8.18.2014

Two Seductions



Dress: Audrey Totter by Kristen Hanley Cardozo; The Sanguine Gryphon Bugga in Longhorned Beetle; my notes and modifications on I Will Vamp Your Bleep Up!
Blazer: Duskfall Blazer by Madewell; similar styles by J. Crew (nb: I will pretty much only link to J. Crew when its stuff goes on sale; I think the quality is appalling at full price and, as someone who grew up with J. Crew when it made quality clothing, I get especially ragey about it - I only just learned that Madewell is owned by J. Crew, yet at a lower price point their stuff is routinely of a much much better quality), Rag & Bone, and Vince Camuto
Shoes: Manolo Blahnik; similar styles by Pour la Victoire and Prada
Toes: Butter London in Royal Navy
Lips: Bobbi Brown Art Stick in Rose Brown
Necklace: Ever Together magnetic necklace

The first question this post answers is, yes, I do wear my knitted dresses. Whenever I can!

I remember when this pattern came out I thought it was nice. It went into my favorites. Then at 2011 Rhinebeck while waiting in line at the Sanguine Gryphon booth early in the morning, I saw it in real life. I don't remember what I had been waiting on line for, but now I was waiting in line for this! The color in person was mesmerizing. I was already planning to accidentally-on-purpose high stick anyone in front of me who tried to lay hands on the bugga I needed to make the dress. I was smitten. Like many of you, I buy at fairs like Rhinebeck and then the yarn sits around a while. Not this time. It looks as though I cast on immediately and the only reason it took so long for me to finish is that I'm pretty sure between cast-on and cast-off I got married and spent 3 weeks in Africa. I like this story because it proves that sometimes you shouldn't think, you should just do. I likely blew most of my Rhinebeck budget on the yarn for this dress and I regret nothing!

Those Prada shoes linked above at Bluefly (and not available in size 41)? I regret those. The shoes on my feet in the picture just never quite measured up. I do not like paying full price for shoes, especially the shoes I buy. And by do not like, I mean cannot afford. I saw those prada peep toes and suddenly realized I didn't own navy shoes and desperately needed some. But they were $700. Fine, I said, they'll go on sale. But they didn't. Not the first sale season after they were released, not the second, and I was getting pretty desperate. After all, I had discovered a glaring hole in my wardrobe that now hadn't been filled for well on 9 months. Enter the Manolo Blahnik 50% off summer sale. They had a pair of open-toed navy patent pumps. And instead of $700, they wanted about half that. So I bought them.

And I've regretted it ever since. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing the matter with the shoes and they're actually quite comfortable, but they're not what I wanted. The cutouts are too cutesy. These are polo match shoes, the Pradas are queen of the boardroom shoes. I wanted the latter. I'm not saying I should have spent $700 on the shoes, I honestly don't think they're worth that, but I shouldn't have been seduced by the on-sale shoes right in front of me. Just because they were cheaper, doesn't mean they were right.

IMG_4787

So now I have a question for you: blazer buttoned or unbuttoned? I go both ways and tend to keep it unbuttoned while seated and buttoned while standing. Thoughts?

5 comments:

  1. I vote unbuttoned. I think with the length of this skirt, you need a shorter blazer if you're going to button it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Funny as I almost chose a shorter black blazer and then looked and thought the blazer was too short. Thank you for logging a vote!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am just full of opinions.

    p.s. you're cute.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks Stephany, this seems to be the consensus both in public and private comments - I just always like the secure feeling of buttoning a blazer, even if I end up unbuttoning later on.

    ReplyDelete