Clothes that act my age

I have a tough time dressing for school. I loovve dresses, but I am small and it is hard to find ones that fit without:
a) being for a teen
b) looking really cheap looking (because it was made for a teen)
c) being really short on me (I'm 5'5")
c) having an unnaturally high waist

Plus, I already do have a naturally high waist, so that is hard enough to work with already. I have begun to embrace it lately. I will never forget being in 8th grade, at the height of Guess? jeans popularity, and some rude girl in my chemistry class saying something about my brand new jeans looking high-waisted. Sigh. I was so happy when Mariah Carey invented the low rise (albeit six years later).

One of my "teen" dresses, attempting to pass for 30+ (it's using its friend's fake)

Does it work with the boots and tights? That was one of the main reasons I wanted OTK boots this season--to provide more leg coverage with dresses (plus it's freezing and windy here). [It is so hard to know where to look/smile when taking one of these self-portraits in a mirror].

Yea I feel better about this dress! I always have to wear another cami under it AND a slip because F21 dresses have that notoriously bad lining that goes wherever it wants.I was thinking about using navy or blue tights with this outfit instead of black since the flowers are blue and gold. Might give it some more zip.

What I'm wearing:
Dress: F21 ($18)
Belt: a ribbon from another F21 dress
Cami: Rodarte for Target ($7 on sale)
Half slip: Macy's
Tights: Wal-Mart ($5)
Boots: Steve Madden

The older I get, the weirder I feel shopping in Juniors-like sections. Talbots makes some really great skirts, but they don't fit me. JCrew still needs tailoring. My favorite jeans this year came from Hollister, of all places. Really expensive lines fit better (of course they do!) and I have had the best luck with wrap dresses a la DvF. In the past, I have also had extremely good luck with the Target guest designer lines, particularly Richard Choi (all time fave pieces), Anna Sui, and Jason Saunders--but not so much with their more recent lines. I was psyched about Marc Jacobs, but a lot of the stuff looked really young.

Anyway, what I wanted this post to be about is wearing dresses, etc. and making them not look too "young." I don't want to look old and dumpy, for sure, but I also don't want to look like I am trying too hard or that I want to be the age of the students I am teaching (18-22). No thanks! I want to look my age, only good. I am attempting to balance shorter lengths with tights, high boots, and other layers.Without tights, this dress looks bare.

Too much skin! Not exactly skanky, but it just totally doesn't work. I am still figuring out the best methods to wear what I have. I will post both things I think works and those that fail--mainly to remind myself not to wear it again.
More experimenting to come.

Owls about staying late?

Ha! There I am. I haven't played around with photos, blogging, etc., and I figured if I let 30/30 be the first time I went live, It'd be trouble. My apartment is trashed (and you can pretty much see all 400 square feet of it!) and I took this pic around 6:30 after the sun had gone down. I will have to play around with lighting and figure out if my camera has a self-timer this weekend.

I knew today would be madness (28 tickets in the queue :O ) and the main IT guy is still out sick. Working IT and teaching on the same days is a toughie, outfit-wise. You can get grimy crawling around behind the hardware, but I still want to look cute for teaching my course! I knew today would have to be a casual day due to the tickets, although I really wanted to debut my new boots.

Now you can see my makeup explosion...hmm the point of this one was to show the shoes!

This is a close-up of the owl print. I was paired this with an orange Dooney bucket bag but I forgot to include the bag in the pics.

Oh well. This is what I am wearing head to toe:
Necklace: James Avery
Cardigan: J.Crew ($19)
Black tank: Psst from Nordstrom Rack ($7)
Owl tank: Forever 21 ($20?)
Belt: a black ribbon likely pulled from a F21 dress
Watch: Citizen
Jeans: Seven lightweight Dojos from Nordstrom Rack
Shoes: Steve Madden ($29)

And one last pic of my helper, Boris Snoris I Adoris, my darling Boston Terrorist.

OTK boots at O-30

I am going to try to pull off over the knee boots at 32. And I am a teacher of college-age students, so that will make it extra hard to:
a) not look like a Skankarella prostitute,
b) not like I am trying way too hard, and
c) not elicit sour looks from real faculty/advisers/chairs

What I do have working for me is that my West Texas town is at least five years ago, so anything post-Ugg is still "fresh."

I hope the ones I ordered aren't ugly in real life. They come Saturday. They are at a shipping facility in Dallas right now. I just checked. In my brain, I have them on as pants, wearing them with dresses. They will never be worn with skinny jeans. No. The ones that are coming have a 14" shaft/opening, which is what I have. Here's hoping. Wish: Please, please do not look cheap, even though I stingily bought you for $49 + gift card.

UPDATE: Oo they came later that night! Here they are:

What I'm wearing:

Dress: F21

Cardigan: Macy's cashmere from Xmas sale '09

Boots: Steve Madden

I thought they'd be a bit longer/taller. I am not sure why they are a bit loose in the back (not tight on your thighs at all) but my calf and thigh measurements are about the same. I wonder if they have to meet/exceed the hemline of your dress to look really great? I am pleased with them. I will need to play around this weekend and figure out how to wear them.

The front-facing pics are bit misleading on snugness. The tops are a bit baggy (14" tops), but when you sit down they are ok. Not sure. Hmm. To alter or not to alter...?


UPDATE 01/21:
A few days later, I am really pleased with this purchase and I think the boots have a lot of potential. They aren't 100% perfect (a little loose at the top) but reading other blogs and seeing other pictures of people wearing similar styles has been inspiring. I almost went with more expensive pairs, and I agonized about buying shoes I "didn't need" for several days. For $50 though, I am really pleased with this purchase.

I like that they are made of a suede-like material instead of leather (or worse: fake leather) which would have increased the hooker potential tenfold. The material doesn't make the boots shout at passerbys; the materials let the boots act as tights/pants in a way, which was my original goal! I am really happy with these! I will be experimenting with different outfits around the house this weekend. I think they need tights in most cases.

30 for 30

I am going to try this. It is bothering me that February has 28 days but I am trying to get over that. Who is going to take my photo? I guess that is me. Off the Dairy Queen table in the park? These will be in my apt for now.

Ack it is hard to take full-length photos of yourself!

I am wearing:
Dress: F21 ($25)
Tomato cardigan: Target ($18)
MEK Jeans ($100 at the Buckle in '09)
Shoes: Jimmy Choo 100mm (from '04)
Belt: Ribbon off an H&M shirt I bought in DC '05

I do love the blue. It is so bright outside, especially with the cardigan. I took these pics around 1pm so the light might be blasting the colors down a bit.

First blog post accomplished!