Transitional

This little dress, a "hand-me-up" from my younger sister, was more difficult to work with than I had originally imagined. I love the flirty floral pattern, short length, and fit, but taken all together those elements make the dress look far too girlish for someone in their late 30's. Not only that, but it has a pink ribbon attached around the waist, which would look adorable if I were in my late teens instead. I toned down the pinks and magentas by adding the green jacket (Forever 21) and camel shoes (Joy Chen), but I still thought the dress was too short for me to pull off this particular style at work, so I added the tulle skirt underneath for some more length. The skirt, from Noa Noa, is very versatile; it can be worn alone or as a bottom layer, and the soft pink, almost nude, color makes it function as a neutral in an outfit like this one. The red belt helped to keep everything in place while hiding that too-cute pink ribbon.

In the end I was pretty happy with the blend of summer and fall styles and colors; I think this makes a good transitional outfit. San Francisco sort of defies conventional seasons anyway, so it's fun to play with items that are supposed to be worn at a different time of the year. Our warmest months are typically September and October, so I'm certainly not ready to put away my sundresses just yet.

The shoes are the new ones whose arrival I was waiting on the other day. The original price was something like $185, but I spotted them on Shoefly for $124 with an additional 20% off at checkout. I thought that was pretty good, but just for kicks I did a quick search before placing the order, and ended up finding them on Amazon for $65! I'm very happy with them; they have a stiff, pale mesh in the cutout areas that secures them to your feet so that they don't slip. The chunky heels give them a retro look and make them very stable to walk on, and the quality is excellent.