Outfits May 14 – June 15 2019

Combined post because I just never got around to doing May Part 2, but also because about half the May outfits were repeated exactly in the beginning of June.I took a semi break for the past two weeks by repeating 10 of my recent outfits exactly so that I wouldn't need to spend time on photos every morning.My boyfriend and I decided that we needed to spend some time working on apartment improvements, so I spent the morning time doing exciting things like cleaning out our medicine cabinet and choosing a night light from about fifty million crappy options online (apparently the market for night lights does not include young adults who want a simple non-cheapo-plasticky looking night light for a bathroom, just little cartoon lights for children or over the top pinterest-rustic-barn decor night lights for hallways with no dimmer option or on/off switch).

Patterns

On repeating the same silhouette

Overall I was very happy to not spend time frantically getting photos in the morning but still know that I had a nice outfit. I think going forward I'll probably just allow myself to reuse and outfit/photo once or twice a week so I don't burn out. Also at this point, I definitely have enough outfits that I really like that I should be repeating them. Why do all the work to try new looks to only wear them once?One thing I noticed is that when left to my own devices without the goal of pushing my personal fashion boundaries, I could probably exclusively wear high-waisted tapered relaxed-fit trousers / straight-leg jeans with the odd A-line midi skirt thrown in. I knew I favored those silhouettes already, but letting myself wear only favorites for two weeks really confirmed this. Some of my brown wide leg pants are looking a bit worse for wear, and while I am glad I tried them I'm thinking I may not try to replace them once they get too threadbare. The black ones I think I still enjoy as part of my witchy style subcapsule, especially in winter, so I'd keep those in my wardrobe.Being able to wear the same type of pant so much was definitely aided by having a variety of colors and textures in that silhouette. I worked on the opposite in my winter travel capsule for visiting Boston, where I had only black bottoms but made sure to use a variety of silhouettes. I really liked how that capsule turned out overall, as well as the simplicity of not needing to worry about color coordination. I suppose my takeaway here is that at least for me, an easy to wear but not overly repetitive wardrobe will be constrained in color or silhouette but be varied in the other (I think having a few different textures included is something I'd like in all cases though).

White top and light-wash jeans

This was a combo I would have never worn for many years, due to some reasoning like "pssssh only dumb people who are interested in FASHUN would do something so IMPRACTICAL as wear HEAD TO TOE LIGHT COLORS." Well guess what, insufferable 14-year-old me? Denim doesn't hold dirt that easily, and it wearing light colors is actually more comfortable when it's warm out. Also, an interest in fashion doesn't decrease someone's humanity. ಠ__ಠ Let people like things.The monochrome-ish effect is also nice because the continuous silhouette is lengthening. While I often belt my black jeans, I found that I've preferred this look without a belt. I think with a belt I prefer with higher necked tops, because then there's more vertical clothing area to start with. I think I'm also just more into belting truly high rise pants which still look high rise even after the top inch or two has been visually removed by a belt. These particular jeans come off as mid-rise to me when I add a belt.Also, I had completely forgotten that I owned that Reading Rainbow t-shirt but I found it while digging through stuff to pick out things to donate. This is like an OG almost-literally-vintage (if we're taking 20 years to be official) shirt. I got it back in like 2002 for getting third place in the regional level for the Reading Rainbow Young Writers and Illustrators contest, but back then it was an oversized fit. I remember thinking the high crew neck and longer short sleeves were the most offensive cut of t-shirt imaginable in middle school and high school when those super fitted cap sleeve cuts were more popular for tees. Well, the cycle has spun and now we are back here 🙃

Misc Outfits

I was inspired by @shellsinshoes' post about a new pair of socks she got with a print of a dutch floral painting on them to dig out this dress. I'd worn it once to attend a wedding at a  conservative venue a few years ago but hadn't worn it since then because it felt too formal for the office and was generally not easily integrated with my other items.I went for a more edgy look on this one and a bit of pattern mixing with the striped socks and added the tights for a more continuous line. I think the outfit overall feels really cool, but I decided that the oddly placed waistband hovering in the no-man's land between empire waist and natural waist (I suspect this dress was designed for someone with a much smaller bust) would bother me every time I wore it in addition to it not being good for work, so I did end up donating this one. But I'm glad I got to give it one more good wear before that.I had spent an hour or two the night before getting hyped up looking at media from the opening of the Star Wars Galaxy's Edge park in Disneyland and wanted to do something tastefully inspired by it. I'm not even like, a die-hard Star Wars fan, I just love a well-executed immersive environment and the park looks amazing.I started with the base outfit from this look I'd come up with for the "vintage adventurer inspired style" theme post but swapped out the sandals for some sleek boots that felt more sci-fi appropriate and went with the exaggerated fleece bomber for some pilot vibes. Overall not really an overtly Star Wars look, but I think it would blend into the scenery in the Batuu outpost.This outfit was very inspired by @alaskanweredork's outfits. Her feed is a great source of fantasy/dark boho style outfits set to awe-inspiring nature backdrops. I had a lot of fun wearing this because I felt like I was in a dark fairytale.I've never been that impressed with the quality of Topshop's bags, but I love snake motifs (actual snake, not snakeskin print) and the design of this with the extra metallic chain and I've been enjoying it as a way to add some dark fantasy vibes to outfits.I wore this during the weekend heatwave. It doesn't usually get actually hot in June over here (SF is usually still in the 50s F in the morning frequently with 90%+ humidity) but I enjoyed being able to do a proper summer witch look, even if I didn't like the 95F high. I think this is the first summer where I've had the cotton-linen blend trousers and I was pretty impressed at how much more comfortable they were at the same temperatures compared to even this jersey maxi skirt.Another good old fashioned witchy look. I've repeated this look a few times now with minor variations in the belt, boots, and tights. I like to wear this when I don't really want to come up with an outfit, but want to wear something kind of costume-y (my personal definition of costume-y is "could this be literally used as a Halloween costume with the addition/swapping out of 1-2 accessories?" and it's not necessarily a bad thing).I love the silhouette and neckline in this look (square and sweetheart necklines are my favorites), and is that each piece has some details that make the whole look very rich and textured. The stretch cotton top has a tiny leaf texture knit as well as seaming that creates panels on the front AND the back. The trousers have pleats and cuffs and have a wider-wale corduroy. I was worried that the patent leather on these boots would be too extra for me when I first got them, but these are now my favorite boots because they look really sharp without taking over an outfit. The color combo is fun too.This is one of those rarer outfits that's a personal favorite and seems to also be really popular (lots of likes and lots of saves) when I post it on Instagram. My theory is that it's partly because the posing and facial expressions are particularly flattering and partly because it's an accessible/wearable sort of look that isn't super obvious like "black t-shirt and black skinny jeans with ankle boots". I personally love the color palette and relaxed pieces with the leather accessories, and the overall earthy but not boho vibe.

Conclusion

I was pretty happy with this set of outfits, although I would hope so because the whole theme for this two weeks was to just wholesale repeat some weather-appropriate favorite outfits. I haven't explicitly been thinking about these aesthetic goals I'd come up with a few months ago:

🌊 Depth – do textures, layers, and accessories provide a feeling of richness? Are there small, medium, and large shapes throughout the outfit?✨ Whimsy and wonder – my general aesthetic goal is to have outfits that feel like they could be out of a storybook or movie (see the My Style page for more details on this). Erring a little on the dramatic or costumey side is good.

but since I like to keep some themes like "dark fairytale" and "vintage adventure vibes" in mind when getting dressed I think overall there is a sense of fun. I could go a little harder on accessorizing, but given that hats and purses don't work with my weekday logistics I'm pretty happy with the visual interest overall. I'm also glad that I can periodically do the "just jeans and a top" thing now that I have those light wash jeans after trying on so many badly fitting pairs.Probably won't be a ton of true summer weather coming up in the next few weeks (September is usually warmest here), but even so I'm really happy with how much my warmer weather style has progressed from previous years, when my MO was more like "exist, with some suggestion of maybe a personal style but not really because it's just the same pairs of black skinny jeans and boots rotated with random tops and cardigans". It's kind of funny that I'm coming back to a more formulaic look after expending so much effort to branch out, but expanding the range of fabrics and colors that I wear has made a really positive difference.