Not The Boss Of Me

Sweater: Effervesence Cardigan by Olga Buraya-Kefelian; madelinetosh pasmina in citrus; my notes and modifications on Darling Clementine
Dress: Lilly Pulitzer; not a lot from Lilly this season that's similar save this one, however check out this Jessica Simpson and this A.B.S. for your strapless summer needs
Shoes: Manolo Blahnik; I would seriously buy ALL of the following orange sandals if I could justify it: floral lace heels by Kurt Geiger, espadrille wedges by Charles David, this brand doesn't fit me well but I still think they're great Schutz strappy sandals, trying to find any justification to buying these Charlotte Olympia sky high platforms which are available in my size and my size only, these amazing and bizarre MSGM mixed media-looking things, and these reasonable high and reasonably priced Lauren by Ralph Lauren multi-colored jobs
Lips: Yves Saint-Laurent Volupte Tint-in-Oil in Crush Me Orange
Toes: Essie in Blanc

Only a dreadful spoilsport would advise against matching one's cardigan, shoes, and lip color. And I am not a dreadful spoilsport. I am a woman who is deeply deeply pleased that winter is over, that summer is coming, that this dress still fits me despite a metabolic catastrophe that not even 30 days of consecutive sweatyoga can arrest (and I am not pregnant, this I know), that I actually do look decent in orange lip gunk, that I am about to go on vacation. Everything is pretty much coming up Millhouse.

I still kinda hate cardigans, though. I am nearing the end of the body on my Grace, the cardigan everyone I am friends with already has and which I needed to have to so that I could fit in. I tried knitting it a size bigger (which will also help since I am at least a size bigger myself) and I've determined that anything below high hip for a cardigan I plan to wear with dresses is too long. Still, I have a bunch of fingering weight lying around the house and I have been toying with the idea of turning some of it into a cardigan design. If I try to make myself a cardigan from the ground up and I still hate it, I can just write off cardigans (tailored cardigans at least, there is still plenty of room for gee it's cold in here cardigans) altogether. So I've been looking at stitch dictionaries and trying to assess what I hate about my existing goes-with-dresses cardigans. Here's a short list:

• Neck too high
• Neck too low
• Shoulders all kinds of arsed up
• Fronts too narrow --> button band gaping
• Fronts successfully wide enough, back ridculously oversized
• Too precious
• Non-uniform length all around
• Terrible button band ribbing at complete odds with aesthetic vibe of the rest of the sweater

As I regard this cardigan, I think I might find it the perfect length and am now pretty sad I didn't bring Grace to work because I could know right now, at this very second, if it was long enough to start ribbing. I also worry about a design element that will be pleasing to the eye, interesting enough to knit, but not prohibitive in its application: some stuff is just too cutesy for the boardroom. I know people love allover lace patterns, but in addition to their making the garment less warm, I also feel like allover lace looks "knitterly" for lack of a better word. Unless it's crochet and it's boho, you don't see a lot of allover lace in fashion. I'm pretty sure there's a reason for that.

So I'm in the thinking stage of a cardigan. I have two lovely SQs, one from Western Sky Knits and one from Plucky, both of which would make perfectly nice cardigans. I'll let you know how that progresses. In the meantime, All Hail Orange!

Not Quite Menswear Inspired

Sweater: Ease by Alicia Plummer; madelinetosh dk twist in duchess; my very few notes and modifications on In The Red
Skirt: J. Crew; similar styles by Joie, Brooks Brothers, and a different version from J. Crew
Shoes: Marc by Marc Jacobs; same boot with a smaller heel and other options from Leon Max and Proenza Schouler
Lips: Yves Saint Laurent Volupte tint-in-oil in Cherry My Cherie

Why yes, it is time for another haircut. That will be happening next Friday. In the meantime, it is taking all of my self-control not to absolutely destroy my shoe collection by wearing it in this winter. I've been relying on my casual boots for far too long, which is why despite a forecast that may briefly catch me out in these boots, I had to wear something prettier today. This is also the first day in quite a long time that I felt like doing my hair, so obviously that required memorializing.

There is a little bit of thought that goes into photo days. Do I have enough brain power to coordinate an outfit? I mean I am invariably running behind in the morning and throwing a dress over my head is the easy way out. Does this sweater match these shoes? This is an important one. It was enough of a mental hurdle to pair navy tights with the black and oxblood booties, but ad I worn the original sweater I had wanted, my West End Girl, it would have definitely been a bridge to far. And while my Carrie would have been perfect and perfectly uncomplicated with the rest of this outfit, I did just wear it. I might actually be boring in real life, but on the internet I can totally pretend I'm interesting. Thanks for enabling that.

So what I like about this outfit: I adore pinstripes. I wish I had a closet full of pinstriped things. I like pinstripes so much that I once bought palazzo pants in pinstripe. Ask me how many times I wore those? The answer is once. Remember Madonna's Jean Paul Gautier menswear moment? I kind of want that all the time in my closet (and just for the day, some straighter hips so that pants look amazing on me). So when I saw this pinstriped skirt on sale for about 30 bucks, I jumped on it. Since navy is a total neutral it looks great with all my sweaters, even the aforementioned hot pink one. As for booties, I feel as though the 2014-2015 winter has been all about booties for me. I never gave them much thought before, but I aquired two pair this year and have trotted out my old dark brown pair far more often than in previous years; I am on the lookout for a gently used pair of Celine booties from two seasons ago to round out the category.

And you know how I said I was cutting my hair? I still am, but for reasons passing understanding my hair has looked pretty good all day long. Which is a rarity. I have this one really good pic of my hair shorter from a couple of years ago and I am definitely bringing it to my hairdresser,

but I'm also strangely happy with its current length (the bangs obviously need trimming and by someone who isn't me - though in fairness they turned out way less terribly than I had feared). The only issue is the massive dry, gross split ends that make me think I should just shave my head and start from scratch #woecake.

50 Shade of I Can't Even

Sweater: Carrie by Josee Paquin; Quince & Co. Lark in Iceland; my notes and modifications on Thule
Skirt: Alice + Olivia Pharl leather skirt; similar styles from Vince, Halston Heritage, and if you're gonna go faux, go all the way faux with this PU patent from ASOS
Tights: I never talk tights because all tights are tights, but I love these ombre tights from BZR shop and own them in several shades - they're tons of fun
Shoes: Gucci Ursula horsebit booties; similar (and by similar, I mean black bootie) styles by Dune London, Sam Edelman, and Giuseppe Zanotti
Lips: Yves Saint Laurent Volupte tint-in-oil in Pink About Me

It has been really really cold and I have been really really disinclined to stand outside wrangling a tripod to take photos. Fortunately, my husband and I both had a spare couple of minutes this morning and took some photos. Which makes me happy because I've a) missed blogging and b) have tons of things to tell you about since I made a number of "essential" end-of-season sale purchases. Like this skirt. Which I had wanted all season long, had lusted over in person and on line, and absolutely was never going to pay anywhere near full price for. 70% off you say? Yes, thank you. I will take a fairly staple dark grey leather skirt for my closet. Thanks for keeping my size in stock all season long!

Jess asked me if I wear my Carrie a lot as she's considering making one, so naturally I had to photograph how I style it. This sweater, despite its raglans (which I am more and more becoming less and less a fan of), gets a lot of wear because it is a) really warm, b) the most perfect turtleneck I've ever made, c) really versatile, and d) surprisingly soft. It's one of my favorite winter sweaters and I'm wondering if the rather wide raglan seams make it slightly less raglan-y on me. Once I decided on grey skirt with grey sweater, it seemed only appropriate to round it out with my grey ombre tights and...

BRAND NEW BOOTS OF EXCELLENT AWESOMENESS MUCH WONDERFUL HOORAY!

aka the boots I simply had to have for values of "simply had to have" that did not include "paying $1200." I wouldn't have looked twice at these shoes ordinarily as on paper, or more accurately in photo, they didn't do much for me. But the nice man at Neiman Marcus, after assuring himself the commission from the sale of my Christian Louboutin pumps, was in a good "let's try on all the things" mood and forced these on my feet. Where I fell in love. Because on my feet they are amazing. Super duper, top 10 kind of amazing. They were super duper top 10 amazing right until the moment I looked at the box and saw the price tag. From that moment on, these shoes were my on sale mission. I would find them on sale. WOULD! Except that while Gucci put the oxblood version on sale (and I was tempted), as you can see, the black ones remain undiscounted. Neiman Marcus did put theirs on sale (not as much sale as I would like, but I was getting desperate), but not in any size I could remotely pretend was mine. I mean, I'll suffer for fashion, but in order for my tugboats to fit in an 8.5, I'd need to chop off my toes, and I kind of like my toes. So that was that. I wasn't getting the boots. Many tears were shed. Until the magic happened: ebay. One day, on a lark, I took a look for the boots on ebay and there was a pair, barely worn, in my size, for about 1/4 the retail price. The time it took me to hit "buy it now" can't be clocked by ordinary timepieces because it was, as the scienticians would say, instant.

And I couldn't be happier with them. They were barely worn. They were practically new. And they were mine.

Finally, I want to talk up the stuff on my lips. I'm pretty picky when it comes to lip stuff. I want creamy, emollient, and easy application. Which generally has me shy away from lip gloss because it's always grosser and stickier than they claim. I completely impulse bought this stuff even though it comes in what looks like a lip gloss tube. But it's a tinted oil. The applicator is tapered like a lipstick so you don't end up with crap all over your face, and it is incredibly moisturizing while imparting a decent enough amount of color. I am completely obsessed with it and am going to be getting at least one additional color this weekend. Highly recommended!

Follow Friday | July 25

So how did this thing get started anyway?

I blame Gayle and Sharlene. You may know them as The Yarniacs. Their bi-weekly (and that's the bi-weekly that's every other week, not twice a week) podcast is a delightful bit of voyeurism into the lives of two friends and their knitting. They also have started doing interviews with members of the kniteratti, reviews of books, and discussions of sheep breeds and dyeing. Last year during the summer, they hosted a knitalong on ravelry called The Colors of Fall, inspired by the seasonal release of the Pantone colors. It was a resounding success, especially as it asked participants not just to knit something from the autumn color palette, but to style it. Seeing how people all around the world were wearing their handknits was wonderful. So I'm thrilled they're doing it again this year (even as my own project has been hibernating).

Now Gayle and Sharlene are West Coast girls through and through and I fully admit to the more than occasional ribbing of their casual ways because casual for me means something entirely different. Case in point: it's casual Friday at my admittedly all-the-time casual workplace. Me: I've swapped my weekday blazers for a daring casual Friday long cardigan. But yes, I'm still wearing heels (and full disclosure, had I at all managed to get through the morning ritual in a decent amount of time, I would have snapped a couple of shots of my outfit. Apologies. If you'd like to imagine what I'm wearing, it's my Darling Emma, Cheyenne, a blue shirtdress from Mango (kind of like this one), my mom's kickass vintage YSL tortoise shell chain belt (which I'm kind of amazed I found with a google search of "tortoise shell chain belt ysl"), and a pair of Manolo Blahnik wine-colored suede sandals (not quite like these Brian Atwood's or like these from Express, but you get the idea). So a couple of weeks ago when they mentioned me on the podcast (which by the way, makes you feel like a million bucks) and said that while "normal" people wouldn't wear such and such a thing, Yelena would, I took that as a challenge to show just how normal I can be, fashion-wise. So you can all blame Gayle and Sharlene for being bored by the contents of my closet.

Because, and if I might get preachy for a moment, even in a vacuum when no one is around, not your husband/boyfriend/wife/girlfriend/other object of your affection, not the women in your office or the moms outside your kids' schools, not the gas station attendant, the barista, or your family, looking good feels good. I hear from women about how good they feel in their casual clothing when they just don't have to care how they look, but I argue that when you look at yourself in the mirror having taken even 5 minutes to put yourself together, you feel better than when you're eating fritos out of the bag while wearing yoga pants with a hole in the knee. Yes, there's a middle ground, of course there is, and by showing what a casual friday looks like in stilettos, I'm not necessarily advocating everyone do that - but maybe don't go to work without a swipe of mascara.

In conclusion, no matter what your personal style, knit for it! And knit for it during the second annual Colors of Fall knitalong. This season's color weren't my favorite, but I will, eventually, finish a second Hey Girl Cardigan in Wollmeise DK Bussi.