Grounding Influence

I had the combination of this cardigan and floral dress in my head for awhile; in fact, after the last time I wore the cardigan I jotted down the idea on a post-it note and stuck it in my closet to remind myself. When I finally put it together though, I found that the dress was a bit too long for the proportions I wanted, so I pulled the same trick that I used the other day with my pink strapless top; I took up the excess length by folding the dress at the waist, and secured it underneath the stretchy belt.

I had previously thought this cardigan could not be worn with a belt, but out of necessity I gave it a try; it was either that or start all over with a new outfit. I think it actually worked really well with this; the neutral belt has something of a grounding influence on all the bright color and pattern of the cardigan and dress, and ties in the socks and shoes quite nicely.


The socks reach up to just above the knee; this kept the outfit from being too warm, the skirt being a dense wool. I finally managed to get some photos of this skirt that show the color; every other time it has always looked black when in fact it's a deep olive green.

Cardigan: Anthropologie
Dress: 90's romper altered into a dress
Belt: Audra Jean
Skirt: Noa Noa
Socks: Sock Dreams
Shoes: Joy Chen

Suede Shorts

After many months of looking longingly at different pairs of leather shorts online, I finally followed Sal's lead and a pair myself. These started out as suede pants, which I picked up at Goodwill; a couple of snips with the scissors, a little folding, pressing, and sewing, et voila! Suede shorts, for $16. The best part is that Mark saved the rest of the pretty burgundy suede, which hopefully he'll turn into something amazing.

My first thought in creating an outfit with these shorts was to pair them with something unstructured on top, so that the outfit wouldn't be too risque for work. This sheer, leather-trimmed tank was actually something I selected in my head before I even started playing around with the actual clothes.When I got to my closet and started poking around, I thought at first glance that the tank would be too long, but after several fruitless attempts with other pairings, I gave it a shot and found it was just right.

The loose tank and asymmetrical cardigan keep the top half of the outfit interesting while still letting my legs be the star. I felt like anything fitted on top might push this outfit into the realm of office-inappropriate (although who knows, I might wear it that way anyway). Adding the socks kept my legs warm and somehow gave me the feeling of being less exposed.


Cardigan: All Saints
Tank: Black Market Baby
Bracelet: Leslie Danzis
Shorts: Wilson's Leather
Socks: Sock Dreams
Shoes: MIA