjective alert) black ribbed merino wool boatneck 3/4 length sleeve sweater from J. Crew circa 1998. I snagged it on super sale and I have kept it all these years, even when I grew way too fat to wear it. I am so happy it fits again.

To break things up I threw on this cute scarf that I got for $1 on ebay. I bought this before animal prints came back in vogue and choices were limited. One of these days I will replace it with something a little more fabulous.

Wear It 1/24/2011

In addition to my resolution to wear what I already own, I have resolved to wear more color. Because 90% of my wardrobe is black, navy, or olive green - this will be a bit of challenge. Luckily I did go through a "scarf" period and have quite a few colorful scarves. I also found this sweater in my pile of "anticipatory" fashion finds and decided to wear it even though it is clearly still too small.

In other news, remember when I said I thought I could live with 10 pieces of clothing? No? Well clearly you need to work on your mind reading skills because I said it once in my head. Although I know I need fewer things, I do need more than one pair of jeans. It is currently negative one million degrees in the North East which means I need to wear pants or risk losing my legs to frostbite. Sadly, I have only one pair of jeans that fit right now. My other two pants consist of olive green cords that need to be washed and very light cotton pants.

This problem will remedy itself 10-15lbs from now but until then lets hope I don't spill anything!

Wear It 1/21/11

The word for today is blah. It snowed (again) last night and instead of getting to stay home and work, I had to trudge into the office so I can be in court this morning. Although I had more time than usual to get dressed, this was the best I could do. Not really court appropriate but I will not be there long enough to care.

Wear It 1/20/11

Last night I had the most shocking thought. Maybe I have too many clothes. Although my wardrobe is 25% of what it was last year, it still seems overwhelming. So I will be making a concerted effort to re-wear and re-use what I have. I have been considering joining the 30 for 30 winter challenge hosted by the super stylish and adorable Kendi but I question my creative chops, and more importantly, my ability to record 30 days of outfits.

In the meantime here I am showing why Stacy and Clinton created the "no miniskirts over age 35" WNTW rule.

NTS, stick to pants and longer skirts.

Blue PT 2

Blurry close-up of blue although it is more grey in real life than this shows (at least on my monitor).

Oh blue where are you?

I call it this sweater the miracle sweater because it seems to go with everything I own. However it is a little too big and not as warm as I would like. So I am on a mission to find a replacement. Although there a hundreds of lovely blue sweaters in the world - this color (I call it French blue which is completely unhelpful as a descriptor) is hard to find. So if you see a cardigan you think might work- let me know!

Happy New Year

Although I am total crap at resolutions one of my goals is to refocus my commitment to the ideals of stufffast. Namely, using what I have and only having things I love. Stay tuned.

In the using what I have category, I finally put on this scarf which has been sitting on a hook since I bought it in 2009. Although I find long scarves easier to wear than square ones, this scarf doesn't look "right". I need to google some ideas for tying it or maybe face up to the fact that I am not a scarf person (just like I am not a hat person even though I love them).