The Space Between My Peers

 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:

• Mom bought me the safari style jacket for Christmas. 
• Same pants I wore last year. 
• Same shoes I wore the year before.

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? 

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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?

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LOL. I wrote this post during my computer time yesterday, but when I went to post it last night- it was gone! After trying everything I could think of, my hero asked me, “is there any way it could just “show up tomorrow?” This morning I had the brainstorm to search the blog using the term “trench” and sure enough I found it. Right there where I left it, in December of 1969!

Sadly, this is the best I could do with the silver-grey trench. After debating whether I could pull off a “cute Columbo” look, I decided it’s just not me. I love the crisp look of a well-fitting trench. This is not it.

One is left to wonder what Gap executives were thinking when they offered a trench which can neither ironed nor dry-cleaned. Thankfully, I only had $1, plus tax, time, and energy into it.

Back to the drawing board. Shown here with my other finds from this week’s Value Village venture: the dark denim unbelted trench with the tags still on it - $1. Which brings to mind a great question to ask yourself when thrifting:

if I had bought it when it first came out, would I still be wearing it?

This is an especially helpful question for people who are losing weight or for any other reason are having to build a wardrobe in a hurry. Which circumstance I feel I am sort of in right now for two reasons:

1. I spent almost no money or time on my own wardrobe last fall when I was costuming Little Women
2. Spring is without a doubt my most challenging season to for which to dress.

Still standing, just in a little street in Trieste, is this first century Roman arch. Until this trip, I don’t know that I had shown any pictures of my winter coat. I love the color! My question to you is this: are you tired of this coat silhouette? It was so common a few years ago that I feel like I should be tired of it, yet I find that when I see a woman wearing a coat of this cut, I still like it. (Which is a good thing, since my new spring one is very similar.)

(click on the picture to see it a little bigger OR this link to a picture where you can really see the coat.) 

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Just for fun, a church youth group held an event they called The $10 Prom.  To attend, your outfit needed to cost you no more than $10.

What the ladies wore: 

1. Purchased from Goodwill that afternoon for $8, with my grandma’s old shoes.
2. My sister’s old prom dress, with the sleeves removed and approximately $3 worth of blue ribbon added (by the wearer, not me).

I like your bows; they’re real big.

Nice hair, ladies!

Coming next week: what dd wears to the real prom (a frugal find indeed).

Okay, now let’s talk about dancing.

1. Do you ever go dancing?
2. Do you have any ideas about clean environments for young people (or old) to experience dancing?
3. Is dancing an emotionally charged issue for you?
4. Do you wish you knew more?

Personally, I don’t think I enjoy the experience of listening to music as much as I would if I a)  knew how to dance, or b)  knew how to sing, or c) knew how to play a musical instrument.  I’m handicapped. 

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Mainly an excuse to share more pictures with you, I will also use this post to illustrate a basic “personal best” what-to-wear principle:

The best neckline shape to flatter your face is roughly the shape of your jaw

This seems like it should be obvious, but we miss it because most advice is from the paradigm of what flatters the figure rather than the face.

(Read more back here, where I explain the basics of how deep the neckline should be.  And see dcrmom model several different t-shirt necklines, noting the lines they emphasize in her face, in this fashion lab.)

In the pictures of me at the Torri d’Europa, Karen noticed my square jaw.  Which totally explains why I long for square necklines and despise v-necks.  Yet I was wearing a v-neck in the picture.  Ugh!  I should just get rid of that top! (Oh, and one more link, and one more thing I did wrong: combining colors in layered necklines.)

But then I found a headless pic that I had overlooked, one in which I was wearing the offending tee but cleverly combined so as to form a (rounded) square neckline. 

What do you think?  (Click on the pic to see it bigger.)

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Torri d’Europa (tower of Europe).

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Arriving by train in Venice on a gorgeous spring day, I quickly became aware of the differences in how people relate in a tourist city versus in Trieste.  In Venice, most of the service personnel in the street spoke to us in English.  In Trieste, hearing English spoken tends to draw curious stares; in one store, when the proprietress figured out that I don’t speak Italian she actually rolled her eyes. he hee!
Okay, so here’s my question:  Which of the “pack accessories” hanging on my body marks me out as American?

And here’s a bonus picture, a rare view of the back of my hair.

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After a couple of rainy days, the weather cleared up and turned spring. Yesterday we walked downtown. While I was happy later that I had brought my coat with me, my daughter reminded me that if we had our picture taken with our coats on it would basically be the same outfit we had already pictured.
A few comments about what I am wearing:

1. The pants are the ones I wore on the plane.  They are so comfortable!  Purchased at Value Village, they are Eddie Bauer and I paid a single dollar for them.  I think I got my money’s worth, don’t you?
2. I love my flats and they were great for the plane, but this day’s walk was a bit too far to go in them.  Also, I should add that I am not seeing many ballet flats or moccasin-type slip-on shoes. 
3. For spring of 2008, I am relying on black & white & pink as my basic color scheme and it’s working really well for me.  I am still wearing lots of other colors, but when I’m having trouble making a decision it’s black/white/pink.

And a sad story:  this particular outing, we met some friends downtown and, while the dads watched the kids play in the town square, the ladies went to a fancy “bar” (a gourmet coffee bar).  DD ordered a hot chocolate, which was more like American cooked chocolate pudding than American hot chocolate milk (if anybody knows how to make Italian hot chocolate, please leave a recipe!).  I ordered coffee with caramel, stirred it, licked the spoon, and promptly knocked it over, spilling the entire thing!  I have never come so close to crying over a spilled beverage.  Of course, I knew it was good because I licked the spoon.  And I couldn’t even order another, I didn’t have any euros yet.

More later!

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Hey!  I look better than I thought!
Arriving in Trieste on Wednesday, the weather was beautiful and sunny. The following two days it rained. I have never seen so many great umbrellas! If I didn’t already have one I like, I’d be shopping for one here.

What I will be shopping for: shoes!

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Just a quick update.  We arrived safely and are having a great time. 

For the nine hour international flight, I initially felt very hot and restricted.  The seats were astonishingly small!  I stowed my coat in overhead storage, retrieving it prior to landing (we only had a little over an hour to make our connection in Munich - a whole ‘nother story!), I took my jacket off and stuffed it under the seat, getting it back out later to use as a blanket, and I rolled the sleeves of my dress shirt up until the air kicked in.  Other than that, I was quite comfortable in the outfit I chose. 

And I received several compliments on my shoes! 

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