Meow Mix
Look out! Cat wearing giant plaid pants alert! My obsession with mixing colors expands to an obsession with mixing patterns and textures.
Posts Tagged “brown”
Wednesday’s Ms. Green Jeans
Nothing-new insight #4: Embrace your inner child! There’s lots of evidence to support the position that maintaining a childlike perspective is a key to creative thinking.
Tuesday’s Calico Crazy
When I saw this dress, I knew I had to try it on. Since I’d never come across anything quite like it, I owed it to the thrift gods to give it a shot. To my shock, this became one of my favorite pieces of the entire week. I mean, what exactly is going on here? One part circus, one part artist’s studio, all parts nuts. All I know for sure is it’s a standout, and it was half price (originally marked $20, I got it for $10).
Nothing-New Insight #3
Fitting in is overrated. I spent a whole lot of my life trying to fit in and somehow be myself. JUST BE WHO YOU ARE. If you’re surrounding yourself with the right people, they’ll not only get it, they’ll support and appreciate it.
- red and silver scarf - $1 Palm Desert Revivals
- multi-colored dress - $10 Palm Springs Angel View Thrift
- cowboy boots - $19 Moreno Valley Goodwill
- TOTAL - $30
Monday’s Art Teacher Chic
I’ve always had a secret thing for smocks and smock-like clothing because it seems like the exact thing my 1970’s-high-school-art-teacher alter-ego would have gone nuts over. This smockish jacket selected for the second day of my Week’s Worth of Undies Project is handmade from a kitschy floral fabric and sports adorably mismatched buttons. Underneath I’ve got a shear, pleated, bright yellow blouse with button details and red pleated slacks. The slacks were missing their button, and while I could have sewn another on, it turned out faster to simply add a skinny red belt with a majestic little pony.
Nothing-New Insight #2
Color is powerful. It’s almost physiologically impossible to be in a bad mood when you’re wearing bright red pants. If you’re happy, you’ll attract other happy people to you. When you’re surrounded by happy people, life gets pretty fun.
- floral smock - $6 Moreno Valley Goodwill
- yellow pleated blouse - $6 Moreno Valley Goodwill
- multi-colored bracelets - $3 Palm Desert Revivals
- red horse-buckle belt - $3 Moreno Valley Goodwill
- red slacks - $3 Palm Desert As Good As New
- cowboy boots - $19 Moreno Valley Goodwill
- TOTAL - $40
Sunday’s Shiny Tigress
Here’s what I wore to kick off TED Palm Springs Week’s Worth of Undies Project. I loved wearing this gold sequin skirt because so many wonderful people stopped me to comment on it!
For the TEDYou Talk I gave, I paired each day’s outfit with an important life lesson I wouldn’t have learned if not for this crazy nothing-new adventure I’ve embarked on. So here goes the first…
Nothing-New Insight #1
You do NOT have to spend a lot to look great. You can always look amazing for under $100, and you can almost always look amazing for under $50. At $55, this was my most expensive outfit of the week.
- red jacket - $12 Palm Desert Revivals Thrift
- red disk necklace - $2 Cathedral City Angel View Thrift
- yellow and black blouse - $8 Palm Springs Angel View Thrift
- sequin skirt - $10 Palm Desert Angel View Thrift
- cowboy boots - $19 Moreno Valley Goodwill
- TOTAL $55 with jacket, $43 without
A Perfect Valentine’s “Costume”
I’m kicking off the Week of Red and Pink with this, the outfit I wore last year on Valentine’s Day. We celebrated by having dinner at our neighborhood favorite, Vinegar Hill House. As we waited for a table and drank fancy pants cocktails at the bar, a sweet older gentleman felt compelled to tell Creighton, “You’re a lucky man. Your date has the best costume in the whole place.”
That’s right… costume.
- pink librarian’s sweater - $15 Jelly Roll at Brooklyn Flea
- red cherries - $5 Alameda Swap Meet
- plaid flannel skirt - $10 Jelly Roll at Brooklyn Flea
- charcoal heather tights - $8 The Sock Man on St. Marks
- brown peep-toe oxford pumps - $28 Etsy (seller PowBamBoom)
- TOTAL - $66
Foxy Mountaineer
As I asserted during my recent Hobby presentation: if it’s under $20 and it’s got an animal on it, it’s coming home with me.
I like my outfits to be functionally practical, so I cringed a little pairing shorts with a sweater… Are you hot or are you cold? Make up your mind already! But I like how this combo makes me look like I’m ready to traverse the Swiss Alps, and as far as I’m concerned, anything that reminds me of my friend SwissMiss is a good thing.
Don’t worry, Casson, I promise to label this one “rural wear only.” (Casson is my lovely friend who thinks it’s the height of silliness to wear shorts in the city. She’s also the drummer in my band.)
- hat - Cha Cha’s House of Ill Repute, already in my closet (derby ‘09)
- fox sweater - $10.00 Alameda Swap Meet
- high-waisted shorts - $2.00 Starkville Palmer Home Thrift
- walking boots - Frye, already in my closet (Ladies’ European Tour ‘08)
- TOTAL - $12.00
Orange Day at the Races
The inspiration for a nothing-new outfit can come from a tiny detail. In this case, it was this yellow, orange and brown striped scarf. As soon as I spotted it at the thrift store, I remembered an orange dress from a few racks back that I’d originally thought was too plain. Once I trimmed the brim of this orange straw hat (it had to be cut because it was too big, even for me), I was ready for my day at Churchill Downs circa 1973!
- straw hat - $1.40, Columbus Salvation Army Thrift
- sunglasses - $3.00, 23rd Street Manhattan Salvation Army Thrift
- linen dress - $4.00, Columbus Palmer Home Thrift
- striped scarf - $0.50, Columbus Palmer Home Thrift
- mary janes - $2.00, Columbus Palmer Home Thrift
- TOTAL - $10.90
How could I not fall in love with a scarf that looks like it was inspired by the color palette of the Price Is Right Showcase Showdown? This image may be blurry, but the color is as vivid as the first day Bob Barker stepped on set…
