Day 8, Dress 98: Remixing a Dress Is Hard

When I decided to continue this blog after September 2009 I said that I wasn't sure what I would do come next September. Could I blog a dress in September 2010 if I had already blogged about it earlier that year? I realized that I would never be able to do 30 Dresses again if I didn't use some dresses I had previously worn and blogged (albeit not in September 07, 08 or 09).

Some dresses are easier to remix than others. I had worn and blogged today's dress a few months ago so I wanted to do wear it in a different way than I had before. I discovered that today's dress, a Target dress via Ross is not a dress that is very easy to remix.

With a busy pattern I figured all I could do was change up the accessories. I went with a silver palette. I'm wearing a mirrored necklace and a flower in my hair that both came from Forever 21.

Paired with some silver shoes from Office.

If you have other remixing suggestions for this dress I would love to hear them.

Photo credit goes to JoJo.

Day 7, Dress 97: My Blue Phase

I never realized it until folks kept making comments yesterday, but I don't wear that much blue. Perhaps I should rectify this because it turns out I like the way I look in blue.

I picked up this dress at Ross and I was super excited to find it because lately I've really been into chambray. Figuring out how to wear chambray without looking like an 80's castoff can be a bit tricky but the stitching under the bust of this dress took away any of my concerns. I've paired it with a light cotton sweater from Old Navy that is an absolute necessity in my icebox office, but not so much outside in the sunshine.

I'm wearing some accessories you've never seen before on the blog. The blue necklace I picked up in Iguazu Falls in Argentina, the long silver necklace I just discovered in my closet (I literally don't remember ever seeing it before) and the earrings I picked up in Mexico.

The shoes are on their virgin outing. They're Minnetonka moccasins and they are incredibly comfortable. It's also exciting to me because these were popular when I was a kid and I wanted them so badly. I never got them as an 8 year old, but I have them now!

But I came back from lunch with much more exciting shoe news. Look what was awaiting me in my office upon my return.

DUO BOOTS!!!!

Since last fall/winter I have been obsessing over getting another pair of Duo Boots (just about the only boots that fit my calves). I wanted an everyday, flat, black boot. I hemmed and I hawwed and I obsessed over price and the thought of having to return boots to London and finally I bullied my Dad into buying them for me as a birthday present for the last 2 years.

I picked the Oristano (stock image below).

And here they are on me. Front view.

Back view

I think I'm going to keep them. They fit, they're purty, there's room in the toes and they're wide enough that I should be able to wear them over jeans. My one concern is that the sole of the shoe is very hard but I'm hoping some inserts will be able to solve that problem. The boots aren't uncomfortable, but I'm not so sure that they're comfortable if that makes sense. I promise to give a much more thorough review when I've walked more than 25 feet in them.

Photographer of the day is Nicole.

Long Labor Day Weekend: Days 5+6, Dresses 95+96

I had lovely long weekend, but I spent most of my time frolicking outdoors and stayed far away from my computer. Thus I'm a backlogged blogger so this is going to be a double post.

I spent my Sunday in Prospect Park with some of my very good friends who have just moved to Brooklyn from Paris. Yay! Everyone I love should move to Brooklyn! I spent the afternoon showing them my beloved park and soaking up the beautiful weather. My dress is from Ross and I've paired it with some earrings that were a birthday present years ago from my friend Mirka.

Sadly beaches close after Labor Day so I headed out Monday for the last beach day with lifeguards of the summer. To advance my personal goal of fattie bathing suit visibility here's me in my cute bathing suit that I got at Accessorize several years ago. I think this bathing suit may be on its last legs - the under wire began poking out of the suit on Monday.


And I couldn't not wear a dress, so here's what I wore over my cute bathing suit. This dress you have seen before and it is a hand-me-down from Jamie and she got it at Loehmann's. The hat was picked up on a trip to Israel several years ago. It took me all the way to the final beach day of the summer to finally remember to pack a hat when I head to the beach.

Day 4, Dress 94: Cowgirl Chic

Saturday was the start of a long, lovely and very busy Labor Day weekend. The weather was perfect and for the first time all summer you actually needed a layer to keep warm once the sun went down. As my friend said "I'm cold and it's not because of air conditioning." After the summer we've had, music to most New Yorkers ears.

The cool(ish) weather also meant I could wear boots and some denim for the first time in a very long time. Yay! I haven't worn boots in months and I desperately missed them. Not to mention that fall shoe wear is so much more supportive than summer shoes, so on Saturday I was able to wear cute shoes and not have an aching foot at the end of the night. Have I mentioned to you yet how much I cannot wait for my tendinitis to be gone?

I adore this dress, which is some random brand that I picked up in Loehmann's last year. Paired with cowboy boots and a bit of denim, I love it even more. Last year when I wore this outfit a friend of mine told me I looked "hyper sexualized" in it. I am not even going to get into how angry that comment of hers made me, but suffice it to say I think she's wrong. What do you think?

I added some dangly earrings from Primark for a bit of bling.

And finally I wanted to share with you the heart shaped, blueberry birthday torte I made for my wonderful, fabulous, awesome, amazing friend Ateqah. I figure since her name comes up in the photo credits so often, I was allowed to wish her a very public happy birthday on my blog. Ats I love you and am so happy you and your hearts came into my life 2 years ago.


Photo credit goes to Amy.

Day 3, Dress 93 - Comfort and Coney Island

Day 3 and it is hot and sticky and all I could think of when I was getting dressed was comfort. To achieve that end I grabbed what I am aware is a not very exciting dress from my closet and decided to try and spice it up a bit with some accessories. That's not a stain on my dress, just a bit of water. In case you don't believe me, here's a picture from later on at night, sans water stain.

The dress is Splendid, a line I have raved about to you several times before. Like many dresses in my closet, it is a hand-me-down. This one is from my lovely sister-in-law to be and I believe she inherited it from someone else as well. The cycle of dresses!

The dress is simple, so I decided to add some pop with accessories. I've never really paired brown and yellow before, but Friday morning it was calling my name. I put on a big chunky necklace that I got in India.

And on of my favorite hair pins that I got last year at Atlantic Antic - a huge street fair in Brooklyn. I love how versatile this clip is.

And even though I shouldn't have, after looking at pictures from the day before and seeing how my tevas ruined my outfit, I wore different shoes and ended up paying for it with a very sore foot. Note how my friends shoes compare to mine.

The shoes ended up being a bit of an issue because some friends and I headed to Coney Island Friday night to see some fireworks. The fireworks ended up being cancelled (which we didn't know about until we already schlepped all the way out there) because of Hurricane Earl. Considering that the "hurricane" didn't even bring us a drop of rain in Brooklyn, we were none too pleased. However we decided to make the best of it and eat some fried food

play some games

go on a few rides.


and have a drink
It was a fun time, but we walked a lot and my tendinitis was really hurting by the end of the night.

Day 2, Dress 92: Sun Kissed

I am doing my very best attempt at a sun kissed look today. Can you sense my California girl vibe through the computer? The Beach Boys California Girl vibe that is, not Katy Perry's California Gurl.

After my day in the sun yesterday I was a bit darker and wanted to highlight my hard won tan and there is no better way to highlight a tan than by wearing white. I picked up this white dress at Ross and it's Speed Control in a 1x. {Shh, can you tell that I'm bra less in the office?}

I've paired my dress with 2 necklaces. The silver one is from Primark and the pink/yellow one is from Peacocks.

My fun hoop, within a hoop, within a hoop earrings were purchased at a Brooklyn street fair.

And finally the shoes. I warned you about them yesterday. I am indeed wearing tevas. I know they're ugly and ruin the look of the outfit but my tendinitis was acting up after my day at the beach and I was in too much pain to wear anything else.

Photo credit goes to Farrin.

And here's a bonus photo of me from work today at a big exhibit some of my friends have been working on. The right to vote is totally my favorite right. What's yours?

Bloggiversary

One year ago today I wrote my very first blog post. Wow. When I started I was just giving in to my friends suggestions that I write a bit about my love of dresses. I never imagined that people I didn't know, people from all over the world would read my ramblings and care about what I said or what I wore. I never imagined that you would find inspiration - of the fatshion or body acceptance variety - from me.

Blogging has had its ups and downs, but overall it has been a great experience. The other day a good friend of mine was writing on her blog and she said that I had challenged her to "critically examine societal standards of beauty and sexual attraction." That was pretty great.

I want to thank all of you dear readers. For reading, for commenting, for supporting me when I things were going awry in my non-fatshion world, for writing me some of the kindest emails I've ever received, for being there for me. Writing and hearing back from you, sharing stories and tips - it has truly been a pleasure getting to know all of you this past year.

There are so many amazing bloggers in the fat-o-sphere that are changing our lives for the better. I don't dare classify myself in their company, but I like to think that I've filled my little corner of the fat-o-sphere with some bright colors, fabulous accessories and a whole lot of whimsy.

I love you all.

xx

~bloomie

Day 1, Dress 91: We're Off to the Beach

Day 1 is here and I'm starting the month with the ugliest dress in my closet, but I've got something very cute on underneath so I think y'all will forgive me.

It was 95+ degrees today so I took a beach day. The perfect day at the beach, although the waves were definitely too big for my taste. I mostly wore my adorable new Monif C. bathing suit, but I threw on this cover-up so I had a dress to show you. I got the cover-up at some random cheapie store near my house and can't tell you anything about it. I can however tell you about my bathing suit.

Isn't it pretty? If you've never checked out Monif C's bathing suits I recommend doing so. They're pretty pricey but I was able to get mine using a whole lot of store credit at Re/Dress NYC - yay! They've got a lot of support, lining and are well made. I do however have a major problem with it that I'm hoping one of you has a suggestion for.

The bathing suit is lined and there is now a ton of sand trapped in the lining of my suit. Like I mentioned, the waves were really big so I just sort of sat on the sand and let the waves crash over me. I know I'm a baby, so let's move on back to my problem at hand of sand stuck in my suit. There are no openings in the lining and I don't want to cut one, but I also don't want to put on a suit with a cup of sand in it. What to do dear readers, what to do? I'm sure I can't be the first person this has happened to.

I'm also wearing Betsey Johnson sunglasses and a cute little flower pin in my hair courtesy of today's photographer/stylist Veronica.

24 Hours and Counting

Till September 1, 2010 and the 4th incarnation of 30 Dresses in 30 Days.

For those of you who aren't quite sure how my blog happened, you can read the backstory here. The long and the short of it is that in 2007 I realized I had a lot of dresses so I tried to see if I could wear a different one every day for a month. Well, it turned out it wasn't a problem at all. So I tried again in 2008 and 2009 as well. 3 Septembers, 90 dresses, no repeats.

It shocks me to say this, but I'm giving it another go. I'm not sure if I'll have enough dresses this time around (although I think I do) and some of them will have never been worn during a September challenge, but have been worn on the blog, so I will try my best to remix them so they look a little different. Also, I have tendonitis in my right foot so I'm stuck wearing tevas a lot these days so you have to promise not to judge me for that. Please dear readers, please don't judge.

Until tomorrow here's a quick little outfit that I wore last week. I hadn't worn jeans in months, but with September coming round the corner I knew I should wear pants again at least once before I couldn't for a whole month.


I'm wearing an all Ross outfit. The jeans are Z Cavaricci and the top is some brand that I've never heard of. I purchased the top back in May but I haven't managed to wear it yet. I kept thinking it was a bit much for the office, but then I thought if sequins were ok for the office, why aren't other sparkles.

I kept the accessories simple with some earrings I picked up in India


And my Bottega Veneta inspired (but actually came from Daffy's) shoes

Cashmere, Cashmere Everywhere

Even thought just yesterday I was complaining about the heat, we're having a bit of a cold spell in NYC (it's going to be in the 80's and rising as of tomorrow) and it got me thinking about fall. Lovely, colorful, beautiful fall.

Fall clothing is filled with tights and boots and my favorite type of clothing - cashmere. I only started investing in cashmere cardigans in the last year or two and I am a convert. Wrapping yourself up in a cashmere cardigan is one of life's pleasures. I always seem to hem and haw over spending the money on a new cardigan before giving in halfway through the season and splurging. This year I'm determined to purchase my cashmere early and wear it for 6 months straight.

I'm a fan of Bloomingdale's in-house line of cashmere cardigans. I love the styles, price point and they have both a straight and plus size line - yay! Here are my 3 favorites. If I can only buy one, which one should I go for?

Option 1 is the ruffle trim duster. I don't have any cardigans with ruffles like this and it comes in 4 different colors. Yet I can't decide if I like the ruffles or hate them. What say you?

Option 2 is a poncho. I like the idea behind it and it seems like the perfect piece to leave at my office if I'm cold, but I'm not too sure that it's very practical. In my long history of poncho's they usually work better in theory than practice.

Ruana Poncho">

Option 3 is a simple duster. It's simple and straightforward but I'm afraid the lack of buttons might drive me crazy. On the plus side, it comes in purple and there is a big gaping hole in my closet where some purple cashmere should live.

So what say you? And please if you have any suggestions for other places to buy myself some long, cozy, cashmere cardigans for less than $250 please let me know. Bloomingdale's has been my go to for the past few seasons but I have no problem stepping out on them.