Arboretum in Autumn

 

This Fall, when it comes to dresses (my favorite item of clothing), I am looking at budget options. I learned to trust my intuition, and when I feel a nudge to look at a certain store, even if it is not my usual shopping spot, I don't second-guess myself and don't ask why. This strategy pays off - I find plenty of beautiful, feminine affordable options. Perhaps the most unexpected find was the red dress from my previous post (HERE). Target started doing much more in terms of stylish plus size clothing in the last couple of years. The red dress that many of you liked so much is by Ava & Viv, Target's plus size line that they launched two or three years ago. At the price of $35, it won't break any pockets. It is my first purchase from this brand, so I really can't say much about the quality, other than I am pleasantly surprised. We will have to see how it holds up, of course. I can recommend to pay attention to the Who What Wear line as well, which offers both straight and plus sizes. I also found quite a few great dresses at Old Navy, including this beautiful Autumnal boho number. With a 50% discount, it came down to $32.50. So even if you are on a budget, there are wonderful options out there right now for us, plus size girls. Don't be afraid to experiment! Trying something new keeps our wardrobes and our lives exciting.

Five Outfits

This past October was record high on rain here - 12 inches vs. average 2 inches of rain. November is leaning the same direction so far. To take a break from the gray and wet weather and shake things up a bit, I thought I'd look at photos from 2016 which haven't been published yet. Even though these outfits are less elaborate compared to some, they were still fun to wear - "stylish, but not too stylish", as they say in my favorite British sitcom As Time Goes By. But my outfits don't exit just by themselves. If I wore an outfit, it means I went places and did stuff. So let's see what I've been up to in these few months.

Reset

I'm a born redhead. I mean, literally I am, it is not a figure of speech. My Mom tells me that I was born with red (and, apparently, long!) hair. I'm not really surprised - my father and everyone in his family have copper hair, and there are a few redheads on mama's side too. But my baby red hair turned into blond, then into medium brown - though it always had a copperish tone visible under straight sunlight. 

Layer It

A couple of other recent experiments I wanted to share - this time, playing with layering.

Friendship Story

I don't know about you, but I sometimes put pieces together just for fun - I hang them on a tapestry rod in the living room, so I can glance at my "work in progress" from time to time as I read or write. This work sinks in to me, new ideas come, new details are added, something gets removed... all while hanging there on the tapestry rod. Then I transfer the work in progress from the rod on to my body. It's still in progress at this point, because as all of you know, things rarely look the same on the body as they do on hangers. Sometimes, it's so completely wrong (and I loved what I saw on the tapestry rod) that I don't even bother to photograph my ideas. Other times, I proceed to photograph, and then it can be either - "yep, it works" or "nope, it doesn't." 

I am not super analytical. I can't always figure out in advance what will work for me and what won't. When it comes to the creative process, I follow my heart. And when I started my style journey about a year ago, I bought pieces which I though would work, or I wanted them to work. And some of them became favorites, and I wore them a lot, while others mostly spent time in my closet. It's not that I don't like them - most of the time, I think I just haven't found good companions for them. Good friends. We all need good friends. Those who see us for who we are and love us for who we are. Not less, not more. I'm sure you know what I mean. Clothes are really not so different. Each piece can be brilliant if it has a good friend - the one which helps it shine.

Inspired

Thank you so much for your thoughtful comments on my last post. I will do my best to respond to everyone as I usually do, and catch up with all of your new posts as well. I am always touched when you show interest in life back in my home country and ask me questions. Since we are exploring personal style here, I thought I'd mention a few style blogs in the Russian language which are definitely worth of checking out, so let's come back to this by the end of this post, OK?

Funky

Before I start writing about today's outfit, I would like to invite you to see how stylish women wear their sneakers at Jill's and Adrienne's "How I Wear My..." event which they hold every month. I participated a few times and encourage you to do it too!

Part 1 at Jill's blog Everything Just So

Part 2 at Adrienne's blog Rich Life On a Budget

Now back to dress madness!

Dresses are definitely easiest to wear and to style - one piece versus two or even three pieces to coordinate or combine in any fun way. I used to wear dresses a lot when I lived in Russia - mainly I sewed them myself or ordered from a tailor. It was always such a fun process to come up with a style, and even if you find a pattern in a magazine (we used Burda Moden a lot), you still want to do your own modifications. Then the process of finding a fabric, or sometimes the whole thing actually started at having a piece of fabric (especially in Soviet times when we had deficit of just about everything in our stores)... Finding little things like buttons, zippers, fabric for lining... Then making it, trying it on, undoing, redoing, etc. Fun and frustration, but more fun, because every last piece is not actually the last one, and often as soon as you finish it, you are on to the next thing.

The Color Of Your Soul

We got a warm and sunny day here in the middle of what supposed to be buckets of rain - a true marvel! I did not take any new pictures, but as I went down to the beach to enjoy sunshine, I suddenly caught myself thinking of one Spring day last year - actually, it was my birthday. I don't know how you guys like to celebrate your B-days, but I in the last few years learned to enjoy spending this day with just two people - my husband and my daughter, and even though I love gifts (and yes, I do love stuff), my favorite present seems to be "an event", and above all sorts of events I in a heartbeat would pick a trip to a new place.

Exposed

I was debating with myself about what to wear with this happy orange stripy turtleneck which I have had for ages, it seems, and suddenly remembered this skirt I bough last Spring because I really loved the color. I started paying attention to Lane Bryant back then. I think before last Spring, I might have bought a thing or two from them (in case you don't know - it is one of a few American brands which designs clothes for women specifically in plus sizes, 14 and up). That in itself is a curious subject. As a gal who was on both sides, a regular 6-8 US, and gradually over the last few years grew into 16-18 US, I know a little too well how difficult this transition can be.

Quirky

I came across these pair of shoes last Spring at Nordstrom Rack. They are by Jeffrey Campbell, quite an edgy Californian brand of shoes, and they are nothing like I've had before - or even like I've seen before. Quite cosmic. Quite edgy. Quite quirky. I had no idea how I would wear them, but I felt instantly in love, almost like with an art object. I love everything about them! There is not one single detail I don't enjoy. They are partly vintage, partly hippy, and partly Japan to me.