Clothes, Clothes, Clothes

Clothes, clothes, glorious, and at times oh so hated clothes! There seems to be lots of chatter across the blog-o-sphere about clothes at times, and I've been waiting on a photo post for a while now (cousin you should be proud it's finally arriving!). Now note: I definitely do not claim to have style savvy. I love some What Not to Wear and since my oh-so-fun days of high school have gotten much better at dressing my actual body with its perks and flaws rather than attempting to hide it.....but we all have our good days and our bad days. I do enjoy helping other people move past a dressing/shopping rut, as I do think there is something about dressing yourself well in a way that best symbolizes and fits you that can in turn impact an individual's mood and outlook. Generally speaking I love a good deal, although I also refer to the CPW principle (cost per wear) and also try to dress in more timeless pieces that will get plenty of wear.

Since conversations around clothes usually also include conversations about body image, at times its great to know what exactly those perks are and what are the areas an individual is wanting to hide. Since I've started putting on a bit more body fat recently (although ironically less actual poundage), my breasts are slightly more emphasized (which I'm not so thrilled about being that I my general work environment includes being surrounded by males 80% of the time----hub tells me to rock them however my general inclination is to layer and slouch more). However the perk to somewhat larger breasts means that my body is a bit more hour glass-ish now. Beyond the boobs (which I always try to keep the cleavage covered!), I've got great calves and small ankles.....although as you'll see with our current 30-40 degree days, they're almost always covered too!

Ironically documenting what I wore for a week only further reminded me that I pretty much have a standard "uniform" that I wear on a regular basis---although I suppose this makes it easier to get ready in the morning! You'll also see why hub gets tired of the cardigan, because if I could wear a cardigan over a tank every SINGLE day....I completely would! The irony of documenting what I wore also taught me a) I should wear more jewelry/accessorize even when I think I have added something b) Iphone shots don't provide detail and c) I'm pretty sure I'll never move beyond the fact that I hate fixing my hair--brushing just became standardized in the last few weeks even!

So without further ado:

This picture is from last week actually, but I love a good wrap dress---talk about comfortable over a pair of thick tights and a cami!

Dress: Target clearance, Heeled Mary Janes: Nine West outlet purchase 5+ years ago

And here begins the cardi over a tank demonstration with my other standard go-to choice: heeled knee-high boots ;)

MONDAY

Blue ruffled chiffon tank: Target clearance (& resized by mom), Black cardigan: Target 5+ years ago, Gray & white pinstripe dress pants: Target, Black suede boots: JC Penney sale last year

TUESDAY 

Brown tweed pants: Macy's (& a gift from mom), Red tunic: Penneys clearance (& altered by mom), Boyfriend cardigan: Target, not pictured brown suede boots: JC Penney 5+ years ago

Was Going to Wear WEDNESDAY 

Went I with: WEDNESDAY 

Black pencil skirt: JC Penney, Turquoise ruffled cardi: Target clearance, Black ruffled button-up: Target (& resized by mom), Gray ruffled boots: Outlet boot shop, Gray ruffled tunic above: Target clearance

THURSDAY 

Same black pencil skirt, Shirt: Penney's, Boots: Penney's (this year)

CASUAL FRIDAY

(aka no clients/students) and also known this month as my favorite outfit..... ;)

Skinny Jeans: sigh.....Wal-mart (Louisiana), Same recent Penney's black boots, striped sweater: Target clearance

So this also tells me......most my wardrobe is from a) Target b) Penney's c) outlets d) thrift shops. I tend to keep a lot of pieces for quite a while and there are some pieces that I have my mother take in for me dependent on where I am in weight/size fluctuations (for the last five years I've pretty much stayed between a 6-8, but closer to my undergrad I was more a 8-12). The nice thing about running a seam down the side is that it's also able to be removed if absolutely necessary. While I don't buy clothes from the most environmentally friendly of places, I also hardly ever throw clothes away (unrepairable holes and major stains aside)---I use them for long periods of time, pass on to friends/family, or donate them to various thrift stores. I suppose I'm more budget conscious than anything, as out of everything pictured only three items were over $30 and generally I won't buy something unless I love it, its completely comfortable, and I can really see how I would wear it. The other irony of this week's choices: I apparently wanted solids mixed either with red or blue. ;)

So did this post teach us anything? Probably not really, but it was fun all the same and it also helped me to choose a few combinations that I haven't intermingled quite as much---variation makes me happy! ;)

Hope you all had a great week of inspiration!