The Space Between My Peers

Oddly enough - ever since my recent purchase of a winter weight, casual lifestyle segment, upper layer - I have noticed in my wardrobe ruminations a feeling more rare than it ought to be: contentment. While I am still without the *perfect* pair of jeans, I am content to wear what I have. And every day I have a clean cashmere sweater to put on!

Wardrobe development concepts contributing to contentment:

• The development of a uniform template. Underlying the success of this concept is the necessity to actually own at least one of each piece. These will often be staples.
• Knowing how many of each piece I really need.

In pulling links for this post (on an absolutely gorgeous, sunny, late winter day here in the mountains of the Great Northwest!) I was reminded that spring is typically my most challenging season. I’d love ideas from readers! Spring’s coming. What will you be wearing?

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Okay, show of hands - and let’s be honest here! - who thinks piano recitals are really boring? Sadly, even the best of them (like the one we went to last night) leave plenty of time for the mind to wander. That is, if one can stay awake.

Now, I don’t know where you go when your mind wanders, but I’ll tell you what I came up with during last night’s recital: a month by month plan of outfits to purchase. Not that I’ll necessarily hold myself to this structure, but it was an interesting diversion. The “thought train” went something like this:

what if my budget were large enough to buy a new outfit every month?

I still wouldn’t be able to buy just anything I wanted.

It makes The Budget Fashionista’s $200 per month look right reasonable!

And then I went on to try to create a month by month shopping plan to reflect my lifestyle pie chart. Here’s what I came up with:

1. January:
2. February: Spring leisure outfit
3. March: a daytime dress (BTW, March is the perfect time to buy a dress. At no other time in the year will the selection be better.)
4. April: Spring/Summer smart casual ensemble
5. May: Summer leisure outfit
6. June:
7. July: stock up on basics (unmentionables)
8. August: Fall leisure outfit
9. September: suit (business)
10. October: Fall/Winter smart casual ensemble
11. November: holiday social
12. December:

Then, for the duration of the recital, I sat there and tried to figure out what the gaping holes in this plan were. And whether I could buy a whole outfit on my budget of $45/ month (probably not). And whether I should put “extra sweaters and warm gear” in January, or coats or underwear, and how often I realistically need a new swimsuit, and how it’s probably better, if this were a realistic plan, to just leave December empty.

Speaking of a realistic plan, here’s an idea for transforming a stressful recital evening into family fun:

after the performance, since we were all kinda dressed up anyway, we took the ladies for dessert at a restaurant which is far too expensive for a family dinner. We had the vanilla burnt cream along with a gorgeous view of the river.

So even if the month by month shopping plan is a miss, the dessert was a hit!

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Christie’s question concerning smart casual winter tops, which came in response to my post on the six levels of casual:

I also need better ideas for smart casual winter tops. I have a semi-wrap merino wool sweater which I like, but it seems to have shrunk in length. I like to be warm, so I look for non-bulky wool sweaters. But my first layer under sweaters usually is just a tee, so that’s kind of boring.

My off-the-cuff answer:

I was just thinking that I could get a couple of slim turtlenecks and just use them for the boring t-shirt part, topped by a snappy jacket in velvet or suede or wool. I have also been using drapy silk blouses under my v-neck sweaters and liking that.

You see, typically I think of assembling an outfit, or a uniform template, in terms of

The Base (pant, skirt or dress) + The Top + The Layer

The paradigm shift:

Brenda Kinsel suggests considering each zone as a room in a house. The larger the room, the more furniture (line breaks, detailing, embellishments, bells and whistles) you can put in there.

Based on the fact that shorter hip-length fitted jackets, the more pockets and detailing the better, are the hands-down best length/shape for me, I’m toying with this variation on the “formula”:

The Base + The Top Layer + The Connector

The top layer being the jacket, sweater, sweatshirt, etc and the connector being the top underneath which makes it all work together. Which really makes perfect sense, as the character of an outfit is created by the jacket … which I am now in the market for more than ever, for two reasons: one, I have laundry snafu’d all my favorites right out the door and two, Fall/Winter clearance.

So I don’t know if I helped you, Christie, but you certainly helped me!

What say the rest of you lovely people?  Other than that I over-analyze things.  Isn’t that the point? 

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Shopping on your lunch hour, if you work downtown, can be a great way to get out of the office, get some exercise, and get something accomplished. Tomorrow, however, you can shop your lunch hour for some great deals without ever leaving your desk. Or while the kiddos nap.

*20% Off + Free Shipping Lunch Hour Special at Wilsons Leather (1.10 10am est. - 3pm est.) Promo Code 3001

Not only that, but in the same email: $5 Belts at Wilsons Leather - Hurry While Supplies Last! I have not found the $5 belts yet, perhaps the markdown is scheduled for tomorrow, but there are some good options currently priced at $10.20.

How about this one for me?

In addition to some great deals on accessories (gloves anyone?), they have quite a few $35 leather coats. This one decidedly falls in the leisure lifestyle category, no matter how cute it is.

(And it comes in x-small!)

Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to suggest an outfit (or two or three) featuring either of these items.

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According to Sherry Maysonave, in her book Casual Power, six distinct levels of clothing are currently considered casual. No wonder we’re confused!

Her categories:

1. Active Casual,
2. Rugged Casual (also called “outdoorsy”),
3. Sporty Casual (sportswear which is not athletic, but street wear),
4. Smart Casual (or “snappy”),
5. Dressy Casual,
6. and Business Casual

How does this correspond with my lifestyle segments? The first three are what I consider leisure, the second set of three fall into the casual category.

Leisure = The least formal. Includes all athletic-wear and shorts. Jeans are usually leisure, and always when worn with athletic shoes, message t-shirts, and sweatshirts (including polar fleece).

Casual = Nicer, but still fairly relaxed. Due to geographical variations, I prefer to not define this category too precisely. Lunch with your boss, your pastor, or your grandma requires casual clothing. Business casual fits here.

If my career depended on it, which it would if I aspired to a career, I would define casual more … definitively. But on the other hand, why would I need to? We could all just read the book.

In the meantime, let’s discuss:

• which category of casual might be under-represented in your wardrobe? I know I presently need jeans (bottoms in the sport casual or everyday leisure category), but not as badly as I need smart casual winter tops.
• which category do you wish people would get straight? Or which do you see the most mistakes in? Prior to my hero’s company issuing a new dress code policy, I was seeing alot of active casual (athletic footwear especially) worn to the office.
• does this inspire any style goals or improvements? Living in the Great Northwest, I envision a snappy rugged casual (outdoor leisure) look to replace wearing grubbies or active casual (athletic wear) for dog-walking.

And finally, is it helpful to distinguish between the six levels?

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Cocktail attire simply means short, elegant dresses for her and dark suits for him. (via Glamour Greetings, which site, incidentally, lists no definition of semi-casual). The dress pictured below, believe it or not, turned up in a box of stuff from my parents and grandmother this summer. Oddly enough, nobody remembers whose dress it was to begin with. Oh well! It’s mine now! (I’m still working out the shoe thing, I have until December 20th.)

Realizing that this kind of serendipity doesn’t happen all the time, most have to shop for something to wear to their company Christmas party, let’s make this our annual collection of holiday festive-wear tips. Here’s last year’s post.  Updated to add this link to Angie’s Holiday Party Cheat Sheet.

Options for cocktail dressing:

1. The ubiquitous little black dress.
2. Dressy separates, possibly with some shine or sparkle. I took that route last year.
3. Street length (however you define that) silk dress. Try not to choose one that looks like you pulled it from your lingerie drawer. Or your linen closet.

(I will suggest that some of the garments being sold as cocktail dresses this season would be lovely worn to a party as a top.) But since I’m attempting to stay on the positive side, this is lovely (and reasonably priced!).

Another do: make your own cocktail sauce: ketchup + horseradish to taste. Yum!

What are you cocktailing in this year?

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This post inspired by damselfly.

September is an incredibly busy time. It’s the capital letter at the beginning of the school/ministry year, the kick-off for just about everything, and a time for breaking in new schedules. Add to that, this year, I am doing costumes for the show and you will not begrudge me this little break in blogging routine to do something fun. I need fun!

Go crackers this winter with 10% off plus FREE delivery and returns at BodenUSA

Which of these outfits would you choose for a first play date? And why?

Oh, hey, and this will be fun, which would you choose for me? (There is one that somehow is more my idiom than the rest. Can you guess?)

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I’m hosting the next fabulous! festival and, what with my husband’s office presently working on a new dress code, the theme for this edition is ‘the workplace’. For example: What do you wear to work? What do you wish others wouldn’t wear to work? Other fabulous posts are still welcome, of course.

Submit your article using the blog carnival submission form, for publication October 15th.

As a warm-up, here’s a fabulous link left here by a reader not long ago, in which a gay man implores his coworkers to cover up: The Kevin and Patrick Blog, Cover Your Boobies. Let the spouting off begin!

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This was harder than I thought it would be.

My challenge, and yours, should you choose to accept it, was to show one business outfit for the upcoming season and one social outfit, using only items that are generally affordable. Here’s what I scrounged up, most pieces previously shown around here:

Business

Characteristic of the individual with a strong contemporary classic style influence, most of my looks have a business edge. Unfortunately in my lifestyle I have zero need for traditional business clothing. If I did, I would wear this, but only in the fall/winter. Because of my idiom, I might also wear this for social.

• Base: black velvet skirt, thrifted for $1
• Top: white shirt, thrifted. I don’t remember the exact price, definitely under $10
• Layer: velvet paisley blazer, thrifted for $7

Social

This one can mess me up. I think I should be able to wear a sateen jacket for “smart” casual, but I just can’t - it’s too dressy, shiny.

• Base: year-round weight wool high-waisted pencil skirt, thrifted for about $6.
• Top: sequined tee, purchased on clearance several years ago for about $2
• Layer: magenta sateen blazer, thrifted for $1

See why this was hard? My business clothes looked dressy and my social clothes looked tailored. And I have no dresses, except the pink silk, my ball gown separates, and a couple of killer LBDs.

What are you wearing socially or for business this fall? Real Fashion for Real People is for everybody, I hope you’ll send in some pictures to share.

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I know we’ve talked about this here before, but thanks to the always appropriately dressed Wendy for pointing out the lovely discussion going on over at Manolo’s blog concerning the dumbing down of dressing up.

• Manolo the Shoeblogger’s September 18th entry, Dressing Down Those Who Dress Down, along with 40 or so comments, was inspired by Linda Grant’s question in The Guardian of the same date, Are dress codes dead?
• Linda Grant replies today to Manolo’s readers.

As I said, we’ve lamented before about the pressure to dress down. As for the reasons for this negative peer pressure, several have been suggested:

• Eating out is no longer a special occasion. (I know I have been guilty a time or two of eating out simply because I was not prepared to cook dinner.)
• Dressing up is perceived as “trying to show people up” or “trying too hard“.
• Worse, dressing up is perceived as having grown up!
• At “the bottom of the fashion food chain” we well know that lack of finances is not the issue.
• Could it be that we are just trying to avoid having to defend ourselves from “why are you so dressed up?”

Why dress up for social occasions? Linda Grant says it well in her original article:

Dressing down, ubiquitously known as “being comfortable”, says that you don’t care about how you look, as if your appearance were an entirely private matter that has nothing to do with anyone else. It’s the exact opposite: what you wear is part of the visible environment, as relevant as the architecture, the decor, the food on the table, the scents in the air.

Do you dress up? On what occasions? On a scale of one to ten, how exercised do you get over this issue?

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