Thursday, March 20, 2014

Day Twenty-seven: A big push to the finish.


It seems a bit ridiculous to still be labeling these posts 'Day whatever number is the next in line' when I am the only person in the history of blogging to take four freaking months to post 30 outfits, but for the sake of consistency I'm not going to change it now. Four months is a bit of an exaggeration but these 30-for-30 (if I can even still use that moniker) posts began in December and will finish in March. I've been wearing the same clothes for all that time (with the exception of the vacation time I spent in Maui and Arizona) and I haven't felt at all deprived. Some of the unposted outfits have even been pretty good. Some have been exact replicas of posted outfits. And some have been terribly boring. But I've kept to the plan getting dressed, if not the original plan of blogging every outfit every day, and I haven't felt badly dressed and no one has wondered (at least, aloud) if I don't have any other clothes. There are still two items that as yet remain unworn or undocumented. I just need to make the final push to the end. It was a good challenge for me. In spite of not really fulfilling it in the manner it's supposed to be executed I have learned a good deal about how I want to clothe myself in the future. But I'll wait 'till the end to sum all that up.

I liked wearing this outfit but it wasn't a great choice functionally for the activities I performed today and I did not find that out until I was in the process of performing those activities. I volunteer a few hours a week shelf reading at our local library. When I'm working on the bottom two shelves of a section I have to crouch. I used to sit on the floor, but it turns out the industrial grade carpeting irreparably scuffs the finish off of my shoes so I don't do that anymore. Crouching with these boots, jeans and the cuffs of my knee high socks wedged in the back of my knee was awfully uncomfortable.


I like:

  • The boots. The make me feel ten feet tall and bulletproof. The are also spectacularly comfortable as long as I'm not crouching in them. 

I'd change:

  • I need to rethink my 'bare minimum amount' of makeup. Concealer, mascara and lip balm used to be my acceptable bare minimum. I don't think I can reasonably exclude brow, cheek, and lip color from that list anymore. I appear to have no innate color of my own.
  • While I really like the combination of these two shirts when I've paired them with a skirt, I'm not crazy about how they look with these jeans. The untucked shirt looks too puffy at the waist to my eye. I'd tuck in the black and white shirt and push the sleeves of the black shirt up to expose the black and white cuffs next time.

The verdict:

  • I'm giving this one an 8/10. I felt really very good wearing it and I was a bit surprised when I didn't love it as much in pictures as I did in real life. I think some of that is due to having had the photos taken at the end of the day rather than right after I got dressed. I'm not sure why that should make such a huge difference but it really does seem to for me.
  • Photos also really help to point up the transformative powers of accessories. When I compare an outfit like this one to some of the previous outfits that I think look great, I find that it's really the accessories that make the difference. There's nothing wrong with this outfit but it needs something to make it really shine.


4 comments:

  1. I love your insights into the capsule - I have discovered many of the same things over my years of blogging. What I thought was clownish or overdone was often "just right" when I saw it in a photo, and what I thought was acceptable was just downright blah. I also yanked up my posture, and I have a really good idea of what I actually look like. That might sound strange, but we all carry a distorted image of ourselves and think we look like that to others (this was especially true for me having lost a lot of weight right before I started my blog).

    I agree with your changes you would do to the outfit. For me, I'd like to see some colour, but that's just me. :)

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    1. You're right, of course! It's the outfits that have some color in the accessories that look the best with this black white and grey palette. I'm thinking of instituting a loose rule to include at least one colored item into every outfit. I have really liked the black and white combinations, especially in graphic prints and patterns so I'm looking to keep that theme into the summer (but going heavier on the white, easier on the black as it gets blisteringly hot here.)

      I'm in a bit of a flux phase with how I see myself- I lost 30 pounds last year have been pretty pleased with myself but my ultimate goal is to loose another 20 and, while I maintained the 30 pound loss through the holidays and through the winter, (no small feat, I know) my eye has adjusted to the 'new normal' now and I am wanting to start seeing changes again. But over all I'm happier with most aspects of my appearance than I have ever been (yay!) and I believe blogging has really helped with that- although no small amount of credit goes to my hairstylist (pixie cut=single best decision of my life, and even my husband would agree with this adding that marring him is a close second!)

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  2. I do like this outfit. I find your admission of doing 30/30 is refreshing because I think it terribly difficult to do this; too much of life gets in the way. I have had the same experience with makeup and photography. What works in real life shows up in film as non existent. I love my accessories and probably hang onto them far longer than I do some of my clothing. I don't seem to tire of them like I do my clothing. Keep up the good work I enjoy your posts so much.

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    1. Thank you for the encouragement. I really do not know how some bloggers do it. I don't have a very hectic life at all and I still find it really difficult to eek out the time to get a blog post together!

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