The lone lupine in its glory. Right now it's being battered by rain, but the other day it was at its marvelous peak, and I'm glad I photographed it then.
So, it's raining. Once again: raining raining raining. It's supposed to let up sometime later on, but right now, rain rain rain. Dora is still asleep in her crate. I've washed my hair, but have not made much effort with it: shampoo, LUS 3-in-1, diffuse to dry my scalp, and done.
It's Day 5 of my June Wear Everything Once Challenge, wherein I endeavor to wear every dress, pinafore, or skirt in my closet one time before I repeat anything. If you've clicked the link, you know already what I'm wearing today, but . . .
Wearing:
*Secondhand Not Perfect Linen Mama dress (S) in Caffe Mocha, bought fall 2024, last worn May 20. Wears in 2025: 9
*Secondhand Xero Z-Trail sandals, year 1
Simple and done. That's what I love about warmer weather. It's also what I get tired of by the end of the summer, but for right now, simple/no layers is a novelty.
Sorry about the weird lighting. My face is not actually that red. What with the rain and all, it was dark in the bathroom, and I didn't turn on any artificial light, so my phone screen lit up my face in this very odd way.
I haven't considered this dress before as a night-out dress, but as tonight is pub night, I thought I'd give it a whirl to see how I like the vibe. It's cool enough today (high of 75F) that by nightfall I'll be glad to put on a jean jacket --- which I haven't worn with this dress before, but why not? I think the sort of masculine/tough leaning of the jacket will look nice with this quite cottagecore dress.
I put the teal sandals back on by default, because they seem like the best shoes for the current weather conditions, but I like the teal with this muted periwinkle/lavender/whatever this magical color is more than I had anticipated. Mostly I like that it looks as though I wasn't trying hard, which in fact I wasn't. Instead of being a LARPy tradwife costume, what I'm wearing is just . . . clothes. An easy dress with an easy, functional pair of shoes. It doesn't look sloppy or careless, because putting on a dress makes you look as though you had bothered a little, even though putting on a dress is easier by far, and requires less thought, than putting on a pair of leggings or joggers or jeans and a t-shirt. It's one and done. Over your head, button it up, and off you go, in whatever shoes you happened to step into. Of course you also want to be sure that the easy shoes you step into are shoes you like. But if you like the dress, and you like the shoes, and it's all in your color range, then you don't have to think hard to look all right. That is to say: If you like all the dresses in your closet, and you like all the shoes, and there's nothing there that you really don't want to wear, then the task of getting dressed is made far easier for you.
Anyway, here I am. You might not want to look the way I look, and that's completely fine --- I want to look the way I look, which is enough for me. And I think I'll feel good stepping out in the evening, looking like this but with a jean jacket on as well.
Time, maybe, to get some things done while I wait for the rain to stop so that I can take the dog out without being washed away. Wish us luck.
AFTERNOON UPDATE
The rain has not stopped. It did hold off for about half an hour around 2:30, so Dora and I took an actual walk then (we just did some quick business transactions this morning), but now it's started again. I am lounging on the daybed, and she's sacked right out on her side next to me.
Other than that walk, today I have
*written and loaded the dreaded Coleridge essay
*eaten leftover beef kofta with grape tomatoes, feta, and yogurt dressing for lunch, followed by cottage cheese with frozen blueberries
*begun an essay on Emily Brontë, of which I've written about 400 words so far
*made the bed
*read some more Mapp and Lucia
Checked the time to see how long until the husband comes home and we can go to the pub. News flash: still a pretty long time.
LATER
He has messaged to say that he will be home shortly, and we're going to the Local Roots restaurant, which has fewer good beer choices (like ONE, maybe) but better food.
While I wait, let's explore the crucial difference between wearing your clothes and styling your clothes. What difference? You didn't know there was a difference? Wow, have you not been paying attention to Instagram influencers? There is totally a difference.
Here it is. Observe. In the following photograph, I am wearing my clothes:
I was wearing my clothes this morning, too, only in dodgier light.
What does wearing clothes entail? Why, it entails putting clothing on your body. See above.
But then . . . what is this other thing? So I imagine you are asking. In the following photographs, I will demonstrate styling, as opposed to wearing, your clothes:
So . . . I imagine you are saying . . . now you've put on . . . more clothes?
Yes. Yes, I have. In the first photograph above, as you see, I was already wearing clothes. But now I'm also wearing a denim jacket.
In the second photograph --- again, observe closely! --- I was already wearing clothes, plus a denim jacket. But look! Now there's a crossbody bag, too!
This is styling. No, I am not answering further questions at this time.
Well . . . all right, if you insist. I guess what makes it styling is that, having already chosen a dress, as one would choose a blank canvas, I then choose what I add to that canvas to make it . . . wait for it . . . a work of art.
Is it a work of art? You tell me. It's what I'm wear --- I mean, styling --- in any case.
The thing is . . . I don't think that this last photo is really any more an outfit than the first photo, when all I'm wearing is a dress and sandals. I chose those things and put them on, and they're how I'm presenting myself to the world today. It's actually completely fine to stop there.
BUT some instinct does make me want to work out more of an ensemble for going out. The only reason I wouldn't do this would be if it were 95 degrees outside after sundown, and I was going to be outside all night. Under those conditions, I would dress as close to naked as I could legally and morally be and still leave my house. But short of that, I usually do construe "dressing up" a little as involving . . . a little more, one way or another.
Usually it means some kind of top layer. Often enough it means this very jacket, but it could mean a cardigan or pullover, depending on the weather. And almost always it means a bag of some sort. Might as well consider all those things as not just random add-ons --- because restaurants are cold, because I have to have somewhere to put my phone and my wallet --- but as part of some integrated whole.
Now . . . do I in fact have an integrated whole here? Well . . . really it's all kind of random, but I think it kind of works. It's funny how much the dress and denim jacket kind of blend into each other tonally. They're not the same color or fabric, but when I put them together, they create a kind of echo. The lavenderish tone of this dress seems to fall more in line with the denim blue --- maybe I'm the only person experiencing this optical illusion, but I am experiencing it.
Together these two pieces, my dress and my jacket, feel like a neutral backdrop, which is good because look, Ma, I'm wearing teal shoes and a lime-green purse. The teal is probably the most questionable element --- the green bag and the lavenderish blue dress fall onto the spectrum of color complements, while teal is an outlier. But I'm not changing my shoes. It is what it is. And actually, the teal and the green would be fun next to each other. They kind of sing to each other from their separate positions on my body. So maybe it does work.
Anyway, it's what I'm wearing to go out. Very much looking forward to sitting cozily in the bar and having some food set in front of me. I'm not even that hungry, which is probably just as well. I won't eat the whole restaurant. Just have a nice drink or two and something to savor, in an atmosphere that is not my house. I love my house, but a change of venue once a week is as good (at least) as a rest.
OH ALSO
Doing things like rolling up your sleeves (which helps break up the whole sort of "block" effect of a shirt or jacket) also counts as styling. I didn't think about it here because the sleeves of this jacket have been rolled up for the last . . . six years? I forget that it didn't just come that way. At some point I made the conscious decision to do that because I thought it looked better.
Now that I think of it, I remember that I was always pushing up the sleeves of blazers I wore in the 7th and 8th graders, when blazers were big news (1976-78, in other words), and my mother yelling at me to stop doing that. But I KNEW. It did look better.
AND
Obviously, or maybe it's not obvious, the addition of a bag, without anything else, can also count as styling. It's the addition of any accessory in a way that fulfills a function (keeps you warm, gives you a place to put your car keys) but also generates visual interest and aesthetic pleasure in whatever you're wearing.
Like so, I guess. Ain't no couture going on here, but we got styling just the same.