Recent Hits and Misses: Winter

Hi! Yeah, I know, it's been a while. My dancing addiction sucks up all my non-work time nowadays, but I have much more non-work time than usual available for the next two months, thanks happily to seasonal unemployment. I love July and August! So maybe I'll stick around and be a more active blogger for a couple of months, eh?

I still managed to take pictures every once in a while over recent months when wearing something I just loved (or just loathed), so I do have some fun stuff to share. I'll do two of these "recent hits and misses" posts - one today covering more wintry outifts, and one later this week covering more springy outfits.

My favorite thing about this outfit was the way that the silver dots on the cheap plastic (dollar store!) belt tied in with the dots on the skirt......though I was also just thrilled with the textures and the color mix that reminded me of fall leaves. Never mind that I wore it in February.

I don't wear this next skirt very often because I'm afraid of getting it dirty (my job offers many opportunities for getting dirt, paint, glue, etcetera on my clothes), and because it's surprisingly difficult to style even though it's such a simple, versatile piece.But it has a very special history. Once upon a time - oh, just a bit over ten years ago - it was part of the wedding dress that I made for myself when I was 21, young and stupid and in love, and marrying my college boyfriend. Then, about five years ago, I chopped the dress up and repurposed (refashioned) it, incorporating the bodice into a dress for a show for which I was the costume designer, and shortening and modifying the skirt into the shape that you see here. We celebrated a milestone anniversary last month, and if we ever renew our vows, I'm guessing this skirt will be a part of my outfit for the day.

This was also the first time that I wore this necklace, which I randomly won for participating in Mervat's "One Jacket Five Ways" challenge back before she had to shut down her style blog for privacy reasons (which is why I'm not linking to her other blog here).I found this necklace suprisingly tricky to style, so I was excited about this outfit because I wore two of my challenging pieces at once.

A close-up of my wedding-dress-changed-to-casual-skirt fabric:I looooove raw silk/dupioni...

Speaking of difficult-to-style necklaces, here is another one I was excited to finally find a way to incorporate into a work-appropriate outfit.It is one of the fun pieces of costume jewelry that my grandma handed down to me after my great-grandma passed away. She often gives me things thinking I might use them for my work on a show or donate them to costume stock, but I'm always like: "Give it away? No, I'm keeping it for myself!" But I do occasionally borrow pieces from my collection for use in shows. I am grateful to have them.
This interestingly-printed dress was a recent purchase from a consignment shop. The neckline is absurdly low and would require a camisole or something else to be worn underneath it unless I want my bra cups to be the day's focal point, so I either wear it backwards as shown here, or I wear a layer over it that covers the low neckline in front.The color, something like wilted celery stalks, is rather blech on me, so I need to wear something with a better color near my face anyhow.

I really liked how it worked out with this pink cardigan and green boots.The boots brought out more of the green in the dress, and then the cardigan made it pop because they are complementary colors.

But with this purple sweater and brown vest... not so much.
You can even tell from the look on my face that I am just: Not. That. Into. It.

I just felt frumpy. The photo angle actually makes it look much more flattering than it was in person. You can tell I'm not wearing the dress backwards here, because the front neckline dips down way below my vest neckline. Next time, I'd layer it with a brown sweater so it's less busy, and I'd love to find a shorter vest, maybe in a little cropped or even empire-waist length, to layer over it. It would nip in the dress and give it structure without making it feel frumpy. Maybe in dark blue denim? Feel free to share links if you've seen something like that that I can buy online!

Another new item that I enjoyed styling over the winter is this dark burgundy sweater from Victoria's Secret. It's super-warm and thick, but it's made with some percentage of spandex, so it never feels sloppy or bulky.This outfit actually felt very dignified and pretty, despite the unflattering camera angle and the apparent frump of the legwarmers. I wear those legwarmers when I want to give the feeling of boots, but with the on-my-feet-all-day comfort of my Dansko clogs. I have black ones with spat-like buttons for with my black Danskos, and the same ones in brown for with my brown Danskos. I really need to just make myself some leather spats at some point.

Worn with jeans and my brown vest (and once again the on-my-feet-all-day Danskos), it felt stylish and super-comfortable.Holy moly, my hair is down and headbandless in that picture! That almost never happens. My hair is a bit wiley.

This next oufit made me happy because I managed to wear two tricky-to-style tops at the same time. I prefer to wear this striped shirt under another layer because I rarely find horizontal stripes flattering on anyone's torso. And I have to wear a layer beneath this salmon sweater because otherwise the wool would be too itchy for my easily-irritated skin. It's not something I would have bought for myself, both the style and the fiber content, but my friend Sarah offered it to me as a hand-me-down and I've been really happpy with how it has worked every time I have worn it.That hat usually only gets worn for the chilly commute, but I forgot to take it off before I started taking pictures. But it is cute, no? Wearing these pieces together, I think I look like a high school student. I looked a little more grown up again once I removed the hat and put back on the jacket that I wore for warmth most of the rest of the day.