Office Party

Dress: Ash by Allison Hendrix; wollmeise dk in merlot; my notes and modifications on Trapezius
Blazer: Armani Collezioni; similar styles by Alice + Olivia and at ASOS
Shoes: Cesare Paciotti; similar styles by Pierre Hardy, Alexandre Birman, and Sam Edelman
Lips: Dolce and Gabbana passion duo gloss fusion lipstick in Sensual and Bobbi Brown high shimmer lip gloss in Hot

What do you do when your company has a Christmas party in the office, no spouses invited, that starts at 4pm, and isn't quite billed as either compulsory or optional? Obviously you have to go, but since you also have to drive, it's not as though you're going to drink. Also, you're pretty sure you saw a coworker wearing flip flops...THIS WEEK, so it's not exactly a formal environment, but it is a Christmas party (note: I doubt it's actually a Christmas party, I would be willing to bet every pair of shoes I own it's a holiday party because this is the hill some have chosen to die on) and I like parties and I like an excuse to wear nice things. Now, I also have to work today, with others, in a professional manner, so not only am I not going either a) braless or b) stick-on bra-ful with this backless dress, I'm not even admitting it is a backless dress. I'm wearing a good old fashioned bra and an even more good old fashioned blazer and both will remain firmly in place all day long.

I have to confess that I have yet to get in the holiday spirit. I'm concerned that my wonderful husband may not have acquired an ornament for our annual ornament exchange and will therefore get something totally crappy and last minute - meanwhile we have decided not to exchange big gifts this year because instead we're going to go to Malaysia next year which, don't get me wrong, is capital-A Amazing, but not especially Christmassy. I still don't know what we are doing for actual Christmas because my in-laws are not the most brilliant of planners, and I have no idea what to buy my dad who needs nothing and hates everything. I'm also considering telling my brother that he and I should stop exchanging gifts for birthdays and holidays because there is absolutely nothing either of us wants that falls within our budgets for these kinds of things. I mean, what do I want for Christmas? A new digital camera with underwater housing and external strobe plus wet lenses and filters. I'm not interested in anything even remotely top of the line and the cost for the things I just mentioned makes the Gucci booties I posted yesterday seem rather reasonable in price. I might ask someone to get me one of the wet lenses and filters - at least those are in the neighborhood of what I think is reasonable for gift spending.

But most of all, I just feel a little worn out. Between Thanksgiving, which was not as relaxing as any of us had hoped (lesson learned, I just wish it had been a cheaper lesson), and being sick for about 2 weeks, I just feel like I need to decompress and the holidays are generally not a time for decompression. On the plus side, my wonderful, amazing, talented test knitters are making gorgeous cabled sweaters and I hope to have the pattern ready for release next week or early the following week - you know, so you have something to go with the yarn you receive for the holidays!

Reinforcements

Sweater: Arielle by Kim Hargreaves; Tilli Thomas Voile de la Mer (discontinued) in Parchment; my noes and modifications on Jumping on the Arielle Bandwagon
Skirt: bcbgeneration; similar (very similar) styles by Rachel Zoe and Nasty Gal
Blazer: Armani Collezioni; similar styles by ASOS, Topshop, and Anne Klein
Shoes: Cesare Paciotti; other cage-style shoes from Ivanka Trump, Vince Camuto, and L.A.M.B, all reasonably priced by the way, though someone really ought to buy these so I don't have to (I simply cannot, the shoe budget has been blown for the rest of 2014, you'll see why in a couple of weeks)
Lips: Bobbi Brown Art Stick in Rose Brown

Always reinforce buttonbands.

Always.

See what happens when you don't? Even on a top that is too big (see waist bunching and whatever it is that's going on with those sleeves).

I should give this top away. I know I should. It looks sloppy and doesn't fit. But I love it. The color was perfect. It's really difficult to get a gold that looks natural and not sparkly, and I love this shade. It's actually one of my earlier knit pieces and I did it flat and seamed on teeny tiny needles. Which is why I'm in no hurry to make one that does fit even though I had the yarn (this time a pale peach). And I should have reinforced the button band, especially because the material is silk. Lesson learned? Perhaps. I don't know how much it costs to reinforce a button band, but I suspect it's more than $10, and I kind of hate the tailor I've used in town (he seems rather expensive and not all that thorough).

I originally was going to wear this with a black pencil skirt since I always wear this top with a black pencil skirt. I tried to shake things up by wearing it with my black pencil skirt that has a flounce, but that wasn't flying. So I tried the pleated skirt. The pleated skirt which is a pretty decent copy of an Alexander Wang skirt that I lusted after while simultaneously being unable to spend $300 on, both economically and philosophically, so was overjoyed when I discovered this one by the teen line of BCBG for less than 1/4 the price on sale. I wish they made more colors. Then I was confronted with a slightly drop-waisted effect given the length of the top. I thought I would hate this, but it's not so bad because the top ends where the pleats begin.



Then I got a little crazy (for a me definition of crazy) and chose the short blazer and it also miraculously worked with the look. The fun hem of the top peeks out beneath the cropped blazer and I dig that. A hand-me-down from my mother-in-law, I honestly don't see the difference between this fairly pricey blazer and my inexpensive ones, thus my recommendations for similar styles are all reasonably priced. The shoes were purchased on a lark and because:sale and I'm so glad I got them. They're different from every other pair I have an interesting without being over the top. I realized when I added them to this outfit that I was comfortable wearing them to work. My mother and I went to an exhibit at FIT last year on shoes and all the pairs on display were donated from people's personal closets. I realized that my own collection of footwear was almost uniformly safe. Yes there are color experiments, but the shapes of my shoes are fairly consistent and fairly traditional, and I have been actively looking at different shapes and compositions, perhaps not yet to buy, but to work into my idea of what makes a good shoe because eventually I'd like to have a more diverse collection. These shoes are a gateway drug of sorts.