Circle of Clothes: Recent Hits and Misses: Spring

Continuing in the vein of last week's Recent Hits And Misses winter recap, I here present a recap of hits and misses among outfits I remembered to photograph over the spring months.

I spent the whole day in this next outfit feeling like a cute Japanese anime super-hero character!

And not only did I get to wear my silver super-hero boots and that cute new tunic top, but I was able to top it all off with a silk scarf that was given to me as a gift to mark the beginning of my friendship with a Chinese graduate student named Huihua, who I met in the fall.

The scarf is printed with designs of Beijing opera masks, and Huihua understood that I was especially excited about it because it's not only pretty, but also relates to what I do for a living. Offering me this gift as a token of friendship was such a kind gesture, and I was so honored and humbled to receive it from her. Huihua is back in China now, but I hope to get to visit her there one day.

That scarf also worked its way nicely into this HOLY-CRAP-I-WORE-THIS-SPARKLY-TOP-HAT-TO-WORK outfit.

I bought this silly little sequined top hat headband on a whim after browsing an accessory rack, thinking maybe I could wear it for a New Year's Eve party or something like that.

I have worn this jacket with jeans many times over the years, allowing me to feel both comfortable and work-appropriate but not boring, but I felt like I'd worn them the same way so many times that they needed some pop. I was rifling through my scarves and headbands for an interestng accessory... et voila!

The phone rang after I pushed the timer button on my camera, so it caught this shot of me answering.

I feel like I look like I'm getting away with something, which... yeah, I am. I'm wearing a sparkly miniature top hat to work!

I'm surprised to find that I think this next outfit looks rather nice in the photos, because every time I caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror that day, I couldn't wait to go home and change. I kept thinking that I wished I had just worn my long brown leggings instead of these cropped leggings.

I didn't like how the white skin between the tops of the boots and the bottoms of the leggings felt like the biggest focal point in the outfit, and broke up what would have been an otherwise flattering leg line.

But with this next outfit, I was very happy with how the cropped leggings worked on my legs, even with my Dansko clogs which can often make an otherwise lovely outfit feel a bit schlumpy-frumpy.

When I first puchased this short and slinky spaghetti-strapped dress, I imagined that I would only wear it for going out social dancing (my non-work life revolves around ballroom, latin, swing, Argentine tango, etcetera). But I decided to challenge myself by trying to find a way to make it work-appropriate, and it was surprisingly easy because these leggings, shrug, and flower clip in my favorite color, which I like to call Caribbean blue (see also the wall behind me :-) ) almost matched so well that they looked like they were made for it.

In fact, this outfit is more matchy-matchy than I usually go for.

Wearing one of my going-out-dancing dresses all day made it feel like so NOT a workday, even though this was actually a week when I worked very long hours every day.

Due to my recent dancing-induced weight loss, I had to do a major alteration to this skirt, but I'm so happy with how it turned out!

It's such a simple shape that you wouldn't think it would have been difficult to alter, but that patchwork corduroy is suprisingly awkward to work with, and a lot of the seams I had to separate were double- or triple-stitched.

If you saw my stage blacks post a few months ago, then you might guess that this next outfit is one that I wore during a dress rehearsal week in order to be a good example to the wardrobe crew students that I was training.

You would be correct. With the removal of the colorful accessories and the addition of long sleeves, this outfit would be an example of acceptable attire for a wardrobe crewmember working backstage during a show.