Amiable's Blog

I'm in conference recovery mode, and mostly want to wear loungewear.  But I'm working too, so am trying to not actually wear pajamas all day long.

Today's outfit feels like loungewear, but I'm hoping looks better than that :)
It's new leggings (gray with a ruffled stripe) that I found being clearanced out and couldn't resist, under a new tunic from eShakti (gray crinkly knit, drapey and assymetrical).  

This may be the first time in history I'm wearing an entirely brand-new outfit... whoa... minus shoes though.

Anyway, I like it pretty well - am I deluding myself?  I also had no idea what shoes to wear, so went with Birkenstock sandals.  I'm not sure they work, but I'm also pretty sure that most of my other shoes don't.  Maybe sneakers would?

I've done this several times now, but still find that your opinion is more valuable than my thoughts on conference wear :)

This year's Spring convention shirts have arrived. They're wide and short, and entirely disappointing after last year's attire.  

The suggested dress code is the company shirt (two days black, Friday white), with "nice jeans" (blue or black), and cowboy boots are encouraged (it's a western them, in Nashville).  Jean skirts are permitted for us women.

Here's my first pass at options.  Coming up with jeans that I feel comfortable in for presenting (I'll be presenting twice, on two different days), is weird...

#1-#3 - Jean skirt option:  two with shoes (sheer black vs. opaque hose - sheer is baggy and I'll be picking up a replacement), one with boots (not cowboy, but as close as I have on hand).

#4-#5 black bootcut jeans.  I think this is my best bet for professional looking jeans, but it's a lot of black - how can I mitigate that black-ness?

#6 black shirt with skinny jeans and boots.
#7 white shirt with skinny jeans and boots (one with necklace, one without).

#9-#12 - both shirts, with and without a statement necklace in company colors.  Does the necklace improve anything?

Suggestions?

I chipped my glasses a couple of weeks ago, and used it as an excuse to order a new pair with frames that I'd seen in an online ad and immediately liked.  

They arrived today, and I'm not convinced that they online place got the prescription right, so I'll be taking them an optical place tomorrow to ask for them tested, and get the fit adjusted slightly.

But I thought I'd ask your thoughts on the frames.  How do they look?  If I have to return them due to an incorrect prescription, I can certainly replace them with a different frame if I choose.

They are, in case it doesn't show well on the picture, deep red (almost match my burgundy hair), with a bright light blue inside that I tried to show in #2.
Comparison to my current (chipped) glasses in #3.

I wanted to echo the lightness of her clothes in this painting, so I chose to wear white, light blue and light green.  She has a strong colored background, which I'm representing with my burgundy hair, and a brightly colored necklace, which I'm representing with my toes, even though they're covered.

These jeans are a recent Goodwill acquisition that I decided to try bleaching.  They didn't turn out fabulous (the stitching is dark, and the bleaching showed up a couple of stains, and they bleached to a very pale yellow-green), so probably won't be staying in my wardrobe all that long.  But I thought I'd give them a whirl today, since I have very little white to try to emulate the dress, but wanted to do something with light spring colors.

Does this work okay, and how can I improve it?  
#1 - light blue, light green and white, with light blue shoes
#2 - same, but with silver shoes
#3 - the toes

Thanks for a terrific challenge Angie!  I had so much fun with it!  Even more fun than planning out my own outfits has been seeing everyone's versions!

I went for the super simple interpretation today - gray and purple, and ombre for the gradient background.

My ombre ends up being my gray, and I didn't have any purple to go with it, so that turned in to burgundy to match my hair.

I actually like it pretty well, though I don't think it's at all creative.  Here, I'll throw in an acrobatic pose :)  (I'm remarkably un-flexible, so you don't get to see me try to touch my toes.  But I can do the lotus pose just long enough for my camera timer, so here it is.)

Sorry for the lack of make-up and combed hair.  That's just how it is around here.  I'm hoping to get ambitious and put some on before my date with hubby tonight :)

A quick post and run in a hectic day.

My thought with this outfit was gray and tan over blue.  I ended up layering tan over a blue shirt, and pairing that with gray jeans.  I decided on black belt and shoes to reflect the black lines in the painting, but then the outfit felt like it needed more black to go with the shoes, so I added a jacket.

I took one photo in the good light, then later took time to do my hair and makeup, so took more pics.

Bonus fun is that my outfit matches my new bag (shown in the pre-makeup pic, #2)

#3 shows my makeup, and currently-more-burgundy hair.  Do the brows match well enough?  Is the lip too bright?  I'm definitely a face and make-up novice, ha!

ETA #4 - the picasso painting

Since I did a color-based theme on yesterday's painting, I wanted to avoid just doing a color copy of "Woman with a Book", and instead jumped on the rich mix of textures that the woman is wearing - lace, a solid, smooth skirt, and eyelet (or print) sleeves, all in tonal variations.

My first thought was to wear leather and lace - but it's a stark contrast (white lace, black leather), so I went with the more subtle cables and houndstooth, in tonal variations.  I liked it (#1), and I think I'll wear it soon.

But today is St. Patrick's day, and it seemed foolish to not wear green - especially when it's so prevalent in the painting, so I went back to colors.  I tried to mix the colors in with mixed textures.  I wasn't a big fan of any of those (#2 is representative), so settled on the blue-teal-green color mix in the painting (my hair provides the oranges).

I found one summery mix that I think will get wear this summer (#3), but settled on a deeper toned mix for today (#4), because I would have had to iron the top in #3.  

I haven't figured out the shoes thing yet - these are espadrilles in honor of today's blog post :)

The question is:  I'm going out with a girl friend this evening - to something for St. Patricks at her church. Should I actually wear #4?  (Probably with black shoes?)

I didn't read about this painting ahead of time, and had decided on a wintry gray-scale outfit with lots of lines to wear in honor of this painting.

But then it got warm (high today of 86!).

I still wanted to keep the inspiration though - grayscale and lines.  So I pulled this top out of the purge pile and paired it with my new-to-me replacement gray jeans.

Gray sneakers keep the theme.  

I'll admit, I feel pretty "meh" about this outfit.  You all have super fabulous interpretations, and looking at them takes my breath away -- but I'm pretty happy to play along and enjoy the eye candy you're all posting!

Thanks for a really terrific challenge Angie - I love thinking through how to interpret the paintings, and have lots of ideas... I may do several versions of each painting too, but not multiples in one day - I'm too busy at the moment for playing like that :)

I tossed in this mesh sweater the other day with a jeans-to-try-on order from Old Navy.  None of the jeans work, but perhaps the sweater does?
It's peachy-pinky, and smaller than I expected (I expected it to fit more oversized than this).   But I think it probably fits well.

What are your thoughts on the fit, the color, and the item as a Spring wardrobe item?

(Pics are taken with a pink camisole underneath)

I went to breakfast with an old friend this morning, and decided to re-wear my lavender from a week or two ago.  This time with silver shoes.

How does this color work with my red hair?

(And hmm... I wonder if these jeans are getting too big?)