One-Dollar Wonders

A quick post-and-run, but I had to share: I am honored to have recently inherited these low-rise black skinny jeans, which you may remember having seen on another certain UWP. With a 7-inch rise, faded black wash, studded front yoke, and slanted belt loops, I am *quite* in love with them. I hemmed and hawed over a very similar pair in Italy, but passed because someone had done a poor DIY hem job on them... these are way better!

Worn here with a little geek chic to tone down the rock n' roll awesomeness. :D

Utility jacket - Hollister
Batman Tee - inherited from Hubs
Fergie Major boots - Overstock clearance
Brown Belt - $3 via swap meet
London Fog bag - gift via Marshall's

If I won the mega-millions, this is how I'd wear florals. Even if it were affordable for me, without those millions, it isn't practical. Hence the impotent swoon - le sigh!

http://www.net-a-porter.com/product/193323

I got dressed this morning with the aim of touching on all my most important style elements, a la Shannon. But before I show you the results, I wanted see if you thought I'm missing or miss-stating anything. Here's what I have as my working first draft:

- Brightness (can be color or bright white/cream, something to brighten the face)
- "Darkness" (either a physical or figurative darkness, something to add a moody quality)
- Structure (e.g. precise shoulders, nipped waist)
- Waist demarcation (e.g. belt, jacket detail, tucked top... something to show where my legs start)
- Toughness (e.g. boots, rugged leather items, etc.)

What do you think? The hope is to remind me of my top priority style and fit requirements in a quick way every time I dress. Thanks for any pointers!

ETA: Okay, here is my first rubric outfit in pic #1- I added the waist part to my list because I wasn't 100% happy with the proportions here, so it's not perfect. I also think this skirt may have to go, but overall I do like the "feel" of this outfit more than pic #2, which is when I struggled the most.

My WIW are getting totally backed up, so just a quick spamming of pictures today. I've been having the darndest time getting dressed in the morning for work, taking foreeeever to get it together, and then feeling unsure about the whole thing later.

Long story short: I'm giving myself homework to sit down and create a rubric like Shannon's. I try to follow formulas of past successful outfits, but I think "cardi/belt/pants" isn't enough.

But! I am loving my trench, and I've worn it to work every day since getting it. :D

Although I packed a lot of clothes, I basically only wore two dresses for most of the trip! The dresses were the most able to strip down when it got hot an there was no available restroom.

1 - Black dress, Gap jeggings, MaryK's thermal top, turquoise bag, and Report booties in Rome. Pic taken cycling around the city and along river bike path. The bike path was my favorite part of Rome!

2-3 - AT engineer stripe dress, ON fishtail anorak, Gap jeggigs, Report booties, burgundy bag. Shown in Florence and Pisa. I only wore the anorak to these cities, because they felt the least crowded/prone to pickpockets. In Pisa, everyone lined up to take their "holding up the tower" pic - perverse as I am, I had to take a "pushing over the tower" pic. :)

4-5 - Same as above, but with Scottvest Trench. Shown in Rome. Pic 5 was from the very first day - the one and only instance of rain on the entire trip. We arrived to blazing sun and heat, so we left our umbrellas at the hotel. When it started to thunder and rain, I refused to buy an umbrella out of sheer stubbornness, but the trench kept me nice and dry. Sadly, though, my pretty citron umbrella went un-baptized.

Not pictured - Black dress with bare legs and black Marcie combat boots, adding jeans when it got cold. Black layering tee under navy turtleneck dress under gray cowl dress under Scottvest with jeggings and Marcies. Citron thermal under gray mechanics shirt under Scottvest with jeggings amd Marcies. These last two were worn in Venice, when I finally was able to bundle up. Didn't manage to take full body shots there, and all you could really see was the trench, anyway.

6-7 - Wore this the Friday before we left for the trip, and loved everything about it: Ink blue crosshatch blazer from F21, white BB shirt, pinstriped Hudsons, 80%20 dalmatian booties, Aida-made UWP necklace, new J. Crew icon trench. Loving the varied sleeve lengths in this, which I'd never have done if I hadn't seen Angie do it (I think her version was with a sweater and long blouse?).

I'm fairly sure that most of the people I saw were tourists, but we did branch out far enough away from the "sights" on the Metro in Rome to see some local flair. Ev.er.y.one. wore a trench coat. Period. It was kind of shocking, and the stores definitely reflected this. I was almost sad that I'd already bought a trench in the US, and I tried on a few anyway, but nothing fit perfectly. For shoes, it was either leather boots or wedge sneakers. I desperately wanted to find a pair of either to take home, but I guess I found the offerings too subtle for me (ha!) and came up empty. Jeans were strictly skinnies as far as I could tell, and Hubs made the observation that "the back pockets on the jeans out here aren't helping anyone out." Lol.

I didn't register much of what was under the local trench coats, but stores held lots of bright dresses and fun prints, alongside pale neutrals. I was tempted by 8-10 in a store called Promod.

I also enjoyed browsing a chain called Oviesse (OVS), and I thought of you all when I saw the polka dot jacquard trench and pants in 11-12. Very nice, but not me.

I was perversely drawn to #13, even though it really isn't my style at all. I guess it had it all: cats, travel theme, and a little Italian passport for the Pilot cat. At 200 euro, it was just too expensive. Also saw #14 on their site just now, and I'm so totally drooling! Brand is Braccialini. I guess this is the "princess" aspect of my fashion personality?

Pic 15 is the one fashion souvenir I've unpacked so far: my little silver and enamel tiger by Saturno. His name is Chiuso, because of all the places that were closed in Florence. ;)

Shopping in Italy really made me appreciate the variety and accessibility in the US. Who knew that I actually love shopping malls? What practical, convenient things! And the stores range so widely in styles. It does give me a bit of pause on SYC. Not finding anything I loved during 9 days of browsing down many many streets did make me realize that finding "the perfect item" is actually pretty special - I should have realized that after all my trial and error with boots and trench coats this year. I also have a BIG hankering for some wedge sneakers! Oof! Once I get my rhythms back here in Cali, I am itching to move on to the phase of SYC where I photograph the whole wardrobe and take a hard look at what I've got.

We just got home late last night, and today is me recoup. day before going back to work. The trip was amazing, but I'm so glad to be home to my furbabies! A short recap, for anyone interested:

Rome: ruins and ancient buildings were fantastic! Extra fantastic were all of the cats that have taken up residence in the ruins. There is even a cat rescue organization that cares for the cats in a certain set of ruins in the city. Best adventure was biking along the river's bike path! It was way too hot in Rome, though, and I was uncomfortable most of the time. Scored a cheetah-print calf-hair bag for 4 euro, plus a squirrel pendant for two euro at a flea market.

Florence: Florence got much better breezes, so I was much more appropriately dressed. Very picturesque, but it was a real trial to hit up our list of places to visit. Many shops/restaurants seemed to only open from 11:30-2:30, so we really didn't get to go anywhere that was suggested to us. We fell in love with a line of enamel-over-silver figurines by a maker called Saturno, and I scoured the city until I found a little tiger pendant for myself - we were told they have only made the pendants for two years, so I feel lucky to have found a feline.

Venice: I joked that it was simply impossible to find a good angle for pictures here - so so so gorgeous! And a hotbed of cat art! We bought some prints, a statue, and figurine. Converting Hubs into a fellow cat lover was one of my best moves ever, since this meant he was happy to pay for half of everything. :) We spoke with some lovely, friendly shop keepers here, who told us that the Venetian culture is almost completely gone, and that the city is almost completely a tourist attraction now. It was kind of sad to hear, but at least it still runs in a capacity that allowed us to take endless boat rides through the canals.

Other thoughts:
- The next time she travels, Ms. Sensitive Skin *really* must bring her own bed linens... -_-
- Can you believe I didn't buy a stitch of clothing on the trip? My Italian-made clothes are some of my favorites, but I just didn't fall in love with anything I happened to see. I guess I'm lucky, because everything was super expensive.
- I owe a HUGE thank you to those who pushed me to bring a couple of dresses with me. They were just about the only thing I could wear in Rome without being completely sweaty all the time.
- The Scottvest trench was too hot in Rome, but I wore it every day there anyway, because of the inner pockets. I even carried Hubs' passport and wallet in the coat, since the crowds were thick and the pickpockets notorious.
- There was plenty of awesome, cheap food everywhere! And I've gained five pounds, even with all the walking. Oy, but it was worth it.
- The Report booties and Doc Marcies were great shoes for the trip, but next time I need to buy a pair of insoles for *every day* of the trip. We walked from around 7:30 am to 9:00pm every night, and the poor insoles were completely flat by the end of it. My feet hurt plenty, but it was only from the weight of my body - none of the arch or ankle strain that plagued me in Japan. Also, of the two of us, I was the one to make it home without any blisters. :)

I've only gone through a fraction of our photographs so far, but here are a few good ones. Thanks again to everyone who helped with packing and itinerary ideas - I have not done much traveling, so I could not have been nearly as prepared and comfortable with out you guys!