Pix-Elated

And a funny story. 

Wearing my uniform of wide legs and blue & white. 

1. The Zara open weave sweater. So far, no kitty snags! :) 

2. The new Zara culottes and a denim jacket Angie featured a while back. Got compliments on this get-up. But funny story. I wore it for a trip to get a haircut in the big city. (Photos taken pre-haircut).

On the ferry trip back, I went to get a little snack of soft serve ice cream in the cafeteria. The cashier thought I had not given myself a proper sized serving and went to get me some more. As I stood in front of the machine, she pressed the lever and SPLAT!! 

Chocolate ice cream all over my white jacket! Stains have not completely come out yet. I should get them out with a second soak. 

I guess I lack the Angie stay-pristine gene! 

Carol has been drawing our attention to the shirtdress and button through shirt of late. Well, Carol, it turned out to be a great reminder for me this week. We'd had hot temperatures for days so I was tentatively planning one outfit for my kid's graduation....only to find that the day itself dawned much cooler and nothing without sleeves would do. What to do? 

My trusty shirtdress to the rescue! 

We had a very long day, with arrival required two hours before the ceremony, then a looooooooong ceremony, followed by photos, followed by dinner out. Mr. Suz and I had to twiddle our thumbs for an hour and a half between arrival and ceremony, so we elected to go for a walk, and for that, I brought a casual option of my outfit -- denim jacket and sneakers. Back to the car and quick change jacket and shoes and presto, I was ready for the more formal event! (Mind you, people showed up in all levels of dress, from bright pink Docs and shorts to ball gowns and sky-high heels.) 

The outfit felt great and we were proud of our graduate, who has had a long and tumultuous road to get here. 

What I wore: 1901 dress, Naturalizer shoes, Zara jacket, Pom Pom London bag and rainbow strap in solidarity with my kid. Denim jacket and Cole Haan sneakers for the walk. 

This dress is absolutely stunning quality fabric. It barely wrinkles (despite being cotton). I wish Nordstrom had kept up with that 1901 label. 

I don't wear this often, but wow, I'm so glad to have it in the closet. Ditto for the little Zara jacket -- it hasn't had a lot of outings but it has still been an excellent purchase. YLF has taught me the value of keeping seldom worn items in the closet if they fill a specific role. No shopping required, and no last minute panic. 

How about you? Have you pulled an oldie but goodie out for service lately and thanked yourself for hanging onto it? 

I got a pair of the Cole Haan sneakers that Angie featured this morning and tried them out today -- they are super comfy and lightweight! I thought the mix of textures in the shoe and top was fun, along with the floral mix in the pattern on skirt and top, in my first outfit here. 

I also got the footbed sandal and am just trying it now. A little stiff in the leather up top but I know that will soften. I got them more or less as my summer "at home" shoe (though I will also wear on our deck). A sandal slipper, in a way. 

Cole Haan is either very very good for me....or horrid. I now own 2 of their sandal styles, 2 knit-top oxfords, and one sneaker. Alas, their leather oxfords are not narrow enough on the heel to work for me. 

By the way, the jorts are an instant workhorse! How could I have debated them for so long? Duh!!! SarahDB was so right. Pedal pushers! 

Over on  my other thread, Star asked what a "sleeper workhorse" is. 

I might just have invented the term, I don't know. But here's how I answered her: A sleeper workhorse is an item that may seem a bit difficult to style on first purchase, but shows its worth more and more over the course of a few years. Trendy bottoms are almost always sleeper workhorses for me. I may or may not wear them often during their first year in my closet. By year two, though, they are in full swing, constant rotation. This is a pattern for me. Fashion-forward bottoms that I like, even if I can't quite figure out how best to wear them initially, almost always turn out to be long-lasting durable items in my closet. 

Examples -- I started wearing cropped wide legs in -- I think -- 2016. They are far from fashion forward now but the style has worked for me well. I started wearing barrel style pants in 2020. Cargos, ditto. Full length wide legs in 2021 or 2022. All the items below have more than proved their worth. 

Maybe sleeper workhorses go along with being an early adopter? You need to find the right complements for them and sometimes that takes a while. 

How about you? Do you have categories of item that become sleeper workhorses? Or specific items that surprise you? Maybe, like Dee, you find them in your "donate" pile and rescue them> 

So, here are some photos of stuff I ordered to try from Zara at home. I am not going to keep all of this, no way, and so I need to make some decisions. 

Pic 1: First, the cotton-linen pant and vest. The pants are still too long for me, alas. I hitched them up a bit on one leg with paper clips (could not find my fashion tape) -- they could easily be shortened in this way. But it means the "balloon" part of the pant perhaps falls slightly differently than I think it is meant to. Still, maybe that does not matter. They are so lovely and lightweight and non-wrinkling. 

Pic 2-3: I worked out that the vest should actually be a bit shorter, too -- and it could be altered, as most sleeveless tops can, by simply taking it up at the top shoulder, but it's lined, which might increase the alteration cost. (The lining is cotton -- so perfect for high summer!) Adding alterations to both pieces of this outfit may just make it too pricey considering the amount of wear it would or would not get in my life. Despite my love for the fabric, I'm likely to send it back but I will keep an eye on the summer sale. And I'm happy to be talked out of this decision, too. It's possible it could be a sleeper workhorse for me, separately or together....

Pics 4/5/6: The pants thrown on with the top I happened to be wearing and then with the little white lacey burnout tee I wore in the last post with the jorts. I think I will keep the tee -- I have been wanting more texture in the closet. 

Pic 7.  A blue textured sweater. Cotton. I quite like this but worry it might be bait for my kitty's claws, so need to deliberate some more. Excuse the wrinkles on white jeans! Need to iron. 

Pics 8/9: Another vest I am trying. This one has princess lines. Linen but alas the lining is poly. I do like it a lot, though and like the fit -- though again, it needs to be taken up at the shoulder to fit me properly. I ordered the matching pants but they have not arrived yet. 

Pic 10: Wild card mustard viscose pants and another tee. 

Pic 11: With a vest. 

Pic. 12: With the more cropped pinstripe vest. 

Pics 13/14/15: with yet another vest -- this one knit. It is not a summer weight item in my world and the buttons are gold, so I would need/ want to change them out. Being knit, the fit is more forgiving. 

Pic. 16: Pair of grey pants I'm not keeping as I they need hemming and I don't like the fit as well as the mustard ones. 

At the moment, I'm inclined to keep the tees, the mustard pants, and maybe the vest with princess lines, especially if the pants turn out to work as well. But I'm open to conversations about all and any of these! And I will take a few days to think this through before boxing things away. Would love any thoughts! 

Last week I ordered some jorts to try. Unfortunately, Zara recommended the wrong size for several items, so the below the knee ones I'd really been aiming for do not fit. I will try them in another size and see, but my hopes are not super high. 

Zara recommended two sizes for the shorter version of jorts, and one of those sizes fit, so I threw them on quickly with a few things to try. My conclusions? When rises/ proportions change, you've got to think through how you'll wear the thing....no throw on and go until you've got that sorted! Unless the new look is a slam dunk for you, it is going to take some time and consideration to make it work. 

The jorts themselves are nice quality denim with a raw hem and a cute little buckle detail in the back (which unfortunately would prevent one from wearing a belt). They have a button fly and (most significant) a slouchy mid-rise -- coming just below my navel. They are baggy, so are super comfortable, and would be much cooler than snug denim. 

To my eye, the proportions are not right... or at least I'm not comfortable with them, in any of these combos. It could be a question of needing my eye to adjust. It could be a question of my always having had preferred higher rises for correcting my natural proportions (i.e. for figure flattery reasons). It could be that I don't have the right items to pair with them, or didn't choose the right items from my closet. 

Either way, despite the practicality these would have in my life, I think I'll send them back and keep searching, or simply look for very lightweight long pants for summer wear. I'm not so inclined to expose my legs these days anyway, so summery long pants (available now as never before) could be good to stock up on.....

How about you? Are you making the switch to mid-rises? Or lower rises? Will it come with costs or benefits for you?