Color-coded clothing

red-orange | pink | off-white | navy | grey

Hole in my sole

Happened to look down at my feet while walking the other day and saw a funny thing:

At first I thought I'd stepped on something sticky, but it didn't go away.  Since I was walking downhil and downstairs, I thought not to risk a tumble.

When I got home, I slipped off both shoes and flipped them over.  To my surprise, I was met with the following sight:

Worn clear through!  And after only five months!  I guess this is what happens when one wears the same pair almost every day and walks about 0.8 miles, including up and down hills and stairs.

I'll go to the cobbler downstairs to see if re-soleing these is worthwhile.  If not, I'm in the market for new work flats.  Because I'm not going to be one of those women who wears sneakers with slacks and skirts. *shiver*

Thrifting!

It's been a while since I've got my thrift on, which speaks to the thrilling and busy weekends I've had, with friends and other social commitments, of late. A recent Saturday afternoon with nothing to do left me with a few hours to hit up two local joints, which in turn scored me a few items to wear and some to use as raw materials for future projects.

Above: a couple pairs of running shorts; a silk blouse (it's Jigsaw, which totally reminds me of the UK!); and a cream-colored 3/4-sleeve jacket that's fully lined and fits me to a tee -- for $6.50! Below: a pair of suede pants and a Donegal tweed skirt. I'm such a sucker for the little flecks of dark brown, yellow, and blue! I have at least one idea in mind for these materials, and will try to work on a prototype before summer's end.

I did find a couple of cashmere sweaters that were so soft and were perfect candidates for recycling, but I decided to be more realistic about how much time that would take vs. how much yarn I already have.  (Many of my friends would be proud of that move.)  The big find, however, was awaiting  -- as you may have suspected -- in the housewares section.

The organized chaos of the housewares -- a.k.a. "bric-a-brac" -- section always cries out to me, and this time the awesomeness was easy to spot for its distinctive hourglass shape and leather + wood collar. It's a Chemex coffee maker! I'd learned about them from the kitchn and saw one in action when I went to Intelligentsia for a birthday coffee. When I saw it sitting there on a shelf amidst other random glass pieces, out came the trusty iPhone for product and image searches. I didn't find too much information on any reproductions, and after someone else picked it up (What is this? said the expression on their face, before setting it down again), the anxiety I felt over the near loss made me realize that I should just buy it. At $3, I guess it's okay if it ends up not the original thing!  More research is underway; it might be more difficult since there are no markings on the wood or glass, but I'll see what the Internets has for me.  Up ahead is the trip to pick up some filters, the making of coffee, and the comparison with my standby and trusty French press.  Stay tuned!

Project: Fashion diary

As I've mentioned now and again, I try and edit my closet at close intervals.  In addition to desiring to justify the shopping excursion I wanted to  ensure I was wearing all of my clothes, instead of a few favorites.  So I decided to photograph what I wore to work each day for a month.  The experiment was not just to test my clothing rotation, but to see whether I would do so intentionally because I knew I'd be documenting it.  I started off pretty strong, but waned off a bit when I was out for nearly a week with a sinus cold.  Still, a dozen and a half shots creates a pretty good glimpse at my style:  mostly neutral/darks, mostly solids.  Occasional pops of color and texture.  Is there one word or phrase to describe it?  What would you call my style?

[june 2011 fashion]

In a light bulb moment (some call these flashes madness) I came up with the *brilliant* idea to also sketch my outfits.  I added notes to describe colors and textures my meager drawing skills could not capture.  I also added details about where I got the clothes, and, if I remembered, how much I paid for them.  It helped me see that many of the items in my closet are hand-me-downs (from Mom or Jaxs) or gifts (like the suede jacket from Dad and scarves from family and friends), or purchased on sale.

[june 2011 fashion sketches]

Result:  I'm happy with the way I dress!  I feel good in and about what's in my closet, and this is a project I'd do again, maybe in the winter, or maybe during a trip.  While continuing to edit, I will try harder to pull out some less-worn garments.  I just did laundry, too -- including hand washing and ironing -- so have a lot more choices at the moment.  And I just scored a couple items at the thrift stores.  But more on that later!

What's in your closet these days?

Been shopping

I broke my resolution against shopping.  Couldn't pass up a good sale at Banana Republic, especially when the salespeople were handing out cards for additional discounts and I get the card for 50%!!  I picked up a little bit of everything: top, jeans, skirt, dress.  The total ended up being something like $78; not bad, right?!  Here's what I got:

[BR buys]

The top is appropriate for work, and can be worn casually, too.  The jeans are a nice, dark wash with a slim, straight leg (I can't do the skinny jeans; they make me look like a tween skater!).  The skirt is silk, which means I'll be wearing it a lot this summer (olive is my new neutral).  And I love the dress because it'll be perfect for MyKo's wedding, it's got pockets, and the final price was 75% off the original tag -- score!  I sure can live with not following through on a resolution if it means adding meaningful and long-lasting pieces to my wardrobe!

Closet

As much as I would like to be one of those people who goes through their bag and mail each day, who puts their clothes away immediately, and who makes their bed each morning, I must confess that I'm simply not that neat.  Rather, things tend to pile up.  So weekends are for cleaning.  Which is especially nice since Monday is garbage collection day.

Part of each weekend clean has been continuing to pare down my belongings (I think it's great that these days, on the blogosphere at least, it's called "editing" or "curating" -- it allows every Plain Jane to become a little bit fabulous, don't you think?).  I even started putting clothes that I really like in the give/sell/donate pile, simply because I don't need so much!

Well, I thought I was doing a good job on cleaning (or "exfoliating," as Jess calls it; during the summer I started her Summer Slim Down and decided to take it into autumn).  But then my brother and I started going through my mom's stuff last month.  I sorted clothes and toiletries; he did shoes and some paperwork.  And I ended up bringing two armfuls of clothes home for myself! 

I picked out one or two of her old school blouses, a couple sweaters, and -- ironically -- some pieces I'd given to her back in the day.  The gems, though, are her beautiful, hand-sewn traditional ao dai.  Some of them are from when she was still single, so they're precious as my-mom-before-she-became-my-mom mementos.  The fabrics are something else, too.  Lovely silks and brocades.  I've always loved the one with multi-color flowers on blue [middle], which I never saw my mom wear, and the teal brocade with spider mums [second from bottom], which is such a unique color and thick and rich and great for winter.  The ao dai take up a lot of closet real estate, and I have to squeeze into some of them a bit, but I'm sure they can be altered.  It feels nice to have her clothes so seamlessly integrated among my own.

[ao dai]

Living simply often means cutting out the sentimentality that makes us keep what we don't need, but I'm allowing myself to hang on.  Perhaps, as time passes, I won't feel the need to keep them any longer.  And at that time, it'll be okay to let go.  Besides, I'm sure I can find something else in my closet to let go... like my old high school prom dress!