Author: gacemonster

Week 14: Jewelry as the focal point

I always feel like I forget about accessories. Whenever I’m planning themes and outfits, I forget to add jewelry. It really adds depth and completeness to outfits. I was looking through some of my older posts and realize some of my outfits feel a little overly simple or not completely put together.

This week was meant as a way to fully embrace the value of jewelry. My outfits were purposefully built around the jewelry itself in an attempt to draw attention to them and bring them into spotlight.

I found out that I really like some jewelry (and not others) that I own. I legitimately get annoyed by bracelets because they make a lot of noise and make it difficult to type at work. But making myself wear earrings or necklaces or rings- which I always don’t take the time to add- made me feel great about all my outfits this week!

I hope you like them, too.

 

Monday

IMG_7049 Top: Anthropologie, Pants: Everlane, Shoes: Calvin Klein, Earrings: my mother’s, Necklace: Charming Charlie

 

Tuesday

Shiny.

IMG_7061 Top: J.Crew, Skirt: J.Crew, Shoes: Madewell, Necklace: J.Crew, Bracelet: Bought at a craft fair

Wednesday

I liked this a lot. It was simple, but effective.

IMG_7073 Dress: J.Crew, Shoes: Antonio Melani, Necklace: Bought at craft fair, Bracelets: Thrifted and Grandma

 

Thursday

I think these pants are a little long, I may need to hem them more. But otherwise, I love this outfit and the jewelry really does add to it.

IMG_7090 Top: Ann Taylor, Pants: Asos, Blazer: Ann Taylor, Shoes: 1.State, Earrings: My mom’s, Necklace: My grandma’s

 

Friday

IMG_7116 Dress: Calvin Klein, Shoes: Rothys, Earrings: my mom’s, Necklace: gift from my mom

Week 13: Clothes I haven’t worn in ATL

I moved to Atlanta in August., and I’ve been working at the bank since October. And yet there are still professional clothes I own that I’ve never worn here.

The reality of why is this: I don’t really like these clothes. This week was me forcing myself to put on pieces that I don’t gravitate towards.  I learned a couple things this week. Some pieces I was wrong about. I will definitely begin incorporating some now. And others, I probably need to donate.

Originally, I had 5 outfits this week. Each outfit contains two pieces I’ve never worn while here. But I was sick Monday, so I never ended up wearing one outfit.

I hope this inspires you to take pieces out of your closet and make yourself wear them. Or at least get rid of them and make more space for better-loved items!

 

Tuesday

The shirt and the shoes have never been worn in Atlanta. I actually love this shirt. I used to wear it all the time in Omaha. I think I haven’t worn it here yet because it’s sheer and for awhile I was nervous about whether or not that was “appropriate” at SunTrust. Then I decided I didn’t care. Welcome back sheer shirt.

The shoes. lol. I can’t even be sure why I own these. There are so many things about these that aren’t “me”

IMG_6996 Top: Ann Taylor, Skirt: J.Crew, Shoe: Truffle Collection

 

Wednesday

Again, top and shoes are the pieces I haven’t worn. The shirt just.. isn’t really my style. It’s a cute top, but I find styling it hard.

And the shoes. These shoes. At one point in my life, did I think I wanted to be a diet cowboy? I don’t understand the shape and cut of these shoes. I will be honest. They’re incredibly comfortable, and it is nice to own a full foot-covering shoe for winter that isn’t a boot. But that’s what brogues are for.

IMG_7011 Top: Sugar Lips, Skirt: The Limited, Shoes: Lucky Brand, Cardigan: Ann Taylor Loft

 

Thursday

Again, top and shoes are my pieces in this outfit.

This is probably my favorite outfit this week. It was somehow winter floral.

I don’t pick up this shirt a lot, but I realized this week that I genuinely like it. I will be re-wearing.

The shoes I really like the idea of, but I have a hard time finding outfits to go with them. I think it’s the rounded toe? I have some kind of bias against rounded toes.

IMG_7018 Top: LUSH, Pants: J.Crew, Blazer: J.Crew, Shoes: I have no idea

 

Friday

Today was cardigan and shoes. I’m realizing there’s a slight pattern to some of the shoes I never wear. These felt a little cowgirl, similar in shoe genre to Wednesday’s shoes.

And I haven’t worn the cardigan just cuz I don’t often wear cardigans, but I definitely like this piece!

IMG_7022 Dress: J.Crew, Cardigan: Anthropologie, Shoes: Lucky Brand, Necklace: Thrifted

Week 12: Goth Professional

This is a fun one. We all know about my past life as a goth. I’ve decided to re-embrace that in a professional way here. It’s not all black-on-black outfits. But it sure is a lot of black.

At one point in this blog, I think I joked that I would be able to do an entire week dedicated to black clothing. This is me squaring up on that statement and taking it one step further.

 

Monday

Starting strong.

IMG_6948 Top: J.Crew, Skirt: The Limited, Shoes: Madewell, Necklace: Urban Outfitters

 

Tuesday

This is highfalutin goth. She’s the one that only goes to the most exclusive underground goth trance clubs.

IMG_6955 Top: J.Crew, Pants: Spacegirlz, Shoes: Tahari, Necklace: Forever21

 

Wednesday

I actively wanted to line the entire outer portion of my eyes with eyeliner wearing this one. Fancy, fierce, professional goth.

IMG_6964 Top: J.Crew, Pants: Gap, Blazer: Doc & Amelia, Shoes: Kelsi Dagger, Necklace: Robyn Rhodes

 

Thursday

Nothing more traditional than a white-collared Victorian goth look. It can be really feminine, too. I’ve edged up a bit by the square toe boots and the denim material on the dress.

IMG_6983 Dress: Asos, Top: Forever21, Shoes: Shelleys London, Tights: No idea, Belt: Nation’s Leather, Ring: No idea

 

Friday

I actually worked from home this day. It’s the Superbowl this weekend, and so no one in the office wanted to deal with downtown traffic. But this is Friday goth. She’s a little fun, a little casual. I think the loose fit of both the top and bottom create a nice silhouette, and the platform shoes are such a great “goth turned brogue-wearer” piece.

IMG_6989 Top: J.Crew, Pants: Ann Taylor, Shoes: MONKL, Bracelet: vintage from grandma

Week 11: Statement Shoes

Four day week, four pairs of shoes I rarely wear. Most of them are new and are also opinionated. So it felt appropriate to make a week dedicated to the strength of the shoe.

The outfits I chose this week are meant to highlight or complement the shoes. And while the focus isn’t necessarily solely (hah) on the shoe, the purpose of my outfits this week was to bring attention and appreciate the shoe choice.

Hope you like it!

 

Tuesday

Just bought these babies. They’re tweed texture and have a short block heel. Which means they’re infinitely comfortable and much more interesting than a plain gray heel for me.

img_6908 Dress: J.Crew, Shoes: Marc Fisher

 

Wednesday

I got both compliments and questions on this outfit. Yes, it’s technically winter in Atlanta. Winter, at its coldest down here, is about 30 degrees. So while this outfit may not be 100% appropriate for winter weather, keep in mind that I walk to work every day in workout clothes and change into my outfits at work. So it really doesn’t matter if my outfits match the weather outside, as long as they’re fine indoors. Hence why I rarely wear tights to keep my legs warm (also because tights are annoying and I don’t like wearing them) and also do things like wear obviously summer-appropriate slip-ons. See below for reference.

img_6917 Dress: Ralph Lauren, Blazer: Doc & Amelial, Shoes: Franco Sarto, Belt: No idea

 

Thursday

Grandma librarian. I really enjoy chunky cardigans and pencil skirt combos. These pale pink corduroy loafers look great with the gray.

img_6930 Top: Dex, Skirt: J.Crew, Cardigan: BDG, Shoes: Kelsi Dagger

 

Friday

These shoes are so great. They’re such a strong statement, if felt appropriate to go entirely black and put the entire focus of this outfit on them.

img_6939 Dress: Antonio Melani, Shoes: ASOS

Week 10: Esther Quek/Menswear

Okay, everyone. It’s menswear week. This is part two of a two-part Esther Quek theme. I like menswear-inspired looks independently from her fashion choices, but girl was revolutionary in the modern take on menswear. Bright, primary color suiting, fitted in a feminine way. It’s such a beautiful balance of men’s and women’s stylings, that is both professional and interesting.

Esther was doing this stuff like 5 years ago, so I’m coming a little late to the party. But, to be fair, I’ve been choosing menswear inspired fits for most of my life.. so who’s borrowing from whom, really?

I’d like to go on record saying I loved this theme. I had some very high-level meetings at the end of the week, so my Wed-Fri outfits are a little more stepped up than I would usually do it. Still managed to make them my own, I think.

What’s bizarre is that I actually own and regularly wear several men’s shirts. I chose to wear none of those this week, as I was going for truly feminine silhouettes, while borrowing outfit ideas from my well-dressed brethren (shout out to Connor, who I’d like to believe would appreciate these fits)

 

Monday

I loved this look. It’s cheetah print, something I never see on men in my office, but it’s such a masculine silhouette. I love it.

img_6835 Top: J.Crew, Cardigan: Express, Pants: Everlane, Shoes: G.H Bass & Co

 

Tuesday

Check out my dang sweatervest

img_6839 Shirt: Forever21, Sweatervest: Jones New York, Pants: Gap, Shoes: MONKL, Necklace: Francescas

 

Wednesday

img_6853 Suit: J.Crew, Top: Ann Taylor, Shoes: Antonio Melani, Necklace: My grandma’s

 

Thursday

This was probably my favorite outfit this week. I really enjoyed the femininity of the pink contrasted with the black blazer and shoes.

img_6860 Top: Gianni Bini, Blazer: Doc & Amelia, Pants: ASOS, Shoes: Tahari

 

Friday

Yes, this is a velvet blazer. It’s amazing.

img_6873
Top: Ann Taylor Loft, Blazer: Fashion Union, Pants: Gap, Shoes: Madewell, Belt: Nations Leather

Week 9: Esther Quek/Pattern-on-Pattern

Let’s talk about patterns and Esther Quek. Two things inexorably linked in my mind.

Esther Quek is a fashion editor in the Middle East. She’s known for her fantastic menswear looks and as a color/pattern guru. Seriously, I’ve never seen anyone wear prints as well as her.

Patterns are hard. Wearing multiple patterns/prints at the same time is almost impossible to pull off, unless you know what you’re doing. I do not know what I am doing. But here we are.

Real quick, I’ll be using pattern/print interchangeably in this post. They are different, but for my purposes I don’t need to distinguish between them. (Pattern = any repeated design that is either printed on or woven into a fabric; Print = a pattern applied to fabric with dye, but not woven into fabric)

I call upon Esther’s skill to guide me through this week of pattern-on-pattern work fashion.

After this, I’ll try for the 2nd half of Esther’s signature looks. Look out for menswear next week!

Also a note. I tried something different with my pictures this week. The whole point of patterns are the details, so I used the app Pic Stitch to highlight them.

 

Monday

Love this damn kitty shirt. I thought the two pattern sizes balanced each other pretty well in Monday’s look. It didn’t feel to over the top

img_6799 Top: Anthropologie, Pants: Gap, Shoes: Kelsi Dagger

 

Tuesday

I thought this was was really fun. I thought the large lightning print actually went pretty well with the semi-floral Jackson Pollacky nature of the skirt.

img_6798 Top: Topshop, Skirt: Gibson Latimer, Shoes: Calvin Klein, Earrings: vintage, from grandma

 

Wednesday

Ugh. I wish the pattern showed up better in the full outfit photo. I LOVED this stripes on stripes look. The color schemes of the top and pants fit so well together, and I loved the cheetah pattern on the shoe.

img_6797 Top: Max Studio, Pants: Anthropologie, Shoes: Calvin Klein

 

Thursday

This felt like the most “tame” outfit of the week. From a distance, you can’t tell the trousers are plaid at all, so it mostly just looks like a cute gingham look with a pop of color at the neck.

img_6805 Top: J.Crew Factory, Pants: J.Crew, Shoes: G.H. Bass and Co, Belt: J.Crew Factory, Necklace: My friend Emma made this for me in high school!

 

Friday

This one was pretty cute. I was a fan of the contrast between the polka dots and the houndstooth.

img_6818 Top: J.Crew, Pants: Frank and Oak, Shoes: 1.State

 

Overall, super fun week. These outfits felt pretty me, even if some were a little more pattern combo than I would normally pick. I had to really think about pattern combos that would work together, so I really enjoyed planning this theme.

Next week’s theme will likely lean even more into my standard style choices. Menswear is something I gravitate towards, so I hope I can continue doing justice to Esther next week!

 

Week 8: Katharine Hepburn

Okay. I did Audrey a couple weeks ago. I realized one of my outfits felt more Katharine than it did Audrey, so I decided to do a week dedicated to her.

I always assumed these two were related? They are in fact not related, at all. They just both happen to be fashion icons, came to prominence around the same time, and have the same last name.

Anyways.. I recently saw the Martin Scorsese film “Aviator” and was obsessed with Cate Blanchett’s take on Katharine. Her outfits made me so happy in the movie.

It was a very short week (3 days), but I really enjoyed it!

 

Wednesday

Katharine was a vocal opponent of skirts later in her life. She hated them. But obviously, as a actress in the first half of the 20th century, she wore them.

img_6749 Top: Southern Lady, Blazer: Ann Taylor, Skirt: Dillard’s Clearance, Shoes: Tahari

 

Thursday

This silhouette was lifted straight from the golfing scene in “Aviator”.

img_6757 Blazer: Ann Taylor, Top: Lumiere, Pants: Spacegirlz, Shoes: Com+sens

 

Friday

img_6761 Top: J.Crew, Pants: Frank and Oak, Shoes: Madewell, Belt: J.Crew

Week 7: Christmas

One quick reminder to myself: It’s a theme, not a costume.

I was off work all last week, so this was my theme the week before Christmas.  I wanted to have very Christmas-central, celebratory outfits for this week, but not so far that I’m in a Santa suit.

This is the week I’m sad I’ve never purchased any of those metallic, pleated, accordion skirts I always see at Anthro or Kate Spade during the holiday season (skirts in question below)

Skirt Skirt2

Also, one thing became abundantly clear to me deciding outfits for this week. I really hate bright, true reds and black together. It feels schmaltzy and kitschy and mini-mousey. I’m sure someone can wear black and red together in a way that I don’t hate, and I’m sure I have worn and will wear them together in the future. But in general, I find this color scheme over-done and boring. However, since Christmas colors and my own standard color palette leanings are red and black, respectively, it became tough to avoid. I did my best, though.

Monday

I’m a dang ole Christmas tree. I loved this.

IMG_6614 Top: Thrifted, Skirt: J.Crew, Shoes: Marc Fisher, Bracelets: Banana Republic

 

Tuesday

IMG_6624 Dress: J.Crew, Cardigan: Banana Republic, Shoes: 1.State, Necklace: No idea

Wednesday

IMG_6630 Top: Either my mother or grandmother’s, Blazer: Doc & Amelia, Pants: Spacegirlz, Shoes: Madewell, Necklace: Thrifted but old J.Crew

 

Thursday

IMG_6637 Dress: Asos, Shoes: Calvin Klein, Belt: J.Crew

 

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Week 6: Monochrome

This week went badly. About 1/2 the way through the week, I realized that the lighting in my bedroom is not as honest as the lighting in my work bathroom. You’ll see what I mean on day 2.

Monochrome week was harder than I realized. I was fearful of becoming over matchy the entire week, and I realized that I mostly have the exact same color in several different articles of clothing, but I do not own the requisite shades, tints, or tones (oh my!) to properly create monochrome outfits.

Let’s super quick talk about hues, shades, tints, and tones. They’re supposed to be important in monochrome outfits, but I wanged it.

Choose a color. Let’s choose maroon. That’s our hue. Now if I had black to our hue, that becomes a shade of maroon. Add white, that’s a tint. You can also add gray to your hue, now you have a tone. Color theory is a lot more interesting and complicated than this, but it felt good to write down the basics.

Monochrome outfits would ideally follow this line of thought. Choose a hue, and then wear shades, tints, and tones of that hue.

My monochrome week was a failure by that standard. Oh well, not every week is gonna be great.

Monday

Deep Blue Something

IMG_6570 Top: Lumiere, Pants: Everlane, Shoes: Antonio Melani

 

Tuesday

Here it is. My three entirely different hues of yellow-orange. One thing I noticed about this outfit was that if I removed my shoes, the dress/cardigan looked fine together. And if I removed the cardigan, the shoes/dress looked better together. The three of them together look all over the place. This was a terrible monochrome outfit.

IMG_6573 Dress: Asos, Cardigan: Urban Outfitters, Shoes: Franco Sarto

 

Wednesday

Black feels like cheating. I realize that I own so much black clothing, I could probably do a black week. #postgothchic

IMG_6583 Blazer: Doc & Amelia, Top: J.Crew, Pants: Spacegirlz, Shoes: Kelsi Dagger

 

Thursday

I have a maroon shirt I was originally planning to wear, but decided that was way too over the top maroon. I have another lighter pink nude shirt I should have worn that would have worked better for the theme. Oh well.

IMG_6587 Top: Pins and Needles, Skirt: no idea but purchased at Dillard’s Clearance, Tights: no idea, Shoes: Antonio Melani

 

Friday

If black monochrome felt like cheating on monochrome week, then suiting IS cheating. This is my first ever suit that I own.

IMG_6592 Suit: J.Crew, Top: TopShop, Shoes: 1.State, Necklace: Forever 21

Week 5: Dresses

Wearing a dress is the Schrödinger’s cat of effort exerted in fashion. It can be both simultaneously lazy and not lazy.

The key to making a dress appear not lazy is proper fit and accoutrement. If you have appropriate jewelry, coating, shoes, etc., the dress appears purposeful and put together. Ideally this week will be non-lazy interpretations of what is, on the whole, an incredibly lazy theme.

Again, it was a short week, only 4 days for me.

Monday

IMG_6528 Dress: Ann Taylor; Tights: No idea; Shoes: Shellys London

Tuesday

IMG_6545 Dress: Vintage- from my grandmother, Cardigan: Ann Taylor Loft, Shoes: Tahari, Necklace: Not sure- maybe Urban Outfitters?

 

Wednesday

This outfit was a favorite of my friends. It was a favorite of mine, too.

IMG_6547 Dress: Daisy Street, Blouse: Forever21, Cardigan: Investments, Shoes: Calvin Klein, Necklace: Francesca’s

 

Thursday

On Thursdays we wear white. Kidding. Sort of. But I have noticed that I tend to pick outfits focused on white pieces for my last day of the week… Interesting.

IMG_6555 Dress: J.Crew, Blazer: Ann Taylor, Shoes: 1.State, Necklace: Vintage- from grandma

That’s all, folks.