Quick wedding OOTD

I toiled over what to wear to a recent wedding and wound up feeling pleased enough with this ensemble that I also sported it to my second baby shower. I will update with some photos and recap from that day (which was really wonderful and full of enthusiasm and love, just like the first). The wedding was also really beautiful and moving. A couple who had been together for decades decided to make a marital commitment to each other and it was thrilling to see. I wanted to dance so much more than I physically could. Chris and I really only managed a slow song or two before I decided to listen to my body and sit down.

I'm at the point where it's hard not to feel occasional negative body thoughts because with increasing frequency my current body is in varying degrees of pain or discomfort. But I am healthy and the fetus is healthy so despite my nagging aches I realize I'm very fortunate.

Things are hectic as we count down the last few weeks before we have a kid. So much is left to do. But I've managed to keep my belly photos updated and write occasionally about this new and changing experience both here and on my pregnancy blog. Thank you for hanging around even though my wardrobe and consumption have shifted to suit these adaptations.

Outfit details:
Everly Grey dress from Amazon
Assets Maternity Tights (which are actually awesome! buy them here or here)
Gucci Wedges
Amber pendant and John Hardy heart necklace (both gifts)

Family time OOTD

 

One of my favorite things about this time of year is that it usually involves a lot of catching up time with relatives. Between graduation parties, birthdays, and regular summer holidays, Chris and I spend a lot of time in the car shuttling between our folks' places and eating lots of delicious foods. We're lucky to live near our families but because we have three sets of parents it can be challenging to divide the time evenly and coordinate everyone's schedules.

I wore this outfit to go home and celebrate my dad's birthday. I've also worn it to shop with my mother-in-law for some transitional (stretchy) clothing. It's been my outfit for numerous doctor and dentist appointments. Honestly, it's become a go-to "nice" outfit so I've worn a bunch. It fits comfortably, looks pulled together enough, and still feels very me. I was lucky to find an ebay link to the dress in the Effortless Anthro trade market. It is still full price on the Anthropologie website. I  bought it in a size up from what I would wear pre-pregnancy and now I have something that is cute that will grow with me a little this summer. I might even grab it in ivory!

Can you spot the bonus Speck behind?

Outfit details: 

Anthropologie's Fluttering Flora dress

Anthropologie's Cartography cardigan (cool map print tee here; similar cardi here)

Gucci wedges (budget similar on sale here and here)

Vintage initial necklace

On repeats and no repeats

J. Crew factory rosette cardigan (similar here)
Kate Spade dress (current season version)

Gucci wedges

Heathered bittersweet Spanx tights

Vintage necklaces, Linea Pelle leather bracelet, Target enamel bangles, Betsey Johnson watch

Alternate title: Why I don't (30 for 30) remix. The ideology of consumerism is powerful. The lure of the consumer fix and the emotionally transformative prospects for retail therapy continue to inform purchase decisions among even the savviest shoppers.* I've long believed in the idea that through repeated wearing, a garment's use-value increases (so if you take the cost-per-wear calculus, it becomes less expensive to the purchaser the more you rotate an item through your ensembles). Still, that desire for more, newer, better has meant that so many of us continue to pursue quantity, regardless of quality. Personally, I know I have too many clothes, even if the majority of the stuff I buy at this point is of nicer quality. Reading through the intelligent and practical thoughts of "The Year of Nothing New" helped me better understand my own personal tendencies for amassing quantity. And rewearing pieces (without self-imposed wardrobe constraints) is something I practice constantly (monogamous dressing is my pastime). I admire that so many people participate in the 30 for 30 challenges, as I do think they can inspire creativity and innovation among people who have limited wardrobes (during extended travel, for financial reasons, or just for the sake of relative minimalism). But I have never considered participating in such challenges myself.

Like many of the various remix challenge participants I find myself thinking that I have too much.  Even after consistent edits and weeding, trying to be as ruthless and unsentimental as possible; even after multiple resolutions to "buy less, buy better," I still find myself capable of avoiding repeats within the fall and winter months of the semesters. I suppose that sounds obscene to some. And I guess I should clarify that I don't mean each outfit I wear is always completely new. But the central component of an outfit can easily be swapped for each new semester audience. After all, right now I only teach my students two days per week. When I have a wealth of options it makes me think I should rotate for the sake of equitable use even when I get the urge to repeat (to the same audience) in quick succession. So I try to go through a rotation of outfits that is organized based on season.

Obviously some pieces can't be worn in the dog days of late summer and others simply are not practical to sport when it is 10 degrees below freezing. So my wardrobe strategy is seasonally dependent. Within the rotation my goal is to maximize what I have without pretend limits and with realistic attitudes about when to cut something from the roster (hence the difficulty I've had in finding pieces to include in Jewish Girl's rounds of the Use it or Lose it Challenge). Especially when they are novel or especially flattering, I find myself wanting to wear some pieces every day (like the above dress). But I resist, perhaps irrationally.

Should variety be the default when your options are plentiful? I often wear the same outfits in quick succession when they can be spread among diverse social circles. Some days I even want my own personal super hero uniform to involve an arsenal of the same garment that I thoughtlessly and happily sport all the time. I envy the simplistic chicness of a wardrobe consisting of all neutrals and/or just a reasonably small number of key pieces. And yet (like so many privileged Americans) my own relationship with consumerism  has been such that "more" often conflates with "better." Maybe it is the inevitable side effect of existing in a Supersize-happy culture?

Lately when I find myself staring into my wardrobe, wondering what to wear, I fantasize about that small, perfectly-edited, neutral-tone wardrobe where everything matches and everything is unfussy and chic.** And repeats are inevitable.

*For an academic take on the intersections of faith and shopping, see this excellent book by historian, Lizabeth Cohen.

**I acknowledge fully the immense privilege it is to have such a non-problem (aka a "privileged person in the developed world problem" which is increasingly becoming my more nuanced version of the useful shorthand meme, "first world problem").

Mapping D'armee OOTD

D'armee dress from Anthro

Cartography cardi from Anthro

Spanx heather brown tights

Gucci wedges

Gifted beaded necklace

Chris was kind enough to order me the khaki colored version of the D'armee dress. I coveted it for both nerdy reasons and for aesthetic reasons. It made an excellent birthday gift and I wore it to campus the next day with the cartography cardigan. Its multiple hues of green were emphasized by the olivey khaki of my dress and the forest leather of my shoes.

Weekend Casual OOTD

Alma Mater blazer from Anthro

J Crew Rosette sweater

J Crew chinos

Gucci wedges (in suede here)

Back in February I bought these chinos at J. Crew on major sale. They were about a size too big and way too long but I figured I would branch out from my comfort zone of printed dresses and skirts to try something trendy for a change. I knew I wanted to cuff them and wear them baggy so too big and too long fit the bill. The pants remind me of my favorite pair I wore to death in the 90s. Those were a steel gray color but the feel of them was exactly the same. They're slouchy and I am sure that my somewhat short, non-lithe body was not who they had in mind when they imagined people wearing slouchy chinos, but I enjoy doing something different now and then.

French and Italian (accessories)

There have been some fantastic end of season clearance sales happening lately. Because I have a little mad money (and a nagging addiction to sales), I have been browsing the round racks and websites. I just accepted my first invitation to speak that includes an honorarium (fancy word for stipend). Although I am extremely busy with other projects, trying desperately to finish my dissertation and wrap up my Cultural Studies Association paper for the Division of Culture and War, I accepted. This sort of invitation is counted among my many academic goals.

 Gucci Wedges on major discount from DSW

You see, I have a range of career objectives that span from realistic to entirely absurd. To name a few: "be invited to share your expertise during a segment on NPR," "deliver a ____ ____ inaugural lecture," "donate your 'archives' to a library that actually wants them," "start a scholarship fund for economically disadvantaged women from your home town," "be invited to speak at an event that includes an honorarium," "publish a book (or three)," "actively mentor and advise people who aren't children of PhDs (and are therefore as bewildered by academia as you were/are)," etc. I am sure this probably makes me sound insufferable, (think Tracy Flick) but I promise that many are tongue-in-cheek pipe-dreams. And the rest come from a place of earnestness (think Leslie Knope).

 Balenciaga buckle ballerinas from Barneys final cut sale

Anyway, I was briefly evaluating what I should do with the money. Then I remembered that I already have a few recent buys that I can pretend are my honorarium presents. This allows me to sink that check directly into savings. It makes the most sense, practically. And although I do like these items, I was having trouble justifying them. Although their combined sale price totals don't equal my windfall, their retail values certainly do! 

Michael Kors Calista handbag in Navy, bought with Saks giftcard

BTW and not to sound like an outtake from the talking Malibu Stacy episode of the Simpsons, but (as a humanities scholar) sale math is my favorite genre of everyday math.