Morning kitchen-window still-life. Still pretty drab weather out there, though it's warmed up considerably since the beginning of the week. The dog is still tucked up in her crate at this writing, though soon I'll need to take her out and get the day rolling in earnest. Already I've answered some emails and looked in at the Substack, where I'm up today with that Thomas Campion essay I was laboring away at for so many days.
I was surprised, a little, by how much I enjoyed yesterday's outfit, which was pretty much just a matter of my putting my hand in the closet and pulling these things out. I was surprised that I liked it so much that I didn't feel the need to change when I went out to dinner --- simply put on a jean jacket and went, and felt dressed up in exactly the right way. I don't dress up for date nights, generally, in the sense of being dressy, but I do like to feel that I've made some effort to look a little sharper, to signal that I'm doing something special.
Often, after a day of doing whatever it is I'm doing, I do go to the trouble of putting on a fresh dress to go out, and of accessorizing it somehow in a way that I don't bother to do when I'm just rattling around at home and cooking dinner in my own kitchen --- even though when I cook dinner in my own kitchen, I bother to lay the table, light candles, and create a restaurant atmosphere, because why not enjoy dinner for two in the kitchen as much as you'd enjoy a restaurant dinner? Even when I'm by myself, for that matter, I like to light a candle. But last night I liked what I had on so much that I just accessorized with the jean jacket to elevate it a little, and off I went. Totally serendipitous, and a very pleasant serendipity that I want to remember and replicate. It's fun to feel nice in your clothes.
Today I think I'm finally going to wear something in the Marian Blue line that I've been planning to wear all month --- putting on my outfit lists and then not wearing after all, UNTIL TODAY.
Wearing:
*Secondhand Japanese linen (or linen-blend) pinafore, bought fall 2023, last worn May 14. Not sure I'm counting wears for this dress, because it spent so long in my outbox, and I took it out again only at the end of Lent, to stave off boredom. I think I paid about $18, so cost-per-wear by now is fairly low, even if it's not yet down to 0. It's a tad big for me, but I don't really mind that, as long as my shoulder straps don't drive me crazy by slipping off my shoulders.
*Thrifted Indian gauze tunic (I guess I'm hitting the pan-Asian vibe today), bought at Goodwill and owned for roughly a decade.
*Thrifted Crocs sandals, year 2 of wear
I love the play of sky-blue with this tan/natural linen --- that was one thing that made me think that this would be a good outfit. The textural details are fun, too:
The only real drawback to this outfit --- and it's a drawback any time I wear this tunic under a pinafore --- is that the tunic tends to ride up and rumple under whatever I'm wearing on top, in a way that starts to drive me up the wall. You can kind of see it in some of the photos above. I like things to lie smoothly, and I give myself permission to change shirts if I am too bugged.
I can also wear this tunic over my Black Heather Audrey dress, as I've done in the past, but not so far this year. The tunic hits at my hips, without any waist definition, which is sub-optimal, but I have liked that combination anyway. Possibly I could add a belt, but belts always feel too busy to me. They are the one thing I take off, per Coco Chanel, before I leave the house.
Anyway, if this combination --- which does please my eye, but is dubious as a sensory experience --- doesn't work for me, I'll try that one.
I've been wearing these Crocs a lot this week, mostly because I like them, but also because they're impervious to the weather. Rain and muck hurt them not a bit. All I have to do is rinse them off, and they're good to go. My Jessie sandals are also not damaged by water, but their light color means that they do show wear and soil and have to be washed, so I've been opting not to wear them until things dry up a little more.
Still waiting for the seller to ship the new-to-me Xero sandals I bought the other day. There seems to be an epidemic of Poshmark sellers not shipping things lately --- I just had a sale canceled because the seller didn't ship the cross-body bag I had ordered for days and days, and then apparently said it was damaged . . . I'm not out anything, because they don't release funds to the seller until you accept the purchase, verifying that you did receive it and are satisfied with it. And I have bought another crossbody bag --- one I actually like better --- which is on its way to me. But I'm nervous about these sandals, which haven't shipped. I would like one more pair, since I live in sandals all summer and into the fall, and I really like these, which are teal and cute and obviously go with my whole closet.
We're into Ascensiontide (though of course we won't go to Mass for the Ascension until the transferred solemnity on Sunday). In the meantime, the Novena to the Holy Spirit for Pentecost begins today. For various reasons, if you are a praying person, now seems a good time to be praying for the presence and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Send forth your spirit, and they shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth.
ACTUALLY, YEAH
The tunic was bugging me, just the feel against my skin. I think it's just too damp still for cotton to feel at all good. So I kept the pinafore and switched out the tunic for this 100% merino me-cropped tee:
*Secondhand WoolX men's tee (S), neckline, sleeves, and hem cropped by me with a pair of scissors. Bought fall 2021, I think.
I also love this sky-blue, and I haven't worn this tee in a while. I should really evaluate my hanging on to that cotton gauze tunic. I've had it forever, and I love the idea of it. But do I love to wear it? That's the question. Maybe I'll tuck it in the outbox and see whether I'm moved to retrieve it. I certainly have enough tops for the skirts and pinafores I own.
OK, really, enough navel-gazing about clothes. Time to think about something else.
AFTERNOON UPDATE
I have
*walked the dog
*watched the rain fall (again)
*written an essay on the 17th-century poet Thomas Traherne
*talked for a long time on the phone to my Substack partner
*walked the dog again
*changed my clothes, because the last iteration of the outfit above bugged me just as much as the first, for reasons that remain obscure to me.
But I do feel better now:
As you see, I kept the wool tee, which I do quite like. As you can also see, I cropped it rather short when I was cutting it off, which makes it a little difficult with pinafores with deep armholes (which was a large part of the problem with the previous outfit, to be honest). But I'd gotten the idea of my Audrey dress in my head, so I thought, why not?
And verily, this is the vibe. I cropped this tee, actually, to wear with this dress, because I was tired of tying it and having it pulled all sideways or whatever when I made a knot. It does work well under some dresses with less-deep armholes as well. Here I like how the cropped tee creates a clear Rule of Thirds proportion, 1/3 at the top of the outfit, 2/3 at the bottom. The tee's hemline crosses the narrowest part of my trunk, so although it doesn't hide my not-flat stomach, it does create a pleasing silhouette as a kind of optical illusion.
I had thought this tee was 100% merino, but it's not. Still, 85% is a fairly high percentage, with 15% nylon to give it durability. It's a very soft tee, probably the softest one I own, and I love the color. I was on the point of reselling it, because as a men's crew-neck tee it wasn't getting much wear, when I came across some Instagram reel of some woman cutting out the neckline of a crew-neck tee to make it more feminine, and that was the life-changing moment. I've done the same thing to a number of tees, though I've gotten a little more careful about length. AND I did it to my teal cashmere sweater, first to get rid of moth holes, then to eliminate the turtleneck, which never felt flattering. I haven't always shortened t-shirt sleeves, but here I did, just to get rid of the masculine boxy-undershirt shape. Now they're a bit more fluttery, and the raw ends curl in a way I think is fun.
AND I just love this dress. Period. I bought it for my birthday in November of 2022, and for the last two years it's been my most-worn dress. This year, so far, I've worn it 14 times. Not sure Audrey will catch up with my Iris Blue Sierra this year, but she might come close.
Time to work a little more, then consider what might be for Friday-night dinner. Omelettes are looking likely.