Clovember: More casual outfits (include a Tailoring Triumph)
When terrible international events strike, I never know what to do on social media. On one hand, it feels churlish and trivial to be posting pictures of clothes without making any attempt at a meaningful, sensitive response (intellectual or emotional) to events in Paris and Beirut. On the other, the amount of thought and research required for me to make a meaningful, sensitive response I'd be happy to stand by to something so big and complex is more than I have time and mental space for at the moment, so it would be a fairly token effort. Is a token effort better than no effort? I never know.
With that preamble, let me segue onto the clo. Two more casual outfits this time, neither rampantly inspiring, but both cheery enough.
Ahhh, Boohoo. It's an online retailer based in the UK, I believe, and it does a massive range of very cheap clothing (some of which looks it, some of which doesn't) and continual large percentage off sales which suggest that their profit margins are high and their quoted prices are there for the purpose of discounting and thereby convincing buyers to buy fast rather than ruminate. Such was this dress, reduced to so low a price ($10 or thereabouts) that when I saw it and liked the print, I figured I'd buy the smallest size left (some two sizes too big) and get it tailored to fit. It arrived, even more vastly big for me than I'd imagined, and I handed it and a dress of similar style that did fit me to my trusty Vietnamese tailor, who charged me $30 to dismantle, downsize and reassemble it. It's made of "scuba" fabric, which is a very stretchy but rather unbreathable material that means it's warmer than it looks. As such, I like wearing it with my cowboy boots (bought in New York City and one of the only pairs I've even seen which has both a grippy rubber sole *and* a toe which isn't so pointy it pinches my toes).
Then there's this outfit, which continues my spate of red, white and blue. The drapy blue jacket is from Modcloth, and it pills just as badly as the reviews state. Happily, I bought an industrial-strength mains power fabric shaver, which restored it to wearable condition and seems to have curtailed any reprise of the pilling so far. Tip for anyone who has a badly pilled but otherwise delightful garment they can't bear to part with! The white kurta I bought at a teeny local store that mostly sells online, and used to open only on Friday afternoons. A fact I discovered one Friday afternoon, on which I bought this top. It's a bit more sheer than is practical, but I like the embroidery, and a bit of white-on-blue-denim is always a fresh sort of a look.
Teamed with this low-key garb is some REDNESS. These shoes are fun, and about as close as I can get to ballet flats with my slip-on shoe issues:
I liked the idea of this necklace, but now it's arrived (coral and sterling silver bought online from Indonesia), I find myself wishing the loop for the chain was somewhere that let the pendant hang symmetrically. At the dividing line, or at the middle of the silver section so the red bit was at the bottom. My XMIL is a jeweller who could do this in minutes, of course, but, er... perhaps not.
With that preamble, let me segue onto the clo. Two more casual outfits this time, neither rampantly inspiring, but both cheery enough.
Ahhh, Boohoo. It's an online retailer based in the UK, I believe, and it does a massive range of very cheap clothing (some of which looks it, some of which doesn't) and continual large percentage off sales which suggest that their profit margins are high and their quoted prices are there for the purpose of discounting and thereby convincing buyers to buy fast rather than ruminate. Such was this dress, reduced to so low a price ($10 or thereabouts) that when I saw it and liked the print, I figured I'd buy the smallest size left (some two sizes too big) and get it tailored to fit. It arrived, even more vastly big for me than I'd imagined, and I handed it and a dress of similar style that did fit me to my trusty Vietnamese tailor, who charged me $30 to dismantle, downsize and reassemble it. It's made of "scuba" fabric, which is a very stretchy but rather unbreathable material that means it's warmer than it looks. As such, I like wearing it with my cowboy boots (bought in New York City and one of the only pairs I've even seen which has both a grippy rubber sole *and* a toe which isn't so pointy it pinches my toes).
Then there's this outfit, which continues my spate of red, white and blue. The drapy blue jacket is from Modcloth, and it pills just as badly as the reviews state. Happily, I bought an industrial-strength mains power fabric shaver, which restored it to wearable condition and seems to have curtailed any reprise of the pilling so far. Tip for anyone who has a badly pilled but otherwise delightful garment they can't bear to part with! The white kurta I bought at a teeny local store that mostly sells online, and used to open only on Friday afternoons. A fact I discovered one Friday afternoon, on which I bought this top. It's a bit more sheer than is practical, but I like the embroidery, and a bit of white-on-blue-denim is always a fresh sort of a look.
Teamed with this low-key garb is some REDNESS. These shoes are fun, and about as close as I can get to ballet flats with my slip-on shoe issues:
I liked the idea of this necklace, but now it's arrived (coral and sterling silver bought online from Indonesia), I find myself wishing the loop for the chain was somewhere that let the pendant hang symmetrically. At the dividing line, or at the middle of the silver section so the red bit was at the bottom. My XMIL is a jeweller who could do this in minutes, of course, but, er... perhaps not.
