So, about a month ago, I posted the photo below:
curly_girlie78 I’m having serious buyer’s remorse with this shirt. I junk the cardigan helps but I’m wishing I hadn’t cut the tags 🙁 can it be saved? Lets discuss! #ootd
You might have even read the original post and weighed in. I have tried to make this shirt work and it just doesn’t. I think it’s too short on me. When I look back online at the image from J.Crew, the model wearing it makes it look like there are shirttails hanging out. I think that’s what the problem is! There aren’t any shirttails on the actual shirt! False advertising!
Look at this! A trompe l’oeil!
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| (source) |
Is that a shirttail or is the shirt just jauntily bunched up on her belt loop? Either way, it don’t look like that when I put it on. See Exhibit A above. Maybe I need to wear a cami underneath and let it peek out? I need the length, otherwise, I look like a very short-waisted square.
Even as I type this, I know that I’m not going to try it again with a cami underneath! That would mean getting my hopes up one more time only to have them dashed when the shirt fails to deliver. That shirt mocks me from my closet! Every time I go in there, it just sits there, unworn. We’re going to have to part ways.
A few days ago, I heard about this website called Poshmark, which is this website where you can buy and sell fashion. You snap a few pics of your clothes, shoes, accessories or whatever, provide a description, the actual price and the price you’ll take. Presto! Change-o! Whatever’s taking up valuable real estate in your closet can become someone else’s problem favorite outfit! Check out my listings because I really want to move give these things a good home!
Call it spring cleaning. Call it purging to making room for new stuff. Whatever you want to call it, I’m trying to thin the herd that is my closet and wear what works best for me. We all know I love me some striped shirts:
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| I may need a stripe-tervention (this isn’t even all of them!) |
and I’m trying wear clothes that flatter my body type. I’m a pear or a triangle with hourglass dreams. I buy clothes based on fit, not by the number on the tag (and I have been everything from single digits to double digits but you’d never know, aside from the fact that I just told you, because I wear what fits). Still, I’ve been walking around feeling like my outfits are incomplete. Coco Chanel famously said, “Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take one thing off.”
If I did that, I’d be missing a shoe, or my wedding run, or my pants. That piece of advice wasn’t really working for me and I kept thinking that I needed to add something. I would put on a belt, only to have my eye gravitate right toward the buckle, which magnified my problem area — you know that area between my neck and my knees). I would try to tuck the shirt in and have the belt lat flat against my waistband only to look like a stuffed sausage en route to carpool. Ugh! I have scarves and hats and a bevy of necklaces and bracelets, but I can’t ever put them together in a way that made sense. It’s like fashion math; jeans + top + (shoes /inclement weather) * big hair = still in my underwear after 15 minutes of looking.
I started people watching for outfit ideas. I was in Target and saw this older lady in a cowl neck gray top, coral pants and leopard print shoes with gold hoop earrings. I’m pretty sure I have similar pieces, so I made mental note and put something together at home. I saw another woman wearing red cords, a chambray shirt and nude flats. While the red cords and I didn’t see eye to eye, I did have some red twill pants, a chambray shirt and nude flats. I threw an oatmeal colored sweater on top and thought, “Okay, I’m getting it.”
One of my dear sorority sisters N., came for a visit the other day and talk turned to fashion and investing in quality pieces. She and I both had succumbed to shopping at stores for basic pieces over and over again rather than buying the more expensive piece, one time. We’re both at a place (chronologically and financially) where we can stop buying the throw-away pieces and really invest. It’s a tough nut to swallow, though.
Case in point: I received an expensive pair of shoes as a gift recently. I wasn’t sure if they were the right size, so I bought a second pair in the size down to compare. I planned to take whichever pair didn’t fit back to the store.
Easy enough. Between the time the second pair arrived and the time I made it back to the store, I continued to educate myself on wardrobe essentials courtesy of my stack of magazines. One thing I didn’t have in my closet was a pair of black, patent leather pumps. I had a pair of black pumps that I probably bought when I was in college; they’ve clearly seen better days. Time to upgrade.
When I took the two pairs of shoes back to the store, I figured I’d check out the patent leather pumps, too. Long story short, I exchanged the second pair of shoes for a nice pair of pumps. The clerk asked me for my card so she could apply the difference. Now, math has never been my strong suit, and I assumed I was getting some money back. I carried my little happy hips out of the store and visited a few more shops before my brain caught up to my wallet.
I actually PAID MORE money for the pumps than for the shoes I was returning (let’s just say, I couldn’t swallow a triple digit pair of shoes, no matter what Rachel Zoe, Tim Gunn, Lloyd Boston and Stacy London say). I went right back to the store, up to customer service (’cause I was too embarrassed to back to the shoe department) and laid it on the counter.
The customer service rep was happy to help me with my return, though he did do a spit-take when he saw the date and time of purchase on the receipt.
Me: Hi. I’d like to return these shoes (hands over receipt).
Him: Sure, I’d be happy to help you with that. (looks over receipt). Looks like you bough these. . .15 minutes ago?! (insert spit-take here)
Me: Um, yeah.
Him: massive eye roll
I guess when it comes to investment pieces, I’ve got to start small (smaller than shoes anyway). As I related this story to N. , I was doing a mental record of her outfit: yellow and white striped sweater, green scarf, blue skinny jeans, brown boots. Hmmm, yes, I have all of these pieces. Why haven’t I put them together like this before?! So, the next day was an homage to N.
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| (thanks, N.!) |
Bonus for me! With all the striped shirts I have, I’ve got a few alterna-tops I can pair with these jeans for a similar look with a totally different color scheme. After N. left, I went back to my files – the torn out pages from Glamour, Real Simple and People with headlines like Your 10 Essential Wardrobe Must Haves! Rachel Zoe Decodes Your Closet! and Victoria Beckham’s Guide to Style! You can imagine the pile I’ve amassed. It’s starting to pay off, though. Now, when I’m getting dressed in something other than Work-Out Chic, I scan my dog eared pages for some insight.
The belt and I have decided to try it again. Belt down low, bad. Belt up high, much better. Observe.
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| ready for church |
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| just another day in the life. . . |
It’s coming along, slowly but surely. I’m glad I’m taking pictures as I go because I’m sure there will be a day when I walk into the closet and really have no idea what to wear.
Side note:
I’m doing one of the many February Photo Challenges that’s floating around the internet. Day 4’s picture was OOTD (outfit of the day). The day got away from me and I ended up trading my pj’s for workout clothes and back again. I have read somewhere that if you invest in quality workout wear, you’re more likely to wear it to work out.
Yeah, that sounds like some crap to me, too. I’m just trying to get it right and tight, maybe make the leap from pear to hourglass. I might just have a belt to help with that, too.