An Outfit (Deconstructed) ...

Pretty much all of my clothing falls into one of two categories…

The work stuff -- wholly unexciting black skirts and black dresses and, well…black tops (let’s just say there’s a lot of black involved) + the occasional cardigan and then the “weekend clothes” – the jeans and sundresses and wedges and the necklaces.

And with the exception of the aforementioned cardigans, the clothes from these two categories never meet.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, I kinda love this separation of my work and home “selves.” I like putting on that black dress and heels and going into the office a few days a week. It makes me feel supremely grown up, I have to admit. I also like having that sort of Mr. Rogers moment if you will…that swapping out of the work clothes for my “cardigan and slippers” is immensely satisfying.

But such a highly compartmentalized wardrobe does present some gaps. Specifically, that elusive (to me at least)”slightly more formal weekend outfit” -- ideally a dress. This is something I’d wear to say the ballet last weekend or a piano recital, or maybe a baby shower. It’s not “conservative” in the business sense, but (and this is hugely important to me, as I’m a big fan of wearing my clothes to death) I want to be able to wear it to work.

In other words I need some cross-over clothes. (Wow, this post could’ve been way shorter had I just wrote that sentence and left it at that…)

So I’m kinda psyched about the dress I’m wearing in this week’s outfit. It’s new -- the kind ladies at Shabby Apple asked me if I would like to pick out one of their dresses to try out, and as I was perusing their site, I had this need for cross-over clothes guiding my decision. I also wanted to step out of my comfort zone a bit, so I completely avoided the LBD section, which was a huge step for me…huge.

I ended up going with this magenta ruffled bodice number…and I should note that magenta and ruffled are two words I never expected to write in the same sentence in regards to something I’m wearing (especially the "ruffles" part). I’m just sayin. But it works. Case in point, I wore it to the ballet with Audrey last weekend and felt girlie and festive, and I’m sporting it at work today and feel completely, appropriately “workish.” Amazing what you can pull-off with some magenta ruffles, no?

The Details:

Me

• Dress – Shabby Apple “L’Opera” dress
• Shoes – Martin and Osa
• Bracelets -- Bracelets – J Crew black bangle + Gilt gold bangles + f is for frank gold bracelet

Audrey

• Dress – Gap Kids
• Shoes – Target
• Headband – Little Bean