Clovember the thirtieth and final: Red and black with beret
Well, there we are. Thirty days of daily clo pix, and not a day missing. The dedication! I did plan to move directly from Clovember to style blog, but given recent events the energy and mental space to do so just haven't been there. I could just slap one up - presumably all that needs doing is starting a new blog - but I feel that a style blog ought to look, well, stylish, and as I have less html coding and website design skills than your average turnip, I'm going to have to wait until I can enlist someone to help me. My brother, perhaps, with whom I am unexpectedly back in contact after years of ignoring each others' existence. The basis for this was a skills barter: he's been forwarding me letters he's sending out to clients (he's running his own architectural business, these days) for editorial input, and I enlisted him to whip me up a business website for free. Untold fraternal harmony. Not that we were estranged, as such, just lifelong residents of opposing sides of the Family Berlin Wall. When he hasn't had any significant contact with our parents for a while (he's now living in Western Australia with an Older Woman)(best family scandal EVER, that), he's a much nicer person. Put him in my mother's company for an hour or two, and he remembers that I'm the Overrated Golden Child who needs to be taken down at every opportunity.
Anyway.
Being a lone defiant proponent of Leggings As Pants, I've never been a fan of leggings under dresses. A few years ago I wrote an LJ entry in which I expounded my views on this at length, but to summarise, the things I like best about dresses is that they are a complete outfit in one easy popover and leave the legs bare and unencumbered (I don't count pantyhose here - pantyhose/stockings are fit and proper things to wear under dresses and leave the legs bare in spirit). I therefore find it a complete betrayal of the delights of the dress to layer *under* dresses (for me - I know some of my fellow Clovemberists are fans of this, and That Is Not Me And Therefore Different). Layers go on top. The point of layering is to create an outfit which can modified to suit changing weather - which Melbourne famously has - and an *underlayer* is so hard to remove that it is a Total Layering Fail. I refused to take part in the early nineties shoestring dress over T-shirt trend (=hot and sweaty madness when the whole point of a shoestring dress is to be light and airy for summer), and am dead against anything that involves *trousers* under dresses. I was therefore a strenuous resister of the 5-6 year ago trend for wearing leggings under dresses, especially when said leggings were 3/4 length with lace around the bottom.
Today's closing Clovember outfit might appear to violate my creed on this, but to my eye, this tunic is definitely a top, not a dress, and can therefore be worn over leggings with impunity. It has a large, triangle-shaped keyhole over the shoulderblades, which is slightly annoying, because it makes what's otherwise a perfect garment for a day of 20 degrees or so leave me feeling cold, and tunics are hard garments to layer over. I might put my cropped furry cream vest (another Pumpkin Patch number!) over it for for the moment, because it's really a bit chilly for a bare back at this point.
Aside from the annoying Cold Back Keyhole, I like this tunic. It's a good red in a soft fluid fabric, and the stencilled black feather is a nice touch.
So, then, the Clovember round-up.
Dresses: 11 (yeah, I'm a dress person. Love dresses)
Jeans: 7 (includes blue in medium to dark, embroidered, and medium to light washes; olive, fawn cords)
Skirts: 7 (includes 5 pencil, 2 flared, 2 A-line)
Shorts: 1 (dark denim jeans cut off and rolled up)
Leggings As Pants: 2 (so there!)
Trousers: 1 (red ponte, which are basically thick leggings. I own some tailored trousers, but wear them almost never. I frequently like trousers on other women, but for some reason on me they just feel and look like ill-fitting workwear. Not into them much. Jeans yes, but not trousers. I think much of the problem here is that it's really hard for me to find flattering trousers - they're all designed for taller women, so the rise is too high and the legs are too long and if you take them up they're tight and loose in the wrong places. Also, while I'm small, I have short legs and carry my weight on my bum and thighs, which is also problematic for trousers. Dresses are much easier to tailor to fit).
This November has been unseasonably cool in Melbourne, which has limited my capacity to wear shorts and summery dresses. I've also been constrained by the twin forces of work, which requires that I dress modestly and reasonably conservatively, and children, who require a mother in garments and shoes sensible and practical enough to romp with and pursue them. Would have liked to unleash more flouncy summer dresses and casual outfits, but ah well. Also - not a lot of Going Out At Night, which lends itself to impractical shoes and more slinky/creative outfits. Ah well. Maybe next year. And maybe next year I should feature more of my hats. I nearly always wear a hat, but not until I leave the house, usually.
Main featured colour
Red: 2
Blue: 5
Grey: 4
Multiple: 3
Pink: 2
Purple: 2
Black: 3
Green: 5
Navy: 2
Orange: 2
Brown/rust: 3
Not a bad range, as befits a chromaphile. No yellow, though the blue and white singlet top looks lovely with the stretchy yellow pencil skirt I bought in New Zealand (alas that said yellow skirt has pilled so drastically after two wears that it's probably for the chop). Lots of cream and white and black and denim, but I'm filing those under "basics" rather than "feature colours".
OK, I think I'd better close Clovember and resist any temptation to do breakdowns on the types of prints and patterns I wore and so forth. I have the Vibrant One coming over for lunch, and the Pilgrim will be dropping the kids here soon. Must have breakfast and cook and do a spot of cleaning (cor, check out the reformed character!).
Anyway.
Being a lone defiant proponent of Leggings As Pants, I've never been a fan of leggings under dresses. A few years ago I wrote an LJ entry in which I expounded my views on this at length, but to summarise, the things I like best about dresses is that they are a complete outfit in one easy popover and leave the legs bare and unencumbered (I don't count pantyhose here - pantyhose/stockings are fit and proper things to wear under dresses and leave the legs bare in spirit). I therefore find it a complete betrayal of the delights of the dress to layer *under* dresses (for me - I know some of my fellow Clovemberists are fans of this, and That Is Not Me And Therefore Different). Layers go on top. The point of layering is to create an outfit which can modified to suit changing weather - which Melbourne famously has - and an *underlayer* is so hard to remove that it is a Total Layering Fail. I refused to take part in the early nineties shoestring dress over T-shirt trend (=hot and sweaty madness when the whole point of a shoestring dress is to be light and airy for summer), and am dead against anything that involves *trousers* under dresses. I was therefore a strenuous resister of the 5-6 year ago trend for wearing leggings under dresses, especially when said leggings were 3/4 length with lace around the bottom.
Today's closing Clovember outfit might appear to violate my creed on this, but to my eye, this tunic is definitely a top, not a dress, and can therefore be worn over leggings with impunity. It has a large, triangle-shaped keyhole over the shoulderblades, which is slightly annoying, because it makes what's otherwise a perfect garment for a day of 20 degrees or so leave me feeling cold, and tunics are hard garments to layer over. I might put my cropped furry cream vest (another Pumpkin Patch number!) over it for for the moment, because it's really a bit chilly for a bare back at this point.
Aside from the annoying Cold Back Keyhole, I like this tunic. It's a good red in a soft fluid fabric, and the stencilled black feather is a nice touch.
So, then, the Clovember round-up.
Dresses: 11 (yeah, I'm a dress person. Love dresses)
Jeans: 7 (includes blue in medium to dark, embroidered, and medium to light washes; olive, fawn cords)
Skirts: 7 (includes 5 pencil, 2 flared, 2 A-line)
Shorts: 1 (dark denim jeans cut off and rolled up)
Leggings As Pants: 2 (so there!)
Trousers: 1 (red ponte, which are basically thick leggings. I own some tailored trousers, but wear them almost never. I frequently like trousers on other women, but for some reason on me they just feel and look like ill-fitting workwear. Not into them much. Jeans yes, but not trousers. I think much of the problem here is that it's really hard for me to find flattering trousers - they're all designed for taller women, so the rise is too high and the legs are too long and if you take them up they're tight and loose in the wrong places. Also, while I'm small, I have short legs and carry my weight on my bum and thighs, which is also problematic for trousers. Dresses are much easier to tailor to fit).
This November has been unseasonably cool in Melbourne, which has limited my capacity to wear shorts and summery dresses. I've also been constrained by the twin forces of work, which requires that I dress modestly and reasonably conservatively, and children, who require a mother in garments and shoes sensible and practical enough to romp with and pursue them. Would have liked to unleash more flouncy summer dresses and casual outfits, but ah well. Also - not a lot of Going Out At Night, which lends itself to impractical shoes and more slinky/creative outfits. Ah well. Maybe next year. And maybe next year I should feature more of my hats. I nearly always wear a hat, but not until I leave the house, usually.
Main featured colour
Red: 2
Blue: 5
Grey: 4
Multiple: 3
Pink: 2
Purple: 2
Black: 3
Green: 5
Navy: 2
Orange: 2
Brown/rust: 3
Not a bad range, as befits a chromaphile. No yellow, though the blue and white singlet top looks lovely with the stretchy yellow pencil skirt I bought in New Zealand (alas that said yellow skirt has pilled so drastically after two wears that it's probably for the chop). Lots of cream and white and black and denim, but I'm filing those under "basics" rather than "feature colours".
OK, I think I'd better close Clovember and resist any temptation to do breakdowns on the types of prints and patterns I wore and so forth. I have the Vibrant One coming over for lunch, and the Pilgrim will be dropping the kids here soon. Must have breakfast and cook and do a spot of cleaning (cor, check out the reformed character!).