26 January 2012

Fashion Schmashin . . . OR Smashin' Fashion? (Probably the Former)

I seem to be doing Kayla's Winter Fashion Challenge. I wear plain colored shirts and jeans pretty much every day. I do not have a lot of clothes in my closet (or elsewhere). Plus I hate most fashion trends. Seriously. So why am I bothering? Because I want to make at least a feeble attempt at just looking nice-ish sometimes. (And that sentence shows you just how committed I am to that.)

Day 1 was "Layering." Kayla said, and I quote, "Anyone can throw a cardigan over a t-shirt and call it layering..try and push yourself a little." I do not like layering. I have never been a fan of the style. It is very popular, even in the summer time when extra layers means extra heat. I do not understand it. Consequently, I do not own much that can be used for layering. I own two, yes only two, tank tops. I own a few cardigans, two of which are not in really great shape. Plus, I looked at every single picture that Kayla provided as inspiration and thought, "That person looks ridiculous." So for day one I wore one of my two tank tops purchased somewhere completely forgotten to me now, a yellow top from American Eagle, a purple cardigan (with rosettes along the side that you cannot see in the photo) from Ross. Black skirt that my friend, Jessica, gave to me in 2004, pantyhose (because I still have not gotten into this tights thing), and black flats from somewhere. Maybe Ross. (As you can tell, I am very attached to my clothing and have perfect memory of where and when I obtained my most precious and favorite items.) Also there was a headband and a necklace and earrings.

Day 2 was "Monochrome." Unlike the previous day, I did like some of the photo suggestions. The difficult thing is that I don't really have a lot of non-jean pants, and I do not have a lot of solid-ish skirts that are not black or gray or brown. Plus I don't wear skirts unless I'm at a function that requires me to wear a skirt. I like to sit cross-legged and with my knees pulled up to my chest, both at home and at work, and wearing a skirt does not facilitate that. Plus most of my skirts are very multi-colored. So, I decided to wear my Old Navy "perfect khakis" that are incidentally the only pair of non-jean pants that fit me right now. Only, they're not the traditional khaki color, they are "poison ivy," which means "green so dark you will probably think it is black." And I wore my green turtleneck. Plus some green jewelry, which was kind of fun. Overall, I liked Day 2. (I had just come home from a Mary Kay facial party, so I was not wearing makeup for the photo. Pity.) Pants from Old Navy. Turtleneck from somewhere. Necklace from my MIL from her Alaskan cruise. Bracelet from my MIL from her trip to Armenia.


Day 3 was "Embrace a Trend." Um, see above. The trends Kayla suggested included many things I do not like - animal prints (tacky), faux fur (gag), skinny jeans (just cannot bring myself to wear any), sequins (is this a trend?) and a few other things that I didn't know were trends. In short, It was very hard to embrace a trend when I do not purchase, and therefore do not own, trendy products. I decided the best I could do was wear a scarf. I got several compliments on it at work. Black top from Old Navy. Scarf from my sister-in-law from her trip to Thailand.


So, that's what I've got so far. Sorry for the dark and grainy pictures. The cord to our camera is missing, and it's a pain to get the pictures off of it, so I've been relying on Eric to take pictures of me with his phone. And Eric does not get home until nighttime, when it is dark and the lighting is terrible. (Stupid winter.)

4 comments:

heidikins said...

I love scarves, I love how they keep me nice and warm and snuggly all day long. I also really like the first outfit you posted!

xox

Janssen said...

I was just wondering the other day if you'd relinquished your hatred of skinny jeans. I see now that you have not.

Jana said...

I likewise don't really understand the appeal of extreme layering, since it means more laundry and (as you point out) extra heat.

I think you look cute in all the outfits, despite your questionable level of commitment to the challenge :).

Jenn said...

I found some skinny jeans at Banana Republic outlet for super cheap and decided to try them out. Turns out, I really like that specific pair. Every other pair I've ever tried on has looked just plain stupid on me. I think I like the BR ones because they aren't skin tight and they aren't so long they bunch up at the bottom like most do (probably because I bought a petite length).

Also, I have to agree with you that a lot of the outfits I see on fashion blogs just look ridiculous. I mean, the photograph itself might be really beautiful, but if you were to see that on someone in the grocery store, you'd think they got dressed in the dark.