Disheveled

That is not a sly grin of happiness you see on my face; it's a smirk of extreme displeasure. This was the day I had to drag my ass into work at 8 a.m. for a FIVE HOUR MEETING. A five hour meeting with no breaks, mind you. What kind of sadistic bastard would schedule such a meeting, you ask? Well, the sadistic bastards I work with, apparently. Needless to say it was not a happy day for me. Meetings that start at 9 a.m. are bad enough, but 8 a.m. shouldn't even exist as far as I'm concerned. Mornings were meant for sleeping, not sitting in a chair trying to stay awake.

I found this vintage skinny tie on Haight Street a couple months ago, but this is the first I've worn it. It has very thin, diagonal black and white stripes and a sheen that gives it a silvery appearance from a distance. It's not easy to tie, and getting the two ends to hang one in front of the other is nearly impossible, so I opted to let it look a little sloppy and disheveled, which I think works well for menswear-inspired outfits.


Adding some grass green and teal helped give this outfit a more seasonal look. My legs and feet would've been in danger of being chilly, but I knew I wasn't going to be outdoors much, since obviously I was spending most of the day in the same damn conference room. I always check my calendar in the mornings before I decide which outfit to wear, making sure that if I'm going to be out and walking around campus a lot, I'm dressed for the weather and am wearing reasonably comfortable shoes. And if I'm stuck inside all day wasting my time in marathon meetings, I make sure to wear my most appropriate accessory -- an angry scowl.

Shirt: J. Crew
Vest: A. Byer
Tie: vintage
Belt: Lazaro (Argentina)
Harem Pants: Vera Wang
Shoes: Gabriella Rocha

Harem Pants

Here's the second wearing of my new harem pants; this time I wore them with pumps so that the shape of the pants is more visible.If you look closely you can see that the pant legs are quite snug where they end, about mid-calf; they can also be worn with the cuffs pushed further down towards the ankle, giving the upper part of the leg less of a baggy shape. So far I'm really liking these, and I can see them working equally well in a sock-less warm weather outfit.

Jacket: Max Studio
Top: Ann Taylor
Pants: Vera Wang
Shoes: Tsubo

Baggy-legged

If you haven't done so already, hop on over to Sal's blog and check out the guest spot I wrote about being a smart Etsy shopper. Whether you're a seasoned Etsy pro or still curious about how the whole thing works, I hope to provide you some insight that will make the process smoother and more rewarding, especially as we near the final countdown for holiday shopping.
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What's that I've got on today? Could it be harem pants?? As a matter of fact, it is. Long was I skeptical of the trend, and long did I expect it to fade into oblivion, but it has persisted and finally I was forced to admit that I might want to give it a try, especially after I saw how great it looked on Angie.

When I saw this pair of harem pants on Gilt, I knew they were just perfect, but they were all sold out in my size by the time I saw them. For several months I would see other pairs, but I had the image of these in my head and nothing else seemed quite right. However, one of the important things to know about Gilt is that items sometimes come back a few times, so I was patient and kept checking the daily sales. Patience finally paid off; the pants showed up again and I snapped them up this time around.

The pants are 100% silk and feel just like pj's; in fact, they were a little hard to get used to between the light, slippery fabric and the puffy legs. The cuffs hit  just below my calf, but pushing them up onto the widest part of my calf gives the legs a fuller shape. To me they actually look less like a harem pant and more like jodhpurs, or knickers, as Wendy B likes to call them. And as Wendy pointed out, knickers are the next new thing, so either way I figure I'm covered in the way of baggy-legged pant trends.

Button-down shirt: Promod
Sheer shirt: Noa Noa
Belt: Urban Outfitters
Bangles: Amrita Singh
Pants: Vera Wang, via Gilt
Boots: Bronx