In the winter, it starts getting dark around 4:00 PM, which makes it difficult to get enough sunlight after coming home from school (around 3:30 on most days). Thursdays, however, are the one exception because our funky block schedule lets us out an hour and twenty minutes earlier than usual. This means I can actually get pictures in decent lighting and enjoy a couple hours of sun before retiring to my room for homework.
The weather on this day was a bit nicer for a change, and I decided to go without tights for the first time this year. Of course, I still couldn't quite go bare-legged, so I wore a pair of grey thigh-high socks. They feature a subtle bow print, which is visible but probably unidentifiable in these photos. My blazer has a thin, plaid print and my dress is an abstract, floral. There could be a bit of a clash between all these patterns, but I felt that it worked out alright because of the clear dominance of one print; the floral.
This dress has a couple lines of smocking across the bust, which would normally probably have given it an empire waistline. It was a bit big on me, however, so I belted it around my waist to achieve a more figure-flattering silhouette. I liked the cap sleeves, which I tend to think minimize the broadness of my shoulders.
The hemline was originally cut straight across, but I cut it into these points. It was around four inches longer when I bought it; I prefer mid-thigh length dresses on myself, though. Below the current hemline, there used to be another band of the floral print that covers most of the dress. I was inspired by the bright, red pattern that is now at the bottom of my dress. It reminded me of triangular banners, so instead of cutting it straight, I followed the shape of 'flags', leaving about an inch of solid red. This is a variation on the scallop trend, which I am also loving at the moment. I have been cutting the bottoms of shirts, dresses, shorts, and skirts with scallops and some definitely turn out better than others. There are some materials that simply work better to hold the scallops. Thank goodness this dress worked perfectly well. There has yet to be any fraying on the open edge and the fabric does not curl up at all when stretched horizontally. It has even been through the washer and dryer without any changes!
This is just a close-up of the brown, woven belt I wore over the dress. The loop that the excess belt goes through is not movable, so I used a bobby pin to keep it down. I just stuck it through the weaving and secured it on the belt it was wrapped on top of. I used my medium-brown belt as an excuse to wear my brown oxfords, yet again. I reach for those almost every time I don't want to pick out a different pair. I'm one of those girls that has too many pairs of shoes and items of clothing, but wears the same things over and over. I constantly go to my closet and complain about how I have nothing to wear, but in reality, I still have loads of clothes that haven't even been worn. I simply get in ruts with the clothes I wear. One of my many goals this year is to wear some pieces that have been sitting in my closet, untouched, since I bought them.
floral dress - Ross
plaid blazer - Nordstrom Rack
brown belt- from mom
grey thigh high socks - Forever21
brown oxfords - Steve Madden from Marshall's
Follow and keep checking back to see how I wear those pieces! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this post. I will probably post some nail art pictures tomorrow to take a break from these outfit-of-the-days.
AprilLily
p.s. Check out my tumblr if you want to get to know me a bit better and see some of the things that inspire me!
http://aprillily.tumblr.com/
I love the dress, such a cute cut, I love it.
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