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Category: What I Wore

  • exploring style through the camera’s eye

    I rediscovered my clothes this past week.

    March12Summary

    Here are a few of the things I have worn over the past few days. Only the gray corduroy pants were in the suitcase I packed last December.  If I had realized how long it would actually take me to get to my own things, I might have packed a little differently.

     

    I have noticed a few things.  First I still don't have a full length mirror in the house, for various reasons, and although I will eventually get at least one, at the moment it seems to suit me to not check how I look.  When I had a mirror, I spent too  much time wondering if something looked right.  Now I can see enough to see if there is some gross fitting problem (head to mid thigh) and I can tell how my clothes feel on and that seems to be enough.  I see my clothes.  I think of how I would like to wear them and I put them on.  I have started taking photos in lieu of the mirror, but often by the time I actually get around to looking at the photos I took, the day is over and it is too late to change anything.  Although I am not always happy with the results, it seems that I fret less over my perceived imperfections becaues it is too late to do anything about it anyway.  Besides, if my goal is to have a wardrobe of only clothes I love and which play well together without huge amounts of fretting on my part, this seems as good a technique for finding the winners as any.

     

    The blouse and skirt were worn to two different choral concerts.  When I wore the blouse out with the corded wrap belt I was overdressed, although I felt very casual. It was an evening concert and I took the small blue clutch  (1998 or 1999) shown, only to learn that most of the audience wore jeans and fleece vests and carried big bulky daytime satchels.   The picture in the bathroom mirror captures how I felt in the outfit (sleek and sinuous), the full-length photo how I actually looked, which is actually better than I had feared (not sinuous but not so bad either).  For the second concert, when I wore the blouse simply tucked in with a belt. I was slightly underdressed for the audience but felt perfectly at home.  I liked the simplicity and the structure, and the truth is that I could live in outfits like this, a simple blouse or sweater and skirt or tailored pants.  

     

    Running errands after church and before concert, I simiply switched out the blue skirt for the beige jeans and the pumps for flats.  Truthfully I felt kind of dumpy, even before I looked at the photos, whereas I had felt very sleek and accomplished the day before wearing the same jeans with the checked tunic (one of my spring Lafayette 148NY purchases). I was surprised to see that the jeans and tunic looked better when I wore the jeans rolled up above my ankles rather than long, something I thought would make my short-for-my-height legs look even stumpier.  The fact that the checked tunic is cut in an a-line rather than straight also probably helped, but I believeI could make the purple blouse work with different accessorries. 

     

    The gray outfit with the pinky-beige sweater is something I love even though tying the cardigan at my hips probably does nothing for my middle-aged tummy.  Oh well, the fit my spirit anyway and spirit trumps tummy any day.  These pieces have moved to the "keeper" end of the closet. 

     

    There are a few things still in boxes, primarily a few shoes and handbags.  I don't have room for them on the very few shelves although I think I can accommodate them by moving knitted wool scarves and shawls and the heavier sweaters to another closet for the short term, until I at least make another pass at sorting what I have, need, love and want to keep.  After that, I can do the necessary accounting and design a new closet system that will actually work with what we have, which in my case will probably always include too many shoes and sweaters.

     

    If you want to see more posts from women who probably have much better control of their closets than I, head on over to Visible Monday.

  • Monday Morning and a Dinosaur Weekend

    IMG_6881Monday morning here.  As you can see, I am still not back on my previous schedule, posting early as I did when I lived in the Hudson Valley.  But at least I found my tripod.  Unfortunately I did  not manage to find it when I was wearing my fabulous new jeans, or my lovely new Lafayette 148 blouse, and I still have to figure out the light and/or buy a full-length mirror.  The mirror issue may be important.  

     

    Screen shot 2012-02-27 at 2.22.55 PMAnyway, there is not much new here:  BR corduroy pants, white JCrew perfect-fit tee, blue tunic/dress.  All posted before.  The shoes are relatively new, picked up one day when I was running errands and my shoes, which I had been wearing all fall, decided to stretch out so that I could not keep my heels in them as I walked.  Or perhaps my feet shrank, but I think that is unlikely.  Anyway, I was hobbling and shuffling, and I stopped in the only shoe store in Knoxville I have found to be even passably worthwhile and bought a pair of black clogs, these black clogs, and I've been wearing them ever since.  

     

    But back to Monday.  For now at least, in this kind of mixed-up world of mine, I am happy for Mondays.  On Monday morning I become relatively off-duty for a whole day, after having only part-time caregivers on the weekend.  This was my own choice, having the weekend with G, and also the hope of occasionally spending some if with family, including that charming grandson.  But very often by Monday morning I am just tired, and more than content to sit in my office with a second cup of coffee letting my thoughts meander along. Monday morning is my time to think, to play, to read blogs, to take a breath before I resume unpacking.

     

    IMG_6877And I am still unpacking:  the office is still a mess, and it can drive me to distraction. But I have cleared a small corner at least, and I can turn my chair away from my computer and look out the window, which has now been cleared, along with the cheerful corner bookcase, which I finally assembled, unpacked, and populated with cookbooks this weekend.

     

    As you can see, the books did not all fit, and the collection was substantially pared down before the move (although I probably have an equal number on my Amazon wish list).  The overflow is stacked on the floor, where I am contemplating the possibility of a Sapien bookcase.  But there is time.  There are a good half-dozen books missing, not enough for a boxful, so I suspect they were slipped here and there into other boxes, hiding away in other rooms.  I will get to them, and assess the needs for overflow shelving once the unpacking is finished. The simple truth is that I will always have an overflow of books and piles are just a fact of life, so there is no particular rush.

     

    It was not all work and unpacking this weekend, however.  Sunday we went off to an extravaganza of dinosaurs with step-daughter and grandson and had a wonderful, if exhausting, time.   There were all kinds of marvelous things, with models of dinosaurs both sweet and menacing, eerie lighting, and all kinds of marvelous buttons to push, buttons that could make dino swing his head, stare you in the eyes, move his hands or his tail, or even watch dino-ribs moving in and out rhythmically as he breathed.  Fascinating to a five-year old dinosaur fan.  Fascinating to grandmothers too.

     

    I would have liked to take dino-photos, but my feeble iPhone attempts are basically laughable with all kinds of odd glowing colors.  Oh well.  I could have gotten the feel of the place had I taken the time with my bigger camera, but then of course I would have lost that grandma time.  So it is, and this is perhaps why I have never been a particularly good at the casual snapshot or the recording of family events, my personal sense that I can live the moment or photograph it, with the accompanying feeling that the photographs never quite make up for the memories lost.  

     

     

  • A New Year’s Miscellany

    New Years day was spent quietly ensconced in our small temporary abode, reading and knitting.  

     

    A little time was spent in my tiny, oven-less, two burner kitchen preparing a News Year's Dinner with a nod to Southern tradition:

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    Local Tennessee sausages with black eyed peas, and collard greens sauteed with garlic, ginger and tomato.   Not beautiful perhaps, but warm and comforting food nonetheless.

     

    IMG_6714A new USB cable arrived for my camera so I attempted a WIW photo (what I wore) on New Years Eve.  The camera works slightly better than my cell phone in this tiny space, but is not ideal.  We spent a casual New Year's Eve with family and I wore this outfit during the day as well when I was out ordering a few pieces of furniture we had scouted out during the previous weeks.  Quite frankly I was quite happy to end the year without resorting to bulky coats and winter boots. 

     

    On New Year's morning there was more banging and yelling than usual from our neighbors and much revving of engines in the parking lot. None of us have grown accustomed to having the great world in such close proximity.  Moisés returned to a favorite hiding spot. I seriously wished I could join him.

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    I'm off to see what everyone is up to on this Visible Monday.  Have a great week!

     

  • Everyday Blues

    Although sometimes I feel very comfortable standing out in a crowd, far more often I feel happiest when I blend into the background, pulled together yes, but also comfortable and appropriate.

     

    A couple of weeks ago I posted a bright blue outfit, which I was wonderfully happy wearing.  But don't go getting any ideas.  Even though I love to dress up, most days my impulses run more toward function than frivolity.

     

    Patti, at Not Yet Dead Style, says that Visible Monday is about what makes us feel wonderful/visible, and I applaud the idea of visible Monday.  But what happens when the clothing that makes us feel most wonderful is more closely aligned to our actual habitat?  Do we become invisible?  I don't really think so.  Or by allowing our dress to be more attuned to where we are and what we do do we actually allow ourselves to be more ourselves and more visibly a part of our environment?  

     

    I don't have the answers to these questions.  I am not sure I ever will.  In fact, I am not sure that I ever want to reach a point in life where I feel I have more answers than questions.  

     

    IMG_6510I've mentioned before that I live in the country, or in a small town at the outer edge of a extended suburban area, in a gray area between suburbia and farmland.  In this setting, my autumnal garb mostly consists of jeans and boots.  If I go north I  need to walk on cobblestone sidewalks.  I often need to tramp through a little bit of mud.  If I go south, I need a little more polish.  Either direction I need to remain warm and dry.  I hope to manage all these things while looking somewhat pulled together, competent, and practical but without looking sloppy.  Usually my uniform of choice for running errands about town is something like this.  

     

    The simple truth is that I feel wonderful in this outfit. I feel like I am a part of this place where I live, and yet from this place I also feel like I can conquer the world. Of course, I would rather conquer the world surreptitiously. To that end I feel well atired.   

    Fry Boots

    Michael Kors Jeans

    J Crew Flannel Shirt

    Carlisle Silk Scarf

    Fleece-lined Barbour Jacket

    Loro Piana Bag

     

    Only the shirt is new.

     

     

  • A Beacon of Visibility in Brilliant Blue

    My life right now centers around two activities:  

        1.  Packing and planning to move

        2.  Not packing.

     

    IMG_6456Usually I am so thrilled to be not-packing that I am eager for a little dressing up, even if I am only taking my spouse to a doctor's appointment or going to the grocery store.   There is certainly nothing wrong with making life an event, and I'm always up for a celebration.

     

    We had a bit of Indian Summer last week, 'though more like the Autumn that never was came back for a stunning encore.  The sun was shining and the significant number of trees that had not yet dropped their leaves (surprising since they are usually gone by mid to late October) decided that this was the time to turn.  We had the kind of glorious fall color that we normally have in October, but really didn't this year.  

     

    Autumn colors aren't really my colors, so in a celebratory mood I opted for brilliant blue.

     

    Blue Silk Dress purchased from local designer Haldora this past summer (2011)

    Long Black Cashmere cardigan, Bergdorf Goodman house label, a gift from my (at that time future) mother-in-law (1985)

    Long black freshwater pearl and oxidized silver necklace (2011)

    Black St John knit pencil skirt (2005)

    I seem to be slowly outgrowing my extended matchy-matchy phase, and although I do actually own tights in the same shade of blue as the dress,  I opted for these tights by We Love Colors (2011)

    Manolo Blahnik pumps (2007)

     

    This week is already looking rather harried, filled as it is with appointments and not enough time for packing.  Unfortunately Sunday's planned packing extravaganza did not come to pass and I feel like I have taken a tumble from the peak I was feeling yesterday morning.  I will catch up, and everything will get done, but like most people I harbor my illusions of control and get grumpy when they are snatched away. Just looking at this photo this morning has brightened my mood, and reminds me how happy I felt in that outfit.  Perhaps it is time for another dose of color therapy.

     

    Don't forget to visit the other women Patti has gathered together over at  Visible Monday.

     

     

     

  • Assessing, Wearing, Packing…

    Although it is probably possible to arrange to move and pack and also blog consistently, and I am sure there are people who can manage it with panache, I am apparently not one of those people.  So postings shall just remain erratic, regular, in that I believe I can manage more than one post per week, but not on any fixed schedule.

     

    IMG_6487I finally took Creep off the blocking board.  Getting it on my body in a way I liked proved to be a bit more problematic and there was a brief period when I feared I had created an orphan, a loved orphan but an orphan nonetheless.

     

    It proved not to be so.  Here I am wearing Creep with a black turtleneck and black Joseph Ribkhoff pull-on pants, so far the only successful outfit.  Behind me on the bed you see the pile of rejected options.  Quite a few of them will work in time, once I accumulate the proper supporting players. For example, Creep looks fabulous with my new deep greenish-black J Brand cords, but not in combination with any top currently in my possession.  And as you can see, Creep definitetely needs to be worn with a top.  

     

    There are also some issues with placement, namely taming Creep's natural urge to become a boob harness, that need to be considered.  Although there are probably situations in life where breast bondage may be desired, they are certainly outside my normal territorial rangings, consisting as they do of post office, grocery store, pharmacy, and doctor's offices.  In fact, I can comfortably say that I hope never to find myself a situation where Creep's asset-framing propensities were considered desireable, if not de-rigeur.

     

    As to other things, I am almost finished packing up my  yarn and fabric stash. Of course I have to lay my hands upon every piece, admire it, contemplate its potential and finally fold (fabric) or count (balls of yarn) each item before cataloging it and boxing it away.    I expected this to be the most time consuming, and overwhelming part of the packing process and in many ways it has been.  I will finish packing bulk of my collection today but there will still be the last few boxes to address before my self-imposed Thanksgiving deadline:  the last box of fabric, the one I hope I might get an opportunity to sew before I move, even as I know it is not likely, and the last box of yarn, which shall be the first in Knoville, the box of yarn that will keep my fingers busy those evenings first in temporary housing and then while unpacking once we are finally in place. 

  • Visible in Corduroy

    I somehow managed to get myself back into a hole last week, and ended up one post short, writing only three.  I really do prefer having a goal and a schedule, but I still somehow get sidetracked from routines far too easily. And although I prefer to be somewhat consistent with the blog, if I can manage it, I also have to admit that I am plunging headlong into a rather busy time here and may have to accept that blogging time, as well as coherent thought, may be in short supply.  Not that I'm going to stop blogging, just that I should cut myself a little slack.

     

    IMG_6211Last week was probably worth it though.  I had lunch with friends, twice.  We had family visiting and then we had more family visiting: all in all a series of joyous occasions which more than made up for the piles of work to be done when all the merriment came to an end.

     

    Here is what I wore on a rather rainy day which started with lunch with a new friend whom I wish I had gotten to know sooner, and ended with a long laughter filled dinner with G and his sister.

     

    Because it was raining, and I was running around a lot, I wanted to be comfortable and practical but also just a little bit festive.  Since the weather has been turning cooler, I thought of this lovely gray and aqua reversible cardigan by Carlisle, which is at least 10 years old.  With it I wore gray corduroy pants purchased just last week from Banana Republic, my black Aquatalia rain boots, and an aqua cotton shell I made in 2005.  The scarf is also by Carlisle, athough I don't remember the year, and the silver necklace belonged to G's mother.

     

    IMG_6220A couple of days later, after two uncomfortable and sleepless nights topped off with the beginnings of a sinus headache that would hang on for days, I was happy to have the same pants and necklace readily at hand, being out of my normal routine and having left them out.  We had more visiting relatives that day, but all I could manage was loose and comfortable.  I really would have been perfectly happy to spend the day in my jammies, perfectly invisible, but it was just not to be.  

     

    The second time around I paired the pants with an old silk blouse from J Crew, left dangling, its curved hem exposed, and a gray cashmere sweater made for Neiman Marcus, both of uncertain vintage.  As you can see, I was aiming or the feel of those longed-for pajamas, enveloped in soft layers anchored by heavy metal and kick-ass boots.  These are the second pair of Acne boots I purchased this season, incredibly profligate I know, but I love my first pair so much, that when I saw these I couldn't help myself. Someone thought the fact that I was wearing boots was noteworthy, I just thought it was an every day kind of thing.  When I wear boots I feel pulled together. I guess you have to like boots to understand.

    Check out Patti's blog for other Visible Monday posts.

     

  • Lilacs in Valencia

    Somehow it felt like I wore a lot of black last week, and it's true, I did wear black three days. I don't think I wore black three days all summer, except perhaps for gym clothes.  My gym wardrobe pretty much revolves around black pants and a black tee, but generally that is the exception to my wardrobe rules. 

     

    So, why the black?  And why is it even notable?   I mentioned last week that I am not purchasing black items right now, although I have not eliminated black from my wardrobe.  If I did I would lose most of my basic pieces, and I don't really want to have to replace them all at once.  I'd prefer to eliminate them as I purchase or make new basics that work better for me.  

     

    But black worked for me this week, partly because there were a few days when I did not feel like wearing jeans, and it seemed too late in the season to be wearing white pants other than jeans, which meant that pretty much all that was left in my fall wardrobe was one summer skirt, and black.  

     

    IMG_6140For example, there was this sweater, which I finished in August, and which has been sitting patiently on Matilda waiting for me to wear it.  Admittedly I had issues, and it was too hot in August for wool and silk anyway, but now that I've finally worn it most of those issues have been resolved.  Some garments just seem to need to worm their way into my heart slowly.

     

    I originally knit this sweater last January, ripped it out, and reknit it. The second time around I knit a size smaller, the medium, or 29" bust measurement, which fit the pattern instructions to knit with approximately 9 inches of negative ease.   The first time I was apparently suffering from cognitive dissonance and I knit a larger size.  I still sometimes do that, think I am bigger than I am, and the results are usually not pretty.

     

    IMG_6176When I decided to knit this pattern, which is named Valencia, (non-ravelry link here) I noted that several people on Ravelry said that the sweater was either too tight or too short, the shortness undoubtedly being secondary to excessive widthwise stretching. Although most of them were using different yarns, not the yarn recommended in the pattern, and although I am all for yarn substitution, I thought that yarn could be part of the difference.  The pattern was written for Cascade's Venezia Worsted, a wool silk blend.  The silk gives the yarn a subtle shine and a bit of drape, with the wool providing a bit of recovery.  Yarns that drape tend to grow or relax more than yarns without drape. I used the same yarn because I happen to love it, and because it was available at my LYS.    But the sweater still drapes more than it clings.  Were I to knit it again, I might use a different yarn, or were I to use the wool/silk blend again, I would go down another size.  The warmth of the body encourages the drape, and the sweater is looser on me than it was on Matilda.

     

    IMG_6170But I am happy with it and will wear it again and again.  The color is actually more blue than in these photos, more like the color in the original January post.  My photoshop skills are not adequate to overcome the warming effect of the rather horizontal autumnal sun.  And I believe the sweater will look fabulous with the kind of soft, muted, medium tones purple, violet and gray toward which in increasingly gravitate.

     

    But it worked with black.  And black is good too, and perfect for a transitional wardrobe when life is a bit unsettled.  I wore the sweater with black Born wedges, black knit pants by Joseph Ribkoff, and a lightweight black mesh cardigan.  Since I have several black cardigans in different weights this may well prove to be a basic outfit over the next two to three months as I pack, move, and get settled.   I really like this cardigan and wish I had another one in a different color, but since the label came off long ago, and the store from which I bought it has closed, I have no idea where to look and may end up eventually knitting something.

     

    This post is part of Visible Monday. 

     

  • Tromping through the Mud, or More Jeans and Boots

    Sometimes the simplest outfits bring the greatest satisfation.

    This past weekend was "Rhinebeck Weekend".  It was the weekend of the NYS Sheep and Wool Festival and I was up at the fairgrounds both Saturday and Sunday.  Sunday I also went to the Farmer's Market and considering the amount of traffic, and that quite a few of the parking lots were closed due to excessive mud, I found parking near the fairgrounds in a moderately muddy, but still driveable field, and walked back to town for the produce before proceeding to the sheep fest.

    IMG_6060Obviously, practicality and functionality were a consideration.  Of course I wore boots.  Specifically I wore my Frye Harness boots, my go-to boots when a lot of standing, walking and possibly questionable terrain are involved. This is actually my Sunday outfit.  Sunday was the warmer day, with mixed sun and clouds and this outfit offered just enough warmth without being stiffling inside crowded barns.

     

    Although this outfit isn't particularly stylish and is in fact probably pretty boring, I felt fabulous wearing it.  I felt completely comfortable in my skin, appropriate, and even chic, if chic can be defined as a state of mind, whether I was at the farmer's market, walking throgh town, at the fairgrounds, or out with G in the afternoon perusing old master drawings at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center.   

     

    With the boots I am wearing a pair of Agave Paraiso straight leg jeans in a medium wash, which had the pefect "feel" and weight, both physical and metaphysical.   The lightweight plaid shirt is cotton batiste, purchased at Eddie Bauer last year.  But it is the outer top that may be my favorite "new" piece this year.  New is in quotes because it is really old.  This is one of many sweet things I found in a box of old clothes that fit me before I gained so much weight, clothes that are all at least 7 or 8 years old and some even older.  Surprisingly, I did a good  job of editing that box, because not only do they fit they are styles I will happily wear.

     

    But back to the black top.  It is a pleated lightweight woven fabric (polyester and wool) by Issey Miyake that G gave me.  I don't think I wore it much.  I never wore much black (the exception being the past few years) and I couldn't quite figure out how to wear it in a way I liked.  It does strike me as funny that now that I have decided to gradually eliminate most black from my wardrobe, I find an old black piece that I adore and will wear.   I'm not eliminating pieces I love now that happen to be black though, I am just not buying black, so this still fits into the general plan.

     

    Even though the two collars were at odds throughout most of the day, I loved the shirts together.  I love the idea of wearing the Miyake piece as a layering piece, something that never occurred to me 8 years ago.  I see now that this piece was just waiting, patiently, to be rediscovered.

     

    This post is a part of Visible Monday.

  • Visible

    Issues of visibility have been weighing on my mind a lot lately.  Partly this was due to my continued absense from this blog, but partly it was the seemingly endless weeks of wearing shorts or chinos and loose tees or my husbands old shirts as I cleaned out attics and basements, oiled paneling, painted, sorted and cleaned putting the house on the market.  I felt like a nameless, faceless drudge, and although I told myself that the end result would be worth it, there were days that I truly felt invisible. 

     

    But of course there were exceptions.  I did leave the house and I did dress, although it is also true that I was letting parts of myself go into hibernation. I also cannot deny that a certain creative impulse was satisfied as I moved around pieces of our accumulated life together, trying to fit them into a specific vision of the house that I wanted to sell.  

     

    And yet, shallow as it may be, when we finally put the house on the market I felt a certain palpable relief at being able, finally, to dress as I pleased, not according to the dictates of paint and bleach and other nasty stuff.  Not that dressing as I pleased lead to a seismic shift in personal style.  I don't work outside the home other than teaching an occasional knitting class, a field not known for requiring strict adherence to a corporate dress code, so jeans tend to be the staple of my fall wardrobe. and often, in the fall and winter, those jeans are worn with boots.

     

    IMG_5970 This is what I wore the photos were taken of my house last week.  The morning started out rainy so the boots are rain boots by Aquatalia.  With the boots I wore DKNY Soho bootcut jeans, a  black turtleneck by Spanx (which I love not for its supposed figure flattery but because the wrists and neck do not sag and bag, remaining close fitting throughout the day without feelig constricting) and Teasel, a linen, wool and alpaca sweater I finished knitting in June.  I love wearing things I made myself, but I am especially happy when one of those hand-made items gets incorporated into my wardrobe in a way that lives up to the my original vision.  Even though you probably can't tell from this picture, I felt sleek and strong and pulled together.  I felt ready to stride purposefully into the future. I felt visible, but not just visible, fully myself.  

     

     

    Last week I learned about Visible Monday and seeing as how this is the week I have come out of hibernation it only seems fitting that I should join in the Visible Monday brigade. You can find links to other particpants in today's post at Not Yet Dead Style. Check it out.