brocade belt

This is another outfit that resulted from my backwards-hanger closet-purging experiment. I usually feel more confident in skirts and dresses than in pants (with the exception of jeans - who doesn't feel great in jeans?), so a lot of my pants' hangers have remained backward. Wearing business-casual-type pants usually makes me feel frumpy.

There is no explicitly-stated dresscode (i.e. "business casual") at the university where I work, but it's a lot easier to get my students and colleagues to take me (the baby of the department) seriously if I dress the part. A blend of artsy and professional is what I'm usually going for. I'll have a lot more wardrobe versatility if I can bring my six or so pairs of non-jean pants back into circulation.


This cream blouse and brown cardigan get lots of wardrobe action. Worn simply with the business-casual khakis, this outfit could make me feel pretty blah. But punched-up with accessories and layering, the whole ensemble felt much better. These pictures suck, though. The colors seem washed-out.

The rose camisole that I layered beneath the blouse makes my skin look washed-out when I wear it alone, so it doesn't get much wardrobe action, either. But I loved wearing it as an accent piece that peeked out at the hem and just a bit at the neckline, showcasing only its best parts. The headband is just a scrap of chiffon tied around my head and decorated with a rhinestone broach that I would normally wear on a jacket. I built the belt out of a luminescent scrap of Chinese brocade, precisely for the purpose of tying outfits together like it does here. I shaped it so that it's widest at front and back, and narrower at the sides. My students thought it was really cool and want to make some for themselves. It's actually reversible. The other side is navy blue taffeta with a white ribbon stripe down the middle. It'll probably show up on here one day. The inspiration for the belt came from this post at What I Wore Today. I would love to make a bunch more of them in different scrap fabrics. I think I'm going through a belt phase.

I actually like this outfit better without the cardigan, but the costume shop gets pretty chilly sometimes. The blouse color washes out my skin a bit, but I can live with that.


PS: The scissors and key attached to a cord around my neck are not intended as a fashion-statement necklace. I am almost almost wearing it when I'm at work, and sometimes also after work if I don't think to remove it, as I am just used to having it there. It'll probably show up in a lot of these pictures.