Tough Floral

[Cardigan: J.Crew factory (old); T-shirt: Two Arms Inc.; Jeans: James Jeans via Gilt, Necklace: J.Crew factory (old); Flats: Zara]

I've had this cardigan for two years now, before these big floral patterns became ubiquitous this season. I'm still not sure what to do with it at times, because it reminds me of a dress I'd wear when I was little to a fake tea party (yes, my friends and I had those). And there's my husband's cool grey Brooklyn T-shirt, which was too small for his gym-frequenting self. We popped it in the dryer to get it even smaller for me. Yay!

It's May and I'm almost completely burnt out on the pastels, neons, florals, and pattern mixing trends for spring and summer. I love color and I love all of those things on their own, but seeing them EVERYWHERE has made me retreat a little bit. That's what I get for packing 60 fashion blogs into my Google Reader. It's really my own fault.

I love discovering and following new trends, but I see them as a starting point. I think they should be tweaked and re-worked to reflect your own personality, not simply regurgitated from catalogues and style mavens (no matter how fabulous they are). So I decided to pair this pastel, floral, five-year-old-girl-inspired cardigan with a dude's grey T shirt to give it some edge, rather than going for the Easter egg look with more pastels. Oh, and my favorite turquoise necklace. I don't care if that color is in or out, I plan to wear it until I die. Like, paint my wheelchair that color when I'm old and senile.

You'll notice these photos are indoors and not sunlit. That's our kitchen and these were taken at 11 pm on Friday night. I'm a rebel, I tell you.

All photos by Mikhail Glabets 

I've Gone Dark

Not my hair, just on this blog! Sorry! It pains me to post so few outfit pics this week, so here's my quick hello.

I was traveling for work, wearing things like this (to a really awesome conference in New York City). Please excuse the blurry hotel mirror pics. I normally hate these but I like the outfit I came up with and wanted to share.

[H&M dress from three years ago, J.Crew outlet cardigan previously seen here, H&M polka dot scarf seen here,  J.Crew necklace seen in my last post, and shoes cut off in picture, but last seen here] 

And I've been participating in #StyleMeMay on Instagram. The month-long challenge is the brainchild of Hilary Rushford of Dean Street Society and the new VPL show on HelloStyle's YouTube channel. She's created a month's worth of daily inspirations for outfits (see below). Anyone who wants can follow the prompts to direct their outfit, snap a pic and post via Instagram or Twitter tagged #stylememay. Participate as often or as sporadically as you'd like!

It's great for bloggers like me who have fallen off their regular routine, but still want to remain connected. Here's what I've been up to:

Day 1: makes me want to twirl. This was the twirliest of outfits I had packed in my travel bag, and was inspired by The Wonder Girl's musings on dresses over pants. 

Day 2: bright happy color. A Forever21 hot pink open knit sweater bought on sale. Layered over a peach Oxford for even MORE color. 

Day 3: jazz up your hands. Rings from Forever21 and Old Navy. Posed over a favorite floral scarf. Hands photograph odd, don't they?

I hope to be back with more outfit goodness next week, but expect to see some layers and shivering, as it's crazy cold in Boston now. April showers bring more May showers and chilliness, I guess!

And in the meantime, you can see more of my #StyleMeMay takes on Instagram (ErinGlabby is my user name).

Closet Remix: Mint Seersucker

[Mint Blazer: Gap outlet (old); White Shirt: Forever 21; Jeans: 7 for All Mankind; Necklaces: Forever21 and Banana Republic outlet (old); Ring: Old Navy; Flats: Zara]

Let's talk about my pant legs. One rolled, one not. I SWEAR I'm not trying some twist on J.Crew's half-tucked shirt look. Nope, this was completely an accident.

The Mr. and I joined my friend in a wine tasting event extravaganza in Boston at noon. Fifteen or so wine vendors, each with a few wines for the trying. It was awesome, and exhausting. So, Mikhail and decided to curl up in our car for a nap after the fact. We woke up refreshed, albeit a bit disheveled. (Hence my hair. I'm sorry for that. I really am.) We starting shooting to catch some of the good light, and only halfway through our adventure did I noticed my orphan rolled pant leg.

But I am pulling inspiration from J.Crew in another way. One of its catalogues (or Style Guides, if we're being proper here), showed two chunky canary yellow necklaces layered over a beautiful shift dress in the same shade. I realized I had two cobalt blue necklaces and a cobalt blue H&M dress from a few years ago in a similar shape. I just went with the necklaces here, but I'm excited to try to the whole ensemble later on. For now, I thought the chunky necklaces went nicely with a mint seersucker blazer my mom bought me about five years ago from the Gap outlet in our town. She got me a pink one too. I haven't wore them a ton in that time period, but the mint color works great for this season. I think the flowy, slightly mussed white shirt balances out the pure prep of the seersucker. Happy Monday!

All photos by Mikhail Glabets 

FBFF: My Outfit Spreadsheet

I was so pumped to write this FBFF* post on outfit planning because I think I have the most incredibly dorky way of tracking and planning looks: A Google Docs spreadsheet!

This started in part because I am a complete ogre in the morning. Ask my roommates and my husband. This doesn’t just mean I hit snooze 20 times and will bark at you if you try to talk to me. It also meant that I was getting frazzled when selecting my outfit for the day, so I just grabbed the first thing I saw. Throughout the day I’d be reading fashion blogs and thinking of all the ways I was inspired to play with my own wardrobe, but come the next morning I’d forget all these awesome ideas.

Let's go play in my closet

So, the spreadsheet was born a few months ago. It has a column for each category of item that could potentially go into an outfit: top, 2nd top/sweater/jacket, dress, skirt/pant, shoes, accessories (ie belt, hat, scarf), and jewelry. For each potential look, I write down which item goes into which category (see the screen shot below). This also helps me see how versatile a piece is and how many ways I can remix it into different outfits.

I take some time in my closet a couple times each week to test out the things I’ve put into my spreadsheet and make sure they look as good in reality as they do in my head. I don’t take pictures like Cher does in Clueless (except for this post), but usually just give the outfit a yay or nay on the spot, or find a way to tweak it to make it look better. I often spend way longer than originally intended on this process, because I think of new combinations, rediscover old pieces, and basically play dress up in my own closet, jotting down notes as I go along. (Are you embarrassed for me yet?) I don’t necessarily plan these outfits out for specific days, but generally take stock each week of what the weather’s going to be like and think of some looks that will work with that. I love getting dressed up for special occasions and planning those outfits down to the last detail, but I like to put similar care into my day-to-day looks, too. (Except when I've wildly overslept.)

OK I do take outfit test pictures. Just this for the purpose of this post, though! Oh, and my photographer husband is thoroughly embarrassed by my cheesy iPhone photos and over zealous use of filters from picfx (which I learned about on Twitter from Blair of Atlantic-Pacific)

The spreadsheet also helps me track how long it’s been since I’ve worn something. At the end of each row, I have a column to input the date I last wore a particular outfit. Right now, most of my spreadsheet is dominated with Spring/Summer outfit ideas. One thing I’m pumped about is that as the season draws to a close, I can take a look to see what rows have blanks in the date last worn column, and make an effort to wear those outfits before the warm weather runs out. (Yes, I just said pumped).

I’ve said before that I love to recreate looks worn by my favorite fashion bloggers using similar items in my own closet. Whenever I come across something I think could work for me, I usually pin them and log my version into my Google Doc on the spot. New purchases inspire me too. I love buying a single new piece and thinking of all the ways it can remix with things in my closet. Because of this, I can’t remember the last time I had to buy an entirely new outfit for an event. #Gofrugality

Trying to recreate this look from Atlantic-Pacific with clothing I already own 

I'm sure you're all thinking I'm either incredibly high maintenance or hopelessly nerdy, but an outfit spreadsheet is actually a lot easier than these seven paragraphs might indicate. You can jot ideas down on the fly and test them out whenever you get the time. And that part is loads of fun. I encourage you to try it! Not only will it help you get more creative and organized with what you wear, but you’ll probably find that you have a lot more going on in your closet than you thought you did!



*FBFF stands for Fashion Beauty Friend Friday. It was started as Katy Rose over at Modly Chic as a way to regularly connect fashion and beauty bloggers around a specific topic. (Read more about it here). I heard about it at a blogger conference I attended last month, and this is my first go! Thanks for reading.