Many thanks to Chrs for the question and the pictures for this sleeve-length fashion lab! A previous sleeve-length fashion lab tested the affect wearing a 3/4 length (or pushed up) sleeve has on visual length of the legs; the question before us now is:
what affect, if any, does sleeve length have on the apparent length of the top? Do any of these tops look shorter or longer than they really are because of the length of the sleeves?
I skipped posting for Teen-style Tuesday in order to spend time with my parents, who were in town to attend the annual Semi-Casual banquet (my older daughter was one of the special honorees this year). Mom took this picture.
About my outfit:
At the last minute, in order to more accurately repeat the contrast in my own coloring, thereby creating a more flattering ensemble, I selected the brown gingham check camp shirt.
It’s also the humor in this outfit. What’s so funny, you ask? When I was small, back in the day when brown was the “in” color, my sister and I had gingham dresses. Mine was brown. Trouble was, I always thought that brown dress meant I was boring; which faulty thinking became known as the “brown dress syndrome”. As an adult, though, I realized that my mom always liked brown, therefore choosing to dress me in it could not be bad.
Wearing brown checks reminds me that I am way over the ”brown dress syndrome”, the whole thing was childish thinking in the first place. What about you? Have you uncovered any remnants of childish thinking in your own wardrobe choices?
Becky writes:
Rebecca, several of your posts on dressing in colors that are present in your personal coloring have puzzled me. For example, I have very fair that is somewhat yellowish (also dark blonde/light brown hair) and I look horrible in colors that contain too much yellow. It seems to me that I look best in cool colors that balance out the yellow of my skin.
Nobody looks good in yellow outside of Texas, do they? 
But seriously, Becky, you bring up a good question. Your experience corresponds with the advice to Choose the Opposite Color that I blogged about awhile back. (I also notice that most of the commenters said the same thing you did, “horrible in yellow”.)
Here’s how eternalvoyageur answered:
Hmmm… I think that we have to pick what we want to highlight in our colouring (either by using these colours or contrasts) and what we prefer to conceal or balance out. read the rest of her answer …
I agree. Don’t emphasize anything you don’t want noticed (undereye circles, acne, birthmarks, etc) by matching it in color.
In one of my very first posts, on selecting jacket colors, I gave the following advice on wearing a color similar to your skin tone next to the face:
There is, of course, the danger of being washed out by not using enough contrast in your color scheme. To combat that possibility:
Finally, finding flattering colors to wear next to the face can be as simple as identifying your hemoglobin and melanin colors, by-passing the overall skin tint. Hemoglobin is the oranges, reds, and purples present in, for example, the tips of your fingers. By melanin I mean the color of your freckles, that is, the browns in your skin.
In the end, I decided against the monochromatic “safari suit” for this evening’s semi-casual banquet, opting instead for a variation with greater contrast.
I’m taking a break from watching the rhubarb grow to bring you these links from around the Splendicity community. Enjoy!
Beautiful Makeup Search picks some great makeup for the multi-tasking Mom.
NY Spender loves her new T3 Tourmaline wet-to-dry flat iron!
ParisB of My Women Stuff shares some thought on the new Origins Organics face lotion.
Viva Woman takes a closer look at toners, toning mists and facial sprays and examines how each is suited for different skin types.
Karen from Makeup and Beauty Blog interviews MAC Cosmetics Senior Makeup Artist Jennifer Karsten and gets the skinny on how it’s like to work with Kanye West.
Beauty Bento Box learns a thing or two about eye makeup via a MAC fafi eye makeover.
Beauty Secrets Revealed shares a Tropical Hair Conditioner Recipe for Silky and Shiny Hair
Beauty and Fashion Tech tries out a number of products from the new Sally Hansen Natural Beauty Line and posts a picture of the completed look.
Beauty Match discovers Cossidia Rejuvenating Capsules: Nanotechnology skincare!
Style…a work in progress ponders whether jewelry can have the evil eye when she says ” Wish me luck!”
Petite Fashionista got an email from Hayden’s Panettiere’s mom and she’s got some exciting news to share Once you read this, you better hurry and grab a ticket to this petite friendly event!
Sasha of Style Manila discovers a way to wear her vintage silk sari as a dress.
Tops 2 Bottoms offers the Bandeau One-Piece Swimsuit as a stylish reason to get wet this summer.
Indie Style File take a long lustful look at Vancouver Fashion Week.
Shoe Blitz features this chunky heel sandal, which is a great alternative to flats.
The Space Between My Peers (oh, there I am again!) recommends Making Peace With Your Body Image.
ShopDiary says Gossip Girl Serena Van der Woodsen’s Burberry Prorsum The Mason Warrior Bagwill come in handy when she eventually goes to battle with her arch-nemesis, Georgina Sparks.
Shopalicious shows you how to impress your Mom on Mother’s Day with this charming Ava Rose wicker handbag — and get 15% off too!
Her Accessories has been blogging about her favorite picks for Mother’s Day and has posted her favorite picks - sure to win you Mom points!
All that & a found a gorgeous knife pleat dress that will take you through summer.
Happy Weekend!
Raging Rouge has done two “fashion labs”, trying on dozens of pink lipsticks and glosses and photographing them to share with us.
With such a great layout, why should I do a fashion lab this week?
But I know I really want to get back to doing them, so leave a comment if you have an idea.
Yay! I don’t have to really write this post - an explanation of the color terms white, off-white, cream and beige - which I had planned as a follow-up to my previous attack on the question, because Angie has written one which is very clear and easy to understand. As I understand her explanation: there are extreme whites, (palest gray) off-white, light yellows (creams), and beiges or tints of brown.
A bit of practical, Rebecca-style advice concerning that final category:
Selecting one family of browns to use in your wardrobe will make color-coordinating much easier. Simply put, choose any brown that is present in your coloring and then use all its tints and shades (white added or black added).
Recently, when thrifting with a friend, we got to experience how this works. She had a number of brown-range items in the cart: dark brown shoes, khaki pants, cream pants, tan purse, and mid-brown purse. When laid next to each other, everything blended except the tan purse, which looked green next to the other items. That made it easy to choose what to put back!
Does God speak to you through your car radio? Strange question, but it’s amazing how often some random program can get me thinking. Like the program I heard on Moody radio (listen here), about the book Making Peace With Your Thighs: Get Off the Scales and Get On with Your Life
A couple of thoughts:
I will add to that last one, though, for me, the biggest mood disrupter, or the thing that most often puts me in a bad mood, is being left out. How about you?
As promised (ooh, stealth pun!) last week, pictures of what dd wore to the real prom.
Shortly after she attended the winter formal, and all the challenges of finding a dress, we happened on this gown, at Value Village for $40. It fit perfectly! (And is modest.) Even though she had no guarantee of having an invitation to wear it, having it hanging in the closet seemed a frugal move. An investment of sorts.
It may have been a wedding dress in a previous life; it had a train, which she saved the price of alterating by cutting off and hemming herself. The only other expense (besides necessary undergarment) was the dry-cleaning: $30.
Princess dresses like these are priced in the $400 neighborhood these days. ha ha. We don’t live there. Don’t believe me? This one from Nordstrom, the closest I could find to show you, is priced at $388. My frugal daughter spent about 20% of that price. You couldn’t make it yourself for less, could you?
Culturally, Italians over-dress. When it was sunny with a high of 75 in Venice and people were walking around (looking perfectly comfortable) in black wool coats layered over sweaters, I noticed! I was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt and had my jacket tied around my waist (along with all my other pack accessories).
However, Americans, in my opinion, under-dress. How many people do you know who own nothing warmer than a leather coat for outerwear? Here in the mountains of The Great Northwest, where sub-zero temperatures are not unheard of, I know plenty of people who never wear coats. At all.
Now we could discuss the reasons for that, or take a poll about whether we’d rather be too hot or too cold, but I prefer to point out advantages of the Italian approach (which may be common to other countries - say Canada? - as well):
Can you see yourself in one of these coats?
Especially on the nicer days, we saw lots of cycle-style leather jackets. With the sporty stripes and the breath-of-fresh-air color combination, if I had a spare hundred bucks, this one would be mine!
Many coats, both wool and parkas, were belted. Also plentiful were drop-waisted belt styles, although it was too early to see many trenches.
I just threw this one in ’cause she looks so darn cute!
The over 60 crowd were primarily sporting classicly elegant quilted jackets, alongside lots of wool, of course.
How about you? Are you more likely to over-dress or under-dress?
This late-breaking development: I’ve joined the Old Navy affiliate program. And with the price of gas up to $3.60 per gallon and more, I’m thinking more and more of online shopping. It would cost me about $5 round trip to drive to the nearest Old Navy.
From around the blogosphere:
That’s such a good question, I think I’ll end there. Happy weekend!
