Barn Party, Part 2
As previously mentioned, this Friday I am attending the youth group Barn Party. Inspired by the idea, the fabulous fashion editors at Coutorture put together their own “barn party outfit”! While I love the coat, and never would have conceived of the idea, I was tickled to note how the boots resemble my own. 
On another note: my mom left a comment on the first barn party post mentioning square dancing skirts, which prior to that I don’t think had crossed my mind, which led me to thinking about the year when my daughter and her friend wore vintage Gunne Sax (remember those?) with turtlenecks and jeans under. They were so cute! Which led me to remember this dress, also received in recent boxing from mom. I’d wear it, if it were going to be above freezing. I still might.
But here’s a question for you: would you ever wear the dress as anything other than a costume?
Related Posts:
Cocktail Sauce
Cocktail attire simply means short, elegant dresses for her and dark suits for him. (via Glamour Greetings, which site, incidentally, lists no definition of semi-casual). The dress pictured below, believe it or not, turned up in a box of stuff from my parents and grandmother this summer. Oddly enough, nobody remembers whose dress it was to begin with. Oh well! It’s mine now! (I’m still working out the shoe thing, I have until December 20th.)
Realizing that this kind of serendipity doesn’t happen all the time, most have to shop for something to wear to their company Christmas party, let’s make this our annual collection of holiday festive-wear tips. Here’s last year’s post. Updated to add this link to Angie’s Holiday Party Cheat Sheet.
Options for cocktail dressing:
- The ubiquitous little black dress.
- Dressy separates, possibly with some shine or sparkle. I took that route last year.
- Street length (however you define that) silk dress. Try not to choose one that looks like you pulled it from your lingerie drawer. Or your linen closet.
(I will suggest that some of the garments being sold as cocktail dresses this season would be lovely worn to a party as a top.) But since I’m attempting to stay on the positive side, this is lovely (and reasonably priced!).
Another do: make your own cocktail sauce: ketchup + horseradish to taste. Yum!
What are you cocktailing in this year?
Related Posts:
High Waists for the Short-waisted
Dcrmom asks:
I like the high waisted look in this picture.
However.
I am VERY short-waisted and large-busted. So I have embraced the lower rise styles with abandon. I haven’t tucked a shirt in in about 10 years. And when I see pictures of myself back when I did tuck in (and I was as skinny as I’ve ever been at that time) I shudder. It was an awful look on me.
So my question is, is the high-waist thing something only certain body types can wear? Or is there a way to wear this look on a person of my proportions?
I’ve been thinking over this and, while I’m not sure I have a definitive answer, I want to post a few thoughts and get reader’s input:
- I suspect that when the style was everything high-waisted you didn’t look as bad as you do to yourself now when you look back at the pictures. Does that make sense?
- Here’s a picture of a high waisted trouser look that works. The top blends with the model’s head and the pants contrast (note also she’s wearing flat shoes).
- And here’s what I said before: I’ll have to think on that some more, but I’m thinking there must be a way to do it, but it probably wouldn’t ever become a staple for you. Skirts or dresses would be better than pants; monochromatic or darker color on top would be better than white blouse with black skirt. And it’s always okay to just pass on a style that isn’t for you.
Lately I’ve also been thinking about those elegant little jackets, especially the ones with the vertical or diagonal trim or seaming. It seems to me, based on observing someone with a similar figure to yours, that those can be exceedingly flattering, and could potentially be combined with a high waisted skirt look to make a very elegant ensemble.
Neither of these jackets is exactly what I was thinking of, but they’re both cute and might work with a high waisted skirt. I also think some of the seaming and so-forth breaks up the expanse of the chest, creating a more proportionate appearance.
Readers, do you think high waisted styles are only for the long waisted?
Related Posts:
What to Wear to a Barn Party
This is a Teen Style Tuesday post for the following reasons:
- This Friday the youth group is having their annual barn party/ hay-ride/ square dance. For the first time ever, we will be going too!
- Teens are notoriously impractical when it comes to dressing warmly, and the weather soothsayers are promising a low of 17 degrees (fahrenheit). Can we all say “brrrr”?
Warm clothing that works with a Western theme:
- Bandana to fill in the neckline on a collared shirt. Pull it up over your face if needed to protect from frostbite.
- Flannel-lined jeans.
- Cowboy hats. My daughter got one at the thrift store (yes, for $1) that says it’s beaver. This past weekend my hero and I were looking at some wool ones for $20.
I also bought these:
Related Posts:
Birthday Boots
What is the concept behind Cyber Monday? If you didn’t find it in the stores over the weekend, but still wish to complete your shopping now, you go online?
Well, at any rate, online retailers are offering awesome deals!
BTW, I found these for myself, with my birthday money:
Related Posts:
How Small Could You Get Your Wardrobe?
Vildy sent in these links:
- 34 pieces, 78 posts. The blog author weeded out her wardrobe and, with a total of 34 pieces (not including socks, etc), created 78 distinct outfits, and could have created more.
- A Perfectly Small Wardrobe showcases the same author establishing a new, smaller, curated wardrobe.
- Retail Recovery: riveting questions from the same author.
So, now I’m wondering: what’s the perfect size for my wardrobe?
Related Posts:
Happy Thanksgiving!
As per Sheri’s request, and my mostly failed resolution, here’s what I am planning to wear for Thanksgiving this year. I wore this outfit this past Sunday, for our all-church Thanksgiving potluck (where everyone thought I was brilliant for bringing Apples to Apples
Tip: to make a three-quarter or long sleeve cotton knit top winter-worthy, but still dressy, add a silk blouse under. I can’t believe I didn’t think of it sooner! All winter long, I wear silk thermals under my jeans; silk supposedly is the warmest natural fiber used for clothing. In this case, the blouse and the knit top each cost me $1 at the thrift store, and I probably wouldn’t wear either alone. But together, they suit my idiom.
I am thankful that I get to enjoy two consequent days of Thanksgiving celebrations and I’m not responsible for the cooking of either one. (I will probably wear a clean version of this formula to the second one.) What are you thankful for?
Related Posts:
Three Techniques to Soften an Intense Color
This is a Teen Style Tuesday post. The outfit pictured is what my sixteen year old wears to college around here. The neon mis-matched Chucks were hilarious on her last week when she was on stage, during an Improvisational Theatre event, walking in a very exaggerated Western style!
If you have soft or muted coloring, try one of these color combining techniques when you want to wear a brighter color:
- Instead of combining the bright with black alone, which would only serve to heighten the drama, try black AND gray, as pictured here. Or just gray. Or denim.
- Use a color harmony with less contrast, such as the analogous one here (red, magenta, purple) or even better (softer), use a blended print.
- Combine with a tint of the intense color.
This is not an exhaustive list, what would you add?
Related Posts:
The Long and The Short of It
Since I got no comments on the post about high waisted skirts, I’m wondering whether the whole length balancing thing is boring you. Shall I give some more examples?
- This previous post describes length balancing in trouser outfits.
- Here I explained basic length balancing and how it works with a knee-length dress (or anything that is one color or pattern from neck to knee).
- The post concerning high waisted skirts illustrated how to split up the neck to knee expanse (2 to 3). Inverting the proportions also works.
- With cropped pants or mid-calf skirts use 2 1/2 to 4. Go back and look at the picture of me in capris. If you split up the pants into 4 vertical segments, you could fit approximately 2 1/2 of those into the length of the top. Is that why ladies who wear their t-shirts tucked into the (high) waist of their pants tend to like their capris shorter?
Is this helpful at all? Maybe I’d feel better if you asked some questions.
Related Posts:
Fashion Lab: Length Balancing with Gap Dresses
Since I was just talking about length-balancing, a topic which never gets many comments, I suspect because it’s so confusing, I’m going to try a few illustrations here. Remember, the basic proportion we’re looking for is 3 to 5.
This first one is a little complicated (there are often multiple ways to look at a problem). I suggest that the dress + shoes = 5 (the reason I think mid-thigh dresses are hard to wear is because by themselves they are 4 head-lengths). In this case, I am not figuring the head into the equation. The legs = 3. It works.
The next one is super simple: knee-length is the easiest length to wear. The dress = 5, everything else = 3.
Here are pictures of looks I DON’T think work:
Nevertheless, feel free click on the images to buy!
