she's addicted to clothes

I haven’t been posting, because I’ve been trying to come to terms with a tragic haircut. Apparently my request for a trim, accompanied by a photograph of a woman with long blonde hair, with long layers, similar to mine, and an expressed wish to carry on working the damage from my previous tragic haircut (the great bangs/fringe experiment of ‘11) translated to “chop off a shitload of hair, and return the bangs/fringe to an incredibly awkward length,” in her mind.

I’d wanted to get away from using the hot rollers so much, and eventually, oh happy day, get back to the plain ol’ long/straight style I’ve had for most of my life, but alas, it’s going to be a while, and I’ll probably be straight back into the heat styling abuse until time remedies the current unhappy situation.

Also, WHEN is any hairstylist going to finally take me seriously when I tell him or her that no, your hair serum is NOT going to be the one that miraculously fails to make my hair limp?

OK, I’ve vented now. Here’s the details:

Tee: Gap. This is the smaller of the two otherwise-identical shirts, and I really am glad I went out and bought multiples on this one.

Necklaces: Various, remixed.

Belt: Next, thrifted, remixed.

Skirt: Gap, remixed. Oh, so remixed. I’m pretty sure this is my most frequently worn skirt ever. Still going strong!

Tights: John Lewis. I’m giving these a whirl, because my beloved 100-denier velvet touch opaques from M&S are currently out of stock in my size, at both my local-ish M&S locations. They’re OK, but I don’t like them nearly as much. I think the M&S ones are my One True Opaque Black Tights.

Shoes: Remixed. I can’t help it! I love these! So pain-free!

Well, hello, and a happy Visible Monday to you all. The spouse was on holiday for the last couple of weeks, the better to avoid Olympic Madness, as he’s been working down in London most of this year, and I kind of let blogging slide, in order to spend time hanging out with him. He’s gone back to work now, and I’m back to blogging.

I’ve spent some time having a bit of a style rethink, and today’s outfit — in which I felt very visible, indeed — is a result of the thinking. There are elements here that are very much typical of me already; black, white, stripes. Nothing new. What’s definitely new is the very unstructured and flowy top. Normally, I kind of shy away from things like this, because I’m a bit self-conscious about making my upper body look blocky, but as I really like the loose-over-fitted look, I want to get over that feeling.

This felt fine to me. I do actually rather like ponchos, after all, and while this is not a poncho, I wore it as if it were one. You’ll have to trust me that this draped and sort of flowed over my body in a much more flattering way than it photographed. I wouldn’t even dream of wearing this without something under it, due to how much it blew around in the breeze, but as a layering piece, it’s good.

In other news, I did end up getting a haircut, and I’m pretty sure I found a keeper of a stylist in the process. I suffer a bit from social anxiety, and normally, I find stuff like making small talk with stylists awkward and painful, but this went fine, and it’s a relief to have sort of clicked with the guy, since half the reason I tend to go so long between haircuts is due to the social anxiety. (I’m attributing that to him; he’s clearly got a gift for putting people at their ease. Awesome guy.) My hair looks and feels SO much better now, and the styling requirements are minimal, which is exactly what I wanted. Growing out my bangs has been as frustrating as you’d expect, and I ultimately want those front layers longer than they are currently, but at the moment, I’m pretty thrilled with my hair.

And onto the details:

Striped top: All Saints, via TK Maxx.

Long-sleeve tee: Gap, remixed.

Maxi skirt: Gap. I wanted a straight black maxi skirt, and once again, the Gap’s clearance rack to the rescue.

Sandals: Born, remixed.

Nothing new or unusual here, today, other than the straight hair. I didn’t really feel like curling my hair, and the grown-out bangs are now long enough to tuck behind my ear, so I gave it a try. Normally, when I skip the rollers, I pull it back or put it up, but I thought it looked OK down, so that’s how I wore it. Other than a bit of humidity frizz, it worked out just fine, although I am in bad need of having the ends trimmed. As I am a person who can literally go years between visits to the salon, it may be a totally false hope, but I’m going to try to remember to do it.

Details:

Cardi: Jackpot, remixed.

Tank: Marks & Spencer, remixed. It’s one of those awesome tanks with the molded-cup bra built-in, and I still can’t believe one of those works for me. I should probably stock up before they stop making them.

Belt: Oasis, remixed.

Denim capris: Esprit, thrifted, remixed. Y’all, these are almost perfect, one of the single best thrift-shop purchases I have ever made. They fit like a glove, they have a low rise, they don’t bag out badly when worn, the pockets don’t show through, and the only teensy complaint I have about them is that the pockets are too shallow, but seriously, I don’t even care all that much, I love these pants so much.

Sandals: Sofft. I have a lot of luck finding Sofft shoes at TK Maxx, although I’ve never seen them anywhere else. Really comfortable, in general, and while not exactly high fashion, they aren’t usually ugly.