A Whole Lotta Denim

My initial thought when I first got this dress was, "Whoa, that's a whole lotta denim":

My second thought was, "Ooh, snaps.  I love snaps."  My third was, "Crap, I hope my thighs don't take those snaps as a sign to make a run for it."


And my fourth thought was, "That'll be so cute paired with cognac boots."  And it was:

It was also cute with a floral-print wool scarf:

Was it still a whole lotta denim?

Dress: Gap  Scarf: thrifted vintage
Belt: thrifted vintage  Boots: v. old Steve Madden (similar save, splurge)

Yes, but that's okay, because the snaps stayed snapped, my thighs stayed put, and the dress looks cute with cognac boots and a colorful scarf.



Happy Monday, All!

Gracey

A Little Dress-on-Dress Action

I haven't been engaging in very creative layering lately.  I usually just add a cardigan to whatever I'm wearing to combat the office AC.  I'm not even sure that counts as layering.  But today's look totally counts:

No cardigans here, just layered dress:

Both dresses are thrifted, the bottom dress is vintage and the top dress is from the 90s, and has a great sketched floral print:

Now, I'll probably be back to layering with cardigans tomorrow, as I do love cardigans and hate AC, but, for today, I went with a little dress-on-dress action:

Black dress: thrifted vintage (see similar below)  Belt: thrifted vintage
Floral dress: thrifted (similar below)  Sandals: c/o LTS (similar)

And I'd probably do it again.

Happy Wednesday, All!

Gracey

Layering Dresses

Not Impressed

So, this combination of cardigan and dress drove my coworkers crazy:

Dress: Old Navy  Cardigan: thrifted (similar)  Sandals: Dune London "Ivanna"

They assured me that they liked outfit well enough, but complained that it doesn't match.  I agreed, but offered that it *does* go.

They did not look impressed with that explanation.


Happy Friday, All!

Gracey

Small Victories

Remember last week when I said it was so hot that I basically had to wear summer dresses every day? Well, that is no longer true.  I mean, I'm still wearing summer dresses:

But now it's because it's warm enough that I *get* to wear summer dresses every day; I'm no longer being forced into it by unreasonable levels of humidity.



Today's particular summer dress is a floral shirtdress (because of course):

I paired it with a pre-knotted belt because when I try to knot belts on my own, they don't look remotely right:

I also wore my increasingly ubiquitous lace-up sandals and bright green earrings:

Dress: thrifted  Earrings: Kate Spade New York
Belt: LOFT (similar here & here)  Sandals: Dune London via Nordstrom

To recap, it's gone from stupidly hot to pleasantly warm and I didn't have to try to knot my own belt.  These are small victories, but I'll take them.



Happy Thursday, All!

Gracey

Bold Floral

It's been so hot lately, I've been essentially living in summer dresses, with a cardigan for work, of course.  Today's summer dress is a bright, bold floral:

Paired with red shoes because, as it turns out, I love red shoes:

And I think they're especially good with a bold floral:

Dress: vintage  Belt: thrifted (similar)  Shoes: Fidji via Shoes.com

Happy Monday, All!

Gracey

Shop Bold Floral Dresses

Rose Colored Blouse, Rose Covered Heels

Generally, all things rose are my sister's domain; it's her name after all.  Still I couldn't resist these Topshop shoes with the roses embroidered on the heels:

Fancy, right?!



Fancy, and, I guess, a little busy.  So I kept the outfit I paired them with simple.  Just culottes and a blouse:

Simple. Albeit a little wrinkly.  I love a linen blend pant, especially for summer, but you bend down to strap up your adorable, embroidered shoe and you look a mess.



A well-coordinated mess, in your rose colored blouse and rose covered heels, to be sure:

Blouse: LOFT  Pants: LOFT (similar)
Belt: LOFT (similar)  Shoes: Topshop 

But, still, a mess.



Happy Friday, All!

Gracey

Optimistic Ankle Baring

After a wet, cold, rainy & sometimes snowy patch, I think Spring may finally be here.  In fact, I'm so optimistic about it, that I brought out my ankles:

As everyone knows, optimistic ankle baring is one of the first true signs of Spring.


I chose to bare my ankles with these bright blue pants:

I love these pants.  I bought them on a whim, because they were blue.  I was uncertain of how versatile they'd be, but I want to wear them with everything.  Do they go with everything?  Maybe, maybe not.  But I want to wear them with everything.


And they certainly go with this dark floral blouse:

Blouse: Nordstrom Rack  Belt: v.old Macys
Pants: Gap (similar) Shoes: Via Spiga "Nalo" Wedge

But, I'm pretty sure they'll go with a bunch of other stuff too.  In fact, I imagine we'll be seeing exposed ankles all season long.


Happy Wednesday, All!

Gracey

Wind in the Florals

I'm back to another vintage floral dress dress today:

And the weather is back to wind.

Thankfully, I'm also back to tights, or this would have been an unpleasant photo session indeed.  As it was, I barely managed to keep from flashing the school children walking by.  I might look calm and collected in the photos above, but this is what it really looked like today:

At least until the wind died down a bit and I was able to get something a bit better:

Dress: thrifted vintage  Cardigan: thrifted vintage
Belt: thrifted (similar)  Boots: gifted (similar)

And then it started raining and I had to give up entirely.


Happy Monday, All!

Gracey

Floral and Chambray

This may be my ideal Spring outfit:

Wrinkled-but-still-cute vintage dress?  Check.

Chambray blazer?  Check.

Caramel-colored boots?  Check.


Also, not for nothing, but I think this chambray blazer may be my wardrobe's jean jacket:

By which I mean the piece I will throw over any- and everything all season long.  I can't do regular denim jackets.  They make me look like a box.  And not like a cute little jewelry box with a ballerina inside.  No.  Like a denim box that a refrigerator was shipped in that now makes an awesome fort.  That kind of box.


But, the chambray blazer?  This I can do:

Blazer: LOFT (this season's version)
Dress: thrifted vintage (similar)  Boots: Enzo Angiolini "Colston"

Happy Wednesday, All!

Gracey

Literary Stylings #25 - Mislaid

For today's LitSty look, I was inspired by the book Mislaid, by Nell Zink:

I chose this book because it was one of my favorites from last month.  I had never read Zink before, but am now a huge fan.  She takes what are definitely sensitive subjects, like homosexuality in the 50s and 60s and race relations in the 60s and 70s and passing (!) for black (!) in the south (!) and writes about them with both pathos and humor.

The main character of the book is Peggy, who realized in high school that she loved women and wanted to love women.  She began dressing in masculine clothing and went to a liberal all-girls school.  However, at that school, she ends up having an affair.  With a professor.  With a homosexual, male professor.  Neither of them being experience with birth control, Peggy ends up pregnant.  And she and Lee, her professor, end up married.

Peggy eventually flees her marriage with her young daughter and in an attempt to hide them both, decides to pass as black.  In the South.  In the 60s.  Again, somehow, Zink manages to handle all of these issues deftly and often amusingly.  It's such a well written book, I recommend it to everyone.


As for my outfit, I wore a vintage dress layered over pants to demonstrate the duality of Peggy's position as both a lesbian and a wife and mother:

I chose this specific dress because although it's printed with roses, they're scribbled roses so it's not too sweet:

All in all, I'm not 100% sure this outfit makes sense in real life, but it made sense to me for this book.  And I was surprisingly comfortable wearing it.

Dress: vintage thrifted  Pants: LOFT
Turtleneck: hinge via Nordstrom  Shoes: Bettye by Bettye Muller

And now it's your turn; link your looks up below!

An InLinkz Link-up

Happy Friday, All!

Gracey

Same Print, Different Scale

So, the other day I ordered a floral blouse from Nordstrom Rack.  Soon after, I was in Sephora, which out here is housed in a JC Penney, and I spotted what looked like the same floral print.

And it was the same print, just on a different scale and in skirt form.  So, of course, I immediately purchased said skirt and promptly wore both pieces together:

See?  Same print, different scale:

Also, studded boots.



Because I figure that if you happen to find two items in the same print but a different scale, you're practically obligated to wear them together:

Blouse: Wayf via Nordstrom Rack  Skirt: JC Penney
Turtleneck: Gap Tights: SPANX  Boots: Ash (similar save, splurge)

Right?  Right.

Now, unfortunately, I can't find either the top or the skirt online, but I've picked some coordinating pieces below that I think would be pretty great together.


Happy Monday, All!

Gracey