she's addicted to clothes

I am, as I may have mentioned, in a wardrobe funk, and having trouble coming up with outfits from my vast array of choices. This means it’s time for a purge, to let go of stuff that’s either no longer me, or never was, but I acquired while apparently thinking I was somebody else. There are a few looks I consistently favour, and feel comfortable and happy wearing, and probably I need to stick to them, and work on refining and updating them as I go.

So I did that today, just gave myself permission to use one of my formulas, and what do you know, it all worked out and I was happy with the results. That my black/white formula is currently on trend is just happy coincidence; I’ll be wearing variations on this forever, I suspect.

Hooking up with the lovely Patti’s Visible Monday, and do be sure to check everybody else out!

Details:

Boat neck jumper: Monsoon, remixed. As it turns out, this is not exactly the black boat neck jumper of my dreams, but it’s pretty darn good, and I’m happy to have it. I need one in wool or cashmere, but this will happily see me into summer. No regrets, and much love to the Monsoon  clearance sale where I netted it. (I’m liking Monsoon again, after a bit of a dry spell.)

Enamelled daisy pendant: Thrifted, Oxfam, York. This just made me happy the instant I spotted it. When you can buy happy for 99p, you’re doing OK.

Skirt: Warehouse, remixed. I love this so much, but haven’t worn it in the depths of winter, not because I give a toss about whether or not white bottoms are seasonally appropriate in winter or not, but because it’s definitely not warm enough for very cold weather. Glad to have it just warm enough to put it back into rotation.

Tights: M&S, remixed.

Boots: Avignon, Duo, remixed. Still breaking these in, so I’m a little footsore at the moment.

So damn tasteful, these pants. I love them so much; I had a similar pair back in high school in the 80s, and I loved them then, too. Those were actually wool and had pleats and tapered legs and oh god, they were kind of awful, but I adored them, and they were the pants that first showed me how great red and yellow can look together, since I wore them with an oversized yellow shaker knit sweater. Which I wore with the V in the back. Over a red racerback tank. Oh yes, I did that. IT WAS THE 80S, OKAY? We did stuff like that all the time. I think I had some sort of coordinating bow hair clip, as well. In fact, I’m sure I did, even though I can’t bring anything specific to mind, because I had coordinating hair bow clips for EVERYTHING. What can I say; they helped in holding my spiral perm back from my face. My flyover state mall hair was epic, let me tell you, although the whole wall o’ bangs look is one I always gave a pass.

Anyway! This is a look far more in line with the mid-late 70s than the mid-late 80s. I figured wearing my ancient Ramones tee would be a little too costumey and over the top, but don’t imagine for a second I didn’t think of it.

Details:

Leather jacket: All I can tell you is that it’s from the leather shop near Liverpool Central. I mean, I think the sign literally says LEATHER SHOP and that’s it. They’ve been there for as long as I can remember, though, so it’s not one of those fly-by-night clothing shops that pop up and then vanish, only to be replaced by another shop with a different name selling the same crap about a week later. (Liverpool has a LOT of those.) Incidentally, that shop smells great, it’s like a cave of pleasant leather scent.

Tank: Gap, remixed.

Tee: Desigual, remixed. This is definitely too big on me, and a neckline offender besides, so the tank underneath made it much more wearable for me.

Tartan jeans: H&M. I kind of hate myself for feeling physically compelled to run into H&M, with my inner voice screaming WANT WANT MUST HAVE when I saw these in the window, but I did, and I’m glad, because these were the last pair in my size, and by my size, I mean “the size that would fit,” because did you know I have pants in every size from a US 4 to a US 12 from H&M? And they all fit? I am not exaggerating in the slightest.*

Chelsea boots: Faith. Lucky find at 70% off in Debenhams’ most recent clearance sale. Super comfortable, required no breaking in, and something I really quite wanted for my boot collection. Score!

*I talk about sizing A LOT, because I want to make it as clear as possible that sizing is totally screwed up.

Oy, the weather. Even by the standards of Northwest England, this has been a wet, miserable, and cold summer. I would like to wear my summer clothes, so today I decided to defy the gloom, and attempt to style this A-line shift dress in a way that had some hope of protecting me from the elements. I’d rather be wearing it with bare legs and sandals, but I’m glad I got to wear it at all.

I’d call this print print pretty visible, wouldn’t you? Definitely a Visible Monday kind of dress, so I’m linking up, and encourage you to check it out, and see what the other participants are wearing today.

Details:

Cardigan: Gap, remixed, but not worn in a very long time. I’m wearing wool — albeit, a very lightweight wool — in the middle of freaking July, alas.

Dress: Marks & Spencer. Picked up in the summer clearance sale, just the other day. I had my eye on it for a while, as this is exactly the sort of thing I find nearly irresistible — very 60s retro it is! — but I managed to resist until it got marked down 50%.

Tights: John Lewis, remixed. These are navy, although they may be coming through a bit black.

Shoes: Deichmann, remixed.

Oh, hello there. The weather suddenly got pretty nice, and thus, I disappeared without warning, because gardening had to happen right quick. All has been quiet and ugly out there this winter, because we basically dismantled the entire thing late last autumn, and took a well-deserved rest. Then spring sort of arrived, and started bringing weeds, and it was time to hire the roto-tiller, finish tearing up the lawn, etc., and level off the whole thing. That was finished yesterday, and while SO MUCH WORK remains, today I at least got to wear nice clothes.

And that’s a good thing, because, once again, it’s Visible Monday 39 at Not Dead Yet Style. I’m rocking (mostly) pastels again today, in honour of spring, and because I’ve been longing to wear this particular dress, which is one of my favourites, but to me, this particular garment demands sunshine, and today it got it. I’m also pretty sure I got a touch of the annual first giant bony sternum sunburn, because, of course, I had no unexpired sunblock in the house. That’ll be rectified this week, because, man, my giant bony sternum is like a solar panel, or something. I mention the bones mainly because if I’m careless, I get this awesome sorta tiger-patterned sunburn that looks incredibly weird, and I’d really rather not have that happen this year.

I think this one is verging on costumey with all the retro details, but I’m actually pretty relaxed about that sort of thing. Besides, any outfit where I am wearing absolutely NOTHING from Gap kind of feels like a personal triumph.

I highly recommend checking out the other Visible Monday participants at Patti’s blog. It’s always enjoyable, and everybody always looks wonderful.

Details:

Cardigan: Deane & White, via TK Maxx, remixed. This is merino wool, and while the weather was what passes for really warm for this time of year around here (we broke all the way into the 60s, and you may all laugh now), wool is easily wearable (for me, at least) for most of the year.

Dress: East, remixed. This is a pretty fitted empire waist faux wrap, and an exception to my belief that empire waists don’t really suit me. Perhaps it’s the faux wrap? Either that, or I just love the print so very much that I’ve decided it warrants the exception.

Cameo brooch: I have no idea where/when I got this, but this dress is a bit of a neckline offender, and I didn’t want to wear a cami with it, so I skipped a necklace, and went with the brooch.

Tights: Dorothy Perkins, remixed.

Shoes: Deichmann, remixed. Still loving these.