Chuck Taylor Love Story

Earrings by Dottir

For many years, Chuck Taylors were my go-to shoe. I would buy a pair, wear them for about 3 years until they literally fell apart and then begrudgingly buy a new pair that I quickly broke in to that perfect comfort spot. My last pair wore out nearly 5 years ago and at that point, I could no longer find my size in stores. I'm not too fond of buying shoes online, so I just didn't replace them. Finally, I was so sick of my lack of casual shoes that I gave in and bought a pair online. And I've gotta tell ya, I have no regrets. I bought the charcoal color, a first for me and I absolutely love it. The color goes with everything. Even though I didn't get to try them on before I purchased them, they fit perfectly. Now whenever I'm not sure which shoes to wear, I just put on my Chucks and that's almost always the right choice. 

Earrings by Layla's Elaborations

Ooh, lovin' on the dress. I got this trapeze dress at a Buffalo Exchange in Denver, CO. I love thrift shopping when I travel. I used to love to buy souvenirs, but now I just buy used clothes. I believe that every piece of clothing holds a story, not only my story, but the untold story of the previous owner. This makes me feel like I'm collecting a part of the town that I visit. Now every time I wear this dress I have fond memories of my time spent in Colorado, which is linked to the dress' hopefully fond times with it's previous owner in Colorado. Who knows, maybe this dress was abused, but I like to think it was loved in some way.

I got this dress because I was at a buy 2, get 1 free sale at Urban Archaeology and this was the freebie. It's too big, but the colors in the plaid are incredible. This outfit was OK, but I think this dress is gonna need some alterations to really work.

Two hours into the day and I ripped the heel of my boot right off. Super bummed and I let everyone know it throughout the day.

Bye boots.

You were loved.

Back to those Chucks making everything come together.

Notes on Puce

"Gettin' it in camel"

If I could commit to something like a "Fall fashion concept", this would be it.

Earrings - Layla's Elaborations

I'm not sure how to correctly portray the color of these tights. The packaging says that they're "olive oil". Olive oil is just a marketable Puce, which is what I call this color. However, when I googled the color puce, I found this color name to be quite controversial. Apparently, "puce" is a dark reddish purple, but when I took a small poll, the general public thinks puce is a dark greenish yellow. Maybe this has something to do with associations with the term "puke green". Now I'm left totally confused and ashamed of my color naming abilities.

Whatever you want to call it, I love the color and I love these sweater tights from Poppy. I'm going to be wearing them a lot this coming Fall and Winter, so I had better get a "puce" (or whatever) colored marker to better represent them in my drawings.

Necklace by LaLunette

I woke up this morning with thoughts of casual comfort. I was gonna wear some jeans and a simple top and feel great about myself. I don't know how it happened, but this is what I came up with: black slacks, a backless blouse and high-heeled boots. I'm so messed up. I can't not get fancy.

Clothing Exchange Part II

The following outfits were created using items from the last clothing exchange hosted by and for Prairie Fire Lady Choir. Now those are some stylish women!

These pants! I never thought I'd own and enjoy skinny jeans, let alone distressed skinny jeans, but these are wonderful. This is why I love the clothing exchange. You try things that you never thought you'd try and end up loving them. Yay for new already broken in pants!

I think I'm going to be Frida Kahlo for Halloween.

Necklace by LaLunette

Again with the skinny jeans! Now black skinny jeans are something that I've actually been wanting for a long time and for some reason couldn't find the perfect pair. They were always too short or too tight or too low rise, etc. These are great! They're high waisted with a thick elastic waist band, so they're really comfy! They were also taken in a couple of inches by the previous owner, making them a perfect fit because now they're nice and long.

Earrings by Dottir

This dress is also something I would never think to buy, but I love it. It goes perfectly with many of my accessories, especially this necklace (also from the clothing exchange).

This skirt was the first thing that I picked up at the exchange and it had my name written all over it. The colors on this drawing are a little off and the skirt is actually a bright orange (surprise!). I have a very similar skirt already in mint green that I wear a lot and thought that the orange version would be even more versatile. I was right. I've already worn it several times with many different colors and styled in different ways. I love this combo as I'm always looking for more ways to wear this crop top.

Clothing Dilemmas and a New Dress

This dress is from my last visit to Sioux Falls. There's a new vintage store downtown and they were having a sale. Buy 2, get 1 free. Of course I found 3 gorgeous garments to take home for way less money than I would have spent in the cities.

I bought this jacket at Lula. At the time, there was a dress with it. The dress was kind of hideous and it did not fit. I asked if I could buy the jacket separately and was denied. She said that it's rare to find vintage separates like this still paired together and did not want to break them up. Respectfully, but disrespectfully, I bought the set. It was no loss to me because I've worn the jacket enough times to offset the cost of buying a dress that I would never wear. However, it was a loss to the vintage fashion community because I ended up consigning the dress alone without it's pair. Years later, while walking down the street, I spied the dress in the window of a different vintage clothing store (not the one I consigned it at). I guess the lady at Lula was right because without it's jacket, this orphan dress keeps getting passed from store to consumer to store and that's my fault. While I felt bad about it at first, I've made peace with my choices because dresses don't have feelings.

This is a crop top that I've been trying to figure out how to style. We all know that I'm into crop tops, but I generally wear them fitted. This one is all loosey goosey and makes me uncomfortable when paired with a skirt, like I'm Christine Ricci in Black Snake Moan. I honestly don't understand the physics of her boob/shirt situation.

Here, I paired it with a fitted Maxi dress. Very cute and comfortable, but too hot for late July.

Olive Leather Jacket

I scored this sweet jacket at Primrose Park almost for free with a 50% off sale and a gift certificate. I love being thrifty. The color is a beautiful shade of olive that works as a neutral and could go with almost any color. The leather is really soft and supple. I believe "buttery" is the term. The cut is vintage and futuristic at the same time. It's exquisite. So, I wore it as many times as I could before it got too hot to bear. The following are some examples of how I styled it. 

I wore this to the America concert at the Medina Entertainment Center. 

Don't ask.

I love that olive goes with everything, like cobalt and fluorescent red. Colors are neat.

Also, I wrote on this drawing that I bought this dress at ModCloth. This is a lie. I got it at Poppy.

Foxy Zebra

Similar shirt - TJ Maxx

Similar skirt

Similar belt

Similar boots

Similar earrings

I asked my husband if it hurt to look at me when I got dressed this morning. He said no, but I think he thought it was a trick question.

Outfit Repeat

Sweater - TJ Maxx

Similar dress - Target

Similar scarf

Similar sandals

Similar earrings

Because of the long weekend, I made the mistake of writing the date on this drawing incorrectly. Monday was the 25th, making Tuesday the 26th of May. However, I will admit that I wore this outfit two days in a row because I liked it that much. I wore it on Monday to see a movie and go to a barbecue and then I wore it to work the next day. So technically, I wrote the date correctly and gave away my secret.