This photo is a bit of a cheat, since I took it this morning before Mass and used it in the morning's style-diary post. But in fact I've decided to use what I'm already wearing today as a kind of springboard: a Shop My Closet post that focuses narrowly on a particular theme. Today's challenge, since I'd gotten dressed with this idea in mind anyway, is the layered neutral outfit, with a specific emphasis on gray. That is, I'm wearing gray, and I'm going to do a number of variations on gray, with my new Sierra dress as the outfit's core. If gray is a good neutral for you, then this will resonate, I hope –– but if it isn't, then I hope that this will be an idea that you could translate into any basic neutral that's good for your particular coloring.
Partly I'm being lazy, and wanting to use more or less what I'm already wearing as the basis for a series of variations. I also don't want to put on and take off my entire sweater collection today. I thought I might feature my Sierra dress for all the Sundays in November, with a different color/effect focus for every week, rather than doing a lot of more random posts and combinations. This makes sense, since I will probably be wearing this dress a lot.
I want to take this opportunity to say, again, how great a dress the Sierra is. It's not that different from the Camellia swing dress I wore for my 100-day challenge –– really just another very simple above-the-knee swing dress. The cut is slightly different, however: I think for one thing that the Sierra has a wider sweep, starting just below the bust. The effect is of a more fitted bodice area with a flare, not quite as structured as an actual fit-and-flare dress, but closer to that kind of structure than the Camellia is. For another thing, the more substantial fabric seems to give the Sierra a more consistent shape, though we'll see how that holds up through a lot of wear and washing. The Camellia always does spring back into shape with a wash, but between washes the thinner knit can start to feel shapeless and droopy. I had thought that the Sierra would read as a distinctly casual dress, as indeed it can. But the greater heft of the fabric, and the resulting feel of structure that this provides, means that this dress can actually dress up pretty nicely. I would absolutely consider wearing mine to a winter wedding, and to any kind of winter party, from casual to more dressy. Spring and summer might be another matter . . . in warmer seasons I tend to want to wear lighter colors and fabrics, especially when I'm dressing up, though I'd certainly wear this dress with sandals for any kind of casual occasion. It would be great on a hike, then knocking around a mountain town after.
Here it is, just as it comes, the basic paper-doll figure we're going to be dressing today:
Sierra dress, layered silver necklaces, gray merino tights, camel boots. Phone in front of face, because if this figure has to come up with photogenic facial expressions, she will lie down in the road. Note that even though we're doing a layered-neutral theme today, the camel boots, with their element of contrast, provide a frame for the outfit, and keep our gray legs from dissolving into our gray feet, or vice versa.
So, having established that I'm a fan of this dress, let's see what we can do with it today. Again, I'm going to keep the focus really narrow: gray on gray, though I might add a couple of different-color scarves for some variation on that theme. Mostly, though, I want to keep to a low-contrast layered-neutrals look that could be quite polished and dressy, or not, as the occasion demanded. Like any neutral, grays go with a huge range of other colors: pinks, purples, greens, blues, and yellows, as well as other neutrals: white, off-white, and various browns. There's almost nothing you can't combine with gray, depending on what kind of intensity and contrast you want to achieve. But you can also pair neutrals with themselves, repeating the same shade or going up or down the tonal scale, darker and lighter, for an understated look that gives you effortless classiness and elegance. As a person who has not been naturally classy or elegant in her appearance for most of her life, I find this idea really empowering. We worry about gray being boring or drab, and I suppose it could be –– a lot does depend on the weather, and also your mood –– but a more or less monochrome outfit in a neutral like gray can make the perfect backdrop for a striking piece of jewelry or a well-placed pattern in a scarf. Or it can just be a backdrop for you.
First, since I was already wearing it, here are some variations on the Sierra-plus-Athleta-cardigan base. I love this cardigan, snatched at the last minute off a Goodwill rack last year. It's as soft and comfortable as a sweatshirt, but its drape can look classy and dressed-up. The pale, silvery gray is so lovely, too.
Trying it first with the scarf my husband gave me for my birthday last night:
Like a lot of things he gives me, this scarf is probably not one I would have picked for myself. It's hard to see in this photo, but it's very metallic and shimmery –– I like that, and I can think of ways to wear it and places I'd wear it, but it wouldn't have been the thing my own hand would come to rest on, in a rack of scarves. I wouldn't have chosen the zebra print. But, you know . . . like a lot of things he gives me, it's not what I would have chosen, but it's good, and I like it. I've tried it a couple of ways, but I think I prefer it worn like this, long and loose and vertical. Somehow the pattern works better for me like this. It adds some instant glam to the dress and cardigan, to make an outfit I'd wear out to dinner or to a party. Making a note to myself to reach for this exact combination when I want to feel a little blingy.
